Whether it's almost time for Halloween or if you're just interested in spooky stories, boy do we have a great collection of real-life horror stories for you. Down below, you'll find the creepiest tales that people around the world have kindly and bravely shared with us all. So, are you brave enough to read on?

1. The Chilling Encounter with the 'Man in White'

I posted this in a thread a while back, but it didn't really get much attention. It was the winter of 2007, and my friends and I would get together every Tuesday to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for their specials. I drove a van at the time, so, of course, it was my job to shuttle everyone around. 

I had just picked up my friend and was pulling out of his driveway when I noticed someone standing in the middle of the street at the end of his road. It was already dark out, but there was a streetlight over him. At first, I figured it was someone out for an evening walk, but as we started to get closer, we noticed that the person was just standing there, staring blankly down the road in our direction. I slowed down as I was pulling up next to him and noticed that it was an old man dressed in all white. 

I stopped next to him at the stop sign, and we were about to roll down the window to ask if he needed help, when he slowly turned and began walking towards my van without saying a word and still just blankly staring. At this point, I sped off, my friend and I both screaming. As I was driving away, I looked in my mirror, and the old man was still just walking slowly after my van. 

A few weeks later, a different friend, one not part of the Buffalo Wild Wings group and unlikely to hear my story, was telling me about the weird car ride he had the night before. As he was driving home from class one night, he almost ran into an old man in white standing in the middle of the road. That was the last anyone I know of has seen 'The man in white', but I still get freaked out driving around my neighborhood at night.

Photo by Teslariu Mihai on Unsplash

2. A Mysterious Call: When a Guardian Angel Dialed from the Beyond

When I was 12, my beloved grandmother, who practically raised me since I was very young due to my parents' divorce and my mom's work schedule, passed away. The story I am about to share happened around the years 1999 - 2000. By then, I was living in the same house with my mom and sister. We used to spend our Sundays in the main room, watching movies and often falling asleep. 

One day, as we were sleeping, the phone rang. The call was incredibly noisy, but there was a woman on the other side who called me by my name. 'Open the window,' she said. 'Who is this?' I replied. 'Open the window,' she repeated. 'Why? Who is this?' I asked again. 'I'm your grandma, open the window,' she said, and then hung up. 

Startled, and thinking it must have been a wrong number, I started walking back to the room. As I passed the kitchen, I suddenly smelt gas leaking! I hurriedly opened the windows and woke my mom up to tell her. She said it was the first time she had ever seen me truly scared. To this day, I don't know what truly happened - it might have been a wrong number, but the chances of what happened are incredibly slim.

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

3. A Terrifying Night in North Dakota: A True Road Trip Story

I was driving across the country with my friend, and at this juncture, we were in North Dakota. It had been a long day, lots of driving, and at this point, it was 1AM. I just woke up from a nap, my back was killing me. 

"Hey, man, let's call it for the night. My back is killing me; let's go to a hotel."

"Alright, we'll get off at the next exit."

So we're driving, and there's nothing around. Absolutely nothing. Eventually, we get to the next exit, and after a little driving, we spot a hotel. There's some road construction going on around it, and some of the roads are closed. We try driving up to it, but every intuitive path is fenced off. Now, the hotel was more or less right in front of us, to our right there was a kind of dirt/gravel road that went into a thicket of trees. About 500 yards down this road, there is a bright light. This road is the complete opposite direction of the hotel and the main road. 

Remember, there's nothing around but this one hotel and infinite fields and trees. It's also like 1:30AM and completely dark. We keep driving around, unable to get to the hotel when my friend just drives towards the light on the dirt road-which is barely wider than the car. I instantly get a bad feeling, this makes no sense. Why is there a light at the end of this dark, dirt road? 

"Dude, what are you doing? This is like bugs flying to a light. Turn around."

"I will once I find a spot, I don't exactly have the space." 

Ok, that makes sense, the road was narrow and kind of dropped off on each side. He kept driving closer to the light, which I thought may have been a generator light for construction. 

"Dude... This makes no sense."

We get closer, and it's a huge flatbed truck with its high beams on, as we realize this we're also blinded by the brightness of them. "Shoot", I thought, "these people have us where they want us." 

I'm shielding my eyes, and my buddy is driving slowly to pass the behemoth of a truck when the blinding light of the high beams is interrupted by someone walking in front of them-and then our car. My friend hits the brake, the figure walks up. My friend rolls the window down a little. It's a well-dressed guy. 

My friend says, "Oh hey! We're just trying to get to that hotel over there... but there's all that construction."

"Oh yeah! That hotel's the greatest, just follow us and we'll get you there!"

"Great! Thanks!"

The interaction was pleasant enough. My friend rolls up the window and drives past the truck. As he's driving past (the window not all the way up yet) the guy outside calls to another guy, "Get in the truck." 

I see some guy from the shadows toss a cig and walk up to the passenger side of the truck. "We have to get the out of here NOW!"

"I know man, I'm working on it."

At this point, we're doing a 15 point turn on this dark road in the middle of nowhere, literally. We get turned around, and the truck is driving slowly and in the middle of the road, intentionally taking up the whole path. I'm bumbling on about how this makes no sense and we need to escape when all of a sudden the truck SLAMS on its brakes and both guys simultaneously jump out and start running towards us. The guy on my side has a shotgun. My friend didn't miss a beat and just floored it and we went flying off the little drop off on the side of the road. We sped all the back to the road. Got back on the highway, made sure we weren't followed and went to the next town. Sleep was not good that night.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

4. The Night Intruder: A Chilling Childhood Memory

I was staying with family friends when I was around 12 years old. Our parents had gone out together for the night. My companions for the evening were my 9-year-old brother and two sisters, aged 13 and 9, who lived in the house. We were up late watching 80's horror videos and indulging in junk food. 

At around 1am, the youngest sister needed a toilet break. She returned less than a minute later, looking terrified, and exclaimed, "There is someone trying to get into the toilet window." 

Being the oldest child present, I feigned courage, fetched a big knife from the kitchen, and led our little group towards the toilet. We hoped that the intruder would be deterred by the lights and voices in the house. I switched on every light as we advanced towards the toilet. 

Upon reaching the toilet, my fears were confirmed. Two hands were quietly removing the louvre window glass panels. We raised our voices, hoping to give the impression that the house was full of adults. Undeterred, the intruder continued his operation. He had already removed 3 or 4 out of the 10 panels. If all the panels were removed, he could easily climb into the house. 

I was terrified but tried to maintain a facade of control. The others were already whimpering and crying. Suddenly, I remembered the family's old Labrador, who was sleeping in front of the fire. I ran into the lounge, picked up the dog, and pointed him towards the window. The dog barked and growled fiercely, causing the hands to retreat. We spent the rest of the night huddled together in the lounge, armed with knives, and kept the dog awake. The parents returned home eventually and called the police, who came and took fingerprints from the toilet window. The incident remains the most terrifying experience of my life.

Photo by Taylor Kopel on Unsplash

5. A Chilling Tale from Texas: Occult Encounters on a Lonely Road

My mother shared this story with me during my childhood; I don't remember all the details, but I'll try to recall them as best as I can. When she was a young adult, she spent a few years living in Texas. The area where she resided was reputed for its significant occult activity. Strangely, the public schools would close on occult 'holidays' due to the frequency of child abductions during these times. 

One day, a couple of her friends were discussing a supposed occult ritual area. Skeptical, she asked them to show her. They drove to a long, dirt road flanked by crop fields, a road she often took on her daily commute. However, since it was nighttime and they were intending to trespass into the fields, they parked their car at the start of the road and proceeded on foot. 

One of her friends even brought a gun, a typical Texas precaution, as he was genuinely concerned. They led her to a small, decrepit building set a fair distance from the road, claiming this was the ritual site. Inside, they discovered unsettling items like a doll and a little girl's shoe, but no concrete proof of it being an occult site. As they started heading back, the friend with the gun, who was at the rear, suddenly screamed and fired his gun twice. He claimed that a man had appeared beside him but vanished when he shot at him. 

Although none of them believed him, they hastily left and drove off, aware of their trespassing and the commotion they had caused. The next time my mom drove home from work along that road, she experienced something odd. She was driving through the crop fields, certain that there were no cars around her. Yet, when she glanced in her rearview mirror, she saw a hearse tailgating her, seemingly appearing from nowhere. She also noticed people in hooded robes standing in the fields, all pointing directly at her as she drove past. Terrified, she fled the scene and vowed never to use that road again.

Photo by Rasmus Landgreen on Unsplash

6. The Imaginary Friend Kevin: A Child's Unseen Playmate in a Haunted Farmhouse

About a year ago, one of my mom's friends bought an old farmhouse. They have a three-year-old son who soon developed an imaginary friend named Kevin. He would spend hours playing with his toys and conversing with Kevin, which his parents initially dismissed as typical child's play. 

It was only when they overheard their son's discussions with Kevin over the baby monitor that they grew concerned. The topics seemed advanced for a three-year-old. Despite their son's odd behavior, they decided to probe him about Kevin. He described Kevin as a nice farmer, which seemed to align with their son's fascination with toy tractors and their recent move to a farmhouse. 

Things took a strange turn when a stuffed animal from a shelf out of their son's reach was found on his bed. Their son attributed this to Kevin. Similar incidents continued sporadically for a few months. After settling in, they joined a local church and volunteered to host a bible study. During this, an older couple recognized their address as Kevin's old place. As it turned out, Kevin was a real person who previously lived in their house and committed suicide due to financial stress and depression. Their church friend, who knew Kevin, found a picture of him. Upon seeing the photo, their son immediately identified Kevin. They promptly moved out of the house.

Image by invent

7. An Unforgettable Camping Trip: A Haunting Encounter in the Lake

My story involves my brother, who was about 13 years old at the time. My family has always had a love for camping, and we often frequented our favorite site situated right next to a beautiful lake. On one such occasion, we were blessed with perfect weather, prompting the adults to take us kids for a swim. 

We were all enjoying ourselves, laughing and splashing in the water, when my brother stepped on something. The water wasn't exactly transparent, but he claimed it felt like a child's foot. Expecting an underwater swimmer, he waited for the person to surface so he could apologize for stepping on them. After waiting for what he thought was a long time, he assumed the person was simply good at holding their breath and continued playing. 

However, later that evening, as we were enjoying hot dogs around the fire, a park ranger approached our camp. He asked to speak with my father, informing us that two boys had tragically drowned earlier that day in the lake, and he was in search of their parents. In retrospect, my brother realized that the foot he had stepped on belonged to one of the deceased boys.

Image by dnevozhai

8. The Unseen Curse: A Tale of Love, Fear and Mysterious Phenomena

About five years ago, I lived in a different city with my ex. One night, we pulled up to our house and sat in the driveway, talking before going inside. Suddenly, we heard footsteps pounding on the road right behind us. It was as if someone had dropped from the sky and started running. 

The footsteps didn't start from very far away, they were directly behind us. We both heard it, jumped, and looked in that direction. I thought we were being robbed or hijacked. Then, as the footsteps reached the driver's side of our vehicle, the sound stopped and a black mass floated past the car window and into or around our house. I started to panic, questioning what had just happened. 

My ex looked surprised but more composed than me. I asked him to explain what had just happened. He is a doctor, so I was expecting him to confirm our shared experience and reassure me that I hadn't imagined it. However, he simply said 'Just ignore it.' 

We went inside, and I was on edge, looking in every corner, expecting something to be lurking there. My ex went around the house, chanting something in Arabic at every window, then told me again to 'just ignore it' if anything else happened. It was both puzzling and frightening. 

The next day, we visited two psychic sisters. Their house was creepy, with cracked ceilings. Their setup was questionable, requiring us to meet them and then return a day later for our readings. They told us things that could have easily been found on an Internet search. When I asked them about the black mass, they said my ex's ex-wife had cursed him and anyone who comes into his life. They offered to remove the curse, but my ex declined, paid them, and we left. 

Fast forward several years, we married, experienced many misfortunes, and eventually separated. Around the time of our separation, my father's heart stopped suddenly while he was driving. Miraculously, he survived, with no explanation for his cardiac arrest. Simultaneously, my very healthy brother was diagnosed with progressive MS, and I was diagnosed with several conditions atypical for my age. Last year, it dawned on me that if there was any chance this curse was real, it could be harming the people around me. I didn't necessarily believe in it, but decided it was worth exploring. So, I visited a spiritual medium that my friends recommended. She was truly angelic, which was a strange sensation for me, as I'm not particularly spiritual or religious. I told her about the black mass and the supposed curse from my ex's ex-wife. She immediately corrected me, saying 'Oh no, no. It wasn't her who cursed you. It was him.'

Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

9. The Unseen Tenant: A Family's Encounter with the Unknown

When my son was a newborn up until he was about 8 months old, we lived in a small apartment in an old building. An unusual occurrence began when he was around 7 months old. Over the year we had spent in that apartment, I had woken up several times to see a human-shaped, transparent white entity standing at the end of the bed. Each time, it would drift away towards the wall as soon as it seemed to 'realize' that I was awake.

Initially, I dismissed these sightings, attributing them to the wild dreams often experienced by pregnant women and sleep-deprived new parents. However, one night, I woke up to my son cooing and pointing at the white figure. Despite his inability to articulate, it was clear that both he and I were witnessing the same entity. This convinced me that I wasn't merely hallucinating. 

After we moved to a different apartment in the same building due to a leak, my irrational fear of using the bathroom in the dark, specifically the mirror, disappeared. Also, we no longer saw the figure watching us sleep. My son, who is older now, loves hearing this story and wishes he could remember the experience.

Photo by Isabella Fischer on Unsplash

10. The Day A Psychic Caller Freaked Me Out at My Call Center Job

I work in a call center. About two weeks ago, I had a conversation with a man who was looking for an address related to our business. The first thing he told me was that he was born blind due to a complication during his birth, but claimed to have psychic abilities. I found this hard to believe, yet continued our conversation. 

We chatted about various topics, and eventually, he revealed that he was a Gemini. To indulge him, I told him that I was a Libra, which is indeed my zodiac sign. He then surprised me by accurately guessing that my birthday was on the 10th of October. He even knew that it fell on a Friday that year. This left me speechless for a few moments as he only knew my first name and my zodiac sign. This revelation came just two minutes into our call. I found myself torn between wanting to end the call or ask him more about what he saw in my future. I was thoroughly taken aback by this encounter.

Image by adigold1

11. The Enigmatic Man with the Suitcase: A Family's Encounter with the Supernatural

Before I delve into the story of the man with the suitcase, I feel the need to set the scene a bit. Many years ago, when I first met my ex, she and her family resided in a mobile home. My ex had a younger sister, who was somewhat troubled, frequently in and out of psychiatric wards. 

My ex and her younger sister shared a room in the mobile home. During our courtship, before the birth of our son, my ex shared with me a peculiar story about her younger sister. She would often wake up in the middle of the night and engage in conversations with an imaginary man in the hallway, a man who always had a suitcase and wore a brimmed hat. My ex and her family dismissed this as the mere hallucinations of the unstable younger sister. 

Fast forward a few years, my ex and I had a son together. Her parents had moved out of the mobile home and into a house, leaving us to rent the mobile home. Our son's room was the exact same one in which my ex and her sister used to sleep. One particular night, after our son had fallen asleep for a good while, we heard him stirring. We thought he would come out and ask to use the bathroom. 

However, instead, he started talking to someone. He greeted this invisible entity and began discussing his favourite stuffed animal, which at that time was a duck. Intrigued, I called out to him asking who he was talking to. He popped his head out of his room and calmly informed me that he was chatting with the man with the suitcase who wore a hat. Astonishingly, he was only about 2 and a half years old and had never heard about his aunt's similar encounters.

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12. Childhood Imaginary Friends: The Tale of Poomie and Punkie

When I was three or four, we lived in a 1950s ranch house my parents had bought at a sheriff sale. It was a bit rundown, but they considered it a bargain due to its proximity to my grandmother's home, my sister's school, and my dad's workplace. The house featured a utility closet by the side door leading from the carport. This closet housed the hot water heater, a furnace, and a trap door to the crawlspace below the house, a space that always had a 'dirty water' smell due to its loose gravel floor. The utility closet was situated in a short L-shaped hallway between the kitchen and the den, which functioned as our family room. 

While my sister was at kindergarten, I would play alone in the den. My mother would often hear me engaging in lengthy conversations with my toys while she was busy decorating cakes in the kitchen. I enjoyed making a 'cave' by lifting the leg rest of the recliner and playing with my toys underneath. When asked why I did this, I explained that the sunlight from the large window was too harsh for the eyes of the two little black boys who would join me in play. These boys, whom I named 'Poomie' and 'Punkie', I claimed, lived under the heater in the utility closet. 

Poomie was always eager to play, while Punkie was more reluctant. They were both terrified of my dad, disappearing back into the closet at the sound of his approach. At night, due to their fear of my dad, they would retreat to the crawlspace under my bedroom, whispering jokes to me through the floorboards or moving about in the gravel. This imaginary play ended when my mom found me sitting in the utility closet. I told her that Poomie and Punkie had to leave because a 'Raggedy Man' who walked along the train tracks at night had nearly discovered them. They had seen him in our backyard, trying to peek through the screen door. So, they crawled into the furnace, turned into cinders, and flew out through the chimney.

Photo by Dima Pechurin on Unsplash

13. A Harrowing Night in South Africa: A Survivor's Tale

This was in South Africa just outside of Cape Town on the highway back in 1988. I was on a little road trip with my fiancée at the time back to Durban where she was born. I had just finished my mandatory service in the Angolan War and the country was a very dangerous place to live in. 

We had been driving for more than four hours in the dead of night when we came up to a footbridge. I noticed a small black object approaching us at eye level. It was a massive brick hung from a wire off of the footbridge. I tried to swerve out of the way, but it resulted in us crashing into a deep ditch. As I sat realizing what was happening and trying to regain my senses, I heard the shouts of a dozen or so men approaching from the other side of the road. 

I grabbed my terrified fiancée and dived into this marsh-like field on the other side of the ditch. I covered us in mud and told her to restrict her breathing, and we hid four feet from the car, in plain sight but hidden, just as I was taught in the South African Defense Force. The footsteps got closer and the taunts louder, and before I knew it, there were a dozen or so black men with machetes walking around us, trying to push the car out of the ditch and look for us. We hid there for three hours as they salvaged the car, and after we thought they left we crawled along the ditch back to a farmhouse. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life. I can't imagine what they would have done to us, specifically my fiancée if they had caught us. My wife and I are glad we live in Canada now.

Image by raddfilms

14. Strange Noises in the Night: A Tale of our First House

After getting married, my wife and I purchased our first house. It was brand new, we were the first owners, and it was situated in a new neighborhood. There were rumors that the house was built over an old Aboriginal burial ground, similar to the plot of Pet Cemetery, though I never found any proof of this and generally dismissed it as nonsense. I am not religious and do not believe in ghosts. 

My wife never found anything peculiar about the place, but I always felt a strange vibe. Interestingly, I wasn't alone in this sentiment. Within the first year, we went on two trips, and each time a different friend house-sat for us. Both of them mentioned feeling something strange about the house, and neither agreed to house-sit again. 

Around the third year, I woke up in the middle of the night to a soft swishing noise, like someone trying to walk quietly on a carpet while wearing socks. My wife slept through it, but our two cats, who were on the bed with us, seemed to hear it too. They were tracking the sound with their heads, and one of them even meowed at it, not in fear or aggression, but more like a greeting. The sound stopped, and after a while, the cats went back to sleep. I, however, stayed awake for a long time. Eventually, I convinced my wife to move, and three months later, we settled in a new house. I have not experienced anything like that since.

Image by nwphoto

15. Shadows and Laughter: Creepy Nights at the Movie Theater

I used to work at a movie theater, a story I've shared a few times, in the booth upstairs. I often worked late and alone, with just the customers in the theaters and a manager in the downstairs office. As the night progressed, the building would become dark, surrounded by noisy projectors that would one by one shut off as the movies wrapped up. The building was essentially split into three different upstairs areas for the machines. I was in the smaller area that also had two windows overlooking the lobby. 

After the last movie had wrapped up and only two customers remained in the building, I would look through my windows to ensure they had left. This particular night, as I was wrapping up the last showing, the place was darker than a tomb, with not an ounce of light but my flashlight. I was walking through this small area with the windows when I heard a laugh. It was the laugh of a small girl, high pitched and almost hysterical - the kind you'd hear in a horror movie. My blood ran ice cold and I froze. 

I managed to get to the windows, expecting to see a customer laughing. The lobby was empty. Alone and in pitch black darkness, I heard the creepy laugh again. I sprinted out of there as fast as I could. The manager that night was known for playing jokes on the projectionists. Assuming he was the one pulling a prank, I accused him of being a jackass. But he had been sitting in the office the whole time working on reports for the GM. We both got nervous and decided to call it a night. I never heard the laugh again. 

Shortly after this, I shared my experience with another manager who told me about a security guard who had a similar experience. He was a cop during the day and worked theater security for extra cash. One night, he heard a similar high pitched, girly laugh during his nightly check. The building was supposed to be empty. He checked the girls' bathroom, stall by stall, growing more annoyed with each empty stall. At the last door, he heard the laugh again and burst in. It was empty. Then he heard a girly voice say, 'Not here.' He quit that night. Weird things happen in movie theaters. Very weird things.

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

16. Unsettling Dream Turns Into Eerie Reality: My Ghost Story

I had this terrifying dream that felt incredibly real. In my dream, I was comfortably in my bed, engrossed in something on my laptop. Suddenly, an ominous sensation washed over me. I had this inexplicable feeling that something was in my room that shouldn't be there. In a panic, I leaped from my bed and hurriedly flipped the light switch on. I managed to switch it on just in time to witness a peculiar black shadowy sphere, complete with legs, scurry under my bed. I woke up terrified and in tears. 

The dream was so vivid, it felt real, and I was certain that whatever I saw was pure evil. The following day, my dad and I were watching one of those ghost-themed TV shows, such as 'My Ghost Story'. In the episode, a woman found herself in a similar situation in her room. She felt that something was off and turned the light on just in time to see a similar black shadowy sphere with legs dart under her bed. The entity looked exactly like the one I had seen in my dream. Naturally, I was freaked out.

Image by jplenio

17. The Night of the Phantom DVD Player and the Mysterious Door Opener

This may not be as chilling as some stories, but I'll share it nonetheless. The incident took place around seven or eight years ago, during my middle school years. My family and I were living in an apartment at the time, and I shared a room with my father, as my parents were divorced. Often, to avoid disturbing him, I would sleep on the living room sofa. 

On this particular night, I was curled up facing the back of the sofa with the TV switched off and the room was pitch black. Suddenly, I heard a noise coming from the TV. I turned to see that the DVD player had inexplicably powered on and opened itself. I initially thought I might have accidentally lain on the remote, but it was on the table. 

I took the remote, closed the DVD player, turned it off, and put the remote back on the coffee table. While this was a little creepy, I convinced myself it was just a technical glitch. Still feeling a bit jittery, I curled back up, this time facing the TV, which was next to the front door. Not even five minutes later, the front door, which we had forgotten to lock, started to open. It opened just enough for me to see a hand on the external doorknob. I was petrified with fear. The door then closed, and after a moment, I ran to lock it. It was probably just a technical malfunction coupled with a drunk man opening the wrong door, but it certainly kept me awake for the next few nights.

Image by betogaletto

18. The Mystery of the Returned Ball: A Childhood Recollection

When I was six years old, we lived in the middle of a set of three very similar houses. Our house was purple, the one to the left was blue, and the one to the right was yellow. I had recently bought a big inflatable bouncy ball from Walmart, but had no one to play with. So, I would play with it alone in the backyard. 

One day after school, I accidentally hit the ball to the side of the yellow house. Initially, I thought of asking my mom what to do, but a kid from the other side hit it back over. Thinking we could play together, I hit the ball back over, and he returned it. This became a daily routine; we would hit the ball back and forth until I got bored. The kid never responded to my questions, so I assumed he was just shy. 

Once, when he didn't return the ball, I asked my mom if I could climb the fence to retrieve it. She was never outside with me, so she always assumed I was playing alone. We had only moved into the house because my mom was friends with the landlord, and the houses were newly built. My mom informed me that no one had ever lived in the yellow house, as they were still trying to sell it. We moved shortly after, but I still have no idea who was returning that ball to me.

Image by intelxeon

19. Lone Backpacker's Creepy Encounter in North Carolina Wilderness

About two years ago, I embarked on a 4-day solo trip at Cold Mountain in Shining Rock Wilderness. I intended to reach my planned site before nightfall, but I started my journey later than I had planned. It quickly became clear that there was no way I would reach my destination before darkness fell, so I had to set up camp as soon as possible. 

Walking through a tunnel of rhododendron and high growth known as 'The Narrows', I couldn't shake off the eerie feeling that something was stalking me. As the light continued to fade, I finally found a low-lying, swampy area to set up camp. After a quick meal and some relaxation time, I found myself alone in the pitch black, with an increasingly strong feeling of being watched. Despite this, I managed to laugh it off and settled in my small tent.

As I lay still, enjoying the ambient sounds, something brushed my cheek from under the tent. I sat in shock for a few minutes, clutching my knife, trying to rationalize what had just happened. Eventually, I managed to convince myself it was a small animal and tried to get some sleep. Just as I was drifting off, I sensed multiple presences around my campsite. As they kept reaching under my tent, I broke my silence and shouted at them. It was clear to me that I was dealing with coyotes. 

The situation escalated, with the coyotes growing more aggressive, and I found myself genuinely fearing for my life. Out of nowhere, I heard a dog barking and growling in the distance. The coyotes ceased their harassment, and a scuffle ensued, followed by an eerie silence. I didn't get any sleep that night and found my tent damaged and blood spots around my campsite in the morning. 

Continuing my journey, I encountered a group searching for their lost German Shepherd. They told me the dog had disappeared from their site during the night. I shared my experiences from the previous night, and we all silently contemplated the possibilities. I never saw the dog or the group again, but I'm grateful for the dog's intervention, as she may have saved my life.

Image by foxtrott

20. The Haunted Hospital: After Dark Encounters with the Unseen

I work the evening shift at a hospital that is believed to be haunted, at least by 90% of the staff, including me. Horror stories circulate about every building, floor, and pretty much every part of the campus. As a housekeeper, I mostly wander around alone. This can make it unnerving, especially when my mind wanders to the stories. 

My personal experience occurred in the ultrasound wing of the Radiology clinic. By the time I get to that area, the lights automatically dim and there's nothing I can do about it. It's always spooky at night, so I usually just complete what I need to and move on. One evening, I saw a male figure walk past the door. I remember it vividly as if it was today. There are no male ultrasound techs here, and it was NOT my boss. It looked like it was wearing dark clothing, and had long hair, but it was definitely male. After this encounter, I grabbed my stuff and left without finishing all the work. 

Another story comes from the second floor of the hospital, the domain of a spirit the workers affectionately call 'Matilda.' One worker had a terrifying encounter with Matilda late one night. The worker closed his eyes tight and when he opened them, Matilda was gone. Another 'Matilda' happening was when one of the managers left a tape recorder going in his office. The next day, he played the recording, and a faint voice comes in and says 'Turn it off.' 

Image by mischievous_penguins

21. A Chilling Night Out: A Brush with the Supernatural

I've got a good one. Some years back, I was at University with a friend I'd known from school. We weren't best friends, but good mates - we knew about each other and got along well enough. I knew that he was a spiritualist, and he'd sometimes talk about his spiritual guide and whatnot. Not really what I believe in, but each to their own. 

Anyway, we were both hanging around the halls of residence where I lived (he lived in another hall), wasting time and watching trash on the tiny TV in the shared kitchen. We were waiting until 2 a.m., as that's when WWE (or WWF, as it was called then!) would be showing. As we didn't have Sky (cable, for our American friends) we would often wait up in the halls then walk down to the local 24-hour snooker/pool hall, which would show Sky Sports. Usually, you could ask them to stick the wrestling on and turn the volume up. 

Anyway, we're chatting a lot of rubbish and just watching stupid stuff on the TV. Can't remember what we were talking about, but I remember after that it wasn't anything creepy. We hadn't been drinking or anything like that either - we were completely sober. We're chatting away when we realize we need to get going down to the pool hall if we want to catch the wrestling. So we put on our coats and continue our conversation as we walk outside. 

Now, it's weird - the moment I walk through the door, I feel... Cold. It's 2 a.m. in England sometime in the Spring, so it wasn't going to be warm out, but I mean... It's like I had chills running up and down my spine. Cliché, maybe, but the best way I can describe it is the slow feeling of creeping dread you get when you're watching some scary movie and the ominous music starts to play. I try and shrug it off, but it's like the dread was increasing with each step down the street. 

The air actually felt heavy, like it was difficult to breathe. I know that sounds like any other creepy pasta story, but it's the only way I really know how to describe that horrible feeling in my gut. A minute out of the door, I suddenly realize that we're both silent. We were chatting and laughing as we left the halls, but our conversation had just faded out. I remember looking down the street, thinking that perhaps this was me being nervous about any dodgy characters nearby - but the road was clear. It was a clear night, nothing out of the ordinary at all, but to me there was this massive alarm going off in my head. I was terrified of something, and I didn't know what! 

Picking up on the silence finally, I simply said, 'Hmm, air feels a little thick tonight.' My throat was dry by this point. He looked at me with a pale face and said, 'Oh God, you can feel it too?' We managed to hold a halting conversation about what it could be, but it was difficult as we both felt sick to our stomachs. 

Finally, as we crossed the road, I remember my friend turning even more white and saying, 'It's death. Death is here.' I don't really remember much after we crossed the road - weirdly, the strange feeling suddenly subsided and we both laughed it off, even though we'd both felt it. We made it to the Pool Hall, and I didn't think much about it for a few days. 

It wasn't until later in the week that I was walking from Uni (without my friend) and I passed a building close to the halls, on the road we'd crossed over where my friend had 'felt death'. There were three police cars and an ambulance there. I remember watching with horror as a pair of coroners were removing a body wrapped up in black. We looked it up in the local paper the next day. Apparently, three homeless people had died together in the building after seeking shelter, and they'd been dead for a few days before being discovered and removed. Never did find out what they died of. I didn't go and watch much wrestling after that.

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22. The Mystical Encounter

My mom is Native American. She named my sister Chula, which means fox. Most likely because of her namesake, but maybe not, my sister loved everything that had to do with a fox. 

Last November, my mom was doing dishes at the sink and looking out the window at the woods like she always does. She looked up from the dishes to the edge of the woods and at that moment, a fox stepped out of the woods. It sat on its hind legs and stared right at my mom's face while she stared back through the window. She said it seemed like they stared at each other for five minutes. 

Suddenly, the fox got up, turned around, and slowly walked back into the woods. My mom's first thought was to call Chula and tell her about the fox. My sister never answered; she died in a head-on collision that day due to a reckless drunk driver. My mom keeps looking for the fox, but it has never returned.

Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

23. A Journey Through Sleep Paralysis: Nightmares That Whisper Your Name

My first encounter with sleep paralysis occurred over three years ago while I was attempting to lucid dream. The experience was terrifying, and it left me shaken. However, as it didn't happen again, I eventually moved past it. 

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I had a nightmare about a door in my cellar that doesn't exist in reality. I found myself strapped in a chair, unable to move. This mysterious door opened and I felt an indescribable evil presence from the other side, whispering my name repeatedly as it advanced through the door. Although I couldn't see anything, I knew it was right next to my face when I finally woke up. 

Two weeks ago, while taking a nap, I woke up to find myself paralyzed. I could see everything in my living room except one corner. Instantly, I felt the same evil presence. It was whispering my name again, getting closer and closer. Suddenly, the evil retreated, and I had the sensation of floating out of my body before snapping back down onto the couch and waking up. 

The following night, I had another sleep paralysis episode where I saw this evil entity in my room. I woke up, unable to move, and saw a dark figure at the end of my bed, just staring. I kept repeating to myself that it wasn't real, but it whispered back, confessing that it knew I was scared. This frightened me tremendously, and I held my breath until I woke up. 

Over the next couple of days, I had several more episodes. They were less visually terrifying, but the feeling of pure evil and deep-seated fear were still overwhelming. Last night, the situation escalated. I was staying at a cabin belonging to one of my dad's friends, in the middle of nowhere. I was sleeping on the pullout couch in the sitting room when I woke up to find the entity standing by my bed. It was immediately next to me, staring into my eyes. Its face resembled a goblin, with a long nose and empty, glossy eyes that were pure black. I was terrified and started to tell it that it wasn't real. But it insisted that it was very real and that I should be scared. 

I don't remember exactly how, but I managed to wake up, shaking and whimpering, with tears streaming down my face. I've shared this story before, and since then, I've had only one more night terror involving the same figure. It was less intense and vague, making it hard to remember. I hope it stays that way.

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24. The Creepy Night at The Keg: A Child's Eerie Encounter

I have been waiting a long time to tell this story. My parents were night cleaners for The Keg restaurant in Toronto. Sometimes, they needed extra help and they brought along my uncle, who would normally have just babysat me. I was 10 years old at the time. He also brought over his girlfriend, who I would mainly just hang out with while the rest of them went to work. 

One night, my uncle's girlfriend and I were playing cards on one of the booths and fell asleep. We were woken up by my uncle screaming, telling us we had to go to the basement and hurry to follow him. We both woke up and started following him, but he seemed to be very far ahead. When I turned the corner, I bumped into my uncle and asked where the basement was and what the emergency was. He responded by telling me he was following my mother and father, who yelled at him from across the room to get to the basement. 

Standing there puzzled, we caught up to my uncle's girlfriend who had bumped into my parents. They said that they heard mine and my uncle's girlfriend's voice from the basement and my father had gone to get the spare keys because it was locked. It seemed like something was trying to lure us into the basement.

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25. The Night I Heard the Pope's Name: An Unexplainable Memory

When I was younger, I was told to say a prayer in my head before I went to sleep. It was a practice I no longer follow. I must have been around 13 or 14 when the Pope passed away. Although I didn't know his name, I was aware that a Pope had died that day and felt it was appropriate to include him in my prayers. 

I remember lying in my bed, exhausted, praying, 'Please bless my family and friends... and please take care of the Pope...' At this point, I realized I didn't know his name. Then, as clear as day, I heard 'POPE JOHN PAUL.'

Startled, I sat up and looked around the room, feeling a sense of fear. The voice had sounded like an old man's. The next morning, I went downstairs and saw the newspaper headline - 'R.I.P POPE JOHN PAUL.' I was completely taken aback and shared the experience with my parents. Looking back now, although I don't generally believe in the supernatural and feel most things can be explained logically, this incident leaves me puzzled.

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26. The Heartwarming Tale of a Toddler's Connection to His Late Great-Grandparents

My two sons were born when their great grandmother was alive, but unfortunately, she never got to meet them. My husband's grandmother went in for surgery and tragically contracted a severe infection from the hospital that led to her death just six weeks after they were born. She was a remarkable woman, married for over sixty years to a wonderful man who was the love of her life. He had passed four years earlier. She adored my husband and was very invested in my pregnancy. It was heart-wrenching that my boys never got to meet their 'Gigi'. 

Fast forward to about a year later. My sons, now twenty months old, were just starting to talk. As we were driving down a road, one of my sons began babbling 'Bobby! DeeDee! Bobby! DeeDee!' out of nowhere. We asked him who they were but got no reply. We jokingly began to wonder if he was being haunted. 

This went on for a while, with him sporadically mentioning Bobby and DeeDee. During a visit to my mother in law's house, my son walked up to her refrigerator and peered at a picture of her parents hanging there. 'Bobby! DeeDee!', he exclaimed. It wasn't as much creepy as it was heartwarming. The highlight of the day was when we dined at their favorite pizza parlor, and my son looked up and announced, 'Bobby happy!'

Photo by Christian Bowen on Unsplash

27. The Mysterious Protector: A Tale of Midnight Encounters

This is a story my grandmother used to tell about an incident that happened to her in the mid 60s. My grandmother worked in a theatre and would usually get the last bus home around midnight. Her walk home was short and took her past one communal garden. Usually, she was met by the local police officer, a familiar face in those days. 

One night, a suspicious man sat next to her on the bus and started asking personal questions. Feeling uncomfortable, she moved to stand by the bus driver, a fellow regular. Upon reaching her stop, she found that the usual police officer was not there to meet her. To make matters worse, the suspicious man also got off the bus at the last minute, walking in the opposite direction but constantly looking over his shoulder at her. 

As the bus pulled away, she noticed a large black dog standing in the middle of the road. Feeling unnerved, she quickened her pace towards home, the dog following her from a distance. As she walked past the fenced garden, the dog sprinted towards her, stopping just a few feet away, growling and barking at the garden. Scared, she ran home, the dog following but maintaining its distance. 

Upon reaching her building, the dog stopped and watched her go inside. She told my grandfather about the incident as soon as she got inside their flat. Looking out the window, he saw no sign of the dog. The next day, they found out that the friendly local cop had died of a heart attack the day before. A few days later, they heard reports of a young woman being attacked a few streets away from my grandmother's route home on that same night around 1am.

Image by frostroomhead

28. The Shadowy Figure: My Recurring Nightmare and My Puppy's Comfort

I often have terrible nightmares. One recurring nightmare involves a shadowy figure standing near my bed. Thankfully, it hasn't occurred recently, but the pattern remains the same. In the dream, I wake up to see a vague silhouette in one corner of my room. This usually causes me to wake up in a mild panic, but I manage to fall back asleep. 

When I reenter the dream, I'm lying in my bed and the shadowy figure has moved closer, now taking the form of a human. I can't discern any specific features, but eventually, it stands at the foot of my bed, silently watching me. The menacing presence always results in me waking up, shaking and screaming, as I fumble to turn on the lights in a state of confusion. I'm aware in the dream that this entity poses a threat to me, but I'm powerless to stop it. 

Recently, I got a puppy who now comforts me during these nightmares. He moves from his regular spot at my feet to lay next to me, resting his head on my arm and licking my face, which has been a great help. 

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

29. The Mysterious Visitor: A Chilling Spring Break Encounter

In the spring break of 2010, my buddies and I decided to camp out on an island at a local lake. One night, as we were cooking food and drinking beer, a canoe floated by with one guy in it. He asked how we were doing and we invited him to our island for grilled meat and beers. Being in South Arkansas, we naturally assumed that everyone was friendly and wanted to hang out. 

His name was Curt and he was super friendly but seemed really sad. When we asked him what was up, he replied, 'Oh nothing really, it's just that my friends are probably worried about me.' He looked at me and winked, saying, 'They'll find out soon enough.' That statement still haunts me to this day. 

Everyone liked Curt and noticing that it was getting dark and he had been drinking, we offered to let him stay with us that night. He declined, saying that he had to get to where he was going and seemed very adamant about that. I asked where he was headed, thinking maybe we could give him a ride on a jet ski or something. Curt ignored the question and said, 'You boys don't know how lucky you are.' He hopped in his canoe and left. We didn't think much about it. 

The next morning, we woke up early to do some fishing. As we were fishing, a police boat pulled up. The officer asked if we were part of the search party that found the body. We obviously had no clue what he was talking about so he told us a story about a young man in a canoe that disappeared last week. Apparently, divers found his body at the bottom of the lake two days before. The young man's name was Curt Clark. This was so freaky for us that we all packed up and left camp that day. 

Photo by Brady Rogers on Unsplash

30. Narrow Escape: A Childhood Tale of Fear and Bravery

When I was a child, in the age range of four to six, my mother had a boyfriend. For the sake of anonymity, we'll call him Frank. For the most part, Frank was an agreeable person, but we later discovered he had serious mental health issues. At some point, they decided to move to Albuquerque from California, and so we did. 

Initially, things were tolerable, but Frank's alcohol consumption increased, and he grew increasingly paranoid. My mother discovered he had purchased plane tickets for himself and a child (me) to leave the country. This revelation led to a confrontation that resulted in the police arresting Frank on charges of attempted kidnapping. The police informed my mother that Frank would be held in custody for about four days, providing ample time for us to pack and leave. 

However, that same night, the police released him due to his ability to induce vomiting of blood. Instead of taking him to the hospital, they dropped him off at a Walgreens to 'get his medication' and failed to notify my mother of his release. A few hours later, I woke up to find Frank's shadowy figure looming over me. My mother managed to throw him out of the room and instructed me to lock the door. 

As they fought, she pushed him through a sliding glass door, which coincided with the arrival of two police officers. Despite the chaos, Frank insisted that I stay with him. Eventually, the police found evidence of his plans to murder my mother and take me to Sweden, his birthplace, where he held dual citizenship. His intention was to keep me away from my grandparents and father. I spent a few days in a Child Protective Services house until my mother's situation was sorted. As soon as she was released, we left. Frank continued to call my grandparents' house, apologizing and promising to make things better.

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31. The Mysterious Lights of the Millionaire's Ranch: A True Story

When I was young, I visited my grandpa who was temporarily caretaking a multi-millionaire's ranch. The regular caretaker was recuperating from rotator cuff surgery. One day, my grandpa took me to the caretaker's house, along with a few other houses, and instructed me to switch off all the breakers. I didn't think much of it at the time, assuming it was some sort of maintenance task. 

Later that night, around 11:30, as I was engrossed in the news on the television, he called me out to the porch. He pointed at the caretaker's house, where we had switched off the breakers earlier, and I noticed that three lights were on. I used binoculars to peek through the windows but saw no signs of life, no movement. My grandpa then shared with me that this was the third such incident that week. 

The first time it happened, he had rushed over, armed with his .357, expecting a break-in. However, when he arrived, he found the door locked, just as he had left it. Inside, nothing was out of place except for a barstool that had been pulled out. True to his word, when we went over, everything was just as he had described. Deciding to investigate, I headed downstairs to check the breaker box. But, the moment I opened the breaker box, the lights upstairs went out. Needless to say, I quickly figured out it was time to get out of there.

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32. Chilling Childhood Encounter: A Teacher's Cautionary Tale

I don't personally have a story to share, but I remember a chilling tale my high school teacher once told me that has always stuck with me. In the 1970s, when she was just a child, she found herself home alone one day. A man knocked on her door, and although she opened the main door, she kept the screen door securely locked. He claimed to be from the gas company and asked to speak to her parents. When she informed him they were not home, he immediately tried to force his way into the house. 

Upon finding the screen door locked, he pulled out a box cutter and began cutting through the screen. Terrified, my teacher hid in a clothes hamper in her parents' closet. She estimated that she was there for about 10 minutes before the police arrived, thanks to a vigilant neighbor who had witnessed the entire event and called for help. If it wasn't for this neighbor, she may not have survived. To add an eerie ending to this already frightening tale, the intruder was found hiding in the attic. My teacher shared this story as a warning to us students to always ensure all doors and windows are locked when home alone. Naturally, this story left a lasting impression on me, as I would often come home from school to an empty house.

Image by brina_blum

33. Guardian Angels and Shadows of Death

During my childhood, one of my closest friends narrated a rather eerie encounter involving him, his younger brother, and a mysterious figure at the window. My friend and his little brother, despite their age difference, used to share a room. The younger brother was born with several health conditions, including multiple sclerosis, which left him wheelchair-bound and unable to care for himself. To keep a watchful eye on him during the night, they shared a room. 

One particular night, my friend woke up unexpectedly and caught sight of a disturbing scene - a peculiar silhouette of a man donning a top hat peering through the window behind his little brother's crib. Instinctively, my friend turned the light on and rushed to his parents' room to relay what he had seen. Upon their return, they found the younger brother in the throes of a seizure. Some family members interpret the figure in the window as the younger brother's guardian angel, while my friend suspects it was the embodiment of death. Either way, the whole incident still sends chills down my spine.

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34. A Spooky Night Alone: The Bathroom Conundrum

I found myself stuck in a bathroom within a creepy house my family and I were residing. To my dismay, I was home alone. The door had to be forced into the jam to close and latch it, only to discover the knob didn't operate the latch. Suddenly, I heard the side door downstairs slam shut. I assumed my father had arrived home. I called out to him, 'Dad. Dad! I'm trapped in the bathroom!'. 

His footsteps echoed on the hardwood floor, through the kitchen, down the corridor and halted at the bottom of the stairs. 'Dad! I'm locked in!' I yelled out once more. I could hear him hasten up the stairs and stop at the top. 'I'm locked in the bathroom!' I cried out again. Just four more steps and he would be on the other side of the door. 'Dad?!' I called out. Suddenly, there was a loud boom. The door burst open and slammed into the wall. I stepped out into the hall, only to find it empty. There was no one. Not a soul in sight. I politely said 'Thank you!' and went straight to bed.

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35. The Haunting of the Old Head Start Center

I used to work for my dad, who was partially self-employed doing regular maintenance and floor refinishing for a child care program called Head Start. One center was located in an old school, built shortly after the turn of the century, and served as a church function building. In addition to housing Head Start, it also accommodated another childcare. 

We would always work on the floors during the summer. Anyone experienced in floor stripping and waxing knows that when you're applying the coating, it's a quiet and relaxing process. However, being the only people in the building on a midsummer weekend felt off. It felt as if someone was watching us from the second-floor windows. As we were making slow progress across this huge room, we heard a thump upstairs. It then sounded like someone was skipping across the room and back a few times. 

This prompted us to go upstairs, where we found a few classrooms with shelves filled with class supplies. No one was there, so we closed the doors and returned to our task. The sound started again, but this time I sprinted upstairs. The noise stopped before I reached the hall, but all the doors were open at various angles. 

We didn't hear the sound any more that summer, but my dad asked the childcare adviser from the other end of the building if they had heard any strange noises. She said no, but mentioned an incident where the children were sitting down for snacks and a couple of kids were staring into a corner. When asked what they were looking at, one of the kids asked why a little girl in a white dress couldn't eat with them. Since then, I haven't set foot in that building and have no desire to do so. I used to think ghosts were just for scary stories, but I now have trouble believing this isn't real.

Photo by Nguyen Khanh Ly on Unsplash

36. A Terrifying Tale of Anonymous Calls: Living Under the Shadow of Threats

This isn't my personal story, but one my boyfriend, whom we'll call Bob for the sake of this tale, shared with me. When Bob was roughly between the ages of 8 and 10, he would routinely receive calls from a mysterious man. These calls would often come when Bob was alone at home, before his older brother returned from school and while his parents were at work. 

The caller was menacing, cursing at Bob and ordering him around. The stranger knew intimate details about Bob's life, including his address, his parents' workplaces, and the fact that Bob was usually alone. The man threatened Bob, saying that if he told anyone about the calls, he would harm him or his parents. Terrified, Bob complied with the stranger's strange and uncomfortable demands, which included actions like undressing or dancing around the living room. 

The extent of the demands was never shared with me, and part of me doesn't wish to know. This scenario persisted for an unspecified period until one day, Bob's brother caught him on the phone. When Bob's brother learned about the situation, he decided to intervene. The next day, he came home early, intercepted the call with a few friends on speaker, and threatened the caller in return. 

The calls abruptly stopped after that confrontation. It's unclear whether the caller was a local or a distant stranger deriving some perverse pleasure from these calls. Bob hasn't shared more details about these incidents. It's chilling to think that Bob could have been targeted randomly or that he was under surveillance. It's even more unsettling to know that we now live in the same house where these calls were received, surrounded by some rather unsettling neighbors.

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37. A Chilling Encounter: The Inmate Who Knew Too Much

My dad used to work in a juvenile detention center in the Miami area in the early 70s. He recounted an incident involving one inmate who reminded him distinctly of a young Hannibal Lecter. This inmate wasn't particularly strong, but he was smart and incredibly persuasive. 

One day, he instigated a riot within his block of cells, merely by persuading the other inmates. My dad, along with another guard, were dispatched to investigate and attempt to restore order. The block was in chaos with inmates going wild, banging on the bars, howling, and yelling at each other. Amidst this pandemonium, the young Hannibal Lecter stood out. He was standing still in the middle of his cell, arms folded, smiling, and continuously murmuring a phrase. 

Straining to hear, my dad finally understood - the inmate was reciting my dad's home phone number. We never found out how he had obtained it. Maybe he bribed another guard, or perhaps saw it written somewhere. The inmate never called my dad, and there were no strange phone calls. However, the level of determination this inmate demonstrated, just to unsettle my dad, was nothing short of impressive.

Image by ashleyinthestar

38. A Terrifying Camping Experience in Oconee State Park

About five years ago, some friends and I, all high school students at the time, went camping in Oconee State Park in South Carolina. We were accompanied by our school ROTC instructor, a former Sergeant Major in his 50s, who was quite the tough guy. 

During our first night camping, it was so cold that we decided to sleep around the fire. We were all awakened simultaneously in the middle of the night by the smell of wet dog and rotten flesh, which we initially dismissed as the scent of damp leaves. 

The next morning, we discovered paw prints scattered all over our campsite, some alarmingly close to where we slept. Feeling uneasy, we decided to spend the day in town. However, upon our return at dusk, our instructor suddenly slammed on the brakes, bringing us to a halt. There, in the middle of the road, was a hairless, 50lb creature standing on its hind legs. It let out a terrifying screech, darted into the woods, and left behind the same putrid smell we had experienced the previous night. 

The sight of this creature shook our usually fearless instructor to his core, and we rode back to the campsite in silence. Upon arrival, he instructed us to pack everything up and we left, never to return again. We concluded that the creature resembled a mix of a bobcat and a coyote but moved like a bear. We named it the 'Cateyote'. Some friends who hadn't heard the story decided to visit the site and reported an eerie vibe, which only strengthened after hearing our encounter.

Image by moob

39. A Chilling Encounter: My Unexplainable Teenage Adventure

During my teenage years, I was hugely into skateboarding and building ramps. A neighborhood was being constructed just behind mine, and I'd often venture over there during the weekends to collect scrap wood. To get there, I had to navigate through a patch of woods and cross a creek. 

One day, I went alone. As I crossed the creek and began making my way through the woods, I heard a man's voice. I stopped in my tracks, trying to decipher what he was saying. His voice grew louder, suggesting he was moving closer. I finally made out a chilling jingle, 'I'm gonna get you.' What was strange was I couldn't hear any leaves crunching underfoot, nor could I see anyone. I bolted, slipping and sliding as I scrambled up the muddy creek bank. I've never been one to believe in ghosts, but this unexplainable incident has stuck with me.

Image by powwpic

40. A Toddler's Midnight Encounter with His Late Grandfather

My grandfather passed away last year when my son was approximately a year old. We used to have dinner with the whole family every Friday night, so my son had seen him several times. My grandfather was a very quiet, proud man, but when he thought he was alone or unseen, he would make silly faces at my son to make him laugh. 

A couple of nights after his funeral, my son, who had a habit of crawling into bed with us in the middle of the night, started laughing uncontrollably at around 2 am. I got out of bed to see what was going on, and found my son sitting in the middle of the living room, in the dark, laughing. I asked him, 'Hey buddy, what are you doing?' 

In toddler speak, he said, 'Papa funny!' I got a little nervous for some reason and decided to pick him up and bring him to our room for the rest of the night. As I was carrying him away, he said, 'Bye Papa!' and blew a kiss at absolutely nothing I could see.

Image by ilumire

41. The Unseen Guest: A Spooky Christmas Party Tale

A few years ago, I attended a Christmas party. My housemates decided to go home early while I chose to stay behind and indulge in the Christmas spirit with a few other friends. I ended up having quite a lot to drink and returned home around 3am. 

Instead of heading straight to bed, I grabbed another beer from inside and then went out to the back porch to enjoy a smoke and gaze at the stars. I had only been outside for a couple of minutes when I saw the kitchen light turn on and my housemate appeared. I waved at him, embodying the typical drunken fool. I assumed he was going to join me for a recap of the evening's events, which had included some hilarious incidents not related to this story. However, he simply got himself a glass of water and retired for the night. I finished my beer and smoke, and then followed suit. 

The next morning, while we were discussing the previous night, he asked me, 'Who came back from the party with you last night?' Confused, I replied, 'No one, dude. I was out there alone.' He was adamant though, insisting, 'No, there was someone with you on the porch, standing behind you when you were waving inside. I didn't come out because I thought it was some unknown friend from the Christmas party and didn't want to make introductions.' To this day, he stands by his version of the events. Whoever it was must have been standing close behind me the entire time, yet I neither saw nor heard anyone. It sends a shiver down my spine every time I think about it.

Image by anniespratt

42. The Unexpected Pen Pal

When I was about 5 years old in the early 90s, I was once featured in a St Jude's survivor newsletter. This newsletter was distributed across the country and apparently, even reached Canada. A man named Mitchell, who resided in Canada, contacted my family after reading my cancer survival story. He claimed to be a devout Christian and expressed a desire to talk to me about God and prayer. My mother allowed this, but to our surprise, Mitchell's primary interest was to discuss ALF, a television character he was obsessed with. 

Over time, Mitchell sent me a plethora of ALF merchandise, from coloring books to pencils. My parents allowed our interactions to continue, partly due to Mitchell's religious facade and partly because of his constant supply of ALF merchandise. This went on for about a year. 

One day, Mitchell asked me if I knew about John Wayne Gacy, a notorious serial killer. He claimed to be a victim who had managed to escape Gacy's clutches as a child. Mitchell advised me to warn my parents about trusting strangers. His tone wasn't menacing, it was more matter-of-fact. Naturally, my parents were alarmed when I relayed this information. They promptly changed our phone number and reported the incident to the police. The police didn't take any significant action, considering Mitchell lived in Canada and hadn't made any direct threats. The fact that Mitchell knew our address and where we lived was deeply unsettling, but we were planning to move soon anyway. Fast forward 10 years to 2001, we were living in a new house, in a new state with everything unlisted. I was now 15. One day, we received an ALF coloring book in the mail. It was from Mitchell.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

43. The Mysterious Case of the Screaming Static Calls

A few years ago, my brother started receiving calls on his cellphone between 2:00 and 3:00 A.M. every night. The calls were filled with a hellish noise, like static mixed with screams. After a month of enduring this, he changed his cell number, and the calls stopped. However, they began again after just a week, the same noise at the same time. 

In an attempt to solve the mystery, he backdialed the call and reached an old man who had no idea what he was talking about. Despite this, the calls persisted. If he didn't answer, it would call a few more times, leaving no messages. Fed up, he switched to a new phone company and obtained a new number. 

Unfortunately, the terrifying calls resumed after a short delay. Around this time, he lost his job and his phone, and the calls stopped. One day, my mother received a similar message on our home phone, the static screaming. We showed my brother, who was understandably freaked out. He backdialed the number again, but this time it was disconnected. We never heard from it again after that.

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44. A Housesitting Nightmare: Uninvited Guest in the Closet!

A few years ago, my sister had an odd experience while housesitting for my brother-in-law's uncle. The uncle, who was elderly and becoming forgetful, had a tenant living in his basement. This tenant, a nice lady, would clean the house and take care of the uncle's old cat. However, on my sister's first day of housesitting, the cat was nowhere to be found. 

My sister, being a cat owner herself, was aware that cats often hide when they are unwell, so she was quite concerned. She and her boyfriend searched everywhere: under beds, in every room, even asking the lady downstairs, but the cat remained missing. 

The mystery intensified when my sister opened a closet in the spare bedroom and saw what appeared to be human feet, complete with painted toenails, hidden behind some clothes. Assuming they belonged to a doll, they continued their search. Eventually, they found the cat nonchalantly sitting in the middle of the living room. They left the house, locking the deadbolt behind them. But the sight of those 'doll feet' haunted my sister. 

Despite not wanting to seem paranoid to her new boyfriend, she eventually shared her concern. He agreed to go back and check, and when they did, they found the locks had been tampered with. Now genuinely scared, they entered the house armed with a fireplace poker. The 'doll feet' were still there, and when poked, they moved! 

He reacted by yelling and jabbing the feet, revealing not a doll, but a woman in her mid-30s clutching the cat and a can of coke. It turned out, she was a friend of the basement tenant who had been kicked out due to her drug addiction. She had somehow obtained a key and had been living there unnoticed. The police were called, and she was arrested. In short, they found a crackhead hiding in the closet.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

45. The Mysterious Screams of the Furnace: A True Story

About 12 years ago, I visited a friend's house. We were in the basement, quietly watching TV, when his mom's boyfriend descended the stairs and asked us to keep the noise down. We exchanged puzzled glances, our show was playing at a moderate volume, hardly loud enough to disturb anyone. We assured him that we weren't being noisy, to which he responded, 'You aren't yelling?' We shook our heads, denying his accusation. 

He looked perplexed, sharing that he and my friend's mom had heard someone screaming from the furnace vents. They thought it was coming from the basement where the furnace was located. Strangely, we had not heard anything, even though we were only about 15 feet away from the furnace. 

Unfortunately, I cannot confirm the next part of the story since I wasn't present. However, my friend (from the basement) and another friend claimed that they were in the kitchen one night when they heard a clear scream emanating from one of the furnace vents. Naturally, this frightened them, but I never got the chance to hear it myself. 

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46. A Soldier's Haunting Tale: The Last Call From My Dying Father

Around the time I was 19, I was deployed to Iraq. My unit worked with bombs and, honestly, I didn't know if I would make it home intact. About halfway through my tour, the Red Cross notified my unit that my father was terminally ill. 

Within a week, I was on a plane back to the States. My dad being ill was something I had grown used to. He was strong though, and I never expected to actually lose him. I lost my mother when I was 7, and my father's lungs had collapsed shortly before then. He was on oxygen and needed a wheelchair to go anywhere. Medication by the handfuls were needed every few hours. He gained weight from limited movement, developed diabetes, and had already beaten cancer once. I never expected to lose him and he wasn't the type to ever give up. 

I arrived home, headed to the hospital, and he assured me he was fine and they were overreacting. I visited him every day I was there, but he told me he would be fine by the time I got home 'for good'. I reluctantly went back overseas. I called his hospital whenever I had a few minutes of free time and we were near a call center. My deployment finished, and he kept his promise. He came home from the hospital, because he said he didn't want to die there. He got worse, and went back. The family all visited, but we knew he wasn't improving. 

One day I was at home and the phone rang. It was an unknown number, so I didn't answer. It went to the answering machine, and a very raspy voice mumbled 'Call the hospital.' It was my dad. I grabbed the phone, but he had already hung up. So I called. They told me he had been intubated for the past couple of hours and he had just started going into cardiac arrest. He was non-responsive, and we needed to come say our goodbyes. 

I argued that he had just called me, and she said that wasn't possible. They had been working on him for some time now. I hung up and told my family the news. My sister and I stared at the answering machine. We played the tape again and again. That was the last time I heard my father's voice. I'm a skeptic. I don't believe in the paranormal or ghosts, and I cannot come up with any logical explanation. I still get watery-eyed thinking about it.

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47. Childhood Friendship and a Life Cut Short

My mother had three kids: me, the youngest, my older brother, and before both of us, there was Jonathan. Jonathan was an adorable little blonde boy with big blue eyes, infamous for innocently repeating Dad's swears in church. He was a wholesome kid, a star student, and very active. 

When he was nearly six, he fell off his bike and hit his head on a rock. He stood up, claimed he felt fine, but tragically, my mother found him the next morning in his bed, unresponsive with one pupil dilated and the other not. He was air-lifted to the nearest hospital. 

During this time, Jonathan's best friend Nick was having breakfast. Nick suddenly got up and walked to the door, claiming that Johnny was calling him. Nick and Johnny lived close enough to communicate from their respective street corners. Nick went out to the street corner just as his mother received the devastating news of Johnny's passing. Nick returned inside and casually continued his breakfast, claiming Johnny had come to say, 'Goodbye.' 

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

48. Night in the Haunted Library

My university's library stays open until 2 am to accommodate students like me, notorious for writing essays at the last minute. The library, a small building, primarily houses books in a basement area known as 'The Stacks'. Last year, I was there around 11 pm, engrossed in a research-intensive essay. I chose to work in The Stacks to avoid constantly going upstairs and downstairs. 

After about two hours, everyone had left except for a boy working a few desks away. I was deeply engrossed in my essay, aware that I had limited time before my 8 am class, when I heard the loud whir of fast-flipping book pages at the other end of the room. After enduring this noise for about five minutes, I decided to confront the source. I took a few steps towards the sound, but it abruptly stopped. 

When the noise resumed ten minutes later, louder this time, the boy and I began searching the room. Despite clearly hearing the noise and its apparent source, we found no one. We hadn't seen anyone enter The Stacks, and there was no way someone could have entered without us noticing. Assuming it was a fan or something similar, we returned to our seats, only to be startled by the noise again, this time sounding as if it were right next to the boy's chair. 

Without a word, he hastily packed his things and left the room. I followed suit, leaving just moments behind him. To this day, I refuse to go back into The Stacks at night, even if other people are present. No essay is worth risking an encounter with a book-obsessed ghost.

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49. The Haunting Melody

When I was in eighth grade, I went on a school trip that was called the Louisiana Tour. We mostly visited significant sights in south Louisiana. One of the places we went was Myrtles Plantation, which is considered to be one of the most haunted places in the country. There are all kinds of stories about the place, but at one point, we were standing in a room as part of a larger group and the tour guide was discussing something, I don't remember what. 

As I was standing there, I started to hear what sounded like someone hitting a piano key. After hearing it a few times, I began to look around for the source of the noise. I didn't see a piano, but the sound persisted. So, I asked my friends who were standing near me if they heard it too, but they said no. 

When I heard it again, I insisted that they must have heard it, but they thought I was imagining things. As I continued to scan the room, everyone's eyes were on the tour guide except for one woman. She caught my eye, pointed at me, then at her ear with a questioning look. I realized she was asking if I heard it too and I nodded. 

At this point, the tour guide started telling a story about a soldier who had died there and who used to play the piano, and how multiple guests reported hearing him play at night. I honestly didn't know what to think, I guess I still don't. As we were all leaving the room, I spoke with the woman who also heard the same thing as me, but her husband and son had not heard it.

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

50 .The Haunted Room: From New York's Upscale Hotel

One of my brothers once worked as a security guard in one of New York City's most upscale hotels. During one of his night shifts, the security desk received a frantic call. A man was on the line, panicked because his wife was in the bath and wasn't breathing. My brother, along with another security guard, rushed to the room. They found a woman in the tub who was unresponsive. 

They pulled her out and attempted CPR. Meanwhile, the NYPD arrived and instructed my brother to stop the resuscitation efforts as the woman was clearly deceased and had been for several hours. The husband was questioned extensively and he told law enforcement that he and his wife had an argument earlier in the evening. He claimed he left, and when he returned, his wife was in the bath. He went to bed and grew worried when she didn't join him. 

Among those present, there was a private consensus that the husband was involved, but it couldn't be proven. A few weeks later, the room was reopened to guests without any mention of the incident. A regular guest of the hotel was the first to stay in the room since the event. She came to the front desk the next morning, visibly upset and with all her luggage, announcing she was canceling the rest of her stay and would never return to the hotel. She claimed she hadn't slept all night and insisted the room was haunted. No one at the hotel had informed her about the previous incident in the room. According to my brother, every guest who stayed in that room reported strange occurrences and many requested a room change.

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51. The Mysterious Call From Beyond: A Child's Connection With The Afterlife

A couple of weeks after I was born, my dad's best friend, Jim, passed away. They were very close, and one of his last wishes was to hold me before he passed away. His wish was fulfilled, and shortly after, he departed. Fast forward seven years, I was a cheerful seven-year-old with a five-year-old brother and a recently born sister. 

One day, the phone rang. With my mom out and dad in the washroom, I thought the call would be ignored since we kids were still too young to answer the phone. We didn't have a call display, so we didn't know if a stranger was calling. However, my brother broke the rules and answered the call. 'Hello?' he said. At this point, my dad had left the washroom and was asking my brother to hand him the phone. He ignored him and continued listening to the person on the other end. Before my dad could ask a second time, my brother hung up the phone. 'Jim says hi, and he misses SkywingNova,' he said, then went back to playing. What I remember most about this incident is the look of shock on my dad's face.

Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash