"Ghost Stories"

[A Lost Soul]

[b]What this thread is: A safe environment for people who have had ‘paranormal’ (for lack of a better word) experiences with ghosts/spirits/the netherworld/whatevertheheck to share and compare their stories. [b]What this thread is not: as I see them. So consider yourselves warned. Ghost stories only please. I’ll type up some of my own experiences as soon as I have the time. In the meantime, I look forward to reading everyone’s stories.

[Starlite]

YEA! The ghost thread is up and running. I'll start w/ the 1st time I can remember an experience. I was 7 and staying at my grandparents house (a home they only lived in for about 6 months). It was just the 3 of us there. We were in the living room watching Wheel Of Fortune it was just starting to get dark outside. We heard a baby crying. The crys were coming from the back guest room. My room for that weekend. I looked at my grandma and asked what was happening. She said not to be scared and that they heard it all the time. Well I was 7 and I was scared. Later when it was time for bed I begged grandma to sleep with me in there or let me sleep in her room. She said no and everything would be ok. So I just laid there under the covers scared outta my mind until I finally went to sleep. I woke up hrs. later and first thing I remember seeing was the face of the digital clock blinking 3:00 am. A movement caught my eye at the foot of the bed but it was still to dark to see anything and my eyes were not quickly adjusting to the dark yet. I heard a man's whispering voice but the words were spoken in jibberish that I couldnt understand. I was terrified and can remember feeling anger in the room. I screamed as loud as I could for my grandparents. My g'ma came in and turned on the light. I was crying and told her what happened. I didnt go back to sleep that night (morning rather) and I went home as soon I could get my dad to come and get me. We (g'ma and I) havent really talked about it since. It makes her uncomfortable. All she would say was that something wasnt right about that house and it scared her to be there. ((I'll post more experiences later when I got time.))

[Burns]

Excellent! I LOVE real-life ghost stories. Too bad I don't have any to contribute, but I will thoroughly enjoy readings everyone's experiences.

[A Lost Soul]

When I was in high school, one of my friends found out that I could ‘see’ things that other people couldn’t. Like just about everyone else who finds out, she didn’t believe me. So when I attended a sleepover one weekend, she and another friend told me there was a house in town that they wanted me to see. They wanted to know if I could feel anything from it. I’ve never been eager to prove myself to other people, but they were my friends and they seemed to be interested in something I had always been told was ‘weird’ and ‘evil’, so I agreed. And besides, there’s just something cool about prowling around in the dark when you’re fourteen. We reached the house (which was all boarded up and abandoned and just screamed “I’m haunted!”) and I immediately got a powerful feeling from it. The neighbors must have been completely oblivious because the house had a virtual aura of hauntedness. I was scared, but I think I was more curious than anything. I always question this sort of thing... why me? Why do I feel this stuff? Why do I see and hear things other people don’t? Is there a reason for it or am I just doomed to be different? I walked closer to the house until I was finally close enough to touch it. As soon as my skin brushed over the cold wood, I felt a ‘flash’ (I’m not sure how to describe it) and I saw a single image of a teenage boy standing over a girl. She lay in an old-fashioned bathtub that was filled with red water. I pulled my hand away from the side of the house and turned and ran. I was so scared that I kept running until my friends caught up with me two streets away. I sat on a curb and told them what I saw. No one said anything for a while. They later explained that a few years before, some guy had murdered his girlfriend in the bathtub. Apparently he’s still there...

[Gwendolyn]

I've had an experience, though a minute one. There's a house beside the house I live in now that my family used to live in. Once, I was sitting on the floor in front of the television (I was about 13) and I saw a translucent black figure that had a big hat on. It was obviously a man. Of course, he walked into another room and vanished. I followed him into the room, and he was nowhere to be found. I wasn't scared. I've never been scared of those sorts of things, rather intrigued. Anyway, the same type of thing happened to my dad, with what we believe was the same 'man'. He was laying on his bed. From there, you can see into my brother's room, which is diagonal to my parent's bedroom. He saw a man by the window. He got up and went into the room and it wasn't there. The event was repeated several times in a row.

[boldtypespark]

While I was living at my mothers house, she, and her boyfriend kept telling me they thought there was a spirit in the house (both being quite spiritual people). One day, while they were both at work I was sitting on the couch watching TV and I kept hearing this banging noise coming from downstairs. I was freaked out, but something drew me down there, so down I went to investigate. I didnt find much, so I went back upstairs into my kitchen. The living room has two solid doors in it, that lead to the kitchen. I was just about to go in and I heard the banging noise again, I turned around, shrugged it off and started towards the kitchen and the doors slammed shut right in front of me. I decided it probably wasnt the best decision to stay in the house, because I probably would have pissed myself. So I went outside and remained there until my mother got home. I did alittle inspection after words and found that the window in the kitches WAS open, and there was a light breeze outside. So im still not really sure what that all was. But yah... Still freaky.

[Starlite]

The night before last I had to work the night shift at the funeral home I work for. Its a really old home and back in the 1950's the owners of the home installed an elevator (the embalming room is located on the 2nd floor- hence the reason for the elevator). Anyway, were not really busy there at night unless we get a call about a "passing" so I mostly just read books on these shifts. It gets boring. Its just me there alone 80% of the nights. When I am alone I do get freaked out sometimes but I try to ignore it. Heres what happens: The 1st night I was there by myself the elevator started desending to the 1st floor. I walked around and went down the stairs to see who had pushed the button for the elevator b/c it never came back up. No one was there. I went back up -via the stairs- and thats when I heard the elevator start going back up. I made it back to the hallway to see the elevator doors open and nothing inside. This happens every night Im there. A co-worker there says he hears the elevator moving like that all night long too. Other times im there alone and I have this feeling like im being watched. I'll look up sometimes from my book b/c something catches my eye - a movement. A shadow. Its hard to describe b/c Its never a clear image- just a glimpse of something moving around the corner. I dont ever feel threatned there, but ive promised myself that when I do I wont be working the night-shift any longer.

[Burns]

Wow - being in a funeral home is freaky enough without having to work the night shift all alone and have the possessed elevator keep going up and down all night long! I'm with you - I wouldn't be working any more night shifts unless someone could be there with you!

[Peregrinus]

Well, I don't know if this qualifies as a ghost story, since I'm not sure what actually caused the disturbance that night, but it certainly qualifies as "scary strangeness of unknown origin". The setting: This fall I was teaching at a 400-acre environmental education center in rural Mississippi. It was 5 miles from the nearest town, and even that had only 200 people. The center rested on the shores of a 20-year-old, 6600 acre man-made lake. The land was originally Chickasaw territory, but for the past 150 years or so, it was farmland for a few different families which worked the land for generations. The original farmhouse was torn down only a few decades ago, and the family cemetary is still on the property. We liked to scare the kids by bringing them out of the woods right in front of the old cemetary at night on the way to and from campfire when the moonlight would reflect off the worn stones like so many squat, silent sentinals. 17 year old boys would scream like 9 year old girls. It was hilarious, but sort of beside the point. Anyway, the Army Corps of Engineers took over the land about 30 years ago and the EE center went up. There are 4 cabins on the property, separated from each other by about 50 feet, and each of which holds 25 students. One intern stays in each cabin. When there are no student groups, we are the only ones in our cabins. This place made me uncomfortable from the moment I arrived. Although I was raised in a city, I've always felt more peaceful and relaxed in natural settings. I never felt relaxed there. It was a constant feeling of naked vulnerability. Perhaps it was from being alone out there without a telephone that worked or police within 20 miles, but I've been camping before and it wasn't that "the bears are gonna eat me" sort of vulnerability. I don't know. I can't really explain it better than that, so I'll just leave it. Anyway, I jotted down what's pasted below only a couple of days after the actual event while the memories were still fresh. At the time, I would have given almost anything to make it stop, but hindsight is always calmer, and that half hour ended up becoming a fairly decent 22-page story, so all's well that ends well, I suppose. Two nights ago, I was sitting in bed reading. It was about 9:30. Suddenly, I heard noises coming from inside my cabin. These weren't the usual clicks of the ventilation or groans and thumps of wood contracting and expanding. They weren’t the clunks and rolls of acorns and branches falling on the metal roof, but rather clapping and banging coming from just outside of my suite, from what sounded like the lobby of the cabin. The door to my suite was locked. The main doors to the cabin were not. These claps and bangs and taps, like two boards being clapped together (only not so loud, and the tappings were like something tapping on glass to get in perhaps - but whatever it was was already in) came in bursts that were irregular in duration and in the length of time between them. The sounds weren't even exactly like I described them b/c I couldn't for the life of me figure out what they were. But they were coming from the lobby of the cabin, and I never heard any footsteps or creaking. The entire cabin is constructed of wood, planks on the floor and on the walls, beams and more planks on the ceiling - it's practically impossible to walk across the lobby floor without creaking the floorboards or having your footfalls echo under the 25-foot vaulted ceiling. I’ve certainly never done it, although admittedly, I’ve never really tried. I also never heard the two sets of outer doors open and shut. Usually I do - I heard it every time one of the other interns came in to visit, but perhaps I was too absorbed in the book this time. Maybe. Possibly. These noises went on for about half an hour, during which time I had my pocket knife and my metal Maglite in my hands despite the fact that I didn't have a real gut feeling, "mortal danger" reaction. I was just seriously weirded out and nervous. I thought maybe someone was trying to lure me outside of my suite, trying to get me to open the door, so I sure as hell wasn't going to go check out what was going on. This is Mississippi and everyone has a gun. Everyone but me. I have a pocket knife and a flashlight. I had formulated exactly what I would do if someone did try to break down the door. I was already sitting on the floor beside the bed, out of view of the windows even though the blinds were shut. If I heard the door being tested, I would scurry as silently as possible and crouch just inside the bedroom door. As soon as someone came through, I would shove the knife into his groin in a smooth upward motion while standing and follow through with the Maglite pistol-whipped to his head. It was a good plan, I thought, given the circumstances and tools, but I didn't really think it would come to that. And I still couldn't identify the sounds. It didn't sound like something a person would do - I mean, what the hell were they using to make those sounds, and why didn't they make any noise when they came in, and why weren't they making moving-around noises now, and why hadn't they tried to break down my door yet? But if not some drunken, violent, horny local, then who? What? I was locked into these thoughts when the gunshot came - close, it sounded like it was less than a mile or two away. At this point, I tried to call Amy on my limited-service cell phone. I got through, but it was scratchy and went to voice mail. There wasn't enough of a signal to carry a two-way conversation, and the only landline is up at the lodge - a quarter mile run through the lobby, outside, across the bridge, up the hill through the dark woods, across the parking lot, and into the equally pitch black, empty (I could only hope) and echoing lodge. Not an option. I tried to call Deb. Voice mail again. I started to wonder if maybe my gut was wrong about this not being a serious situation and whatever was in my cabin was a patient, silent killer who was trying to lure me out because he'd already gotten to the others. I dismissed this idea (or tried to - really, I only managed to vanquish it to the background) and tried to call Rob. Voice mail. I returned to the possibility of the waiting killer while sitting on the floor beside the bed. A few minutes later the phone rang. It was Rob. I asked whether he'd heard the gunshot and he said "no," but asked if I'd like him to come over and have a look around. I told him "no, it’s fine," that I'd just heard some weird noises in my cabin and that gunshot and wondered if any partiers had pulled their boats up and were having a bit of fun at my expense. I didn't want to sound as freaked out as I was. Half an hour of unidentifiable noises of unknown origin and unknown intent fucking with me with only an inch-thick piece of wood, a tiny deadbolt, and a half dozen yards between us had unnerved me quite a bit more than I was willing to admit to someone who sounded like he'd just woken up from a nap. It had been partiers - it had to have been partiers, I told myself. Quiet ones who can make noises of no known origin without making a sound as they moved about. Rob said that he hadn't heard anything, but if I heard anything else, I should give him a call. After the gunshot, the noises stopped. I was on high alert, listening for any sounds even during the call, and I never heard whatever was making the noises exit. No creaking. No footsteps. No doors opening or closing. It simply stopped, stopped for an intermission as it had been doing for the past half hour, only this time, it didn't come back. Yesterday morning at breakfast, Rob admitted he'd come over and had a look around after I'd called despite my instance that it was unnecessary. He hadn't found anything - no boat parked at the cove behind the cabins, no one sneaking through the woods, no one laughing and partying - just the dark, quiet woods and the wind rustling through the dry leaves that still clung to the trees. Amy said she might have heard the gunshot, but she wasn’t sure. I’m don’t know how she could “maybe” have heard the gunshot – it was pretty damn loud – but perhaps she had music on… No else heard anything out of the ordinary that night.[/b] I still have no idea what it was, and it didn't happen again.

[A Lost Soul]

Great stories, you guys! I'm glad we can share our experiences like this. I've been slacking off, I know, but I'll type them up as soon as I have the time and energy. Keep posting! This is so interesting.

[Starlite]

As soon as someone came through, I would shove the knife into his groin in a smooth upward motion while standing and follow through with the Maglite pistol-whipped to his head. It was a good plan[/b] damn right thats a good plan!!

[Burns]

Originally posted by A Lost Soul Great stories, you guys! I'm glad we can share our experiences like this. I've been slacking off, I know, but I'll type them up as soon as I have the time and energy. * Keep posting! This is so interesting. I know! I'm loving reading all these stories! I wish I had some cool, freaky experiences to share

[nina]

Willow...I'm so glad you decided to make this thread and moderate it. All of these stories have been extremely interesting to read and I look forward to reading more. I often wish I could see things and hear things the way that you can dear...I suppose some would see it as a blessing, others as a curse.

[A Lost Soul]

Ok, here’s a quick one (because I should be working right now, lol): Last summer, when I lived with my brother in El Paso, there was a guy in my room. He was small of stature and had Latino (is that the right term to use?) skin, dark hair and dark eyes. He wasn’t always there, but when he appeared, he would stand in the doorframe of my closet and I could see him even if the door was closed. He never moved or said anything. He didn’t even watch me as I moved around my room. He just... stood there. Doing nothing. I can’t express this enough. He stood there doing nothing. Well, he blinked occasionally, but except for the usual body-wobble thing that we all get when we try really hard to stand perfectly still, that’s all the movement he ever made. He never felt unfriendly or threatening. He just felt... I don’t know, there. I tried to talk to him quite a few times, but he either couldn’t hear me or couldn’t respond. I didn’t understand that particular ghostly experience and I still don’t.

[Burns]

*bump* Come on, people! I want to hear more stories! (since I am deprived of having them myself... )

[Bjango]

Well, this happened to my brother, but I thought it was kind of creepy... My brother was spending the night at his mum's house. In the middle of the night, he woke up with a start because the dog in his room had started barking. It was pretty dark, but my brother could clearly see a strange-looking man in a top hat staring at him from the other side of the bed. He fumbled for the lamp switch and turned it on. As soon as he did, the apparition disappeared. The dog also had stopped barking and ran over to where the man had been, sniffing the exact spot where the man had stood.

[Bosco]

I have a couple Wierdest one was when me,my dog, my mom and my little sister were in my moms room, on the second floor, sitting there watching tv. All of a sudden we heard our front dorr open and shut, someone walk upstairs and go into my sisters room. When my mom went to check to see who was there, there was noone, kinda freaky The second was when one of our shandaliers was swinging back and forth for no apparent reason

[QwinsepiaSquared]

I remember when I was around 8 I was riding my bike, and I saw this girl who was completely black (not like African American, like the color) appear and walk behind this shrub where she disappeared. And there's a good foot of space between the branches of the shrubs and the ground, so you'd be able to see her legs, but she just disappeared. Earlier this week, one of my friends committed suicide. Now I keep catching glimpses of him around school, and hearing these odd noises. I think I must be the only one too, because it's pretty obvious and no one else does anything. Like on Tuesday, which is the day we found out he died. he was just standing in the corner for a while doing nothing, and no one did a thing.

[CoLd BlooDed]

I have lots of stories from firsthand experience and from friends experience. I'll start with something from myself. It's not very exciting but you get the idea. I was at my friends house, which is known by most of my other friends for being haunted (it was built on an old, dried up lake), and it was sometime in the morning. We were all hanging out, watching tv and talking. I was sitting in a chair near the doorway. Suddenly I felt something comb through the back of my hair (this is when I had really long hair - should length), and it wasn't like a light brush, it was like something was putting their fingers through my hair. I turned around, thinking that it was one of my friends joking around, but nobody was standing there. Nobody had even exited the room - I would've noticed considering I was right in front of the doorway. I just turned around, laughing, and told my friend "One of your ghosts is coming on to me!" And now for a more exciting one. My friend used to live in the house down from me in my old neighbourhood when he was little, and he has a plethora of experiences that he's told me about. One inparticular was that about every month or so, he'd be sitting on the couch that had it's back to the banister that led downstairs. From this position on the couch you could look down onto the first floor. Well, about every month, he'd be sitting on the couch, watching tv, and he'd hear some strange noises coming from the downstairs. Like, heavy breathing, or footsteps. Everytime he'd hear these noises, he'd look back down the stairs and see a long, flowing black shadow slowly glide into the basement door. I have more stories but I'll let other people go before I exhaust all mine. Keep up the good stories, guys.

[13redfan]

These are wicked cool! I know it's like months since this thread started but I'll add my stories anyway... When I was about 10 or 11 every weekend I'd spend sleeping over at my one friends house, we were best friends. At night, his mom would put him and his brother in his brothers room (a double bed) and me in his room (a single bed). His room was right on the end of the passage, right next to his parents room. Anyway we would normally end up going to sleep at like 1 or 2 in the morning, and often (I say often meaning like maybe 20 or 30 times in 3 or 4 years) lying there in the dark I would look up at the roof and there would be this black shadow like thing, blacker than the black in the room and it would be swirling around (almost like mist or dust swirling) the roof towards the window, and I'd hear this whisper calling my name incredibly softly, but coaxingly, drawn out like "Brreeeeetttttttt" it would really freak me out, I used to tell my friend about it but he denied hearing anything or ever seeing that in his room, and the first few times I would rush out the room instantly to see who it was, and there would be nobody. That was scary! When I was 17 we moved into a new house, a farm house that had been built by the previous owner. The first night we spent there the picture we'd hung up in the passage flew off the hook and the glass broke (there were no windows near the passage, although the bathroom window is sortof nearby it would have to be a really strong wind to blow it off), then another night my aunt was sleeping in the one room reading, and said she thought someone was standing behind her looking at her, at like 2 in the morning. Another time, I went over to my aunt and uncles house, and was sharing a room with my younger cousin. My aunt and uncle told us in the morning that they woke up thinking we were fighting or breaking something, because they could hear the chest of drawers being moved around, like hectically as if someone were shaking the drawers in it around. Apparently everyone in the house was woken up by the noise (thats 4 other people) and when they came into the room to tell us to shut the hell up, we were both fast asleep and didn't know a thing had happened. Weird!

[ceils444]

I don't have anything that good or scary worth telling, but my dad and brother had a really scary experience in my parents house. My parents live in a house that was built in 1918 and a woman once died in it (from old age). Anyway, my dad was in his office upstairs and my brother was in his room, which is directly next to the office. My dad and my brother heard my mother call his name. He answered, "What?" and again he heard his name and again he answered, "What?!" He called for my brother and asked him to go downstairs and see what my mom wanted. A few seconds later my brother came running upstairs and said that Mom hasn't come home from work yet... They both heard it. Weird, huh?

[Burns]

Good stories! I love reading these!

[NeAvO]

I only just learnt that the place that I work at it haunted. Although its not known whethere the ghost is a male or female. Also one of the waitresses that work there supposedly had a meeting with it one night on the way to the toilet. She saw some one walk past her in the corner of her eye but there was no one there. After a bit of research I learnt that the resteraunt used to be where people put bodies in bags, like a morgue or something.

[taltho]

I haven't had/don't have time to read all these. I'm way to busy working. jI grew up in a haunted house in Salt Lake City. What i experienced is very frightening and something you would find in the movies, the amityvill horror and the exorcist...for real no joke. I still have allot of dreams about this house. i had the covers throne off of me with nasty faces screaming at me and picking me up and even throwing me around the room, I would wake the whole house up from screaming. Things would be thrown across rooms and dead people would crawl out of teh floor and reach for me, I remember sinks/tubs, lights, doors, cabinets, and windows opening, closing, flickering, turning off and on. I remember allot of times where I was holding my mom's had begging her to turn the light on while all I could see where mad faces ugly snarling and screaming at me coming from all directions around me top, bottom, and sides like a bubble I could hear my mom and see nothing more than the light bulb. (I've correlated these experiences with my mom and they are real). These where always the same figures I remember one particularly an old man with white bear and black face and mean as hell. I saw him night after night for years. I would hear the sound they made just before they would show up, an eerie sound I cannot describe. I still don't know what the hell happened with me, why I saw/interacted with them more than my siblings. They would see them once in a while, they all saw/heard lights and doors etc. I learned to control these things to some extent, to keep them at bay at least but they where still there. All this stopped after we sold the house and moved. It took me 10 years to overcome the fear if left me, I was scared of the dark until I was 18 or 19, before I finally faced that fear. This makes me really question whether or not ghosts/spirits exist, or if their beings that exist we are somehow unaware of. Something is there! I've never gone back to the house to see if their still there, or to find out if the new occupants have the same experiences. I've often thought about it.

[Adanac]

Alright, here's my contribution. My old house is haunted. The dog would bark at random spots on the walls, and sometimes just look at a spot and wimper. At night the hot water heater (IDK what it is actually called) would turn on and pump water through the house, even though no one was running water. We checked and it's not supposed to do that. The lightbulbs we put in anywhere always burnt out quickly, like in a week, and only when someone was in the room to see it. Stuff would go missing, and then re-appear in obvious places, where we already looked. Once I lost my watch, I woke up and it wasn't where I put it. I spent a fair amount of the day looking for it. I came back into my room later and my bed was made and the watch was laid out on my pillow. No one else was home. The laundry room (which was a creepy room) door always shook in the frame, even when no one was upstairs. I seemed to notice these things the most, but everyone else noticed them to a lesser degree. Even my best friend. My friend was over at my house, and we were sleeping downstairs. At about 2 in the morning, we got a strange sense of creepy. I don't really know how to put it. The feeling I'd imagine a person standing in front of a bear den, and hearing a bear growl behind them would feel. I turned and looked at him and he was freaking out too. The door to the laundry room started going CRAZY! Like if a person had been doind that the hinges would've snapped. We freaked out and went upstairs and turned on the kitchen lights and pulled an all-nighter. Once my little sister was crying, (my mom told me this one, as it happend to her) she was like one or two at the time. She had been crying hardcore all night and everyone except my mom went to bed. At 2:22, (she told me the time) she was in her room and she heard me on the intercom. (WTF! I was asleep in my room&#33 She heard me close the door behind me, and walk into the room. I said to my sister, stuff like "Calm down, it's okay. Shhhhh... Go to sleep..... Mother (I never say that) will be here soon." When she heard me say "mother" she started to freak out, she said later that my voice sounded off. My sister stopped crying, and she heard more footsteps walking away. She never heard the door open. In the moring the went to check and the door was closed, my sister was asleep and no one was in the room. She asked me If I had gone into her room last night and I said no. Then she told me this story. I was sufficiantly creeped out. This is the only story she's ever told me of her experiances, but I think there's been more. Just call it a hunch. We would often see people on the deck out of the corner of our eyes, and look and see no one was there. I sometimes saw sillouhettes in strange places in the backyard. Ocasionally when one of us got out of the shower, there would be hand prints on the mirror. Once there was illegable writing. And the peice de la resistance. Once I was watching TV in my room. It was 2 in the morning. Or three. It was early, I remember that at least, the times not really that important but I'm sure it was two. Anyways, I'm watching TV with the sound low, so I don't wake anyone up, and I hear footsteps upstairs in the kitchen. (My room is downstairs, and after a few years I had learned to distingush who was walking by just their footsteps.) This was not one of my family members. This was a slow, sinister walk. I got a chill and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The footsteps walked to about where the stairs started, then stopped. Later, I heard my mom's footsteps, and she came into my room. She asked me if I had been walking in the kitchen. Uh oh. Now I got scared. I thought (hoped really) that it had been her. I told her that I heard the footsteps and it wasn't me, she said it wasn't her. She said she was freaked out and I was on my own. (Jee thanks mom&#33 She left and went to her room upstairs. I turned off the TV and grabbed a book. I turned on the light on my night table and started reading. A few minutes later I heard the footsteps again. The hallway light was on and I could see out the door. It was casting a door shaped light box on my wall. I heard the footsteps start to go down the stairs. I turned off my light and laid down, pretending to be asleep, but with my eyes open. The footsteps stopped outside my door, and there was a sillouhete of a person on the wall. I freaked out and looked into the hallway. No one was there. The shilloute walked away, and I stayed in bed, frozen in terror. I got like zip sleep that night. That was the last weird thing to happen before we moved like 2 weeks later.