Can we have a seasonal spooky thread...

[valerianroot]

As nights are drawing in and Halloween is nearly here, I love these mumsnet threads.

I'll start, many years ago I lived in a flat where sadly two builders had died when their scaffold had collapsed outside. My bedroom was on the top floor and quite often I would hear voices on the landing outside (always at night of course ;) I would never leave the bedroom, even to go to the loo and it was really disconcerting!

Also another flat I lived in and there was something so off about it, the energy was so dark and there was a room off the kitchen that just felt cold and horrible, and it wasn't just me who thought it, friends who came over commented on it too.

Couldn't wait to move from either flat!

Oh another DM one. She had a cat who sadly died quite young (approx 5 years). He slept on her bed most nights. She swore that for a few weeks after he'd died she felt him as a dead weight on her bed. Didn't feel it e.g. 1-2 months after that.

I have a couple from another user name. Was in a famous old pub in London. In toilets and on a Halloween ghost tour. Had to go right down to the bottom (used to be cloisters I think?). I got a really oppressive feeling like something or someone would do something to me there, was with a friend and when I was washing my hands told her not to leave the toilets as I felt scared. Went back a few years later and nothing but that was in afternoon.

Another place - in Canterbury in an old building - toilet again - was in there and felt distinctly uncomfortable - like something/someone didn't want me there.

I mean both of those could be dodgy plumbing but funny it's never happened in my lifetime up until now.

The Savernake Forest one always comes up on threads like this and is really scary but can anyone remember one where a MN told the story about living in a little flat with a weird old fashioned looking stone alcove but then after they moved out they were talking to some friends who had visited them and they had no memory of it even - I think - providing photos with no alcove, just normal wall?!

For some reason that story always stuck with me and was really unsettling! I wouldn't know how to find it but I'd love to read it again.

The forest one is fake?? What?! It’s like the best thing about MN!

I might have posted this before but it’s a nice doggy one. Friends of ours lived in a rural converted barn, a semi, so had neighbours but stone walls were so thick you were never aware.

One night when their lovely flat coat retriever Charlie was on his very last legs - he was going to be PTS the next day, next door’s son called with his GF. This was well before smartphones and he went upstairs to check his emails on his folks’ computer.

While up there he was startled to see a dog out of the corner of his eye and asked GF whether she’d seen it. No she said, and anyway the dog’s downstairs.

Current dog was a Dalmatian but what he’d seen was a Weimaraner - exactly like their old dog that had died a few years back, and had been friends with the flatcoat next door.

Son was so shaken he went to the village pub for a restorative pint!

They thought their old dog must have come back to keep Charlie company on his way.

@OliverBabish

Went to look around a house we were interested in

In the front bedroom, I felt really weird and literally shuddered (like “someone had walked over my grave” iyswim)

Anyway, months later I’m talking to a new work colleague. She’s telling me how much trouble they are having selling her nan’s house. I asked where it was because we were still looking, and it was the house I’d been in months prior. My colleague said her nan had died after a short illness at home… in the front bedroom. I was glad we didn’t go for it!

Dull story really as I never had any info or closure like you did, but yours reminded me that ages ago DP and I looked at a flat to rent. Nice place, good area. But there was one room, bedroom I think, that I could NOT stand and stay in. I kept going back in to try to have a proper look, but I swear to God the temperature in there was about 15 degrees lower than in the rest of the place. I remember the goosebumps and the hairs on the back of my neck actually standing up, and all the times I walked in there and then turned on my heel and bolted out again. We didn't take it.

When I was a little girl my mum used to work in a nursing home. It was a huge Victorian House with lots of rooms and staircases and it was very grand inside. A bit creepy.

One day she was in a very posh old ladies room which was very high up in the house and having a convocation with her. This woman looked and spoke as if she was perfectly healthy and fine.
It was about 10pm and very dark and quiet. The old lady asked my mum if she could help her change into her best night gown, my mum did so, then in a very matter of fact voice the old lady said-
'My dear I believe there is someone at the front door, you must go and answer it'

My mum laughed and said there was no one there as they would have heard the bell going but the old lady insisted that she had to go right now as "Morris" was waiting for her and she mustn't miss him.

My mum knew there was no one there but to appease the old woman she went all the way down lots of stair cases to go check the door.

There was no one there- so she went back to tell the old lady and the old lady was lay on her bed -positioned perfectly with her hands crossed on her tummy - dead.

When my mother spoke to the old ladies children it turns out Morris was her husband who died years before and my mum believes the old lady knew she was going to die and wanted privacy to do so and meet Morris again.

@bangonthedoorgroovychick

When I was a little girl my mum used to work in a nursing home. It was a huge Victorian House with lots of rooms and staircases and it was very grand inside. A bit creepy.

One day she was in a very posh old ladies room which was very high up in the house and having a convocation with her. This woman looked and spoke as if she was perfectly healthy and fine.
It was about 10pm and very dark and quiet. The old lady asked my mum if she could help her change into her best night gown, my mum did so, then in a very matter of fact voice the old lady said-
'My dear I believe there is someone at the front door, you must go and answer it'

My mum laughed and said there was no one there as they would have heard the bell going but the old lady insisted that she had to go right now as "Morris" was waiting for her and she mustn't miss him.

My mum knew there was no one there but to appease the old woman she went all the way down lots of stair cases to go check the door.

There was no one there- so she went back to tell the old lady and the old lady was lay on her bed -positioned perfectly with her hands crossed on her tummy - dead.

When my mother spoke to the old ladies children it turns out Morris was her husband who died years before and my mum believes the old lady knew she was going to die and wanted privacy to do so and meet Morris again.

That's really beautiful.

My mother once told me something that happened to her on holiday, (both my parents died quite a while ago now).

Anyway, she and my Dad were on holiday in a caravan park. In the middle of the night, Mum woke up and needed the loo. She didn't want to wake my Dad so she didn't turn the light on, just made her way across the caravan in the dark.

She was just about to reach the door of the loo when a dark figure, about six foot tall, loomed up in front of her. She could tell it was a man by the shape and size, but the figure was like a solid black shadow in the darkness, she couldn't make out any details.

She naturally assumed that it was my Dad, thinking that he'd gotten up before her to use the loo himself and she didn't realise. So she said, "Hello, I didn't know you were awake?" (or something similar.)

In the little bit of light that came in through the gap in the curtains she could see his teeth suddenly gleam white in a huge grin, but she still couldn't see anything else about him except total darkness.

At which moment my Dad's voice came from behind her, "What?" and she realised that he was still in bed,.

Totally startled Mum turned to look towards the bed, and when she turned back the grinning shadow was no longer there.

Probably a half-awake/half-dreaming incident, (but she swore she was totally awake and there was something sinister there) (She was a bit annoyed when I suggested it might have been the spirit of Ross from "Friends")

@IntermittentParps Thank you it's always given me a bit of hope that there's something nice after death.

About 5 years ago me and DP spent a night in a very old hotel in Farringdon, all old beams and mahogany furniture etc. That night, I was woken up by someone sitting on my feet and thought DP had fallen on the bed on the way to the loo. So I opened my eyes and then felt a hand caressing the side of my face! I quickly woke up DP as I was terrified... he said I must have been hallucinating as I had a bad cold... but I've had worse colds and not been sat on by people not there!

F

@ParadiseLaundry

The Savernake Forest one always comes up on threads like this and is really scary but can anyone remember one where a MN told the story about living in a little flat with a weird old fashioned looking stone alcove but then after they moved out they were talking to some friends who had visited them and they had no memory of it even - I think - providing photos with no alcove, just normal wall?!

For some reason that story always stuck with me and was really unsettling! I wouldn't know how to find it but I'd love to read it again.

I remember that one! The alcove was there, they used to hang coats and stuff in it. After they moved out they had reason to go back and the alcove was gone.

@Will0wtree your last line made me lol!

Years ago I was lying in bed and something shouted boo! In my ear really fucking loudly. I dived up, ran downstairs and my partner at the time said I was dreaming.

Same house, he was on nights, doorbell kept ringing. I sat downstairs, doer bell ringing and my cats hissing at thin air on the stairs. Really hissing.
I felt the cold sweat trickle down my back I was so frightened it was like the whole room froze. Just a horrible horrible atmosphere.

He came home. Said I was dreaming again.

I went away a couple of weeks after and he called me shitting himself because there were lights and voices on the landing he was too scared to get up even though the bedroom door was open.

I think we just had a mischievous spirit as I never felt threatened just scared of the not knowing what it was.

So here is the story of the house I lived in.
It is a perfectly average house on a 1990s housing estate near the motorway in my town, absolutely nothing at all old or creepy.
I moved in with my friend- we were renting it.
Almost immediately when I was there by myself I would feel nervous about a particular corner of the living room- it's a weird feeling to describe - it wasn't exactly fear- more keep checking over your shoulder in case someone is there. This was so strong that when my friend was out on a shift and I was there by myself I would take my dinner to my bedroom to eat rather than be downstairs alone. One night, when I was sleeping on the sofa as I had family staying and I had given them the beds- I had to sleep with the lights on and face the back of the settee rather than close my eyes facing the corner of the room. When I left the house, I would always think to myself 'Don't look back in there, just lock the door and go'
I had not shared this with my friend at all for a couple of reasons- I thought maybe I was just a bit low, and my friend is a nurse and very pragmatic. One day, I got home form work and she was up in pyjamas and hadn't slept despite coming off a night shift. She had been in bed, mid morning and had heard the front door slam and loud footsteps coming up the stairs, and into my bedroom, and my door shut. She had called out to me about why I had left work, got no answer and gone into my room and obviously I wasn't there, She then confessed to me that she had been feeling really scared too, and talked about the same corner of the room. She had also had the 'don't look in there' feeling and had had a few really awful dreams (corpse of her father in bed with her and she couldn't get out) was the worse one.
We lived there for about another 6 months then she moved out to live with her now DH- leaving me alone there for 6 weeks. I spent as many nights away as I could - and when I finally moved out my Mum, stepdad and sister all confessed that they hated the house and always felt scared when they stayed over but never told me and friend so we didn't get freaked out!

@ShirleyPhallus

Great thread!! We need to find that really spooky one about the woman in the farm building who ran out after her dog and then felt a presence etc etc - anyone know what I’m talking about?

Wasn't that the savernake forest one? I remember that. I left the light on after reading that thread

Oooh, love these!

[quote ToffeeNotCoffee]@ShirleyPhallus

Great thread!! We need to find that really spooky one about the woman in the farm building who ran out after her dog and then felt a presence etc etc - anyone know what I’m talking about?

Yes, I do. Savernake Forrest is the name of that story, I think. I thought at the time it was made up. It's been debunked as made up.

However, what I struggle with, is, wouldn't the story teller's first instinct be to look over her shoulder or at least identify where the puppy was ? Not just go horsing into the back garden in the hours of darkness chasing after a shadow that might have been the puppy ?

Then just stand there, in the pitch black (as if waiting for the rest of the story to be written.)

However, it's spooky stories that have been asked for, so keep the spooky stories coming.

(I'm into, 'Top 5 mysteries' on YouTube. Very good. Mostly about people who have disappeared either by accident or design. Some have reappeared. Some haven't.)

Also, 'Ask a Mortician' very good presenter and stories i.e. Jack the Ripper. Or, the story of enforced starvation at a dodgy health farm in the 1930's. Or how the Branch Davidian Waco siege was badly handled and gave them the Armageddon scenario they were wanting.[/quote]
Is ask a mortician on YouTube?

@ParadiseLaundry

The Savernake Forest one always comes up on threads like this and is really scary but can anyone remember one where a MN told the story about living in a little flat with a weird old fashioned looking stone alcove but then after they moved out they were talking to some friends who had visited them and they had no memory of it even - I think - providing photos with no alcove, just normal wall?!

For some reason that story always stuck with me and was really unsettling! I wouldn't know how to find it but I'd love to read it again.

@ParadiseLaundry I remember reading that too!

The saver make forest one - I pm"d the lady who wrote that .

I completely believed her . She wasn't remotely woo- never had anything else happen before or since .

I shouldn't even be on this thread I am on my own tonight!

The scariest one I have read recently was the horrible apparition one poster saw in a guesthouse in Somerset. It was on this thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4326598-To-ask-you-to-tell-me-the-weirdest-spookiest-thing-you-ve-experience?pg=6

Left quite disturbed for atleast 24 hours afterwards . The poster goes on to explain later in the thread what it was she actually saw (I physically suddered!)

When we first moved into our house I used to work PT and would be at home alone a few hours a day. More times than I can count, if I bent over to change the bedsheets, or to clean the bathroom etc, something would slap me on the butt. It only ever happened upstairs, and never if there was anybody else at home.