Scary Stories For Dark Dreams - Volume 08 | ATRD Podcast
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If you have a story you would like to hear featured on this podcast, please go to astheravendreams.com and click the button to submit your story. Also, if the platform you're listening on has the option to rate this podcast, please consider doing so. And thank you. A couple of years ago, my boyfriend planned a surprise birthday party for me, and I was sufficiently surprised by it. It was also where this story of mine took place.

To go back a little bit first, my boyfriend and I have been together since high school. After we graduated, we started attending different colleges and he was a few hours away, so he was staying in the dorms. I was attending a local community college, so I found an apartment within my budget, with the plans of my boyfriend moving in when he was done. College was fine for the most part, it seemed like the normal school stuff,

I met some new friends, had some high school friends attending there as well. The school work and teachers were fine too. But there was one guy that I could never really get away from though, and that was Ricky. Ricky was in the same program as me, so I saw him a lot. One of the classes had a project that we had to work on in groups, and I was paired with Ricky, and another girl named Micah. Micah was pretty cool.

She was typically more reserved, but she was kind and very smart. I was happy to be on her team. Then, Ricky. He seemed like he was trying to show off since he was teamed up with two girls. He would talk about things he'd done, like stunts or past jobs that all seemed to end the same way. He would say that the atmosphere changed or he didn't like the new management, so he would quit.

I could tell that Micah couldn't care less, and wanted to talk more about the project, and I was a little more willing to cut him off, which is what I did. So I would steer the conversation back towards our work. This is probably where my view of Ricky really started to shift. While working on the project, he started rambling about something, and Micah spoke up and said, "'Can you please stop talking about yourself for one session?'

I kind of chuckled and made a comment about making the quiet girl tell him off. I guess he realized that he was outnumbered, so he got up and left the room. So we continued working and got the most done that we had compared to the last sessions. He ended up catching me in the parking lot later after that class and stopped to talk to me. I wasn't rude or anything and just treated him like I would anyone else. He asked me a few questions about the project...

And then when the conversation seemed to die down, I started saying something about needing to go when he interjected and said, "You wanna go make out in my car?" with the most serious look on his face. Not knowing how else to react, I just started laughing and his face didn't change, so I stopped laughing, and then asked if he was serious, but he didn't respond so I just said no thanks and that I had a boyfriend.

Then he laughed and just said, okay, cool, before waving and walking off to get into his car. I stood there confused for a quick second and then went and got into my car and immediately called my boyfriend to tell him about what had happened, the whole time laughing about the awkwardness that was that moment. My boyfriend laughed too and thought that it was weird, but then asked if he had ever done that before, or had tried flirting with me or someone else. I told him not that I was aware of.

He said that the guy just seemed awkward, but to be careful because you never know. And I agreed with him. So, the next class was pretty weird. I tried not to make eye contact with him while we worked, but I could tell the whole time that he was just staring at me with a stupid grin on his face. It was obvious that Mike had noticed this too. Probably made it obvious when in the middle of working, he again said, ''You sure you don't want to make out?''

Micah looked just as embarrassed as myself, and I again told him no. The session ended pretty soon after that. However, this did not deter Ricky. Anytime I saw him, he would ask that, whether it was in the parking lot or in the school, even if he was around with other people. I told my boyfriend each time, who was starting to become concerned. He suggested that I tell someone at the school, which I did.

However, all they said was that they would have a talk with him and that was it. So then he stopped being so verbal about his advances and instead decided that he would wink or make kissing faces at me or make other suggestive hand motions towards me. Now I was starting to get creeped out. Thankfully, the teacher was actually understanding and said that Micah and I could continue working without him.

since we were doing all of the work anyways, and even gave us permission to work in the teacher's area if we needed a place to get away from him. But it seemed like the less that I saw him, the more aggressive he would become. I saw him one time in the parking lot and tried to guilt trip me about the project. I told him that he needed to talk to the teacher about it as it wasn't our choice, and he made another suggestive remark.

I told him that he was disgusting and creepy, and quickly left, as he stood in the parking lot with that same stupid grin. The last event that I mentioned happened the week before my birthday, and between that and Ricky making me feel gross, I decided to cut classes the following week. I got most of my assignments from the teachers ahead of time, which was nice.

That way I didn't have to be behind, and I told Micah so that we could schedule time outside of the class to meet up. My boyfriend was going to be doing the same and driving up to stay with me for the week, so I was pretty excited, and I didn't want anything to ruin our week. My boyfriend, Adrian, showed up within the next day or so, and we had a nice day together.

Adrian said that he wanted to take me somewhere specifically for my birthday, so he suggested that I get my oil changed. I had a better car, so we usually drove mine when he came up, and he encouraged me to go meet up with Micah that day in case I didn't feel up to it after my birthday celebrations.

I was talking about the adult things that I wanted to get out of the way so we had more time to spend together, so this was a load off knowing that he was okay with me doing this all on the same day. So he sent me off with a hug and a kiss, and he stayed at my apartment, and then said that he might go visit with his parents. So the day went fine.

And about the time I was finishing up with Micah, I texted Adrian, and he even told me that I could invite Micah back, and we could all go have dinner or something. I thought that that was convenient, because she had asked me if I wanted to grab something to eat anyways, so we headed back to my apartment. Then, neither of us were expecting to have people scream surprise as I opened up the door.

This man had this whole party planned out, and I, none the wiser, thought he was just being nice and having me do all this stuff. Anyways, the party was great. There were probably about 15 or 20 people there, including both of our parents and friends. When we did the cake, Adrian was teasing me about something, and I ended up putting cake on his face. This started him trying to wipe it on me, while others around us were taking pictures and laughing too.

It was legitimately a great time. Shortly after this, though, while I was wiping my face off, Micah came over to me and softly asked if I had invited Ricky, or if my boyfriend was friends with him by chance. I was at first confused by this because she knew how creepy he was being, and even if I knew about this party, I sure as hell would not have invited him.

She motioned towards the living room, and I rushed in there to see him helping himself to the food on my table. I had so many things circling in my head. The people here were all pretty close friends, including the only two from the college that I had met, so the people that were here were invited either by text or a Facebook message. I had no idea how he found out about the party, or even more concerning, how he knew where I lived.

I didn't want to cause a scene, and to be honest, I didn't know how he would react, so I just said his name. He looked up at me and said something along the lines of, "Oh, there's the tease." I asked him what he was doing there, and then just bluntly said that he was not welcome. And he started going off. He started saying some pretty nasty things about me. I was scared, angry, and embarrassed since our parents were there.

Adrian had gone to the restroom to clean up, so he'd walked out while this was happening and tried asking what was going on, but I think he figured it out pretty quickly. He started approaching Ricky, telling him that he needed to leave now before we called the cops, and his face lit up. He really said, "'Oh, is this the guy you've been cheating on me with?' Then he tried making these crazy accusations of us."

Not only were they completely false, but I could feel myself getting red as my parents and his parents were looking like they were getting uncomfortable. Adrian started getting a bit more aggressive towards him and pushing him towards the door, and my dad had also started walking towards the door too. Ricky tried to give one last hurrah, saying that he would fight Adrian for me and then pulled out a knife. I was terrified at this point and there were a few of us shouting, but thankfully nothing else happened.

My dad used to be a security guard, so he managed to do something to make him drop the knife, and Adrian helped knock him to the ground. They had him restrained pretty well, and I went to grab my cell phone to call the cops. The whole time, Ricky is still going on and on about things that he's done to me or wanted to do to me, to the point that Adrian ended up hitting him in the head pretty hard. It didn't knock him out, though, and he just laughed.

It felt like forever, but the police did finally arrive, and they arrested him. After they left, we tried to pull the party back together, which was pretty rough for me. I had locked myself in my bedroom for a bit because, yeah, I was pretty embarrassed. Mostly by the things that he was saying. They were all false, but the fact that he said all of that in front of people, and in so much detail, was just horrible.

He had to have thought all of that, and fantasized it, which still grosses me out thinking about it. I eventually came out after my mom and Adrian came and talked to me, and convinced me that everyone else was back to having fun. Overall, this made me actually file a restraining order. I talked to the school about it, and they seemed to reluctantly make changes so that I didn't have to see him anymore.

I had a few online classes, and I'm sure that they changed things for him because we were never on campus on the same day it seemed. However, he did try to say he was going to press charges on Adrian, but nothing happened with that, thankfully. Like, he dropped the charges or something? Because he got paper saying that it was either dropped or dismissed, I don't remember. But yeah, that was probably one of the most memorable birthdays that I've ever had, and

and I hope that I just never see Ricky again. So, my sister had a birthday yesterday, and I was spending some time with her at her house, and we were talking about our childhood memories together. I brought up the subject of our earliest memories that we could recall, and I told her my earliest memory, and she explained that hers happened to be a dream, and in that dream, she said that she saw a very creepy man.

She said that she can still see the face of the man very vividly, which I find astounding, because she was three years old when she had this dream. She turned 31 yesterday. Now, I don't know about you, but I have a hard time remembering the faces of people that I met recently, let alone am able to recall the face of someone I had never met before in one of my dreams when I was just three years old.

She showed me a picture of what this man looked like that she had seen, and the picture was that of Nosferatu. If you're not familiar with that name, look him up. I believe he's also called Orlok. Anyways, he's a vampire. A very creepy-looking vampire with claws. I bring this all up because I've always had a strange feeling about myself, and if I might be connected to something that isn't really explainable.

I was at an event when I was younger and saw this orb that was colored neon white and blue. That's how I would explain it. But it wasn't shaped like an orb. More like the dog off of Nightmare Before Christmas. I could tell that no one in the room noticed it, but I didn't really feel like it was out of place. I grew up in a cul-de-sac right beside the woods, and on the edge of the cul-de-sac written in red were the words, "'Beware of Doug.'"

I always wondered what that meant. It may not be of anything of significance, but it always gave me the creeps. While standing on the edge of those woods, I could always hear a creaking noise coming and going. I always imagined it being a screen door just opening and closing, but as I got older, I thought that it may have been the sound of a noose. I'm still not sure what it was, but that definitely gave me the creeps.

The next story is several years later when I was about 17 years old, and I was on my way to pick up my sister from work. She was getting off at midnight. I was about to turn on this certain road leading to her work, and by that road was a cemetery. On the edge of the cemetery was a sidewalk, and on that sidewalk was this woman in a white gown walking barefoot. I remember that she had brown hair that went down to the middle of her back,

and just as I was about to turn onto the road, she started to turn and look at me. I got spooked and I didn't look back. Several months later on New Year's Eve, at around midnight, me and my friends were driving on the town square, and my friend asked if we had seen that girl walking, and I asked what she looked like, and he explained the exact same thing that I had seen, except when I saw her, she wasn't carrying anything.

Especially not a present. After that, we actually went looking for her, and were at a spot that some guy had hung himself at, and then it started snowing. So, if you guys could give me some insight onto what this all could be, I would love to hear your thoughts.

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Way back whenever I was a little boy, me and my family used to make the drive from our home to my grandparents' house up north. And we would stay there for the end of the year and the beginning of the next, and then would head back south.

Honestly, I don't remember how long it took to get from point A to point B, but I remember it being a long time, of course, as a kid. It always felt like it took forever, and I would get increasingly impatient on the ride there. Because of that, my parents always tried to make stops when I would hit my peak.

Obviously, I was very young, maybe seven at the oldest, so it wasn't like I was older and throwing a tantrum. I was still a pretty young boy and just really didn't like sitting still. There was one rest stop between home and my grandparents' house that I really liked stopping at, because they had some really neat animal statues out front near a small playground area, and there was a McDonald's that was actually built in the parking lot area of said rest stop.

when you're that age who doesn't love colorful animals and McDonald's. Unfortunately, my appreciation for the place very quickly went away when the incident that I'm writing about occurred, mostly because I was terrified that it would happen again, however unlikely that actually was. That year, we were driving up to my grandparents' house as we always did for the holidays, and in that year, my mom was actually pregnant with my sister.

so we were stopping more than we usually did. We got to the area where the rest stop that I mentioned above is, and I asked my dad if we were going to see the statues. At this point it was starting to snow a bit, and my dad mentioned that he wouldn't mind stopping, but that we couldn't play on the playground because of the weather.

I was a bit upset at this, I wanted to play in the snow obviously, but he was pretty steadfast about the fact that we would stop, take some pictures, get our snacks and whatnot and then get back on the road. We pulled into the rest stop and the snow was starting to come down a bit more, it was actually starting to stick to the ground, and there were some small patches of ice in various spots as well from when it had been raining just prior to the snow.

We parked, all got out, and my dad started heading towards the statues, warning us of a slick spot on the walkway so that we didn't slip. He wanted to quickly get his annual photograph of the family around the big brown bear statue, and then get out of there. As we were headed towards the statue, I got hit with the urge to go to the bathroom, like really bad. I told my dad that I had to go, and he asked me if I could wait.

but it was a nuclear threat at that point. Like, if I didn't go right then, then I was going to need new pants. This is one of those rest stops where the restrooms weren't inside the building, they were on the outside. So, he told me to go ahead and go, and that he would be waiting right there when I got out. I ran into the men's room and did my business, and when I got out, I noticed that there was an older gentleman in the restroom at one of the urinals.

but I ignored him and walked past him to get to the sink so I could wash my hands. It was while I was washing them that the man stepped away from the urinal to get behind me, which, looking back, I realize now that he didn't adjust his pants, or flush, so I don't think he was really going. It was like he was just standing at the urinal to wait.

I didn't notice it back then because I was honestly not paying attention. I was just trying to wash my hands and be done with it. I look in the mirror, and he and I make eye contact. I see that he's staring at me with a very happy grin on his face. I try to look away, but the minute that I made eye contact, he moved to initiate conversation. He looked down at me and said, "'Hey, how are you? Are you enjoying the weather?'

I was enjoying it, as I loved the snow and we didn't get a lot where I lived. I smiled and said that I liked the snow and that it was neat. The man laughed and said that he used to like the snow until he got old. I made a comment about how I would always like the snow, and he just once again laughed. I finished washing my hands, and I went over to get a paper towel, and the guy followed me over towards the door and just kept talking about the weather.

He was also asking me if I really liked to play in the snow and stuff like that. It really felt like this was just some old guy that was making conversation with me about the snow. I didn't feel scared of him, and being like 7 at the time he kind of reminded me of my grandfather. I wasn't feeling like I needed to run or be scared of this guy. Then all hell seemed to break loose. I finished drying my hands and went to exit the restroom.

The man was behind me, so I held the door open to be polite, and as soon as I stepped away from the door, he literally swung his arm around me and picked me up, and then started running towards the parking lot. I think he looked older than he really was, because if he was my grandfather's age, then I don't think he would have been able to grab me and run like he did. As soon as I realized what was going on, I started screaming as loudly as I possibly could,

My dad heard me, saw what was going on, and started running toward us. But this guy had a lead, and he was heading straight for a car that was in the parking lot, and it honestly looked like he was going to get there before my dad would be able to catch up to him. That is when fate took over, and I was saved by a miraculous twist. The man that was carrying me was paying a lot of attention to getting to his car, and

and not a lot of attention to the ground in front of him. He ended up catching his foot on an ice patch that I mentioned earlier, and because I was kicking and shifting his weight, he slipped. And when he slipped, he went headfirst into his own car. Thankfully, I pretty much just fell to the ground. But this man? He smacked his head on the bumper of his own vehicle, and he was out cold. It honestly felt like it played out almost like a comedy movie with how it happened.

though nobody was laughing. My dad grabbed me and started shouting for someone to call 911, mostly because this guy looked like he was pretty messed up. The police and an ambulance arrived, and they took him away and the officers took our statements. I have no idea if the man made it or if he was really messed up, but in my opinion, he kind of had it coming. I don't want to wish ill on anyone really, but this man tried to kidnap me,

And, well, like I said, fate took over. I don't like thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't tripped and fallen, but I think it's pretty obvious it would not have been good. I'm thankful it didn't go that far, but I will say that this event really ruined that rest stop for me, and kind of made me afraid to do anything alone in public. For the weekend, I wanted to visit my boyfriend. He lives two hours away, and I always go by train.

I'm not easily spooked, but I always keep an eye out. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, am I right? One hour into the trip, it was around 20-100 hours, and I see two men getting into the same train compartment as me. I was sitting in a two-seat, the seat next to me was empty, and in front of me was a seat for four people, so two pairs of seats facing each other.

The men came in being very loud, even though it was a silent compartment, but nobody said anything because they already seemed very suspicious. From the moment they stepped into the train, probably before they got in, they had their eyes fixated on me. They stepped in through the doors and sat in the seat in front of mine, the four seat, and from then on they kept an eye on me.

while discussing things with each other in a language that I did not understand. Like every other girl, I get stared at frequently, especially when I wear my hair down. It normally makes me feel a bit awkward, but I never feel unsafe when this happens, until yesterday. But they were staring at me in every way possible.

through the chairs, standing up, sitting down, bending over to get a good look, through the reflection of the mirror, and by getting up and walking past me. They were taking turns and walking over to the other compartment of the train. The other compartment was only separated from mine with a glass door. Every time one of them got up, they both started staring at me. Then one of them went away and the other one had clear vision of me and kept staring at me.

He poked his head through the middle of the seats and offered me chocolate, which I politely refused. Then the other one came back, and five minutes later, the man who did not go away yet went away in the same way. They kept taking turns and walking away, and every time one of them got up, the one who remained seated kept an eye on the other, and on me. Each time they were sitting across from each other, they would discuss things, but I couldn't translate it.

They kept looking at me and then started discussing again. When I had 20 minutes of my trip left, a lot of people got out at one stop. So it was just me, them, and one other male at that point. The moment the doors were about to close, one of the creepy men started walking through the doors to check to see if there were people coming in, and maybe to check to see if there was security. I don't know why he did it.

but when he came back, he scanned the train to see how many people were still on, I think. From that moment on, they both got in seats facing me. They would not stop staring at this point. As you can imagine, I panicked and was stressing the F out, so I slowly turned around to look behind the glass doors to see if there were more people that could maybe help me, and, to my luck, there were more people there.

So I slowly and very softly put on my jacket. We still had more than ten minutes left then, and I kid you not, not even two minutes later, one of the men starts getting dressed too. He took his purse and his jacket and kept looking at me and fixating on me while still discussing something with the other man. This was where I really panicked.

I had already let my friend know what was going on, and my boyfriend was already at the train stop where I was supposed to get out. Then, I contemplated what the smartest thing to do was, because there is an emergency number on the train that you can call or text if you feel unsafe, but I had a gut feeling that this would not help me. So, I grabbed my bags, got up, and I walked through the glass door to the other compartment.

I sat facing them so that I could see what they were doing. They both got up, grabbed their bags, and started walking towards me. Mind you, they were sitting closest to the exit, so there was absolutely no reason for them to take this route too. I rapidly started to talk to someone in the seat next from mine, and I asked if he could help me, because I was getting followed and watched by two grown men.

He said that he also thought that they were very suspicious and was getting worried for me. He asked me to sit next to him, so he could keep me a little safer and possibly distract the men or something. Then he distracted me a little bit and asked me some questions about my life. When the two creeps saw that I was seated next to that man, they were already coming my way and were making their way through the doors of the compartment. They are glass doors, so we could see each other very clearly.

I hadn't shown my fear, but I was shaking so uncontrollably that they must have seen how scared I was. The moment they got through that door, they saw me sitting next to the other man, and the creeps exchanged looks, looked at me, discussed something, looked at me again, and then turned around and went the other way. They were walking to the exit of the train, where, again, there's a glass door, so we could still see each other.

The whole time they were standing around the exit, they were looking at me with a very creepy and disturbed look on their faces. I describe it as, you got away, but you won't be so lucky next time. That's how it felt. The man that I was sitting next to also got the feeling of this and was calming me down. He told me he wasn't going to let me get off the train by myself, and that he would wait with me until my boyfriend arrived.

That was amazing, and I felt very comforted, but then our stop came and we walked to our side of the exit, and then came to a realization. In the exit of the train, there were two other men standing with the same kind of looks as the two creeps. They were speaking the same language, and they acted weird too. These men were probably the men who the two creeps were visiting every few minutes.

The men at the exit saw me, looked at me with that creepy look, but then the man who was keeping me safe made sure to show them that he was walking with me, and immediately they looked away. They also covered their faces with their hoods. The doors opened and they nearly sprinted out of there, just as the other two creeps did. Then the man who escorted me out waited with me until we found my boyfriend, and then he went on with his day.

We both could not thank him enough for keeping me safe. I thought I lived in a very safe country in Europe, but I think that as long as you're a young woman on your own, you will never be 100% safe while traveling or being alone. I hate thinking of what would have happened if I was not helped by the man in the other compartment.

I wish I could have thanked him with gifts or a nice gesture, but I don't know his name and will probably never see him again. So to the man who saved me, I thank you with all my heart. Okay, this was a really long story, but in real time this only lasted around an hour. I hope that some people read this and really hope we all stay safe. Just be on the lookout for each other and help someone when you can. Thanks for reading.

Hey everyone. Long time lurker in this group, never posted because I've never really had anything that I thought was worth sharing. I've read a lot of stories here and I honestly never thought that I was going to, one day, make a post. Yet, here we are. Sure, we've had our share of creeps at my work, but this one was far above and beyond everything else.

This happened only a couple of weeks ago, so the memory is still fresh in my mind, and honestly, I'm still a bit creeped out by it. I was working the night shift at my McBurgers, and yes, I'm calling it that because I don't want the real restaurant to see this and try to shut me down, and it seemed like a pretty normal night. To give some context, the McBurgers that I work at isn't in the best part of town.

We've had our fair share of weird people and bizarre things happen, but honestly it kind of feels like the people with ill intent just leave our store alone. It's almost like our McBurger is a safe haven for them, so they know not to do the crazy things there. Like, we get the types that kind of look like they're going to commit a robbery, but they just order a burger and leave. And then, wherever they go afterwards is who they hit.

"'Well, unfortunately, on this night, we got a taste of the crazy. "'It was around 2 a.m., and we were mostly empty. "'I was manning the drive-thru window and doing some sweeping in the back area, "'when we weren't getting any cars, that is. "'Kevin, one of my co-workers, was manning the front, "'but due to lack of traffic, he was doing some cleaning up on the line and the other parts.'

After a bit of this, we heard the door open, and Kevin wrapped up what he was doing to head up to the front to greet the customer. I watched him go up and look around and then come back, saying that there was no one there and shrugging it off. He went back to cleaning. About five minutes later, I looked up and told him that he had a customer, because there was a man standing up at the front. He looked a bit messed up, is the best way to put it.

Not, like, dirty or anything, just a bit like he was stressing out. He was wearing a nicer button-down shirt and a decent pair of slacks, but they were, for lack of a better way to put it again, just messed up. His pants were unbuttoned, but his belt was holding them up.

His hair looked like he'd been pulling it out. His shirt was halfway unbuttoned, and his tie was still tied around his neck but was halfway unknotted. He looked like he could have been a VP for a company that had just closed its doors for the last time, if that makes sense. The man just stood there at the counter looking at nothing in particular, like he was just spacing out. Kevin asked if he could take the man's order, and the man just stared at him with that same blank expression.

The man kept his eyes focused on Kevin, not saying a word, and after a few moments of staring and Kevin trying to get him to say something, waving his hand in front of his face and looking back at me like, is this guy okay? The guy just straight up screams, hey, straight at Kevin. He jumps, I jump, and we're both now paying full attention to this dude.

At this point, our manager Sasha is actually coming out of the office room to see what exactly is going on. And as soon as she does, this man starts screaming at her, yelling that, in his words, she is one with Satan, and that she was an affront to the Holy Father. We both turned to look at her, and she had a confused look on her face. And, yeah, it was weird.

Then, as we weren't paying attention to the guy, he reached forward and grabbed Kevin's shirt and pulled him close. And at this point, I ran up to the front to try to get this guy away from him. I was sitting there trying to pull this man off, and he's sitting there staring at Kevin with his whole face shaking, and then starts saying, "'They're coming, Kevin. This is the end. This is how all things end.'"

Considering how much he was shaking aggressively, his voice was surprisingly calm and direct. At this point, he started trying to pull Kevin over the counter, and I was struggling to get this guy off of Kevin. Thankfully, Sasha was already in the back and calling the police. As I'm trying to pry the man off Kevin, he began shouting about how they were here and we needed to leave. Thankfully, the police arrived damn near immediately.

My guess is that they were already patrolling the area, and were just waiting for something to happen. The two officers managed to restrain the man, and get his hands in cuffs. As they led him away, he continued to rant about some impending doom. The whole ordeal was over in a matter of minutes, but we were all in a pretty confused state of panic.

After the police left, we all tried to get back to work and when Kevin went to clean the restroom, he found a weird symbol that was scratched into the wall. Not the stall, but the actual paint on the drywall. The only way that I can describe it is like a summoning circle from Supernatural. Obviously, we have no idea why he carved it into the wall before going psychotic on Kevin,

but at least we knew what he was doing between the time he walked in and we saw him. This left us all a bit shaken, but we did our best to just go back to our mundane jobs until the shift was over. Kevin did end up putting in his two weeks not too long after this, and he actually just had his last shift. He said that he didn't really want to quit, but he keeps getting this weird feeling that the guy is going to come back, and it was bothering him enough to leave.

I get it, and I don't blame him. It was definitely a terrifying moment, and the fact that this guy paid way more attention to Kevin probably didn't help. This was a few years ago, in my old house, around Halloween. One day, I, 43, male, was home alone in the house. I have a wife, three kids, and a dog.

I'm in my basement cutting wood and working when all of a sudden I hear thumping on the ceiling above me. First level floor. It's rhythmic and almost perfectly in beat. I'm a handyman and I do a lot of my own fixing, and I know the usual sound that houses make. This was not usual. I start to follow the thumping around on the first floor. It's as if someone or something is walking around.

I call out my wife's name. No answer. My kids. No answer. Just soft moaning that's getting louder with the thumps. My dog is with me in the basement and following the sound with me with his tail straight up, completely silent. This was weird because I have a loud and jumpy dog. I then slowly follow the thumping to the steps and I hear a weak old woman's voice calling for Jimmy. Jimmy.

Not my name, but my name does start with a J. Over and over. Ignoring my hellos, she keeps walking around my first floor, calling out, moaning, and thumping. I grab my dog by the collar and leave out the basement door and walk around the outside of my house. It is worth noting that I've had a lot of weird supernatural things happen in my life, especially around Halloween, but I could feel that this was different. Very different.

I go up to the street and there's a younger couple calling out for someone, let's say Nancy, for the sake of this. I go up to them and say, Are you Jimmy? The young guy looks at me, and simultaneous relief and confusion cross his face. He tells me that's his dad's name, but that he passed years ago. Turns out, Nancy was his mom, with some kind of mental issue. She'd snuck out of their house and up the road.

Her family lived in my house before we did, didn't know that, and she was having some kind of episode. She went looking for her husband in her home. Oh, and also, she has a wooden leg. I don't know the story, but that's what the thumping was. We got her home safely, and I also double-locked my doors from that point on. Last May, a few of my friends and I decided to have a birthday celebration for one of our friends that was turning 19.

Her birthday was on Friday the 13th, so she wanted to do a sort of Halloween theme with all of us in costumes and go to a local bar. We live in Canada, so we got all dressed up, some of us in a little more sexier looking costumes, some of us in some dumb costumes, and there were five of us total. The birthday girl, Mandy, was a witch, angel dressed as an angel,

I was a zombie, and Cassie and Layla were ketchup and mustard bottles. We all met at Mandy's house and started with a few shots. Cassie didn't really drink, so she was our designated driver that night. After we had our liquid confidence, we headed out to the bar, no longer fearing what people would think of us being in full costumes in the middle of May. When we got there, it was actually quite the opposite of what we expected.

Some of the patrons took pictures and asked us what the occasion was, and even bought us drinks. So, we were genuinely just having a good time. However, at one point, there was a group of guys that came in, three of them. It was one of those moments where they opened the squeaking door so we all looked, and then continued dancing and laughing. As with everyone else that was there, they were staring at us off and on until they finally approached us.

They made some cheesy comments about the angel costume, and then asked why we were dressed up, so we again explained it was for a birthday. They wished her a happy birthday, and bought us all drinks as well. We thought that would be the end of it, but they seemed to linger around, watching us. None of us were really giving them any attention. Cassie and Layla were dating, I had a boyfriend, and Mandy and Angel were just doing their own thing and having fun.

So there definitely were not any signals telling them that they were welcome to stay and hang with us. However, it was a bar, and no one reserved anything. So they had every right to be over by us too. We were in a smaller section in the back by the dartboard and pool table. After a while, we all noticed that they would lean in and say something and then look over at us and nod or point.

I think we all anticipated what they may have wanted, and we really were not interested in picking up a date, so we decided to leave and find another bar. As we were walking out, one of the guys hollered out asking where we were going, and I said home. We found another bar that wasn't too far from the first one and went in to continue our fun. However, those same three guys came strolling in not long after us.

We all looked at each other to make sure that we weren't crazy and tried to pretend like we didn't see them. This time we sat at one of the back tables and decided to order something to eat, so we weren't just running on alcohol. It was only a matter of time that these guys would finally come over and, of course, one of them sat in a chair next to me, one sat on the other side next to Angel, and one continued standing.

They asked us how old we were, and we were hoping if we were honest they would at least leave us alone, knowing that we were still pretty young. But instead they seemed to be fairly happy with this idea. They made comments on how good we all looked and offered to buy us more drinks while slipping in the comment about how we must still want some since we lied about going home. I then said something about wanting to get something to eat before going home, which is why we ended up at that bar.

but ultimately we all declined the drinks. Now no longer feeling comfortable around them, we ordered a plate of nachos to share, but when it arrived, no one immediately touched them, due to the awkwardness of the air. So then the guy closest to me pulled them closer and started eating them. As they were devouring our nachos, they started laughing and talking about themselves. We didn't really know what to do.

We just sat there looking at each other while occasionally giggling when they would say something and laugh. At one point, I had taken out my cell phone and was texting my boyfriend to let him know what was happening with my left hand, which wasn't exactly easy for me to begin with. However, the guy must have noticed and was obviously mad. I could tell by the way he slammed his hand on the table and said, "'Hey, no phones out at the table!'

After looking at me angrily, he started laughing, and so did the other two. To say that I was freaking out would be an understatement. I don't know what their plans were, but I was too afraid to get up and leave, but even more terrified of what might happen if I stayed there. Thankfully, Cassie stood up and started walking away, when the guy again said in his booming voice, "'Hey, where are you going?' And without flinching, without a stutter or hint of fear, she said, "'To the bathroom?'

and she kept walking. I only hoped that she had a plan and waited for her to return. It probably felt a lot longer than it actually was, but she finally came back, and without acknowledging them, told us that we should go. We all nodded in agreement, but were all waiting to see who the first person to stand up would be. That's when Angel shot up real quick and walked towards Cassie.

The guys then tried inviting us back to their place for more free drinks, as if they hadn't already terrified the hell out of us. We all declined and finally got the courage to stand up and started walking towards the front of the bar, and, of course, they were following right behind us, as if they were part of our party. That's when we noticed Cassie's whole plan coming together.

At the front of the bar was her dad, in full police uniform, greeting us with open arms. He apologized for being late and then immediately followed up with, "'Those guys with you?' We all looked back and noticed that they were just standing around, trying not to make eye contact with us. He then followed us outside and we were all thanking Cassie for her quick thinking and for him for showing up to save us."

Her dad has always been such a gentle giant, but not that you could tell that by just looking at him. So, I was relieved that those guys seemed to be pretty intimidated by him, or at least the uniform. He followed us back to Mandy's place and made sure that no one else followed either, and thankfully we never saw or heard from those guys again.

We finished our night inside watching some dumb horror movies on Netflix and eating all of her snack foods, so we didn't let it ruin our night. We are a lot more careful now when we go out to places like that, and now I have an emergency text set up so that I can send it quickly just in case. This was something that happened when I was driving across the state to visit and reconnect with an old friend.

I was doing the driving by myself, which I had only ever done one other time. This meant that I would have to keep myself entertained as I made the nine-hour drive. I packed myself plenty of snacks and drinks so that I wouldn't have to stop, which worked out for most of the trip. However, towards the tail end of my drive, I started to really crave fries.

I could tell that I was going to need some more caffeine anyways, so I decided to find a quick place to eat and refuel. I stopped at a fast food chain that was popular in the Midwest to grab something to eat and a soda. It wasn't busy when I arrived, but there were a few people sitting in the lobby and eating, and I saw a few workers behind the counter.

I approached as I normally do, greeting the person at the register, but I noticed immediately that they did not look to be in a good mood. In fact, they looked pretty irritated. I hoped it wasn't because of me, so I tried to be as nice as possible. I was working retail at the time, so I completely understood how bad some days could get working with the public.

The man at the counter quickly said in a hurried manner, "'What can I get you?' So I started giving my order, and when he was repeating it, he stumbled over his words and then also said the wrong item. I politely corrected it, which made him look down, and he started jamming buttons with his finger, and then loudly sighed and apologized. I giggled slightly and told him that it wasn't a big deal and was trying to be nice."

I told him that I appreciated him repeating back the order for reasons just like that. It's amazing how far a little kindness can go. He then sighed again and told me that he was just having a bad day. I apologized, told him that it was okay though and that we were all allowed to have our bad days. Apparently, this was enough for him to give me a quick synopsis of everything that he was dealing with.

which was definitely a lot for one person, and I just tried to be polite. This all was happening while I paid and stood there with my receipt for a moment. After a few minutes and our conversation winding down, he said that he appreciated me listening to him rant and that he would bring me my food so I could go sit down. I said thank you and went and found a seat.

I sat at one of those bar tables with the stools that faced towards the parking lot, with my back to the counter. Enough time passed for me to text my friend to let them know where I was at, and respond to a few other messages, when the same guy brought over the tray with my food. I thanked him, and he walked away, so I just began enjoying my meal. I was probably about halfway through it when I heard a familiar voice approach my spot from the side and say hi to me.

It was that same guy. He asked if he could sit with me for a moment while he was on break. I did think it was a little weird, but I wasn't going to be there much longer, so I told him that it was fine. That is when the guy just unloaded.

He was talking about how he was stressed because his car broke down. He thought his girlfriend was going to leave him. His parents were pressuring him about his schooling because he wasn't passing all of his classes in college, because he was getting burned out, and he didn't think that he wanted to be in that field anymore. Then, he topped it all off with something along the lines of...

And I have to pick up shifts here because my worthless boss's kid can't be bothered to work their own damn shift. That last part he said a bit louder and looked towards the back, like he was wanting to make sure that somebody heard it. These were all definitely terrible things to have to deal with, and I did feel bad for him, but in that exact moment...

I had no clue what to do or say other than, "Wow, I'm so sorry." He just stared at me and let out a heavy sigh. "You know what? It's alright. At least I got it off my chest, which helped more than you know." I told him that I was glad I was able to help him and that everything would work out in the end. He then stood up and thanked me and asked me for my name.

Hell, I didn't even live in that state and I would probably never see him again, so I told him honestly what it was. He told me his name, which I think was something like Mac or Mark, something like that. Then he walked back to the kitchen. I had a small moment at that point thinking, "Well, that was something." And I went back to my meal, preparing to call my friend when I left to tell them about it.

I was just about finished, but was distracted doing something on my phone when I heard someone from behind me shouting, which startled me. I just heard someone shout, Shut the f- up! I turned around to see Mark, and who I assumed to be the manager, because they had on a different colored shirt, standing in the kitchen. The manager had his hand up in a manner like he was shrugging, while Mark was throwing his hands around angrily.

The manager was talking a lot quieter, as I could only hear Mark shouting. It's now gotten the attention of the others in the lobby and the two other workers on the other side of the kitchen, and after a short conversation between the two, I heard Mark grab something to his right, and before I could blink, he had swung it at the manager.

The next thing I remember was hearing the agonizing screams coming from the manager, while the two workers on the other side are also now yelling at Mark. I quickly got up and ran over to the counter where I saw the horrifying scene. Mark was now on top of the manager and swinging this hot fry basket at his face. I was frozen in place. I knew what I needed to do, which was call 911, but I couldn't move.

I just stood there horrified by the situation unfolding in front of me. I finally did come to my senses when one of the other employees jumped on Mark and was fighting to get him off of the manager. I went back to my seat to grab my phone and called 911, and thankfully they were able to get my location because I barely knew where I was. They asked me to stay there so that they could talk to me, so I had to stay there even longer to wait for them.

A couple other customers had run out the door while one of them tried helping the manager by applying cool towels to their face and arms. Somehow, he was still conscious, or had regained consciousness, but his moans of pain, I will never forget that. To this day, they still haunt me. Meanwhile, after the other employees got him off the manager, Mark ran towards the back and I didn't see him again.

I wanted to do something, but I was scared that he may come back out and try to do something again to all of us standing there with him. I just stood by the door hoping to see the cops or an ambulance soon. After what felt like an eternity, they did finally show up. The cops went in first and immediately went to the back, and then the EMTs came in and started caring for the manager.

I then had to tell them everything that I saw, as well as everyone else that was still there. Apparently there was another exit out the back, and Mark had left through it, and he was long gone. Unfortunately, I wish that I could tell you more about this, but that was pretty much it. After all that, and I was given permission to leave, I got sick and then called my friend from my car, now shaking and crying.

I explained everything to them, and when we couldn't talk anymore, I called my sister and told her. There was no way that I could finish this drive by myself with my own thoughts. I definitely needed a distraction. I only had about three hours left to go, which was enough time to get it all out, calm down, and then even pull over to take a quick, much-needed power nap.

I got to my friend's place late that night, and after a few drinks, I crashed. I was thankful that I was with good company after that because the thoughts and sounds kept circling my mind, and definitely made it hard to sleep for a few nights. I have no idea the conditions of the manager or if the Mark guy was ever caught, but I just hope that both of them got the right help they desperately needed."

Oh, and if I'm ever on a road trip like that, I only do the drive-thru now. This story takes place several years ago, but the memory is so heavy that I can see it and revisit it as if it happened last night. The whole event had a profound effect on me, and I'm hoping that by sharing my story, I can help others get an outsider's perspective of the paranormal.

Prior to this all happening, I was honestly quite the skeptic when it came to the paranormal. I wasn't the type to say that I didn't believe people, just the type to say, "I believe you, but there's no way to prove what happened to you actually happened." I guess I was sort of agnostic when it came to the paranormal, if that makes sense. The experience occurred during the summer when I was house-sitting for a family friend.

They had a beautiful old colonial-style house on the outskirts of a rural town, surrounded by dense woods. It was probably the most beautiful house that I have ever seen, and I absolutely adored everything about it. The house had been in their family for a few generations, and while it was well-maintained, it still had that unmistakable air of antiquity.

Creaking floorboards, musty smells, creepy little shadows in the corners of the room, all of it. The woman that owned the house was actually childhood friends with my grandmother, and her kids knew my parents and so forth and so on. And that's why when it was mentioned at a get-together that they needed someone to watch the house for a bit, I immediately jumped at it. I had spent some time there as a little girl, so I knew the area too.

and I was nothing shy of excited to stay in the house. The first two days and nights were completely uneventful. They had asked me to do some cleaning for them, which I had no issue with, and since no one was there, it wasn't like the chore list was extensive. I was just enjoying the days to myself, and I was curling up with my Kindle in their little study room enjoying the feeling of this beautiful house. Now, the third night, that was when things got creepy.

The day was fine. I had actually gone to the store to get some food for myself that day, and had spent some time actually having a lovely little picnic in the woods. It was that evening that the feeling changed. The first thing I felt was this deep sense of unease. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I felt an inexplicable sense of dread, as if I was being watched by something.

I tried to shake off the feeling and distract myself with a movie, but the whole time I was watching it, I just kept feeling like something was going to sneak up on me and grab me. I thought that maybe I was just feeling a bit homesick. It kind of made sense. I was feeling off because I was missing my own bed. I figured I would force myself into getting comfortable and would just stay up late watching my cue on Netflix until I passed out.

I did just that too. I watched like three movies, and at some point late into the night, I ended up completely passing out on the couch. At some point, around two or so in the morning, I jumped up, like I was having one of those falling dreams and I shot awake. After catching my breath, I laughed and closed my eyes again, but I was struggling to fall back asleep. I kept hearing what sounded like a light tapping sound.

like someone was tapping on the wall or a door or something for a while. I was adamant that I was going to just ignore it and go back to sleep, telling myself that it was an old house, so it was just something to do with that. But then, that light tapping turned into a really loud bang. That bang made me jump up again and look around, trying to see if someone was breaking in or something.

I got up, glanced at the doors and out the windows, and as one would expect at two-something in the morning, there was nobody there. I went back to the couch, but before I could sit down, I heard that same bang again, and it was definitely coming from the back of the house, near where the bedrooms were. I walked down the hallway towards the guest bedroom, and the whole time, I could feel that...

static feeling you get on your arms when you're starting to freak out. I got back to the guest bed and I pushed the door open to see what it was that was making the noise, and that's when I pretty much lost any semblance of calm. The room was super dark, but I could see a figure standing in the room and staring out the window. It looked to be an older woman in a long nightgown. Her face was gaunt and her skin looked pale, almost blue.

I stood there, freaking out inside, staring at what was clearly some kind of apparition just watching the side yard from the window. I was thinking that I needed to scream or run or something. Then she turned to look at me, and her eyes were seriously hollow. There was nothing but darkness there, but I could tell that she was staring at me.

I got hit with this horrible feeling of despair and sadness. Until she reached out towards me and then it was fear again. I admit that I screamed. I wasn't really screaming at her, just the situation. And I pulled the door shut and took off down the hallway. I kept running until I got outside. I ended up saying screw it and camping out in my car that night. Mostly because I couldn't bring myself to go back inside.

When the sun came up, I figured I should stop being so pathetic and went back into the house. It took me a bit, but I did muster up the courage to go to the guest room and see if, for some reason, she was still there. She wasn't, of course, but I did figure out what that banging sound was. Both curtain rods that were on the windows had been pulled off the holders and thrown to the ground.

I didn't realize it the night before when I saw her looking out the window, but it makes sense. I actually called the owner to tell her about the story, because she's the type that I knew would love it, and she laughed when I finished my retelling. She said that she knew who it was, that it was her great-grandmother, and that the current guest room was once her bedroom.

She mentioned that, in her words, her spirit sometimes gets antsy in the summer and wants to get outside into the garden, and she basically throws a fit. When I mentioned the curtains, she said that she had recently replaced them, and that her great-grandmother must not have liked them. She asked me to just put them off to the side, and that, as long as her grandma could see out the window, she probably wouldn't be too much of a problem.

I really wish that she would have mentioned that the house was haunted, and that she knew it. It would have been really helpful for me, though I probably still would have freaked out. I did what she asked, I moved the curtains off to the side, and I made sure to tell her spirit that she apologized for blocking the view, and sure enough, nothing else happened. I didn't feel uncomfortable again in that house for a single minute after that."

Since that night, I have never been able to shake the memory of that ghostly woman, and that profound sadness that seemed to emanate from her. She lived in a very different time, and it seems really sad that she's stuck in her home like that, but I guess so long as she can see the garden, she's okay with it. To those that hear this and may be skeptical of the paranormal, I understand. I was like that too.

I hope that by sharing my story, I can help others who have experienced similar encounters to feel less alone.

and, perhaps, encourage those who are curious to approach the unknown with both caution and respect. After all, sometimes the scariest things are the ones that we can't see or understand, and the mysteries that lurk in the shadows may be far more real than we ever imagined. When I was in college, I was out and about with my then-boyfriend.

We had gone to dinner and then gone to Walmart to get some typical college food so that we could survive a Sunday in. I was dressed up in a casual dressy fit. We decided to split up while we shopped split apart, maybe to do quicker shopping, but I don't remember the exact reason why. I was wandering the grocery aisles and I noticed this girl who was about my age. In a friendly manner, we casually smiled at each other and continued on shopping.

It didn't seem weird at first, but I kept noticing her in the same aisle as me, and a big, muscular man was never far behind us. Eventually, I texted my boyfriend and asked where he was, and continued on shopping. Next thing I know, the girl approaches me and says how she loves my jacket. I say, thanks, Marisa's, and try to move on. She stops me and says something along the lines of...

"'Hey, you look like you're my age and you seem really nice. I just moved here for a new job and a company that my friends and I are starting,' and then tried to ask me questions about where I was from. I was vague and untrusting with what I said, noting that this was not normal, and then she said, "'I'm looking for more people like you and I to work for our company.'

"'It's kind of a warehouse job, and I would love for you to be one of our bookkeepers. You should give me your number.' I said, "'Well, that's nice of you to offer me a job, but I'm not a desk person, and I already have a job that I love.' She said, "'Well, that's a bummer. I thought we might work well together. Well, would you want to give me your number so that we can hang out? I would love to have a friend who can show me around the city.'

I realized that I wasn't getting out of this situation until my boyfriend showed up, or I gave her my number. Eventually, I rattled off a fake phone number and said, "'Hey, I'll catch you later. I gotta go.' And then I walked away, praying that my boyfriend would be near so we could get the hell out of there. While I was looking for him and trying to call him, the girl caught up to me and said, "'I tried to call you, but it said the number was out of service.'

and as I tried to come up with a quick excuse and say, "Maybe you typed it wrong," she saw that my iPhone was unlocked in my hand. She quickly snatched it and called herself on it. I was so flustered and mad at her that I snatched my phone right back when my boyfriend came around the corner. He instantly recognized that something was up and said that we needed to go.

When the girls saw him approach me, she looked so disappointed to see him, and stopped trying to interact. We ended up buying nothing and leaving. That night we called our parents and the police. The police said they didn't think it was anything ill-intended, but I was sure that it was probably trafficking. I was going to switch my phone number because I was so scared. I blocked them, turned off all location access on my phone,

I was too scared to go anywhere alone for a while. I even told my coach so that she knew. A couple of days later, I got a text from a random number. It was the girl. She sent a picture of my best friend, who was out drinking downtown with some of her friends. The text said, "'I met your best friend. She gave me your number because I told her I was looking for new friends.'"

She showed me a picture of you and I said, "What a coincidence, I met her the other day and lost her number when I got a new phone." About two minutes later, I got a text from my best friend that said, "I gave your number to a girl who wants to make friends around here and is looking for people to join her business, and since I moved this week I thought of you." I freaked out that she was with her. I told her to get away and to not leave alone with her.

I stayed up worried until my best friend got home. She said that she was fine. Otherwise, I would have gone to pick her up. The next day, my friend apologized and told me to block the number. My friend and her group tried to ditch her, but she kept showing up at the bars they were at. She said that the girl was relentless and texted her all night trying to get my friend to go hang out at... her place.

My best friend also said that when she asked about the business, the girl wouldn't give her many details other than it was a warehouse somewhere. That it would pay her great, and it was in town, and if she wanted a tour, she would take her. We never heard from this girl again. Today I was listening to a podcast and they mentioned different sex trafficking tactics.

Two of the tactics were vague jobs where they would pay you well, but needed you to come meet them to give you more information, and a new-to-town girl who desperately needs new friends. I've been thinking about this all morning, and I'm glad that I felt uncomfortable and my friend didn't go with this girl, but I am also mostly mad the cops ignored my concerns and said it was nothing.

I hope that they wrote down the tip that night at least, but I doubt that they did. This probably won't be as interesting as most of the posts here, and will probably be long because it's been happening for a while, but it's real and current, and I could really use some help figuring out what to do. To be honest, I don't really know how to start, as it's my first time posting here, but I will do my best.

Me and my fiancé lived together with our dogs in a really old house that I'm almost certain the previous owner, an older gentleman, passed in well before we lived here. I was told that he was a recluse and not really anything else that I can recall. I've lived in this house with my parents for some time now, before it was just me and my fiancé. My parents aren't dead, they just moved.

It's always had a pretty bad vibe, and never really made me feel all that welcome. There have been a few instances over the years, mostly noises up in the attic or in the walls, but most interestingly, the smell of cigar smoke likes to come around sometimes in random rooms. My mom has asthma, so no one has ever been allowed to smoke inside. Once my parents left the house after a pretty nasty divorce,

I only mention it because I notice a lot of encounters having to do with negative emotions. Me and my fiancé have been happier, honestly, since it's just been us, but the weird stuff has been getting worse and worse lately. The feeling of being watched has been tenfold, to the point where it literally feels like someone is about to breathe down your neck. Our dogs have also been acting pretty weird, staring and barking at nothing way more than usual.

That, and our dreams. I have always had interesting dreams, but only here have I dreamed of being watched or being intruded on with occasional self-death dreams. An example, a waking dream of someone barging into my room and staring and charging at me, or being stared at through the vents. But more noticeable and harder to explain is our windows constantly coming unlocked as of the past few months."

They're not complicated locks, and it happens so frequently that we started actively checking them to make sure that they're still locked sometimes. And they won't be, or they'll be partially unlocked. It's a lock that swivels left to right over a bump to click in place, not something that happens on accident. The noises have gotten more frequent and louder, and things get moved when no one is around to move them.

Just tonight, I got frustrated and threw a Powerade bottle in a bag into the kitchen, and my fiancé didn't go into the kitchen once. She literally didn't even get off the couch. And the bottle, 30 minutes later, is on the counter upright, when I know that it was on the floor. Also tonight, the noises were really loud, so I checked the house again, and of course, no source.

and it doesn't seem to happen upstairs while I'm actively looking for it. It literally sounded like someone was dragging something through the wall. It's getting to the point where I'm worried that we have an actual person in the house sometimes, but I'm almost certain that I've checked the house over 20 times, and nothing shows that to be the case. It's honestly grown to be more and more of a concern.

and I could really use some peace of mind. If anyone knows anything that can help or has had a similar experience, please help me out. Growing up, I had a really close friend named Amy. Amy was actually my best friend. We met in grade school when I remember I was running late for school and didn't notice that I had mismatched socks on. Like one was pink with flowers and the other was a different pattern.

It wasn't until I was sitting in class, and I noticed that Amy kept looking at me. At this point, we didn't really talk much, but when we went to recess, she stopped me and said, "'Your socks are weird.'" I looked down and realized what I had done, and we both had a good laugh, and started talking a lot more after that.

I had always been a little shy, whereas she was more outgoing and spontaneous, so she definitely brought me out of my shell at times. She also seemed very smart and mature for her age. I remember watching her mannerisms on many occasions at school or when she would come over to my house, and I definitely learned some things from her.

She would always try to wash her plate or anything she used after eating, would wipe down the table, help make my bed and the sorts. My parents would tease me at times saying that they liked having her over, and that I could learn from her since she picked up after herself so well. I would say that my parents quite enjoyed her too, compared to some of my other friends.

I just wanted to give a little backstory before I explained the actual event in question. So, the events leading up to the reason that I'm writing this took place at Amy's birthday party. I was excited because not only was it my best friend's birthday, but it was the first time her mom allowed her to have one at her house. In fact, I had never been inside of her house past knocking on her door when we went and picked them up.

In the past, I had thought that it was odd that they didn't do anything, but my parents tried explaining to me the possibilities as to why they didn't, such as money restrictions, maybe a religious thing, even. But my mom called her mom one year, and she said that it was okay if we wanted to take her out or something for it, so we did, and just never questioned it. Anyways, back to the party.

She was going to have about ten of us there, including me and her sister Lexi. So, only about seven extra people, but we were all excited about it. I wore my favorite dress and we got her a doll set that could easily be shared and played with her sister. I was the first one to arrive as I wanted to be there to help out with anything if I could. To my surprise, her mom had decorated quite well.

There were streamers and balloons all over the living room. She had cake and all kinds of snacks and drinks. It looked like a full-blown party, which confused my kid brain even more as to why she had never had this before. So, the party was in full swing. Almost everyone showed up and we were all having fun.

It was drawing to the end of the party and a few people had already left. So, as kids do, we started coming up with our own games to play as we waited for the parents to pick more people up. One of those games was hide and seek. It was going to be me, Amy, Lexi, and three other friends playing. One of our friends was the seeker, so the rest of us started dispersing to find the best hiding spot. We started outside, but no one said that we couldn't hide inside.

so I thought the best place would be in Amy's closet. The doors had those little wooden slats in them, so I could see into the bedroom too, so I closed the door and pushed my way behind some clothes and waited. It couldn't have been too long, but being a kid I started getting bored standing there waiting, so I had looked up at her hanging clothes and was trying to see what they were. That's when I heard someone whispering.

I looked back through the slits into the bedroom and saw an older lady sitting on the bed smiling and looking at me. I hadn't seen this lady prior at the party, but I assumed that she was probably their grandmother, by the looks of it. She honestly reminded me of my own grandmother. I was still in hide-and-seek mode, though, so I stood still staring at her, but then she softly called me by my name, still looking in my direction, and patted the spot on the bed next to her.

I still don't have an explanation for my actions, but I felt like I needed to go sit with her, so I slowly opened the closet door and sat on the bed facing her. She still had a warm smile on her face, as she said that I reminded her a lot of Amy. I asked her who she was, and she then confirmed that she was her grandma. I asked her if she'd gotten any cake, because I didn't know what else to say, but she said

and she chuckled and said no, but that it was okay. But then she asked me if I could do one thing for her, and I agreed. She asked me to tell Amy Cakes happy birthday, tell her mom that she was proud of her, and to tell them all that she loved them. I didn't understand, so I told her that they were all still here, and that I could go get them if she wanted. She again chuckled and said it was fine, and that she would be there, and then motioned towards the door so that I could leave.

Confused and ready to get back to playing, I waved goodbye and left the room, closing the door behind me. I found Amy coming into the house to look for me, while the rest of them were still outside. She asked me where I had been, and I explained that I had hid inside her closet. We had a small play fight about it, and all met back up outside. Everyone had started doing their own thing, so Amy and I called dibs on the swing set while we started to talk.

That's when I brought up the lady. I asked her why her grandmother wouldn't come out of her room and she questioned me. I told her again about the lady in her bedroom who said that she was her grandma and that she wouldn't leave the room. I then mentioned what she wanted me to tell them and mentioned how she called her Amy Cakes. And I giggled because I had never heard that before or heard anyone else call her that.

Then, as I was explaining all of this, I noticed that Amy had stopped swinging, and was just standing next to me with her arms crossed. I tried asking her what was wrong, and she looked like she was about to cry. I immediately tried to apologize, thinking that maybe I had upset her about the nickname, but she quickly ran into the house, so I followed her. We ran past her mom in the living room that was talking to another parent that had arrived, and into the room that I was in prior.

the room I believed to be Amy's. She stopped in the doorway, and I waited there silently for her to say something. When she didn't talk, I decided to and explained where she was sitting. With a shaky voice, Amy finally spoke to ask me what she looked like. I explained what I could remember, including her clothes, and she just started crying.

I didn't know what I did or said and just kept apologizing, but her mom eventually noticed and came over asking what happened. I then briefly explained about the lady and I could see the look on her mom's face change from one of concern to just sadness. She told me to let someone know that their parents had arrived and that she would be okay. I couldn't help but think that I did something to upset both of them, so I decided not to say anything to her sister and just carried on with the evening.

After some time, Amy came back out and was smiling and ready to play with us again, until I went home as well. So, obviously this was difficult to me, as I didn't understand what had happened at the time, but apparently Amy's mom had even brought it up to my mom, which prompted her to talk to me about it. What I later learned, as many of you have probably figured out, was that Amy's grandma had passed away just a month before her birthday.

The room that I was in was actually her old room, and Amy's mom had been redoing it to give the girls their own separate rooms. However, Amy said that she was having trouble sleeping in there as she said she felt someone was watching her, and she would just be overwhelmed with sadness, assuming it was because of her grandma.

After I told them about this, Amy said that she slept in there that night, talking to her grandma she laid in bed, and she had a dream of her that night where she told her everything was going to be okay. That part, of course. She told me about after we were a bit older, as well as some of the rest of this. I've become really close friends with Amy, and her family, and I learned that her grandma had become pretty ill, and her mom was taking care of her.

because the machines and medications they had in the house for her, they didn't like having company over to make sure nothing was broken, stolen, or misplaced. This also required a lot of sacrifices by them because they couldn't leave her by herself, which is why they never went or did anything. Amy helped a lot with her little sister, Lexi, and some of the house chores, which explained why she seemed so mature and was always so willing to help at my house.

"'And, of course, her mom, Rhonda, had been in a really dark place lately, after she had passed, "'losing her mother and feeling like she was a bad mom for seemingly neglecting them, "'which caused her to throw this big party in hopes to get back to doing stuff like that. "'So when I told her what her mother had told me, it lifted her spirits, too.'

I don't think that I'm sensitive to the paranormal or anything, and in fact, at my age, I didn't even hardly understand what a ghost was, so I think it was just a difficult thing to process for everybody. I'm just glad that they didn't get mad at me or something, but it is still something that we talk about to this day. They said that they have never seen her, but sometimes felt like she was with them after that.

She just teases me that I got to send her off, and I didn't even know her. It's hard for me to explain things through text, so please bear with me. I guess I'll start this story almost ten years ago when I was six or seven. I stayed, and still do, with my grandparents. They lived in a two-bedroom single trailer with an added-on room. Keep this in mind for later.

So, one day, I was asleep and my little sister was in the bed, and my mom had stayed that night so she slept in the same bed also. All of a sudden, my eyes popped open and my heart started beating really fast. I thought that I had just woken up from a nightmare. As soon as I sat up, I saw this short shadow thing and the hall light was on, so I saw the thing turn into the room.

Its head looked like a sideways lemon, kind of like Stewie, and it was moving its head side to side as it was gliding across the floor to me. I hid under the covers and called my mom. I didn't see it again until I was at my cousin's house. We were in her attic, and all of my younger cousins could see the same shadow thing, except for the adults. It was slamming the door open and closed, and once it saw me, it started going faster.

After that, I didn't see it again. Fast forward to 2021. In December of 2020, there was an incident that caused me to be depressed, and I was home all the time by myself. I was like 15 at the time. So, I was in the kitchen about to fix myself something to eat, until I got this dark feeling telling me to get out of the house now. I looked down the hall, and it got really dark.

So I ran outside, prayed, and I felt way better. Ever since then, it felt like someone was watching me every time I'm at my grandparents' house. Now I'm going to get into the recent sightings. Around fall of 2021, I was in the added-on part of my grandparents' trailer, and I looked outside. I saw an orange or red-looking person. They had no knees, calves, and no head.

It looked like a corpse to me. It was just walking, so I opened the door thinking it could have been my grandfather, but nobody was there. In 2022, my grandparents got a new trailer put in the same spot. Then, again, I'm there by myself every day. Ever since we started staying there, I get this feeling of dread. It's mostly in my grandmother's room, so I avoid going in there all the time.

Me and my mom and little sister have been seeing this lady with a long white dress out of the corner of our eyes. And when it's not that entity, it's a shadow one. So today, I was in the kitchen and the trailer we have now is flipped so where the kitchen is now is where the added room was. I looked out and I saw the orange looking thing again. But I saw the whole body this time. It looked as if it was gliding.

It spooked me. Usually I would think, oh, it's a bird, but this time, I started shaking and almost cried. I took 30 minutes to calm down, and I got back up and went into the kitchen again, and then I saw another one, but this one was all black with white eyes, standing the exact same way as the other gliding one. The house is by an old abandoned home,

and one of my close neighbors passed away, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but I'm scared to go back home. I told my grandma, and she told me just to pray. But what do you all think? One Saturday morning, I, 21, female, decided to go to my local Goodwill. I'm disabled and suffer from chronic pain. I use a cane on my good days and a wheelchair on bad days. Luckily for me, this was a good day.

I parked out front and got out of my car and immediately noticed a man sitting at the far corner in front of the Goodwill. As I was walking into the Goodwill, he shouted, "'Miss, do you have any extra time for me today?' I had never seen this man in my life and really did not want to engage with him, so I politely said, "'No, sir, not today. I'm sorry,' and continued walking."

He shouted something else at me, but I couldn't make out what he said, and was afraid if I stopped and asked, then he would try to engage me in conversation. I ignored him and continued walking. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him begin to stand up. I walked faster and I entered the Goodwill, thinking that I was in the clear. I began walking along the front of the store, just browsing the items.

My heart dropped when I glanced through the front window, and I saw him walking briskly towards the entrance. I immediately thought that he might be following me, and this has happened to me before at Goodwills. Every time I've wound up in uncomfortable conversations where I have to continuously decline the advances of men that I'm really not interested in. It's gotten to the point where I wear a fake ring when I go out so that I can say that I'm married,

because sometimes they accept that answer better than me simply not being interested. In that moment, the disability left my body because I picked up my cane and booked it to the nearby rack of ballgowns, and I hid behind them. Through the gaps, I observed him storming into the store and start to look through the aisles. I was scared because he looked angry, maybe because I had ignored him.

I didn't mean to be rude, but I thought I had made it clear in a polite way that I did not want to speak with him. I don't think that it's wrong of me to want to go thrifting without having to engage with random men. A kind woman nearby came up to the ball gowns where I was hiding and pretended to inspect them. She whispered, "'Are you okay?' And I said, "'I think that the man in the blue is looking for me.'"

She said that she thought so as well, and I asked her if any of the nearby dressing rooms were open. She pointed to the one that was, and when I saw that the man had his back turned, I dived underneath the door and locked it behind me. I called my boyfriend from the dressing room in tears and asked him to come to the store. Soon, I heard a knock at the door. The kind woman had gotten the manager. She told me that, after the man had looked through all the aisles...

He walked out, grabbed his bag, and left the area. They closed the dressing room that I was in, and they let me hide in it until my boyfriend arrived. Then, one of the male employees and my boyfriend walked me to my car, and that was the end of it. Nothing really dramatic happened, and since we were in public, I don't think that my life was in danger, but it was an unsettling experience.

I hate to think of the possible confrontation we might have had if he had found me. I'm just so thankful to the Goodwill employees and the kind woman who helped me that day. For background, in early 2021, my mom was very sick due to COVID, thyroid issues, and sepsis from a recent surgery to drain her lungs because they kept filling up with fluid.

Eventually, her lungs had filled up with so much fluid and her body was so weak that, on Easter, her heart simply stopped beating and she collapsed. My little brother gave her CPR. It was his first time ever, and he was only 17, and miraculously kept her going until the paramedics came, without a single broken rib. Against all odds, they revived her and she pulled through all of the surgeries they did on her.

When she finally woke up, she discovered that she couldn't move her legs due to Gillian-Barr syndrome, where her antibodies attacked her spine nerves. She's had to relearn how to swallow, use her muscles, go to the bathroom, and walk, and is still in that process. However, she's almost at a point where she doesn't need a wheelchair anymore. Everyone thought that she wasn't going to make it, but she pulled through miraculously.

My mom said that before she was resuscitated, she went to heaven, where she was in a sunny and quiet park. She said that it was beautiful. She saw our family pets who recently had passed, including my soulmate Black Cat Chubby who helped me through my adolescence. Chubby specifically was commanding her attention like he always did whenever I wasn't home to give him love because I was always his first choice, but Mom was his second.

And then, she saw her grandma, my great-grandma, holding a baby. Great-grandma told her that when she is ready, the baby will be hers to raise. My mom realized that it was the baby she had miscarried in between me and my brother, and then she snapped back to the earthly world where she couldn't remember anything for a few minutes. Not even me, my dad, or my brother. My grandma, my mom's mom, passed away last week.

She got very sick the day after Christmas. We had made the decision as a family to send her home from the hospital with hospice care, as the doctors couldn't get her kidneys to work the way they should. She passed over the course of a week at home, surrounded by family, and in a very similar manner that my mom almost did, from fluid in her lungs.

She had congenital heart disease since June, among diabetes, hypertension, and some other heart issues, which caused her lungs to fill up, and so she had to get them drained every two weeks. But her body was tired and ready to go. We had the funeral yesterday, and I've been in pieces since. I like to think that grandma's in heaven with my great-grandma, my grandma's mom, holding my mom's baby.

excited to meet and love another grandchild. About 15 years ago, I traveled to Spain with my best friend. We were both around 20 at the time, living a carefree young adult life, you know, just two guys having a great time. We were in a warm country, no carefully filled itinerary whatsoever, just living in the moment, doing whatever we felt like.

My friend who originally came from Spain still had family there, which had made the month-long travel very affordable since they offered us free accommodation, a roof over our heads, a working bathroom with fresh showers and three meals a day if we liked. They also gave us a spare key so we could come and go as we pleased.

During the day, we often went swimming to keep us as cool as possible, and during the evenings, we often explored the city, went for drinks, or went to a club. On a certain day, somewhat more to the end of our month-long stay there, the father of our host family, my friend's uncle, took us out for a fishing trip. We had a lot of fun out on the sea, although the trip was cut short because we had a bit too much fun consuming beers."

The burning summer sun, too many beers, and the wavy feeling of being out on the open sea made for a very bad case of seasickness for both my friend and myself. His uncle thought it was funny though. After having had an afternoon rest, or as they called it, siesta, and a very fulfilling late night dinner, we decided to go back out to the beach.

We took a couple of cold beers with us. However, we didn't take as many as we were still feeling a bit groggy from before. It was a beautiful night. Open sky, no clouds, little to no light pollution, making the twinkling stars very visible and present. Being on vacation, being young on a still warm but comfortable summer night with the light breeze and a starry sky...

It was the perfect moment to talk about the meaning of life, about what we liked to achieve one day, about what was worth it or what wasn't, if there was any other intelligent life out there, if we would live for another thousand years or so. The crashing of the waves against the sand of the beach and the rocks was very calming, and it was lulling us into a meditative state. Only that moment and that place seemed to exist. There was no outside world.

No life, no responsibilities, no obligations and no expectations. No working hard to get somewhere. It was that moment that we noticed something was off. The crashing of the sea against the sand of the beach sounded different, harder, like something was moving in it. Under the waves, a vague shape started to form. As it neared the shoreline, it started to get the shape of a dog.

We both looked at each other and noticed that we had been holding our breaths for about the minute that it took the dog to crawl from the sea to the shoreline. The tension broke because we both burst out laughing, because we had been so easily startled by something so innocent. But then my friend asked the question that made the newly regained light mood go away in an instant. Where did that dog come from, though? There's no one around. We never saw any dog go into the sea.

Nor was there any dog swimming around. That thing came from under the water. Now that he had worded it like that, it seemed rather curious. And actually, that dog seemed pretty big for any existing dog that I had ever seen. As it was crawling along the beach, solely illuminated by the first quarter moon, it looked the size of a small horse, but in the shape of a dog or wolf with matted fur.

It had very present bony joints in its knees and elbows, and it walked a bit awkwardly. My friend and I were debating if we should follow the beast and decided that we did actually want to find out what exactly it was. I took out my phone and started to film it, for as far as any 2008 smartphone could film in the dark. By the time we reached the place at the beach where it had left the water, it had already reached the sand dunes and disappeared into them.

We saw that it had left a track and decided to follow that into the dunes. We weren't prepared for what we saw next, though. The beast had left a track in the wet sand in the form of individual hoof prints in a straight line instead of a crisscross pattern as with any four-legged animal. No horse could have walked in such a line, and even though it had looked the size of a horse, it hadn't looked anything like the shape of a horse.

nor were horses aquatic animals. We followed the track to the dunes and went over the first dune, when we saw the beast standing about ten meters from us in a speck of moonlight. It didn't look anything like a dog, either. It looked like it had the lower half of a goat, and the upper half of something like a werewolf or something. Just the dimensions were off. The shapes were awkward.

It was such a big animal, and neither of us could place it under any existing animal that we knew of. With matted fur and bony joints, it had just come out of nowhere from under the water, but clearly could walk and survive on the land as well, and it left hoof marks in a straight line. Because we had just stumbled through the bushes closely behind the beast and had given away our presence, it slowly started to turn its head towards us.

While it was turning towards us, it stood on its hind legs. Not only was this an animal that came from under the water, as well as could survive on the land and walk on four legs, it could clearly stand and walk very well on two legs. The beast gained even more size by standing on its hind legs, and must have been around two and a half meters big. It stared at us with red, glowing eyes,

These were not to be mistaken with the eyes of any nocturnal animal with reflective eyes. These were actually glowing from within. I felt stuck in my spot, completely frozen, but luckily my friend, who was two steps behind me, had the mind to run away and pull me with him. We ran for what felt like an hour, but must have been closer to ten minutes, because we reached the house of my friend's family before we knew it.

The beast hadn't followed us, or at least not all the way. We went in and told the entire story to his uncle. Of course, he thought that we must have still been drunk and tired, and had seen things that weren't there. But when we showed him the recording, he went pale. He took a shovel. A gun would have been more impressive against a beast like that, but it's not like the average European has a gun lying around.

and he asked us to show him where we had seen it. We searched for almost two hours, but we didn't find the beast again. However, we did find the hoof marks, albeit a bit washed up because of the current sea level. We went back home, trying to make something of what we had just seen, but couldn't. We needed to know what animal we had seen. We started googling all kinds of things,

Of course, with the lower half of the beast looking like a goat, we stumbled upon a lot of myths about the devil, which we discarded. We had seen an actual live beast that wasn't known by humanity yet, and we wanted to know if any other people had seen anything like it. It was only when we googled Hoofmark's one straight line that we stumbled upon the term the devil's footprints. So it was an actual thing.

or at least something that had supposedly been seen before according to myths and stories. But they must have had some truth to them since they described exactly what we had just seen with our own eyes. The few days we had left in Spain, we spent our nights out with my friend's uncle trying to find this beast again, but to no purpose, as we never did see it again.

When I came home a few days later, I saved the recordings on my hard drive. Not sure what to do with it yet. I didn't want to be the crazy guy that had just seen the devil, because I still don't believe that I did. I just wanted to know what animal this was and how come we haven't documented this beast yet. I tried to forget about it, but I couldn't. And a year later, I decided I wanted to publish the recording in the hope that anyone could make sense of what we had seen that night.

The uncle of my friend hadn't seen the beast in all that time, and had asked around town if anyone had ever seen it, which they hadn't. I had switched phones by then, but luckily I had the recording saved on my desktop, where I replayed it at least a thousand times. I went to boot up my desktop, and something was wrong. I had to restart my desktop a couple of times, and after booting it up into safe mode, I got a message that my hard drive had crashed.

I tried whatever was possible to try, but I couldn't recover the recording in any way. Fifteen years later, I'm still racking my head over what the beast we encountered could have been. But by now, it's a story my friends believe to be for making conversation. Only that friend and his uncle are still branded by the experience as well. My friend even took it so far as to go live in Spain again, near the beach where this all happened.

and still continues to actively look for the beast to this day. Maybe one day he'll find it. I think I'll post this here, just to see what others think of this experience. I'll try to keep it brief but thorough. Around two years ago, now, I was working in landscaping, which meant that I woke up at 5am and was at work by 6am.

Sometimes, my now fiancé would spend the night with me for no particular reason other than to spend the night. One morning, I woke up and got ready for work, and then left for work. Everything seemed normal. Just another early morning. Around 1pm, I got a call from my fiancé asking where I was. I was really confused, but I told her that I was at work like always.

She questions me and asked if I had gone in late or something, to which I told her, no, I left just like always. She then tells me that she vividly remembers me coming up to the bed and crawling in with her, saying that I wasn't feeling good and that I was going to take the day off. She questioned me, and I put my arm around her, and then we both drifted off to sleep. That did not happen.

and I just chalked it up to her having a vivid dream. About two and a half months later, the same circumstances, I get another frantic call at 7am. My fiancé is not a morning person, and we usually sleep until noon if she has the day off, so I was immediately wondering what happened. She tells me that it happened again, only this time, when I went to get in bed with her, she said, ''You're not my fiancé.''

To which, whatever was posing as me got angry and said how did she know. This freaked her out and she said that she suddenly felt like she was in danger. So, she finally sat up and looked towards where the voice came from and realized that nothing was there. I eventually managed to calm her down and was convinced that she just had a bad nightmare or something.

We talked later that night, and she said that whatever it was, it felt dangerous. I'm a believer in the paranormal, but I had lived in this particular apartment for about two years at that point, and had never experienced anything. The next day, she decided to stay the night again since I didn't have to work, and she felt safer sleeping with me that night due to the previous morning. I agreed, and we went to bed like normal.

That night around 3am, I had woken up to use the bathroom. Still half asleep, I do my thing, and suddenly the curtain to the shower flies open. I'm not talking about moving a little bit either. I mean it was completely closed and suddenly it was pushed all the way to the other side, showing the shower to me. I'm immediately awake and aware now and jump out of the bathroom.

I stand there for a few seconds, almost waiting for something else to happen, but nothing ever did. I didn't go back to sleep that night, and I told my fiancé about what happened when she woke up. A few other small things happened after this too, but I'll end this here to see what y'all think of this. I'm honestly still confused about it to this day.

and never really understood what was going on for the rest of the time that I lived in that room. But thank you all for reading and giving me a bit of your time. This happened to me and my daughter several years ago. My daughter Brooke had recently gotten her permit and would come up with any reason to drive.

I didn't hate it though, as she was always willing to run to the grocery store when I needed something for dinner, or picking her little brother up from school, so it was definitely helpful. But being a parent, there was also that painful feeling knowing that she was growing up, but you're not here to listen to that story. Anyways, I had to run by the drugstore to pick up a prescription and she wanted to drive, so I agreed.

My husband was at my son's t-ball practice, so it was going to just be the two of us. I think this was partially to drive more, but after we left the drugstore, she said that she wanted to stop by a local fast food place that had really good ice cream. She offered to buy it, though, so I wasn't going to say no to free ice cream, and I agreed. We got there, and decided to go in so that way she wasn't driving and trying to eat.

She didn't need to already be driving with distractions anyways. We got in, placed our order, and stood towards the back waiting for them to call it out. After we got it, we went and sat down and enjoyed our little treat and talked about her classes, her friends, etc. I typically ate mine slower, so since she finished before me, she said that she was going to use the restroom before we left.

After she walked away, I pulled out my phone to check the time and text my husband. It was just about that time that a guy walked in, and I immediately got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. He had a pretty average build, was completely bald, and was wearing jeans and one of those brown Carhartt-style jackets. He looked right at me with this piercing stare, and then quickly looked back towards the counter.

It gave me a shiver down my spine, and all I could think was that I needed to run. I gripped my phone, but before I could stand up, the guy pulled out a gun and started shouting demands. It was like the room was in slow motion, as I watched people scatter and try to run out the doors. The employees were crouching and covering their heads, all while the poor girl that rang us up just stood there frozen.

The guy demanded the money in the register, and she immediately started pushing buttons trying to get it open. As the guy was shouting at her, I looked over to see the restroom door open. My daughter could see the people trying to take cover and looked confused. I tried to communicate the best that I could without talking, shaking my head and trying to motion for her to go back into the restroom. I was praying that she would understand and go back in and call 911, but...

As she stood there just frozen, I really couldn't blame her. Unfortunately, I was within the sight of the guy and he noticed me motioning to her. This caused him to approach me and hold the weapon in my face, which made my daughter yelp and he looked at her. I immediately spoke up, as stupid as it may have been, but I pleaded with him to leave her alone as she was my 15 year old daughter.

He then looked back at me and demanded that I give him everything I had. I opened my purse, and as I was pulling out my wallet, he snatched it from me. After he searched it and pulled out everything he wanted, he motioned for me to go outside, which then caused my daughter to start crying. Before I could react, he looked at her and said that he wasn't going to hurt me and again told me to go.

As we started walking outside, he put the weapon in his pocket but kept it close to me, as I remember feeling him press it against my side. He said that he wanted me to drive him somewhere, and I said I would. However, when I approached my van, I realized I didn't have my keys. They were still on my daughter. I tried to say something, but the words weren't quite coming out.

I told him I just remembered that I didn't have my keys, and he immediately became angry. It was obvious that he thought I was lying as he snatched my purse from me and proceeded to dump it out into the parking lot. After this, he became pretty furious and began punching my car door over and over. I stood there not knowing what to do now when we both stopped to look up. I'm sure that he heard the same thing that I'd heard, faint sirens in the distance.

He punched my door one more time before shouting an expletive and running off. I watched as he ran towards another building and around the back of it. Once he was out of sight, I ran back inside where a lot of people were still covering themselves. Then I heard my daughter quietly call out for me. She had gone to one of the tables near the window and was watching us, I presume. I don't think we have ever hugged as tight as we did at that moment."

We all stayed pretty much like that until the cop showed up and told us that we were okay. The guy did not get very far whatsoever as he tried to take someone else's car and got caught in the process. We all explained what happened and what all was taken. He had taken the few bills that I had in my wallet, three credit cards, and my ID, and when they caught him, he had all the cards on him still, so I got those back.

I was glad to not have to replace my ID, but even more grateful that no one was hurt. Traumatized, definitely, I'm sure, but so grateful that the gun was never fired. It was a terrifying moment for us, but I don't let it hold me back. It's been almost a decade since this happened, and my daughter has also moved past it too.

She definitely struggled for a while, not wanting to leave my side when we were in public, and had some pretty mean nightmares about it, but she has become a very brave young lady. However, I really do hope that we never have to experience something like that ever again.

One of my first jobs was working at a fast food place that, I'll just say, was famous for serving tacos. For what it's worth, it wasn't the worst thing, but I definitely would not choose to go back. I'd had my share of ungrateful customers, unnecessary messes left behind by them, and, well, much more. But I've also had some weird customers that were memorable.

We weren't often in situations where we feared for our safety though, so I would just take a deep breath and get ready for the next day. However, there was one situation that often plays in my head when people bring up working in food. I was working the front on this day, taking orders and occasionally picking up the lobby when it was slow. We were open 24/7, and I picked up part of someone else's shift so I was going to be there until 2 in the morning.

It was probably around 11 to midnight when a guy walked in. When you work overnight in fast food, you get used to the clientele that you see around that time. So it didn't really catch me off guard at first when the guy looked a bit disheveled. He was tall, average built looking guy with thinning hair and a scruffy beard. He was wearing a dark hoodie and some pretty dirty sweatpants, but was keeping his hands in his pockets.

When he entered, he seemed like he was surveying the lobby, so between that and him keeping his hands hidden, it did kind of put me on guard. We had never been robbed before, but we did go through training on how to handle them if one were to occur. I was hoping that I was just being way too judgmental, and I still greeted him with a smile. I asked him what I could get for him, and he just stared at the menu with his eyes glazed over.

I kept looking around the area, in a worst-case scenario kind of way, to determine my escape routes or possible weapons. I backed up a bit trying to play it off like I was looking for something, when the guy finally spoke in a soft and calm voice. "I'm not gonna hurt you." After that, I definitely felt stupid. I felt bad for assuming this guy's intentions and tried to play it off like I was cool though.

I said with a bit of a laugh something like, ''Oh, what? Oh, nah, you're fine, man. I was just looking for the broom. Just let me know if you have any questions. No rush.'' He didn't look down at me or move his eyes at all. He just continued to stare at the menu. I walked to the side, bringing the broom to at least back up my story. When I came back, he talked a bit more in the same solemn tone that he had before.

I actually do have a question, or more so a favor. Uh, yeah man, sure, what's up? Can you call the cops for me? I didn't know what to say at this point, so I just stared for a minute and he kept talking, still looking up. I'm still not going to hurt you. I just, I'm gonna need a cop. I went to walk away to grab a phone and tell one of the others that worked there, when he called me back over, telling me to wait.

"'I would like to order first, before you call. You guys make the best quesadillas.' Not knowing what else to do other than what he asked, I placed his order, and he pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket with a shaking hand. I actually told him not to worry about it, and he thanked me and put it back in his pocket. He then walked over to a nearby table and sat down as he looked at the table.'

"'After his order was done, I brought it over to him, "'and he told me that I could go ahead and call the cops now, "'and then began to eat his food. "'I then walked to the back and called the cops. "'That was a confusing call, "'and they didn't seem to take me seriously at first either. "'I told them everything that I knew. "'I explained the guy's demeanor, what he looked like, "'and said that he appeared to be unarmed, "'but he had asked me to call the cops, and I had no idea why.'

They then said that they would send a unit our way though. At this point, I had already told the other two people working that night what was going on, and one of them overheard part of it. We all stayed in the back trying to come up with things in our heads as to why he may have done this. When the cops did finally show up, the man stood up, threw away his trash, and before walking towards the cops, he walked back over to me and, for the first time that night,

He looked me in the eyes. He then reached out, shook my hand, and thanked me. He walked over to the police, and they walked him out of the building. We all thought that that was weird, but just left it at that, as nothing else really happened. That is, until about an hour later, we had a different officer come in wanting to ask us more questions. He was asking very specifically what all the guys said and did, and if we even knew which way he came from.

I didn't see him pull up or what he was driving, but there were no cars in the parking lot that night other than our own, so he could have walked there. All I remembered was that he did not exist prior to opening the door, so I don't think we were much help. He then left and again we heard nothing else of it. It wasn't until a few days later when there was a story on TV that caught my attention.

They were making light of it and mentioned something about murder making you hungry? Or something to that effect. Anyways, they had mentioned that a man turned himself in after bludgeoning his father to death, but not before he stopped for dinner. I looked up more information on it and got some more clarification, but it certainly did not make me feel any better about the situation.

It showed the mugshot of the guy, which confirmed it was the same one that came in that night. It was reported that he turned himself in after he had beaten his dad to death that evening. He said that he knew he had to turn himself in, but he hadn't eaten and wanted one last meal of his choice. And, based on the area that they listed for when this took place, this man probably walked about four miles to get to my exact store.

I assumed that he walked because, again, there were no cars in our parking lot. I just thought to myself, why us? Why our store? But I guess he did say that he did enjoy the food at our location, and it would have been the closest one to him. The thought that I was talking to a man and gave him a free meal just hours after he had killed someone, it terrified me, and it made me feel pretty awful.

Well, to be honest, it gave me mixed feelings. I was terrified and my first thought was that my reaction that night was warranted. This guy could have easily hurt me too, but he didn't. But when I gave him the free meal and when he shook my hand, he seemed genuinely thankful. By the look in his eyes, I thought he had just had one hell of a day, or maybe even life, and appreciated the generosity shown.

I'm still not 100% sure on the details. I've looked around at different news articles trying to find others that may have known the guy, but all I've found has pretty much been hearsay. I heard some people say that he was abused by his father and that he just couldn't take it anymore. I heard that he was using drugs and may have snapped or hallucinated and attacked him. I've heard some pretty wild things, but I can't say for sure.

All I know is that after that experience, I appreciate life a bit more and understand just how fragile it can be. After hearing some similar stories on a few forums that I follow, I felt compelled to share an experience that I had as a child. This happened when I went to my friend Brody's birthday party around the age of 11. Brody and I were pretty decent friends at the time.

We hung out after school at each other's houses before, but it was usually at mine. That was typically both of our preferences, thanks to his older brother. Brody had a brother that I'll just call Chad. He was around 16 at the time of this event. Chad was a complete ass. He bullied not only Brody, but any of his friends that he had over, including me.

He would barge into his room when we were in there, make remarks about us, throw things at us and leave. He even on occasion would try to do things physically to hurt us, like if we were walking by he would stick his leg out to trip us, smack us in the back of the head, or push our head down on the table as he walked by. It didn't matter to him, as long as he had some way to bully us.

and if he wasn't afraid to do it to me, I'm sure that he treated Brody's other friends the same way. The only time he didn't really do this was when his mom was around. She wouldn't tolerate it, and would immediately stop him, yell at him, whatever she had to do to make him stop. Needless to say, when she was home, I preferred to be in the same room as her.

For the party, Brody's mom was renting out the local community center to have the party, which meant more people and more opportunities to get lost in the crowd of people. There were probably about 20 kids or so that showed up, and most parents stayed there too. My parents had dropped me off and left. After a few hours and all the games being played and cake being eaten, we started trying to come up with other ways to pass the time.

One of these ways was a version of tag where one person was it, but if they start chasing you, you have to call out someone else's name so they chase them instead. So, as we started playing this, who else walks in but Chad and two of his friends? I know I was pretty disappointed in this, but the fact that a few of our mutual friends had the same reaction told me everything I needed to know. He came over to us, grabbed Brody by the head, and told him happy birthday.

Then, he asked what we were playing. When we told him, he said that he wanted to play too. My fear that he was going to ask to be it, and one of us was going to get seriously hurt. Well, I was half right. Surprisingly, he did not ask to be it. But he and his friends got in the circle with us, and we all began. Our friend that was it started chasing someone else, and as my attention is on the friend being chased...

I failed to notice Chad approaching me until I had the wind knocked out of me. I fell to the ground trying to figure out what had happened when I suddenly felt a bunch of pressure on my back. Once I could finally breathe again, I realized that the pressure is someone on my back, like sitting on me or holding me down. Chad then got on his knees with his head to the floor looking at me with this ugly and creepy grin.

I tried fighting it to get up, but the one on my back had a hold of my arm and was twisting it backwards. I was in excruciating pain, from my arm to my face and stomach, and I was already having trouble breathing. Just when I was thinking that I was probably going to get beat up, I see Chad bring a little pocket knife up to my face, and he asked me if I wanted a party favor. I started screaming, and then I heard other kids screaming and crying too.

At the same time, Brody was letting out these horrible cries for help but didn't know what to do. I could tell that he was scared as hell. Too scared to approach or do anything? We were only 10 and 11 years old. We were not a threat to these three 16-year-olds. Thankfully, after what felt like an eternity, I heard Brody's mom yelling for Chad to get off of me. I could see his face instantly change.

He tried to scramble to his feet, all while hiding the knife. However, he didn't do a very good job because the way he stood up and slid his hand back, he still ended up cutting part of my neck and chin. Once he was up, I got up to my feet as well, holding my face from the pain. His mom yelled at him and made him and his friends leave immediately, which they did.

She then rushed me to the restroom to help clean up my face, but I could tell by the look she was giving me that it wasn't good. She kept apologizing to me and hugging me with tears in her eyes. I was only 11, but man, I felt so sorry for her. She was always such a kind lady, and Brody was always chill too. I never understood how or why Chad turned out the way he did.

Once we finished in the restroom, she brought me back out to the others and asked me to stay by her so that she could call my parents. They came and picked me up shortly after and took me to the hospital. I ended up getting eight stitches. The night was pretty crappy after that. My mom was pissed about the whole thing, and I remember her blaming Brody's mom for not paying attention, but she wasn't even at the party.

I tried to tell her that he wasn't at the party at the start and just showed up, so I didn't think that he was supposed to be there, but it didn't matter to her. She thought the right thing to do was to try to press charges against Chad. Thankfully, that didn't really go anywhere, and his mom settled it by agreeing to pay the hospital bills. I may have been a kid at the time, but as an adult now, I don't really feel like that was the best course of action.

but I also don't really talk to my mother anymore. That may be related. Who knows? Unfortunately, this definitely strained the friendship between Brody and I. I definitely was not allowed to be over there anymore, and any time I asked if he could come over, there was always a reason why he couldn't. Because of this, we did hang out at school, but that was it, and we slowly drifted apart until we eventually moved and I completely lost touch with him.

I really feel bad for Brody, because I'm afraid that I probably wasn't the only friend that he lost because of his brother. Chad just for some reason was evil, and I still have no idea why. All I know is that I now have a permanent scar on my chin, and large gatherings still kind of scare me. I do hope that Brody and his mom are doing okay, and I hope that Chad got whatever kind of help he needed, and I hope I never meet him again.

Oh, and sorry about my mom too. I have lived in the same house my entire life, and many strange things have occurred there, but these recent events are just odd to me. My family rescued a stray cat, now my best friend, about seven to eight months ago. He's still young, about two years I believe.

My mom has been someone who would, for some reason, have dreams of events right before they occur. She can't control them or anything, but there are some times of deaths of loved ones which would turn out to be true. So, I guess you could say that she is open to the paranormal. I've experienced some strange things in the house, such as shadows waving at me, and I don't mean at the corner of my eye. They would be waving directly at me.

But that all happened when I was younger, so I'm still skeptical about the paranormal. Although I have seen a UAP with my family when I was younger, and I still have no explanation for it, but that's a story for another time. Now, regarding my cat. There was this night about a couple of months ago when my mom felt the cat jump on her bed.

She then felt the cat walk up to her face, but she got annoyed and covered her face with the blankets, expecting the cat to bother her for food. The cat then clawed at the blankets, trying to take them down from her face. This happened for about 20 minutes. This was until she got so annoyed that she got up and turned on the lights. But she then saw how the door was closed, and that the cat wasn't even in her room at the time.

I was actually awake around the time when this happened to her. I have trouble sleeping, and the cat was sleeping next to me that night. The strange thing is that I actually heard footsteps walking toward my door, which was closed, which then stopped as I looked at the door. I then heard them continue away from my door and toward the room where my mom sleeps. Beside the occasional knocking noise and footsteps, not too much has happened since then.

But last night, it seemed like something was messing with me. My cat was also sleeping with me last night, and right when I was about to fall asleep, I woke up completely, as I hear the noise my cat makes with his claws when he stretches on the carpet, which is almost like a popping and tearing noise. I sit up, and the noise suddenly stops. I laid back down, and when I was falling asleep again, the noise started up.

I saw my cat wake up as well, and he began turning his head to look around the room to try and see what the cause of the noise was. At that point, I was just trying to ignore the noise and sleep, since I have school this morning. However, my cat was more annoyed than me, and he got up and walked around the edges of my bed, looking around to find the source of the noise. The creepy thing is that the noise seemed to move around.

At first, it sounded like it was right outside of my door, but then it sounded like it was in the ceiling above me and then right underneath my bed. The noise would just continue to jump around the room. My cat walked up to the headboard of my bed, which is cushioned, and he did the claw-popping noise thing just for a second, which was not normal, as every time he would do it, he would do it for about a minute or so, but immediately after the second that he did it,

The other noise stopped completely, and then my cat stopped and lay next to me again and we both went to sleep. Also, for the past couple of weeks, I've been having horrible nightmares. Sometimes I can't even remember them, but I just remember the fear that I felt, and every time I wake up in a cold sweat, completely drenched.

I don't know why all of this is happening, but perhaps there's a rational explanation for all of this that I just don't know of. Maybe you guys have had similar experiences of some kind? I just need to get this out there, and I'll update the situation if you guys want, but for now, this is what has happened so far. The OP added an edit. I forgot to add the fact that there was a time when I was whistling during the night,

and then all of a sudden I hear whistling back at me from across the house. I thought it was someone in my family doing it, so I went out there. Everyone was asleep, except my mom. I went up to her and asked her if she was doing it, and she said no and that she didn't hear it. But then I whistled again, from right there, and again something whistled back at us from across the house.

This time I knew for sure it wasn't my family, since no one was in that part of the house that the whistling was coming from. It was coming from the room that I was just in originally, and someone moved all the way over there. My mom heard it this time, and still both of us can't explain how something can clearly whistle back like that without being seen. This was way before my cat.

I've also recently had times when my basement door, which has three locks on it, was wide open in the morning, even though I saw it closed right before I went to sleep. My parents have heard talking in the room while they're entering them, which the noise would stop when they fully enter. This happened in the same room that the basement door is in. I could try and record the noises that I've heard if they happen again, but I'll let you guys know.

This is my second post here, and it's again about my personal experience after walking in the night park near my house. It's right on the edge of the city, and while the park looks like about two square miles of wild nature, it's surrounded with city on three sides, and with a suburban area and mall from the fourth. Thus, it's not some wildlands or Bigfoot.

But apparently this place has... something. As always, after work, I sometimes go to this park at night. The place is safe. There's no animals bigger than squirrels, so there's nothing to really worry about. This time, I decided to not walk by the trails and alleys, but to go in the distant part, where on the bottom of a wide ravine flows a small and shallow stream.

The stream supports local ponds. The shores are open and have some sticky black clay on them in some parts. The local village long ago was named Black Mud after this. But in many places, a meter or two from the shore, there's bushes and trees. I was going by the shore. The night was clear enough and there's no trees above the stream, so I could see without a flashlight.

Nothing suspicious. Only the ordinary night forest sounds. Then, I saw some movement behind in the bushes in front of me, where the stream turns from the shore. Here, I should add, that overall, while I'm a bit afraid of the dark, yes, it's a strange combination with night park walks, I got used to the park at night. I visited it for years, so almost every part is familiar to me.

Besides, it's fully surrounded by civilization. So, I saw the movement in those bushes about 15 meters away from me. Slowly, and trying not to make sound by stepping on a branch on the shore, I walked forward between the bushes where there was some free space. Enough for me to get forwards and in between them. Behind them there was a small meadow and then... Well, here it's hard for me to tell.

My mind, since then, wants me to think that I saw a dog, but I can't remember the visual of the dog. No breed, no size, nothing. I don't remember what I saw there, but what I did next was that I instinctively rushed backwards to the stream. I took from the ground the biggest branch that I could see, and I ran away from there, looking backwards often, but there was nothing.

I stopped only on the hill and half a mile, overlooking the foresty ravine bottom around the stream. It was calm and quiet. I finally dropped my stick and confusedly went home. So far, I have no idea what that could have been, but back then it was like I was in panic mode for a few minutes, and then it was okay again. Like an on-off switch. When I was a child...

I had two separate experiences that may have been supernatural or may have simply been my mind playing tricks on me. However, when I was about 18 or 19, I experienced something that was definitely supernatural. On the southern tip of Staten Island, there lies the conference house and its surrounding park.

Up until early 2000s, there was about half a dozen houses on Parks Department grounds that were vacated and demolished so that they could make walking trails and such. An ex-girlfriend of mine has lived in one of these houses with her mother and sisters. When I would spend the night, I would share the pull-out bed with her in the living room. However, there was one night where it was particularly hot...

so we went upstairs and slept in her sister's bedroom since it was cooler in there and they wouldn't be home that night for whatever reason i could not sleep comfortably that night i would wake up and just look out towards the window across the room around the third time i woke up i saw something standing between the bed and the window but nearer to the window i was told that this house was haunted

And in the year and a half since I started hanging out there with my ex and her sisters, I had never seen anything. So, this one night, I see standing near the window a silhouette of a human figure. It was just standing there. Even though the room was dark, there was still enough moonlight illuminating the room, yet what I saw was pitch black. I'm talking as black as black can be. I was not able to make out any facial distinctions.

It was like devoid of anything human. It really just was a black silhouette, and it was terrifying. After staring at this entity for what seemed like forever, or just three seconds, I woke up my then-girlfriend. I asked if she was seeing what I was seeing, and she did. I quickly asked what we should do, and she said that we should go downstairs, to which all I could say was, okay.

Luckily, the door to the hallway was about two feet away from the bed on her side. After she got up, I quickly followed. Instead of getting up on my side, which would have placed me between the foot of the bed and the entity, I rolled across the bed and hurried on my way out, never looking back. That was the one and only time I ever experienced anything in that house, but that moment has stayed with me for nearly twenty years.

Even though those houses were demolished in the early 2000s, I don't dare walk down that block at night. Okay, so to start. At the time, I was 19, female, and working an early morning job at Safeway. I would leave the house around 5.30 every morning. It was during the winter, so I would often wear a blanket to my car and sit in it for a while waiting for it to warm up.

So, one day, my mom stopped by and parked in front of this man's apartment, which happens to overlook where my car was parked. He got upset that she wasn't in a spot, and that was the first time I ever even noticed him. He looked around 70, had a gray beard, was pretty tall, and was white as well. Anyways, she ended up moving the car, and nothing else happened that day.

but I think that's the day that he noticed me and my roommate, also 19 female. We did live alone, though I've always been borderline paranoid, so I've always stayed aware of my surroundings. Soon after our encounter, I noticed when I would go to work, I had to pass near his apartment, that his lights would suddenly be on every morning at 5.30, when I would be leaving. I didn't think too much of it and continued on,

Though I started to notice once I would get in my car, he would be outside walking around and passed behind my car, which I definitely flagged as weird. This continued for a few weeks, but soon enough, I noticed his lights would be on and his blinds would be all the way open. Very weird considering it was still dark. 5.30 AM, and he didn't do that prior.

Anyways, I stayed alert and I started waking my roommate up when I left just in case something weird ever happened. Side note: at this time my roommate had a car that wouldn't lock. We didn't live in the best area, so she didn't keep anything valuable in her car, just random stuff, including a high school picture. One day, someone broke into her car and didn't do anything, but left her picture on her seat facing upwards.

We always found that weird and we didn't know who did it. Fast forward to one day and I was super paranoid at this point. I was convinced that he was going to approach me or do something weird. It was a gut feeling. I was walking to my car and I had to have my back faced towards his window in order to get to my car. I was talking myself down, saying nothing's gonna happen, you're safe, etc.,

Then, my brain told me that I needed to turn around, so I did. He was at his window, blinds open, staring at me. When he noticed I turned around, he moved out of sight super fast. I got freaked out and I got in my car and I locked it. Then I called my roommate to tell her about it, and I tried to leave as fast as possible. While I was getting situated, he was walking behind my car and I was trying to stay calm.

I ended up leaving and I don't know where he went. After this encounter, I changed my shifts to afternoon, due to safety, and me and my roommate decided to move. We've never had anything happen since. This always creeped me out, and I wonder what would have happened had I kept working mornings or stayed at that apartment. Hello everyone. I, Male22, am...

I'm going to a college in Ohio. I live in a fraternity house that used to belong to the town. The school buys out properties and houses students in them. My house has been displaying some interesting encounters. Last year, around February or March, one of my housemates and I were talking in the hallway outside the bathroom. We were there for at least 30 minutes.

The bathroom was empty, no one went in or out, and then the shower suddenly turned itself on. For context, the shower handle is one that points to the ground when off, and rotates counterclockwise to turn it on. We looked at each other, and we went to check it out. The handle was turned 90 degrees counterclockwise. I turned it off, and we resumed our conversation. Last semester, around September...

I was at eSports practice. One of my friends had sent me a Snapchat of my room from the outside, asking what I was doing. When I opened the photo, there was a figure standing in my room. This was more concerning considering my room is a single, and I am the only one with a key, outside of the skeleton keys kept by campus security.

At this point, we had assumed it was the spirit of the old man who, conveniently enough, passed away in the room that I'm in. At the end of last semester, around early December, my girlfriend, female, 20, and I were sitting on my bed, talking. We heard a voice outside of my door. Both of our heads snapped in the direction, as it was either a young or female voice. The rest of the house is male.

When we asked the others about it, who were all downstairs, no one was outside my door, they all swear that they didn't hear anything or do anything. A few weeks ago, I, my girlfriend, one of my frat brothers and his girlfriend were in the living room playing Mario Kart when there was a sudden, loud bang. We all went to check it out. The shower curtain rod had fallen from its fastened spot.

Two years living there, and it had never fallen before. Finally, last night was one of the weirdest. I heard the same voice from last December, and it was trying to speak to me inside my own head. There was what seemed to be radio interference, best I can describe it, as it kept cutting out. It began to imitate sounds outside. I would hear a car drive by, and then a few moments later hear a distorted version of it in my head.

After this went on for a while, it screamed at me, "'Effing listen!' It censored, of course. I hadn't planned on discussing this, hoping it was just a dream, until my girlfriend told me that she heard a growl this morning and asked if I had experienced anything. Our conclusion, as of now, is that there are two spirits in this house. The old man, who's peaceful, and then whatever the other thing is."

Any assistance on identifying it or general advice would be welcome. Thank you in advance to everyone's help. Updating information as of February 22nd, 2023. My fraternity brother, male, 20. His girlfriend, female, 19. My girlfriend and I took turns going under with the Estus Method.

We got some partial information when the other three were under, but the spirit seemed to be extremely happy to speak to me, as it yielded the most results. This is going to sound weird, and I'm still having trouble processing it all, but it seems that the spirit wants me. I'm not exactly sure what it means by that, but it definitely does not sound good. For example, when asked what do you want, the spirit would respond, him.

whilst I was under. My girlfriend has a somewhat special connection to energy. I don't know the official term, but she's an empath and it feels that she can control how the energy flows through her. I don't know if I'm even describing that correctly. She's been using her energy to protect me, and the spirit knows it. It repeatedly was telling her to leave the room, leave the house, not come back,

We tested having her leave the room and the aggressiveness increased, resulting in my quitting when I heard a voice scream, He will be mine. Chilled to the bone, I removed the headphones and blindfold and I called the session to a stop. Since doing the Estus method about a week ago, most of the activity has died off.

with the exception of things occasionally falling off their sound resting places, the TV randomly turning on, off, or pausing, and I'm having a hard time staying asleep. A few days ago, my girlfriend and I both tested positive for COVID. Although I doubt it's connected to the spirit, it definitely has not helped settle any nerves, and we are now quarantined to my room.

Hopefully this added info helps anyone who might have an idea of what's going on, or the previous commenters with additional thoughts of what to try next. Thank you to everyone who has prayed, thought of, or tried this far to help, and to anyone in the future who does the same. Updated info as of March 12th.

Note, this was written right after the incident into my notes on my phone, so I could document the encounter and check for grammar later. I thought I had heard my girlfriend talking to me. She told me that she was missing me. She told me that she loved me. She told me that she is with me. Then, I thought she told me to open my eyes, so I did. I was met with the face of our Squishmallow, Willy the Dragon.

I began shaking violently, my heart racing and hearing a pounding in my head. I was completely terrified. I was unable to speak, trying to rouse her. I was trying to tap her with my foot, but to no avail. All of a sudden, it stopped, and I'm now typing this. I've never felt that way before. I've never had this occurrence before, and I'm extremely freaked out. I don't think that I'm sleeping for the rest of the night."

thoughts after reflection of the event. I don't know if it was the beginning phases of possession, a panic attack, sleep paralysis, or a combination of a few of them. I've had an anxiety attack before, but this was a completely different feeling and experience. I've done some research online, but have not found anything useful yet. If anyone else stumbles upon this and has any idea of what may have happened, please, tell me.

I'm still freaked out. And March 17th, 2023. This morning, my girlfriend wanted to talk to me about something that happened last night. I have no recollection of this conversation. At around 2.45am, I opened my eyes and said, Would you please get out of my freaking bed? Pointing to the bottom corner of my bed. My girlfriend asked me who I was talking to. I responded with, The stranger on the bed.

gesturing back to the corner. She asked me, "Did you open your eyes?" I responded with "Yes." She then asked, "And what did you see?" But I didn't answer. I know that sleep talking is a thing, but she said that I seemed completely coherent, and we had an entire conversation. That is creepy as hell. So, I'm going to start by saying that I'm basically a skeptic when it comes to the paranormal,

Although I love hearing stories and listening to others' points of view when it comes to that kind of stuff. This is why I'm having such a hard time understanding what happened to me last September. My dad, grandma, grandpa, and I were attending my cousin's wedding in a small rural town just outside of South Haven, Michigan late last summer. We rented a small house in town which was located in a very wooded area just off of a small lake.

Something felt extremely off as soon as I got out of the car at our rental property. That's the best way that I could describe it. Something felt off and I was immediately uneasy, but being the skeptic that I am, I shrugged it off and chalked it up to being tired and anxious. The night that we arrived, my dad and I were having a smoke outside and noticed how weird everything sounded. It was about 11pm and there was no one else around.

The trees were crackling incredibly loudly, and we were hearing strange animal noises, but nothing too out of the ordinary, just the type of animal noises you would hear in rural Michigan. But they just sounded particularly strange to us for some reason. We said our goodnights and went to bed. The next morning, my dad told me that he went outside for a smoke at about 2 in the morning and heard what sounded to him like someone close by banging on metal siding.

He said it sounded like it was next door, but didn't hear anything leading up to or preceding the loud banging, like footsteps or anything like that. We shrugged and laughed it off. The second night was when I heard the thing that I still can't stop thinking about six months later. It was about 11pm or midnight, and I was having my last smoke of the night. My grandparents were already asleep and my dad had just gotten into bed, but was still awake and watching TV.

I was sitting on the stairs outside with my back to the house, looking straight out into the backyard. I then heard somebody shout my name in a very abrupt manner. Loud and fast. It sounded like they were shouting toward me from the front of the house. Like they were standing on the front porch shouting for me, knowing that I was at the back of the house. It sounded just like my dad, but it couldn't be him because I didn't hear the front door open or close or anything.

Being a skeptic, I reminded myself to stay calm and I quickly walked into the house. My dad was sound asleep. There was no way that by the time I got to him, he could have gotten back into bed. I woke him up and asked him if he was outside screaming my name. He looked confused and said of course not. I started to get really freaked out at this point. I tried to go to bed but couldn't get that scream out of my head. I was up all night trying to figure out what happened.

I was honestly contemplating leaving, getting a hotel room somewhere close by and returning in the morning. Miraculously, I must have fallen asleep sometime around 3 in the morning. We woke up the next morning and I was so ready to get the hell out of that town. As soon as we left, the uneasy feeling I had the entire weekend disappeared. When I returned to work the next day, I told my coworker the weird experience that I'd had. Her face immediately dropped.

She proceeded to inform me that this is quite common in the Appalachian area, regarding cryptids and other types of creatures. Apparently, they try to get your attention by mimicking someone close to you, and when you look at them, they kidnap you or something along those lines. But I was in Michigan. I tried to look up information about the town that I was in, but didn't find anything remotely interesting. Has anyone else had a similar experience?"

I'm 19 years old and living far from home in a studio room. I'm often up late and last week I was just doing some laundry at around 11pm-ish. I saw a man sitting in the lobby. I saw him around a bit at night, but I didn't think much of it. I'm in the laundry room and I had just put my clothes in the dryer and I hear the laundry room door beeping, which meant that someone was coming in. There was the man.

standing there with no clothes to wash, just staring at me. I maneuvered around him and headed to the lifts. He followed me quickly and cornered me and asked me for my Snapchat. I was tired, and I just wanted to get back to my room, so I stupidly gave it to him. I figured he would message me and try to flirt. I would say, I have a boyfriend, sorry if you thought this was anything else, and that would be the end of it.

I'm about 5'4 with very long red hair, and I'm half Indian and English, with Afghanistani descent, so I'm white passing but kind of exotic. People tend to stare at me. Anyways, he starts messaging me. It's kind of normal, and then he starts saying weird stuff like, I saw you a month ago, and I was impressed. I've been visiting a friend and staying here, and I've been watching you.

I noticed that you come out mostly at night. He told me that he was Saudi Arabian and only visiting for five more days. Then it gets worse. He says, I love you. I can't help it. And then I say that I have a boyfriend. He says, I only want you and continues to completely ignore that. He asks to come to my room and I say no. And then he wanted a hug.

He asked me if I lived alone and if I was a virgin. He kept saying that he loved me and that I was perfect for him, that I impressed him. At that point, I recorded all the messages on Snapchat, spoke to him a little bit more to gather evidence so that I could take it to the reception in the morning. He'd been watching me for a month.

I got my guy friend who lives on the second floor to walk me down to the laundry room. We sat in the student lounge area and my friend calmed me down. I was shaking with adrenaline and fear. We saw him around the laundry room again looking for me but luckily I'd already picked it up. I run back to my room and my friend says that I can stay in his room but I said that it was okay and I would just lock my door. It's about 1 in the morning...

and I hear someone outside my room trying to get in. I ask my friend if he's outside my room and he says no. I just froze. I didn't want to make a sound. I felt sick to my stomach and helpless. Eventually it stopped, and whoever it was went away. In the morning I reported this to reception and then went to stay a few days with my boyfriend, and then after went to London to visit a friend.

and last night was the first time that I'd spent a night in my room since this happened. I'm very paranoid now. Sadly, I should probably be used to this. It's not the first time that I've been harassed like this. One guy tried to kiss me in a club by grabbing my head and a bunch of other things have happened that I won't go into here. But anyways, I'm terrified to go outside my room after dark.

I'm constantly looking over my shoulder and feeling paranoid. I just keep blaming myself for being too nice, and I know that it's my long, thick hair that seems to attract people's eyes to me. I just want to cut it all off. Has anyone had a similar experience, and how did you deal with it? Reception still hasn't updated me on if he's still in the building.

When I was around 11, I got very into fairies, but more in a witchy way, I guess you could say. I realize that's kind of odd for a kid to be into things like this, but you've got to know that I was very imaginative and a somewhat lonely kid. I have always loved fairies, and my mom got me a book on them.

It included fairy language, and a list of gifts to offer fairies when you wished to interact with them. Of course, I wanted to contact them, what little girl wouldn't? For about a month, I wandered out to my backwoods and by a river, because according to the book, fairies like to hang out around water, and I would leave them little notes written in the supposed language, along with little gifts and offerings.

I would make them little leaf baskets, leave them candy or flowers, things like that. I even recited a chant. I think that part of me knew that it was silly and that I'd probably never get results, but damn if I wasn't determined. So I kept on. At one point, my gifts and notes started disappearing from the bench that I left them on. I figured it was the wind or birds taking it, but a small part of me hoped that it was something else.

A month of this nonsense, and I was getting very discouraged. I decided to leave a few more gifts for them, and this time I weighed them down with small rocks so that they wouldn't blow away and I would know for sure. A day went by and my gifts were still there. Another day, same thing. Then, on the third day of checking, I found the gifts gone but the rocks still there. Only the rocks were moved around.

I don't remember how soon after that this happened, but eventually I got what I had wanted. I wandered out into the woods and saw by the river two monarch butterflies. They were very large and I wanted to see them up close. However, one landed on a branch close to the path where I was standing, and I noticed that this butterfly had limbs. Tiny, thin, pale limbs. Hands? Feet?

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked hard to make sure that I was not hallucinating. It was broad daylight and I could see it very clearly. It wasn't a butterfly. It was a fairy. She had long, thin brown hair that went down past her feet, and a blue dress that looked like a small scrap of fabric. But what terrified me above all else was her face.

Her eyes were giant, black, bug or alien-like eyes, but she definitely had a face. And she definitely saw me. I didn't even try to go look at the other one because I ran. I was so scared that I bolted home and locked my door. After freaking out and keeping an eye on my backyard, the backwoods through the window, I went back. No surprise, they were gone. And I never saw them again.

Despite me trying over and over again, my gifts were never taken again. I felt sad and stupid, because I felt like I had ruined my chance to have fairy friends, but knowing what I do now, it was probably a blessing that they left me alone. What do you guys think? Has anyone else seen a fairy? And did they look like this? I just need to find someone else who has seen what I have seen. It's something that I'll never forget.

I remember her so clearly that I could draw her. Back in 98, my best friend Jessica and I were really into ghosts and gore. We would have her dad rent Faces of Death on the weekends, camp out at her house in Justin Dull. Working at the video store was your typical video store employee back in the 90s. Late 20s, single, and lives with his mom.

He and his mom lived in the neighborhood for quite a while, so he had all the stories. We would spend hours in the video store looking over videos and conversing with Jim. Jim had all the neighborhood stories. There was this house at the end of my street, closer to Jessica's house, that constantly had families moving in and out, all short stays, no longer than a year. Our high school bus stop was directly in front of this home.

The longest tenant in the home were a gothic kid and his older mom. They stayed for the better part of a year. While at the video store one day, Jim tells us the story of the house at our bus stop, and why no one seems to be able to live in it for an extended amount of time. The story goes that there was a party in the house back in the 70s, and supposedly, a woman was decapitated, wrapped in the carpet, and then relocated.

"'Needless to say, my friends and I must investigate. "'By this time, the house is empty again. "'She spends the night at my house, "'and we planned to sneak out in the middle of the night to check it out. "'The time comes. It's two, three in the morning. "'Jess and I, for whatever reason, "'crawl on all fours down the street "'until we're a safe distance from my house, "'enter the house through the backyard, "'pass the pool, use it as a restroom.'

and proceeded into the house through the kitchen. The kitchen area is an open floor plan attached to the living room with the bathroom and the bedrooms breaking off. We were being really disrespectful. I can't recall what we were doing or saying, but it wasn't nice. We walked into the bathroom closest to the kitchen, and we started to smell this horrid stench, something along the lines of rotting meat.

We walked into the bathroom, and all of a sudden, this bright green orb comes shooting out of the toilet headed straight towards us. We screamed and ran out the back door, from which we came, past the swimming pool and past the window of the bathroom that we just ran out of. The entire bathroom was illuminated a bright green color, and we ran our back ends back to my house to never go back. What the hell was that?

Not quite sure if this classifies as paranormal or just a coincidence to the nth degree, but I always found it incredibly strange. My ex-husband told me of a supposed song that kept following him around, as it were. He told me that for years as a child, he had vague memories of an 80s song that he kept hearing whenever he got into an elevator. He didn't know the title or who sang it,

but had that hazy recollection of a tune that was ever-present in the back of his memory. When he was in his mid-twenties, he heard the song again while in an elevator on the way to a very important third interview for a job as an assistant marketing manager. This particular incident sticks with him because of the nature of the situation when he heard it this time around.

While on his way to the interview on the seventh floor, the song again played, triggering his memory from when he was a kid. Suffice to say that he got the job, which brought back the memory of that song that played earlier that day. This caused my ex-husband to start researching, and he finally found out the name of the song was Careless Whisper by George Michael.

He made it a point to keep track of every time he got into an elevator from that point onward to see if the song would play. Now, I know what some people might be thinking, that this sounds like a plot device from the first Final Destination movie, where everyone kept hearing John Denver before they died. But this situation was kind of the opposite, as my husband attributed hearing the song with good luck.

as he landed his dream job after hearing the song on that one particular day. Anyways, over the next six years, my husband counted exactly how many times he boarded an elevator, which was a little over a hundred times. According to him, 90 times out of that 100 or so, Careless Whisper played, which seems incredible.

When he told me this story, I was skeptical, but I then witnessed it for myself more than once. The most notable time I remembered it playing, we were actually on our honeymoon and were riding the elevator up to our hotel room. As soon as the song started playing, he turned to me with an excited look and said, See, babe, I told you.

I kind of laughed, and just reasoned that it was a coincidence, and maybe the song was on a kind of a loop and would play several times throughout a given day, along with all the other music. We stayed at that hotel for about five days, and without fail, every time we got on or off the elevator, that damn song would play, which admittedly I did find very odd.

I still talk to my ex-husband as we're still good friends, and to this day he swears that almost every time he gets on an elevator, Careless Whisper by George Michael always plays. What does everyone think of this? Is this just an incredible coincidence? Or is there more going on here? I'm up late reading these, so I finally decided to share my creepy encounter from a while back. This was about 15 years ago.

I was around 25 years old and living in the Midwest at the time. My friends and I decided to go out for the night. We're both girls and were single at the time, and somehow we decided on a townie type of bar. I don't remember how we landed on it. I had never been there before, and I don't think that she had either. I guess we were just trying something new. I don't remember a ton about the appearance, but I do remember that it was off a semi-busy road in a suburb.

You had to drive up a dirt road to the top of the hill, maybe a quarter of a mile, before you got to it perched at the top. It definitely wasn't our usual scene, but we were up for trying something new, even though it felt a little weird being sort of close to civilization, but at the same time feeling far away from it.

I'm driving and she's in the front seat. I'm going through the parking lot, using that term loosely, as it was mainly just a gravel lot in front of this bar. We didn't see any spots available, but as we were weaving through, we spotted a car backing out, so I waited for him to leave so that I could pull in. It wasn't until I was pulling in that I noticed another car in the aisle across from me on the opposite side of the car backing out.

I'm usually pretty aware of other drivers and lots, and I would have let him have that spot if it was obvious he was there before me and waiting for it. But he definitely was not there first, so I just figured he was looking for a spot too and was letting me pull in before he passed.

So I pull in, and we're taking off our seatbelts about to go in, when I notice that the car was still just sitting there, in the same spot in the aisle with its headlights on. It creeped me out a little, so I told my friend to wait for him to go before we went in. So we sit there, and I'm watching through my rearview mirror. It must have been at least two minutes, which felt so long.

He finally starts to move slowly, but, to my surprise, he doesn't drive past us. Instead, he pulls off to the edge of the dirt road near the bar entrance and parallel parks and turns off his car, probably about a hundred feet behind my car. Okay, I thought. He's just going to make his own parking spot. That's fine.

I tell my friend that I still want to wait for him to go in first because I'm afraid he's going to key my car or something because he's upset that I took the last spot. So, we continue to wait, about five minutes or so and no one is getting out of this car. By that point, I was thoroughly creeped out and I told her let's just forget this bar and leave. I turn my car on again and then turn on my headlights.

About a second after, I see that same car behind me turn his headlights on too. I wasn't sure if he was going to take my spot or what, but I put my car in reverse immediately as that just gave me the chills. I back out quickly and I head to go downhill to get back to the main road. That same car started moving too, and to my shock, he didn't take my spot, but instead followed me downhill.

I turned right onto the main road and drove probably half a mile before turning into a brightly lit McDonald's. He had followed me up to that point, but kept driving after I turned into there. I still have no clue if my gut instinct kicked in, and it saved us from something horrible that night, or if it was just some sicko playing a prank. Either way, every now and then, I think about those headlights popping up on my rearview mirror,

And it still gives me the chills. So trust your gut if something doesn't feel right.