We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the creepiest paranormal encounters they've ever had. Here are the very true, very spooky results.
1. The loving grandma:
When my brother was little, my mom found him running around the living room, laughing. When she asked what he was doing, he said, "That nice old lady is chasing me." A week or so later, she was going through old photos when my brother pulled out a photo of my Nan's mom who had passed away many years before he was born. He smiled really big and said, "That's her, mommy. That's the lady who was chasing me."
2. The absent brother:
One night I was reading in my room with my cat sitting next to me. My brother had just gotten home and I heard him walking toward my room — I heard his footsteps right outside my bedroom door. There was no pause, there was no knock, and it wasn’t my brother, apparently. The footsteps, I kid you not, continued right through my bedroom door and into my bedroom. The floor boards were creaking next to my bed, but no one was there. I remember looking at my cat and we both turned our heads towards each other like, "What the hell?" It was terrifying.
3. The unwelcome visitor:
Whenever my sister went out, she'd always forget her house keys. When she got home, she'd call me so I could unlock the door. After doing so one night, I heard a deep voice say, “You shouldn’t have unlocked the door.” About five years later, my sister told me that when she was in high school, she'd woken up to the sight of a man standing in the corner of her room. She said he just stood there and after about 20 minutes, he disappeared. Thankfully my dad no longer lives in that house.
4. The long-distance caller:
I'm from India and I work in LA as a software developer. One night at around 2 a.m., I got a call. At first, I let it ring, but then I noticed the call was coming from India. I changed my number the week prior, and I hadn't given this new number to anyone other than people in LA. I ended up taking the call, and there was no one on the line, so I hung up. Fast-forward five months, I'm in India visiting my family and I got a call from the exact number that called me when I was in LA. I answered, and in the creepiest voice I've ever heard, a lady said "bagho jaldi," which is Hindi for "run as fast as you can." To this day it gives me goosebumps just by thinking about it.
5. The fallen soldier:
I was using a Ouija board in my bedroom with some friends. We actually found a spirit to talk to and learned he was an Alaskan Eskimo. Apparently, you’re not supposed to ask when or how the spirit died, but I did anyway. He said he died in 1916 and when I asked how, he spelled out “Ajax.” After saying our goodbyes, I did a Google search and discovered that the Ajax was an Alaskan Battleship that went into battle in the year 1916. Insanely scary.
6. The passionate actor:
I used to be a part of a children's theater in my hometown. Upstairs, there's another stage called the rehearsal stage. I was hanging out backstage during one of the rehearsals and I was tapping on a doorknob that lead to the hallway to the rehearsal stage. As I was tapping, waiting for my part, the doorknob tapped back. At first I ignored it, but it happened the entire time during rehearsal. I did some research on the place and in the '40s, there was a fire in the building and one of the lead actresses died. She died at the same spot where I was backstage.
7. The helpful relative:
My grandmother gave me a necklace before she passed away. A year after she gave it to me, I lost it. After desperately searching for it, I calmly said, "I'm sorry I lost the necklace, Ninny. Can you help me find it?" Almost immediately, the necklace fell out of my open jewelry stand. It really scared me at first, but it's nice to know she's always with me.
8. The friendly child:
I shared a room with my older sister when I was younger. When I was sleeping, she woke up in the middle of the night and said she saw the silhouette of a small boy holding a teddy bear on the edge of her bed. I hadn’t believed her until I saw the same thing on my bed, a few nights later. Neither of us ever saw it again.
9. The doppelgänger roomie:
I recently moved into a new apartment with my best friend. I always get home before she does, so one day I was sitting on the couch watching TV and she walked in. I left to take the trash out and came back and she was gone. I texted her asking if she had left and she told me she hadn't come home for the day yet. I was shocked, and I even knew what she was wearing, even though I had never "seen" her that day!
10. The eccentric coworker:
In a previous job, my coworker and I went to the bathroom after our lunch break. All of a sudden, the stall door directly behind us slowly opened. We looked at each other through the mirror and then quickly behind us to see if there was anybody in the stall, but nobody was there. On top of that, I saw a hand opening the stall, too. I didn't use that bathroom again.
11. The playful ghost:
My daughter used to wake up at night and sneak into our bedroom without making much noise before she'd wake us up. One night I had just laid down and hadn't fallen asleep yet when I heard her whisper right next to my ear, "Momma?" I rolled over to see what she wanted — but she wasn't there. I got up, looked around and she wasn't in my room. Both she and her brother were sound asleep in their beds. Shook me to my core.
12. The surprise roommate:
One of the first nights in my first college apartment, I was laying in bed trying to sleep. I shared the room with another girl, and I heard her breathing deeply in her sleep. All of a sudden, the room went intensely quiet. It felt like I had ear plugs shoved into my ears. Then, I felt a pressure on my chest, like someone was laying on top of me. I tried to move or yell, but couldn’t. I then heard a man's voice whisper "goodnight" in my ear and then everything went back to normal. I could move and I heard my roommate breathing again. It was terrifying, and I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night.
13. The bedtime visitor:
When I was younger, my mom would check on me after I fell asleep. When I was 16, I heard the door to my room open and I could feel my mom come in — like the way you can feel someone's presence when they're near you. I was pretending to be asleep, and I felt her stop at the end of the bed. Slowly, I realized that my door had never opened, and whatever was standing at the end of my bed wasn't my mom. I kept my eyes closed, pulled the blankets up to my chin, and tried my best to fall asleep. It still terrifies me to this day.
14. The unexpected houseguest:
One night, I stayed at my ex-boyfriend's apartment while he was out with friends. I was falling asleep when I heard him walking up the stairs, open the door, and walk toward the bed. When the footsteps stopped, I asked him if he had a good time, to which he doesn’t answer. At that moment, I realize the cat has stood up, his back arched, fur puffed out, staring at something behind me. I rolled over, expecting to see my boyfriend, but no one was there. Suddenly, I’m freezing and I heard the creaking of the floor boards, as if someone was walking around to my side of the bed. I didn't spend the night there again and wouldn’t even stay there alone during the day.
15. And the psychic puppy:
One day I was watching TV while my puppy was sleeping in his cage next to me. After a short nap, I woke up to the dog barking, and noticed my stepmother's rocking chair intensely rocking back and forth. So much so that the bags sitting on the chair fell off. My stepmom has always told me that a rocking chair rocking by itself means someone is going to die. My grandmother passed away the next morning. If that isn't a supernatural occurrence, I don’t know what is.