Arlington Apartment
By: srogers@bipinc.com
In 1981 I moved in to an apartment in Arlington, VA. This is a
very historic area and named for Glebe House a hunting lodge of George
Washington. Any way the apartment were old, built in 1937
according to some information in the rental office. They were big
and roomy. The 1 bedrooms were about 950-1000 square feet. I had
lived there a few month and one night while trying to go to sleep I was
laying on my side almost dozing off I felt some thing like a cat jump
up on the bed and walk up my legs, to my hip then to my
shoulder. Well, I was wide awake then, I didn’t have a cat!
I thought “did a cat get in.” I slowly raised up and
looked. The bed was empty except for me. Well, shook me up
a little but I went on to sleep. Several times I felt it again
but it didn’t bother me. After a few months I got a cat, a real
flesh and blood cat, Murphy. After a couple of years I made
friends and my friend moved in until a 2 bed room was ready. I
never mentioned my “ghost kitty” until after we moved. I asked
her if she ever felt a cat jump in her bed? She said yes and she
would reach down to pet Murphy and he would be in my bed across the
room. (We were like Laverne and Shirley with our twin beds on each side
of the room) She couldn’t figure out how he got in my bed so
fast. When I told her about the ghost cat. She got
spooked but we didn’t live there and he/she didn’t follow us to our new
apartment.
My Haunted Story,Low Income Apartment.
By: skyportrats@hotmail.com
In the summer of 1985 my mom and I went to look at an apartment in a
low income complex in the Bay Area of California. Being a kid it was
fun to run around the almost empty apt.I remember running into the
bathroom and then being in a state of panic because the door shut
on it's own.I would never of shut it myself cause I was scared of the
dark and now I was in a dark bathroom alone.I tried to open the door
and it was locked.I remember yelling for my mom and twisting the door
knob,it wouldn't open.Finally for whatever reason it unlocked and I
went running out.At the time I didn't think anything of it in terms of
paranormal.We moved into the apartment a few weeks later.Often times I
felt scared at night and both myself and my mom would hear what sounded
like the cabinet doors being pulled open and bouncing shut in the
kitchen.This went on quite often .One day my mom ran into the lady who
used to live in the apartment at the complex office.My mom was paying
the rent and she had returned to the office to pick something up as I
recall.Probably a cleaning deposit or something.The lady asked my mom
if the apt. was "ok" and if we had any issues with anything weird? My
mom told me she asked her what she meant by weird and the lady told her
she swore the apt. was haunted cause she would hear weird noise and see
shadows.My mom never told me this at the time because I was still a
young kid and would of probably never slept in my own room (not that I
did very often anyways cause I was always scared) My mom had told me
years later she was very scared one afternoon while I was still at
school and she had come home from work.She had felt something dark and
evil around her in the kitchen,like a depressing force and she swears
she felt something touch her on the shoulder like an angelic safe
feeling right after that and the dark depressing feeling went
away. When I was 11 I remember my mom being at a neighbors and I
ran to our apartment to use the bathroom and get a drink as I had been
playing outside.I remember running down the hallway to the bathroom and
then stopping in the hallway,I felt that same dark,thick air and I
remember my heart just racing.The apt had no tv on at the time but I
heard loud voices,like someone had turned a movie up full blast and
then put it on mute on and off again.It's very hard to explain but I
felt this danger and felt like I had to run out of that place as
quickly as possible.Never in my life had I been so scared and never
have I ever been so scared since.It freaked me out so much that I
remember it clearly 20 years later.The sound was a male deep voice
almost just yelling but I couldn't make out what was being said and it
stopped within seconds. We moved out of that apartment shortly
after that and into another apartment within the complex.A lady and her
2 kids moved into that old apartment.One night her boyfriend who was
living there,just snapped,went crazy and stabbed her almost to
death.They said there was no reason behind him doing such a thing,that
he was a great stable guy and one night just took a kitchen knife and
stabbed her. I truly think that place was haunted by something
very evil.To this day I will always remember that apartment and so does
my mom,as she brought it up in conversation one evening.
John Marshall High School
By: merrygirl2001@hotmail.com
I attended that school and had classes on the 4th floor back in
1972-74. Had to stay late after school one time and swore I would
never do it again. I kept hearing sounds like someone was
following me, knocking on the lockers along the way but no one was
there. Also, was very very cold which was strange because it was almost
summertime and it had
been hot outside all day. By the time I got off that floor, I was
shaking and in tears. No one believed me but I still remember it
vividly to this day because it scared the hell out of me!!
Chilocco Indian School
By: Anonymous
My brother was living in the superintendant's home at Chilocco Indian
School as one of the last caretakers. The family was at a cook
out there. A big BBQ pit was on the back and it was a lovely
place to entertain our large family. My Dad, not a suspicious or
believer in ghosts person, was napping in the house. He
came out and asked if there was an elderly, while haired woman in a
long black dress around, and that she had waken him from his nap.
The older one's looked startled and said, "You just saw the
superintendent's old mother." Another caretaker lived there and
said that quite often the loudspeakers would come on as if there was
still a ballgame going on in the stadium. She said that happened
quite often. The school, of course, was totally deserted.
Your "imps"
By: hoomahamassage@yahoo.com
unfortunatley, ive had many experiences through out my life like the
one you had growing up. i dont like talking about them so much and do
my best to keep it dormant. but i did read your story and ive had an
experience w/a small black figure that sounds like one of your
imps...my wife, daughter, and i used to sleep in the same bed till oure
little girl was 1 1/2 years old. around the time my daughter was that
age, i remember staying up till close to 1 or 2 am watching a long
movie. when i was finished, i went to the room and turned on the
bathroom light to brush my teeth. our room was well lit from the
bathroom. since i was around 3 ive had dealings w/spirits just like
you...so, when i was about half way through my brushing, i pretty much
knew from that fealing i had something was happening. i looked in the
room where my wife and daughter were sleeping and cuddled from behind
my daughter in a featle possition was a small black figgure. it looked
human, but it moved, behaved, and felt like it was something else. it
looked towards me, got on all fours, and scurried across the bed
lighting fast. i kinda jumped back but it dissapeared when it hit the
floor. the strange thing was, after i got into bed, my daughter, eyes
closed, still asleep, did the exact same thing the figgure did befor i
went to bed...only my daughter stoped w/her still sleeping face rite in
mine, then layed back down and was normal again. some other things
started happening after that...but i dont know if theyre related. i
hope my story helps you figgure out whatthose things were.
The House Behind My Parents
By: latin_redhead@yahoo.com
My story began about three years ago. I was 27 and I and my
husband were expecting our first child. We had been living with his
mother, but since I had become pregnant we needed a place of our own.
My parents owned two houses. One in which they lived in, and the other,
right behind theirs. My oldest brother and wife and children used to
live there. But he bought the house right next door to my parents.(He's
always wanted to stay close to our family, were very
close). Now that the house behind my parents was
unoccupied, my mother asked me to move in. My husband and I gladly
accepted. We would have more room and a place of our own. Well the very
day we moved in I was about 41 weeks pregnant, and needed to go to the
hospital to be induced for labor. We had a healthy baby boy. After our
stay in the hospital, we returned to our new home. About four to six
weeks after we moved in, I started hearing a noise in the middle of the
night, coming from the closet in our bedroom. My husband worked the
graveyard shift most nights at the time, so I was alone at night with
our son a lot. The noise was that of the closet
door opening. I had put a long rectangular mirrors on the closet door (
those that are about 1 ft. wide and 4 ft. long). It had two hooks that
went over the top of the door, so as to hang this mirror. So every time
you opened it, it would screech VERY LOUDLY, since the metal hooks
rubbed against the door frame. Well, like I said about four to six
weeks after we moved in I heard this very loud screech at about 2:30 to
3:00 am. I woke up and realized it was the closet door opening. It
opened about 4 inches. We had two Chihuahuas that slept on the floor at
the end of the bed and I just rationalized it to one of them opening
the door with their paw. But I know that would have to take some effort
since the metal hooks over the top of the door made it hard to open and
would make the door get stuck. I didn't really get scared, I just
looked went back to sleep. About two weeks
later, again, me asleep. Alone. Middle of the night. Then the
screeching sound of the closet door opening. I woke up and this time
sat up and looked at the closet door. What just happened? I checked on
my baby in his bassinet next to my bed and he was fast asleep. I looked
at the Chihuahuas, they were awakened too and looking at the closet
door, but had not moved. So again I felt no fright and went back to
sleep. Again a few weeks later my husband had a day off, so he was home
that night. And again about 2 or 3 am, the screeching noise of this
closet door being pushed open from the inside. My husband wakes up, and
just stares at the door. Now he saw first hand what I had told him
about. The last time this happened was some weeks
after that. Again I was alone at night. I heard the screeching sound of
the door opening only it sounded like it opened a little bit wider than
just 4 inches this time. I sat up and looked at the door. The
Chihuahuas were staring at the closet door as well. This time
they stood up. Then the closet door started opening a little bit
further still. That set the Chihuahuas off. One was barking at the
closet door like there was no tomorrow, and the other ran under the bed
crying and howling. Their reaction is what scared me the most. My heart
was racing. I put my head under the covers. The closet door didn't open
further, but it took me forever to go back to sleep. After that night I
was scared of the closet. I told my husband and he put a lock on the
door. I closed it and locked it every night. I didn’t happen again.
Only one more thing happened after that. About a year later, the closet
door became increasingly harder to close. It would get stuck and
I would have to really push to close it completly. One Sunday night
about 7:30pm this time, I again was home alone. My husband was working
and my son was with my parents in the house in front of ours. I was
watching some TV and I didn't like to leave the closet door open any
more. So I walked over to the closet door to try and close it
completely. I was really pushing and I started banging on the door with
my fist to try and close it. It was almost closed, then while I was
banging with my fist, right on the other side of the door there was a
loud bang. As if someone hit it with their fist. Right on the same spot
I was hitting it. I could feel the vibration against me. I stepped away
from the closet door. I tried to stay calm. I'll just sit down and
watch some TV. I told myself. I sat down but could not keep my eyes off
the closet door. After about 30 seconds I decided I couldn't stay in
the house any longer. I left to my parents house in front of mine
and left the TV on. Why did that scare me so much? I was fine when the
closet door would open in the middle of the night. Was it because I was
so sleep deprived from having an infant son, that it was so easy for me
to go back to sleep? The fact that I heard the banging on the other
side of the closet unnerved me so. Thinking
back I remembered when I was 14 and my brother first moved in the very
same house with my then four-month-pregnant sister-in-law and her 4
year old daughter from a previous marriage. I remember shortly after
they moved in, her telling me she thought the house was haunted. I
asked why, and she told me that at night she would see the closet
doorknob rattle and turn. Oh, it's just your imagination, I told her.
Even at 14 I would rationalize everything. I guess it wasn't her
imagination after all. I later asked my niece (now 21) if she ever saw
anything. She told me she did (which I will later write about, this is
something completely different to my experience and I think had to do
with her and not the house). She also told me that the closet door use
to open in front of my brother until he confronted it. then it stopped.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
The Bridge
By: darkhunter1411@yahoo.com
I live about 20 min. from the old covered bridge in Mableton ,Ga.
This is one of the places I have been to in the surrounding area and
where I had the most happen. In 2004, we went on a last min. hunt to
the bridge. I know your supposed to be better prepared, but I keep most
of my things in the car at all times, just in case. We of course had
heard the local legends and wanted to see for ourself's, so we headed
down about after midnight. But even then the traffic on the road
was just heavy enough that we were unable to try the chocolate thing
with the car, so we parked up the road a ways at the comet trail
parking lot. We walked down and took flashlights with us.On
either side of the bridge are orange streetlights, so the bridge is lit
up all the way through. One of group brought her cousin and I didn't
realize at first that he had been drinking, or he would have
stayed behind. He got up in one of the bridges windows and peed into
the creek below. After yelling at him to stop, I realized I could
no longer see the lights on either side of the bridge. Our flashlights
also stopped working. All of them. The creek is where the children was
said to have been killed. After the temp dropped and it became dark the
way it did, I told the others it was time to leave. As we walked out of
the bridge, we heard what sounded like little kids laughing and they
actually touched and poked at our backs as we hurried as fast as
we could back up the hill. One of our group reported hearing a voice in
his ear telling him to run. I have to say it was unsettling, and though
I haven't been back to the bridge yet, it hasn't stopped me from
going to other places. I have heard voices and gotten pics, and
even had things happen at other sites. This one was one of my best ones
because I don't get physically touched by them often. I also believe
nothing would have happened, if he had not upset the spirits the
way he did. I am more careful in who go's with me now.
When I was 4
By: mikeymartin80@yahoo.com
hello everyone my name is michael when i was four i had an experiance
that scared me so heres my story we had just moved in to this new
house. there was rumors of it being haunted. the house belonged
to my soon to be born brothers god mothers mother. her husband
died in the back bedroom.well we had just moved now being a little
child i was curious. so i decided to try to get in the backroom
but as i was trying i heard a what sounded like a clicking and i looked
down and the door knob was jiggling like if some one was trying to get
out i was so scared i ran away.and i refused to sleep in that house so
i guess now im kinda obsesed with finding out the truth on what i seen
Another Story of Mine
By: murmur_blur@yahoo.com
I've sent in one other story, about my mother's house in Illinois, but
I have two more stories to share. I was raised by my
Grandparents. Their house has has it's share of odd
occurances...nocking sounds from within the walls, an apparition of my
Great Grandmother, and eerie feelings down the long hallway to the
bedrooms. One night (I was around 9, in 1989) I was lying in bed,
trying to fall asleep. My bed was facing the doorway, and I could
see into my Grandparent's bedroom across the hall (the hall is only
around 4ft wide). The only light visible came from a small
nightlight in the outlet at the center of the hall. As I was
tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep, I looked out into the
hallway and saw a young woman with curly hair, her body glowing
faintly. She carried a candle in her cupped hands. She
walked slowly, and paused for a second and turned to walk into my
Grandparent's room. Being the nervous child I was, I quickly
pulled the covers over my head and ignored it, eventually falling
asleep. Years passed, and I never saw another apparition.
When I was 16 (1996), I was still living there (I grew up in that
house, 13 years total) and had moved across the hall, having switched
rooms with my Grandparents. I decided I would try an
experiment. I found a dress similar to the one I saw the
apparition wearing, so I decided I would put it on and sort of relive
that experience. I had (have) very curly hair, and it was the
same length as the apparitions. I put on the dress, grabbed a
short white candle, turned off the hall light, lit the candle, and took
the path that I had witnessed the "apparition" take. I took the
same route, made the same slow walk, paused at my old bedroom door,
looked in, and walked into what was now my bedroom. Was what I
saw a ghost, or merely a glimpse into my future? Was I seeing
myself on some other intersecting point of time? I'm still trying
to figure that one out. Next story: This occurred in 1997,
while I was at a Native Armerica ceremony in the woods of
Nebraska. We had been out in the woods for about a week, living
in our tents and teepee's, ceremonies going on throughout that
time. I had heard stories of the spirits who lived in the trees,
and being as curious as I am about the supernatural, I was nervous and
excited to see what might be out there. For the first few days,
things were normal, and I went about my business working in the cook
shack making large quantities of food for the huge number of people
there. One evening, after dinner, I was sitting at a table with
an alder, talking about the name he'd just given me (Star Woman, for my
love of looking at the stars for hours on end) when my right hand
suddenly went ice cold. My mother was sitting to my left and I
said "wow, my hand just went freezing cold". There was no wind,
and it was July in Nebraska...pretty hot, even after the sun went
down. She said "oh, don't worry, that's just a spirit touching
you." (I can't recall the name for them, so I'll just say
"spirit"...I think it was "wanagi" but I'm not sure). Ok, no big
deal. Our tent was set up along the perimeter of the tree line,
with an outhouse about 50 feet to the right. On several
occasions, while walking to the outhouse, I noticed black human forms
in the trees. When I'd shine my flashlight on them, they were
gone. I attributed this to my imagination. A few days
later, a friend who I'd brought along for the trip was sitting in my
tent with me, talking about the day. I was on the left side,
leaning back on my arms, with my "lantern" flashlight next to my left
hand, about 12 inches away. It was the kind where you could pull
up on the body of the flashlight to reveal a lantern. We were
talking, and we noticed the light shifting in the tent. There
were no other lights, aside from a bonfire on the other side of the
camp at about 300 ft. i looked at my flashlight, and it was
standing on it's edge. All we could do was sit and watch
it. It stood on it's edge for about 2 minutes, then we decided to
leave the tent for a while because we were a bit freaked out. The
flashlight had a rounded head, not a square one. My hand did
cause the tent floor to dent in slightly, but my flashlight was nowhere
near my hand or the dent I made in the floor. The light was
literally standing on one rounded edge. When I mentioned it to my
mom the next day, she quipped "they were playing with you. they
must like you." I wasn't really scared, just a bit nervous,
considering we were out in the wilderness with no lights. I was
intrigued more than anything. Considering the nature of the
ceremony we were attending, I'm certain the spirits were roused by our
activity. I hope to return to that spot in the future.
The Steaming Tender Restaurant
By: Anonymous
Only one town over from our home stands one of the largest and most
ornate railway stations in our state. The owners worked over twenty
years bringing it back from neglect and a time gone by. As their second
love is antiques, they have decorated with period pieces throughout,
now have opened it as a outstanding restaurant. It has become a must do
for railroad buffs nationwide. Check out their web site! My
husband and I often bring friends there to enjoy not only the wonderful
food but for the pleasure of watching them jump as the Amtrak fly by,
only feet from the window. There is an very small organ has been
placed on a wall, not far from where we often sit. Several meals ago
our waitress entertained us by telling, some people have commented
there is a ghost attached to this instrument. One said she saw a very
small frail old lady standing by it saying.....this isn't right...this
isn't right, indicating dismay, as to how her organ came to be sitting
in an eatery. This waitress went on to say, they never like to work
alone when closing up as there are so many unexplained noises.We
enjoyed a meal there today and as always our conversation turned onto
the many thousands of people now gone, that passed through those
massive arched doors. Out of nowhere I smelled a very strong odor of
Ivory Soap. Mind you we are eating fish, no one is passing by and the
other tables haven't changed their patrons. I say nothing, but a moment
later, my husband smell it and says how weird it is, such an uncommon
smell today. It lasted for about three minutes. There was no explaining
the smell. As we finish, we wander through the hall looking at various
rail related antiques and move on to the outside.There is an Amtrak
train on the track but it is going slow, strange as they usually are
speeding enough for an onlooker to feel their wind as they pass,
heading for Boston. It comes to a complete stop at the Station, a man
in uniform gets out and
looks at the front and then under, turning to us he says he thought he
saw someone laying on the track. He walks about, making a full
inspection. He then gets in, and starts going, (we see the riders in
their seets) but as we watch, he stops again, just down the track and
repeats his inspection again. Strange day.......This place should be
investigated...........
Rusk Texas
By: jamesaxbrice@msn.com
This is my second entry and story. This takes place in Rusk, TX
in the seventies. The story comes from an aquaintance of mine who
was really more of a good friend of one of my good friends. Mike
and Katie were married and had two children; one was a nine year
old boy and the other a five year old girl. They moved into a
house that had a shotgun style layout. In other words, you
entered into the living room, and their was a straight hallway all the
way to the back door, with all of the rooms off of this one main
hallway. Mike and Katie took the first door on the right as their
bedroom, while giving the children the last door on the left for their
bedroom. One night, not long after the move, Mike and his
wife were sound asleep when they were awakened by screams of
"Mommy! Daddy!" And turned on the nightstand lamp to find
both of their children wide-eyed and terrified. The
children claimed to have seen a man with a hat on and a beard peering
in their window. Mike immediately got his gun and ran around the
back where he found an empty field, and no sign of anyone having been
there. At first they were under the impression that this man had
a ladder because the back of the house stood on a steep grade
down, and no one could be peering into one of the back windows
without a ladder. But the occurrence repeated itself, and
finally, Mommy asked the kids to describe exactly what they had
seen. Their stories were both told at different sessions, and
matched completely. What had woken the children was a strange
light out the window, and someone walking up and down on what sounded
like wood boards. They said this man LEANED over and looked down
into the window and he had a shot gun in his hands. The couple
moved the children to another room, and Mike did some laborious digging
into history and county files on the house. Through newspapers
and files, plus some additional info from some of the older
townspeople, Mike learned that this house had once been at
another location, and when it was moved, it was turned around so
that what had been the front of the house was now the back of the
house. He also learned that the man who had lived at the house
had been arrested and died in prison for shooting his wife and
her lover in their bed with a shotgun.
Rental House
By: margiebell@comcast.net
I stumbled upon your web site and would like to share with you the
haunting we experienced while renting a house in Bartlett, IL in 1998.
We were living in Houston, TX when both my husband and I were offered
jobs in the Chicago area. My sons were 2.5 (Matt) and 4.5 (Eric)
at the time. My husband found a single family home (built in the
mid-1980s) to rent on about one acre in Bartlett, IL. It was a
ranch home with a basement. We felt very fortunate to have found
such a nice house. In May 1998, we moved in. In October 1998, we
had a fierce thunderstorm. We were awakened by a very large noise
which shook the house. It turned out that the chimney of the
house was struck by lightning. Bricks were scattered in the yard
and our tv, vcr and modem were toasted. From that point is when
things started to become
strange. My boys shared a room. Since the house was a ranch
home, their doorway was around a corner and probably about 35 feet from
ours. Both boys were good sleepers and would be in bed asleep by
8 pm. However, Eric began waking up screaming every night around
8:15 pm. I would go to him to calm him down. One night he
asked me "Mommy, was that a lion or a dog?". Another night
"Mommy, was that a real man or a fake man who walked through the
wall?". I always told him that he was dreaming and to go back to
sleep. I did notice that the boys room always felt colder than
the rest of the house, but it was wintertime. I started to wake
up in the middle of the night because I heard a quiet voice saying
"mom" "mom" "mom". I would go down the hallway to check the boys
and they were always sound asleep. It didn't make sense to me
that it could have been them calling me because the voice sounded like
it was right next to me. But, just like for my son, I told myself
I must have been dreaming when I heard the voice and to go back to
sleep. My 2.5 year old, Matt, did like to get up around 2 am and
have a sippy cup of juice once in a while. I would sit with him
in the family room, rock him and give him his juice. One night,
as I set the juice on the kitchen counter, I noticed a black shape
racing up from the basement stairs. The house was designed such
that the basement stairs were open, guarded by a railing and the door
was at the bottom of the stairs. I was carrying Matt and he
suddenly looked back at the juice cup and said "Mommy!! the little
doggie!! the little doggie is going to get my juice!!" He was
adamant. I took him into our bedroom and told him that it was
okay. That there was no little doggie and his juice was
fine. In November, while it was about zero degrees outside, our
furnace decided to stop working. My husband woke up around
midnight because it was very cold in the house. Not being
mechanically inclined, he verified that the furnace was not working and
we brought the boys into our bed for warmth. I had shared the
boys' experiences and my own experiences with my husband, but he
laughed and said that it was just our imaginations. After about
an hour of all four of us trying to sleep in one bed, my husband got up
and went to sleep in Matt's bed. He came back into the bedroom a couple
hours later and said very sternly, "Margie, we need to talk NOW.
There is something wrong with this house." He was in a
panic. He explained that while he was sleeping in Matt's bed,
that he felt like the air or something was moving all around him.
He did fall asleep only to have a dream. He said that in his
dream, he was walking down the hallway of the house and there was a
man, a boy and a little dog standing there. He approach them and
looked down at the little boy. The little boy stretched up with
his hand and grabbed my husband's throat and started to choke
him. After that experience, my husband believed 100% that we were
not the only beings living in the house. We spent the next couple
of nights at a hotel. We had been looking for a house to buy, so
we decided on one. I kept telling my husband that I thought that
once we moved that Eric's waking up and screaming would stop. We
moved. Eric's waking up stopped and I stopped hearing the "mom"
"mom" "mom". We have not experienced anything like we did at the
Bartlett rental house since. I feel somewhat fortunate to have
had the experience and have always been curious as to what may have
happened within the house that left a man, a little boy and a dog
there. I have tried to search the Chicago newspapers on-line for the
address and have not had any luck. Since the house was only about
15 years old perhaps something happened prior to the house being built.
Your biography states that you were the center of your home's
haunting. Did you have similar experiences? We only lived
at the hours for 9 months, which does not compare to the 26 years you
lived in your home. I thought that you might find our story
interesting and also that you might be able to lend some insight into
what we experienced.
Someone(Something?) By the Patio Door
By: gbalsley@att.net
This occurred in Miami, Florida in 1980 when I was fifteen. I still
don't know if this was a paranormal experience, but it was unsettling
nevertheless.I was babysitting for the next door neighbors one evening.
Their daughter was down for bed and I was in the family room watching
TV. They had a small, ankle-biter type dog and it went to the
double sliding glass doors that lead out onto the rear patio/pool area
like it wanted to go to the bathroom. All of the homes in this
area had screened-in patio/pool enclosures and when you opened the
sliding glass door to step out onto the patio, immediately to your left
was a screen door that lead into the back yard. Unlike most of the
homes in my neighborhood, though, the back yard was surrounded by a
chain link fence. So I go and open the sliding glass
door (which was completely covered by drapes for privacy) to let the
dog out; the dog steps out and I immediately hear the crunching of
grass in the yard to my left as though someone is walking in the back
yard. Startled, I look to my left and there's what appears to be a man
(i.e., adult-sized) reaching out as if to open the screen door. I
immediately slammed the sliding glass door shut, scared out of my wits.
I stood frozen in fear in the living room. Silence. After a few
minutes, I cautiously peered through the curtain onto the patio - no
one there, just the dog sniffing around. I let the dog in and he
did not appear agitated in the least. I never thought much about
it after that until years later. If there was someone there, why didn't
the dog bark? If it was supernatural, animals are known to get
agitated, yet nothing. My imagination? Definately not. Nothing
like that ever occurred again in subsequent babysitting for that
neighbor.
Not Sure
By: ingrid_staebe@hotmail.com
Even though I am not sure whether I do in fact believe in ghosts and
the supernatural, I must be the ghost story's world biggest fan and
relentless reader, and have been a patron of your site for many, many
years (at least a decade now). Like I said, not being totally sure
whether I do actually believe in ghosts, I have never had a story of my
own to contribute to your website. However, over the past months,
possibly years, certain things have happened in our current rented
home, that have made me think twice, maybe even three times about what
I actually do and don't believe in. My husband Craig and I have been
living in our rented home here in Melbourne, Australia for almost four
years now. We rent privately, and know very little about the house (and
it's history) apart from the fact that we are private renters, and the
rent has always been almost ridiculously cheap. The house isn't that
old however - it would only be about 15 or 20 years old. We do know
however that several of the last tenants that lived here (families with
children, by the look of the wall drawings in the study and backyard)
moved out fairly quickly after moving in - which has always puzzled me
as the house isn't in that bad shape, the neighbourhood is OK and the
rent - like I said - has always been ridiculously cheap. Any
questionable incident that has happened in this house has either taken
place in the lounge room or the nursery (my daughter is now 3 months
short of turning 3). I remember one time when my daughter was tiny -
she would have been around 6 months old at the time - we'd put her to
bed in her cot in her room. She's always been a fire alarm screamer,
and on this particular day, after screaming for about 10 minutes, she
quite suddenly stopped dead. Assuming that she'd just fallen asleep, I
walked outside into the backyard about 10 minutes later to feed the
dog. I looked through her window subtly to make sure that all was calm
in her room, when I noticed a very strange thing... My daughter did not
look close to sleeping at all - she was infact staring intensely at the
ceiling. I watched her eyes move from left to right, and so forth, as
if she was watching something very closely - but there was nothing
there! Not thinking all that much of it, I went back inside and
continued on with whatever else I was doing (thinking that she was just
boring herself off to sleep). A few weeks later, something very
similar to this happened again, except this time it was in the lounge
room. Heidi was sitting with me on the couch (the family dog was also
in the room, sitting by my feet), as Heidi all of a sudden starts
staring at the ceiling again, with much the same intensity as before in
her room. This time, the dog joined in, and was making much the same
eye & head movements as Heidi (as if they were both watching
something on the ceiling move from side to side). The dog's hair then
stood on the back of it's neck, and he started growling, which
frightened me, as he is one of the friendliest dogs in the world, and
wouldnt hurt a fly. Then - being a bit of a wimp - he got up and snuck
in to the next room, and didn't come back for about half and hour. This
sort of thing has happened about 3 or 4 more times since then, but
nothing besides this has ever happened either (no apparitions or noises
or banging etc.). I have sometimes had the feeling though, that I/we
am/are not alone here. Nothing like this ever happens when my husband
is at home - only when I am alone or with Heidi. A couple of days ago,
it happened again. Heidi started off by staring at the ceiling, and
then her gaze diverted to her toy basket in the corner of the room. She
looked at me, smiled, looked back at the toy basket, pointed, and
yelled 'Baby'! (The word 'baby' doesnt necessarily mean baby to Heidi -
she calls newborns babies, as well as toddlers up to about her own age)
I asked her "Where, Heidi? Where is a baby?". "There", she persisted
"There baby!". I shrugged and looked away again, and hoped to dear God
that she would stop pointing and looking at that darn toy basket... She
did - thankfully - after about only a minute or so this time.
What do you honestly think about this? Fluke, or something more than
just imaginative childish playfulness?
Backyard Ghost
By: srogers@bipinc.com
Growing up we lived about 3 miles from a Revolutionary War
battlefield. The Battle of Guilford County Courthouse in
Greensboro, NC. Cornwallce and General Nathanial Greene lead the
battle. I may have been 7-8 my cousin was 6-7 years of age (53
now) were at my grandparents house next door to my home. We were
playing around in the back bed room. All the adults were in the
den and the older cousin in the living room. Cheryl and I were at
the window looking in to the back yard when we saw a man in a 3 corner
hat run across the back yard stop squat down like he was looking behind
him for someone chasing/fallowing him. Now he was white cloudy
and you could see the bushes through him. He got up and took a
few steps and was gone! I remember to this day what he looked
like and I said “Cheryl do…..” “She said “ yes Susan I see him!”
Now of course we ran and told the adults and no one believed us!
We still talk about it. I never saw him again and live for 20
more years. The houses have been torn down and a shopping area is
now in their place. I have often wondered if any strange
things happen in the fancy shops and resturants.
Tabitha Won't Leave Me Alone
By:so_hoki@hotmail.com
Ever since I was nine, a little girl I like to call Tabitha has been
following me. I was always very obsessed with horror movies, and when I
used to watch them with my Dad. It was around 8 o'clock when the movie
finished, and it was all about a ghost that haunted a house named
Tabitha. I went off to my bedroom to sleep, and when I looked toward my
vanity mirror in the corner of my room, there was a shadow that was
reflecting. It couldn't have been my own shadow, since I was lying down
and she was standing up. She looked like a solid black shadow, but from
her outline I could tell she had long hair and an old night dress on.
She just stood there for a few seconds and walked to the edge of the
mirror and dissapeared in the framing. I was too young to understand
that it was abnormal, so I just said, "goodnight" and went to sleep.
That was the first time I saw her, and because of the movie I watched,
she was named Tabitha. I saw her quite alot after that, but only
out of the corner of my eyes. About a year after that, I saw her again
while I was in school, but she wasn't alone. She was running around the
carpark, but she was being chased by a man with a bowler hat and a
trenchcoat on. He was the same as her, since he was only a shadow. They
both dissapeared behind a tree. I saw him alot out of the corner of my
eye alot for the next week, but Tabitha was gone. I was very
superstitious by now, so I was too afraid to try and contact her. I
think this was her way of telling me how she died. After that week,
they both left me untill I was eleven. I was at my friend's party at
her house, and it was also around 8 o'clock. I was walking with my
crush to the bottom of the garden, and we were standing about a foot
away from eachother. We talked to one another casually, but all of a
sudden, he stopped. He stood completely still, his mouth open and his
eyes were huge. He looked so terrified, staring at the ground. I looked
where he was, and I saw Tabitha. I was scared since I hadn't seen her
in so long. Me and my crush looked back to see if anything was casting
the shadow on the ground, but there was nothing there. We were so far
at the bottom of the garden that no one was anywhere near us. We looked
back at Tabitha, but she looked different to me. When I was younger,
she always looked completely expressionless when she was in my room.
Tabitha was in between us, but facing my crush. She stood with her
shoulders arching menacingly toward him, and she suddenly thrust her
arm out to his shadows' stomach. He fell back, crumpled on the ground.
I helped him up and we ran back to the others. I never knew why she did
this to him, but every time I see her since then, she has her shoulders
arched and her fists clentched whenever she looks at me. Tabitha
is becoming more and more agressive now with the ways she shows
herself. I was once going out with some friends, and being a teenager,
I had locked my bedroom door before I left. No one could
have gotten in (The windows had been barred since I live in Africa).
When I returrned, I went immediately to my room. My vanity mirror was
now draped with jewellery over it, and at the far left of the table
would normally be my small black music box. It had been moved to the
center of the table and was open. It would normally play a tinny
version of some classical music when it was open, but now it made a
loud scratching noise. I was terrified, so I ran in, closed the music
box so the sound would stop, and I ran out slamming the door behind
me. I still see glimpses of her around the corners of my eyes,
but nothing as bad as these things have happened for about a year now.
I don't know what I have done to anger her. She just won't leave me
alone.