Ghosts, spirits, energies, demons, poltergeists, entities — we all refer to the paranormal otherworld by different words and names. What do you call them? For some of us, the paranormal is spooky and mysterious, inspiring curiosity and late-night seances. For others, the idea of a ghost in the home is a straight-up nightmare, worthy of a priest and his holy water. Or an exorcist.
But the fact is, none of us really know what lives (or, well, exists) in the great beyond. Are what we think of ghosts simply energetic ‘stains,’ as actor-turned-ghost enthusiast Kristen Stewart suggested? Are they beings attached to consciousness, here to wreak havoc on the living — or are they simply energy patterns, left behind from intense emotions or space-specific traumas and experiences?
And if they are conscious, what do they want? To be seen? To simply have a bit of fun (as we imagine the otherworld to be sort of limbo-like, a perpetual state of nothingness)? To get revenge on the living?
Maybe it’s just funny to haunt a bunch of light-night staff and crew at a restaurant. Or, maybe, the dead want to comfort us — show us that death is not the end, that we are always being watched by those who have moved on.
Whatever tales of the paranormal are downright spooky or truly comforting, they’ve captivated humanity for thousands of years. And today, we’re here to dive into paranormal tales of wonder and creepiness — thanks to Reddit! — so grab a cup of tea, get under a blanket, and get ready to keep all the lights on tonight.
Maybe keep the lights on tonight.
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Some of these can lead to some trouble sleeping.
Have you ever seen a ghost or did you simply feel a presence in the room with you? Your ‘sixth sense‘ is a powerful thing. If you are receptive and open-minded enough, it may lead you to see things you can’t unsee.
Before you respond to the below with “they’re lying,” just know that people on Reddit are anonymous! They have nothing to gain by making stuff up. Let’s dive in…
This One, Spooky Room
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“This story seems like it’s just a creepypasta or something, but it’s real, it happened and is still happening as far as I know. I’m not kidding, nor embellishing anything. I think I’m forgetting some parts and I keep getting chills as bringing this up reminds me of how I felt and still feel,” thematgreen wrote, before telling the story of his grandmother’s house.
Before jumping in, the Reddit user noted, “My grandmothers house isn’t super old or anything, It’s actually really nice, has been remodeled multiple times, and is in a really nice suburban area. Other than one room her house is fantastic.”
While watching his grandmother’s dog, he noticed her pet had some strange behavior.
“For a week while she was out of town, that dog refused to go into that room. If I went in there, she would whine and shiver and stare at the corner of the room across from the door.”
The dog’s fear, reminded the writer, as a child he feared the room, as a child. Still, he chalked those anxieties to watching a lot of horror films and a “well developed imagination.”
Since the weather was warm, thematgreen said, “I didn’t pay much attention to my younger self and chose to stay in that bedroom because it was the middle of summer and it was the coolest room in the house.”
Once he spent the night in the room, everything changed.
“I didn’t really notice anything until I decided to sleep in there. That night the room was super chilly and I felt someone sit at the end of the bed. I assumed it was the dog, but when I opened my eyes the dog was at the door staring and whining.”
“I looked down and saw they bed rise as if someone sitting had stood up, and saw movement out of the corner of my eye like someone was ducking under the side of the bed.”
His response?
“I did what any rational person with decades of watching horror movies behind me. I walked out of the room, closed the door, and slept in the den.”
…And this is only the beginning. The next night after going to dinner with a friend, he describes coming home to chaos and the dog “foaming at the mouth, shivering, hackles raised,” terrified, and enraged.
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Thematgreen said, “When my grandmother got home, I told her a little about the room and all she said was “Yeah, sometimes that room is no good, better just stay out.” Thanks grandma.
Since the experience, he tries to no longer visit the house, but has collected more information about the room.
Like, it’s always cold, “there is no cell reception in that room. You have full bars, you’re on a call, the call disconnects when you walk in there.”
Additionally, “every animal that has been in that house refuses to go into that room. The most recent animals refuse to go to that part of the hall.”
Oddly, the writer also claims, “The landline phone (they are old) has weird static that sounds like a conversation that is too low to hear.”
Finally?
“I had a friend come over when I went to watch the house again a few years later. I slept in the den after telling him about the room and set him up in a different room. He decided to test the room and slept in there. In the morning he was pale faced and kept asking me why I was messing with him in his sleep and how he didn’t appreciate me shoving him awake or yelling in his face.”
“He was mostly convinced it was a prank, but eventually confessed he actually moved back to his original room mid way through the night,” he revealed. “I’ve brought multiple friends over the years and 9/10 of them had something happen or felt something.
The Mysterious Ringing Bell
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“I used to work at a ‘haunted’ hotel at the front desk. There was a room behind the front desk where you could sit when it was late and no one was in the lobby. There was a TV with the security cameras including one on the front desk so you could see if anyone was out there. You could see the whole front desk, including the classic bell that people ring for service. A coworker and I were sitting in the back room, no one up front, and the bell rang. No one, NO ONE was out there,” one Reddit user began.
“Over the next hour the bell rang 6 or 7 times, but only when we were in the back. I don’t believe in ghosts, but f*ck,” they continued.
“This was a nice 4 diamond old hotel that had huge ball rooms and dining rooms that I had to walk through late at night when I was alone,” they revealed. “When I worked overnights after that as the only employee in the hotel, I would get freaked out, but never really saw anything else “supernatural.'”
For whom the bell tolls…
According to this “haunted” hotel employee (which, to be 100 percent honest, is the first creepy part of this whole entire story,) the front desk bell would ring every single time the staff was away from the desk.
Wait, what?
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Either they’ve got some pranksters on their hands or a very bored ghost who demands 5-star service. Bonus points for this excellent reply: “Was your hotel in a mountain resort? Are you a writer who needs a remote job to finish his book? Are you Jack Nicholson?”
Cabinets With A Mind Of Their Own
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“At my sisters old apartment you could see into the kitchen from the living room. The kitchen cabinets would open and close and her dog would immediately start to bark.”
“One night we were watching a movie and we heard something stumble and hit the ground in her kitchen and the dog didn’t even seem to care. I’m pretty sure we heard a ghost trip and eat shit on her kitchen floor,” this Reddit user wrote.
Or someone’s mind playing tricks on them?
In this classic paranormal story, cabinets swung open of their own accord.
We don’t know about you, but if we saw our cabinets swing open, we’d run out of the room screaming.
Thankfully, the dog seemed to respond in a way that made lots of sense: Bark. Like crazy. Because that is not okay.
Ghosts Like Coffee, Too
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“I was working counter late at night at Tim Hortons. I heard an older lady set down her china mug and say “Thanks dear!”. Turned around and there was no one in the store. I’m okay with a regular dead customer having one last cup,” this Reddit user wrote.
But they don’t want to be seen, apparently.
When I looked up from cleaning, there wasn’t any cup on the counter or any customers in the store. Only sounds was the radio in the seating area. This spooky moment took place in 2001. Back when it was still a donut shop. I miss those days,” they added.
According to commenters on this thread, there have been multiple allegations of Tim Horton’s being haunted. The weirdest thing is that, as the commenter answers (to other curious replies), is that there was no one there.
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No coffee. No cup. No customer. Creeeeepy! If this happened to you, would you flip?
The Floating Dress
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“When I was six or seven, I was going to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door because no one else was home. My parents’ room was directly across a narrow hallway from the bathroom, with their door being pretty close to being entirely open, with only clothes keeping it pushed slightly outward,” Tato7069 wrote.
“From where I was, I could see the foot of my parents bed, the wall on the left side of their bed, and the wall which the door was against, being nearly fully open, if that makes sense,” they wrote.
“Sitting silently, I see a black dress, with no figure inside rise up from behind the left side of my parents bed, proceed to float out to the front of the foot of the bed, appearing to float directly towards me, and float behind my parents’ bedroom door,” the Reddit user added.
“Completely silent, no body, no legs, feet, nothing. Just a black dress. It floated not slowly, but not too quickly, like it didn’t even know I was there and was just casually floating through the house.”
I was freaked as fuck. I finished my business, and quickly jumped across the hall and slammed the door the other way screaming out of fear and an attempt at being threatening. But nothing was there besides my mom’s robes and pajamas,” they said.
“Since then, I was sure to close the door every time I went to the bathroom. And only recently have I begun going with the door open if no one else is home.”
“And nearly every time I do, the thought of that goes through my head.”
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Um, hello nightmare fuel.
“Seriously, there’s something super off-putting about seeing another room (or a bit of a room) from a room opposite the way. Now, imagine seeing something floating in that other room — far enough for you not to make it out but close enough for it to come and get you,” Tato7069 said.
Hard pass on the floating black dress figure.
The Dead Leave Messages For Us
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“My mother passed when I was 22. It was an accident and a shock. My husband and I went 3 states away to stay at her house for a bit to pack things up and settle her estate. I have always had really bad problems with my sinuses. Well the stress and everything got me sick and I had a horrible sinus infection,” this Reddit user shared.
“I had medicine and I was on the couch crying after looking everywhere for it. My husband was sitting next to me holding me. Then we looked over on the table where the bible was opened and the meds where sitting on the bible. The bible had been there earlier..closed. I remember sitting it there myself,” she said.
“My husband started freaking out because on the page it was opened to a verse was underlined. It was the only one in the whole book underlined. It said..and the grieving shall be comforted. I usually would not put any credence in this. I was sick and a mess. My husband was not. He is a very level headed person when it comes to things like this. Also quite a few other things happened for a while after that. I like to think my mother was trying to help me cope. I really hope she finally found peace…I did.”
And sometimes it’s pretty straightforward.
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In this somewhat comforting story, the daughter of a recently passed on woman finds her lost medicine on top of a bible, which was closed. Without explanation, the bible had been propped open to a page with an underlined statement about grief.
Of course, the daughter’s missing medicine was there, too. Our mothers love us…even from the grave.
Don’t Skip The Funerary Ceremonies
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“This happened when I was 17,” 3oceans wrote.
“It is part of our culture to celebrate the 4th night of burial. My aunt, who was close to us, had passed away and during the 4th night celebration, my siblings, baby nephew and I didn’t attend, so we stayed home.”
“My mum had gone to the gathering, but returned home late. As soon as she walked into the house, my baby nephew started crying,” the writer continued.
“When he finally settled down and fallen back to slept, I started feeling uneasy. I had this feeling I was being watched and got really uncomfortable so I changed the direction I was lying and turned to face the door. The door to the room was left open and guess who I saw standing there and staring directly at me….my aunt who we had buried 4 days earlier. She was not smiling at all,” 3oceans said.
Or else the dead will not be happy.
This story is a bit spooky, even though it concerns a dead member of the family. No matter what, there’s no feeling comfortable when a dead family member shows up, stands in your doorway, and looks disapprovingly at you from afar.
Maybe he should have gone to the funerary celebration? What do you think?
Grandma Says Hi
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“When I was 18 my Grandma past away and about a week later I was watching a movie on my laptop in bed, I passed out and woke up the next morning,” the story began.
“When I woke up it was extremely cold in my room I’d say it felt about 35 degrees (during the summer at about 9 am) and my dog started barking at the top right corner of my room very aggressively as soon I sat up.”
I brushed it off said whatever as I’m not a superstitious person, grabbed my laptop and my earbuds which weren’t knotted at all and sat them on my desk,” this Redditor wrote.
“I then went to the bathroom, took a 45 second pee and went back to my laptop. When I returned I found a needle and thread tightly wound around my earbuds (probably spun around about 10 times and knotted,” the story continued.
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“My sewing needle and thread was inside a sealed ziplock baggy on top of my desk and the needle was not threaded. I’ve never really believed in ghosts and maybe I was tripping or something but my Grandma’s and my favorite activity was sewing when I was younger and we bonded a lot over it. I get comfort in believing it was her when I get down.”
This one is just strange.
When you don’t believe in ghosts at all, it’s easy to rationalize certain occurrences. But what happens when there is no explanation? Doors closing on their own? Wind. Loud noises? Something precariously positioned fell.
Thread tightly spun around earbud? It makes no sense at all. But also: Hi, grandma!
An Old Wives’ Tale Come To Life
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“I swear that this actually happened. I don’t believe in the paranormal, but when I was 8, I was playing hide and seek in my village. A little backstory about it.”
“Its a really small village next to the woods, but it used to be bigger. It’s a little out of a town (Kalavrita for anyone who knows) basically in this town during ww2 the Germans hit and killed almost all men.”
“That time at my village, a rich family (only one daughter and parents I think,) helped nurse the injured and gave money to the rebels,” Rarakaaa wrote.
“Germans learnt and burnt the house with the people inside. Modern day, when I was 8. We are playing hide and seek, we go to the old houses yard to hide, it’d unattended with tall weeds, so it’s a nice hiding spot,” the author added.
“All the kids were there, minus the boy who searched for us. While hiding we heard an echoing girl scream from that house and a small animal (probs a fox) running out.”
“There wasn’t a girl who wasn’t there, and its really unsafe to go in there. We ran to back at the square. Some kids said they saw someone at the window there. We never knew, but it has stayed with me,” they added.
Something about World War II ghosts makes this even creepier.
Interestingly, this culturally-infused tale has roots back to World War II. In this story, a family (who was aiding the rebels) was burned alive in their home.
And guess what? If you play near or in the house, you might hear screams. Stories like these are found in almost every country and culture — and what do they tell us? Energy remains.
It’s Not Just Places That Are Haunted
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“Being a collector of WWI and WWII items, mainly helmets, deactivated firearms, and even some personal effects of fallen soldiers, I’ve had quite a few paranormal things caused by some of these items,” InkblotDoggo wrote.
“One I point out a lot is the ‘cursed’ helmet. Its an M1916 stahlhelm that saw use in both World Wars, as WWI era German helmets were reused in WWII on some occasions.
“Now, this Stahlhelm had obvious repair marks on the front and the back, which I later found out was from a bullet in WWI. However, there was also a ‘fresh’, non-repaired bullet hole from the left side all the way to the right,” this Reddit user added.
“This helmet had been on a man in WWI who’d been shot in the head, had been repaired, and put back into service, only for the next man to wear it to meet a similar fate.”
“When I got this helmet, I had nightmares for a week. Each one was one of two. The first, I was running through a trench.
“I could hear the bullets whizzing overhead, and then I’d hear a loud bang behind me and wake up with a splitting headache.”
“The second, I was running from building to building. Again, I could hear bullets, then I heard another loud bang and would wake up, again, with a splitting headache.”
“Every time I had to touch or move the helmet, I would feel sick, and my head would throb. I later took it to a local priest, who blessed the helmet, and even sprinkled a bit of holy water on it.”
“Oddly, after the blessing ceremony, the nightmares and headaches stopped. I can now handle the helmet without feeling sick, and I feel as if the poor souls who died wearing that helmet are finally at peace. Bit wordy, but, thats my story. Got a ton more stories of cursed/haunted WWI/WWII items if you wanna hear more.”
Objects can hold paranormal energy, too.
The idea that places are haunted is commonplace. We think of houses, burial grounds, insane asylums, prisons, and other places as ‘haunted,’ and so we avoid them (or some of us, you know, enjoy camping out overnight in them).
But can objects themselves be haunted? The answer looks like yes. In this story, a WWI helmet moves through time attached to the paranormal.
“She Will Not Let Me Go”
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“Me and my girlfriend, at the time, we’re living together in an apartment complex that was from early 1900s… I remember dreaming of a black figure dragging me from my bed and I wake up to my girlfriend screaming, “She will not let me go, she will not let me go,” this Reddit user began.
“I have my arms around her, like we are cuddling, and we both wake up at the other end of the room. Facing opposite way of the way our bed was. We were dragged in a complete 180 from bed to other side of room,” he said
“The next day I tell my neighbor upstairs and he says he had a dream of a black figure throw him off the balcony, then leave his room, and go down the hallway to where we were. Craziest thing ever happened to me.”
Multiple people experienced something horrifying.
We already know that specific places and things can be haunted, but can a ghost roam from apartment to apartment within one complex? Apparently, yes.
This story tells us that one very powerful (and very scary) entity messed with neighbors, who both sensed a presence in quite similar ways. If we were them, we’d get a new apartment. Stat.
The Consequences Of Living In An Old Funeral Home
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“My house used to be the largest on the lot before our town expanded. It was the largest because it was a funeral home,” this Reddit user wrote.
“They sealed off the room with plaster walls where they would prepare the bodies though, underneath the carpet in my parent’s room is a hatch too.”
“I’ve seen plenty of things, heard plenty of things and friends or family have said things I have seen.”
“We have a spirit, ghost, whichever you wanna call it that lives here named Abigail. She’s a trickster, she likes to hide things, move things, open doors sometimes or tease our dogs,” they added.
“Whenever my aunt comes to visit with her family small items tend to go missing. Items like her toothbrush that she set by the sink two minutes ago,” the writer revealed.
“The things here, and there are a few, aren’t as active anymore. Or maybe I don’t see them or notice them much.”
Apparently ghosts can have a sense of humor.
What’s with ghosts all wanting to move our stuff around?
Why do they get off on lifting our stuff up and moving it to the table over? Why even bother? Perhaps we’ll never know.
In this recollection, someone who moved into an old funeral home lived with a pesky spirit named Abigail. Message to Abigail — stop. You’re freaking everyone the hell out.
A ‘Nice Little House’
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“So I was about 7 or 8 at the time, my family was on vacation in Missouri at the time,” this story began, before taking a spooky turn.
“We decided to make a day trip to a little town called Villisca, Iowa, home of the Villisca Axe Murder House (it was the site, an entire family and one of the children’s friends were brutally murdered with an axe all in one night,)” Charcoal69420 wrote.
“I believe that the killer is still unknown, we wanted to visit this nice little house, as we were getting ready to leave, me and my father wanted to check the upstairs out.”
“While in the attic of the house, when there was nobody around, both me and my father heard a small child’s voice whispering from behind us.”
“Needless to say we were both amazed, yet, a little bit freaked out, so we hastily made our way back outside.”
….where people were murdered by an ax.
We’re not sure why vacationers would want to visit the site were bloody, gruesome murders took place — but, hey, we realize there’s a long-time fascination with people like Lizzie Borden — but this family did just that.
They visited the house, where eight people were murdered in 1912, only to hear a child whispering to them in the attic. (PS: you can view the attic here).
Sometimes Ghosts Are Nice
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“A few years ago I had been out of work for 3 months and had given up hope. On top of that, I had been getting 20-30 spam calls a day, so I had turned off my phone,” this man wrote.
“I was taking a post-lunch nap when I felt a hand grip my shoulder and gently shake me awake, with a voice saying, “Answer your phone.”
“I staggered up and went to my desk and turned on my phone before realizing what had happened,” he added.
“Around 15 minutes later I got a call from a recruiter who had been given my name by a former co-worker. Went for the interview, aced it and I’m still at the job.”
I’ve had other weird experiences. We live a couple of blocks from the city cemetery. I’m positive we have tourists coming through, but I don’t know if they’re lost, bored or trying to communicate.
And even help you land a job.
Maybe this was someone’s guardian angel? Maybe it was a dead ancestor who came back from the afterlife to nudge their relative awake? Perhaps this was a friendly house ghost who got sick of seeing his living homeowner so down in the dopes. Whatever the case may be, we stan nice ghosts!
We hope you’re not too freaked out after reading this.
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And remember — ghosts can be nice, too. May that knowledge help you sleep you tonight. And if you already have trouble sleeping, here are some tips to help you catch some much-needed z’s.
