personal ghost/horror stories

[kylerexpop]

year-round, i ALWAYS like to read accounts of people's personal encounters with ghosts and stuff. around halloween, the urge is doubly-urgent!

but it's always hard to find forums or stuff where they talk about this stuff. has anyone encountered a fun resource of such stuff?

(and of course if YOU have an incident or two in your past, i'd love to hear it. that stuff is always more scary than most horror movies to me. although i got to see [rec] early this morning [the spanish horror film remade/b*st*rdized into 'quanrantine'] and it seriously scared the living daylights out of me. noooo!)

[DTH]

I've had some rather odd experiences in my time but they're a bit too personal for me to go into (of the kind where most people just look at me and go "O...k"). However, I can recount a few stories that happened to friends.

My friend Mike (King of the Goths) lives alone and swears blind that his house is haunted. He's a chemist (the manufacturing variety, not the over-the-counter type), so not really prone to flights of fantasy. He has a necklace thing that he always wears and on those instances when he does take it off, he never lets go far away.

Well, he happened to take off his necklace and leave it on his bedside table before going to sleep. Next morning, he woke up and it had vanished. First thing that came to mind was that he had knocked it off in his sleep. He didn't have time to check, so went out the house.

That evening, after work, he came home and turned his bedroom upside down looking for his necklace. No trace of it. Completely and utterly vanished. He was actually getting pretty annoyed at this point.

Exasperated, he shouted, "Come on! You've had your fun, I'd like it back now please!".

Well, what do you think happened?

My friend Mike, stood shouting at a "ghost" in his own bedroom? He felt like a prize pillock is what.

So Mike went to bed that night, feeling rather annoyed. Next morning, he turns his alarm off and lo and behold, his necklace is on the bedside table, exactly wear he left it the previous day.

He swears blind that he didn't just overlook it and thoroughly turned his bedroom over hunting for it.

The other story I have revolves around an old friend and their family ghost, "George".

I was 11 when I started going round my friend Chris' house. The entire family told me several stories about their haunted house. I'm still not sure whether it was a wind up, as I was pretty young when I was visiting. But the sincerity and accuracy of the family recounting the tales does kind of put me on the "true story" side of the fence.

Anyway, George (I have no idea how they found out his name) was the resident ghost and was a bit of a troublemaker. And I'm talking full on, unexplained, "Who ya gonna call?"-type poltergeist trouble.

There are two main events I remember being told.

The first story is the more bizarre of the two. The family had a largish house and had a living room, kitchen/dining area and a back room. The back room had a door which led straight through in to the kitchen. Well, for reasons unknown to me at age 11, they locked the door and put a dresser on the kitchen side to put plates and cutlery.

What happened next I must stress that I didn't witness. Not long after they put the dresser in place, my friend's mum was cooking and out of nowhere, the LOCKED door went flying open, knocking over the dresser and throwing the plates and cutlery all over the kitchen.

There is no explanation for how that door got unlocked and how it could possibly have thrown itself open. The five children swore blind that they didn't do anything and this was substantiated by the key still being in the draw.

Suffice to say, they didn't bother locking that door again.

My second tale happened at Christmas at my friend's home. They put up a christmas tree and, having a small child in the family, they secured it tightly so it couldn't be pulled over by little hands.

My friend's grandad came over, as he often did, and that's when George decided to strike again. Grandad entered the front room and the christmas tree dropped on him. Somehow, the tree had escaped its bonds and then decided to attempt pogoing.

No explanation was ever found for any of the events and everyone involved were so sincere in the telling that I am at least convinced that they believed it happened.

[LadyStarblade]

I've had a few odd run-ins with things that I couldn't come up with a satisfactory explanation for, but I'll stick with one story.

There's a gorgeous cemetery in Louisville called Cave Hill Cemetery. It's a beautiful, sprawling, Victorian style park, and my roommate and I spend a great deal of time in there doing photo commissions for out of state relatives (i.e. "I'd love a pic of my great grandma's grave!"). Next door to it, on a separate property, is Eastern Cemetery. We've gone in there only once, and I'll tell ya why.

We went in to find a stone for a commission this past winter, and quickly found that there was no map, no layout, no nothing. The stones were haphazardly strewn about, many falling down...your stereotypical rundown cemetery. But there was an awful, heavy feeling in the air, despite the sunshine...I felt stifled and horribly uncomfortable.

We blundered upon the stone we sought by accident...it happened to be right on the edge of the cemetery road. So we stop and get out, and while the roomie's taking the pictures, I wander on down the row, looking at some other stones.

Then I hear it. The sound of feet running very quickly through fallen leaves. It's very loud. I spin around...to see nothing. It's February, there are no leaves on the trees, no leaves on the ground, and absolutely NO wind to have stirred anything. I try to shake it off and go back to reading an inscription.

Then it comes again, louder, closer, and accompanied by that feeling...you know, when you can just feel someone *glaring* at you...that prickling feeling right between your shoulder blades? Yeah. That feeling. Then the noise comes again, this time while I'm turned, and there is NOTHING that could be rustling to make that loud of a noise. So I hightail it back to the car and say it's time to go.

Found out the next day that the reason it's fallen so into disrepair is that the owners were arrested...turns out they'd been burying six people to a grave, burying infants without coffins...they found one crypt with dozens of remains in it. Here's one of the transcripts from a story broadcast in March. www.wlky.com/target32/4265791/detail.html

If there is anywhere in this world that is haunted...it's gotta be this place. I don't scare easily, but there's something about this place that gives me cold shivers...we've turned down commissions to go back in there, we hate it so much.

[katiem]

Mid September I stayed in an actual haunted house-Madisons Haunted Inn in Kincardine Ontario
www.madisonshauntedinn.com/ (try to ignore the tackiness of the site, its a beautiful place)
I didn't see any actual ghosts, which was disappointing, but I did get a lot of pictures of "orbs". Orbs are supposedly spirits, but they could also be flecks of dust for all we know!

[StarOpal]

Like DTH I consider my own experiences a bit personal, but I got one of the family stories I'll share, though it has some backstory...

It would've been around 1973, my dad was Navy and was stationed on Midway Island (along with Mom and Bro1, but that's not too important). About three months before he arrives an officer, who we'll call Bale, died.

It seems on their day off Bale and four other guys went out "fishing" which is code for "let's go out on the boat drink 'cause we're on an island with nothing to do." It's hot, eventually everyone goes off to sleep, and when they wake up Bale's missing. Investigation ensues, nothing criminal is found, and neither is the body. However, you're not allowed to go out on a boat to fish anymore. BUT you can "go look for Bale's body" which is code for "let's go out on the boat drink 'cause we're on an island with nothing to do." Basically no one took it seriously.

So after my Dad's been out there for a while two new guys are stationed there. Since they don't have their families with them they're stuck living in the WWII era barracks - just the two of them. Well of course the guys have a party for them and it gets around to how Bale's body is missing. My dad says, "Hey, let's have a seance." It's part of a plan. "Where is the body of Baaale? Where is his bodyyy?" etc. 'til he builds to fevered pitch and *WHAM* Dad's best friend comes in throwing a bag of flour into the fan. Very funny. Haha.

Next day Dad gets a call "Bale's body is under the '18' in the Rusty Bucket." It was my aunt... who happens to be a "white witch." "What?!" "Bale's body is under the '18' in the Rusty Bucket." *click*

1)She shouldn't of had a number for him. 2) The Rusty Bucket is what the isanders called an area of beach and ocean where crashed planes were shoved off the runway during WWII. She couldn't have known this.

So my dad puts in a search team (mostly because it's something to do). They find Bale's body wedged under a wing with an "18" painted on it. They did an investigation on my dad, but since he didn't arrive until later he couldn't have murdered Bale now could he? My dad never made fun of that stuff ever again.

[pfrsue]

Okay, I've got some. They all took place on a horse farm where I was a working student in 1987. The farm was smack in the middle of some major Revolutionary War action. The Battle of Brandywine, to be precise, and it wasn't uncommon for cannonballs to show up in the pastures during spring thaw. The main house was also apparently in use for the underground railroad. At least, there was a tunnel in the basement there.

The first two happened in our student house. I was present for both of them.

- One afternoon, the day before a major exam, we were all sitting in the living room of the house studying. There were twelve of us. (Okay, could have been thirteen, can't remember, but we were all in the room.) While we were all concentrating on our notes, someone thumped down the stairs, walked through the room and went out the front door. Just as the screen door slammed shut, someone said, "Uhm, who the heck was that?" Good question since we were all present and accounted for. We went out the door, where there was a clear field of vision all around. Nothing. Nobody. And no one happened to look up and see the "person", though we all agreed that someone had walked by, (noise, movement of air, brushing by a few legs,) and we all were darned sure that the door opened and shut.

- Same house. One of the other students had a radio that turned itself on. Just . . . turned itself on. She turned it off and it kept going. Messed with the volume. It didn't change. It wasn't plugged in, so she took the batteries out of it, and it kept right on playing. Finally she decided to take it over to her boyfriend's house to see if he could fix it. As soon as she walked out the door, it shut itself off.

Mind you, none of us were scared during either episode. It just seemed weird, but not threatening at all.

Those are the house ones. I have some horse related ones too, if anyone is interested.

[blinkfan]

I work at my local movie theater and I have an experience as well as heard many other experiences by co-workers. Heres mine:

A few weeks ago, I was sent to do side marquee and had to go get the ladder from the basement. As I was getting the ladder a bloodcurdling scream of a woman rang through my ears. Being all alone and isolated from the theater noise, that was my first experience in that area. I had a second one last Monday where I was walking by the basement, still away from the theater noise. Another bloodcurdling scream from a female rang through my ears.

[DTH]

Oct 15, 2008 15:15:51 GMT -5 pfrsue said:

Those are the house ones. I have some horse related ones too, if anyone is interested.

If you are willing to share, I'd be very interested to hear!

[Head Mutant]

I used to think the apartment I lived in during my last year of college was haunted. I'd keep hearing noises in the kitchen -- rattling -- and my hall lights would randomly turn on and off.

Then I learned that the kitchen noises was a mouse living in my stove (smart mouse), and the hall lights were also controlled by the downstairs apartment people.

[pfrsue]

Since DTH asked, I'll go ahead. lol

Same horse farm. Same time frame.

- The main barn had a nice heated tack room (for saddle cleaning and storage, for the uninitiated,) that included a seating area and large observation window through which we could watch horses working in the indoor arena. Periodically, when the arena was empty and we were in the tack room, we'd see a riderless black horse canter right by the window. You could see it, hear the hoof-beats for just a few seconds, then nothing. It didn't happen often, but I'd say at least twenty people witnessed it, including myself.

- This one I didn't see. Some working students and a staff member noticed a loose horse running outside of the barn one day. When it went around the building and into a dead-end area, they ran over to corner it so they could catch it. The horse wasn't there.

- This is my favorite, though it did freak me out at the time. The students all had to take turns going over to the barns around 8pm to top up water buckets, feed grain or hay to the horses who needed it and just make sure everyone was okay. It was a winter evening, cold as heck, and another student and I were there to do the chores. I was working in the upper barn when I got a call on the intercom from the other student that there was a horse in a paddock where no horses were supposed to be.

I finished what I was doing and walked down to the other barn. Sure enough, there was a black horse with a white star on its face (showed up really clearly against the snow, and it was a bright evening anyway) pacing around in the unused paddock. We figured it was one of the pasture kept horses who'd jumped the fence. So, we grabbed buckets of grain and a halter and lead rope and went out to catch it... but it wasn't there any more. Figuring that it had jumped back out into the main pasture, we thought we'd better check the fence and make sure all the rails were up and not broken.

When we got to the paddock, not only was there no horse and no broken fence, there were no hoof prints in the snow. We looked at each other and probably hit mach speed getting out of there.

The next day, we were in the main office and happened to (laughingly) mention the incident to the farm owner. She looked at us strangely, then pulled out a photo album, flipped it open and asked us if the horse in it looked familiar. Black horse. White star. Yep.

She told us that the horse had been a broodmare on the farm who'd been killed by lightning that past summer, although her foal had survived. She was buried in that paddock, which is why we weren't supposed to keep horses in it. The ground hadn't totally settled over the grave.

Oddly enough, after the foal grew up and was sold away from the farm, the black horse sightings stopped completely.

[StarOpal]

Sue's stories have given me a bit of confidence (thanks Sue!).

In the house I'm currently living there's been a few strange things that have happened:

Twice I've seen a man walk by doorways. The first time my brother and his family were visiting and my nephew and I were watching cartoons on the computer (which was right next to the living room). Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man walk out of the room my nephews were staying in and assumed it was my brother, until I looked over in the living room where he was sitting on the couch. The second time I was home alone and the man walked across my parents' bedroom. Meanwhile, my mother saw him once walking through their room, while we were talking (I was facing away from the room).

Another time I was awakened by a man's voice saying "Hey get up." Scared? Oh yeah. Well I ended up shrugging off as a dream or something. I tell my mother about it and she says that the night before my wake up call a man's voice woke her up saying "You need to wake up."

While it never happened to me personally, for about two month both my parents kept hearing a child giggling and saying "Hi!" and "Boo!"

My favorite, and this could just be coincidence, was when I was watching The Others. It gets to the part where the maid was talking about the world of the living getting mixed up with the world of the dead, I say "You've got your dead on my living! You've got your living on my dead!" Electricity goes out in the house. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!" I say half joking. Electricity comes back on. Neighbor questioning reveals that my house is the only one that loses power.

[DTH]

Thanks for sharing, Sue and Star!

[StarOpal]

Oh, and since Kyle asked, www.ghosts.org/ is a good place to find a plethora of ghost stories.

[Ms. Jellybean]

I don't really have many ghostly encounters in my past, but I've had unsettling feelings in certain places only to hear later about supernatural occurrences from people who are far more level-headed and less imaginative than myself.

Most notable was the sanctuary in my old church. You could not pay me to go in there alone. Something about the place is just downright unsettling and I don't even like being in there with one other person unless every single light is on and it's broad daylight. A few months back, I was talking to the current youth pastor at my home church, who had once been the youth pastor of my old church. One night he and another friend of his in the ministry were hosting a lock-in for the kids there. At one point they played hide and seek and decided that the sanctuary (which is a different building from the newer building where the fellowship hall and classrooms all are) could be included in the places to hide. Off they went to find the kids, and ended up finding most of them in the new building. They sent them to the fellowship hall to wait while they searched for the other kids. Into the sanctuary they went, thinking for sure that they'd find the rest of the kids. It should be noted that there are other rooms in the old building, but the first and only one these two went was the big sanctuary. As soon as one flicked the lights on, they both heard a little girl singing "Amazing Grace" from the balcony area. They went up the stairs and combed the balcony without seeing a single person. They then heard footsteps going down the stairs from the balcony. They peered over the balcony edge and saw no one. Both guys still felt like someone was pranking them and started making jokes aloud about whatever dumb kid they thought was completely sucking at hide and seek. Still, they thought it a little odd and kept looking. Eventually they just gave up and went back over to the fellowship hall, only to be greeted by all of the kids. One of the older ones said that they'd all gotten tired of waiting on being found and kind of meandered back to wait.

Creepy, huh?

[DarthShady]

We have a lot of weird stuff that happens at my house. Computers turning on & off for no reason, the sounds of book pages flipping when there's no one around, stuff like that. I swear once when I was little that there was this shadowy figure blocking the door to my room, & when I tried to walk through it, I felt it pushing back. My cats are always making weird meowing noises at the ceiling around midnight. Objects go missing to be found a week later out in an open spot. We've learned to accept this stuff & consider our "ghost(s)" to be part of the family.

But there's one isolated incident that really creeped out all of us.

Around 2 years ago, my parents were going through a financial rough-patch, & my mom especially was having a tough time. One day, she's cleaning our dining room when something falls off of the top of the china cabinet. We never put stuff up there because it's pretty high & only my dad & I can reach it, plus we hardly ever go into that room anyway, so what would we keep up there? So already my mom's thinking this is pretty weird. She picks the fallen object up, & it's an old greeting card. On the front there's a picture of 3 kittens (we have 3 cats) & the inside says "Chrissy, Don't worry - things are looking up! Love, Baci."

The only people to ever call my mom "Chrissy" are the older relatives. Baci was her grandmother who had died nearly 20 years earlier. There's not a date or anything on the card, & though it's aged & looks like something you'd send a young girl, my mom swears she's never seen the card before, nor does she know when she'd receive a card like that from her grandmother as a kid. She wasn't touching the cabinet or even standing very close to it at the time, & there wasn't a noticeable draft or anything, so why did it fall? Why was it even up there in the first place?

Within a few weeks after that, my mom got a new job & my little sister got a pretty generous scholarship for college. Everything was suddenly looking up, just like the card said.