It’s National Paranormal Day when people who believe in paranormal activities are encouraged to get together and share their experiences with each other. I like a good ghost story as much as the next skeptic. With the world opening back up I’m planning on booking a ghost tour of the Buffalo Trace distillery. I know a woman who works there and she insists it’s haunted AF. How about you Deadsplinters? Are you believers, have you had any supernatural encounters? Or are you the folks always ready with a reasonable explanation? Convince me one way or another. It’s also James Brown’s birthday so it would be extra cool if you knew a spooky story about the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. It wouldn’t surprise me, he was pretty scary when he was alive.
I can almost always come up with an explanation, but I don’t let that get in the way of a good story. Does everyone else here know about Watcher on youtube? Their “Are you scared?” series is a fun scary story show. Some are supernatural, some not. This one freaked me out:
I didn’t know about this, thanks. That is creepy!
I’m somewhere in the middle. I think there’s an explanation for most things, but I don’t discount the possibility of shit that is outside our ability to provide a rational answer. I had one super weird encounter when I was a kid. My mother, brother and I were home at night (my father worked most evenings), and one of them (I don’t remember which) spotted something outside the window. We all went to look and saw two silver/white discs swirling around each other over one of our barns. They were probably a few feet in diameter and moved very rapidly in a pretty random manner. Then they just zipped off to somewhere else.
I once had a girlfriend in college who absolutely hated James Brown. It made her crazy whenever I would play one of his CDs. One day I asked her:
“How can you hate James Brown? He’s the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business!”
“He’s also a felon.”
“Honey, they’re all felons. He just happened to get caught.”
I’m sort of like you, I think there’s always a reason but we just may not have the means of understanding or explaining it right now.
I had a friend who was going through a James Brown phase and another friend was very annoyed by it. Friend 2 said, “ They all sound like the same damn song.” Friend 1 replied, “ but it’s such a great song!” You either get The Godfather of Soul or you don’t.
I’m ambivalent on James Brown but that’s an odd reason to dislike an artist. You’re right, lol.
The only time I go back to Jezebel is when their Scary Stories thread opens up. Though over the years their stories have shifted from the paranormal to real life stalkers and assaults which are terrifying but not my jam. I haven’t done any haunted tours because I worry that they will be lame and that I would have to endure them until the end out of politeness. I love scary stories and am a glutton for feeling fear. Life would definitely be more exciting if I believed in the paranormal. I believe in the paranormal more than I believe in God…which isn’t saying much.
I like doing ghost tours when I’m on vacation, I don’t really believe in it but it’s a fun way to see a city and learn some history. The closest I ever came to a paranormal experience was in the Hemingway House in Key West. All the pics I took came out except the ones in his office where he wrote. I later asked the guy runs a ghost tour and he said everyone has the same thing happen. The pics of Robert the Doll didn’t come out either.
I posted this on one of the Jezebel scary stories threads a few years ago.
This is a totally true story. It’s odd so make of it, what you will.
My sophomore year in college, I moved into a two bedroom apartment with a girl I knew from my freshman dorm – Carol and another girl she knew, Kimberly. Our original fourth roommate backed out at the last minute so Carol let a senior girl, Kathy, move in so we wouldn’t have to cover the rent. Carol didn’t really know Kathy but she was nice enough and had a rock n roller boyfriend so we thought she was cool.
Carol and I shared the front bedroom that had a bathroom and Kimberly and Kathy shared the back one that had the bathroom off of the living room. We were on the first floor with an apartment full of frat dudes above us. The first day Kathy moved in – she nailed all of the windows shut including ours. She was afraid someone would break in and rape us. We thought it was a little melodramatic but we just quietly took the nails out of our window and went on with life. I didn’t want to be trapped if there was a fire.
Everything went along fine, Kathy was a little odd, but we just chalked it up to her being a senior and she would sometimes spend a week or two with her boyfriend so, she wasn’t really there that much.
One night Carol and I came home from studying. We walked in the door and Kathy was sitting on the couch with a brown haired girl we had never seen before. The girl turned around and looked directly at us. She said “Hi” We said “Hi”, but I got the biggest chill up my spine. She looked me in the eye when Kathy introduced us, but I was having such fight or flight response, that I don’t remember what her name was. I chose flight and headed directly into our bedroom. Carol followed and shut the door. “Who is that girl?”I asked Carol. She said, “I have no idea, but I just got the chills when she looked at us.” Holy shit! Me too!. We were both freaked out by the girl and decided that we couldn’t stay in the apartment. We left and went to dinner trying to figure out what had just happened. Did we just have a paranormal experience? Could she be a serial killer? Who was the girl? Why did we both get chills? This lead to other creepy subjects – the grisly Gainesville Ripper murders had happened recently at the University of Florida and everyone was on edge about that(We were in Georgia). Supposedly, years earlier Ted Bundy had been living under my friend’s aunt’s house when he killed the Chi Omega girls. Needless to say say we had talked ourselves into a frenzy.
Anyway, time passed. We ate and had a beer or two. We calmed down and decided we were being silly and finally went back to the apartment. When we walked in, Kathy and the girl were gone, but Kimberly, our other roommate, was home. The first words out of our mouths were “ Did you meet that friend of Kathy’s?” Kimberly said “Yeah, when I got home, they were coming out of your room.” Of course we freaked at that. Why were they in our room? Kimberly tells us that Kathy said she was showing the girl around the apartment and she liked our closets. Our closets? WTF does that even mean? We were starting to freak out again.
So, we looked in the closets, under the beds and all around the room. Nothing seemed to be amiss. After awhile, we calmed down enough to go to bed. I had my full day of classes and had to start early in the morning and all of this hysteria was starting to be tiring. And, the girl was gone. So, no harm done.
Around 1 am, I woke up. I rolled over and saw that Carole was already awake. I could see that her eyes were wide open. She was looking at me. She whispered “ Are you awake?” “Yes.” I said. She whispered in complete terror, “I think something’s under my bed.” I want to go back to sleep and I’m starting to get annoyed by the hysteria of the whole thing, so I say “WTF, there’s nothing under your bed. You’re a neat freak.” Almost crying, she says, “I felt something move under it. I can’t look. Oh God, it just moved again!”
Being the skeptic, but still a little creeped out, I got out of my bed and got down on the floor to look under her bed.
At that moment, I felt this little pulse of energy/waft of wind shoot out from under the bed towards the bathroom.
Then, all of a sudden – the bathroom sink faucet shot on full force.
We both just started screaming. We were so loud – the frat bros from upstairs came running down to see what was wrong. It was so bonkers, we didn’t even know what to say to them.
To this day, I can’t explain it. The faucet had never done that and never did it again while we were in that apartment. I don’t know if the faucet had anything to do with the creepy girl going through our room or not. Kathy had not come home that night. When she finally did come home, we asked her who the girl was. “Oh, just some girl in my psych class. I had told her about you guys and she wanted to come by to meet you.” Carole said “Can you ask her why?” Kathy responded, “I haven’t seen her in awhile, I think she dropped the class.” Although I don’t know what help it would’ve been, we did put the nail back in the window.
59y
I remember that one!
I remember this from the Jez scary story post. It’s really unnerving. 😬
I posted it under one of my other user names. It’s by far the strangest thing that has happened to me.
One night my sisters and I wanted to get a good view of a meteor shower. I lived in Wilmington, NC at the time so I thought going to Topsail Beach would have less light interference. We were wrong – there were still a lot of street lights there but we set up our blanket anyway. We saw a lot of meteors but at one point just out of nowhere three really bright lights popped on way out over the water. They were really bright. It hovered over the water for about 5-10 minutes and then the lights were gone. There was no other sound than the surf.
I was convinced it was a helicopter. We weren’t that far from Camp Lajeune. My sisters weren’t convinced and to this day tell everyone that we had a close encounter.
Maybe you’re a magnet for paranormal activity!
That’s messed up!
I remember reading this!
Yeah why would some stranger ass bitch wanna meet two random roommates?!?
I would have saged and salted that room and I’m agnostic as heck.
@PumpkinSpies That was my thought too.
Well, I haven’t really talked about this much yet, but this seems as good a time as any and I can tell you about the haunting(s).
My brother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in February.
Several weeks later, I walked by the mirror in my bedroom and saw him staring back at me for a long time.
This can easily be explained by the fact that I am tired, grieving, and we have the exact same eye shape and color. But I’m going to go with a haunting.
Secondly, Patrick told his best friend in a dream that he just moved to California and didn’t tell anyone and that it was alright.
The group chat is awaiting more hauntings; it’s just Pat’s style.
Aww Meg – so sorry for the loss of your brother. I have to say though if you’re going to be haunted by a ghost – being haunted by your brother might be pretty comforting – unless you didn’t get along with him. After my Mom died(in my house) a lot of people would joke that they hoped she didn’t come back to haunt me – but truthfully, I wouldn’t have minded it. She hasn’t though, in case you’re wondering.
Damn, @MegMegMcGee, sorry for your loss. What a terrible process for you and your family.
Possibly grief but who knows. My best friend died around 15 years ago. I dreamed about her 3 times.The first time I asked her what death was like and she told me it was exactly the same as being alive, just in a different place. The second time she said she came by accident, meant to visit her son, lol. The third time she told me she came to say goodbye, she wouldn’t be able to visit again. I haven’t dreamed of her since. Probably just a coincidence but part of me thinks it was her comforting me.
I dreamed about my grandma a couple times after she died. Normally my dreams are wacky, Tim Burton-esque features. But these were normal. Just two people sitting around talking, drinking coffee in her kitchen. One might even classify it as communications, if one were so inclined. I know they piss my mother off, though. “HOW COME SHE DOESN’T VISIT ME IN MY DREAMS?!” (IDK maybe because you two had a terrible relationship?)
I live alone in a big old house so try to avoid scary shit. One day my friend and I put a jack post under the porch to counter some settling. That night I jolted awake. Footsteps walked across the sewing room to my bedroom door and then receded. I know it was an old house adjusting, but didn’t get any more sleep that night.
My other weird story involves a pet red burrowing spider named Horace. One day at work a teeny tiny red spider dropped onto a paper on my desk around noon. Later that day my brother told me when he went home for lunch he noticed Horace had passed.
I’m going with Horace reincarnated or maybe a relative of Horace’s coming to let you know. Our bond with our pets is strong!
I’m not gonna lie: I believe in all that paranormal shit. I mean Bigfoot, skinwalkers, the whole shmear. My grandma on my mom’s side practiced all that Italian witchcraft, and when I was growing up I saw some stuff.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
@luigi-vuoto Robert Pyle is a lepidopterist from the PNW. He’s tops in his field, globally respected. And he says he has absolutely had encounters with Bigfoot. My daughter has spoken with him and she says he’s pretty convincing. He downplays it in the press as speculation but she just had a zoom meeting with him a few weeks ago and he wasn’t shy about admitting it privately. He’d know better than me.
For at least a year whilst I lived in England I’d see the outlines of people wandering about n getting in my face whenever I was walking unlit streets…. probably just my brain trying to make sense of some wonkyness with my eyesight
But it used to creep me the fuck out… eventually I just got angry at them… probably looked a little bit odd…me wandering along muttering to myself and occasionally taking a swing at nothing
Aaand one day it was gone….never came back either…guess my brain figured out the wonkyness…. Or maybe the ghosties got sick of being punched at
I dunno but I don’t miss it
@farscythe I’ve had a couple of similar sightings, visions, whatever you want to call them. I chalked it up to too many mind altering substances in my youth.
that uhh..is also a possibility for me…. lol
I don’t have any spooky stories, but I’ve been to Buffalo Trace and it does not surprise me in the least that there would be hauntings there.
@ MemeWeaver She told me she’s felt a sensation like fingers on the back of her neck, sometimes the air gets super cold for no reason, and catching glimpses of things out of the corner of her eye. And she said it feels bad , not like a benign spirit.
No ghost stories, but psychic stuff. When I was in elementary school my sister and I had to start riding our bikes two miles to school. My “job” was to make sure she got to school and home safe. She was (and is) a pain in the ass, but I love her.
One day she decided to take off and sprint away from me on her bike. She rocketed over a hill and out of sight. I pedaled grimly on, getting ready to trudge up the hill, and all of a sudden I knew something was wrong and I had to get to her right now. Full-blown fight or flight adrenaline rush, danger, Will Robinson, move your fucking ass RIGHT NOW.
I shot up and over the hill and saw a red sedan parked facing me and she was stopped, looking in the car, and the door was open. I hauled ass like only an little kid on a bike who’s scared shitless can do — there was a man in the driver seat. He looked up, saw me, slammed the door and shot away past me down the road.
When I got to my sister, I asked her what happened. She said “that man pulled his pants down and showed me his thing.” I yelled at her for running away from me and we went home. Being dumb kids we didn’t do anything, but she told her best friend and her friend’s mom called my parents (they were still at work) and I got into trouble for not telling my parents, despite the fact that I literally couldn’t have even if I’d thought to do it.
But I digress. I still wonder how I knew. Did I hear the car stop and put two and two together sort of subconsciously? But the engine was running still, so I’m not sure that would have been enough to tip me off. And I was probably 100 yards or more away, with a hill big enough to hide my sister and a car from view between us.
I used to have other “hunches” when I would realize things that I couldn’t know, but I would absolutely KNOW they were true, and It was always right. “Recognizing” people I’ve never met, knowing the truth behind a lie, things like that. Sometimes it would make me dizzy — when something “clicked.” It hasn’t happened since I was a teenager, though.
@bryanlsplinter I don’t know how you knew but I’m damn glad you did. How knows what else could have happened.
That was the only time I ever felt full-blown terror as a result of one of my odd insights, and it disappeared as soon as I saw my sister. Like I said, I had a few hunches, but nothing like that. The other weird thing is that my sister wasn’t scared at all, so It’s not like she “broadcast” her fear to me. She was more puzzled by the weird man than anything else (she was in second grade, so WAY outside her experience). Neither of us felt upset until my parents called the cops and we had to give reports. That scared us more than the pervert.
the stories with real live people are the scariest…
My maternal grandmother passed a month after my first kid was born. We live on the other side of the continent and weren’t able to visit until six months later. As usual we stayed at my mom’s apartment. In the middle of our first night, we were jerked awake by a loud banging on our bedroom wall. I grabbed the baby and coaxed my husband to check out in the hallway. On the floor next to our door was a portrait of my grandmother. It had been hanging on the wall without incident for five months. My mom says that grandma was just saying hello to her great grand-daughter and that her grandmother did the same thing when I was a baby.
@hammerzeitgeist Don’t wake the baby, grandma! But seriously, that’s pretty weird.
I am the only person I know (aside from my dad, who thinks it’s all hooey) who has never had a paranormal experience. Even my 92 yr old grandpa, who was a prior nonbeliever, saw his deceased MIL in the house after she passed and had no explanation for that. So I have a lot of people in my life I consider credible, logical, or otherwise have no reason to lie, but believe they have experienced the paranormal. I am still skeptical, but only because science doesn’t really seem to put a lot of effort into investigating ghosts or the afterlife (and I mean real scientists, not Zak Bagans). Once upon a time we humans thought echos, gravity, and eclipses were demons. So I don’t want to say “Oh i definitely know there’s no such thing as …”
This 👆🏼
There may be explanations that we just don’t know yet.
I’m pretty solidly on the skeptical side of this issue.
A bit snarky, but part of my thought process is better summed up by this xkcd comic:
https://xkcd.com/1235/
That said, if someone tells me they saw/experienced something, I generally believe that they saw/experienced whatever. I just don’t necessarily think it was supernatural.
Brains are weird and faulty and glitchy, way more than most people care to admit. Our perception of the world is also faulty and glitchy and patchwork. And then, there are currently something like seven billion people in the world. Aside from glitchy perceptions and faulty brains, sometimes there are just going to be weird coincidences and such.
All of that said, I won’t deny sleeping with a knife under the pillow or an iron pipe by the bed if I’ve been creeped out by recent events (“recent events” most likely being a horror movie I just watched…)