To start the spooky stories thread?

[SurpriseItsMeHorseyNeighNeigh]

Of course I'm not, it's Halloween, let's get scared.

So what is the spookiest/most unexplainable experience you had? We're talking paranormal here.

"Did he look like Rex Harrison and was your family name Muir?"

And now, you will never be lonely again !

That made my blood run cold 😰

You should really have started your own thread debunking these sorts of stories - that would have been more polite.

It's good manners to not derail someone's thread.

I am quite anti woo but can’t explain this. On holiday in an ancient 17th century thatched cottage in Devon, it wasn’t a comfortable place. One night I heard mother in law walking around upstairs in early hours. Swore it wasn’t her. Next day went out for the day, came back and all the drawers were messed up
in our bedroom. As if someone had rooted through. Later that night I had a real sense someone was sitting on edge of my bed.

finally, I woke in early hours one day. Just before Dawn. It was cold and grey and I definitely heard a horrible laugh.

these things are all explainable I guess but all together they freaked me out.

@Bobsledgirl yeah that would definitely scare me!

When I was about 11 and my sister was 18, we were on the landing at our family home where I still live. It is end of terrace so I often hear the neighbours through the walls, but it’s clearly muffled and sounds like someone next door. There were no kids playing outside. It was quiet, and then we just heard very clearly a chorus of kids’ voices singing “ring a ring o’roses” and then quiet again.

It was silent, then that very clearly, then silent again. I would have just discounted it if my sister hadn’t been there and hadn’t still recalled it. I have lived there for many years on and off, and I’ve never had a similar experience in terms of sound acting like that. My sister and I just can’t come up with a logical explanation.

Also, once I was at my school over the summer holidays in a section that was empty and I heard little feet running very clearly through the hall outside the classroom.

If you're into the paranormal you should listen to the "Uncanny" series on the BBC Sounds app. So so soooo good!

It's listeners stories on everything from aliens to ghosts.

Same guy did the Battersea Poltergeist, which is also on BBC Sounds and worth a listen.

I suffer from sleep paralysis on a regular basis often more than once in one evening. I find it worse on a night when I'm struggling to drop off than when I do ....

I read a book a few years ago called "A Sincere Warning About The Entity in Your House" and now thoroughly wish I hadn't.

I think we could pick apart a lot of the stories and come up with a rational explanation, including the one I posted. I don't know if it would be appropriate to, as some found it a comfort involving deceased relatives, unless someone asks (which possibly they did?)

I posted about a strange occurrence a few years ago (2010/11) but I wondered if there was a rational explanation for it and people here tried to come up with one. Theories included minor earth tremors, passing large vehicles, subsidence (possibly, I can't find the thread, it was probably in Chat when chat was regularly deleted). Things like that, but that didn't fit with what happened. I still don't know what happened. Though I had a general search today and found similar examples from around the world.

I've lived in 7 different houses and only suffered with sleep paralysis in one of them. I lived in an old Victorian flat with a basement for four years. From the day I moved in to the day I left, I had specific recurring sleep paralysis incidents always involving a man and his dog. Never had them before loving in the house and never since. I was 'aware' in some way of the presence of a man and dog in the evenings as soon as I started to nod off. I could feel an evil presence envelop the room. I would absolutely swear I was still awake or had akown and would be paralysed with fear as I felt breath on my neck and a horrible shallow rasping breath in my ear. I'd also be aware sometimes that they were actually pressed up hard against me with the intention of scaring me. Sometimes if I'd let my arm flop out of the bed I could hear and feel the dog sniffing / slavering at my hand. In my minds eye it was baring its teeth and I could feel the vibration against my hand of it's low growl. I would lie with my eyes open looking at the clock, but terrified to turn around and face this beast and it's master. Eventually they would subside / melt away and i could breathe again. I always got the feeling that the man and dog 'lived there in spirit' and that my presence there angered them somehow. Probably because there was never any variation - just always angry man and dog come to make their presence known.

I also used to be woken up by a mad crazy ringing on the doorbell at 2am and would look out of the window. There was never anyone there. Of course that could have been a fault with the doorbell.

It was a beautiful property, but I never felt I could enjoy it or relax there because of the weird feeling it gave me. I bought it in a hurry after looking at 30+ other properties in the area and just fell for it's amazing kitchen, so never gave much thought to it's 'feel'

I never went near the cellar and actually put carpet over the trapdoor and cans of paint on top. You could still sort of see through the airbricks low down in the wall when out in the yard though and it always made me feel uneasy.

I had lived in a very similar period property in the past and never had any problems there so it's not as if I'm just spooked by old houses.

I had a dream about 9/11 and told a colleague at work about it , it happened about a week later. Changed my faith, as in the dream when everything went black after the blast there was simply a feeling of peace and love.

Sleep paralysis is strange, since the sensations are so much more vivid than a dream. The sense of evil some feel emanating from the presence is more visceral than a nightmare. And the experiences are so similar, all over the world, as if billions of people are seeing/imagining exactly the same thing. How bizarre is that!

That must have been very shocking for you Roste.

Sleep paralysis is more common if you sleep on your back. Inspired some famous artwork too.

Der Nachtmahr (The Nightmare)

So creepy. Why is it sitting on her?

I think that's the spot people often describe pressure? They also talk about something sitting on them, a demon or a crone (I'm saying 'crone' because I think that's another painting) or something else.

I'd imagine it's a frightening experience. It's put me off sleeping on my back!

Yes, that’s where the archaic expression ‘hagridden’ comes from, meaning, to have had nightmares or to be tormented or worried. ‘I was hagrid/hagridden last night’, meaning ‘I had nightmares last night’.

Hence Hagrid in Harry Potter, though he’s not a particularly tormented chap, so I’m assuming JKR just liked the word.

Oh that's interesting about hagridden/hagrid!

Yes! It wasn't just black, it was an absence of light!

I've not been back to that part of Sussex in approx 20 years. The utterly non-human nature of the thing, still gives me goosebumps.

Hope those of you local have managed to head out of doors!

Blimey 😰

@HughCanoe yes it was shocking to see the news afterwards. I am spiritual rather than religious now - I don’t believe we are judged after death , just loved.
Never had another dream like it about other world events, nor would I talk as openly about it again if I ever did.

That would be terrifying I have had this with childrens toys going off only when I am home alone. Especially the vtech teddies there might be an explanation but seen another post a few years back with quite a few people saying it happened to them also.

Ooh this gave me goosebumps.

Applebeard Ooh that gave me goosebumps.

Shamelessly place marking.