I don't believe in ghosts. I'm an atheist, I believe when you're dead you're dead, there's nothing after it. Ghosts aren't real.
I've also experienced two hauntings in my life.
I spent three months being "watched" by something in my home. I'd catch sight of a figure out of the corner of my eye, usually jump out of my fucking skin, and when I turned to look at it, nothing was there. It'd happen while me and DP were watching TV, or it'd be standing at the bottom of the stairs as I came down, or in a doorway as I walked past. Usually about once a day for those 3 months.
During that time I also saw DP standing at an upstairs window as I approached the house, but she was sat on the sofa when I got in. She couldn't have got downstairs in that time, I could see the stairs through the frosted glass in the front door.
Something also spent a fun evening lobbing a teaspoon around my kitchen. I'm upstairs, hear something fall, come downstairs and it's on the floor. Pick it up, put it on the side. Start walking back upstairs and hear it again. Come back and it's on the opposite counter to the one I put it on. So I take it upstairs with me, put it on my computer desk and carry on gaming. About half an hour later, I hear the noise again. The spoon isn't on my desk, it's on the kitchen floor again. I'd been home alone all this time.
All of the above screams ghost right? Probably not. I was going through the most stressful period of my life at the time. My Mum was dying, DP and I were going through a rough patch, and redundancies were looming at work. Given a choice between ghost or me losing my marbles? I'm going for the second one.
The second one was actually a few years earlier, but is harder to explain. While I was a student I worked at my universities library. We used to shut at 10 in those days, and anyone working at closing had to wander round the buildings and kick out anyone still there. (I swear some students actually wanted to be locked in!) The law library was connected to the main library, but was a much older building. For reasons I'll explain that will become clear, no-one ever wanted to be the one down there at that time of night. As I was often the only able-bodied male working, I tended to end up drawing the short straw.
You'd hear things down there. Footsteps, people talking. Never loud enough to actually make out words, but definitely hushed conversation. You'd assume there were students in there so you'd wander round looking for them. Never anyone in there (noone liked being in there at that time of night, not even the students). I used to feel like someone was playing a trick on me. You'd hear stuff from one direction, head that way and it'd come from somewhere else entirely. I figured it was sound travelling through the vents or something, and then gradually got more annoyed with people, assumed another staff member was playing silly buggers when all I wanted to do was go home.
So one of the porters (basically security, although they all seemed about 80 years old. I've forgotten his name, so we'll call him Clive), said he'd lock us in one night, and we'd see if it happened while no-one was around. So 10 o'clock rolls around, and we set up shop down there. There'd been no weirdness at closing time that night, and there wasn't as we sat in the dark, reading our books and chatting quietly. 11 o'clock rolls around, then 12. Nothing. I'm mentally thinking I'm vindicated, that it has been someone pissing about, that I'm going to throw a proper strop at whoevers responsible. Thats when I hear a very clear "Why are you still here?" Young womans voice, close by. I assume I'd drifted off to sleep. But Clives looking at me with wild eyes. We both get up, and start walking the aisles. We don't hear anything so clear again, but we do get the usual. Footsteps, conversation. Half an hour goes by and we find nothing. So we head home, locking up as we go. If there is anyone still there then they're either getting stuck for the night or will have to get out through a fire escape.
Clives back the next morning to open up. I'm not, I'm a student, I don't get up before 8am for anyone. Noones in there when he opens the library.
I find that one much harder to explain away. It wasn't just me who experienced it, others did too. I work in the uni again now, although in a different building. I asked when I went to get my ID card from the library whether people still experience it. The library is open 24 hours these days, so no-one needs to venture into the law library late at night. People do still hear stuff down there though.
Still don't believe it's a ghost though.