We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about a time they've talked to or gotten messages from the dead. Here are the terrifying results.
1. The dearest doctor:
"My mom's family is Puerto Rican, and her mother died a few years ago. She was a pediatrician, and many who knew her just called her 'La Doctora.' Not long after her death, my mom was staying in a hotel, and she came back from breakfast to find a note on the dresser that said, 'contactos con los muertos,' meaning 'contact with the dead,' and it was signed, 'La Doctora.' We all know it was my grandmother letting us know she was still around."
2. The emotional EVP:
"A week after my uncle died, I downloaded an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) app, and the first word to come up was 'Jon' — my dad's name is John, but that's how the app spelled it — and then the word 'brother' came up. I almost thew my phone at the wall at that moment, because my dad's brother had just died of cancer the week before."
3. The airplane adventure:
"I was on a plane with my mum when I was 12. Mum was talking to an older lady about makeup, when the lady stopped, looked at the aisle, and said, 'Who's the man that looks like Dean Martin?' Then, 'His name is Geoff. He knows why you couldn't come and see him, and he understands. He's sorry for the date he passed.' She then went right back to talking about makeup. Mum was shocked — Geoff is my granddad, who died on my birthday when I was young."
4. The ominous Ouija:
"When my dad was about 15 years old, a little while after his favorite uncle's death, my father and a few of his friends decided to play with a Ouija board. They called for spirits, and the one they summoned spelled out my dad's first name. Then, it spelled out 'SORRY,' and my dad felt a chill, so he quit right then and there. But he knew what it was."
5. The infinity ~sign~:
"When I was around 4 or 5 years old, my mother found me drawing the infinity sign over and over one morning. When asked why, I apparently said I drew it because my uncle 'asked me to draw it to give to my father and grandmother.' It would later turn out that my uncle had passed away early that morning. One of his larger and more memorable tattoos was an infinity sign."
6. The creepy caller:
"My father passed suddenly and was not conscious for the last several days of his life. After he was gone, I received a series of phone calls that were silent, or had static. I'd say 'hello' several times, with no reply or more static. This went on for three months. One night I dreamt I got one of the phone calls, but instead of silence, it was my father. He said, 'I just wanted to tell you that I love you.' I woke up in tears. I never got another call."
7. The printer phantasm:
"I live at my grandmother's old house. She passed away November 30th, 2015, in this home. On November 27th, 2016, I woke at 3:33 a.m. to the sound of my printer repeatedly printing things, one of which was a recipe for soup I'd tried to print months prior to this night. Growing up, my grandma and I always made soup together, so it was odd a soup recipe printed out. I sincerely feel she was trying to tell me she's here, and she wants me to do things to remember her."
—m489
8. The spiritual scolding:
"My family went out of town for spring break and brought a Ouija board. A few minutes into playing, the kitchen sink turned on all by itself. When they asked who it was, the board read, 'RENAY.' My great-grandma’s name was Reyna. And for some reason, it kept going over the numbers 3 and 4. Later on, my mom realized that she was 34 years old at the time. Since then, she refuses to even consider playing it again. She thinks it was her grandma telling her she’s still watching. Her grandmother was also very against Ouija boards, so she felt like she was getting in trouble with the dead."
9. The moving message:
"My step-grandpa passed away in 2013, and he owned a business. My grandma took over the company and got a new answering machine. I was in the car with my mom one day and called the business to reach my grandma. She didn't pick up, but right before the voicemail started to play, we heard, 'hello?' And I turned to my mom and said, 'That was Grandpa Clair's voice!' It was so weird, because my grandma had just gotten a new answering machine so it couldn’t have been his old voicemail."
10. The touching text:
"My boyfriend passed away in 2011 from a stroke. A week after he passed, I got a text message from his phone. It said, 'Good night, I love you.' I freaked out, crying, and showed my mom. She called my boyfriend's mom, who said that she'd given his old phone to their housekeeper, who was apparently trying to figure out how to use it and accidentally forwarded the message to my phone. But it's just one of those things that makes you think that it wasn't an accident, but a way to send a message to me one last time."
11. The party phantom:
"My friends had just moved into a new house, had a party, and left some drunken voicemails for some people. Listening back the next day, clear as can be, you can hear this really aggressive voice say 'VIVIAN' on one of the voicemails. A couple of days later, they were talking to a neighbor, asking about the neighborhood and previous tenants and learned a lady named Vivian had lived there and passed away."
12. The chilling cackle:
"My grandmother on my mom's side passed away when I was 17. One night, I was home alone, watching TV in my parents' room. I then heard my name being called, and laughter that sounded JUST like her. I told my mom, and she said she heard the exact same thing at her mom's funeral. I believe it was my Nannie telling us she is okay now."
13. The apparition's approval:
"Years before he passed, my dad had wanted my boyfriend to propose, and was unsure 'why he was waiting so long.' Well, my dad had been sick and passed away as I neared my fourth anniversary with my guy. A year later, my boyfriend proposed, and late that night in bed, I woke up and saw a shadow in the doorway. What automatically came out of my mouth was, 'Hi, dad!' The shadow moved to the side of our bed, put its hand on my husband's shoulder, and then I actually woke up. Looked at the clock, and it was the exact same time. I believe it was my dad welcoming him to the family."
14. The comforting composition:
"My mum was very close to her gran and had bought her a book full of poems a few months before she passed away. Once she'd passed and the house was cleared, my mum found the book sitting in plain sight with a marker on the page of a poem called 'Do Not Weep At My Grave.' Mum would read this poem every night for months on end until she felt better. Recently, she found the poem book and went to find the passage, but it turns out it was never actually in that book. We think it was a sign from her gran."
15. The Bruce broadcast:
"When I was 4 years old, I was very close to my great-grandmother, who we called Grandmother Bruce. One night she had to go to the hospital and I stayed with the rest of my family. My parents tell me that a sharp wind came through the close-windowed house that night and the lights flickered a bit. Suddenly, I ran from the back of the house to where the rest of my family was, and excitedly announced, 'Grandmother Bruce came and told me goodbye!' As soon as I said that the phone rang. It was someone from the hospital saying Grandmother Bruce had passed."
16. The Shoreline story:
"My then-boyfriend and I were playing with a Ouija board during a rough part of our relationship. He asked it, 'Who is she going to marry?' I thought he'd manipulate it to say his name, since he was very jealous, but instead it spelled 'ALEX.' I didn’t know an Alex. He also asked, 'Where does he live?' It said 'SHORELINE.' I forgot about it for a while. Then, one night at a party, I met an Alex who happened to live on a street called Shoreline. We have been together eight years now, and married for two."
17. The ghastly game:
"In college, my sorority sisters and I tried a Ouija board in a really old frat house on campus. We did it just to be silly, but it kept spelling out 'PAT,' '18,' 'KEG,' and 'NU.' We of course thought that we were all messing with each other and didn’t think anything of it. We later found out that the frat house had been a Sigma Nu house in the '80s but was shut down because an 18-year-old freshman named Pat died from alcohol poisoning."
18. And the hellish hill:
"My Dad and I drive through the hills a lot. He's pretty experienced, and I don't get carsick, so he really puts his boot into it. However one day, we were coming around a bend when I felt something press hard on my chest, like a hand. It pushed me back against my seat, but I managed to turn toward my Dad and say quietly, 'slow down here.' In the next moment, a car came speeding from the opposite direction. There was a near-collision. He laughed nervously as I felt the hand soften on my chest, and I looked out my window to see a cross and flowers. Someone was looking out for us."
