I sit on the fence with paranornal stuff as I have had a few unexplained experiences:
Years ago I used to work in an office near the centre of Birmingham. I've always been interested in historic places and in my lunch break that day (in the days when you got a full hour) I decided to check out a church a short walk from my office. It was locked but there was a note on the door saying that you could get the key from the vicarage so I knocked on the door and borrowed the key, the vicar was going out but told me to pop it through the letterbox when I was finished. I let myself in, walked through the porch, wandered round the church a bit then decided to sit in a pew at the back of the church and read my book before returning to work. As I sat there reading I kept having this feeling that someone was watching me from the gallery above, I had a sense of a man in a hat, but I just put it down to my over-active imagination. Then, as I sat there, I started to hear some noises, first of all just pigeons most probably but then more noises - there was a function room just off the porch as I came in so I just assumed that others had come in after me as it sounded like they were setting up for a function, maybe a wedding or something, clattering of what sounded like crockery, cutlery etc,the noises seemed to be getting louder and louder. After a while it was time to leave but before I went I paused at the back of the church to look at artwork produced by local children. As I stood looking at it, one of the ground floor doors which I assumed led up to the gallery started to slowly creak open. Up until this point I had felt quite relaxed in there but the slowly creaking open door freaked me out and I flew to the door - looking right into the function room on the way out there was nobody there, it was completely empty and no sign of any setting up for a function. I ran out of the door and locked it behind me, I can remember the internal door slowly starting to open as I closed and locked the outside door. I later emailed the vicar asking if anyone else had had any experiences there but he said not that he knew of. I have no explanation for this unless I locked somebody in, but why would they be sitting in a locked church anyway, and this still did not explain the noises.
Second experience - living in a flat in Birmingham I always felt watched, but it never felt scary. I just put it down to the place having a lot of glass panels in the doors. The day we moved in the lightbulb fell out in the bathroom and was lying on the floor which was a bit odd.
Third experience - About 9 years ago I went to Budapest with my mum. We rented an apartment in a lovely historic apartment block with an ornate staircase and high ceilings and renovated apartments. Mum and I had a huge bedroom each, it was lovely. In the night, and I don’t know if it was the first night, or just one of the nights, or every night, I was woken up about 2/3am, by the sound of heavy furniture being moved around in the apartment above. When I mentioned it to mum the next morning she had been disturbed by the same thing. At one point, I don’t know if it was the next morning or later in the week, I went upstairs to investigate the flat above but there did not appear to be anyone living in the apartment above as it appeared to be undergoing renovation, there was plastic sheeting in front of the door. Also, why would anyone be pushing heavy furniture around in the middle of the night! Mum thought perhaps the owner was only able to work on it during the night. Seemed a bit odd though.
Fourth experience - Mum and I attended a haunted house vigil, organised by a paranormal team. It was at a supposed haunted house in Leicester that had got into the national newspapers. The team had rigged up CCTV throughout the house. I just thought it would be a bit of fun although my mum who went with me is more of a believer. Nothing happened all night despite the investigators' best efforts! But at one point they were organising a ouija board session and I refused to take part as those things unnerve me, despite my skepticism, but I was pressured into doing it and as my mum was doing it as well I ended up joining in. During the session I swear something spoke into my ear. It had a deep voice so it sounded male but I have no idea what it said but it really scared me and I refused to continue. I wasn’t feeling scared before this happened, although taking part in the ouija board had made me feel uncomfortable and I won’t ever be pressured into doing that again. I was so scared I never told anyone and didn't even tell my mum until years later. No-one else seemed to hear anything.
Fifth experience - Mum and I were off on holiday again, having started a lovely tradition that we holiday together every year as we both love to travel. This year took us to Crete. On arrival, our first night’s accommodation was in a hotel in Chania. It had been converted from a traditional, stone-built house built in 1659.
I had booked us 2 economy single rooms but as the hotel was quiet they had upgraded us to two lovely double rooms, mum’s had a four poster and a beautiful view of the harbour, my window had a street view. We checked in and went straight out to dinner, deciding to unpack later, as we had arrived in the evening. After dinner, we went to our individual rooms to unpack and get ready for bed. Now it gets weird as the way I remember it, in my room facing the bed was a little cubby hole built into the wall with little doors, I distinctly remember opening the little doors and looking inside when I got there, and behind the little doors was some kind of pattern or picture. My suitcase was to the left of the bed in the corner of the room and I was bending over it with my back to the room when something hit me on the back of my left shoulder. I remember thinking that maybe the little door to the cubby had swung back open and hit my shoulder. But, and this is where it gets weird, when I look back at the photos I took of the room there was no cubby hole, there was only a modern TV fixed to the wall where I remembered it to be. There was no cubby hole. Only a TV. Which is fixed to the wall and could not have swung open. The rational explanation might be that an item of clothing I was getting out of my suitcase was thrown up and hit me on the shoulder. But why would I remember it differently. I do remember that up until that point I had felt very relaxed in the room and was looking forward to a good sleep after our journey, but this freaked me out and, not wanting to disturb my mum who doesn’t sleep well, I slept with the light on all night, which is not like me, I can’t usually sleep with a light on. The next morning I met with mum for breakfast. She said she had been kept awake by staff going up and down the stairs and talking outside her room, about 4.00am. The linen cupboard was outside her room and she was wondering why they were making up beds at that time of the morning. I hadn’t heard anything. But her window opened onto the main street so it could have been coming from outside and in her half awake state just sounded like it was outside her door.
Sixth experience - In true Wetherspoons tradition, the pub in my home town has a toilet that is about as far away from the main bar and restaurant as it is possible to go. To get to the ladies you have to go all the way up several flights of stairs, the toilets are right at the top of the building. I always found them very quiet and creepy. This one particular time, it was in the daytime as I had just enjoyed breakfast with a friend, I needed the loo so I headed up there. Went in, nobody in there, all cubicles empty, place quiet as a morgue. Went into a cubicle and while I was doing my business I suddenly heard the hand dryer come on by itself - I had not heard anybody come in. Finished and got out of there sharpish!