r/Ghoststories

We used to live in a house that was around 80 years old. Every now and then I would hear knocking sounds or footsteps, but nothing too unusual.

One morning, I woke up at around 10 a.m. I stayed in bed for another 10–20 minutes before finally getting up and opening my bedroom door. Before I did, I loudly called out, “Good morning!”

Before anyone answered, I heard my father and his wife walking around upstairs. I could hear them laughing and hear my father talking. A few seconds later, my father shouted “Good morning!” back down to me.

After that, I went into my grandmother’s room. This might be important to mention…(my grandmother had suffered a brain hemorrhage years earlier and could barely walk, she couldn’t take any stairs anymore so she for sure wasn’t upstairs under those circumstances). I asked her if she needed anything because I was planning to go shopping.

She looked at me and said that my father and his wife had left for the city over an hour ago to go shopping, and that I should call them if I needed anything.

Confused, I picked up my phone and called my father. They weren’t home.

So who… or what… had wished me good morning?

About 30 minutes later, they came back home. I asked both my father and his wife if either of them had shouted “good morning” to me earlier, but they both told me they had already left the house around 9 a.m.

So what exactly was it that answered me that morning?

This happened with my friend back in 2015. I am from India. I belong to the state of Himachal Pradesh and I was born and raised in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. Himachal is known as Devbhoomi(the land of deities), so a state where Deities exist, Ghosts and witches will also exist there. It's a very common thing to encounter supernatural in Himachal. It's because 90% area of Himachal is covered under forests and mountains, so ghosts prefer areas like that, which are away from population and make it their abode.There's a famous tourist spot named as Prashar Lake in Mandi where many tourists visit it throughout the year. Back in 2015, it wasn't explored much by tourists from other states and it was only known and visited by the local people of Mandi. My friend was scared shitless when he narrated me this story and I know he didn't lie about this at all. His name is Chaitanya. One day, he went with his another local friend on a two wheeler(scooter)to Parashar Lake. It's about 45kms away from where I and Chaitanya lives in Mandi. They went in the afternoon, reached Prashar, visited the temple, clicked some photos, relaxed over there for sometime and started their return journey around 5pm. On their return journey from Prashar Lake to Mandi town, it was already dark by that time. Between the journey of Mandi town and Prashar Lake, you will encounter many spots where there's pin drop silence everywhere and the place is isolated and silent. With thick deodar and pine trees surrounding both sides of the road giving off an eerie vibe even during the daytime, there are a lot of lonely stretches on the road. No population, no house and completely isolated area. So, on their way back home, when it was pitch dark, un fortunately their petrol (gas) tank got empty and ran dry and engine immediately lost its power and the two wheeler stopped. They ran out of gas. In india, what's most popularly called as Gas in western countries is known by petrol. The two wheeler belonged to Chaitanya's friend so he scolded his friend and confronted him in anger that why he hadn't kept the tank full before they started their journey. After spending some time on that lonely road with no traces of a nearby house so that they could ask for help from someone, both decided to drag the two wheeler as far as they can so that if they find a nearby house, they can borrow some petrol(gas) from them. After dragging the two wheeler for sometime, they noticed a girl coming from the opposite side of the road. It was pitch dark at that time and there was no street light or anything. The very first thought which came into chaitanya's mind was , what is this girl doing all alone by herself at this lonely stretch of road and also there's not a single house nearby. As the girl approached closer to Chaitanya and his friend, they both were mesmerised as she was extremely beautiful and was wearing a himachali traditional woman attire of a village girl. Chaitanya was smart enough to realise that something was really off about the whole situation and this girl so when that girl came closer to Chaitanya, he tried to ignore her completely and decided that he will not communicate with the girl no matter what happens. But to their surprise, the girl all of a sudden approached Chaitanya and his friend and asked them in curiosity, "Where are you going"? Chaitanya chose not to reply to her, ignore her completely and kept dragging his two wheeler. But as she noticed that both of them are ignoring her, she said to Chaitanya, "Do you wanna see a magic trick" ? And as soon as she said it, Chaitanya lost his mind and was scared shitless to what he experienced after that. The girl touched her one finger of her left hand with her right hand and plucked out/removed all her fingers from the palm one by one with her right hand and joined them back. I repeat again, The girl separated/removed all the fingers of one hand one by one from the palm and joined them back again. He looked at her feet. Her feets were turning backwards. And seeing this, a chill ran down the spine of Chaitnaya and his friend and they both shouted at the top of their lungs and hurried up dragging the scooter along with them and running away from the girl while reciting Hanuman Chalisa simultaneously. When they turned back to see the girl, she had disappeared into thin air and was nowhere to be found. Later, after some minutes of struggle to drag the scooter down the road, they finally found a home and knocked on their door and told everything to the local resident about what they encountered. The local resident later scolded Chaitnya and his friend that not to travel on that road at this point of time when it's already pitch dark. A chudail(witch) haunts the road for years and many people have encountered her at the same spot in the past. They both borrowed the petrol(gas) from the resident, filled the tank and reached back home safely late night. And I can never forget even to this day that when he narrated me this whole story, he had goosebumps telling about it and his hands were shivering. A chudail(witch) often takes on the form of an extremely beautiful woman to lure and attract men so that she can hunt them later on. I consider my friend very brave to have encountered something like this and not losing his mind and consciousness while facing her for the first time in his life to which many others would've fainted right at the spot

Hi! First poster, long time lurker. It's a bit of a long one, so I'll dive right in.

For a little bit of context; I live in the UK. My house is big and old. And I mean super old. Like built in 1920's. I moved into my house in June 2020. I've always been a believer in the paranormal, having had a few experiences since I was a kid.

When I first moved in with my now ex boyfriend (I'll call him B for ease), everything was fine. It's an old house, echoey, creaky, etc. He was always a skeptic, but this experience has turned him into a believer.

This didn't start until April 2021. After I found out I was pregnant. I was working full time all through my pregnancy, but I had woken up feeling so exhausted during my first trimester, that I called in sick and was home alone while B was at work. I was asleep in bed upstairs and I was woken up by, what sounded like B, calling my name from downstairs. I was confused as I hadn't even settled into a deep sleep after he left. I checked the time and it had only been half an hour. I dragged myself up and called out, asking why he's home, thinking he maybe forgot something or got his shift times mixed up. But there was nobody there...

I searched the entire house. Nobody. I texted B and asked if he came home at all. He didn't reply as he was working, so I got back into bed but I couldn't go back to sleep. He called me on his lunch and I asked him again, if he had came home. He told me that he hadn't came home, so I explained what had happened and he brushed it off as me just being tired, and even had me convinced that I had imagined it. But I managed to sleep a bit more.

The next time it made itself known was to B a few months later. I was around 5 months along and got big very quickly during my pregnancy. I struggled with stepping in and out of the bath, so I would call down to B for him to come and help me when I was ready to get out. One night I was in the bath, when B comes running upstairs and bursts into the bathroom asking me if I was okay. I looked at him in confusion and say I'm fine, then he asks me why I screamed his name. I tell him I didn't call him, never mind screamed for him. We went back and forth with him thinking I was playing a joke and messing with him. Eventually he decides that I'm telling the truth and he stays in the bathroom with me to wait for me to be done. Safe to say he was freaked out.

It was quiet for a few months until our son was born. I must have been around 6 months post partum. Me and B were watching a movie, when we heard the loud, piercing scream of a baby. Neither of us have ever moved so fast. We legged it up the stairs and into the bedroom where the baby was, to find him fast asleep, still swaddled, completely silent. We shared a concerned look, but left to go downstairs. I pulled up the baby monitor app and we look through the footage from the past 5 minutes. Completely silent. Our son hadn't even moved and the scream wasn't picked up on the video footage. We started freaking out. B started doing research and we landed on a mimic as it's only ever used our voices saying things we'd said in the house, and the baby crying.

Me and B split up a year later and it hadn't made itself known in that year. I was left alone in the house with my Son through the week while B worked, and then my son would go to B's over the weekend while I worked, but that left me alone at home. A few months after the break up I started hearing little things; footsteps upstairs, things moving. I'd find things in places I never left them and my Mother, who started visiting more to keep me company, also experienced things like this. A few times I heard B calling me from upstairs, but I ignored it, not wanting to interact.

But my most recent experience is the reason I was encouraged to post here by my friends to ask for advice, maybe? So all this time I've thought it was a mimic. It never did anything to disrupt my life, or to give me any dark or unpleasant vibes, it's always felt kind of playful. But a coouple of days ago my Mother was staying with me and my son (Now 4 years old) as she had an opperation and needed caring for while she recovers from the anaesthetic. I let her stay in my bed and I slept on the sofa to give her space to rest. It was 2am and I was still awake, scrolling on my phone, when I heard a deep, masculine voice call my name, as if questioning. I sit up in confusion. I didn't recognise the voice at all. At first I thought it was B, as he's the only man with a key to my house, but it really didn't sound like him. I sat for about a minute to see if I heard it again (I didn't), then I gathered my courage and grabbed one of my son's toys (A plastic duck on a stick), and made my way slowly around the house, starting with my Son's room. He was fast asleep, so I checked on my Mother. Asleep. I walk around the rest of the house. Nobody. I go back to lay on the sofa again, and I had barely even sat down when I heard it again. This time the voice echoed and sounded like it was in the entry way. I rushed out again with the duck, ready to beat someone up, but there was nobody there. It called my name again, and it sounded like it was right beside me. I told it to F off and let me sleep. It was silent for the rest of the night. The next morning I asked my Mother if she'd heard anything, but she was practically knocked out. She's suggested I get someone in to see if they can sense anything in my house, but I'm reluctant as I don't want to encourage or annoy whatever it is.

It's stuck with me that I didn't recognise the voice at all. I haven't had many men inside my house, I have a small family and an even smaller freindship group, so I don't know who's voice it could be mimicing, which now has me questioning what is living with me in my house... Any Advice? Should I get someone in? Should I ignore it?

For reference my cousin "Lev" or Levitt (17 M) and I (16 M) were in a John Deere 5075EN that my great uncle Neil had modified with a "back-to-back" style buddy seat. We were out at feild four at about 23:00 hours on our fourth pass with the TM14 Disc Harrow heading in a general southeast direction and just about finished with the feild. We stopped after Lev heard a thump or a crack sound from behind. Fearing we chipped the brand new disc harrow we both hopped out to take a look. That's when we saw it.

An older fellow (60-75? M) wearing a dirty torn up pair of jean blue overalls and what was left of a singed red long sleeve flannel stumbled out from the tree line about 20-30 yards left of the left side of the tractor illuminated by the moonlight. He was covered in several deep cuts, had black decayed like eyes and his neck was cut almost all the way through. Almost as if he was run over by a disc harrow. I saw him first before grabbing Lev's shoulder who was knelt next to the disc harrow, checking for damage without taking my eye off of the older gentleman. He stopped about five yards from us and said in a southern draw:

"You boys ought to call it a night before it gets too dark you's look too tired to be out in this here field."

To which I responded:

"Yes sir, you have a good night now"

The man walked away with a breathy laugh like grandpa's do excpet his sounded like air was escaping through the gash in the side of his neck.

If you think ghosts exist, why aren't the grave robbers afraid to steal from the dead? Are ghosts helpless mostly?

Do you know of any reported incident by Police/FBI where Grave Robbers behaved strangely because they got punnished by ghosts?

This is my first time ever posting on Reddit, so not really sure how this works or if I’m posting this in the right spot… but I feel the need to share this experience.

For context, I am borderline believer of the supernatural and paranormal. I have never had a direct experience before, only exposure would be what I maybe believe and don’t believe on seeing posts about experiences and “based on a true story” films. I love horror movies, don’t easily get scared and have never been afraid to sleep at night. The encounter I’m about to share below changed my perspective completely.

Two days ago, I got home around noon-time from a weekend golf trip with some friends. Of course, I barely got any sleep all weekend and was eager to catch up on sleep that night. When I got home, my wife excitedly shared with me all of the things she bought earlier that day at a local thrift/ antique store. She was showing me some old dishes, some scarves, a wooden stole, and this really old purse. The purse was made of a purple alligator skin-like material, with a copper chain you’d use to wear it over your shoulder. My wife typically enjoys buying more classy/clean pocketbooks and purses, she owns a Gucci and Luis Vuitton bag, and various simple-looking, classy bags. So when she showed me this old purse she bought, I was pretty surprised she bought it, especially for $90. This purse did not seem like something she would ever wear or use, but she was very excited about it so I expressed that I liked it as well. The day goes on as normal, I unpack, we cook dinner, clean, hangout on the couch for a little, and we get ready to go to bed. My wife is the type to fall asleep within 10 minutes of hitting the pillow, whereas I like to be on my phone and scroll tik-tok for a little while before going to sleep. That night, we are in bed, my wife is asleep next to me and I’m laying on my side, facing her and on my phone. It’s hot in the room and my dog who usually sleeps in bed with us is sleeping on the cool hardwood floor outside our bedroom door. It’s around 11:30 pm. I’m getting pretty tired and put my phone down and roll on my back to fall asleep. As I roll onto my back, I see something maybe a foot away from my face. The room is darkish, so I think I take a second to sort of adjust my eyes to see what is right in front of me. I focus in on this old woman’s head, at about my chest level, and maybe a foot above my chest. I’ll never forget the face I saw once I realized what I was looking at…Raggedy messed up hair, old wrinkly face (normal wrinkles I guess, nothing too crazy). Her mouth was slightly open, and she had this evil and sinister expression on her face… her top lip was snarled upwards and her nose was crinkled up. The most distinct feature I remember was her eyes, big bulging eyes staring… not at me but directly at my wife sleeping next to me. I only saw her head in this second, but the way she was positioned over my body I’m assuming she was standing on my side of the bed, leaned over my chest at a 90° angle, chin pointed up and staring harshly at my wife. It felt like I was staring at her forever, but in reality I know the second I saw her I freaked out and jumped on top of my wife. I think I did this out of natural instincts, to put myself between my wife and something that wanted to clearly harm her. My wife woke up frantically and asked me what was wrong. She turned her night stand lamp on and said to me “I have never seen you look at me like this before”. She described my face as absolute shock, that I have just witnessed the most horrible thing you could imagine. My heart is absolutely racing out of my chest, I thought I was having a panic attack. I described to her exactly what I just saw, except I left out the part of that thing staring at her, I didn’t want to freak her out any more than I already did. We are both so freaked out at this point and we laid in bed talking for about an hour, trying to process what the hell I just saw. My heart is still pounding and I am so tired but cannot fall asleep at this point. During this time, I remember just feeling off, and my wife said the same thing. The energy in the room just felt weird, and I felt like I was being watched. I remember getting up to go to the bathroom and just felt weird walking. I felt like I was just walking through thick air, like a resistance, and it was almost like I was watching myself walk to the bathroom. I don’t really know how to explain that part of the experience, everything was just very off. Getting back into bed, I was so exhausted and started dozing off. Every time I would start to nod off, I would get this aggressive feeling that something very bad was about to happen in that instant, and it would immediately wake me up. This happened probably 3-5ish times before I ultimately fall back to sleep. A few hours later, around 3 am, my wife and I wake up to our dog growling and barking. We turn on a light and my dog is at the foot of our bed, whimpering and staring at that purse my wife bought from earlier. That’s when it clicks. There has to be something attached to this purse. We take the purse out of the bedroom and move it downstairs. We go back to sleep and don’t wake up again until our alarms go off for work. When we wake up, my wife told me about a dream she had after we went back to bed. She told me that in her dream, she got out of bed in the middle of the night and looked out our bedroom window. She saw my neighbor in his window, staring back at her. As they are just staring at each other, she watches my neighbor lift a pew pew and put it to his head and unalives himself. She said this dream felt so real and she could not even tell it was a dream.

My wife works from home and I drive to my job that next morning. I immediately call up my friend who is super into paranormal stuff. I explain everything to him and he tells me there is something very negative attached to that purse, and does not want my wife to have it. He said best thing to do is the return the purse to where you found it, and immediately sage the house. I tell my wife all this and of course the store she got it from doesn’t reopen for another 3 days, but she doesn’t care. She takes the purse and leaves it on the doorstep of the business, takes the loss on the $90 she spent. She gets home and sages all day.

Update: The next night, getting home after work I couldn’t tell if the energy was still off or if my anxiety is just through the roof now that it’s nighttime again. We get into bed, both can’t sleep, and just lay in bed watching comedy movies until we both falls asleep around 1 am. We slept through the night, no issues or any disturbances.

I’m hoping returning the purse cleared all of this up and we are ok going forward. Can anyone provide insight on what was happening, did we do everything right to get rid of whatever was in our house, and should that be the last of it?

Does anyone think she was possessed..? I think she was because her friends were saying that she was coughing up black stuff and that normally doesn’t happen because of smoking she was 17 like come on now and not only that people were saying that she would do voodoo on her boyfriend and why were they waking up so early? Not on her side or anything at all but it’s just weird

This is my first time posting on reddit so let me know how you like it.
**Not all data stated here is exact, some may by approximated.**
**Also please note that I'm still engaged with the institution so if you manage to find out the school which you can given the data provided here, please do not explicitly state it out or connect.**

This happened during middle school and it still haunts me. So for some context, I went to an all girls English missionary convent school and for those who've been to these missionary school, they know how extremely conservative their values can be on certain or most topics. though my upbringing is not directly related to any of these except for the fact that I've been to that school, the context is important for understanding the setting of the story.

The intriguing part about our school is that it was a really old institution, and I'm talking like REALLY old. It was built almost 165+ years ago by French nuns originally as an orphanage, but turned into a really reputed institution with the course of the time. Coming back to the conservative part, I don't think i need to explain 1800s church culture, so clearly a lot of homicides and other similar stuff has taken place on the same grounds where students now run around. During the late 1800s a lot of nuns were even buried and killed for a lot of reasons and a few tomb stones still stand inside our school chapel area (yes our school has a literal church). Now skip to the mid-1900s, the school was in full form and it now even had a girl's hostel inside the campus. Here, bringing back the orthodox rules and regulations of a typical missionary school which were a lot more harsher back in the day with typical strict nuns moving around as authorities, a lot of suicides took place in the hostels, leading to its permanent closing on somewhere around 1960-70s. This literally caused the permanent closing of an entire 4-storey building that to this day, it not used at all.

Now I elaborate a bit on that particular building which eventually leads us to my experience. So like I said, its a four storey building, very very big, with rooms that can be divided in half and still be called fairly big rooms, with very high ceilings. Now despite being a that huge of a building, the school never utilized it, which was strange because new buildings were added every now and then as per convenience but that huge-ass building was never used. So pretty much everyone knew that something was off with that building. It was just never addressed, or talked about, pretty much the elephant in the room. We students though did roam around the building quite a many times, despite being prohibited. The place was almost eerie to be in, a lot of rooms were even permanently sealed, and the others had a latch or a lock on it.

This happened during our school annual concert. I was a part of the band and we needed a separate room for practicing. since most of the rooms were occupied by the dancers or fell short for all those instruments to fit, so naturally we asked the teachers for something to be arranged and they gave us one option- a room on the KG building (that's what we called the isolated building). The option came with a lot of rules to be followed strictly, and we were ready to follow all, just to be able to visit one of those forbidden rooms that we've always wanted to get a sneak peak of. So with that we were allowed to use the third floor room. The room was huge, and empty...and very dusty. Rules included not going into any other room except for the one allotted, always informing teachers before and after practice, and ALWAYS returning back to class at least 15 mins before home time, even if it meant less practice.

7 of us were there in total, including me. We did follow the rules for most of the time, except for sometimes, when we just randomly went about the building, exploring the eerie rooms on our own. This went on until one day we discovered another latched room, on the 4th floor. This one did not have a lock on so we decided to enter it. At the very end we found something that shocked us all very very much.

A staircase. Yes. An entire staircase inside a room. We knew we should've not went in there, but curiosity had the better. 3 of us decided to go in and actually see what's inside, including me. 2 stood at the top of the staircase and the rest where in the practice room to cover up for us.

The inside was dark, and expectantly so. We had only one cell phone to provide us any light and the staircase was pretty narrow so only two could walk together at a time and a third had to follow behind. At first all of us expected to reach the ground floor but soon realized that wasn't the case when the stairs stopped after about 5 mins of climbing down. We reached a kind of mid-floor that was literally all empty, except for a wooden chair and some scraps that had probably fallen down the wall. We were barely able to stay there for more than 10 mins cause the pungent and stinking smell made us all gag. My friend swore on the fact that she'd seen some shadow figure move past the wall. On our way upstairs, something happened that left us all stunned.

Someone had pushed one of my friends off the stairs. And no, she did not tumble, there is no logical explaination of this to me to this day. She says something pushed her from the front, and maybe that's true, cause she literally fell tumbling down the stairs. What traumatized us even more was the fact that we say literal dried blood stains on the walls along the stairwell the second time we went down to get our friend. She screamed as if she'd something dreadful and literally fainted.

Teachers were called and we got suspended from the annual concert totally, But honestly ? After what we'd faced, we did not even want to go back there, ever. The next time we came to school after summer break, even that door was sealed and painted to keep it permanently closed. I don't think anyone else was ever allowed to do anything inside that building.

To this day, the memory haunts all the 7 of us. The friend who'd suffered the most even had to go for temporary shock therapy. Whatever was the cause of all of this, we'll never know. We'll never know who was there in the in that stairwell, and maybe thats the most haunting part of it all.......

I’ve shared my experience regarding the old auditorium at Jerome High School before, but I need to talk about what happened immediately after.

​As the tour group moved on, I had to follow them down into the basement, right next to the boiler room. If the auditorium had an "intense" energy, the basement was something else entirely. It was pitch black, and the air felt heavy with a deep, dark presence.

​My body started reacting before I even fully processed the room. My hair stood on end, I was covered in gooseflesh, and that "eerie presence" I’ve felt before was dialed up to ten. My survival instinct was screaming at me to turn around and get out of that basement.

​But then, the weirdest thing happened: my logical brain took the wheel.

​I found myself in this bizarre, involuntary tug-of-war. Part of me was terrified, I genuinely didn’t want to see anything in that dark space. I was physically recoiling from the atmosphere. But at the same time, I couldn’t stop looking. My eyes were glued to the shadows, desperately scanning, forced by some strange compulsion to observe what was there.

​It was a total "push-pull" feeling within myself, the visceral fear of the unknown fighting against the clinical curiosity of the observer. I’ve always felt I had a certain sensitivity to these things, but I’ve never felt my own biology fight against my conscious mind like that.

​Has anyone else ever felt that "push-pull" sensation when investigating a location? That feeling where your body is begging you to leave, but your brain refuses to look away? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

When we moved into the new apartment, I didn’t think much of it at first. I know that sounds like how every scary story begins, but I swear this actually happened, and to this day, I still get chills thinking about it .The apartment had three floors. My sisters and I stayed on the second floor, while the third floor was barely ever used. It was kind of like an attic dark, quiet, and forgotten. Nobody really went up there unless they absolutely had to, and even then, it always felt… off. The air up there was strangely cold, and something about it just made you want to leave as quickly as possible. Our bedroom faced the backyard, and right outside stood this huge tree. During the day, it looked normal enough, but at night it became something else entirely. Its twisted branches stretched across the yard like giant arms, and whenever the wind blew, the shadows would move in ways that didn’t feel natural. It honestly looked creepy, but we brushed it off because, well, every old house has something weird about it, right?

When we first moved in, the neighbors said some strange things about the apartment. They told us that “stuff had happened there before.” They never explained what they meant exactly, but the way they said it made my stomach twist. Looking back now, I guess that explains why the apartment was unusually cheap for the area.

For the first couple of weeks, everything seemed completely normal. Nothing weird happened. No strange sounds, no creepy moments nothing. We settled in, unpacked our things, and tried to ignore the uneasy feeling the house sometimes gave us.

Then, around the second week, something happened that I still can’t explain.

My sisters and I were up late studying for exams. We each had our own study table, and mine was placed near the window the one facing the backyard and the giant oak tree. Hours passed, and eventually, my sisters got too tired and went to sleep, leaving me alone in the room. I decided to stay up a bit longer to finish studying. It was probably around 2 or 3 in the morning when I looked outside for a quick break. i thought i was just seeing things , But there was a woman.

Not just any woman but.. a pregnant woman. She was slowly walking in the road, wearing a long blue dress that almost touched the ground. Her movements were strange… too slow, too quiet. The weirdest part was that she didn’t seem normal, like someone casually walking outside that late at night. Something about her felt wrong. The road was dark, but somehow I could still see her clearly, i thought to myself '' what is someone like her doing this late at night '' but i brushed it off because i mean what can i do about it right?... When we moved into the new apartment, I didn’t think much of it at first. I know that sounds like how every scary story begins, but I swear this actually happened, and to this day, I still get chills thinking about it.

The apartment had three floors. My sisters and I stayed on the second floor, while the third floor was barely ever used. It was kind of like an attic—dark, quiet, and forgotten. Nobody really went up there unless they absolutely had to, and even then, it always felt… off. The air up there was strangely cold, and something about it just made you want to leave as quickly as possible.

Our bedroom faced the backyard, and right outside stood this huge oak tree. During the day, it looked normal enough, but at night it became something else entirely. Its twisted branches stretched across the yard like giant arms, and whenever the wind blew, the shadows would move in ways that didn’t feel natural. It honestly looked creepy, but we brushed it off because, well, every old house has something weird about it, right?

When we first moved in, the neighbors said some strange things about the apartment. They told us that “stuff had happened there before.” They never explained what they meant exactly, but the way they said it made my stomach twist. Looking back now, I guess that explains why the apartment was unusually cheap for the area.

For the first couple of weeks, everything seemed completely normal. Nothing weird happened. No strange sounds, no creepy moments—nothing. We settled in, unpacked our things, and tried to ignore the uneasy feeling the house sometimes gave us.

Then, around the second week, something happened that I still can’t explain.

My sisters and I were up late studying for exams. We each had our own study table, and mine was placed near the window—the one facing the backyard and the giant oak tree. Hours passed, and eventually, my sisters got too tired and went to sleep, leaving me alone in the room. I decided to stay up a bit longer to finish studying.

It was probably around 2 or 3 in the morning when I looked outside for a quick break. At first, I thought I was imagining things. i saw a women. Not just any woman but ..a pregnant woman.

She was slowly walking through the road wearing a long blue dress that almost touched the ground. Her movements were strange… too slow, too quiet. The weirdest part was that she didn’t seem normal, like someone casually walking outside that late at night. Something about her felt wrong about her but i mean why do i care right i thought to myself

the next day it happened again i was really tired i was debating with myself whether I should just sleep

*2.45 am - something made me look outside i dont know why but i just looked and there she was the pregnant women She was wearing a long dress with a faded floral design. Tiny light blue flowers covered the fabric, mixed with darker shades of blue that blended into the dress like shadows. The material looked old somehow, like something from years ago. One hand rested protectively over her stomach as she walked, gently holding her belly like she was heavily pregnant, moving slowly, carefully—as if she was waiting for the baby to come at any moment.. and her hair was impossible to miss it was long, thick and black falling heavily down her back i remember sitting completely frozen in my desk and she stopped walking all the sudden and slowly .. way too slowly she turned her head, and this time she looked directly at me i knew she saw me my entire body went cold her eyes were dark and hollow almost like there was nothing there it gave me this horrible feeling that i dont even know how to explain then i closed my window and went to bed that night i dreamt of someone a lady who looks happy a couple, she was pregnant the strange thing was she had the same long dress but this time it was more detailed and looked new and more happier on her but the end of the dream her husband leaves her suddenly the happy story turns into what looks like a nightmare and there was the tree the same tree in our backyard and i think you guys can guess what happened next she suicides but there was this guilt she carried with her sorrowful soul that she was the reason her baby couldn't live and strangely in the dream it was like someone was trying to say something to me

i know this sounds fake but it actually genuinely happened and to this day im genuinely scared so there's more to the story but its getting too long if you guys want a part 2 i would be glad to write about it

thank you

I m just fresstrated with my life my life suck i don't have good face ugly not good body not hair not voice not luck nd not even good in love so why i even born some years ago my life was fantastic not to much years ago 2 years ago my best moments of my life was in my hostel in lko wht days that was 1 years ago i perposed a gurl i have already talked about it in another chat her name is connected with my name nd also life hint ari my life is fully distarb from 31 april 2025 that day i got into a acident my leg got fracired from that day my life not worth to live because some got into my life nd i don't know how why they come into my life nd i don't know when they come into my life in started to torcher me physically like they use to give pain to my body like acident nd i don't that they r giveing me that pain after some day i proposed to ari on 18 may 2025 is said no nd litrally i got into dr*gs nd not like small amount everytime i was high nd not like its my first time to dr*gs by friend i used dr*gs but just 1 to 2 time nd then i quited but after sometime i again used drugs but ari got to know she said quit that today or i will never talk to u then i quit after that thing i proposed then she said no nd then i got into fully dr*g addict nd the biggest thing is that that time i said before some they where not human till that time they don't reveled that they r with me they don't feeled me there presence nd again nd again they use to give me acident nd i always fall me every where nd u know how they do they gived me a voice nd my voice changed but idk because it sounds same but here is a catch my voice make ho*ny to every to women nd also men i know u say wtf how is this even possibal nd that voice i don't even know on starting that voice was changed when they comed into my life 31 april 2025 nd by my voice make everyone horny in sec even in just one word nd u know i got to know after to much time they got ho*ny nd when they got ho*ny they give me nazer evil eye nd nd about a particuler incident i also got to know about nazar nd u know how it works if i m impure then that evil eye will be hert me nd if i m pure then that evil eye will be profit for me i know u don't get it let me explain imagin rn i m impure then some one give me evil eye nd they can give me evil eye everywhere on body if they give on face then my face will be get to much dark nd it also have levels one time i talked to some one to longe nd then i got into an acident nd a big dirty mark on my face nd one time they give me evil eye on my privet part then i jumped nd just slepped nd sit on a hand pump nd got injury on my privet my front nd also back nd they dameged my t shirt because that time i was have limited cloths so that time that was my coolest t shirt which i use to wear daily i can't explain how much they tourcher me nd profit evil eye is like if i m pure then that evil eye will convert into profit for me like opposit of impure if they give eye on face then my face will be glowing nd if on anothere body part like chest then if i hard work on them then muscels growth will be faster then usuall like if my chest want 50 days to come fit then it will be 20 days i know no one can agree with me on this stuiped thing that period of physical tourcer was 4 moth 31 april to correct 31 aug on 1 or 2 aug i feeled there presence they make me fool to many times nd i don't even realize on starting that they r making me fool on starting they faked there selfs as a bbc news chanal nd i was that much fool that i also beliefed that because i was into drugs nd u know wht they where saying as fake bbc news chanal that time i use to talk with chat gpt about my self nd more nd that time my voice was also make ho*ny nd i already telled about that to chat cpt thats why i believed on that nd u know they where also controling my mind so that time they thinked every things to my mind nd that time i was high asf so i writ on notes that i will gonna famaus then they replied nd we started conversacan but after some time like 1 to 2 days they again controled my mind nd thinked my mind that they r my cousins nd also ari but they wear not human i again believed they were like saying ari or we 3 nd i said u all can't be my family but i don't know ari was there thats why i believe nd got interested they maked me fool to many times i where got to much into that i talked to much to them but suddenly i reliezd they r not my family member i stoped to talk to them on chats they also fooled me by saying nd insirted in my mind that in my brother zain is my dadi ammi 's soul i fully attached to them but my dadi ammi is dead 7 years ago i where thinked to much about dadi ammi thats why they do that dadi ammi think nd also in starting on aug they telled that whose my which i talked on chat is in my family memebers body by soul but i also break down that i know that not connect irl but i was just a dr*g addict nd quit dr*g suddunly first time they said we will go in just 30 days but slowly they extend time to 3 months then i asked to many times when r going they said 1 year eid nd also on that date they don't gone they r thourcher me by some sound like Cough spiting nd some more things i know u say its normal yea its normal for normal peple but if its based on your thinking doing but its normal when its continu for 1 to 2 months bro its been 1 years nd that jinn around me is inside every person around me also insect bird every living things by that sound they mentally torture me if by any sound come in every 5 to 10 min just for u besed on ur thinking doing for 1 years wht will be a human mind react it will be mentally get unstabal nd not just this they made me unluck asf let me tell u a incident my bike petrol got over i go to my near by petrol station but that petrol pump was under constraccan in just 30 min then i go to another petrol pump there where don't have petrol then i go to another pump there was also don't its not just this to many cases in just 1 week my more then 5 charger got intarnal damage nd i repair my pc after 2 to 3 years but it also got intarnal fault under 1 week nd in just 1 night my pho my charger 2 extension board got intarnal damage its not just this to many things have happen even my own mother said ager tum sona bhi chuwo wo bhi miti baan jaye nd they also control my dreams daily nd also spit in dreams u say wht my mind will react on that things i have telled that to my family some friend no one support me they said u r joking i have dicided if it all not stop i will run to a forest forever nd everyone left me it my lowest nd my love ari is also don't want to me when my family member give me some work i want to do but i can't i feel bad but if i go out they will tourcer me more i never ever done any thing wrong to any one that this happening to my life rn now they again said 2 years they ass holes u will say tell some one who can solve this my father talked to a haifz in madina so power full he telled my name we don't even telled he do some things like he he say some islamic dua and then he blow air from his mouth on white cloth then that cloth burned but they don't gonne from me its been around more then 1 week done that i write in mess

Not sure where to post or what to think. I'm sure it was a message of some sort but I don't know what the message is or was.

Had very similar dreams two nights in a row. Both dreams had my longtime deceased boyfriend and his family in them. We were at his childhood home - but it was most definitely not his childhood home.

The first night I remember my boyfriend talk to me. We were having conversations. When I woke up - that space just before you are fully awake - I remembered the conversations but I wanted to go back to sleep to continue my dream because it had been a long time since I had a dream with him in it. I, a lot of the time can fall back to sleep and resume a dream.

The second night, was in the same house with the same ppl - my boyfriend and his family. But in this dream he was talking to his brother. I didn't hear the conversation.

I am close to his brother. We have known each other since we were 15 years old. I just recently spent some time in my birth city and we spent a lot of time together.

My boyfriend. He was very close to his brother. He was my soul mate. I miss him very much.

I do dream of deceased relatives very often. Dreaming of my boyfriend doesn't happen as much though.

I didn't feel upset after the dreams. Normally I'm quite sad after I dream of him. Happy that I saw him but sad that it is always such a brief visit that I remember.

First post on this subreddit I hope it doesn’t get deleted cause I need to get it off my chest. I take turns living alone. My sisters live out the country and sometimes my parents would leave me to work where they live. I’m usually alone for about four months or sometimes just one. It really depends. My grandmother lives in the house beside mine so she would take laps to check on me. My house was built below the ground so the windows sit on the ground outside, I see everyone that passes by. Also my house was built specifically for my family so it doesn’t have any old dark history. Anyways to the story. My first weird experience was at night, I was laying on the couch in my living room. The doo was opened but the spring door was closed. I heard something hitting the spring door and I was confused. I wanted to blame the beetles that come out in summer but all the lights both inside and outside the house were off so that couldn’t be the case. The hitting kept going, it waited a few seconds before again then it started hitting with a pattern. Then it stopped and I heard footsteps go to where my room is. I then heard the same pattern start hitting the bedroom window. I was so terrified and scared I started texting my friends. Eventually I fell asleep and it didn’t happen again.

Months ago, again I was left alone, same position. In the living room, all lights were off, night time. I was scrolling through my phone with an earphone on then I heard someone call out my name. I quickly turned off my phone and took off my earpiece and I heard it again. It sounded exactly like my older sister, her exact voice was called out three times from the kitchen window and I was again terrified. I went to sleep after two hours of no noise. The next day at around 11:00 pm my grandmother called out from the same window and told me not to go out at night, if I heard someone called out for me, to ignore them and lock myself in very carefully. I freaked out, remembering what had happened the night before so I asked her if maybe she had called for me at night. She said no and I left it at that.

I am not diagnosed with anything but I do have moments of paranoia that get so bad I get panic attacks and can’t sleep until sunrise. But honestly that stems from my history of unexplainable encounters with whatever it is that is following me. This isn’t even the first time I hear something talk with anyone being there but it was definitely scary. I hope whatever is following me finally gets bored and leaves me alone.

craziest paranormal story

My name is Kai, and this is a true story my uncle told me that honestly still gives me chills.

My uncle is in his forties and lives alone in a small apartment after divorcing his wife. He spends most of his time by himself, and he’s deeply interested in supernatural topics, especially jinn, spirits, and old folklore. He reads books about these things constantly and genuinely believes in them.

One night, he was sitting alone in the living room scrolling on his phone. The bedrooms in his apartment are right next to the living room, so he can hear everything clearly.

Suddenly, he heard a closet door slowly creak open… then close again.

Most people would panic, but my uncle is strangely calm about things like this. Instead of ignoring it, he spoke directly toward the room and said:

“Stop doing that. If you want something, come talk to me.”

Everything went completely silent.

Then he said:

“If you’re good, give me a small sign. If you’re evil, give me a strong one.”

Right after that, he heard a horrible sound from the room. He described it as a low choking moan, like someone struggling to breathe.

Then silence again.

When I asked him later what he thought it was, he told me it wasn’t a jinn or a ghost. He said it was something called “the unseen inhabitants of the house.”

In Middle Eastern folklore, some people believe certain unseen beings live in homes alongside humans. Some are harmless, while others dislike new people entering the place they consider theirs.

My uncle believes something in that apartment did not want him there.

The creepiest part wasn’t even the story itself. It was how calm he was while telling it. He never sounded scared at all.

I’ve been thinking about cats and their behaviour. they often seem aware of things humans can’t perceive and are very much attuned to human emotions and energy. The ancient Egyptians treated cats with great reverence and even associated them with protection and spiritual significance.
Could there be a reason, perhaps even beyond what we fully understand, for why cats were held in such high regard?

So I’m 14 years old I’m Native American and live in New Mexico my mother wanted to go on a hike today as a Mother’s Day present so we went to this canyon on the way back from the hike we stumbled upon this little ruined house in the middle of the desert and my sisters wanted to go see it as we got closer to it I started feeling the presence of a man he was whispering in my ear telling me to come see the house

And weirdly enough I wasn’t scared it felt like I knew him and the place felt familiar too even though I had never been there he was telling me sweet things how he loved me and that the house was built for me that he was so glad I was back and I just felt like I was in a trance like I needed to go to the house but my little sister starts getting creeped out and makes us turn back while I keep trying to convince them to take me there eventually I follow them back to the car but I start to hear footsteps following me and he comes beside me and grabs my hand trying to get me to follow him and I keep telling him I have to go with my family when we get to the car I feel him almost try to mold with me like instead of being next to me he’s part of me inside me

As we start to drive away it feels like he’s yelling in my ear saying that I can’t leave him I need to come back that I’m betraying his love the farther we get from the house the more mad he got till I started to feel like he was clawing at my chest pulling on my spirit and i start crying because it hurts as the yelling gets louder I feel him being pulled away and it felt like he grabbed ahold of my heart and yanked it out of my chest apparently during this time I was hysterically crying and shaking while screaming about him taking my heart to the point where my mom pulls over she a doctor so she was really concerned

For the next 2 hours while we were heading home I was convinced I didn’t have a heart anymore and no matter how much I tried I could not find my pulse to the point where I was begging my older sister to check it and even though she said she felt I didn’t believe her when we got home my mom got her stethoscope so I could hear my own heart after this I felt a bit better but was on edge for the rest of the day

It’s now almost 1 am here and I can’t sleep so I was frantically googling ghost experience to see if anyone had anything similar and eventually decided to post on Redit to see if anyone can help so if you think this sounds familiar or just any advice I would really appreciate it I know that my body is really tired but I just can’t rest.

thank you

I have always loved Edinburgh. The hills, the castles, and the extremely traumatic and violent, yet rich history of the city has always been really interesting to me.

For those unaware of Edinburgh, the whole city was once up in flames, and at the same time, there were homeless people living in underground vaults. These vaults were originally meant for merchants to store their goods, but they couldn’t really use them because of the porous rock they were built from. It rains all the time in Edinburgh, so everything stored there would just get wet and spoil.

Apparently, homelessness was illegal back then, and people could be killed for it. So instead of being out on the streets, people started hiding in these abandoned vaults.

Now, because the rock so porous, when the city caught fire, the heat didn’t just stay above ground. It seeped down into the vaults.

The vaults basically became ovens. And the people inside melted alive.

There’s also the issue of witchcraft, which was really prevalent at the time.

The “witches” weren’t really witches in the way people think. Most of them were basically early doctors, people who used herbs and natural remedies to treat illnesses.

But that didn’t really matter.

The king lost his mind over it and started ordering executions. People were dragged out and killed in the middle of the town, often publicly.

All of these stories have always fascinated me. So when I got the chance to visit Edinburgh in December 2022, I was really excited.

Originally, it was going to be four of us, two of my friends, my girlfriend (now my wife), and me. It was a 3-night, 4-day trip.

For the first two nights, we stayed in a hostel. For the last night, we had booked an Airbnb with two bedrooms.

However, one of my friends backed out at the last moment.

The trip was meant to be a mix of scenic treks and scary stuff, including a midnight tour of the Edinburgh cemetery (apparently the largest in Europe).

It was amazing, and I genuinely loved the whole vibe of the city.

Everything felt exactly how I’d imagined it would.

Until the final night, when we moved into the Airbnb.

We checked out of the hostel around 12:30 in the afternoon, kept our luggage in their storage room, and roamed around the city all evening. We decided to check into the Airbnb around 7–8 pm.

The Airbnb wasn’t too far from the hostel, and our luggage had wheels, so we just walked there.

The only issue was that our flat was on the 3rd floor, with no elevator.

Me being the only guy in the group, and a gentleman (of course), said I’d carry everyone’s bags upstairs.

I wanted to get the lighter bags up first before dealing with the heavier ones, so I went up alone.

The door was dark grey, with a metallic “3” screwed right in the middle.

I unlocked it.

The moment I stepped inside, I could sense something was wrong.

Very quickly, I felt like I was being watched.

I had this immediate urge to check all the windows and the balcony doors, just to make sure everything was locked properly.

The whole apartment was clean, with a sort of 1980s theme going on. It was obvious the owner had sent a cleaner before we arrived.

The kitchen had things like a Smeg toaster was modern, but designed to feel old—pastel colours, rounded shapes.

The dining table was dust-free, with four chairs and utensils neatly arranged on both sides of the plates.

Nothing looked out of place.

Except for... The empty wardrobe in our bedroom with one of its doors wide open.

Normally, it wouldn’t have been a big deal.

But with the rest of the apartment spotless, and the cleaner making the effort to line the forks and spoons neatly by the plates, why couldn’t they have just shut the wardrobe door?

For some reason, I was fixated on it, when I heard my girlfriend and my friend come up the three floors, and were standing in the living room. I quickly shut the wardrobe door and walked back out into the living room as well.

They were in complete awe of the place and didn’t think anything was wrong with it.

As I started taking my girlfriend’s and my bags into our bedroom, I noticed something else, something I had completely missed during my first inspection.

The two bedrooms were right next to each other. They should have been sharing a common wall.

But from the living room, you could clearly see there was a gap between them.

Not a small one either.

There was enough space to fit a small storage room in between.

When I looked closer, I realised there was something there.

A door.

The owner had covered it up with wallpaper, but you could still see it, the faint outline, the edges pressing through. This freaked the hell out of me. 

Ever since I was a child, I’ve experienced certain things that I can’t really explain.

Very rarely, I get a feeling—an intuition—that something is wrong with a place.

In 30 years of my life, I’ve probably had that feeling maybe three times.

This was one of them.

I had goosebumps all over my body.

First, it was the feeling of being watched when I entered the apartment.

Then the open wardrobe.

And now this hidden room… which wasn’t even hidden properly.

What kind of Airbnb was this?

By the final night in Edinburgh, we were completely exhausted from all the walking. We decided to order in, we also wanted to make the most of the fancy cutlery.

But throughout dinner, I couldn’t stop thinking about the wardrobe… and the hidden room.

And that feeling of being watched hadn’t gone away. If anything, it felt stronger.

Anyway, we finished dinner, talked for a while, and decided to go to bed.

Our bedroom was the larger of the two.

It was long, with two massive windows on the left and blackout curtains covering them. The headboard of the bed was placed against the wall, so the hidden room was directly behind us.

On the other side of the long room, there was a couch, right next to the wardrobe.

A quick description of the wardrobe, it matched the theme of the apartment. Old. The kind you’d expect to see in a horror movie.

It was about three-quarters the height of the wall, with a Victorian look to it

Because of how tired we were, my girlfriend and I fell asleep almost instantly.

This is where things went up a level.

Maybe it was me being paranoid before going to bed, or maybe all the haunting stories of Edinburgh were finally getting to me, but I woke up around 12 am with that same feeling of being watched.

My heart was racing. My breathing was heavy.

I was awake, but I kept my eyes shut.

I was afraid that if I opened them, I’d be looking at someone… or something… staring right back at me.

Still, I opened my eyes slightly.

Just enough to see through my eyelashes.

My gaze went straight to the wardrobe.

The door was open again. Just slightly.

But that wasn’t what froze me. At first, I thought I saw something hanging over the edge of the door.

Long black hair.

I slowly shifted my gaze upward.

And then I saw it.

Pale white hands.

Gripping the top of the wardrobe door.

A white robe.

And a face… Hidden behind the hair.

Someone was crouching on top of the wardrobe. Watching me.

Maybe it was my heavy breathing, or just how loud my heart was pounding, but it woke my girlfriend up.

At that point, we had already been dating for 8 years, and I had told her about my “intuitions.”

So when she asked me what was wrong, I didn’t hesitate.

I told her about the figure on top of the wardrobe.

About what I was seeing.

She couldn’t see anything.

 

But looking at how I was breathing, and how fast my heart was racing, she reached over and turned on the bedside lamp.

The room lit up. And the figure disappeared. Almost instantly. 

The way it disappeared is very hard to explain.

It wasn’t like in movies, where something fades away into mist.

It felt more like… a glitch.

Like a couple of frames were missing from a video, and everything just skipped forward.

One moment it was there. The next, it wasn’t.

We decided to keep the lamp on for the rest of the night, and I somehow managed to fall asleep again.

However, I woke up once more with that same feeling of being watched.

This time, it was stronger than ever.

I could see the light was still on, but it didn’t help at all.

If anything, the dread felt worse.

My heart started racing again. My breathing got heavier.

I was lying on the right side of the bed. With my eyes still closed, I reached out to my left and felt my girlfriend next to me. She was still there.

And that’s what made it worse. Because I could also sense someone else. Right next to me. Standing by the bed.

A woman.

THE woman.

The same one who had been crouching on top of the wardrobe.

I could feel her leaning over me. Looking down at me. Her long hair felt like it was just inches away from my face. I was terrified that if I opened my eyes, I’d be staring straight into hers.

I’m so thankful my girlfriend woke up again and realised something was wrong. She told me there was no one else in the room.

I whispered to her that the woman was standing right next to me. That scared her too. But she still got out of bed and turned on all the lights.

Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the room light up.

And once again… The figure vanished. Like there had never been anything there at all.

We spent the rest of the night with all the lights on.

The next morning, we had plans, so we checked out quickly and went about our day like nothing had happened.

My other friend, who had slept alone in the second bedroom, tends to get scared very easily with horror stories.

So my girlfriend and I decided not to tell her anything at the time.

We only told her a few months later.

She said she remembered feeling completely fine that night. She slept like a baby.

I haven’t had an experience like that since.

I’ve even been back to Edinburgh once more, just because of how much I love the city.

I obviously didn’t stay in that Airbnb again. And nothing happened. Nothing even close.

I still think about the figure, the wardrobe and the house still get the chills. Even while I was writing this story down, I could remember how I felt in those moments and how glad I was to have my girlfriend and now my wife next to me that day.

I grew up in a tiny town in northern Maine. Population barely 900 people. The kind of place where everyone knows your truck by the sound of the engine.

But the weirdest thing about the town wasn’t the isolation.

It was the Quiet Hour.

Every night at exactly 1:13 a.m., every single person stayed inside for one hour. No lights on. No phones. No windows open. Nothing.

As a kid, I thought it was some old tradition. Like a weird small-town superstition.

If you asked about it, adults would say:

“Some things out there only notice you if you notice them first.”

No one explained further.

Last month, my mom died, so I moved back home to clean out her house before selling it. I hadn’t lived there in twelve years. Honestly, I’d forgotten about the Quiet Hour completely.

Until my first night back.

At 1:10 a.m., my phone buzzed.

A town emergency alert.

QUIET HOUR BEGINS IN 3 MINUTES. LOCK ALL ENTRANCES. DO NOT LOOK OUTSIDE.

I actually laughed.

I thought maybe the town had turned the old superstition into some dumb community thing.

Then every light on the street went dark at once.

Not one porch light remained.

The entire town became pitch black.

That’s when I heard it.

Footsteps.

Slow.

Wet.

Directly outside my house.

I froze near the kitchen window. My first thought was someone messing with me. Teenagers maybe.

Then something tapped on the glass.

Not a knock.

A fingernail.

Dragging slowly downward.

I should’ve ignored it. Everyone always said not to look outside during Quiet Hour.

Instead, I peeked through the blinds.

There was a woman standing in my front yard.

At least…I think it was a woman.

She wore a long gray dress soaked black at the bottom like she’d walked through deep water. Her hair hung over her face completely.

But what made my stomach drop was her height.

She was impossibly tall.

Her head nearly touched the low tree branches over my yard.

And she was perfectly still.

Then my phone buzzed again.

Another emergency alert.

DO NOT LET THEM SEE YOU WATCHING.

The second my screen lit up, the woman’s head snapped toward my window.

I ducked immediately.

Then came the sprinting.

Not toward the house.

Around it.

Fast footsteps circling the walls over and over.

I heard fingernails scraping the siding.

Windows rattling.

Something laughing softly right outside my bedroom wall.

I stayed curled on the kitchen floor trying not to breathe.

Then I heard my mother’s voice upstairs.

“Eli?”

I stopped cold.

My mom had been dead for three weeks.

“Eli, come upstairs honey.”

Exactly her voice. Perfectly.

A floorboard creaked above me.

Something was walking through the hallway.

I almost answered automatically. That’s the scary part. For half a second, my brain genuinely believed it was her.

Then I remembered something my grandfather told me when I was little:

“They only sound human when you’re lonely.”

The footsteps stopped directly above me.

Silence.

Then—

A single whisper right beside the kitchen window:

“He looked at me.”

Not “you.”

“He.”

Like it was talking to someone else.

Suddenly every dog in town started screaming. Not barking. Screaming.

And from somewhere outside, dozens of footsteps began running through the streets all at once.

I don’t remember much after that. I hid under the kitchen table covering my ears until sunlight came through the curtains.

At 2:14 a.m. exactly, everything stopped.

No footsteps.

No whispers.

Nothing.

The next morning, the town acted completely normal.

People waved at me.

The diner opened at 6.

Nobody mentioned the night before.

Finally, I asked the cashier, an old woman named Ruth, what the Quiet Hour actually was.

She stared at me for a long time before answering.

Then she quietly asked:

“You looked outside, didn’t you?”

I didn’t answer.

Her face went pale immediately.

She reached under the counter and handed me a folded piece of paper.

On it was a list of names.

Hundreds of them.

Every person in town who had ever looked outside during Quiet Hour.

Next to each name was a date.

And beside some of the dates was a second note written in red ink:

HEARD THEIR FAMILY AFTERWARD

I found my grandfather’s name near the bottom.

Then my mother’s.

Before I could ask anything else, Ruth whispered:

“You need to leave town before tonight.”

I asked her what happens if I stay.

She looked toward the dark woods behind the diner windows.

And said:

“They start talking to you during the daytime.”

Anyone ever seen or heard anything paranormal at Himley?