The Ghost Story/Paranormal Thread

[Sparki]

One of my favorite things is reading about creepy things that have happened to people that they can't necessarily explain. I'm fairly skeptical when it comes to a lot of things, but this doesn't at all prevent me from loving ghost stories, going to supposedly haunted locations, and going on a week long hunt for Bigfoot.

This thread is for everyone to share their spooky stories - ghosts, Sasquatch, the Flatwoods monster, aliens, whatever you've witnessed that is way too creepy! You can also post popular creepy stories that have circulated before (as long as you don't claim it as your own).

All I ask is that people have fun with it, don't take the thread too seriously and don't naysay others for posting their personal accounts!

Ted the Caver
I'll start off with one that people may or may not be familiar with - this one's good if you have some time to read.
Ted's Caving Page

As for a personal story, much to my dismay I don't have a lot of them, but this is one that a whole lot of people were witness to.

The Lullaby
My friend's parents had a big house with an entire second kitchen in the back of it, like an au pair suite that her mom ran a daycare service out of. We were in high school, so we thought it was cool that we could hang out back there and be basically on our own. We decided to have a New Year's Eve party there, which mainly consisted of watching terrible movies and playing Mariokart, because really. Mariokart rules.

We did finally get to bed around three or four in the morning, and my friend's boyfriend had taken the one bed (jerk, I know) so all us girls slept on the floor in the living room. None of us were entirely asleep, but everyone was present and accounted for and ready to go to sleep.

That was when I heard it - I almost thought I was dreaming, but I wasn't asleep. It was a child's lullaby, playing very quietly. I laid there in confusion for a moment as it gradually got louder, and we all began to look around at each other like what in the hell was going on. At least I knew it wasn't just me.

I looked over at the room next to us - the door was open and no one was sleeping in there because there were no beds, only playpens for the babies. The pink baby mobile in the center of the room was slowly spinning and playing a lullaby.

After a tense few moments of everyone looking at each other, my friend said "Go to sleep, Grandma," and it stopped completely.

Now nobody was going to sleep because they were too freaked out, and I'm one of those people who hears a scary sound and has to check it out, so I got up and examined the mobile (for science!) to see if there was a way it could have done that on its own. Being the expert I am in baby things (not really), I came to the conclusion that since it was the sort of toy you have to wind up by hand, there was no way it could have just started playing.

My friend proceeded to explain that her grandma had passed away in that exact room. We were beyond going back to sleep at that point so we all had a pillow fight to break up the tension and pulled an all-nighter.

[Victoria]

Omg that is so scary I would of been screaming lol.

[Sparki]

It was seriously creepy, LOL. Some of the girls would never sleep back there after that!

[Victoria]

Haha I dont think I would ever either lol!

[Silvanon]

Aawww, Grandma wanted to help you all get to sleep.  Too bad she freaked you out and kept you up instead! *lol*

[Whimsy]

I would like to note after reading your story that I will not sleep tonight..at all. And that I'm slowly reading through ted the caver

Edit: I'll share my couple of stories before bed.

My first story is of when I was a somewhat young child, since I was five or so there was a story that circulated around my great grandmas house. Which is seriously directly in front of my grandmas house. Needless the story was that down the street was a couple with two children, the man was in his 30's the woman in her 40's, the kids were in the 7-12 range if I remember correctly. The woman had came from a more wealthy family, which still resides in that area. The man was actually from a common family as far as finances go. The womans parents constantly fueled that she should leave the man because no matter what he did in life, his wealth, could never compare to hers there for he was not worth her time. The woman had decided to leave him I guess and the day she had started packing she put on one of her best dresses to do so with. A purple styled victorian gown with a purple hat and shoes. Her parents were due to pick her and the children up that afternoon and when the husband figured out what was going on he blocked the door to the room the woman and children were in and set fire to that part of the house. The children narrowly escaped, the woman died from burns and the man killed himself. So for some reason the story was that this lady was constantly seen setting on my great grandmas way old style stove (im talking black cast iron friends the thing was a beast). No one had any clue to as why but she wore that aweful purple combo and thats what made her stand out agains the black stove and beige walls.

I didnt believe them I just thought they were trying to keep me outta the house because I was constantly pestering the old woman for some of her gum she always had. Well needless to say one evening I went over for my daily candy overdose and as I opened the door there it was, a purple dress..purple shoes..purple hat. The lady didnt bother to flinch or cast a glare she just sat there stoic graying hair and all. My natural instinct was fight or flight and I choose flight right into my poor great grandma who was coming through to the kitchen. She jumped and hollered cursing her way to the floor. She asked to why as I was running through her house and she was furious with my reason cackling as she got up to tell me "oh thats just old mrs so&so she wont hurt you, she just wants company like the rest of us". Personally I think my great grandma was batty for being fine with a ghostie friend but she would sometimes tell me she'd have staring contests with the ghost. She said she'd appear, and then just fade away never looking away for anything. She did say though she disliked her dogs alot, she said if she appeared and the dogs let out a holler shed move a little and then fade out quickly. I still dont know if it was a young imagination that my family took advantage of or if it was really her but I'll tell you it scared the beejesus outta me.

The other is just a small little tid bit, me and my dad were racing from the barn to the road, in the evening time. So it was actually rather dark out and we just werent paying attention. I was just happy that he was playing with me because he was rarely ever interested in doing so and as I ran my bike out full speed into the road with my dad on my heels I seen a black and tan dog join my side..as I did my mind realized the dog was opaqe and I swerved my bike away in a fury to get far away from said creature. Right as I hit the grass a van right behind me honked and turned on their lights. I hadnt seen them in the dark because they had neglected to turn on their lights, and had I not moved out of the way I would've been hit. My dad stopped his bike and removed me from the ground to ask how in the heck I knew the van was there. I told him I hadnt I had seen what I thought was a dog and then I realized there wasnt a whole dog. He got ghostly white and told me that he had had a dog (a rottie) that had saved him from being hit but got hit instead. He was running out to get the mail one day and the rottie ran out beside him and sorta nudged him to the side of the road. The dog was hit but a truck and killed and had the dog not moved over my dad just that few inches he wouldve been hit to. I cried all day scared out of my wits, and trust me when I say my father is just not the type to tell stories let alone about something so taboo.

[Scullisto]

I LOVE paranormal stories...I am a ghost hunter/cryptozoologist and all around fanatic of the genre. I have many stories that I have experienced myself creeping around old houses and out in the middle of the woods, but the one that still haunts me (yuk yuk) is the experiance I had with a friend of mine who's young daughter and my charge (im her nanny) began fearing her bedroom at night.  Although this was not unusual for young children, she wouldn't talk about why she began sleeping anywhere but her bed.  It got so bad she would not even go into her room alone...It was then that her father noticed that the temperature in her room began to shoot up, about 10-15 degrees hotter than the rest of the house.  Even though the air con was blowing full tilt.
A group of us were called together to search out what this was...with the children and their mother safely away for the weekend we began to antagonise whatever was there to show itself...and it did.
The night began when we left the girls door open and we could sit in the living room watch both it and talking amoungst ourselves...we noticed the lights around the house began to flicker in succession and a strange growling/scratching almost to faint to hear began to be heard outside the front room window.
As we watched, the girls room grew dark and her father stood up and strode into her room...all of a sudden the door slammed and we heard a crash.  The rest us us raced into the room and there was the father lying in the closet with the fron of his shirt ripped and the temperature reading was 26 degrees hotter in the room.
Once was got the father standing we backed out of the room and waited for daylight were we began the search for whatever was the anchor for this thing...no we didnt sleep all night and there were plenty of other things happening after that, but for the sake of time I will limit the story.
We eventually found the anchor (the girls old iron bed) and we threw it away.  From the moment we removed that bed...the temperature dropped and the girl willing went back into her room.
We ended up calling the thing "The Squatter" because it seemed to be attached to the bed and it wasn't his.
This is not a fake but a true story that happened to four people and one little girl who is very important in my life...it was one of the scariest moments I have ever had to deal with in all my haunt pursuits.

[Sparki]

Whimsy - I have to say, your great grandma was awesome. XD That's amazing that she was just like, yeah yeah, that's the ghost, whatever. The one about the dog is sad but sweet though. What a good dog, he was probably still watching out for your dad!

Scullisto - That is SO creepy. I can't even imagine what the little girl must have gone through, it's great that you guys figured out what it was. Ugggh I don't even know what I would do if I witnessed that, that's more than just seeing something, it's physical interaction.

[BabyKittenCandy]

Whimsey those stories are ace! Same with Scullys. I will have to make time to read that Ted the Carver too but anyhow, since ive been meaning to do this for a few days here are my experiences:

When i was about 11 my folks moved, a whole 2 doors up the road We knew the family who lived there we basically house swapped. They were a much older couple who's kids had grown up etc. I wasnt there for the actual move day but the day after I went exploring in the gardens with some friends. Towards to bottom of the garden we found a overgrown tombstone from the families Dog, who i do recall. She was a lovely golden lab called Sally and belonged mainly to the daughter of the previous owners.
My sister and I were given our choice of the two bedrooms. My sister being younger wanted the room next to my folks, i took the other. As it turns out, the room I took was the room the daughter had lived in. Later that nite as I was laying in bed I was somewhat startled to see a dog jump through my bedroom window! She proceeded to stand in the middle of my room as i lay frozen in bed and bark soundlessly at me, gradually fading as she did so. This is the one and only time I ever saw Sally, I think she was somewhat upset that the family had left but hopefully since they were still nearby she found them.

My next experience was at the local Public House that my friends parents owned. While the place was closed in the afternoon, we were playing hide and seek with her younger brother. He was seeking so we rushed off to hide upstairs. We hid for what seemed like an age in the cupboard up there, giggling and talking in whispers til we got fed up of waiting. We walked back down the small corridor chatting and fell silent as we hit the living room. Crouched by the fire tending it was a rather see-through serving girl in victorian dress.  She seemed not to see us and carried on her way. Both my friend and I were pretty shocked but upon talking to some of the older locals in the pub found that we were not the only people to have seen her and that she was sighted there fairly often.

My last one of any merit is in fact my own house where I now live. It is a building from the 1900's.  At various points I have felt a presence in our 3rd bedroom. It doesnt always seem to be there. Our cat would go through phases of refusing to sleep in there, then refusing to sleep anywhere else.  The stairs can be seen from the door of the room and many times going up or down the stairs I have felt eyes watching me, not always in a friendly manner. During my pregnancy I entered the room to find something. I was in the house alone, talking to myself cos I could feel whatever it was was in the house.  Suddenly the room went cold and my only description can be I felt hatred. It was like the room hated me, it radiated around the whole room and made me go cold inside. I fled downstairs and refused to go back in the room for quite a while! Since then though I do still feel it at times it seems lessened but more of a worry to me is that my little boy who lives in the 2nd bedroom has taken to saying things to thin air at one place in particular which he likes to wave to...

[Sparki]

Awesome, you've had a lot of experiences! XD I know what you mean when it feels like a room hates you though, sometimes there's just places that you want to avoid, haha. It's definitely creepy that it's in your own house.

Kids also do weird things like that. It's kind of like, do they know something we don't? My niece used to do that when she lived with us, and then she'd come crying to my sister that "the little girl hurt her". Well, there was no little girl, she was the only kid in the house and she was only three so it wasn't like she was out in the neighborhood.

It freaked my sister out, and freaked her out even more when her daughter pointed at nothing and said "There she is! That's the mean little girl!"