Creepy encounters?

[Hannah66665]

Not the most imaginative title... but we were talking about spooky experiences in the shoutbox and I can remember reading an old thread like this once from years ago where everyone was sharing personal stories and experiences... whether it's ghosts or just odd situations that don't have an immediate explanation. I find all these stories to be fascinating... but I'm also a wimp, haha.

Hopefully someone else will be interested in sharing! As for my own "encounter" I honestly don't know if it really happened or not... I would have been four at the very oldest.

I have a vague memory from when I was really little when my family lived in Texas. It was after everyone else had gone to bed and I snuck out of my room and I remember seeing some kind of figure moving slowly towards me from the other end of the hall... I was too scared to go back to my own room so I snuck into bed with my mom and dad. I can also remember being scared because I had left their door slightly ajar and I was convinced whatever it was was going to come inside... then I fell asleep watching their tv...  Monkees I think

I had always thought it was just the fuzzy static I see whenever I'm in a dark room... I'm not sure how to explain it but I see it when I close my eyes too. It's always present even in brightly lit rooms (maybe I need glasses?)
When I was little I needed a nightlight because the fuzzy static looked like monster faces and it freaked me out, so I assumed that the figure I saw was the same thing when I got older... but years later I found out the rest of my family had a lot of creepy experiences in that house - even my dad who is very skeptical. There's a good chance I dreamed the entire thing, even the part where I snuck out of my room... I was basically a toddler, so...

I kind of hope I imagined it because my family saw and heard some freaky things there. There were apparently three ghosts haunting the house including a mischievous cat. I'm not sure if I could poke my sister to share anything because a lot of it is really uncomfortable. My dad actually visited that town like a decade later and the house had been completely torn down and it was an empty lot. 

[Lhianneth]

Apparently, the "static" you see is a fairly common thing. It has a few names, but I've heard it referred to as visual snow, and a couple of other terms. It's theorised to be some kind of throw-back to when humans as a species were prey animals. We adapted to see lots of shades of green, and lots of contrast in shadows, such that tiny bits of light create that "static" when reflected off of dust particles or slight shifts in the texture of a wall. We also evolved to see "faces" where there were none, because it helped us to find predators before they found us (which is why we often see shapes in clouds, inanimate objects, or amorphous shapes even though we no longer need that instinct for survival).

Copy-pasting my own eerie experience from a thread I made on a similar topic a while back on another forum:

Spoiler'd for length of text.

A few years ago, my sister-in-law and her family were living in #6 of a particular street address. The neighbours in #5 were unruly, loud, and destructive. They were also tenants rather than the owners, so there wasn't much that could be done about their treatment of the property.

About two years ago, my partner and I were babysitting his niece and nephew at #6. They were tearing up and down the driveway in the back yard on their bikes, playing "bike tag" and screaming a lot. The driveway has a gate on it, so they could only go as far as the gate, before turning around and racing back to the garage at the other end. My partner and I were sitting on the elevated deck parallel to the driveway and fence, watching them.

All of a sudden, a kid's head popped up over the fence. He said "hi!" and kept climbing until he was sitting on top of the fence. Now, this was an ordinary, Australian kid. He was kind of grubby, but it was summer and kids in summer are all kind of grubby. It's like a rule. If you're not filthy by the end of the day, you didn't do it right.

Our niece and nephew were about 3 and 4 at the time, so they weren't really interested in this older kid, who looked about 7 or so. They kept on screaming up and down on their bikes, and we kept an eye on them while talking to the kid.

"Did you just move in?" he asked, also watching the younger kids go tearing past.

"No, we're just babysitting today. Are you visiting the Delaneys?*" I asked him.

"Kind of, we're travellers," he said, and at that point, I noticed that there was an old-style, two-wheel aluminium caravan parked out past the shed, near the fence between the Delaney's place, and the house they back up to. It was pretty beat up, but properly parked and looked like it had been there a while. No truck attached, just the caravan and a post propping it up. The grass had grown long around the wheels where they couldn't mow it, so I reckon they'd been there a week or so. We kept making small talk, with me asking how long they planned to stay. The kid explained that he didn't know, that his mum liked the area, but his dad wasn't as keen. After a while, someone inside the Delaney house started screaming her head off about something, and he excused himself. Just like that, he popped over the fence and went into the house through the back porch. We didn't think anything of it, and forgot to even mention it to the sister-in-law when she got home. The next time we went to visit, the caravan was gone, so again, I didn't think to mention it.

Now, we have to fast forward about two years.

My sister-in-law and her family have moved out of that house, and bought #5 so that they can combine the two properties for redevelopment. They're going to build town houses and villas on the land, sell one, and rent the rest out. This has been in the works for about a year now, and they're in the process of drawing up papers for the official proposal. In the mean time, they've been renting out #5 to the Delaneys and #6 to a different family.

Yesterday, we met my partner's sister and her family at their mum's place for a Good Friday luncheon. After we ate, and everyone was enjoying their tea, the sister-in-law brought up the development plans. One thing led to another, and soon we were talking the Delaneys in #5, and how they're as much trouble as ever. Her husband joked that he wishes they'd just burn the place down and be done with it, that it would save them trouble with demolition and asbestos removal. We all had a laugh, but my partner took it a bit more seriously: "They've always been like that, though. Right? What can you do?"

"Nah, yeah. I suppose," the sister-in-law said, and just kind of shrugged. "They've just wrecked the place and I never know what's coming next."

At this point, I'm reminded of the kid on the fence, and I perked up a bit to say: "Like that time with the travellers that stayed with them, how'd that go?"

"I've always wondered the same, how long did they stay?" My partner joined in.

His sister and her husband both looked at us like we'd lost it, and at the same time said: "Travellers?"

So I recounted the story of the kid climbing over the fence, and my partner chimed in about the caravan being parked out back. His sister interrupted us all of a sudden.

"That's not possible," she said. "Lhia, there were never any travellers staying with them. They've never had anybody stay with them. And they couldn't have gotten a caravan back there even if they tried."

"Yeah, Lhia," her husband added, a bit more slowly. He was still looking pretty concerned, though. "They had to ask us to help them get that trampoline in, since they couldn't just drive it through."

"Why not?" asked my partner, looking exceedingly confused. "They could just take it up the driveway."

And that's when it dawned on me. The property for #5 is arranged oddly. Their "driveway" is a little loop in front, rather than a long drive that leads into the back like at #6. The house spans the full property on one side, and is fenced off, then grown in with huge palms on the #6 side. There's nowhere for them to bring a caravan through, and there's no alley or secondary access point. In short: the caravan could not physically have been put into that yard, and removed again, short of using a crane.

I explained this to my partner, who was looking more and more green the longer the conversation went on, and his sister just looked at us both and said: "... now I really hope they burn it down."




*name changed, obviously; the rest of this story is being retold with as little embellishment as possible (since I can't recall exact conversations word-for-word, and they'd be pretty boring because we danced around the "that's impossible!" bit for a good five minutes), but it would appear that we encountered a ghost two years back

Having talked to some people since then, we're not convinced it was a ghost. One friend has decided it was a dimensional slip, and that we briefly overlapped with another "universe" which is otherwise identical to our own in most ways. She said in an amused tone that she'd love to hear what that kids' parents had to say about the strangers on the porch next door.

I've had some other unusual experiences, but most of them could be explained away one way or another.

[Thunderwing]

I've seen ghosts a few times (one of our houses was haunted a bit) but it was never any malicious. Mischievious, but not nasty. I once managed to turn a light on... by thinking about it. I hear whispery voices on a regular basis.

[Gloomygirl777]

I have only had two unexplained experiences and both were in the same house. It's actually my mother in laws house and we have all had things happen there so I'm guessing something is going on with it.

I can only confirm what I have experienced. One night I went out to the kitchen to get a drink. The house was completely quiet. On the way back to the room I clearly heard dog or animal nails clicking behind me on the wood floor. I assumed it was a dog because there was a dog in the house but she was a very strange and quiet dog and stayed under my mother in laws bed all the time. I thought she was walking up behind me so I turned to speak to her and when I saw she wasn't there an instant and strong feeling of fear came over me. I still get chills when I think about that story and I believe that was something evil.

The other experience we had was me and my husband were laying on our bed in the bedroom watching tv. It was the middle of the day. Our door was closed and no one else was in the room and from somewhere in the room a quarter was thrown. I didn't see where it came from but it clearly flew across the room. It was very strange. I still get freaked out when we go to visit there.

[lostpony]

Those poor ghosties are homeless now. I think about what happens to them when the structure gets torn down.

[Loa]

So, I'm going to have pictures to illustrate this one!

I worked at a bookshop, in one of the older parts of Auckland. It was on three levels, and we yelled at each other to communicate. Over the years, people have died in the building, one a dentists patient, who had an allergy to medication (circa 1900's) and died. Then in the 1980's, when staff could also board at the store, someone moved in and disappeared. She's never been found.
The top story had been apartments, and shops. This is the stairwell:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Every day, I would tidy upstairs, and at the end of the day, I'd stand at the top there, and yell to see if anyone was still upstairs, and thus, behind me.
We did this every day.

Once, I stood there, and yelled. Someone responded "Yup, I'm still here". I said, "We're closing now, please make your way downstairs." "Thank you" said the man.

No one came past me. No one went downstairs.
We searched the shop. All three staff had heard the voice, but the shop was empty.

There was also one room that people would dread to enter. It was always in shambles, never warm, and very uninviting.
I decided to talk to myself while I was in the room. Stupid stuff like, I was talking to the room. After a while the room became inviting, and books began to sell from there. Books stayed neat rather than haphazard. And it became warm. But only when I was there.

[lostpony]

I like that he was interactive, even polite when you told him the store was closing.

[Hannah66665]

Apparently, the "static" you see is a fairly common thing. It has a few names, but I've heard it referred to as visual snow, and a couple of other terms. It's theorised to be some kind of throw-back to when humans as a species were prey animals. We adapted to see lots of shades of green, and lots of contrast in shadows, such that tiny bits of light create that "static" when reflected off of dust particles or slight shifts in the texture of a wall. We also evolved to see "faces" where there were none, because it helped us to find predators before they found us (which is why we often see shapes in clouds, inanimate objects, or amorphous shapes even though we no longer need that instinct for survival).

Oh wow, I wasn't expecting such a detailed explanation on that. I had heard the term visual snow before but I wasn't sure if that was something different. That's all really interest though... especially that seeing faces is actually a thing. As for your story that's really eerie! From what you said the kid seemed really friendly... but still what a strange thing... you've gotta wonder what exactly happened there...

Having talked to some people since then, we're not convinced it was a ghost. One friend has decided it was a dimensional slip, and that we briefly overlapped with another "universe" which is otherwise identical to our own in most ways. She said in an amused tone that she'd love to hear what that kids' parents had to say about the strangers on the porch next door.

Okay I got a kick out of that.
I spent a while once reading stories and claims from people basically saying that they encountered a glitch in the matrix... weird unexplainable things... it's always really interesting even though most of the stories on those sites are going to be completely false I'm sure some people are genuinely being truthful about what they experienced whatever that may be.

I've seen ghosts a few times (one of our houses was haunted a bit) but it was never any malicious. Mischievious, but not nasty. I once managed to turn a light on... by thinking about it. I hear whispery voices on a regular basis.

Are the voices linked to a location?

Gloomygirl777... I'd be scared to go in that house too. Especially at night.  Has the dog that lives there ever acted oddly? I am a firm believer that animals are more in tune to these kinds of things.

Those poor ghosties are homeless now. I think about what happens to them when the structure gets torn down.

I sometimes wonder about that... maybe if something else is built there it would have odd occurrences too.

Loa... that definitely seems like a place that would be haunted. Did you ever hear about anyone else having weird things happen? It seems talking to the room wasn't a bad idea at all... maybe everyone else should have too. Is the place still in business?

[Mami Tomoe]

when i was younger i got scared and i felt alone and my mom came in because she knew i felt lonly

[Twizel]

I get weird incidents from time to time, though they happened more often when I was a teenager.

1) When I was 3 or 4, we went to see the July 4th firework show at a local stadium. The fireworks were cool, but I was super distracted by something flying overhead, circling the stadium. I tried to point it out to my parents, but they weren't interested, and/or couldn't see it and just told me it was a plane. But here's the thing - it did not move like a plane. The silhouette that I could see from the ground looked like the shape of a dog bone with tiny lights on each end, and as it circled it rotated end over end instead of flying straight. To this day, I still don't know what it was, but I watched it all night.

2) When I was 9 or 10, I woke up early one morning and then heard a screech. It was prolonged and sounded human, so I ran to my sister's room but she was sleeping peacefully. I asked my parents later that morning, but I was the only one who heard it. My dad said it was probably a bat in our chimney. Do bats shriek?

3) Once I woke up in the middle of the night, and without really being cognizant of what I was doing, sat straight up and looked out the window. At that very moment, a huge, long, rush of thunder sounded outside, getting louder and louder as if it was a wave of doom crashing toward our house. After it ended, I went back to sleep. There was no rain. No one else in my family heard it. The next day, I asked around school and only one other person had heard the thunder besides me.

4) Sometime in my teens, my sister and I were in my bedroom, sitting on my bed. I happened to look over at the doorway, and even though my eyes didn't see anything, I saw a tall, skinny man with shoulder-length red hair step in front of the doorway in the hall, and turn his head to look at me. My brain processed it so clearly that I yelled and jumped to my feet before realizing there wasn't actually anyone in the doorway. My sister thought I was crazy and said I needed more sleep.

5) On the way back from a weekend-long field trip in high school, our SUV was driving back on the freeway, it was maybe around 9 at night, and after dark. I was sitting on the right side window in the back, looking out the window. I saw this black SUV pull up next to us, and they had some kind of dark paper or tinting blocking my view into their driver's seat. I got the strangest compulsion that somehow it was very important to see this driver, but I couldn't get any view of them due to the blocked window. After a few minutes, we pulled ahead and they were out of sight, so I forgot about them. About five minutes later, the same SUV speeds past us on our left side, out of control, hits the center barrier on the freeway, does a 360 degree circle across the three lanes, and goes off the road, up a hill, and hits a tree.

[Beldarna]

I grew up in a "haunted" house so I've experienced many weird things. Things that happened almost daily was the staircase creaking (as if someone walked in it) and knocking on doors and the feeling that someone stood behind me overlooking my shoulder while sitting by the computer or reading a book. Whenever the being/s were in the same room it got colder.

Some things that stood out over the years were:
* I had a plastic firemans helmet that hanged on a shelf. I got it from my dads work (part time fireman) when I visited the station once. I think I was five or six when I got it. One day when I was 11 or 12 it was gone. I thought my younger brother had taken it but we never found it. One morning a couple of years later I woke up and first thing I see is the helmet hanging on the shelf, same position it had before it dissapeared and a bit dusty.

* A framed picture fell off the wall in the livingroom. The string was not broken and the hook was fine. I just hanged it back up and left the room..

* I had a bunny who is the only animal of all we've had that reacted to the being/s. Whenever the room got colder she would lay down flat on the floor and not move and as soon as it got warmer again she would get up and continue to do what she did before as if the coldness never happened.

The most scary encounter I had was at my former work at a grocey store. We were two people left doing the closing and I was in the office finnishing off the days profit while my coworker shut down the store. Suddenly the landline in the office started to dial a number on speaker. I watched and listened in horror as it connected and tones started coming and then a voicemail answered. It was a moving company I never heard of before in a town half a country away asking the caller to call back in two weeks as everyone was on vacation.. I just lifted the phone to disconnect the call, closed the safe and ran as fast as I could to my coworker and didn't leave his side until everything was finnished and we could leave. I refused to be alone in the office afterwards.

[Leave a Whisper]

So, I'm going to have pictures to illustrate this one!

I worked at a bookshop, in one of the older parts of Auckland. It was on three levels, and we yelled at each other to communicate. Over the years, people have died in the building, one a dentists patient, who had an allergy to medication (circa 1900's) and died. Then in the 1980's, when staff could also board at the store, someone moved in and disappeared. She's never been found.
The top story had been apartments, and shops. This is the stairwell:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Every day, I would tidy upstairs, and at the end of the day, I'd stand at the top there, and yell to see if anyone was still upstairs, and thus, behind me.
We did this every day.

Once, I stood there, and yelled. Someone responded "Yup, I'm still here". I said, "We're closing now, please make your way downstairs." "Thank you" said the man.

No one came past me. No one went downstairs.
We searched the shop. All three staff had heard the voice, but the shop was empty.

There was also one room that people would dread to enter. It was always in shambles, never warm, and very uninviting.
I decided to talk to myself while I was in the room. Stupid stuff like, I was talking to the room. After a while the room became inviting, and books began to sell from there. Books stayed neat rather than haphazard. And it became warm. But only when I was there.

That's really fascinating Loa.

[01mlplover]

I'm 28 now and still living in my childhood home. It was left to me but that is a long story. My home used to scare the crap out of me as a kid so much so that I refused to sleep upstairs and they turned the living room downstairs into my bedroom.

A few things that would happen would include foot steps, pictures rocking, hearing my name called, my bedroom door handle physically turning and then opening and my cat randomly hissing at things that you couldn't see. I also used to have this coffee cup that when turned to drink from it played music and i could hear it from time to time playing so I'd go upstairs to see if it got knocked over and there it sat of course not playing anymore but sitting upright.

Just a year ago I actually managed to capture an orb on video in one of the more haunted rooms up there. It's the coolest thing ever. I'm sitting on the bed and the orb comes over from by the closet looks as if it's looking at me recording it and then realizing what I'm doing and speeding away.

[Dragonflitter]

This is a cool idea for a thread! It's fun to read about what everyone has experienced.

Hannah's original post at the beginning of the thread reminded me of my own experience as a very young child. I must have been 5 or 6, and back then it was just me and my dad, who raised me by himself until he got remarried and we moved away from the city. I used to sneak into his bed in the middle of the night (our bedrooms were right next to each other).

I'm the type of person who never remembers their dreams. Really, over the course of my whole life I only remember a handful. Not even enough to fill a dream journal. But I remember this very clearly. I remember waking up in the middle of the night in my dad's bed. I looked out into the hall and saw someone standing there waiting for me. I don't remember any features of this person.

I remember wanting to play a game with them, so I got out of bed and went out in the hall. The carpet in the hallway had a design to it that was sort of like a checkerboard, though not exactly, in brown and cream, not black and white.

I remember kneeling on the ground across from this person, and they kneeled as well, and we used the floor design to play chess. I distinctly remember talking to this person and saying that we were playing chess, even though I was too young to even know what it was, let alone how to play it.

I remember we played a while and then when the person left, I went back to dad's bed and went back to sleep. Nothing like that ever happened again.

It was probably just a dream from a kid's overactive imagination, but it's one of the weirdest things that ever happened to me.

[Cswift]

This isn't anywhere near as elaborate or spooky as some of the other stories on this thread, and I feel like it's pretty easily dismissible, but here goes:

Once, I woke up to a loud rustling in my room and jolted up in a panic, only to hear a meow. It was just my cat. Here's the thing, though: that cat would always visit me every night before I went to bed, before leaving to go do his cat stuff. This night was so different I saw him go out of the room. The door was shut firmly and there was no other entry point he could've come back in through. So how was he in there with me while I slept?

I also had a small magenta teddy bear my dad won for me at a fair. It was in my rotation of stuffed animals I slept with, and every time I chose that one, without fail, I would have terrible nightmares. Eventually I became afraid of it and stuffed it under my bed. The nightmares immediately stopped.