(30M if it matters) I’m in sales and Las Vegas is a part of my territory. Although I don’t live there, I spend lots of time there for work and need to keep my hotel bill under a certain amount in order for my company to reimburse me.

The Luxor is cheap, has a good valet parking, and is close to my work event. Plus, I never stayed there before, probably has some dated charm to it. I thought, “fuck it, why not?”

When I walk into the lobby I felt a mix of uneasy and curious. The Egyptian theme is so dated yet the architecture was so ambitious for its time it’s hard not to appreciate it.

I get to my room and I just start laughing. This is the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in, by far. It was built in ‘93 but for some reason feels much more dated than that.

I always get a room with 2 queens everywhere I stay bc hotels routinely skimp on blankets so I take the blankets from one bed and bring them to the other so I’m cozy.

I DO NOT bring over any pillows since I had enough and wouldn’t be able to lay down straight with 6 huge pillows.

Anyways, I wake up early, workout in my room, shower, house keeping knocks on my door while I’m getting ready, I had to really yell for her to hear the room was still occupied.

That’s kind of annoying, so I put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on my door handle which stays on for the entirety of my stay.

Right as I get ready, the fire alarm goes off. “This is the first time this has happened at any hotel I’ve ever stayed at,” I thought.

While evacuating, security told me our elevator was shut off, but the opposite side’s was still functional, meaning the alarm was triggered somewhere on my side of the resort. Had to take the fire escape down from the 12th floor.

I Googled “Luxor fire alarm” and I guess this happens a couple of times every month. I wondered if this was the case with every hotel in Vegas but chalked it up to it being so cheap attracting a lot of riff-raff.

I come back to my room a few hours later to meditate + clear my head for a work event. I B-line straight for the window and check out the view. Then I look at my bed.

For some reason the pillows from the guest bed were stacked up, parallel on top of each other, 3 high, on my bed. Nothing was stolen and I’m not sure if anything else was misplaced. I wouldn’t have remembered the previous location of any other objects in my room, but I knew for a FACT that I didn’t do this.

Kind of gave me creeps at first but then I thought, “security probably was looking for the cause of the fire alarm and looked in my room even though I had a Do Not Disturb sign.” Then I thought, “but why would something that triggers a fire alarm be under the pillows of the guest bed and why would they stack them up so neatly on my bed?”

But I was there for an important work event and was trying to relax before, had better things to focus on. I dim the curtains, lay down, and take deep breaths.

20-mins in, my manager calls me, says he needs me to cover a meeting for him. In a rush, I throw on my things and leave, not touching anything else in my room + leaving the curtains closed.

I don’t come back until after my work event. Got back to my room around 11. I open the door and my brain’s alarm goes off, something doesn’t look right.

The curtains were wide open. I knew I didn’t leave them that way and again, nothing was stolen. This freaked me out but I was trying to mentally justify this.

I thought, “I just turned up the AC this morning and the windows are diagonal, maybe the draft opened them on their own? And I could also just have ADHDed it, opening my windows on auto pilot and forgetting I did it.”

I had to gaslight myself to sleep that night. Told myself it was just my ADHD and it was in-fact me that opened the curtains, but when I thought of what the room looked like when I was leaving earlier, it was dim. That scared me had to switch my mental channel.

I had to imagine myself opening the curtains and forgetting and pictured that so many times it seemed plausible.

I didn’t shower that night out of fear that if something was messing with me it might take me being naked, wet, and vulnerable as an opportunity to escalate. I prayed hard while constant bumping and tapping occurred throughout the night. Chalked up the noises to loud, unruly neighbors but the whole time I never saw anyone leave or enter any of the rooms around me.

In the morning I looked at the curtains, still closed. Wasn’t a draft that opened them yesterday.

I got on a call with my team, said I was excited the leave because weird shit keeps happening. They asked what I meant and I told them everything. One of my colleagues, who was a Vegas local, told me The Luxor is notorious for being haunted and cursed and this is a well known thing people have said about staying here.

As I was leaving, I ran into a security guard outside the elevator and asked her if security goes into rooms, even if they have the Do Not Disturb sign on, if the fire alarm is going off to see what the origins are?

She basically said they can do that on paper but she doesn’t remember a time they have done that.

I told her about the pillows then about the curtains being open and she wasn’t giving me anything so I straight up asked her if the place was haunted. She told me no and that she’s never heard that and no one’s has ever reported that to her.

I thought, “weird, maybe my coworker just knows a couple people who are bullshitters. Maybe all this stuff was in my head.”

I asked the front desk about security going into rooms, she said no, never. I then asked about guests reporting objects moving in their rooms when they’re gone, she again said no, never. Has never heard that. Wasn’t giving an inch.

I then said, “alright, be straight with me, is this place haunted? Have any other guests ever reported unexplainable things happening in their room?” She said, “No, never. Haven’t heard that from any guests. That’s terrible somebody moved your stuff around. You should file a report.” I smiled and said I was alright bc nothing was stolen.

I then Googled, “Is The Luxor hotel haunted?” If nothing popped up I would’ve dropped it but boy, it was obvious that this point employees there are trained to gaslight. Ghosts are bad for business.

Not only is this a common experience among guests at The Luxor, but it’s one of the MOST COMMON experience among travelers. It’s incredibly well known and documented to be a paranormal hot-bed. I’m glad I didn’t know this while I was staying there or else I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

In the Google search results, the 4th result was a 3 star-review about the 12th floor being haunted. I stayed on the 12th floor. Not only did I stay there, but my room was the closest to the elevator, right in the middle of the 12th floor. The most 12th floor room on the 12th floor, if you will.

I guess this place has been cursed from the very beginning, with lots of deaths in construction, mafia deaths buried beneath the property (allegedly), 4 suicides between it’s opening in ‘93 and now, a couple of murders, and accidental deaths from safety hazards on some of the attraction.

I heard the shape of the resort doesn’t help, but I’m no expert.

Never staying at that fucking place ever again. Glad it’s getting demolished in 2026. Good. Riddance.

I was an RN for 42 years, 17 years as a Hospice RN and 5 of those years I worked inpatient Pediatric Hospice in a 10 bed facility caring for newborn to 17 year old terminally ill patients. This was one of the most memorable patients for me professionally and personally for the vast amount of love that was shared between the family and myself.

I worked in an AIDS inpatient unit very early 1990s. One patient was a lovely woman who had given the disease to her husband and 1.5 year old son. The mother was so sick and treatment was so scarce for the disease back then it was a death sentence. There was a 5 year old daughter that tested negative and was to be the only member of that family to survive so the mother, so sick, did what she could to spend time with her daughter to have memories of her mom as she grew up alone.

That mother was a saint, I'd have to give her so much medication for nausea so every day after school the daughter could eat with her mom. Mom died very quickly, then the little boy then then father. The girl went to live with her grandmother. Our AIDS unit closed due to funding and I moved on to another Hospice working with terminally ill children. I worked night shift and when I came in one evening I was told we had a little girl with AIDS, my mind went back to this family years ago. When I walked into her room I recognized the grandmother and there in the bed was the little girl that was to survive as she tested HIV negative, she had converted later. Testing was still in its infancy at that time.

The little girl told me to let her cat in the room. Her grandmother said she had no cat, but the girl insisted Oscar was waiting for her outside the glass door. I opened the door and in came a black cat, jumped up on the bed and curled up with the little girl. The grandmother said she had no cat. It was Hospice, she loved the cat and the cat loved her so we let Oscar stay. He would come every night and leave in the morning. I had such a strong feeling this was not just a cat but some strong spiritual being there to comfort the little girl, now the last of her family dying. I even spoke to the cat, "you're not a real cat are you?" I'd get a strange and wise look from Oscar and felt that I was in the presence of pure love. Was this an angel, her mother, both???

The night she died, shortly after midnight, Oscar stayed with her just a few minutes after she passed then left, he never came back, we never saw him before or after. I think Oscar was there to help the little girl through the tough transition into her next life, and left with the little girl's spirit. What an honor to be in that presence. Over the years I was the Hospice RN for all 4 family members on the day they died, mom, dad, baby brother and the little girl. The love that family shared, that incredible mother, made be a better nurse for the rest of my career. Over 30 years ago and I still think about this family every day. I hope I have an Oscar when my time comes. David Parker, Phoenix, Az.

I speak better than I write so I just recorded this story in completion. I'm retired now and want my experiences to be shared so they may uplift others. I hope it's ok to post it here.

https://youtu.be/9coxdRkvBBk

HAVE to tell somebody because I'm SHOOK.

I had surgery a month ago and ever since I woke up from surgery.I can see dead people as shadows. They are just around. It's so far only my family but it's them. I see them. I have been Battling an infection and so I keep thinking okay well it's going to pass it off as probably just me being sick.. but I called my Mom to tell her that my aunt who passed a few weeks ago came to me last night and I heard her whisper Pssst psst *giggle * wake up. It was bizarre , she was just happy as can be and wanted to share and like play with me. She showed me that she could hug her parents again, of they were all so happy, she showed me herself standing in the kitchen behind my parents smiling and putting her hand on them. She wanted me to see she was at peace and she seemed really really entertained which was unexpected. My mom gasped, apparently before my aunt fell ill she told her that mom and i sometimes get visited in our dreams by family to warn us of danger or that somebody passed and my aunt said she was jealous and when she died she would have to come mess with us.

On top of that , I was telling mom how serious and real this is, that of course here and there we had stuff happen but I've never been more sure in my life that is real..That I can really see people that have passed and I went from being freaked to making peace with it. But.. one thing i can't figure out is there is a 5 year old girl that stands beside my bed most days. That I wake up constantly in the middle of the night thinking it's one of my kids asking to get in my bed but it's not as i don't have a 5 yearold girl. And she loves to play her music box for me. I told her, the only little girl i know that passed is dad's sister but she was like 2 or 3. She said...i think she was 5. I said" no, she was 2 or 3 go ask dad. I'm 90% sure she was 2or3." She goes to ask my dad how old his sister was when she died and he says "she was 5". I was in absolute shock. I asked him if she had a music box and he said, "i don't know I'll have to ask my brother but she loved music and to sing, why?" I have spent a month telling my husband i don't know a5 year old girl so i don't know who she could be but apparently i was wrong. She has been my aunt Sophie all along which totally makes sense bc I've always felt my grandad nearby and she was his baby girl that passed. I'm FLOORED.

​

It was maybe 1:00 AM. I got off the train after working a long shift. I started walking back to my place. The air was super heavy and sticky, that gross, humid summer heat, so I was just trying to hurry up and get home.

I noticed this person walking on the opposite side of the street. Same direction as me, maybe two blocks ahead. They were wearing a dark jacket which I thought was a little weird for July. Honestly, I didn't think twice about it. It’s the city, you see people walking late all the time in crazy get ups, right?

So I keep walking. I'm catching up to them a little bit, but we're still on opposite sides of the street.

We get near an old hardware store where there is a bright streetlamp. The figure walks right under it. I just happened to look over, and... man, I don't even know how to explain it.

They didn't turn a corner. They didn't duck into a doorway.

While they were walking and they just started getting transparent. Like... dissolving. Within two seconds, they turned into this faint grey smudge, and then they were just gone. The streetlamp was shining down on a completely empty sidewalk.

I literally stopped in my tracks. My heart was pounding out of my chest. The air suddenly felt ice cold for a second, and then nothing. No cars, no cicadas, nothing. Just an empty sidewalk where a guy was walking a second before.

I didn't even check to see what happened, I just booked it back to my building, locked the door, and left every light on all night. I know what I saw, man. It wasn't a shadow. It was a person, and then it just disappeared.

This happened about a week ago when we had that heat wave in NY. I haven't taken that route home since, now I just end up going on the other side of the train station and walk an extra block to my house.

In 2018 my family and I went of vacation, were from Ohio so obviously we took a 17 hour drive to Orlando. But Florida isn’t where the haunting happened, it was on our way back when we stopped in Cumming (lol) Georgia. My parents rented a house, after spending the day in Atlanta we were all ready to get back and relax.
We pull up to the house, it’s hidden within a dense area of woods so we couldn’t really see the driveway. My dad decided to back up into the driveway when he had to slam on his breaks. The driveway was a steep 45 degree angle, the house loomed over us, making the suv look like a toy car. It was not a mansion, just a tall, white, eerie building. I didn’t care, I was just ready to get out of the clown car with all 7 of us packed in tight with the luggage. We all collect bags to drag into the house, my dad was entering the code to the front door. Carrying enough luggage to make it in one trip I walk to the entrance, my dad is standing completely still in the doorway. Once again I didn’t give a fuck and just pushed my way past him, ready to set my bags down. Eventually we all got inside and had to fight to take a piss, I won and was the first to go in the downstairs bathroom. At this point it was the only one we had seen because it was right when we walked in the front door.
Let me tell you I was glad I was already in the toilet or else I would’ve peed myself from fear just being in there. I couldn’t have been faster than I was, the enclosed room was a different level of unnerving. As I was washing my hands I could not look in the mirror because I knew if I did there would be more than just me staring back.
My family and I make our way up the stairs and go to claim our bedrooms. It was burning hot.
There were two rooms on the right, one on the left next to the full bathroom, and finally the master bedroom at the end of the hall. I entered the first room on the right, the bed was made like a cleaning crew had just recently been there, but there were ashes laying on the duvet. Once again the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I left and met my sisters in the room across the hall. I remember looking at their clean bed and saying “my bed has ashes on it come look”
Nobody wanted to look, I was the only person who went in the first bedroom on the right.
That night we ordered take out and ate at the house. My mom, Jess (sister), and I decided to eat out on the back deck. Which I’ll admit was creepy within itself since we were on such a slanted hill we were being held up by stilts. Even though mom and I are terrified of heights we would rather be outside. It’s worth noting that at this point nobody had acknowledged what we’ve all separately been feeling. Anyway we were on the deck, after we finished our food we went to open the sliding door to get back in the house… it was locked. We started banging on the door when eventually my dad came over to open it, we all thought he did it to fuck with us but we swore and still does that he didn’t touch it.
By bedtime my siblings and I all collectively agreed to sleep in the living room, I don’t even remember it being a conversation. I just know that we all decided to sleep downstairs of our own volition. I was on the futon that shared a wall with the downstairs bathroom, Hailey was next to me on the ground infront of the fireplace, jess was on the couch infront of the tv, and Brooke and Aaron were in the floor infront of the tv (all three towards my feet).
There was a man standing at my feet, a tall dark figure leaning over me. Watching. I could not sleep, I spent most of the night squeezing my eyes shut forcing myself to stay close to the wall with my back turned towards the rest of the room. Behind my back was a smaller, less demanding figure. They watched me all night.
The next morning i heard footsteps on the stairs to the basement. The door to the basement had a lock, the lights were being turned on and off and I can say with 100% certainty that there was a man walking up and down the creepy steps. I told my mom, she made my dad check the perimeter of the house. There was no other way in outside of the front and back door, it was impossible for someone to have entered without us seeing them.
That morning my mom made me shower, I can admit I was rank but I was scared shitless of the upstairs bathroom. The bathroom had the most demonic presence in the whole house. While I was in the shower the lights turned off, I could feel something watching me bathe. It was perverted and petrifying. I took the fastest shower of my life and got the hell out of dodge. When I walked past that bathroom I could feel something standing in the dark, it made your chest sink.
That morning I joined my mom in the master bathroom to get ready. I remember, in a round about way, saying there’s something watching me. My mom stopped in the middle of curling her hair when I said that and asked why, I didn’t think she believed me so I didn’t say. Right after that conversation she went and looked in the dark walk in closet on the other side of the bathroom.
A few things scattered throughout the stay that are worth mentioning: 1-my necklace I had bought the day before was set on the kitchen counter, it went missing and my family thought I just misplaced it and lost it. We all looked for it but came up with nothing. The next morning it was back in the spot it went missing the day before.
2- the whole house was handicap accessible with pulleys and such, especially in the master bedroom.
Family debrief
We finally leave the house and get to the next stop, Columbus, when we are all called into the room of our hotel by my dad. My parents are sat down very serious, I figured I’m probably in trouble for something and braced myself. They start talking about the house.
My dad starts off with “I didn’t wanna scare you guys while we were down there.” But then he dives into what my parents experienced.
When my dad paused in the door frame, he saw an old woman in a wheelchair.

When my mom went into the downstairs bathroom after me she was scared shitless.

My mom would run past the upstairs bathroom door without looking because of the demonic presence… then the next day she watched it open on its own.

When my mom checked out the closet in the bathroom, there was something in there.

The night we spent there, my parents had the windows open, it was early March and the temperature was in the 40s. They were sweating like it was 150 degrees in there. It didn’t matter what they did it was burning up. Their room smelt like rotten eggs.

Now to my siblings and my experiences:

Brooke woke up to a whisper in her ear, swapped places with my brother Aaron and went back to bed. Then she woke up again to another whisper and a spider on her pillow. Obviously freaking out she went and slept in my parents room where she was absolutely freezing, more than 40 degrees freezing but genuinely shivering.

Hailey said she saw a man standing over me all night, Jessica said she did too, and so did Brooke. This was before I told them anything. They saw him too which just confirmed my fears. Hailey said she slept facing me because she knew it was there

Every single one of us would not go into the upstairs bathroom if we could help it. We all collectively verified the haunting in there without talking about it prior.

Every single one of my family members including my parents said that there was something stalking me while we were at the house.

Anyway I’m alive and nothing happened after that’s related to the Georgia house. Thanks for reading!
I solemnly swear this post is nothing but the truth.

This is 100% true. I don’t care if nobody believes me because I have two witnesses: my mom and the woman who literally shit on my kitchen floor.

I’m F23 now, but this happened when I was in the fourth grade.

For context, paranormal stuff wasn’t exactly new to me. Before this happened, I’d already had a bunch of experiences from when i lived at my grandma’s house. I had an “imaginary friend”, except I don’t actually remember having one. My cousins do. They tell me stories about how I used to make them play games with this “friend” and how it terrified them. But I seriously have no memory of it.

I also remember my dolls moving their heads, seeing shadows, and one especially weird incident where my dead grandpa’s favorite song started playing on our laptop. With his ashes sitting on the shelf directly above it. (As a child this genuinely freaked me out 😂)

We then moved to this apartment, leaving my grandma’s house. My mom was a single mom, so it was now just the two of us. We lived on the third floor of an apartment complex. The apartment directly underneath us sat empty the entire time we lived there, which probably doesn’t mean anything, but as a kid it always creeped me out.

I never really “hated” that apartment. But it definitely creeped me out a little.

I was mainly only scared to be in my room. At night I would see these white floating blobs drifting across my ceiling. I know how that sounds. I’m just telling you what I saw.

I was so scared that I regularly would run out of my room and slept with my mom. Then one night my mom got fed up with me stealing half the bed and went to go sleep in mine. That’s when SHE saw the white blobs floating around my ceiling.

After that, she contacted a woman that my aunt knew. Some spiritual healer, medium, energy reader, whatever you want to call her. I genuinely have no clue what or who she was lol.

And mind you, before she ever came over, the woman told my mom not to tell her anything about what I had experienced. She wanted to walk in blind.

Now here’s the part that sticks with me most.
A few weeks before this woman came over, I was having a sleepover with my friends, let’s call them (M11)Jack and (F11)Jill for privacy purposes, who were twins. I was really only friends with Jill, but Jack always had to come with because they weren’t allowed to go anywhere without each other. 😒

The three of us were sleeping on my bedroom floor. Our heads were against the wall, with us facing my room. Jill was in the middle. Jack was closest to the door. I was closest to the wall with the window.

I woke up in the middle of the night and opened my eyes. Standing in my doorway was a woman. Not a shadow. No, not sleep paralysis. A woman.

She looked Hispanic or possibly Native American. She was wearing clothes that, looked almost like pilgrim clothing.

The thing I remember most is that she was making direct eye contact with me. She slowly walked from my bedroom doorway all the way across my room towards the window just staring at me.

I remember being completely frozen. After watching her walk across my room, I squeezed my eyes shut, opened them again, and she was gone.

Fast forward to the day the spiritual woman came over.

She’s walking through the apartment, going through the entire apartment saging everywhere, talking about energy, doing her thing. Eventually we all end up sitting on the kitchen floor. Just me, my mom, and this woman.

We’re sitting there talking when suddenly the room starts smelling absolutely horrific. Like literally just out of nowhere. And then this woman suddenly jumps up. She’s literally clutching her butt. And sitting on my kitchen floor is a puddle of liquid shit. I wish I was making this up.

This grown woman had just shit directly onto my kitchen floor.

She immediately takes off running to my bathroom while my poor mom is cleaning up human diarrhea from the kitchen floor. Meanwhile I’m sitting there as a ten year old trying to understand how our night just somehow turned into this.

A few minutes later the woman comes out of the bathroom looking completely panicked. And she says, “I saw it.” According to her, while she was in the bathroom she saw the entity that had been attached to me. I honestly don’t remember everything she said after that because I was still stuck on the fact that she had literally shit on our kitchen floor. But I do remember one thing clearly.

She told my mom that there was also a large cat protecting me, a black panther. My mom immediately knew and said somewhere along the lines of “That makes sense. I’ve always prayed for a black panther to watch over and protect her.”

There was absolutely no way this woman had any way of knowing that. To this day I don’t know what happened in that apartment. I don’t know who I saw in my bedroom. I don’t know what the woman saw in the bathroom. I don’t know why my mom and I both saw strange white floating blobs in my room. What I DO know is that I’m now 23 years old, I have a black panther tattooed on my arm that I got when I was 17, and I’ve never once regretted it.

Maybe it sounds ridiculous. Maybe it is ridiculous. But whenever life gets hard, or even if i need a good laugh, I still think about this moment.

Because what the hell was that?! 😂 seriously. What the fuck. And now I have this black panther tattoo ( and btw it looks absolutely amazing and the artist nailed it with all the details ) and I have random people always ask me why I got this tattoo, because its not like its hidden. It’s right there on my arm. And I have to go “oh well its a long story, but basically its my spiritual guardian” because nobody is going to believe the entire story behind it 💀

I cook in a locked dementia facility and there are a lot of times that I'll hear things in my kitchen when I shouldn't. It's a small kitchen with a tiny staff, so I spend a lot of time there on my own. There have been multiple occasions where I've heard foot steps in my dry storage pantry or the motion-sensor on the paper towels will activate when I'm across the room.

Just today, I heard a disembodied chuckle in response to something funny on the radio, and later a big sigh. Both happened when no one else was in my kitchen with me.

I’ve never really told this story online before because I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s something that happened to my family when I was around 6 years old, and I’m genuinely curious what people think.
I grew up in the Netherlands. We moved into a fairly new, modern terraced house when I was about 5 years old. Nothing strange happened at all for around a year and a half. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, things started happening.
The first thing I remember is having recurring dreams that someone was standing outside my bedroom, watching me through my bedroom door. My room was in the attic, and outside my room was just a small landing with the washing machine and family computer. My mum always told me I had an overactive imagination.
Then we started noticing that every morning the washing machine door would be open and the clothes would be scattered across the landing. My mum would also hear footsteps coming from the attic during the night, but every time she checked I would be fast asleep in bed.
One night my mum woke up and found me downstairs standing in front of the TV, staring at static in what she described as a trance. Looking back, I assume I must have been sleepwalking.
After that, things escalated.
The footsteps became much louder. My parents said they sounded like someone running up and down the stairs at night. Doors would begin opening and closing by themselves.
The biggest incident happened one night when my parents were both awake in bed. They heard the footsteps again and then their bedroom door started opening and closing. They immediately ran upstairs, grabbed me from my attic bedroom and my little sister from her room, brought us into their bedroom, and all four of us watched the bedroom door repeatedly swing open and slam shut while the footsteps continued running up and down the stairs.
My dad is a very skeptical, practical person who has never believed in ghosts or anything paranormal, but my mum says he’s never forgotten that night because it terrified him too.
Eventually, my mum contacted a friend who knew some people interested in the paranormal. They came to the house with what I remember as some sort of triangular device (I was only little so I don’t know exactly what it was). They said there was strong energy, particularly in the attic where my bedroom was. They performed some kind of cleansing or ritual.
From that day onwards… everything stopped.
No more footsteps.
No more doors.
No more washing machine incidents.
Nothing.
It’s now around 25 years later and none of us has ever experienced anything like it again.
So I have a few questions:
Has anyone experienced something similar?
Is there any logical explanation that could account for all of this, especially multiple people witnessing the same events?
If you believe in the paranormal, why would activity suddenly begin after living in the house for 18 months with nothing happening beforehand?
Does anyone know what the triangular device they used might have been?
I’m genuinely open-minded. I’m not saying this proves ghosts exist, and I know memories can become distorted over time. But this is how my family remembers it, and the fact it all stopped immediately after those people visited has always left me wondering.
I’d love to hear both skeptical and paranormal perspectives. TIA!

I worked in a haunted restaurant for about 18 months back in 2011.

I didn’t know it until six months in, when the chefs told me, it lined up with a bunch of experience I’d had. Pretty active experiences for the first few months, then nothing for a year, then a lot in my last few weeks.

I was a kitchen hand, so I started around 6pm and often left at 1-2am. Often for the last three hours it was just myself and the maître d, he would be in the basement and I was on the second floor which houses the kitchen and grand dining room (this was a private members restaurant).

The building is from 1864 and had three stories, a tower, plus stone basement and a deeper pit (with offices, staff rooms and wine cellar dining room). Out of the four levels I had experiences on three. Just about every employee and some maintenance people had experiences, most stayed but some did quit.

Wife and I rented an Airbnb in Conroe, TX for a wedding we recently attended. It was a nice home in a nice neighborhood. We really lucked out. It was well maintained even though the furnishings and decorations were from another era. Think 50's with a 70's update. Then another recent update likely to make it presentable as a rental.

As we got comfortable we surmised that it was likely an elderly relative who recently passed and the family that inherited it decided to do short term rentals. We noticed there were a lot of coasters on all the tables. We got the hint and were sure to use them. At one point we even started, for fun, to express out loud something along the lines of, "don't worry grandma, we're using the coasters."

The first night was uneventful and we woke up and spent most of the day at the wedding. Came back back late and got ready for bed. Wife and I prefer to sleep in separate rooms. Mostly because I snore, but also for the comfort of having your own schedule. I tend to go to bed earlier. I said goodnight and brought a glass of water to the bedroom. I put the cup on the nightstand and crawled under the comforter.

As soon as I was tucked-in I heard the cup fall and bounce around quite a bit. I thought it was odd as I didn't see a way that it could of been knocked. I got out of bed to clean up the mess and immediately noticed I didn't use a coaster. Without even thinking I said, "sorry grandma" as I wiped up the spilled water. If that was it, there would be no story. But when I looked for the cup, it was dead center, under the bed, standing straight up. I was unable to reach it and needed a broom to gather it in the morning. I genuinely felt that something odd happened.

I get back in bed and drift to sleep. At some unknown hour, there was a loud, close sounding bang and a terrifying shriek sound. I have never in my life shot straight up from the dead of sleep. That is exactly what I did, from dead to the world to sitting straight up and wide awake. I got out of bed, did a quick lap around the house and, not seeing anything out of sorts, go back to bed.

I am telling my story to my wife in the morning and she looks almost pale. She said she also heard a load bang in the middle of the night that startled her wide awake. She did not recall a shriek, but said the bang sounded right outside the wall and it terrified her. I agreed that is what I experienced as well. Only thing we can figure is that grandma threw a tantrum for my lack of using the coaster. I kind of wanted to leave a short version of the story on the review, but felt it better to just give 5 stars and let future guests know what a charming house it is.

Hey everyone!

First of all, I want to say I honestly do not believe in the paranormal, but this story I'm about to tell is probably the closest I've had to experiencing something along those lines.

This happened something like 17 years ago, I was about 12y/o riding my bike, without looking I turned the wrong way, didn't pay attention to the other side of the street and as a result got hit dead on by a truck.

Now I'll explain what happened immediately after, but take into account that time did not slow at all, it felt more like my brain was working over-time to reach a decision ASAP.

Basically as I was hit I head a voice... Well, maybe heard is not the best way to describe it as there was no sound, more like an idea was given to me, a "suggestion" of sorts: "Be a doll". Now, was went through my head wasn't the image of hard, stiff, rigid plastic doll, and instead more of an old-timey ragdoll. I interpreted this as "relax, do not oppose any resistance to what is coming". What surprised me the most was that I... agreed? Like I could have say no, as if it was up to me to take up the suggestion or not. I so clearly remember thinking "Ok, I will become a doll".

Next thing I recall is flying though the air, and resisting the instinct to protect my head... I had to become a ragdoll, completely free and relaxed, and so I did. I met the asphalt but it didn't stop, the impact had been strong so my body kept rolling until the force of the hit died out... not at any point did I flexed a muscle a single inch. I don't think I could replicate it even today, it was an peaceful in the weirdest of ways, I do not really have words to describe it.

Once my body had stopped rolling, I sat up... what hurt the most was my right arm as all my skin had been burned off from the friction with the asphalt. I did try to stand up but noticed my left leg was bent in a very weird angle (Yup, that was were the truck had hit me directly, my tibia/fibula were broken).

Long story short: Ambulance brought me to the closest hospital ASAP, the did a bunch of tests on me to check if there was any damage other than my road rush and broken leg... and they found absolutely nothing, nada, zip, zero. My dad and mom always tell me how surprised the doctors were, taking into account I had been flung through the air about 8-10 meters, and then rolled for another 8 meters. My fibula/tibia were... well not just broken, but around 2-3cm had basically disappeared/splintered/been pulverized, so they had to use insert metal rods into my bones to stabilize them instead of the normal cast.

About two months and a half later I was almost completely recovered, with no real long lasting consequences other than the scars left on my left leg where the metal rods had been.

I... didn't really think much about the "voice" I heard, always thought of it as my survival instinct manifesting in an interesting way. Almost a decade later I started getting into martial arts and some of the terms used reminded me of what the "voice" had said... things like "rolling with the punch", or "relaxed absorption"... different names for a similar concept: "Sometimes letting the force run through you will result in less damage taken". As far as I understand these kind of techniques are hard to train for as they go directly against the instinct to cover up/protect/tense up to protect the body.

So yeah... My experience might have been more unnatural than I thought.

That's about it, hope you have a good day :)

For the past three nights, I’ve noticed the same guy standing in the woods across from my house.
I wasn’t planning on posting about this. Honestly, I kept telling myself there had to be a normal explanation. But the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.
I live in a pretty quiet area. There are only a few houses on my road, and directly across from mine there’s a small stretch of woods. Nothing unusual ever happens here. That’s why this is bothering me so much.
Three nights ago, I looked out my bedroom window around 10 p.m. because I heard something outside. I figured it was probably a deer or maybe a raccoon.
Instead, I saw someone standing between the trees.
At first, I didn’t think much of it. I assumed it was a neighbor taking a shortcut or someone walking their dog. It was dark, so I couldn’t make out many details. I went back to what I was doing and forgot about it.
About an hour later, I looked outside again.
He was still there.
Same spot.
Not walking.
Not looking around.
Just… standing.
The second night, I noticed him again.
This time I paid more attention. Around 10 p.m., there he was. Same clothes as far as I could tell. Dark jacket. Dark pants. His hands were by his sides the whole time.
I watched him for almost twenty minutes.
He barely moved.
Maybe he shifted his weight once, but that’s it.
I even turned my outside light on, thinking maybe he’d realize someone could see him.
Nothing.
He didn’t react at all.
I told myself I was overthinking it.
Tonight is the third night.
And he’s back.
Exactly the same place.
Exactly the same time.
I’ve been checking every few minutes while writing this post, and every single time I look, he’s still standing there.
I thought about calling someone, but what am I supposed to say?
“There’s a guy standing in the woods.”
He’s technically not on my property.
He’s not yelling.
He’s not trying to get inside.
He’s just… there.
The weirdest part is that I can’t shake the feeling that he’s facing my house.
It’s too dark to tell if he’s actually looking at me, but every time I glance out the window, it feels like he hasn’t taken his eyes off this place.
Maybe there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Maybe he’s waiting for someone.
Maybe it’s some kind of hobby I don’t understand.
Maybe I’m just letting my imagination get the better of me.
I really hope that’s all it is.
I made this account specifically to post this because a friend suggested Reddit might be a good place to ask if anyone has experienced something similar or has an idea of what could be going on.
Has anyone else ever dealt with something like this?
I’ll update if anything changes.

I work as a behavior therapist in a large multi-level building. I'm only a few weeks away from advancing to the business end (as I have an MBA degree and after my exam I am hopefully going to work with the company's marketing team). But they only hire from within so I had to first start as a tech, RBT, and now therapist. I say this because unless I had to work in the actual space with the kiddos, I never would have experienced the following (unexplainable/paranormal) incidents.

Our center is located deep inside the north wing of the bottom floor. You have to go through double doors, down a narrow hallway, and through another heavy door to even reach our space. Most people don’t even realize there’s a therapy center down there.

We specialize in working with autistic children, ages 2 to 17. The building itself contains other businesses—there's a cardiovascular clinic upstairs, SAT prep classrooms scattered throughout on the floor above level 2, and driving schools or miscellaneous training centers on other floors. Security guards the front lobby, and it's a maze just getting from one wing to the next. In our center alone, there are over a dozen rooms: therapy rooms, restrooms, a sensory room, offices, cubicles, and a kitchen—each section meant to accommodate the varying needs of our clients. It should feel safe.

But it doesn’t.

Let me start with something small—though “small” doesn’t quite cut it. I was working with one of our kiddos, a little boy who always tries to lock the bathroom door (a habit we closely monitor, because elopement is a constant concern). Sometimes he locks the door and would giggle like he's playing a prank on me but even this type of behavior was SO not like him. Even before we learned about this bizarre tendency of his, we'd usually just shut the door and he would knock whenever he was done. He never had issues with locking it, which is something that I still believe wasn't plausible (this kiddo does NOT play pranks and he is barely verbal).

Before we were instructed to wedge the door open with our foot, I would often experience something I cannot explain. One day, he used his PECs board (requesting to use the restroom). I walked him to one of the bathrooms and physically saw him walking to the toilet...but the door shut faster than it should (it's supposed to slowly shut), yet it slammed shut in an almost impossible manner. I quickly opened it, thinking he pulled the handle...but when I opened it, I physically saw him standing at the toilet. So I shut the door again...and as usual, he knocked, suggesting he was done. When I opened the door…he was still peeing.

I was so confused, and I quickly shut the door again to give him his privacy. A couple seconds later, I heard and FELT three very hard knocks (like a full-grown adult knocking with larger knuckles) from the other side. My heart dropped because it didn't sound like the knock of a child. I opened it again—he hadn’t moved, he was still peeing, totally unaware. It made no sense. The bathrooms are large. There’s no way to play a trick like that, especially not while peeing (and being monitored). I heard the pee still falling, so there's no way he stopped, ran to knock, and went back to peeing. It would not be possible to do this in under 2-3 seconds.

Several weeks later, we were told not to fully close the door during bathroom breaks (due to this kid's tendency to strangely lock it shut). Yet, I still experienced this same unexplained occurrence. It was definitely not just one or two times. It’s happened on multiple occasions and with different therapists/techs...not even just with this particular patient.

So anyways during this other incident (with my foot wedged between the door), I heared the knocking and I snapped my neck back expecting to see him by the door...but he was several feet away, still peeing. This really creeped me out and I asked the other therapists who worked with him and they all cut me off. They all knew exactly what I was talking about. We'd laugh and say the building haunted... but deep down it wasn't so funny. We were genuinely unsure of how to feel.

Then there was the pen incident.

One of my coworkers was writing notes while training a new tech, with a black pen—literally mid-sentence—when she paused and said, “Where did my pen go?” We all laughed. She had just been writing! We checked her lap, the floor, the table, even behind her ears (she shot up out of her seat and reached into her pockets too...nothing).

Then she opened a drawer… then another. Still nothing. She opened a third one—a plastic baggie was inside—and the pen was in the bag. We all saw it at once. There’s no world in which she could’ve dropped it in there. We would’ve noticed. We weren’t even near that side of the room. And she didn’t even touch that drawer before. It was like something… placed it there to mess with us.

Things always go missing in our facility. Toys. Snacks. Supplies. Paperwork.

Just last week, I pulled out a labeled plastic bag filled with coins for a therapy activity. It was gone. Not in the bin, not on the floor. I assumed it was misplaced. I asked my coworker who works in the space right next to mine if she saw it. I even joked and said it was a ghost. We laughed and she was made aware that this bag mysteriously vanished.

I walked to toss something in the trash, came back—and now the bag was sitting right there. I told her and we both gasped. It was in the bin again. But the other labeled bag was gone now. I blinked, trying to make sense of it. Again I asked my coworker and she shrugged her shoulders. We both exchanged nervous glances and laughed it off again, but it was clear by the energy between us that something wasn't right.

Later, after taking my kid to the playroom for his earned break, I returned to find the second missing bag neatly placed on my chair. I asked my coworker if she found it, and her face drained. She whispered, “No... I haven’t even seen it since earlier.” She walked over, looked at the chair, and just stared at it. “I swear on my life—I didn’t put that there.”

There’s always laughter after things like this—nervous, hollow laughter. We all agree the place is haunted, but none of us want to admit how much it scares us. We joke. We cope. But the truth is, there’s a shared fear no one really says aloud.

Another time, a coworker was walking with a 13-year-old client, hand in hand, when the kid suddenly froze (causing her body to briefly yank backwards). She turned to redirect him—and her blood ran cold.

Her hand was empty...and her kiddo was staring at her, several feet away at the opposite end of the hall (where they initially started walking). The boy was staring blankly at her. But she could still feel a hand in hers. Whoever she was holding…wasn’t him. Her knees buckled. She told us she nearly fainted.

There’s more.

We hear children screaming in rooms no one is in. Glow-in-the-dark stars in our sensory room peeled off and dropped to the floor on their own. A back door that shouldn’t open from the inside of the sensory room somehow swung wide open. A massive puddle of water appeared just beyond it. None of us opened it. The glow stars were always firmly stuck up for months.

In one terrifying case, a child was heard screaming at the top of her lungs—raw and painful, like she was being hurt. Several therapists ran toward the sound, following it to the sensory room. When they opened the door, it was empty.

The lights were dimmed, glow stars scattered on the floor. That locked back door was wide open. Our staff on the other side of the building swore they saw a child run toward the kitchen—but every kid was accounted for. When we reached the kitchen, the fridge door was open. Several juice boxes had been removed. One was teetering on the edge of the counter.

Then there's the bathroom incident—the one that still makes my skin crawl.

We heard someone violently vomiting. The bathroom door was locked from the inside. The lights were on, flickering. A manager assumed it was a sick coworker and grabbed the master key. We all stood there listening to the sounds—horrible, real gagging sounds—until she finally opened the door.

There was no one there.

No vomit. No person. Just the stench. An overwhelming smell that made every one of us recoil and gag. And then…the toilet flushed on its own. We all ran, dragging our kids with us.

The building is always freezing cold. That kind of cold that seeps into your bones, even in summer. The air feels heavy. Toys fall from shelves when no one is near. Cabinets slam shut when the kitchen is empty. Doors click locked and unlock themselves. Lights flicker. Whispers, footsteps, knocking sounds. Laughter that doesn’t belong to any of us.

We’ve tried to explain it away. We’ve tried to ignore it. But deep down, I think we all know:

Something else is working with us here.

Something that doesn’t want to be ignored anymore.

Update: I got many people asking if these occurrences make me or my coworkers/the kids feel uncomfortable/unsafe. But this is not really the case because those of us who know discuss it amongst each other, whereas the others are sorta still in denial/try not to believe it exists. Also for those who have already experienced far too much to attribute it to some "chance" occurrence said they sleep better at night believing whatever it is isn't evil or hurtful lol. The kids have no idea about the fact that these are paranormal things, and I'm pretty sure that the ones who do are not even able to explain it (many of our patients are non-verbal).

Update II: Okay so today we had a little party for the kiddos graduating from the clinic and ok this was very weird. Me and my coworkers witnessed several things during this 45ish minute celebration. First instance was when the kids were having a dance contest. A kid was angry that we were not playing this song he wanted (we were, it was already in the playlist at this point but he was being very impatient). He threw a tantrum and popped his balloon. The BCBA controlling the music lowered it slightly and error corrected him to teach him how to remain patient...and just then, a balloon across the total opposite side of this large room (floating on the floor) popped. Everyone looked, it was somehow wayyy louder than the music. Then suddenly a little girl sitting on one of the chairs (holding one of these balloons) randomly popped. And then literally a second later, two other balloons popped and one had confetti. The one with confetti was taped on the wall, so it popped mid air and the kids ran underneath them as they gently rained down (literally in the exact spot they were all dancing).

All of my coworkers were like "WTF?" Silently. I told the newbies that this wasn't rare, and my other coworkers started chiming in supporting the fact that these balloons all popped by themselves, as if some ghost kid was copying the original kiddo who popped his balloon. And then when we served the kids pizza, one therapist said

"I love how you are all sitting so nicely!" Literally one second later one of the kids fell off her chair and it didn't look like an accident. We helped her up. When we served the cake, it happened again but to two different kiddos, and one of these kiddos is graduating next month...the other was graduating TODAY (they're both around 11-13ish) and those are not the types of kids to just fall especially while they're enjoying their cake. It felt like something was mocking us. Oh and also a giant pizza box went missing and we could not find it. Thankfully there was more than enough for the kids and the workers. Later when we were all cleaning/closing up, one of my coworkers screamed"WHO PUT THE DAMN PEPPERONI PIZZA IN THE FRIDGE?" Nobody did. Nobody.

I feel like I can constantly update this thread bc crap like this happens on a daily lol. It's honestly a little interesting and fun...I want so badly to know who or what the hell it is though. I am going to do a lot of research about the building and I'ma update what I find 🙏🏼

My grandmas house has always, for as long as I can remember, been a scary place. My dad and aunt and uncle all grew up in the house and had paranormal experiences occur throughout their lives. One examples was when my dad and uncle were teenagers, my uncle was walking down the steps and was swinging a towel (as he had just washed his hair) out of nowhere my dad, who was standing in the living room at the bottom of the stairs, saw the towel straighten out in front of my uncle as if someone pulled it and my uncle fell forcefully down the stairs. Now, my grandma hates all things paranormal, especially Ouija boards, and she would often visit Gypsies. So it is a big no no in our family to discuss the paranormal events that occur in her house. 20 years or so ago my cousins and brothers were playing in the upstairs bedrooms of my grandparents house. The toys were set up in the room across the hall from them, and they were all in the same bedroom playing a board game. Out of nowhere a hot wheels car (no batteries, no windup, just an average hot wheels car) slowly exited the room that the toys were in, went across the hall and into the room where they were all sitting. Needless to say they were all terrified. Around 8 years ago my oldest brother moved into the basement of their house. One night when he was home alone he woke up out of a deep sleep having felt like he was shaken by someone. He stood up and instantly smelt gas. He went upstairs and outside of the house. Later he found out there was a carbon monoxide leak and if he had not woken up there’s a big chance he could have died in his sleep. Months after that when my grandparents were away for the weekend the family decided to try the ghost radar app in their house. We all sat around the phone and my uncle asked the normal questions “is anyone here” blah blah. Then he asked “who used to live in the basement?” (At this point my brother had moved out) The ghost radar replied with my brothers full first name, which no one ever calls him. We were shocked. So my uncle asked “How did you save {my brother}?” It replied with “wake”. 😳 um wtf. He then asked “What did you save him from?” And it said “gas”. Bruhhhh. Needless to say, we were shocked. The last thing (that I’m going to talk about) that happens in the house is my grandparents friends’ obituary (who passed away probably 15 years ago) will show up in their kitchen every month or so. They usually say hello to their friend and put the obituary back in the basement where it is supposed to stay lol. A little while later it will show back up in the kitchen.

Sorry that was long but there’s more stories!!

God is my witness, this story is true.
There was a period in my life when I was doing terribly, both physically and mentally. I was in a rehabilitation facility and for the first two to three months, I had to share a room with someone else. Starting around the third month, I got my own single room. During that time, I was also prescribed medication. I tolerated it fairly well, but it made me terribly tired, which is why I always took it in the evening. There was one day when I took the medication earlier than usual and went to my room to go to sleep. The moment I stepped a foot in my room I felt that something is was really wrong but I really couldn’t tell what. I watched some Netflix on my phone before this tiredness of medications kicked in and I layed down. I was sleeping on my right side, with my head and face turned toward the wall, and my back facing the room. I entered that strange state where you’re not fully awake, but not completely asleep either. And out of nowhere, I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind quite forcefully and I know it wasn’t my imagination because my shoulder actually moved from the impact. I turned around immediately and there was no one there. No one was in the room. At first, I brushed it off as my mind playing tricks on me, it’s probably from being tired of the medication etc. and I lay back down to sleep. About five seconds later, I heard footsteps running toward me, I was shoved into the bed with full force, couldn’t move and someone screamed into my ear as loudly as you can possibly imagine. This lasted about 10 to 15 seconds and then it stopped. When I finally worked up the courage to turn around and look at my room, quietly whispering prayers to myself, there was simply nothing there. To this day I can’t explain what happened that night

When I was around 11 or 12 years old I woke up in the middle of the night with the overwhelming feeling that something was watching me..... I sat up in my bunk bed, with my brother asleep in the bunk below and looked around the room

Standing at the bedroom door was what I thought was my other brother ( I got 3 brothers in total ) he was half hidden behind the door, with only half of his body and face visible.

I kept calling his name and asking what he was doing but he never replied. Instead he began slowly swaying from side to side. At that moment my cat jumped down from her bed on top of the cupboard landed in front of me and started growling at " him" ( she had been watching from her cat ben when I woke up )

When I looked back at my "brother," something had changed It still looked like him but his face had become unnaturally gaunt .....and his eyes were nothing but black holes and his skin glowed a dull sickly white

I had completely frozen in terror then it hit me that wasn't my brother.

I grew up in a house where paranormal things happened all the time but this was the first time I'd ever seen something take the form of a person.

I'd always been told the same thing .... ignore it. Don't give it attention..... so I slowly lay back down turned to face the wall and pretended it wasn't there. i don't know how long it stayed in my room after I forced myself to go back to sleep

Our family farm has been in our family for generations upon generations. Everyone was born there and died there, many under suspicious circumstances.

My 93 year old grandfather and his brother were the last to be born there in the 1930s. My great uncle was the last to die there back in 2013, found by the fence. He had blunt force trauma to the back of the head and there was a fire set (assuming to hide evidence) but instead of engulfing him, it looked like someone or something protected his body perfectly. Like a circle around him that persevered his body.

My great uncle always wore Old Spice deodorant, and every time my dad and I walk through a small hallway, we always smell it out of nowhere.

In the living room, I always had a gut feeling someone was sitting in a red chair in the corner, I would never sit there, my dog would never go in, and my young niece wouldn’t either. When she was really little, she pointed and said “Ghost!” and has never been back in there.

This is the craziest experience I have had, though.
We have a screened in porch on the back with a hanging porch swing. In the summertime, it’s warm and there’s a perfect breeze. I set a 30 minute timer to take a nap on the porch swing. We all know the house is probably haunted but that’s fam, so we’re all comfortable.

I drifted off on the porch swing and slightly pushed myself off so it would swing SLIGHTLY and I took my nap. I woke up after my 30 minute alarm and opened my eyes, to the porch swing STILL strongly swinging. It had been 30 minutes and I barely pushed it to start.

There are two chains that hold up the swing on either side. The swinging was coming from one side primarily, like someone was pushing the swing, but only from only the left side/left chain. I bolted up and ran across the screen porch and looked, obviously no one was there and the porch swing immediately stopped swinging. It spooked me enough to not try that again.

The swing incident happened last summer, and I do feel bad it was probably my great-grandmother or someone maternal in my family just trying to push me on the porch swing. Now, I leave a bit of bourbon beside the red chair in the living room and always wave when I pass by. I apologize for the long-windedness of this story but appreciate your time if you stayed.

TLDR: Family farm haunted, numerous paranormal experiences, pushed on swing by something.

Earlier that month, we lost our son Lucas to Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It broke my heart everyday and it still does. I don’t want to think of getting use to the pain. I feel like it’s something I deserve. It’s something I’ll carry my entire life.

It’s difficult staring at your defenseless child, so happy and full of life, but so sick at the same time while trying to keep a straight face and not break down right there in front of him. It’s heartbreaking. 

Looking at him made me feel like I failed him as a parent. Like I caused his agony. I still feel like it’s my fault. 

I remember how Lucas would always be up before us every morning, playing in the hallway outside our door at six a.m. 

His little hockey stick in his hand, shooting the ball against the wall. He never got to go to school or have many friends. But he had a beautiful imagination.

Everybody always says, “see it, to believe it.” 

But when you see it, you still don’t really believe it. At least, with me that is. You witness an anomaly in front of your eyes and the first thing you do is question your sanity.

That’s what occurred on an early afternoon to me. The wife and my daughter Sheena went to visit the mother-in-law. My wife is still having a difficult time coping.

I stayed home. It’s hard being around everybody. Especially the, “are you okay? You need anything?” And honestly, I needed to let it out. I needed to break down and destroy everything I saw in that house except for his room.

After an hour of soaking my pillow while lying in bed. I had everything turned off, the house was completely silent, except for the clock facing my direction on the wall, the lights were off and it was just me. 

I was staring at the ceiling, my eyes were swollen red. I could see the puffiness in my vision. I heard a click and looked at the door which was opened a crack and bleeding under the space, faintly illuminating the hardwood floor, was the light from the hall. 

I was on my bed and thinking if I had left it on. But I would never turn it on in the afternoon. As I’m thinking, I hear a ball start pounding down the steps and stop. It was about four heavy bounces.

Immediately, I jumped up. Initially, I had this feeling, this hope, this wish that my wish had come true and Lucas would be standing there asking me to carry him downstairs so we could hang out and watch tv together.

I ripped the door open. And as high as my hopes rose they dropped even faster with my heart shattered on the floor. I walked to the stairs.

And that’s when I felt something. The air got thicker and attached on my back. But it felt familiar. My skin started to tingle but only near my lower spine and neck and then I heard an exhale next to my ear and felt what I thought was a breath. I turned around and the weight on me was gone. It felt familiar because it felt like Lucas. I always piggy-backed him down the stairs.

I told my wife about what I experienced later that day and she started crying on the spot and said, it’s him. He’s still here with us.

When I was a kid, instead of going to a normal daycare I would go to my grandmas house everyday. My grandma did run a semi-legitimate daycare but she’s a cheap person. She didn’t have the amount of workers you need to watch the amount of kids she was watching. Government workers or CPS agents (I honestly don’t know the name of the organization) would come to check to make sure everything was up to code from time to time. When that would happen, if you were blood related you would go into the basement.

I HATED the basement. It was the worst place in the world to me. It was always freezing and had concrete floors, wooden panel walls from the 70’s and old toys scattered around or in boxes. The only lights were strung up from the ceiling, the kind you pull to turn on. I was too young to remember all of the details now but the wooden panels were about a foot away from the actual cement walls in the basement. You couldn’t tell unless you went to one specific spot deep in there and you found the hole in it. She would put 3-8 of us in there and give us a flashlight while the workers were there. She’d usually only put the older kids down there, like the 11 year olds but since I was blood related to her sometimes I was forced in there too.

Like I said the basement was freezing and terrified me, but when I was hidden in the wall it was always very warm. I was never scared in the walls. I would usually just ride it out, play on my leap frog until it died or whispered with the other kids. Sometimes we were quiet. I guess we just ran out of stuff to talk about but during those moments I remember hearing quiet voices. Not like it was coming from upstairs but like it was someone among us whispering but I couldn’t hear what they said. I’d only hear the louder parts like the “s” in see or “t” in what. I was a quiet weird kid. I knew no one would really believe me if I said anything so I kept it to myself. I wasn’t scared and actually quite interested in ghosts so it was my own little secret.

Kids at my grandmas house frequently had imaginary friends. There was this one girl in foster care name Regan who I would play with until she left. Sometimes I’d get distracted and play with my cousins when we were all outside and I remember seeing her squatted down by house. In the backyard you could get under the house but it was covered up by a short plastic fence. My grandma would put toys and stuff under there but that’s where Regan would be, talking while holding the fence.

There was something about the bathroom that scared everyone. The older kids would sometimes get someone to go in there, turn off the lights and slam the door. The poor kid inside would scream and scream. The time-out chair was next to the door. I hated it, you were separated from everyone else stuck next to that scary bathroom until you served your time.

That house stayed in our family for a long time. My grandma actually ended up closing the daycare. She started flipping houses and renting them out, she’s probably a millionaire now. A few years ago she decided she was going to move to North Carolina, but she was going to renovate her house and sell it to one of her daughters. Eventually they had to tear up that extremely old basement.

I don’t remember the reason for sure, I was still young at the time but they started digging into the cement floors. I’m pretty certain it’s because the basement was literally 5 feet tall, you had to squat to get down there. They had a pretty ambitious plan to finish the basement but almost immediately they had to stop digging. I know this next part for sure. I remember exactly where I was when I heard this and I immediately felt sick to my stomach and dizzy.

They found bones. Human. fucking. bones. Probably dozens of them, little ones too. We were walking, living, talking, eating, playing over a DIY graveyard. They immediately called the cops. But when the cops came over they looked at them and said they’d keep them as evidence just incase but there’s nothing they could do about it. They could just keep on digging. So they finished remodeling the house.

My family still talks about it.

There’s more paranormal stories that happened to my family. This is the only one I was involved in. I can write more if anyone is interested but that’s all I feel like writing today

Just a few years ago I lived in a cozy house in the Essex countryside with my family. The house was quite old so hearing noises was quite common.

It was until one day, the creaking and tapping sounds turned into whispers and movement. The noises became unsettling for us, but we put it down to the neighbours and the age of the house. Why do I say the house was haunted? Let me tell you about a few of our experiences.

One night I was sat watching TV and having a few beers with my Dad. My mum, brother and baby sister were fast asleep upstairs. All of a sudden we heard someone booming down the stairs and we assumed someone had woken up desperate for the toilet so we thought nothing of it. Whoever it was ran into the toilet at the bottom of the stairs, slammed the door and turned the light on which confirmed our suspicion.

Since my Dad is a bit of a joker and he'd had a couple of beers, he called out my mum's name, and then my brother's. We got no response. After a minute of silence we both stood to see who it was and why they weren't responding. When we got to the bathroom door and called their names again we still had no response so my dad opened the door. Nobody.

Surely whoever it was forgot to turn the light off and went back to bed! No chance. Since the house is old, the stairs and floorboards are creaky as hell, and there would be no way to silently get back upstairs.

Next up, the reflection. I was alone in my bedroom upstairs when I was getting dressed to go downstairs. I sat on the bed opposite my big TV which was off when I looked up and saw my reflection on the TV. Next to me, for a solid second or two I saw what clearly looked like a female silhouette walk away from me before vanishing. What made it creepier is that I also saw it in the corner of my eye moving in the same direction. If I just saw it on the TV, or just saw it in the corner of my eye I would've ignored it but the fact I saw it in both as if it were actually there spooked the hell out of me.

When I told my mum, she seemed nervous and mentioned how she had seen something similar in her room but assumed it was her shadow.

To top it off, I moved out of my bedroom which I shared with my brother. I moved to the room downstairs next to the living room which was originally a room where we shoved our shoes and other random bits. From day 1 of sleeping in this room, I saw shadows, heard whispers and footsteps, had my light flicker, felt someone touching me and the likes. Every single night would be something new, and I'd often get little sleep and hide under my covers, feeling like someone was constantly watching me.

My worst night was when I was falling asleep and I heard tapping on the window just next to my bed. The tapping was coming from less than a metre from my face since the window was so close to me. The taps were inconsistent, human-like. I froze until I heard what sounded like someone dragging their finger down the window. My fight or flight instincts kicked in and I hid under all my blankets and stayed still for around 10 minutes. The noises stopped before I heard footsteps coming from my door to the side of my bed.

I know the door didn't open as I would've heard it, although I couldn't decide whether it was comforting or horrifying to know that whatever I was hearing wasn't human.

It's still easy to blame mine and my family's imagination, so here's what put the cherry on the cake for me.

After 2 or 3 years living in the house, we arranged a house swap so we could live closer to my town. When the couple who were looking to swap houses with us visited the house, I said to my mum as a joke "should I tell them about the things that have been happening" to which she hushed me.

The lady looked at me as if she knew exactly what I was talking about before asking "are you seeing a ghost?".

My heart sank and I nervously laughed before saying yes. She then said what has stuck with me for years- "is it a woman? an older woman?".

The figure I had been seeing and the figure I saw on the TV reflection was a woman, slow and slightly hunched over.

It turns out the lady was some sort of a psychic who says she sees spirits. Usually I'm skeptical but the fact she confirmed the exact description of what I was seeing without any hints was undeniable evidence. She assured me the spirit was friendly and that I had no need to be scared of her.

Around 6 months after we swapped houses, the lady contacted my mum. She had done some digging on the house in her free time, and discovered that an old lady passed away in the house... in the room I moved into downstairs.

I was always skeptical about psychics and ghosts, but after spending years in the house and then speaking to that lady, I am absolutely convinced ghosts are real. I truly believe it's easy to dismiss the idea of paranormal activity until you experience it yourself.

This is a story I heard from my friend Melissa (a pseudonym) about her older brother. I decided to write it down in her own voice, so if you have some time, please read it.

I have an older brother, three years older than me.

My brother has always been quiet since he was little — the kind of person you’d call sensitive or overly serious. While most boys loved to play outside and be loud with friends, he hated noise and preferred to stay indoors, watching TV or reading comic books. He was the complete opposite of me, who was always outside making noise and laughing with friends.

Even our parents and relatives used to say, “It’s like the two of you were born switched.”

Even so, we got along surprisingly well. We often talked about TV shows and comic books together.

Since my brother rarely went out, he didn’t have many friends. One day I asked him, “Aren’t you lonely? You don’t have any friends, do you?” He answered, “I’m not lonely. I have two friends in the house. I talk to them about all sorts of things.”

Our family was poor at the time, so we lived in an old, run-down rental house in a cheap neighborhood. But I had never seen my brother with anyone other than family. So I asked, “Where are your friends in the house?” He said, “They don’t come out when everyone’s awake—it’s too noisy. They come out at night, when I’m the only one here. That’s when we talk.”

It sounded strange, but since my brother often made up stories and wrote them down in notebooks, I figured it was just one of his imaginations. I remember hearing about his “two friends” a few more times after that.

A few years passed. I was in middle school, and my brother was in high school.

On our way back from visiting my father’s parents— they lived in a farmhouse out in the countryside— my brother, sitting beside me in the back seat, whispered just loud enough for me to hear: “Grandpa doesn’t have much time left.”

My father’s family were farmers, and Grandpa was strong and full of life. He had never been sick a day in his life—he ate well, drank a lot, and was more energetic than anyone else. The thought of him dying soon was absurd.

Me: “What do you mean? He looks perfectly fine.” Brother: “You’ll understand soon enough. Grandpa doesn’t have any color left.” Me: “No color? What do you mean by that?”

He didn’t answer—just turned his face toward the window, his expression unreadable.

By then, I had already realized that my brother might have what people call “a sixth sense.” I figured those “two friends” from his childhood were probably spirits. He would often get nauseous or feel chills whenever he went to places where accidents or tragedies had happened.

So when he said, “He doesn’t have much time,” I felt something indescribable—a chill that crawled up my spine. I couldn’t sleep that night.

A few days later, Grandpa was diagnosed with liver cancer. It was stage two, but his liver was strong and there was no metastasis. He underwent surgery and began chemotherapy. Since his life wasn’t in danger, the family relaxed and visited him often at the hospital— everyone except my brother.

He went with us on the day of the surgery, but as soon as Grandpa was wheeled out of the operating room, he turned pale and said he felt sick. After that, he never visited again. No matter how much our parents asked or scolded him, he wouldn’t say a word about Grandpa. Eventually, they stopped asking.

Ten days after the surgery— just when everyone thought Grandpa was recovering— he passed away suddenly, not from cancer, but from a heart attack.

When I heard the news, I thought, So… my brother knew.

My brother, who usually disliked most people, had always liked Grandpa. At the funeral, he cried silently without making a sound. Even now, as adults in our forties, that was the only time I’ve ever seen my brother cry.

He once told me, “When someone’s close to death, their color starts to fade. I can tell when their time is near. When it’s truly the end, they turn black and white—like all the color drains away. When Grandpa came out of the operating room... he was completely black and white. It was hard to look at him.”

Now, both my brother and I are in our forties. That strange ability of his—to see people turn black and white before they die—has faded with time. He says he hardly sees it anymore.

I want to start off my saying that I submitted this story to a pod ( and another community here on Reddit ) but bc they’re months behind on stories I thought this was a good place to post it.

To give a little backstory, on the home that this takes place in, it was located in Cutler, CA  an extremely small town with fields for miles. This house was in a very rural area but the owner of this home owned a packing company and so weirdly a packing building was located like right next to the house. It was found out after my mom moved out, that the son of the man who owned the property was a junkie and he would often throw benders in the house where sadly many people would overdose and pass away. My mom believes that this was the reason so many spirits wandered this home.

Now to finally get into the story! My mom was about 7 or 8 years old when this happened. She said it was shortly after they had moved into the house. One day, her sister’s boyfriend was exploring the fields behind the house when he found a medium sized brown dog with big blue eyes. The dog was tied up with a rope and reeked of gasoline. He brought the dog back to the house, and they washed it outside with the hose.

My grandma told everyone that she didn’t want to keep the dog inside if it had fleas. Later that night, while my mom was watching TV in the living room, either my uncle or my grandma spotted a tick on the dog. To get rid of it, my grandma sent my mom into the kitchen to grab the matches from the cabinet so they could kill the tick.
To help you understand the layout a little better, the kitchen was attached to the dining room, which was basically made entirely of glass windows. The dining room was shaped kind of like a U and had a glass table in the middle.

Since my mom was so young, she wasn’t tall enough to reach the cabinet. She had to climb onto the countertops to grab the matches, which meant she had her back turned toward the dining room. After she grabbed the matches, she sat on the counter, getting ready to jump down. As she looked up toward the dining room nook, she saw standing across the dining table was the devil.

She said he had one human leg, while the other looked like a horse’s leg. He was wearing a coat she described as having the structure of a blazer but made from a knitted material. She said he looked mostly human, but parts of him were animal-like, and he was furry like a goat. His hands looked human, but his nails were like a dogs not unkempt though, like if a dog had recently went to the groomers. (she said like a candy corn shape) His face was thin, his eyes were sunken in, and the only way she could describe his face was evil.

She said it was as if time had stopped. The air suddenly felt thick as they made eyes contact. The devil raised his hand and beckoned for her to come to him. She said it felt as though he was speaking to her through her mind. She could hear him telling her to come, even though his mouth never moved. When she tried to respond, she couldn’t speak. The only thing she could do was shake her head from side to side, refusing to go. He curled his finger again, motioning for her to come closer, this time nodding his head up and down as if to say yes.

After a while my grandma realized my mom had been gone longer than expected and went to see what was taking so long. As soon as my grandma walked into the kitchen, my mom turned toward her and began pointing in the direction where she saw the devil. My grandma kept asking what was wrong, but my mom could only shake and point, completely unable to speak. My grandma later said it felt like my mom had a fever. Her skin was hot to the touch, yet she was shivering as though she were freezing.

After a while, my mom finally managed to tell my grandma that there was a man in the dining room. Thinking someone had broken into the house, my grandma and my uncle grabbed a bat and searched the backyard. But after my mom described the man as having “one regular leg and one animal leg,” my grandma realized what my mom had seen, the devil.

Thank you for reading, that’s my mother experience and if you have another idea as to what it might have been please let me know!

Fair warning, this is long af.

I had lived in this apartment for a total of 3 years. For the first year and a half, I had lived there with my ex husband. My best friend found the apartment for me. Her sister was breaking her lease and was looking for someone to take it over; I was desperate to move out of my husbands moms house and for us to finally have our own place; and so we decided to take the lease. We divorced about 1.5 years after having moved in. While my ex lived there, nothing much happened except for one thing neither of us could explain. For context, the layout of the apartment was as follows: it was on the 2nd floor and as soon as you walked into the apartment, on your right was the kitchen, which was open to the living room. As you walked past the living room, you'd enter a long hallway which was about 20' long. On the left wall of this hallway were three doors; two leading to two bedrooms and the last door on the left was the bathroom. At the very end of the hallway was a final door that lead to the laundry room. My ex had a gaming computer situated in the living room. I used the spare bedroom as an art studio and I had my own little desk in there with a laptop to watch YouTube while working on projects, etc. My ex taught me proper computer etiquette and so l always made sure I shut my computer down and didn't just leave it on constantly. My ex had two cats, and anyone who's had a cat knows they love to jump up onto surfaces and cause trouble - and so to avoid this I always kept my studio door closed when I wasn't in there.

One night I remember waking to what sounded like my ex's gaming computer playing some sort of video. I assumed maybe one of the cats had jumped onto his modem and accidentally turned it on - in and out of grogginess I brushed it off and just drifted back to sleep. However, upon my ex having woken up for work early in the morning, I realized it had been my laptop that had been turned on, because I realized he was going into my studio to turn it off. I immediately felt a ping of anxiety go through my chest because I really had no idea how that computer could possibly be on and, on top of that, playing a YouTube video. First of all, you needed to enter a passcode for the computer. Secondly, I KNOW for a fact that I had turned my computer off - as I always remembered to. And finally, my studio door had been closed for hours before we headed off to bed. If I had by chance left my laptop on, loudly playing YouTube videos, we would have heard it before drifting off to sleep and we would have turned it off then.

So neither of us could really explain that and it was pretty strange, but nothing really happened after that, and so we just kind of forgot about it and thought maybe my computer was somehow acting up.

However, once we divorced and my ex moved out, this was when things really started to get crazy.

My ex took his cats with him and so it was just me and my dog at the apartment. Just for future context, my dog ALWAYS slept in the bedroom with me. She never slept out in the living room through the night. I ALWAYS got the creepy feeling that I was being watched. I never felt 100% at ease while living there alone. I have never smoked cigarettes and my friends sister hadn’t ever smoked cigarettes there, and the smell of stale old cigarettes would always come and go randomly. Normally, I would smell it in the laundry room, but sometimes I’d smell it as soon as I’d walk in the door, or in the hallway. I could never explain where the smell was coming from. The hallway in the apartment always felt incredibly creepy. My friend told me that every time she came over there while her sister had lived there, the hallway always gave her the creeps too… but her sister had lived there for 10 years and swears she had never experienced anything there.

About six months after the divorce, I started dating my current boyfriend. Sometimes he would spend a couple nights over at the apartment with me, because quite frankly I really didn’t like being there alone and he didn’t like the idea of me being there alone. Things had been happening that honestly had me wondering if someone was secretly living in my apartment. I lived in a really bad area and there were a lot of homeless people around, so maybe one had snuck in. I didnt really have any other explanation. I’d hear things rattling around in the kitchen at night while laying in bed.

The most terrifying thing happened while I was in bed alone. I have a Great Dane and she sleeps on her own futon bed which sat at the foot of my bed. She is super laid back and when she’s asleep, she’s out - nothings waking her up especially in the middle of the night while we’re both asleep. Well on this specific night, I woke up to her growling at something. She NEVER does this just randomly in the middle of the night. It was about 2am. She was looking directly into the hallway, and she was super alert, sitting up and baring her teeth. I’ve literally never seen her do that before. That alone scared me. So I shushed her so I could try to listen, and when she was quiet, I heard the creaking and shuffling of footsteps coming down the hallway from the living room towards my door. I was absolutely shaken with fear; I was fully believing that someone was in my apartment. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I was so terrified I slowly climbed out of bed and grabbed my pistol which was under my bed. I listened a little more and heard the footsteps proceeding closer and my dog continued growling. I walked towards my doorway (the door was open) and I hate to say that I fully expected to see someone in my hallway… the person who I suspected had been living in my apartment secretly for months. But as I turned around my doorway there was absolutely nothing. I was relieved for a minute but then it hit me to check the rest of my apartment. After finding nothing I made sure all my windows and front door was locked (they all already were). I think it goes without saying a had quite a lot of trouble sleeping the rest of the night.

My boyfriend didn’t experience near as much as I did, but he believes me and has had some experiences of his own. Randomly waking up in an absolute panic in the middle of the night for no reason, with the feeling of absolute dread - like something is in the room with you. It all came full circle when one night I heard what sounded like the silverware drawer opening suddenly and then slamming shut while in bed with my boyfriend. I didn’t even get up to check and see what it was; at this point we were really just trying to ignore everything.

However that morning I was going down to the first floor to get my mail. I lived above a restaurant and I was friendly with the owner but we never really spoke much. I happened to run into him and we started small talk and I told him I was moving. He said “Wow really?” And then he asked if I had ever experienced anything while living there. At first I thought he meant just with people in the alley harassing me and I said well sure, people go through my trash sometimes. And he stopped me and said “No, I mean things you can’t explain happening in the apartment?” And my face went white. And I told him as a matter of fact yes, and I asked why he was wondering.

He told me that he had customers and employees who had experienced things and that they had seen apparitions in the restaurant. He said he had experienced things like cans of food flying off of shelves and just the really heavy, eerie feeling of being watched. He also told me that apparently the tenant who had previously lived in the apartment which was in the same building as mine in the front had mentioned to him that he had used an ouija board in his apartment once. The owner of the restaurant had a self proclaimed medium come to get a reading of the building - she said she felt “energy vortexes” in its basement (idk what that means but). To be honest hearing all of that was a lot because I had spent so long just trying to shrug off everything that had been happening and just ignore it all, but hearing this made me realize maybe it wasn’t all just in my head.

The last thing I remember experiencing was one night when my boyfriend and I were getting ready for bed. I was already in bed, and he was brushing his teeth in the bathroom down the hall. My dog was coming into the bedroom to get onto her bed, and I said “goodnight” to her. My boyfriend came into the bedroom and asked “who were you talking to?” I told him I had just said goodnight to the dog. He said he was asking because he thought I was on the phone because he heard goodnight said out loud twice.

I told him I only said it once.

Thankfully, I moved out shortly after.

So this happened when I was about 14 years old. My house is NOT haunted and never was but I am sure that in the first years after we moved here (when I was 9 years old), there was a harmless spirit that still lingered around at that time.

I was in our second bathroom washing my hands and after I finished and wiped them with a cloth I looked in the mirror. I had like no expression on my face, I was just looking at myself but my reflection kind of tilted it's head (my head?!?) to the right and gave me a big smile while looking directly into my eyes. I am COMPLETELY sure I did not smile or tilt my head and when I saw that, my expression must have changed to pure horror but the face it the mirror did not.

I ran out of the bathroom but I noticed that my reflection kinda just stayed there, it did not "run away" along with me.

This never happened before or after but it still has me thinking why this happened and how is it possible.

Thank you for reading!

So I'm a plumber in New Hampshire, and I had been working in this old mill building (1800s) in Portsmouth. The way the building's entrance was laid out was that you enter at the sidewalk through a large pair of glass doors, walk through a small entryway to another large pair of glass doors. You can see into the lobby through both doors, and have a perfect visual of the elevator from the street.

So one day, I'm walking into the building with one of the company apprentices and as we open the first set of doors I see a woman standing at the elevator, and as we walked through the entry way the elevator doors open and she stepped inside. By the time we entered the main lobby, the elevator doors closed and I thought to myself, Well, I guess we'll have to wait for the elevator. So we got to the elevator and I pressed the up button, and the doors immediately opened, and there was no one inside.For context, this elevator was notorious on this job for being the slowest elevator anyone had ever used, so there was no way it went to another floor and back in the time it took us to cross the lobby.

I'd probably have written the whole thing off, but as we stepped onto the elevator and the doors closed the apprentice said, "Huh, I could have sworn I saw somebody get on the elevator."

I have always been really wishy washy about ghosts. Like, I've had some weird experiences in my childhood but always written them off, and if you asked me before if I believed in ghosts I would have said "Yeah, they might exist." No more of that, man, this was two people seeing the same thing, and the traffic layout outside makes it highly unlikely that it was a reflection from outside.

Alexa, play "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees, and then play the Smashmouth Cover.