Have you ever visited somewhere that was haunted?

I was absolutely adamant that there was no such thing as ghosts and haunted places, I used to get frustrated with people insisting they had experienced something and even when I’d had previous spooky experiences I refused to believe it was anything supernatural. Over the last few months I’ve had some really frightening experiences, one actually happened last night.

I live in the middle of nowhere next to an unlit country road that’s one of the oldest in my town, I have lived in my house 15 years and walked up and down that road in the dark the whole time I’ve lived there before I had a car with no concerns.

A few months ago I was walking back from the gym and heard rustling behind me, the road doesn’t have pavement but has green verges on each side, one side is next to trees so there were dry leaves on the ground, it was only 7pm but pitch black and I was using the torch on my phone.
I turned round to see what made the noise and there was a figure that looked like they were dressed in black, they had a white almost luminous face with black eyes, our eyes locked and I was terrified, I swung the torch round to see what was in front of me in the hope cars might come or someone might be dog walking so I wasn’t alone, when I looked back the figure had gone.
It was literally a couple of seconds I looked away, it wasn’t possible for someone to just disappear when there was no where to go, the road is straight and they would have to climb a fence to disappear into the wooded area next to the verge with the trees.

I ran the rest of the way home and was in such a state that DP knew I wasn’t messing about or making it up, I have posted about it before on another thread. I refused to walk on the road for weeks but I loved walking in the countryside and missed it so I tried to convince myself I’d just imagined it, that got easier as time went on and I forgot the feeling of pure terror.

I went back to walking to the gym and back for a few weeks, one night I was walking to the gym and I saw a black figure again, this time it was more like a shadow, I watched for about 5 seconds as the shadow slowly moved across the road in front of me and disappeared mid way.
Again I was terrified and ran the rest of the way to the gym, I told the receptionist what I’d seen and she just said she wasn’t surprised with the amount of history in the area.

I was too scared to walk for another few weeks but now it’s getting darker later so last night I walked to the nearest supermarket for cat food and yet again I saw the black figure, I was still frightened but not as much as before. I googled to see if anyone had experienced similar but haven’t come across anything online.

I had a more unsettling experience when I was out so will have to go back to driving most places but it’s a shame as I live in a beautiful place and love walking.

I got the cat food and DP had said he’d pick me up when he finished work so I didn’t have to walk back too late, he ended up finishing later then usual so I thought I’d start walking back as it was busy with it being a weekend and the start of the journey was well lit busy roads.
I went to cross the road near some shops and noticed a black teenager (this is just to be descriptive not racist! I’d have mentioned if they were white or any other ethnicity) with his hood up standing in a shop doorway, when he saw me he shrank back into the doorway.

Normally this wouldn’t bother me, I even approached some teens outside a shop wearing hoodies pulled up last week and asked them to borrow a pound coin for a trolley, they were happy to help.
I have heard people describe spidey senses and gut instinct before but have never really felt it myself, I’ve felt scared and uncomfortable in situations but they are usually justified, the level of fear I felt and the pure instinct I was in danger was something I’d never felt before.

I ran to the nearest pub in the opposite direction and DP picked me up from there. I still feel like I had a lucky escape.
I think yesterday has taught me to stop wandering round in the dark alone! I might live in a safe area but that doesn’t completely remove all risks. I wonder if anyone else would have felt similarly or if I was just or edge from the previous spooky experience?

There is an incredibly simple and completely reliable way to tell if a particular place is haunted.

If you think it is haunted...

..it isn't. Because ghosts don't exist.

Ever heard of Merchant Ivory, the film producers? They did Howard’s End, The Remains of the Day, and A Room With a View, just to name a few.
Anyhow, in high school, I hadn’t, not yet. I grew up in small town in California, and out in the country there was a wood mill where all the local young men worked - it was called Ivory Pine.
And my best friend lived next door in a big, two-story all-wood house, befitting whomever the head guy was at Ivory Pine. It was beautiful, that old house.
But since I’d known her age 5, my friend and her family had lived there and I had been there so often her mother had to shoo me away.
On this evening, we were watching a ridiculous made-for-tv movie about a witch - and ridiculous teenage witch at that out at Friend’s house.
Well, we weren’t really watching - we were talking and laughing about everything like we always did.
And somebody said, “hey did you we have a ghost?”
And I said that I’d been in this family only 5 years less than Friend, and if they had a ghost I was pretty sure I’d know about it - but don’t start talking about yet because I’ve gotta go to the bathroom.
You had to go up on a landing (which led up the stairs) and then down into the bathroom - which I did. And then I came out and stepped back up on the landing and bent to turn the doorknob into the kitchen - only the doorknob wasn’t there and that’s when the steps started down the staircase. They weren’t menacing - but I FREAKED OUT and kept feeling for the doorknob back into the kitchen and IT WASN’T THERE and the FOOTSTEPS KEPT COMING DOWN THE STAIRCASE and I was feeling up and down the door and there was simply no doorknob.
But those footsteps kept coming.
Finally - I found the doorknob and threw the door open and there were my sweet friends, laughing and joking like before.
That doorknob was not there.
Those footsteps were real.
That was 1974.
You’ll never convince me that was all in my head.
Never before or since experienced anything like it.
Oh yeah - Ivory Pine same family as the Ivory from Merchant Ivory.

OP any chance that might have been a real child asking for help?

No.

I'd love to though.

What happened?

I have also heard the "emotion and death " theory where if someone was deeply traumatised or was deeply evil or felt very deep emotion or physical pain at a particular place (even if they actually died sometime later or somewhere else) then it somehow leaves a mark or a feeling that other people can pick up on in later years with a certain bad sense about that place.

Over time this "mark" on a particular place fades so that people are less likely to pick up on say Roman era events and more likely to pick up on say WW2 or even Victorian events.

But I believe in any of the floaty apparition stuff.

I just couldn’t do the Edinburgh vaults. DH and I went on a ghost walk in Stockholm that ended in the basement under a church. I opted out and stood outside and DH came back reporting that I’d have just passed away from fear on the spot 😳

My sister almost fainted at Edinburgh vaults and I thought saw orbs. Very strange as I've never seen orbs before.

In 1997/8 I did some driving in Poland on these

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRB_Class_52

In the opening scene of Shoah this is they class of locomotive you see steaming into the camp.

In Poland there were two different number series, TY2 built during WW2 & TY42 built after the war.

The war built ones would amongst other things have hauled trains to the Concentration Camps.

I first drove a postwar built TY42, lovely bit of kit, on my second visit the loco in steam for freight was a wartime built TY2 which had a creepy feel about it, I was certainly glad I never took it to Konotop which during WW2 was a minor border crossing into Poland used for 'concentration camp' trains

My pub is haunted.

And prior to being here I'd have thought what a load of made up bollocks.

But no.

We moved in last year and straight away, stuff moved around. Tins of paint went over when no one was in the room. Then DD and I were in the kitchen, which is huge, and a plate came flying off the side at us, followed by a glass and cutlery. It wasn't windy, nothing was making it move, it genuinely looked like someone had swiped it violently.

We then found out a previous landlady had passed away in the bar, in 1985. She had sat in her usual spot on the other side of the bar whilst her staff worked, she was getting on a bit and sometimes would nod off, so no one thought anything of it that she had seemingly done so again.

A regular (who still drinks here to this day) told us he had said "hey, what do you think then " and said her name, but she didn't flinch. Someone said she didn't look well so she was checked and yep, she'd gone.

I was advised to speak up in the bar that we were here to look after it and don't worry (ladies name), and hope you don't mind. We invited her to stay and watch us doing it up and putting her fave table back where it should be. We've had no plates flying since. We do sometimes hear footsteps at night but she seems happy what we've done! Considering the pub nearly ended up as flats I think she approves.

Yes, but we didn’t see anything. We stayed in an old bakery, converted into a cottage, adjoining another cottage. According to the guest book, there was the ghost of a man in breeches, wandering about.

When I was a uni student I lived in a tudor house opposite the Dell - the old football grounds in southampton, the house has been knocked down now but I saw a ghost there in my bedroom and another girl who i'd lent my room to in the holidays also saw her on a separate occasion and i hadn't mentioned anything - I'm afraid I was fairly rude to said ghost and never saw her again.

Lived on many military bases. They all have stories. Seen many no nonsense people having doubts.

The theory is the amount of emotion and death that those places had (especially the bomber bases) left their mark.

What happened? I've done the Edinburgh vaults tour, it's very creepy.

Oooh can you tell us a bit about it?

Yes. And I’m generally a sceptical person. Really old holiday cottage. Thought my MIL was up in the night wandering around as flood breaking and doors opening. Another night felt a weight like someone sat on the bed. Then woke at dawn one morning and heard a weird laugh.

Chingle Hall

I have a friend who swore her house was haunted - old victorian house or something. i always thought it was a load of nonsense but she swears someone was watching over her at night. LOL

Hahaha it was a testing evening to say the least lol!

I stayed there and had the same thing! TV turning itself on and off in a rhythmic pattern. Also something being dragged across the floor upstairs and someone coughing & walking around the bathroom of the room we were in.

Happened both nights. Me and DH bravely hid under the covers 🤣

Edinburgh Vaults. I still can't explain what happened to me in there and no one believes me.

I lived in a house where a lot of weird shit happened for a couple of years when I was about 10-12 ish. Not in the 7 years we’d lived there before, nor the 5 years we lived there after. I honestly wish I could be a casual sceptic, but I’m 41 now and still regularly dream about one room in that house and wake up sweating and heart racing. I recently managed to watch the Uncanny series on BBC (in the middle of the day) and a lot of that resonated so much that my skin crawled.

Stayed at the renowned Golden Fleece Hotel in York.

Have to say, some weird stuff happened when we were there such as the TV turning on in the middle of the night and a really shit song on loop at breakfast. Could hear movement up and down the stairs all night too. BUT whether it was real or them playing on their status I don't know. I wasn't convinced!

Also attended a most haunted live event at an old mental asylum in Wales. Again all felt a bit like for entertainment but I guess the fact we were actually in the building made it feel a bit sinister.

I used to work once in a week in an old building which is noted on one of those "most haunted buildings in Britain" type websites. One afternoon I had a call from the front gate to say I was the only person in that building so could I check in with them regularly as per policy.... I packed up and left to finish work at home 😀 I would normally say I don't believe in ghosts / woo etc, but I wasn't going to risk it!