The floorboards creak, lights flicker… You swear you just heard footsteps coming down the hallway. But you know for a fact that there’s nobody else in the house. Your blood runs cold, just as a blast of icy air makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The only ‘logical’ explanation is a visitor from the 'other side.’
Whether you believe in them or not, many people swear they've 'seen' ghosts and claim to have encountered other paranormal activity. There's an entire online community dedicated to the paranormal. It has no less than 2 million (living) members. One of them recently asked, "What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever seen that no one else believes you about?" and the replies came in thick and fast.
From the creepy and eerie to the downright terrifying, many might keep you up at night. Bored Panda has sifted through the hundreds of stories to bring you a list of the best ones. So turn the lights off, lock the doors and keep scrolling. Let us know your favorites by upvoting them and feel free to share your own paranormal encounters in the comments section below. And if you want to know why some people see ghosts and others don't, you'll find some fascinating info between the images.
#1
Not unexplainable or paranormal, but creepy nonetheless…one of my earliest memories…i always believed it was the memory of a nightmare or something, until i told my parents about it a few years ago. I was maybe five or six…I remember waking up suddenly in the middle of the night because something was in my room. I opened my eyes and the room was very dark, just a little light from a pole outside across the street. But in the corner, by my closet, was a crouched black shadow. At first, I believed I’d seen a chair piled with clothes or something, but my parents deny that there was a chair in my room back then. Anyways, I could feel it looking at me, watching me. Then the shadow smiled, and I saw a mouth full of long yellow teeth, and then, shining eyes in the dark. I just watched in stunned horror. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, It began to become clearer. It was about the size of a medium sized dog, but it wasn’t a dog. It had long arms and fingers, no neck—just a head on shoulders, or like someone hunched over. I was so scared, I remember crawling out of my bed and creeping to the door, back to the wall, watching it watching me the entire time, but it didn’t move. It just watched me leave and turned its head to follow me as I did. I closed the door and went to the living room, where the tv was still on, and I laid down on the floor in the light and slept there until the morning…
Years later, I’m talking to my parents about random things, and I mention this. As I said earlier, I always thought it was just the memory of a nightmare I’d had as a child. But my mom looked at me a little funny and said, “Oh wow, I can’t believe you remember that.” I said “Wait, what? That actually happened?!” Of course I was freaked out. Then my mom says “Yeah, that was your great grandmother’s orangutan. She’d been fostering her and at some point in the night, she got out and went to your room! She’d loved you so much. She was probably checking on you, and you locked her in.”
Imagine, all those years I’d believe it was everything from a nightmare to an actual demon trying to steal my soul, but the whole time it was just the juvenile orangutan my great-gran fostered for a few months when I was five, sneaking into my room in the night.
Years later, I’m talking to my parents about random things, and I mention this. As I said earlier, I always thought it was just the memory of a nightmare I’d had as a child. But my mom looked at me a little funny and said, “Oh wow, I can’t believe you remember that.” I said “Wait, what? That actually happened?!” Of course I was freaked out. Then my mom says “Yeah, that was your great grandmother’s orangutan. She’d been fostering her and at some point in the night, she got out and went to your room! She’d loved you so much. She was probably checking on you, and you locked her in.”
Imagine, all those years I’d believe it was everything from a nightmare to an actual demon trying to steal my soul, but the whole time it was just the juvenile orangutan my great-gran fostered for a few months when I was five, sneaking into my room in the night.
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98points
"I see dead people..."
It's a line from a movie that you're unlikely to forget if you ever watched it from the edge of your seat. The 1999 horror/mystery The Sixth Sense centers around a little boy haunted by a dark secret: ghosts come to visit him and speak to him about their problems. The terrified child confides in a psychologist who tries to make sense of his supernatural abilities, with some unexpected consequences for both of them.
The movie might be fictional, but many people claim to 'see dead people' in real life. In fact, around 18% of Americans swear they've encountered a ghost at least once according to a Pew Research Center survey. If you've never had the pleasure - or displeasure - of meeting Casper and his friends, you might be wondering why.
Psychologists say it has to do with your beliefs, your personality and your religious background.
#2
Back in the late 1990's I used to supervise a crew doing Trauma Scene work. We would go into buildings after homicide, s*****e, unattended deaths, accidental deaths, fire death or pretty much any messed up thing that could happen inside a building, home or office.
The following story happened on one of those scenes I have a few others that have really stuck with me but this one was probably more the works of evil spirits than others that were just sad.
We often got dispatched out sometimes with little details only like Vehicle damage to structure with fatality, or Fire Damage structure with multiple Fatalities, sometimes it was very vague like death inside home.
We were dispatched to a single family house in the outskirts of Los Angeles a working class neighborhood with homes built probably in the early 1950's, not a bad run down section but just an area where families lived quiet unassuming area.
We arrive to the site, it was a ranch style home with a sweeping driveway to the street, the garage door was open and an older lady was sitting inside the garage smoking.
I walked up to her and introduce myself and said I am sorry for your loss, we are here to help clean up and do whatever we can to help you.
I can tell she is nervous but in most of these situations we run into people crying, shock, or just stone quiet and unable to speak. Most of the time, they have someone there to help them like a family friend, family member or neighbor. However she was all alone, she looked very uneasy and I can see that she has a sofa, tv on a stand and clothes piled up in her garage.
I asked her if she would like to show me the area where the incident occured she said to me "I'm not going back in that house" She then points to a front bedroom window and said that is the room. I did not know what happened there, as usual I wasn't given much details, not that I needed to know but sometimes it helped knowing if were were dealing with a murder, s*****e, or child death.
I start to ask her if there was anything in that room that might be affected that she would like for us to save or secure for her. She said she didn't care about anything in that house and she was not going back inside.
I was just thinking to myself, this is sometimes pretty typical, no one likes to go back inside where loved ones were lost.
She starts to tell me a story that made my hair on the back of my neck stand up. She said, that her son killed himself in that room. She said that there were evil spirits in that house. I just said I am sorry, she said no you don't understand. She said that a year ago her other son killed himself inside the house too, the demons attacked him and took him too. She also said that a few years before that her husband killed himself in the house too.
To me, in all the people I have met in situation where loved ones were lost, you get a sense of grief and sometimes mental illness. I didn't get mental illness from her, what I got was a poor woman scared out of her mind. I asked her if she wanted me to call anyone for her she said that either a family member or a friend was coming to take her away. I can't remember exactly what she said.
I asked her to sign our paperwork allowing us to do what we needed to do and asked her if there was anything she wouldn't want us to dispose of, she said "you can just burn this place down for all I care"
I gathered my crew and we suited up to go inside. We entered the room and it was a smaller bedroom, blue painted walls, a little on the messy side. There was a pool of blood at the foot of the bed, vomit on the bed and on one side of the bedroom walls the entire wall was written in blood.
We could only make out some words as it almost didn't seem like it was in English.
We later found out from a neighbor that the son who was an adult son had drank acid and then slit his throat and expired sitting on the bed.
We cut out the carpet, wrapped the mattress up, and cleaned up the room so there was no longer any traces of what was left behind.
During the time we worked the old lady took off and we locked up the house.
The thing is we were in the house for a few hours and the feeling inside the house was like that of being in a cave or something the air was thick, the smell inside the house was sick, more than stale but pungent and foul. We all felt like we wanted to get out of there in a hurry.
The way that the old lady was scared to go back inside, the fact that the house took her husband, and two sons, I had not been a huge believer in evil lingering inside a place until then. I honestly felt it and still remember it today.
The following story happened on one of those scenes I have a few others that have really stuck with me but this one was probably more the works of evil spirits than others that were just sad.
We often got dispatched out sometimes with little details only like Vehicle damage to structure with fatality, or Fire Damage structure with multiple Fatalities, sometimes it was very vague like death inside home.
We were dispatched to a single family house in the outskirts of Los Angeles a working class neighborhood with homes built probably in the early 1950's, not a bad run down section but just an area where families lived quiet unassuming area.
We arrive to the site, it was a ranch style home with a sweeping driveway to the street, the garage door was open and an older lady was sitting inside the garage smoking.
I walked up to her and introduce myself and said I am sorry for your loss, we are here to help clean up and do whatever we can to help you.
I can tell she is nervous but in most of these situations we run into people crying, shock, or just stone quiet and unable to speak. Most of the time, they have someone there to help them like a family friend, family member or neighbor. However she was all alone, she looked very uneasy and I can see that she has a sofa, tv on a stand and clothes piled up in her garage.
I asked her if she would like to show me the area where the incident occured she said to me "I'm not going back in that house" She then points to a front bedroom window and said that is the room. I did not know what happened there, as usual I wasn't given much details, not that I needed to know but sometimes it helped knowing if were were dealing with a murder, s*****e, or child death.
I start to ask her if there was anything in that room that might be affected that she would like for us to save or secure for her. She said she didn't care about anything in that house and she was not going back inside.
I was just thinking to myself, this is sometimes pretty typical, no one likes to go back inside where loved ones were lost.
She starts to tell me a story that made my hair on the back of my neck stand up. She said, that her son killed himself in that room. She said that there were evil spirits in that house. I just said I am sorry, she said no you don't understand. She said that a year ago her other son killed himself inside the house too, the demons attacked him and took him too. She also said that a few years before that her husband killed himself in the house too.
To me, in all the people I have met in situation where loved ones were lost, you get a sense of grief and sometimes mental illness. I didn't get mental illness from her, what I got was a poor woman scared out of her mind. I asked her if she wanted me to call anyone for her she said that either a family member or a friend was coming to take her away. I can't remember exactly what she said.
I asked her to sign our paperwork allowing us to do what we needed to do and asked her if there was anything she wouldn't want us to dispose of, she said "you can just burn this place down for all I care"
I gathered my crew and we suited up to go inside. We entered the room and it was a smaller bedroom, blue painted walls, a little on the messy side. There was a pool of blood at the foot of the bed, vomit on the bed and on one side of the bedroom walls the entire wall was written in blood.
We could only make out some words as it almost didn't seem like it was in English.
We later found out from a neighbor that the son who was an adult son had drank acid and then slit his throat and expired sitting on the bed.
We cut out the carpet, wrapped the mattress up, and cleaned up the room so there was no longer any traces of what was left behind.
During the time we worked the old lady took off and we locked up the house.
The thing is we were in the house for a few hours and the feeling inside the house was like that of being in a cave or something the air was thick, the smell inside the house was sick, more than stale but pungent and foul. We all felt like we wanted to get out of there in a hurry.
The way that the old lady was scared to go back inside, the fact that the house took her husband, and two sons, I had not been a huge believer in evil lingering inside a place until then. I honestly felt it and still remember it today.
58points
#3
When I was 10, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw my Mom standing at the foot of my bed, smiling. I said, “Mom?” and she turned around and walked out silently. I got up to follow her and saw her lying asleep in her room.
I asked her the next morning if she came to my room. She said no and laughed it off.
I’ve never forgotten the way that figure smiled. It wasn’t my mom's smile. And it didn’t blink.
I asked her the next morning if she came to my room. She said no and laughed it off.
I’ve never forgotten the way that figure smiled. It wasn’t my mom's smile. And it didn’t blink.
46points
“The first requirement for there being a ghost in the house is someone believing there’s a ghost in the house,” said a wise man once. His name is Christopher Bader and he is a Professor of Sociology at Chapman University. He also wrote a book called “Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture.”
Basically, what Bader meant is that you have to believe in the paranormal to be able to 'see' a ghost. "Our perception of what is going on around us at any given moment is driven by our expectations, needs, and beliefs, and this is especially true when the sensory information we are receiving is sketchy and ambiguous," explain the experts over at Psychology Today.
Bader says more than half of Americans (52% and rising) admit to having a paranormal belief or experience. And this isn't always to do with seeing spirits or ghosts.
"Some believers in the paranormal search the skies for unexplained lights, go on late-night hunts for ghosts or hike through North American woods in search of Bigfoot," notes the Chapman University site. "Some believe in the lost city of Atlantis, demon possession, prophetic dreams, reiki, healing sounds, power crystals and tarot cards."
#4
My wife experienced something similar to you, OP. It involved...."me". I have posted this before.
Several years ago, we (wife, kids, dog and myself) lived in an apartment. It was getting late so I took my young daughter to her bed. My wife stayed downstairs (alone) to lock up and turn everything off. My wife used the downstairs bathroom before coming upstairs. As she was turning on the water to wash her hands, I came around the corner, leaned on the door frame and stared at her in the mirror. The door was directly behind her. She looked in the mirror and saw me staring at her. I was smirking as she asked me why I was being weird. After she asked that, my facial expression turned into a scowl. I would not answer her so she turned around and I was gone. Problem is, I was upstairs. That wasn't me.
I was in my daughter's room tucking her in. My wife walks into the room with purpose. She was panicking and asked why I did that. Confused, I asked her what I did. She told me what happened and I had to convince her it was not me, but based on her reaction, she knew that but didn't want to believe it. It would have been impossible for me to pull that off.
Several years ago, we (wife, kids, dog and myself) lived in an apartment. It was getting late so I took my young daughter to her bed. My wife stayed downstairs (alone) to lock up and turn everything off. My wife used the downstairs bathroom before coming upstairs. As she was turning on the water to wash her hands, I came around the corner, leaned on the door frame and stared at her in the mirror. The door was directly behind her. She looked in the mirror and saw me staring at her. I was smirking as she asked me why I was being weird. After she asked that, my facial expression turned into a scowl. I would not answer her so she turned around and I was gone. Problem is, I was upstairs. That wasn't me.
I was in my daughter's room tucking her in. My wife walks into the room with purpose. She was panicking and asked why I did that. Confused, I asked her what I did. She told me what happened and I had to convince her it was not me, but based on her reaction, she knew that but didn't want to believe it. It would have been impossible for me to pull that off.
40points
#5
I was up visiting my mom. She was sick with cancer. I had just gone in to bed and she came to the door and said hey I need you to come out here. And something made me pause. I noticed the door was backwards. It was opened from the left vs. to the right like normal. So I said what do you need mom? She said I need you to come out here. I had chills. I told her what do you need because we already did all our good nights. She got angry and said if I tell you to come here you don't question me. Get out here now. My mom didn't normally talk to me like that, not since I was a teen and I'd earned it . So I said no I'm not going to go with you
She yelled f+++ you. And she didn't cuss. And she walked away. I waited a few minutes and went out to check on my mom. I said are you ok mom? Do you need me. She had just fallen asleep and she said no honey go on back to bed we'll talk tomorrow. It wasn't my mom at the door.
She yelled f+++ you. And she didn't cuss. And she walked away. I waited a few minutes and went out to check on my mom. I said are you ok mom? Do you need me. She had just fallen asleep and she said no honey go on back to bed we'll talk tomorrow. It wasn't my mom at the door.
33points
#6
When I was 14, my parents and I took a trip to Los Angeles and stayed in this hotel. We didn’t book expensive because we were only passing through, so the hotel was kind of run down. Like the elevator sometimes wouldn’t close. We stayed for a day and it was good but It was at exactly 3:10 in the morning when the thing happened.
You know how sometimes you wake up and just instantly know the time like you have an internal clock? I was right on when I actually checked the time.
And I had this like, uneasy gut-clenching feeling kind of like I was paralyzed, but I knew I didn’t have sleep paralysis or anything like it so that was strange. We were on one of the higher floors , and there was a community bathroom in the hall.
This laughing suddenly started coming from the ceiling and I was freaking the f**k out because my parents were still asleep. Like resonating through the ceiling and the walls, this really faint childish laughter. I honestly don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I went to the window and I opened it because I just had this sense that something wasn’t right. I looked to my left and I saw this woman open her window. I could only see that she was wearing like this nightgown and brown hair that kind of shielded her face. It was really dark other than the city lights.
And I kid you not, she turned and jumped out the f*****g window. I swear to god, she jumped right in front of me and I heard screaming on the way down. Immediately, I started screaming too and my parents woke up and I told them what had happened. So we immediately went to reception, and they called the police. Police got there, went to where I said she had jumped and found NOTHING. No body, no anything. They went to the room a couple down from ours to the left, and it wasn’t even occupied.
Found out later after we got home that the hotel was THE hotel Cecil. Scariest situation I’ve ever been in.
You know how sometimes you wake up and just instantly know the time like you have an internal clock? I was right on when I actually checked the time.
And I had this like, uneasy gut-clenching feeling kind of like I was paralyzed, but I knew I didn’t have sleep paralysis or anything like it so that was strange. We were on one of the higher floors , and there was a community bathroom in the hall.
This laughing suddenly started coming from the ceiling and I was freaking the f**k out because my parents were still asleep. Like resonating through the ceiling and the walls, this really faint childish laughter. I honestly don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I went to the window and I opened it because I just had this sense that something wasn’t right. I looked to my left and I saw this woman open her window. I could only see that she was wearing like this nightgown and brown hair that kind of shielded her face. It was really dark other than the city lights.
And I kid you not, she turned and jumped out the f*****g window. I swear to god, she jumped right in front of me and I heard screaming on the way down. Immediately, I started screaming too and my parents woke up and I told them what had happened. So we immediately went to reception, and they called the police. Police got there, went to where I said she had jumped and found NOTHING. No body, no anything. They went to the room a couple down from ours to the left, and it wasn’t even occupied.
Found out later after we got home that the hotel was THE hotel Cecil. Scariest situation I’ve ever been in.
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30points
Bader surveyed 4,000 Americans. His research found that a quarter of them have read or researched the world of ghosts, hauntings and apparitions.
Interestingly, "men are more likely to connect with the paranormal via cryptozoology, or animals of folklore (Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra)," notes the uni site, while "women are more drawn to New Age connections (psychics, mediums, astrology, ghost contact)."
Further research shows that people who believe in the paranormal are more likely to embrace conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. Psychology Today notes that a history of childhood trauma has also been linked to paranormal beliefs. You're also more likely to "see ghosts" if you are an intuitive thinker, as opposed to an analytic one.
#7
I saw a ufo pretty close up... I would have doubted my own memory if it wasn't for the fact that I wasn't the only one who saw it.
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27points
#8
I saw a creature and, years later, my sister did too.
When I was about 5, I was sleeping in my bed and I wake up and see what I can only describe as a lizard person standing at the end of my bed. He had the height and body of a man (like bipedal, arms and legs ect.), dark green with fine smooth scales like a snake. No clothing and no genitalia or anything, and with pupils split like a cat. His legs are spread shoulders width apart and his arms are held out to his side like a T (Think The Vetruvian Man pose). He smiles and stares at me and I close my eyes. When I open them, he’s gone.
Fast forward about 20 years. I’m 25, and my youngest sister (who is 7 years younger than me and wasn’t alive at the time of the event) is visiting my place. We are telling ghost stories and I ask her if she’s ever seen anything strange. She thought for a minute, and said that once, when she was about 5, she woke up in the middle of the night to see the figure of a person standing in front of her window, legs shoulders width apart and arms out like a T. It was standing in front of a window, so it was backlit and appeared just as a shadow. She ducked her head under the covers and when she looked again, he was gone.
Now, her event happened in a totally different state over a decade after my encounter. She was so much younger than me that I can’t imagine I’d ever told her my story as kids or anything, nor did she remember me telling her my story. I have no idea what happened, but the distinctive pose is so….unusual?
When I was about 5, I was sleeping in my bed and I wake up and see what I can only describe as a lizard person standing at the end of my bed. He had the height and body of a man (like bipedal, arms and legs ect.), dark green with fine smooth scales like a snake. No clothing and no genitalia or anything, and with pupils split like a cat. His legs are spread shoulders width apart and his arms are held out to his side like a T (Think The Vetruvian Man pose). He smiles and stares at me and I close my eyes. When I open them, he’s gone.
Fast forward about 20 years. I’m 25, and my youngest sister (who is 7 years younger than me and wasn’t alive at the time of the event) is visiting my place. We are telling ghost stories and I ask her if she’s ever seen anything strange. She thought for a minute, and said that once, when she was about 5, she woke up in the middle of the night to see the figure of a person standing in front of her window, legs shoulders width apart and arms out like a T. It was standing in front of a window, so it was backlit and appeared just as a shadow. She ducked her head under the covers and when she looked again, he was gone.
Now, her event happened in a totally different state over a decade after my encounter. She was so much younger than me that I can’t imagine I’d ever told her my story as kids or anything, nor did she remember me telling her my story. I have no idea what happened, but the distinctive pose is so….unusual?
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25points
#9
One of several experiences at my grandparents' house, but the first time I actually had a close encounter with whatever is in that house to this day. From my earliest memories, I hated having to run back into the rear foyer, where the other refrigerator that they stored sodas in was, to grab my relatives a drink. Especially at night. The refrigerator sits at the bottom of the stairs to the 2nd floor, and I always felt something intensely watching me from the top landing. Anyway, one night my cousin "Kay" and I were sleeping over. Nobody else was upstairs with us, they'd have to walk through the room we were in, to get to other rooms. The entrance to the hallway was next to the bed, which led to 2 more bedrooms, the upstairs bathroom, and the door to the attic at the very end of it. So, that night we slept in the same bed for obvious reasons, and as we were laying there in the dark, trying to fall asleep, we were startled by the sound of footsteps, which started from the opposite end of the hall.
The house is old, and the upstairs floorboards squeak and groan when you walk on them. You can tell exactly where someone is upstairs, from downstairs, by the sounds. We threw the covers over ourselves, and clung to each other, trying to stay as still as possible. I remember even holding my breath. The footsteps slowly made their way towards us, and then stopped right next to the bed. I could feel whatever it was, just standing there, looking at us. We dared not move. We wanted to run and scream, but I was so afraid of what I'd see, or that it would "get" us before I could make it downstairs. Then it turned around, and started back down the hallway. Thankfully my grandpa came up to his room to go to bed right after, so we felt safe that he was upstairs with us, and ended up falling asleep.
The next morning we told them what happened, and of course they brushed it off as the house settling. I felt crazy when all of my relatives would laugh it off when I'd tell them there was something in that house. Only, I'd later find out that they'd end up experiencing things too. Being touched, the radio coming on by itself, hearing something walking around upstairs, doors locking from the inside, things flying and falling, and my pap actually waking to a woman standing across the hall from him, years later.
The house is old, and the upstairs floorboards squeak and groan when you walk on them. You can tell exactly where someone is upstairs, from downstairs, by the sounds. We threw the covers over ourselves, and clung to each other, trying to stay as still as possible. I remember even holding my breath. The footsteps slowly made their way towards us, and then stopped right next to the bed. I could feel whatever it was, just standing there, looking at us. We dared not move. We wanted to run and scream, but I was so afraid of what I'd see, or that it would "get" us before I could make it downstairs. Then it turned around, and started back down the hallway. Thankfully my grandpa came up to his room to go to bed right after, so we felt safe that he was upstairs with us, and ended up falling asleep.
The next morning we told them what happened, and of course they brushed it off as the house settling. I felt crazy when all of my relatives would laugh it off when I'd tell them there was something in that house. Only, I'd later find out that they'd end up experiencing things too. Being touched, the radio coming on by itself, hearing something walking around upstairs, doors locking from the inside, things flying and falling, and my pap actually waking to a woman standing across the hall from him, years later.
22points
Chris French is the head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. The self-proclaimed skeptic says he doesn't believe that paranormal forces exist, but is always open to being proven wrong.
French defines anomalistic psychology as being focused upon "trying to come up with, and where possible put to the test, non-paranormal explanations, usually psychological explanations, for ostensibly paranormal experiences."
So what does he make of people who claim to get ghost visitors in the dead of the night?
#10
This happened when I was 7, I’m 30 now and I still think about it.
I was at a friend’s house, and my grandma told me to be home by 6pm. Ended up staying past 7, so she came over to get me. I felt kinda bad, but I just grabbed my bike and rode home ahead of her while she walked.
When I got home, I went in through the kitchen and there she was. My grandma, head down, silently chopping something on the counter. I remember this weird cold rush hit me out of nowhere. Something just felt...off.
I sort of panicked and ran out of the house and found my real grandma just turning the corner, still walking home. We walked in together. Kitchen was empty. No one was there. I still don’t know who or what I saw, but I know I saw it.
I was at a friend’s house, and my grandma told me to be home by 6pm. Ended up staying past 7, so she came over to get me. I felt kinda bad, but I just grabbed my bike and rode home ahead of her while she walked.
When I got home, I went in through the kitchen and there she was. My grandma, head down, silently chopping something on the counter. I remember this weird cold rush hit me out of nowhere. Something just felt...off.
I sort of panicked and ran out of the house and found my real grandma just turning the corner, still walking home. We walked in together. Kitchen was empty. No one was there. I still don’t know who or what I saw, but I know I saw it.
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21points
#11
In my childhood home my bedroom was on the upper floor, a spiral staircase leading down from the hallway joining my bedroom and the master bedroom. I can't remember when it started but I was little when I first started hearing the voices downstairs. I remember laying on my stomach, with my cheek on the carpet listening to the very distinct voices of one woman and two men.
They were, kinda whisper talking, sometimes arguing, always soft enough that I couldn't understand them but loud enough that I heard them in my bed. A few times I peeked downstairs because of our open floorplan you could see the entire living room....oh god. I just realized, the voices sometimes came from where the old closet once stood.
When I was even younger I used to sit in that closet, in the dark (which I was terrified of) and talk to Grendel, a freaky face I saw in the chipping paint on the wall. Grendel never actually talked though, it communicated by me basically letting it use my body. I'd relax my neck, and it'd nod or shake my head to answer. It felt weird. It took my parents painting the wall and later destroying the closet for me to stop.
Anyway...freaky, uh, it was from where that closet once was or the corner of the living room. EVERY time I peeked down there, they'd stop immediately and I wouldn't see *anyone*. Again, if someone was there, I would've seen them. This wasn't the only weird thing that happened in that house but it was the only one that happened frequently.
Years later, my mom told me YES, they believed the house had been haunted. They actually got someone to "banish it", basically do some kind of ritual, before I was born. They thought it was gone. However that woman also took the opportunity to try to play footsy with my dad during her little seance so who tf knows what she did.
They were, kinda whisper talking, sometimes arguing, always soft enough that I couldn't understand them but loud enough that I heard them in my bed. A few times I peeked downstairs because of our open floorplan you could see the entire living room....oh god. I just realized, the voices sometimes came from where the old closet once stood.
When I was even younger I used to sit in that closet, in the dark (which I was terrified of) and talk to Grendel, a freaky face I saw in the chipping paint on the wall. Grendel never actually talked though, it communicated by me basically letting it use my body. I'd relax my neck, and it'd nod or shake my head to answer. It felt weird. It took my parents painting the wall and later destroying the closet for me to stop.
Anyway...freaky, uh, it was from where that closet once was or the corner of the living room. EVERY time I peeked down there, they'd stop immediately and I wouldn't see *anyone*. Again, if someone was there, I would've seen them. This wasn't the only weird thing that happened in that house but it was the only one that happened frequently.
Years later, my mom told me YES, they believed the house had been haunted. They actually got someone to "banish it", basically do some kind of ritual, before I was born. They thought it was gone. However that woman also took the opportunity to try to play footsy with my dad during her little seance so who tf knows what she did.
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20points
#12
I was in a cemetery with a group of friends when I was 19. I had no information on this cemetery as I was new-ish to the area. We're walking through and ahead of us is tree with a swing, and one lone headstone. I don't remember any wind that night, but the swing was moving, and I could faintly see the silhouette of someone sitting there swinging. Next thing I know there's rustling behind me, all my friends were ahead of me. I turned around and didn't see anything, and the rustling stopped. I took 3 steps forward and then I felt it. An ice cold hand, wrapped around the back of my neck and then an intense, stabbing pain across my stomach. When I got home, there was a deep red scratch across my stomach where the stabby pain was. I found out I was pregnant 3 weeks later
Edited to add: my pregnancy nearly killed me, and my son. I still wonder if...whatever that was...had something to do with it.
Edited to add: my pregnancy nearly killed me, and my son. I still wonder if...whatever that was...had something to do with it.
19points
According to French, a phenomenon called “sleep paralysis” can play a part. It's basically a hybrid state between normal waking consciousness and dream consciousness. Think of it as half awake but half asleep, unable to move, and temporarily paralyzed.
French says while sleep paralysis is fairly common in its most basic form, some people get very vivid hallucinations while they're going through it and lying in bed. You can get a host of associated symptoms, he explains.
"You can get a sense of presence, feeling that there's something evil in the room with you, even if you can't see it or hear it, you just know it's there. But sometimes people do actually hallucinate. So they might hear voices or footsteps or mechanical sounds, they might see lights moving around the room or dark shadows or even demons, witches, all sorts of stuff," French said, adding that often, people report a sense of pressure on the chest, and difficulty breathing.
"And if you already believe in ghosts or demons and so on, it's not surprising that they will sometimes opt for that as an explanation," he explained.
#13
When I was younger, I had trouble sleeping. I’d toss and turn each night and eventually started a ritual where I’d walk into the kitchen to feed our goldfish, Goldie. I’m not sure why I chose to do this, but I kept it up every night for months to distract myself from the insomnia. I never turned on the lights when I did this. The house was nearly pitch black, aside from a bit of moonlight coming in from the patio doors. One night, I walked into the kitchen to feed the fish and saw something out of the corner of my eye. Something was in the room with me, and I remember experiencing full body chills.
I looked into the living room and noticed a tall, dark blotch standing there, motionless. I remember trying to piece together what it could be. A lamp, a large box of something? I waited for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I noticed that the shadow was perfectly shaped like a human. But without dimension or facial features. It wasn’t moving. It was unnaturally still. It wasn’t my dad and it wasn’t even a real person. But it’s body was turned toward me. I froze, then booked it back to my room and hid under the blanket for the rest of the night, shaking and nauseated. I actually cried to my parents about it the next morning, where they seemed so confused and creeped out and convinced me that what I experienced was just mental illness.
Now I look back on that time with so much fear and confusion. I know what I saw, but I wish I could go back in time and fully process the situation, as I’d do now that I’m older. To have solid, indisputable confirmation that ghosts or shadow people are real would revolutionize my outlook on life and the universe.
I looked into the living room and noticed a tall, dark blotch standing there, motionless. I remember trying to piece together what it could be. A lamp, a large box of something? I waited for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I noticed that the shadow was perfectly shaped like a human. But without dimension or facial features. It wasn’t moving. It was unnaturally still. It wasn’t my dad and it wasn’t even a real person. But it’s body was turned toward me. I froze, then booked it back to my room and hid under the blanket for the rest of the night, shaking and nauseated. I actually cried to my parents about it the next morning, where they seemed so confused and creeped out and convinced me that what I experienced was just mental illness.
Now I look back on that time with so much fear and confusion. I know what I saw, but I wish I could go back in time and fully process the situation, as I’d do now that I’m older. To have solid, indisputable confirmation that ghosts or shadow people are real would revolutionize my outlook on life and the universe.
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18points
#14
I once had a dream I was walking solo down a familiar dirt path towards a wooded area. Side note, the path felt familiar to me in the dream, I had never been down this path before. As I walked toward the wooded area, the feeling of familiarity changed and the path ended at an old abandoned cemetary under the tree canopy. The familiarity suggested the path continued and the cemetery should not be there. I was drawn into the cemetery toward a specific grave. The detail was vivid. There was an old stone bench next to a sunken grave. The headstone had an angel on top. The remaining wing had a pine needle dangling off, hanging from a cobweb, drifting in the breeze. It was peaceful and quiet. I immediately woke up and felt like the dream was calling me back. I felt oddly connected. The jolt from waking up was so startling I decided to write the dream down.
Fast forward a couple of years. I was considering buying a house with my girlfriend. After we reached a house we were considering, the realtor called and said she was running late. While waiting, we walked the outside of the house. Behind the house, we noticed a path past the overgrown grass going into some woods. To k**l time, we decide to walk the path to the trees. While walking along and enjoying the sun on my face, I was hit with an intense feeling of deja vu. I knew this place.
As we reached the woods, there it was, the abandoned cemetary. It was the same cemetary in my dream. I told my girlfriend I'd visited this place in a dream and described specific details down to the pine needle. She thought I was trying to pull a stupid prank until she saw the sunken grave, missing wing and stone bench, and even the pine needle hanging off the angel's wing. She immediately walked back toward our car. The entire expereince was a copy / paste of my dream with the exception of my girlfriend being present.
Later that day, we were back at my house. She asked me how I knew all that detail. I let her read the dream I wrote down. I described the path, trees, cemetary and weather perfectly. She refused to ever talk about the experience again. That was around 20 years ago. The experience still haunts me to this day.
Fast forward a couple of years. I was considering buying a house with my girlfriend. After we reached a house we were considering, the realtor called and said she was running late. While waiting, we walked the outside of the house. Behind the house, we noticed a path past the overgrown grass going into some woods. To k**l time, we decide to walk the path to the trees. While walking along and enjoying the sun on my face, I was hit with an intense feeling of deja vu. I knew this place.
As we reached the woods, there it was, the abandoned cemetary. It was the same cemetary in my dream. I told my girlfriend I'd visited this place in a dream and described specific details down to the pine needle. She thought I was trying to pull a stupid prank until she saw the sunken grave, missing wing and stone bench, and even the pine needle hanging off the angel's wing. She immediately walked back toward our car. The entire expereince was a copy / paste of my dream with the exception of my girlfriend being present.
Later that day, we were back at my house. She asked me how I knew all that detail. I let her read the dream I wrote down. I described the path, trees, cemetary and weather perfectly. She refused to ever talk about the experience again. That was around 20 years ago. The experience still haunts me to this day.
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18points
#15
I’ve been sensitive to these kinds of things since childhood. I was about 17 when my now-husband told me that he’s sensitive too, and that he believes the best thing I could, just like he did, is to suppress it, because more often than not, it only brings trouble for us.
There are two stories that really stuck with me. The first happened when I was around 9 or 10 years old. I woke up because I had the intense feeling that someone was standing next to my bed, like someone was watching me. The room was dark, only a small light on my speaker was on, as music was playing softly while I slept. I remember being very confused at first, who was this, what was happening? I turned toward the speaker to switch off the music, then turned back to see if the figure was still there. When I turned back, it was much closer. That was the moment I actually fainted from fear. My heart was racing, everything went blurry, my ears started ringing, and then boom, it was morning. I told my parents, who never really took me seriously, and all they said was that I should just sleep on the couch in the living room, which was right next to their bedroom, and leave the small kitchen light on. Fun fact, it’s been almost 20 years since then, and to this day, my husband and I still sleep with the kitchen light on, because it softly lights up the bedroom too.
The second story that really shook me happened when my husband and I were temporarily living in a small countryside house. The place had a creepy energy to it, like we were never truly alone. Neither of us could fully shake off that feeling. Every night, I’d wake up with the sense that someone was standing right outside the bedroom door. The door was always closed, but whoever it was never came in.
Then one night, I woke up feeling like something was actually inside the room, standing next to the bed. I couldn’t see anything, but it felt like there were several presences. My heart was racing again. I tried to calm myself down, thinking, “It’s fine, nothing’s wrong, just go back to sleep.”
Then suddenly, my husband sat up in his sleep, looked at me with a terrified expression, and said, “They’re around you and they’re all watching you.” Then he peacefully lay back down and started snoring again.
Needless to say, I fainted again. Not long after that, we moved out.
There are two stories that really stuck with me. The first happened when I was around 9 or 10 years old. I woke up because I had the intense feeling that someone was standing next to my bed, like someone was watching me. The room was dark, only a small light on my speaker was on, as music was playing softly while I slept. I remember being very confused at first, who was this, what was happening? I turned toward the speaker to switch off the music, then turned back to see if the figure was still there. When I turned back, it was much closer. That was the moment I actually fainted from fear. My heart was racing, everything went blurry, my ears started ringing, and then boom, it was morning. I told my parents, who never really took me seriously, and all they said was that I should just sleep on the couch in the living room, which was right next to their bedroom, and leave the small kitchen light on. Fun fact, it’s been almost 20 years since then, and to this day, my husband and I still sleep with the kitchen light on, because it softly lights up the bedroom too.
The second story that really shook me happened when my husband and I were temporarily living in a small countryside house. The place had a creepy energy to it, like we were never truly alone. Neither of us could fully shake off that feeling. Every night, I’d wake up with the sense that someone was standing right outside the bedroom door. The door was always closed, but whoever it was never came in.
Then one night, I woke up feeling like something was actually inside the room, standing next to the bed. I couldn’t see anything, but it felt like there were several presences. My heart was racing again. I tried to calm myself down, thinking, “It’s fine, nothing’s wrong, just go back to sleep.”
Then suddenly, my husband sat up in his sleep, looked at me with a terrified expression, and said, “They’re around you and they’re all watching you.” Then he peacefully lay back down and started snoring again.
Needless to say, I fainted again. Not long after that, we moved out.
17points
So what's the expert's message to those who claim to believe in the paranormal?
For one, he says he'd advise them to base their beliefs about the way the universe operates on "solid empirical evidence, preferably from well-controlled studies," rather than personal experience.
However, he adds that science is not an established body of facts, it's something that evolves. Scientists will sometimes change their minds on issues, he says, and that's a good thing.
"It's a pity we don't have more politicians who are able to do that... That's how we've ended up with Brexit and maybe how you ended up with Trump," French said during a podcast. The skeptic added that he has great respect for people who stand up and say, “Actually, I realized I was wrong about that.”
#16
Idk if it’s scary or just downright freaky, but one day I swore I saw a backwards squirrel. I actually know I saw this. It ran up the tree before I could get a video of it but its head and tail were on the wrong end. It’s hard to explain but it was definitely a mutant or something. I never saw it again, and I’m not crazy. I just can’t explain it. The way it moved was very off, as well.
17points
#17
I had a tough childhood and bad associations with my childhood home, so I don’t ever know what to think about this. Poltergeist? Ghost? I slept with the lights on every single day. I do not remember a moment I did not feel uneasy in that house.
The least of it was stuff turning up missing and reappearing. I would find stuffed animals that had been gone for months sitting on top of the clean laundry that I had washed myself. Right on top to find. I would half-finish books and then they’d up and disappear and I’d wake up with them on the floor by the foot of my bed. Kitchen implements were a famous one around the house- the shears or the good knife would go missing and reappear in the knife block at will. Forks would turn up on random end tables. Once I was looking for my glasses and when I turned around they were on the floor behind me. Hated that.
There was a patch of grass in the yard that was very much the classic 3 foot by six foot grave looking area where no grass would ever grow no matter how well-seeded. We lived on the site of an old railroad and my father always said it must have been something industrial dumped or buried there but the feeling of something watching you was intense. The area around it had been landscaped so it was a perfect circle with the dead-grass-rectangle right in the middle.
There was also always the sound of crunching gravel like someone walking up the path. It happened so often I quit thinking about it but now that I’ve moved out for years it is very weird. You’d hear gravel crunching in a footstep-type cadence, and then the porch swing would creak like the wind was blowing it back and forth (it was metal and set on a metal stand so a very distinctive rusty metal groaning kinda noise.) Sometimes for over an hour. Then it would just stop. Never anyone out there but the swing was always swaying even though it was under a covered porch near the house and protected from the wind.
There was a mirror in my bedroom that my teenage boyfriend-now-husband hated. He made me cover it up with a blanket whenever he came over. It faced my bed and I’d always slept so uneasily in that room. One night I was asleep and I uncovered it. I saw the quickest flash of a woman in a wedding gown looking dress through the mirror. The angle I saw her at made it so that she would’ve either been floating or hanging. I pissed my parents off by taking it off the wall. I was not messing with that ever again. When my now-husband saw the mirror down he said “did you see the lady?!” Writing this now I feel a little ill.
One last story. Almost funny. It was just my now-husband and I, teenagers, upstairs and doing things we shouldn’t have been. We hear a feminine voice (I assume my mom) yell “not-a-deer! Rosie (our dog at the time) wants out!!”
We dressed so fast, in the “oh-s**t-my-mom-is-gonna-k**l-you” way of teenagers doing s**t they ought not to be. I book it downstairs. My boyfriend stays upstairs, I assume trying to think of how to get out of this.
Nobody home. No cars. Nothing turned on. Signs cowering under the table, won’t come out. I call my mom and I can hear the sounds of her work going on in the background. Needless to say, we did not go outside.
Which I guess leads me to one last story that I forgot until right now, that I just put together.
Our house was surrounded by a little grove of pine trees on all sides. My mom was absolutely stringent about shutting the windows at night. No blinds open, flood light if you’re going to walk to dog. One day she jokingly-but-not said something about having seen something “hopping through the trees” once, and that was that. It scared her so badly that she never opened the blinds at night again. I don’t know what the hell it was she saw. I never asked her to elaborate.
TL: DR- childhood home was weird, man.
The least of it was stuff turning up missing and reappearing. I would find stuffed animals that had been gone for months sitting on top of the clean laundry that I had washed myself. Right on top to find. I would half-finish books and then they’d up and disappear and I’d wake up with them on the floor by the foot of my bed. Kitchen implements were a famous one around the house- the shears or the good knife would go missing and reappear in the knife block at will. Forks would turn up on random end tables. Once I was looking for my glasses and when I turned around they were on the floor behind me. Hated that.
There was a patch of grass in the yard that was very much the classic 3 foot by six foot grave looking area where no grass would ever grow no matter how well-seeded. We lived on the site of an old railroad and my father always said it must have been something industrial dumped or buried there but the feeling of something watching you was intense. The area around it had been landscaped so it was a perfect circle with the dead-grass-rectangle right in the middle.
There was also always the sound of crunching gravel like someone walking up the path. It happened so often I quit thinking about it but now that I’ve moved out for years it is very weird. You’d hear gravel crunching in a footstep-type cadence, and then the porch swing would creak like the wind was blowing it back and forth (it was metal and set on a metal stand so a very distinctive rusty metal groaning kinda noise.) Sometimes for over an hour. Then it would just stop. Never anyone out there but the swing was always swaying even though it was under a covered porch near the house and protected from the wind.
There was a mirror in my bedroom that my teenage boyfriend-now-husband hated. He made me cover it up with a blanket whenever he came over. It faced my bed and I’d always slept so uneasily in that room. One night I was asleep and I uncovered it. I saw the quickest flash of a woman in a wedding gown looking dress through the mirror. The angle I saw her at made it so that she would’ve either been floating or hanging. I pissed my parents off by taking it off the wall. I was not messing with that ever again. When my now-husband saw the mirror down he said “did you see the lady?!” Writing this now I feel a little ill.
One last story. Almost funny. It was just my now-husband and I, teenagers, upstairs and doing things we shouldn’t have been. We hear a feminine voice (I assume my mom) yell “not-a-deer! Rosie (our dog at the time) wants out!!”
We dressed so fast, in the “oh-s**t-my-mom-is-gonna-k**l-you” way of teenagers doing s**t they ought not to be. I book it downstairs. My boyfriend stays upstairs, I assume trying to think of how to get out of this.
Nobody home. No cars. Nothing turned on. Signs cowering under the table, won’t come out. I call my mom and I can hear the sounds of her work going on in the background. Needless to say, we did not go outside.
Which I guess leads me to one last story that I forgot until right now, that I just put together.
Our house was surrounded by a little grove of pine trees on all sides. My mom was absolutely stringent about shutting the windows at night. No blinds open, flood light if you’re going to walk to dog. One day she jokingly-but-not said something about having seen something “hopping through the trees” once, and that was that. It scared her so badly that she never opened the blinds at night again. I don’t know what the hell it was she saw. I never asked her to elaborate.
TL: DR- childhood home was weird, man.
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16points
#18
This happened long time ago.
One day I went with one of my friends to his parents house and I noticed they had changed the front windows, from those tessellated ones, weird and expensive windows to the plane windows they had before. I told my friend that I liked the those ones more and that i was glad they swapped back from the tessellated . My friend somehow puzzled about my comment told me that they had never changed the windows. I thought he was messing with me but I followed and told him about it, how her mother had an accident with a pan and burnt the kitchen so as they had to change the kitchen window they swapped all windows, that it was his mother's idea..
He interrupted me like I was crazy and told me that his parent's kitchen had never burnt down, wtf was I talking about? I refused to continue with his joke and just let it go.
A few months later i was with some friends and him, I arrived a bit late and they were talking about a fire on my friend's parent's house. i was surprised it had happened twice, but my friend yelled at me that how the hell could knew her mother was going to burn down the kitchen during an accident with a pan.
Confused I just replied, "you have told me this story several times, I only knew because you told me"
Frustrated my friend let it go and that was it, until the next day (we were on weekend) that I saw him again. He looked at me pale as a ghost, mumbling something. I came closer and I could finally hear him.
"My mother wants to change the windows... those weird tessellated ones... My father agreed"
To this day I have no clue what was going on there, I mean from my point of view my friend had told me that story several times, it was common knowledge, but apparently it never happened and somehow I remembered something out of order.
One day I went with one of my friends to his parents house and I noticed they had changed the front windows, from those tessellated ones, weird and expensive windows to the plane windows they had before. I told my friend that I liked the those ones more and that i was glad they swapped back from the tessellated . My friend somehow puzzled about my comment told me that they had never changed the windows. I thought he was messing with me but I followed and told him about it, how her mother had an accident with a pan and burnt the kitchen so as they had to change the kitchen window they swapped all windows, that it was his mother's idea..
He interrupted me like I was crazy and told me that his parent's kitchen had never burnt down, wtf was I talking about? I refused to continue with his joke and just let it go.
A few months later i was with some friends and him, I arrived a bit late and they were talking about a fire on my friend's parent's house. i was surprised it had happened twice, but my friend yelled at me that how the hell could knew her mother was going to burn down the kitchen during an accident with a pan.
Confused I just replied, "you have told me this story several times, I only knew because you told me"
Frustrated my friend let it go and that was it, until the next day (we were on weekend) that I saw him again. He looked at me pale as a ghost, mumbling something. I came closer and I could finally hear him.
"My mother wants to change the windows... those weird tessellated ones... My father agreed"
To this day I have no clue what was going on there, I mean from my point of view my friend had told me that story several times, it was common knowledge, but apparently it never happened and somehow I remembered something out of order.
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15points
#19
Years ago in a small old house in southwest Vermont. It’s morning, snowing outside, and I am cozy under the comforters. Then-boyfriend goes to town to get something and I decide to stay behind. I am just laying there enjoying the sounds of wind and snow against the windows. It was lovely. Then I start to hear some rustling over the comforters around my feet. Like something crawling on the comforter. Thought it was a mouse so I sat up and looked. Nothing. Laid back down and hear it again but this time it was over my feet and legs. Sat up to look and nothing. Laid back down and immediately that sound and sensation comes back. But this time it was all over my feet, legs, butt, back, shoulders. It felt like hands running gently over the thick comforter. I wasn’t scared. I was curious. So I stayed still to observe. And the rustling sounds started to sound like a man’s voice whispering. I kept trying to listen in to discern what he was saying. At that point, I thought I was going crazy. So I got up, made the bed, and went to make coffee. Completely forgot about it.
Until that following summer, my then-BF, his sister and I are driving back to that house and they start exchanging stories of the creepy things that would occur there. Electrical devices going off at once with their beeping, a man standing in the doorway with a top hat, cat losing its mind randomly, lights turning off, windows closing.
So whatever I experienced was that creeper top-hat wearing man ghost trying to feel me up. I don’t blame him. My ex and I did some savoury things the night prior..
Until that following summer, my then-BF, his sister and I are driving back to that house and they start exchanging stories of the creepy things that would occur there. Electrical devices going off at once with their beeping, a man standing in the doorway with a top hat, cat losing its mind randomly, lights turning off, windows closing.
So whatever I experienced was that creeper top-hat wearing man ghost trying to feel me up. I don’t blame him. My ex and I did some savoury things the night prior..
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15points
#20
My brother-in-law from out of town used to stay overnight with us occasionally. My ex-husband worked nights at that time so it would be just me and the brother-in-law in the house. It was a tiny one bedroom cottage, so he slept on the couch (which was directly on the other side of the wall from our bedroom and the bed I was sleeping in). He has nightmares and yells and screams a lot during them, and I was kind of used to that. On this particular night, he had gone to sleep in his brand new pair of jeans, and woke up to find that they were shredded from the waist down to the knees over the top of his thighs … It looked as if someone had slashed his jeans with a knife, but he had no marks on his legs whatsoever… We didn't own a cat, and there were no nails or anything sticking out of the couch. Every few years I would ask my ex and his brother both, "do you swear that you weren't playing a prank on me??" because that's the only thing that would explain it, but they can't figure it out, either.
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15points