Halloween is over but you still haven't gotten your fill of ghost stories? Hoping to shift your normal into the paranormal? Looking to improve your repertoire of campfire stories?
Lucky for you, these people's finest paranormal and otherwise creepy stories are here to help. Here on in you'll find some tales that are sure to leave you questioning what is real and what is fake. Can we vouch for these being 100% true? Definitely not, this is the internet we're talking about here, c'mon!
But honestly, we encourage you to read these all— if nothing else for the entertainment value. There are a few friendly ghosts, a few ghosts minding their own business, and several kids who can see and talk to dead people. Y'know, the usual fare.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
35. Talk About Relationship Building
34. A Creepy Character At The Nursing Home
My mom and I visited my grandma at her senior home and left at like 10 PM. I went out the front doors and bumped straight into this dude's chest.
I said sorry and backed away but when he didn't respond I felt a bit weirded out and looked up to see this HUGE tall middle-aged dude (I think he was like seven-foot) with a black fedora and black suit and really wide eyes and a briefcase. He had huge wide eyes, and he kept staring at me without blinking or saying a word.
Then my mom called for me to hurry up and follow her to the car. When we got in the car I asked her who she thought that man was. She said "What man?" I explained what literally just happened and she said she didn't see any man. I turned around and the dude was gone.
Creepiest thing that's ever happened to me.
Everyone I've told this to says I bumped into death? I never thought about that before, I thought it was just some weird dude who somehow quietly got in the door even though it has a welcome beep. But I guess it was at a senior home and it's right next to a cemetery, so it makes sense, and now I feel even more creeped out by this memory. Thanks, everyone.
33. When the Dogs Are Freaked Out, You Know It's Time To Go
I was 15ish and babysitting a neighbor girl down the road from my parents' house. The house was older, but I never thought it was "creepy." They also had this awful rat terrier that would bark at everything... worst dog ever.
Once the girl went to bed, I sat in the living room and was watching TV. The dog started freaking out, but instead of barking at the door like normal, she started barking at the corner of the room. Then she would run to another room and bark and come back to where I was like she was following something. Finally, she stayed in the kitchen barking for a solid two minutes.
Afraid that she was going to wake the girl up, I went into the kitchen to quiet her down. When I walked in, I froze and saw that every single cabinet door in the kitchen was open. All of them! I grabbed the dog and ran to the living room. After she stopped barking, I went back into the kitchen and closed everything. Thankfully the dad came home soon after.
I refused to go back and my parents never believed me. I still get freaked out when I think about it.
32. Even After Dying, Grandpa Still Doesn't Like Change
Anyway, we went down to my grandparents' house in Florida for a long weekend to attend the funeral, etc. We're all chatting the first night there in the living room, and my mom was sitting in the chair.
My little brother goes up to my mom and says "Grandpa wants his chair back." My mom asks him where grandpa is, thinking he probably didn't understand death, to which he responds, "He's right behind you."
My mom BOLTED off that sofa immediately.
31. Somehow It's Worse That It Only Happened To Half Of Them
When I was in college, my friend group was rather big (10 or so of us) and we always went to lunch together at the cafeteria across campus every day. Outside of the atrium, which we had to go through to get the cafeteria, there are bushes running alongside the pathway so we're walking to lunch in groups of two. There were four or five in the first group and four of us (including me) in the trailing group.
The first group walks between the bushes and keeps going, but as soon as my group walks between the bushes we all kind of just stop. The most uneasy feeling just washes into me and I'm a bit disoriented. The other guys felt it too then it hits us all at once that someone is missing, but we can't remember who or anything about them. We do a count and we're all there, but we all are swearing there was one more person that's now just gone. We catch up to the first group and ask them and they have no idea what we're talking about. It's one of the weirdest things to ever happen to me. I believe in the supernatural but I take an incredibly skeptical view, but I can't explain that.
30. One Of Those Things That Probably Has A Reasonable Explanation...
I got home from work very early in the morning, 2:30 AM. My house has an entryway or mudroom before you actually get into the house. I open the front door, step inside, close front door and proceed to try and find the key to get through the next door to get into my house.
So the only light in this entryway is through the glass on the front door, the rest of the room is completely black and I can barely see my hands in front of my face. All of a sudden I start to hear this...buzzing/vibrating?...noise behind me off to the right. House is old so maybe just weird house noises. Still looking for the key when I notice that the noise is getting louder, closer, and it has risen in pitch to something like a woman was humming loudly. Maybe it's just ringing in my ear. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow that I thought was from light reflecting outside, move towards me creeping along the wall...that's when I noticed the vibrating noise was also getting closer to me and it seemed to be coming in the same direction as the now moving shadow. I'm pooping my pants trying to open this door and, when I finally do, the noise stops, the shadow disappears, and I'm hoping it was all in my head.
29. Clearly, He Should've Been Filming At 9 Not 10
Whenever I’d turn off onto my road, I’d go up it about half a mile and see this girl (like a teenager) in a blue dress with a light blue ribbon tied around her waistline, walking down the road. It was around fall and she was barefoot and grinning ear to ear with mascara stains running down her face from some heavy duty crying. I told my then girlfriend the story, and she didn’t really believe me. It happened for the next three nights, and each time I just stared at her, my heart beating hard in my chest. I never stopped to see what was the deal— who in their right mind would? The fourth night I waited until 10 PM to bring my girlfriend home. Then when I turned onto my road, I pulled out my phone to film the rest of the trip. I didn’t see anything, and I haven’t seen her since.
28. But Did They Check The Bathroom?!
I never told him about the nightmare I had earlier in the day. I didn’t sleep for two days. Nothing ever happened again.
27. Thank Goodness There Was An Explanation
26. Did A Ghost Just Save Your Life?
I was living with my now mother-in-law in a house she had just purchased a few months before. We had all had various weird "feelings" or experiences in the house. My mother-in-law was having these dreams a few weeks after moving in about the house catching on fire and burning to the ground with us all inside. Horrible.
About three weeks after these dreams, we woke up one morning and distinctly smelled smoke coming from the house somewhere. Panicked, we all started searching and eventually came to the garage. On a rafter, we noticed smoke coming out from around a fluorescent light fixture. At that moment I realized... my God, it's attached DIRECTLY to this old dried out beam! The light was left on all night and it was clearly burning the rafter ever so slightly. Lights are not supposed to be secured/screwed on to a rafter like that.
So we like to think our ghost hosts were looking out for all of us. After that, her dreams stopped. Thanks, Ghosty!
25. A Haunted Homecoming
24. Ghost Or Imaginary Friend
I had just parked at the bank. I was six months pregnant and my oldest was three.
I heard screeching and looked up to see a motorcyclist slam into the side of a box truck. The motorcyclist went flying and the motorcycle slid for quite a distance. The motorcyclist landed about 15 feet from me. He was very obviously deceased. I ran into the bank and asked them to call 911. The rest is a blur.
That same night, I was doing things around the house and the three-year-old was in her bed. It was around midnight. I heard some static on the baby monitor. I then heard my three-year-old's voice. (Everything below is what she said.)
Hi. What is your name? Oh. I’m [three-year-old's name]. Are you ok? Why weren’t you wearing a helmet? Yes. Ok. No. I’m not scared. Ok. Yes, sir. Ok. Goodnight.
I snuck into her room and never saw anything. She was asleep but sort of restless.
The next morning I asked her if she had any dreams and she said no. I asked if she was sure and she said yes. A little while later she was playing and said...
Daughter: [Man’s Name] said he was sorry.
Me: Who?
Daughter: [Man’s Name].
Me: Who is that?
Daughter: The man on the motorcycle.
Me: You talked to him?
Daughter: Yes. He was very nice. He said he was sorry for what I saw.
She then went into detail about their conversations complete with names of his children and details of his life.
About six months later, I was at the grocery store and was checking out. There was a teenage boy in front of me. An older woman approached him and asked how he was. They made small talk. In the conversation, they discussed how his father was killed in an accident and he was doing okay, but it’s been rough on his family. As the conversation progressed he updated the woman on his family members. The same family members my daughter mentioned the night of the accident. The woman then said his name and said if he or his mother need anything not to hesitate to call her. His name and his mother's name matched the son and wife’s name my three-year-old described to me. The boy was motorcyclist's son.
23. Even If It Was Just Sleep Walking, It's Still Creepy
When I was in college I house sat for my parents. I’m a bit of a scaredy cat so I locked every door leading up to the bedroom when I went to bed at night. I had the weirdest dream that someone unlocked each door and turned on every light, I felt cold and woke up to my dog barking. All of the lights in the house were on and every door open and unlocked. My dog wouldn’t stop barking at nothing in the hallway. I sat in the shower with my dog and a phone for the rest of the night, scared to death.
Unsplash / Jelleke Vanooteghem
22. If Your Man Doesn't Visit You In The Afterlife, Was It Every Really That Serious?
We would visit and, unfortunately, watched her get worse. There was a nurse that took my mother aside and told her "This may sound crazy, but I am a sensitive and there has been this man standing in the corner of the room watching her. When I see this, this usually means she doesn't have long, maybe two days at most."
My mom calls me, tells me about it and we rush to the nursing home to give her our goodbyes. After the last person visited her, she passed away.
Unsplash / Siarhei Plashchynski
21. Comfort From A Ghost Or An Angel
I was about 17 and was in my bedroom crying my eyes out over something. Home could be difficult at times, and that evening I was really upset. I really needed someone to talk to, but the only phone in the house was downstairs where my parents were so calling a friend wasn't an option. I didn't know what to do to deal with the crap I was trying to live with and really felt that it couldn't go on for much longer. I remember thinking "please, someone, just help me!" Not a prayer as such, I'm not really sure if that does any good; more sort of a mental scream into the void. There was definitely no one in the room with me (it was a tiny room) and I had my back to a chest of drawers.
And then I felt a something on my left shoulder as if someone was standing behind me and resting their hand on me. I could feel the weight of each individual finger, and the palm cupping my shoulder, and I could feel a warmth from it. It didn't scare me, but it was enough to stop me crying. I guess the feeling lasted for a minute or so and then just stopped. I have no idea what it was, but it was enough to calm me down. I wish I could feel it again.
20. Beware The Stapler-Stealing Ghost
19. If They Had Stayed To Investigate They Definitely Would've Been Off'ed By A Ghost
The very first hotel that I worked at, I started at the front desk and worked 3 PM-11 PM shift. There was someone there with me from 2-10 PM, so I always had a little more than an hour where I was alone at the desk. Our kitchen closed at 10 PM so usually by 10:15 PM, it was only the bartender and me still there. One night, it was almost 11 PM and there was a huge noise that came from the kitchen area. The bartender and I ran back there and saw that every single pot, pan, ladle, spoon (everything else that was hanging from the ceiling racks), were on the ground. After our shift, we watched the camera back and there was NO ONE in the kitchen when it happened. I was able to see every single item hit the floor, at the exact same time! I have no explanation for it other than it was one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me and I could not get out of there fast enough.
18. This One Has A Confirmed Origin Story And Everything
I was eight years old on Christmas Eve and lived on the third floor of a large house that was converted into apartments. I had trouble falling asleep. I saw a boy floating outside my window wearing one of those old beanie hats with the propeller on top. I threw the covers over my head and eventually fell asleep. The next morning my parents told me that they saw a figure of a small boy sitting at the end of their bed and asked if it was me, which it was not.
A few years later, we had some plumbing work done and they had to tear up the floorboards. An old book was found that had pictures of the property from about 60 years prior. There was a picture of the boy I saw in there and it turns out that he was shot during a hunting accident on the property and died. Still freaks me out to this day!
17. Unknown Evil Twin? Dissociative Personality Disorder? Possessed?
16. Can Someone Look Up The Coordinates Of Area 51 And Cross-Reference This?
15. Every Noise Is Scarier When You're Camping
14. Who Else Is Creeped Out By Synchronized Dreams?
But here is the real spooky part... I once mentioned the lizard man to my dad, and he got super white in the face and his voice was all shaky and he just said. "This dream took place at our house in East Saint Paul? The one with the apartments right behind it?" And I said "Yes! That's where I'd always go to hide!... how did you know that?!" And he said "Because I have the exact same dream." and I dunno if it was just the way he said it or just the overall situation or both, but I still get goosebumps thinking about it. It's quite chilling.
13. Tunnel Of Terror
Had something like this happen. Driving down this backroad after work trying to get home since the main road was blocked from an accident. I enter this area where there’s no houses and trees overhang the road, almost like a tunnel. Well about as soon as I enter the tree tunnel, my headlights shut off. It’s like 9 PM in the Fall, so it's pitch black. I immediately stop and back up, my reversing lights aren't working either so I just hold the wheel straight. I had only driven a couple seconds in, so I was maybe a hundred feet into the tunnel, but I had been reversing for about a minute at this point and couldn't see anything still. I check my phone, it's dead, the screen doesn't turn on or anything, watch stopped ticking, nothing electronic in my car is working.
At this point, I'm looking around and I can't even see the road or the trees that were supposed to be around me. I step out of my car and look up and can't see any stars or anything, no moonlight. I walk to about where the other side of the road should be, and I just keep walking along a flat plane. Keep in mind the roads where I am are angled on both sides so water doesn't pool up, yet where I was standing was completely flat. I walk backward straight so I don't lose my sense of direction. I manage to get back in my car and just start driving. I was going about 80 for a solid 10 minutes, on what was supposed to be a winding back-country road with a 40mph speed limit before I just decided to wait it out and sleep until morning, if there was even going to be a morning. I fall asleep and wake up to the sunlight coming through my window.
In the middle of a field. In the middle of nowhere. No houses nearby, nothing.
I go to check my phone and it's dead but the screen turns on to let me know it has no battery charge left. The car turns on and all of the lights come on. Onboard GPS tells me I'm about 5 hours away from my house, in a borderline uninhabited part of the state. Full tank of gas. No mileage difference from the day before. Watch is ticking normally and showing about what would be the correct time given the sun’s position. I start the long drive home and haven’t traveled that road again and never ever will.
12. These Kids And Their Dead Grandparents...
The night my great-grandmother passed, my mom and I had already been to visit my grandparents and my great grandmother a couple of days. We all knew her time was coming soon, so we wanted to make it memorable. She even met her first great-granddaughter when my cousin brought her daughter to see them. The night after my cousin left with her daughter, I had a dream that I was talking to my great-grandmother and she had been sharing some wisdom and saying goodbye.
My mom woke me up in the middle of that dream, at 4:30 in the morning, to let me know that she had passed peacefully in her sleep and we needed to say goodbye. Of course, in the grogginess that comes with being woken up from a sound sleep at 4:30 in the morning, I had said “but I just said goodbye...” and freaked my mom out.
11. I Guess I Need To Up My Essential Oil Diffuser Game
I was having a lot of problems with a woman I was working with and her bullying was really getting to me. I told a friend about it and she suggested I visit a botanica. I'm Catholic, so I've always been open-minded to things like Santeria and Kimbanda, I figured there was little to lose. If nothing else it would make me feel better.
The guy at the botanica sold me a special candle, oil, and herbs. He prescribed me a nine-day ritual which involved bathing in herbs whilst saying certain Catholic prayers, burning the candle at certain times of day whilst reading psalms from the bible and dabbing the oil on a photo of the woman I'd printed off of social media. The idea was to "cut her out of my life". There were other specifications, but I won't go into it here.
About a week after completing the nine-day ritual the woman left my place of work, she just didn't show up one day and never came back. In the following days, I heard several rumors about her having nonspecific "problems", the implication being some sort of mental health problem or family tragedy. I never saw her ever again. Still gives me chills when I think about it.
10. They Found A Rip In The Time-Space Continuum
I dropped my mug onto the floor accidentally. Heard no noise when it hit the floor, go to pick it up, and it's gone.
I honestly went to bed and pondered what happened and slept feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Alas, I never did find the mug. Still bothers me to this day.
9. Prankster, Even In Death
My uncle died two years ago. And he was always super playful. Like a prankster I guess, he would mess with people. Like when I’m taking a warm shower he would pour ice cold water onto me.
Every so often when I’m taking a warm shower and no one else is around the water would turn freezing cold for a split second and come back. And there’s nothing wrong with the water heater since it only happens to me and no one else.
I did take a lot of his stuff and put it into my room, like his posters, street signs etc. and every so often they would just fall off their hooks and fall onto the ground. And I have our street sign hanging right above my head where he has his and it landed right next to me one night and it scared me.
There are multiple other times like those but this one time really scared me.
When my dad wanted me to help him with making an outlet in the basement he needed some tools from the garage and I went over to grab them. Trying to look through the mess that it is the lights start to flicker. After a while I got the idea to say “Leave me alone, Phil, I’m helping Dad” and they would stop for a minute. And then they would come back and I would say the same thing. Before long I would say louder “Phil please stop, you’re scaring me I don’t like this” and it stopped and didn’t happen again.
8. Again With The Kids And Their Grandparents
The dream itself wasn't that creepy. In fact, it was very pleasant. In my dream, I spent the day with my step-grandfather. He tried to teach me how to golf, we jogged together, and ended the day at his house. He needed help cleaning out his room up in the attic, and I was happy to help. As we were cleaning, though, I started to notice a theme between all the items we got rid of. Old baseball cards, baseball caps, his entire Strat-O-Matic records... all of these things were very important to him. When I asked him why we were getting rid of these things, he just told me that he didn't need them anymore. It was about then that the dream ended.
The creepy bit came when I woke up. That morning, my parents broke the news to me that my step-grandfather had passed away in his sleep. As for all the things he and I threw away in the dream? Those were all given to us in his will.
7. Desperate For An Ashtray
I returned inside the house about an hour later, and the ashtray, still lying on the kitchen table, was filled with cigarette ash. No cigarette butts, just ash. I felt a faint scent of cigarette smoke in the house; definitely not as strong as I would have expected, judging by the amount of ash. As I said, the ashtray was definitely empty and clean when I found it and put it on the table. I took a kitchen knife and carefully searched the entire house; nobody was there. I checked all the doors and windows; they were locked. Then I searched the house again, checking if there was any cash or valuables missing, but it was all there. I called all my friends, even non-smokers, and asked them did they happen to drop by my house that day. They all said no. I also inspected locks for damage, but there didn't appear to be any.
I changed locks, just in case, and had trouble sleeping for days afterward. I actually stored the ash into a bag, and I still keep it in the drawer, just in case. Though I doubt it will actually resolve or prove anything.
The day after that bizarre incident, a murder took place in my neighborhood. A mentally disturbed girl with a history of drug abuse stabbed a convenience store cashier to death, following an argument over a pack of cigarettes. It is very likely unrelated, but sometimes I wonder. I don't keep spare keys in the yard, in front of the door or anything like that, in case someone is wondering.
6. Stay Out Of The Basement, Dude
I was sleeping in my basement (pretty much my bedroom) and I woke up at some random time in the night for no reason. Rolled over and saw a black figure, probably around 5’ 10” and typical male physique, standing at the side of my bed. It was standing between the bed and the stairs so there was no way to nope out, I just rolled over and straight up started praying. I rolled back over and it was gone.
The next morning I was in the shower (also in the basement) and the curtain was pushed to the side, not like all the way but it noticeably moved. Then when I got out of the shower my cello’s D string was plucked three times then rung out (which was laying against my chair in the basement). Then I went upstairs and my brother had a hand print that reached across his neck and cheek, it was too big to be his hand but he was perfectly fine and he slept through the night uninterrupted.
5. That Is A Good Gut Instinct Right There
Later found out that there was a major accident on the road she takes on her daily commute.
4. Raccoon Or Supernatural Life Form?
I went into the attic quite often to get various things. It’s where we kept large toy containers, old clothes, and stuffed animals, and I just liked seeing what I could find. It always felt like I was being watched, though. One time I went up there, and as I reached the top of the stairs, I saw a large, translucent alien-shaped white head looking at me from behind a box. I froze, terrified, and locked eyes with it for a few seconds before it slowly lowered itself down to hide. I turned right back around and left, telling myself I had imagined it, but I was scared to go in the attic for years after that.
I didn’t tell anyone for years. My parents eventually sold the house and we moved, and I’ve never felt the same way anywhere else I’ve lived.
3. "How Many Times Do I Have To Tell You To Leave This Door Open?!"
2. Take Care Of Your Mental Health
Naturally, this was freaking me out, but then something changed. One day, I woke up to find a note slipped under my bedroom door. "Can we be friends?" At this time I lived alone, and you couldn't get to the outside of my bedroom without having keys for both the apartment complex and my unit. Nobody besides myself and my landlord had those keys. Not really knowing what else to do, I grabbed a pen and wrote back "OK."
From then on, I didn't hear the footsteps anymore. No more rustling of leaves, either. But every now and then, I'd be thinking through something or talking to myself in my head, and I'd hear this wonderfully sweet little giggle. It never surprised me, and it never felt wrong to hear. Honestly, it kinda felt like when you'd make your crush giggle; there was the same warmth and satisfaction. Whoever this ghost was, we were friends! Over the next several months we became better friends, actually talked, and eventually started to see her. Supernatural, right? No, turns out I'm just mildly schizophrenic. Take care of your mental health, y'all.
1. "Dad Doesn’t Like It When I Stay Up Too Late"
March 2015. My father passed a month or so earlier. I wasn’t sleeping well. I would be up later and later at night. My father used to always get on me for staying up so late because it’s ruining my sleep schedule and affecting my work, standard parenting stuff.
It’s about 2:30 AM and I'm watching YouTube on my PS4. Power in the house flickers. I check the window, no rain or wind or anything. I figured somebody hit a pole somewhere. Couple minutes later. Power goes out for a second, comes right back on. Nothing was effected. Which is weird because when the power goes out, electronics reset. Check the window again, still nothing happening outside. A couple minutes later, power goes out for almost a whole minute. From the couch, I can see the street light outside is still lit, as well as the other houses on the street. Power comes back on and EVERYTHING is still as it was. The video continues where it left off, clocks haven’t reset, nothing. It’s now 2:37 AM. I audibly said “okay” and went to bed.
Next morning I wake up for work. The clock on the oven says 11 something in the morning. My phone says 7:23 AM. It was around 11 when my father left the house the day he passed.
Fast forward to January of this year, the three-year anniversary of my father's passing, I can’t sleep. I’m upstairs of my NEW home, watching Netflix. Power flickers and goes out. I immediately said: “okay, I’m going to bed”. Power comes back on. Next morning, getting ready for work, oven clock says 11:41 AM.
Dad doesn’t like when I stay up too late.
