AIBU - to want to know your spooky stories

[LouH1981]

So, similar to a fellow mumsnetter, I too am laid up in bed, I have an infection post partum so feeling a bit rubbish and would really love to hear about the spookiest unexplained things that have happened to you.
I’m always fascinated by this especially from people who are skeptics and something has genuinely taken them aback.

I’ll start...just moved in to our new (to us) house (about 100 years old) and DS was about 6 weeks old. Middle of the night and I was changing him in the spare room on a changing table. Heard a voice ask if I was alright. I’d left DH deep asleep in our room and although it didn’t sound like his voice I assumed it was him and answered ‘yes fine’. Returned seconds later expecting him to be awake but he was still asleep.
A few weeks later, my mum mentioned while our shopping that she thought our house was a bit spooky. And when I asked why, she said that while she was trying to get to sleep in the other spare room she heard a voice gently ask her if she was alright. She said she just hid under the duvet!
Freaked me out but has never happened again...

Oh I have another feeling one.

My colleague and I became very good friends and our families would all come together to socialise.

One night I had a dream that her daughter was quite heavily pregnant and I was giving her my DDs old pram.
I woke up and it felt so real.

Went to work that day and my colleague come over to me and said 'Oh, I have got something to tell you!' To which I said 'X is pregnant, isn't she?'
Colleague went white and looked at me as though I was a witch
She'd only found at that morning herself - I told her about my dream, it didn't help to convince her I wasn't a witch

Oh @igotdemons I'm the same with feelings.

Phone calls
Text messages
Packages.

I also have a knack for having conversations with myself in my head (I'm not crazy) and them playing out identically within the next couple of days.

I've always been able to preempt what people were about to say to me, it's very strange but I'm never caught unawares!

When I was at school I had a Saturday job at an old stately home which did weddings, one Saturday we were putting the crockery away into the storage cupboard which was in a little room off a long corridor, as I stepped out of the room I stopped as I felt someone was about to walk into my path on the corridor, I looked and saw all this white blurry mist, I looked across to the colleague I was with who said can you see that too, I screamed and ran the hell out of there! I later found out the colleague I was working with was a psychic/clarevoyant and she said the mist I saw was a young maid and she was just as scared of me as I was of her!

I've posted about this before.
The night my dd died. I was in bed sleeping when I heard her coming up the stairs. She came into the bedroom and sat on my bed I could feel the weight of her sitting down. She told me I know what your having (I was 7mths pregnant with dd2).
I got up to look for her i thought she had left the house.
In the morning I told DH she was in the house during the night. I tried calling her and got no answer.
Later on 3 police officers came to the house and informed us she had died. I told the police when they took statements from us that she had been here the night before. It wasn't until they checked CCTV they told us it wasn't possible for her to have been in the house.
I will never understand what happened it felt so REAL. The police showed me the cctv footage because for a long time I still believed she was in the house.

I have many to tell but it’s too long so I’ll just tell one or maybe two...
The house I grew up in had very strange goings on but this one thing has really stayed with me.

I was 15 years old and lying in bed one night with the cat purring away next to me. My bedroom light was on as I had been reading. Our old cat had died a year previously and the cat lying on my bed was one of two new rescue cats we had recently adopted.
My door gently opened just wide enough for the other new cat we had to come in. My cat on the bed looked, I sat up and looked. Nothing appeared. But then there was the sound of some little paw pads walking across my floor, the sound that cat claws make as they softly catch the threads of a carpet. This ‘invisible’ thing made its way around my room finally reaching a tall house plant that Mum had put in the corner and that started shaking like a cat was swishing it’s tail around it. I saw the hackles slowly going up on my cat that was on the bed. The plant stopped shaking and the next thing I knew was the cat on my bed started hissing and it was like he got scooped off my bed lying down and thrown threw the air.
I decided it was my old cat showing her displeasure at the new cats as for many months after her death we could hear her pottering up and down the stairs, the lounge door would gently push open like she used to when coming in and you could always hear the sound of her grooming herself from her favourite place behind the sofa. Everyone in the house experienced some crazy things there including my cynical father so I know it’s not an overactive imagination!

I had a lovely cat who died last spring at just 8 years old. We had her cremated and put the remains in a nice wooden box in the living room. One of her odd habits was to walk up and down the hall at night, carrying her favorite soft toy in her mouth, then dropping it in our bedroom. Every time she did this I'd pick it up and put it back in her toy bin in the living room.

Four times after she passed I found her toy on the bedroom floor when I woke up, knowing that the last time I'd seen it was in her toy bin.

So not terribly creepy compared to some of these stories. I think she was just letting us know she was still with us in some way.

@RickOShea

That’s terrifying. Did you ever find out about the history of the house?

No I tried but couldn't find anything. What's weird is the cottage is still being let out as a holiday cottage and there's loads of 5star reviews saying how lovely and cosy and homely the cottage is.

So it must've just been us that the ghost didn't like! 😂

I’ve namechanged for this as it is possibly outing.

I’ve always been able to see things in advance. When people go through a hard time I often know about it even if they are people I haven’t been in contact with for a wile etc. And it often happens through dreams.

Anyway, earlier this year I was due to go into hospital for open heart surgery. About two weeks before I was due to go in I had a dream that I’d had the surgery and that all my family, DP etc were there waiting for me after. Felt fantastic, and there they all were. Except I knew they were there but I couldn’t get to them at all. I tried, but I couldn’t. The next day I told my DP that I knew I was going to die. But obviously I couldn’t refuse to have the surgery based on some kind of premonition, and if I was wrong then I would have a massive improvement in my quality of life.

Anyway, the day of the surgery came and I went to the hospital. There was no bed available the night before so i checked in the morning of the surgery. The surgeon came to see me and told me that he’d looked at my scans and results and that in his opinion my heart was to weak to be able to withstand surgery. I had some other tests to see if it was possible to do a lesser procedure and crashed and spent weeks and weeks in hospital, and nearly died twice.

But they brought me back, and one of the consultants said that if the surgery had gone ahead I wouldn’t be here now to tell the tale.

@ParkheadParadise Oh, both heartbreaking and heartwarming in one go. I am so very sorry. She clearly wanted to visit you before she left.

When our cat was young we’d both been in bed reading one weekend morning & he was curled up asleep on my lap. Something lifted him off my lap in a whoosh & he landed, still asleep, on my dressing gown on the floor where he woke up. I’m always glad dh saw it too because I’d doubt myself.

Our cat died in an rta, we’re both heartbroken by it. 12 days after he’d died I got up & heard him jump off the kitchen windowsill. I told dh who told me no, you didn’t hear that.

A few days later I’d gone to work before dh woke up & when I got home dh told me he’d heard the cat jump off the windowsill too. Neither of us drink so we’re quite alert in the morning.

There’s a little black cat ghost who appears in the kitchen & our bedroom but you only see the tip of its tail as it runs in. Not seen it since our cat died though. Dh has never seen it.

@BaubleTheLumpOfCoal Oh wow, I wonder how many of us there are?! 😱

I like to think of myself as quite rational and have tried for many years to think of logical reasons as to the strange things that happened in the house we rented when dc1 was a baby, the upstairs of the house wouldn't get warm even no matter the heat in the rest of the house literally 7 steps up the stairs and you could feel the temperature change, all upstairs radiators worked and wasn't a damp / draughty house , the box room had such a bad feeling that I just locked the door and put the key away . You could see the stairs in the sitting room mirror and would often see shadows walking up the stairs . The curtains upstairs would move by themselves , if open them in the morning and when I went back up the curtain would be moved from the side like someone was looking out the window except the only ones were me and 6month dc . My 17db refused to stay in the house alone as it creeped him out .

And the final straw was one morning I woke up to my dh crying my name as I rolled over I saw a dark shadow move off him and retreat to the corner of the room , it was just around sunrise so the room wasn't completely dark but that corner was so much darker . He said he been pinned to the bed , choked and couldn't move . Logically I'd put this down to sleep paralysis apart from the fact I'd felt a presence too . We moved out within a week , we've lived in a few houses since and honestly I've never felt anything like it , I have to drive past this house to get to my parents house and I still get the shivers .

Another rental when I was younger. A flat shared with 2 others girls. We loved it because the bathroom still had all the pink fittings and tile. Except every time you soaked in the bath the smell of jasmine came out of nowhere. Very distinct.

None of us wore perfume with any jasmine scent or used jasmine essential oils or candles that smelled of jasmine.

Found out later the last tenant had died in that bath of slitting her wrists.

She loved to use jasmine as a scent.

So glad we found that out as we were moving out.

Moved into a new build house where there were very strange goings on in a particular part. Would hear footsteps on the decking out the back, if I went out I had a feeling of complete terror, a ring disappeared and turned up six months later on the kitchen floor.

Never did find out why but it was horrible. Also, the people who bought the house after us sold it within a year, never did find out why. My cats have randomly come back after they’ve died. My first two came back fairly regularly, I’d hear them jump off the bed etc. Then we got another cat from a rescue who was sadly run over four months after we got her. But she came back for ages, I’d hear her jump off the bed and DS saw her on the stairs.

Then after I had a hospital stay three years ago she disappeared.

I have 2. Both in our current home.

My DM was coming to water our hanging baskets whilst we were away on holiday. We left in a rush and i left DSS rain coat on the back of the chair. DM rang will DSS be ok without his coat i said yes fine if needs be we'll pick him up another. Next day DM rang me sounding panicked i asked what was wrong she asked who else had a key to our house i said no one, my key was on my car keys at home DH house key was with us and 3rd key is the one my DM had she said oh well DSS coat has been zipped up an laid on the table.

We had our god son and daughter stay over which happens quite regular. I was making their breakfast when i heard them talking. God son came into kitched (age 2) i could still hear god daughter age 3 chatting away i shouted her in for breakfast and said who have you been talking to she said the really nice old lady that comes into our bedroom when we sleep here. Every hair on my body stood on end. I was very relieved she said nice lady though. It turns out after talking to our neighbour a really nice old lady did live here but unfortunately passed away in that bedroom

Shameless placemarking. And I do hope you feel better soon OP I had a uterine infection after DS and it was horrible.

I have regular spooky happenings, at my place of work; I'm a caretaker at a primary school, with parts of the building being Victorian, through to a modern extension. Footsteps are frequently heard, in fact just before we broke up for Christmas my husband (who'd come to pick me up) was startled by the sound of someone running up the corridor behind him. I heard him yell and just caught him swinging around ready to berate the prankster that he thought was going to grab him- but there was nobody there! I'd seen the last teacher off the premises 5 minutes before.

When on site alone I've heard: chairs being scraped across the floor
A little girl crying.*
Female voices, having a chat but I couldn't make out a single word.
More recently, at 11.30pm, male voices having a chat- heard the word "cricket" as plain as day!
The door handle on my office door rattling, accompanied by girly giggles and scampering feet.*
Heavy footsteps that have walked towards me, paused by me, then carried on their stately way.
Doors being opened and shut firmly.
Smarties being thrown around the staff room, with me in it.
(*= Same little girl.)

A couple of my colleagues have seen and heard things too.

I know one of the ghosts very well, he was my godfather who also worked as a caretaker there when I was a pupil. Quite a cheeky rascal, who loved a practical joke, bless him!

The heavy footsteps belong to a Victorian headmaster.

None of our ghosties are to be scared of, they're just there, doing their thing and I fully intend to haunt the place myself when my time comes!

Loving the stories about all the cats coming back! Seems to be a common theme.

Placemarking as I love these stories especially the cats 🙀

Does anyone know Barley Hall in York? It's a Medieval house in York that's been restored to what it would have been and you can go look around. It's nice, definitely worth a visit. We were there this one day with DS1. He was a year old and not at all interested so while we were down in the pantry area he was trying to crawl up the stairs. I stuck my head through the stair rail in front of him and said "where are you going, mister?" while DH went to go behind him to lift him down. I heard a fast rustling sound behind me and then rapid whispering, a woman's voice. I didn't hear exactly what was said, just the urgency of it and the questioning tone, something like "why are you here?" or "what are you doing?". The main reason I didn't hear properly was because I shot off like a scalded cat, grabbed DS off DH and ducked into the school room just off the stairs where I stood, heart pounding, wondering what the fuck had just happened. My skin was all goosebumps and I was seriously tweaked. DH was pissing himself laughing, he'd heard it too, and reminded me that there are speakers in the corners of some of the rooms playing "authentic sounds" for ambience. We'd obviously encountered one. Back at the entrance and we were chatting with the woman on the desk, DH decided to embarrass me by telling her that their ambient sounds had almost given me a heart attack. She asked which one and I said the little corridor next to the pantry and the buttery. "There isn't a speaker there" she told us. I thought she was having us on and we even went back to check, definitely no speakers. I don't know what I heard but DH heard it too, we've been back since then and haven't heard it again.

When i was little I shared a bedroom with my younger brother. I woke up this one night and could feel my toes being tickled by other toes, my brother would often get in the bottom of my bed if he woke up during the night and we'd top and tail so I thought it was him. I pushed my feet against the soles of feet and they pushed back. I did alternate feet, pushing with one then the other and gradually getting faster. I put my feet flat against theirs and used my feet to rock theirs back and forth. All the silly little footsie games my brother and I played when he climbed in with me. At some point I glanced over and saw my brother there in his bed. It was years ago but I still remember the sensation of my skin suddenly feeling too small for my body. I lay there, frozen under my blankets, too scared to move, too scared to sit up and see who/what owned the feet that were still touching mine. I must have fallen back asleep at some point because when I woke up it was morning and the feet were gone. I was probably dreaming or something, children have such active imaginations, but they were definitely feet, I could feel the toes and skin and everything, and if it was a dream it was an extraordinarily vivid one which has stayed with me all these years.

@Myheadisamess31 Aww, have visions of her carefully tidying your DSS’s coat on the table in that kind of Grandma way!

@AgentCooper Thank you! Ah, snap, GP thinks mine’s a uterine infection too so with that on top of a c section recovery, I’m feeling a bit worse for wear. It’s not the nicest, is it?! This thread is keeping me going though! 😊

I’ve got two. One happened a while ago, when I was 14. We were at a haven holiday campsite with my parents. I was going to sleep, but still awake, when I felt something jump on my feet, I shouted for my mum who came in but couldn’t find anything. My mum tried to tell me I was dreaming but I absolutely know I wasn’t, I felt the pressure, and the pain from the bang and in the morning my foot still hurt slightly.

The next one happened recently - but I’m sure this wasn’t real although it felt it. I put my newborn to sleep in his co sleeper, and I woke up to him screaming crying, when I went to get him I was completely paralysed and there was what I can only describe as a demon hovering over my baby. I screamed out but literally no voice came out of my mouth. In the end I closed my eyes and shook my head and I felt my body sort of release? My sister says it’s called sleep paralysis but I was 1000-% awake!

Placemarking as I love these stories especially the cats

If anyone wants to see a picture of the calico haunter I posted this thread about her last spring. We still have her brother and an older female.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_litter_tray/3563353-Oh-God-not-again

This will out me to anyone who knows me.

We bought our house as a fixer upper. It had been empty and used as storage for about 15 years, previously it had been a holiday cottage since about the 1970s.

I was pregnant and there was a huge amount of work to do, but luckily it was mostly done by the time baby came along, and we moved in a few weeks before I gave birth.

Firstly it was the pictures. They'd just drop off the walls, out of nowhere, like apples from a tree.

There had a been a bit of a weird feeling in the house from the day we first viewed it, but neither of us are superstitious and we put it down to it being empty for so long. However this feeling grew, and the feeling of being watched was extremely strong. DH kept hearing me call his name, when I hadn't. I kept hearing DH walk up behind me, when he hadn't.

When we brought the baby home, "it" basically went into overdrive. This is going to make me sound bonkers, I'm an atheist who doesn't believe in ghosts and nobody was more suprised than me. But it was just constant. I'd be dozing on the sofa with baby in the moses basket and I'd "feel" DH come and sit beside me on the sofa, when I opened my eyes there was nothing there. This would be every evening. When I was in the kitchen cooking, it felt like there was someone behind me almost mirroring my steps. DH kept seeing me walk past the bathroom when I was in bed with the baby.

It came to a head when I kept feeling someone plucking at my collar and my sleeves - you know the way your fussy granny would when you were a kid? Pluck pluck pluck. At one point I was convinced I must have postpartum psychosis, because there was 100% someone standing behind me fixing my collar, but at the same time there wasn't.

I should say that I didn't feel like It was nasty or scary. It was more like it was overexcited and clumsy as a result. I very much felt that the focus was around the baby, that the arrival of our DC had excited its interest

One morning, when baby was maybe 5 weeks old and DH was back at work, I came in from the garden to find my dad had let himself in with some cakes for me, and was sitting in front of the fire. I sat down, he asked how I was, and I wasn't intending on saying anything because I was afraid people would think I was going bonkers after the birth, but all of a sudden I just went "I think this house is haunted"

My dad is a dour bugger, but he went pale then and he goes "bloody hell. When I came in the door earlier, I could have sworn there was someone sitting in that chair in the corner. I thought it was you holding the baby, but when I looked properly there was nobody there."

So I told him what happened, and he said his aunt used to see things, and if they bothered her she always used to tell them to go away. So the next time I felt something, I just had a chat with the air and told it to tone it down a bit, and it did. Everything stopped, more or less. To this day, we and other people frequently hear our names called when nobody has spoken, and sometimes in one particular area there's still a feeling of someone being there, but that's about it.

I found out something interesting, months and months afterwards. We got talking to a very old lady on our street, in her nineties. She knew the elderly lady who had owned our house before the holiday people had bought it. This lady was lovely, but was very much alone as she'd been widowed and her children had emigrated, and of course in those days it was rare they'd come back. She had grandchildren she'd never met, and this apparently just broke her heart. Consequently she took an interest in all the children of the street, and was always knitting, baking, offering to watch little ones so the young mothers could nip to the shops. She died in the house. Most likely a coincidence, but I think if our ghost is anybody, it is her- because, when I think about it, it struck me that a lot of the antics were kind of like the spirit version of a kind and well meaning, but overexcited and slightly irritating MIL!

I didn't mind at all after that, if she wanted to stick around and watch the children grow. She was a keen gardener and so are we, she planted some of the trees and shrubs still in our garden, and the snowdrops - my own grandmother's favourite flower. I hope she approves of what we have done