We asked our regular contributors through e-mail, What is the most mysterious/paranormal thing you’ve witnessed? We got many interesting responses. Here are some of them. We have just copied and pasted their responses, not editing them in any way and most of the respondents have requested to stay anonymous, so no names will be published.
1-5 Mysterious/Paranormal things You’ve Witnessed
01. Scariest moment of my life happened while my friend and I were camping in eastern Canada as teenagers. We decided to sleep in this abandoned camper we found deep in a large forest that was near our town. It had been there so long that small trees had grown around it. We’d stumbled across it when we were exploring a few months back and thought it would be cool (and brave) to sleep there for a night. So one weekend we did it.
We arrived after dark because we had gotten lost trying to find the camper. We had a really low power flashlight, so it made it even more difficult. Once we finally found it we opened the rusty door and stepped in. The sounds inside the camper were shrill and echoey. There were typical camper things strewn about; cups, empty cans, swollen pulp fiction novels. Already tired, we holed up in one end of the camper where the bed area had originally been before the cushions had rotted away to almost nothing. A long hallway stretched the length of the camper so we could basically see from end to end.
It was a miserable night. There were several rats living in there. I saw them staring at us from a chewed out part of the ceiling. When the wind blew outside the camper would shriek and groan. We even thought we heard a bear outside too, walking around. Still, we feigned bravery and acted like we were having a good time. But we were on edge.
At some point I woke up from an uncomfortable sleep. I sat up to adjust myself when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. At the other end of the camper, there was a small window, and as I looked at it I saw a man’s silouhette. He was clearly staring straight at me from outside. At first I thought maybe it was a weird shape of a tree or something. But when I moved a bit to get a better look the person clearly reacted and then froze. My heart was pumping and I woke up my friend immediately, saying “someone is here” over and over and over in a whisper, not taking my eyes off his profile. He woke up immediately and I nodded towards the window.
He saw him too. We whispered frantically about who it could be and why was he staring at us. And for the next 10 minutes, no joke, we stared him down. The longer we stared at him the more frightened we got. Occasionally he would move, but always keeping his eyes locked on us. Eventually I shouted at him, “Hey!”. No reaction.
My friend was braver than me and decided to shine the flashlight at him. As soon as he did we realized our horrible mistake. It wasn’t a window at all on the other side of the camper. It was a mirror. We had been staring down ourselves from the very start. Completely idiotic. Still, it was the most fearful, relieving and funny moment of my life that I’ll never forget it. Closest to paranormal I’ve ever been.
02. Back in 2007 my grandpa finally lost his 20 year battle with Leukemia. My grandma couldn’t manage well, being alone in the house they’d lived in for almost 60 years. We moved my grandma into an assisted living residence a few months later, and for insurance reasons (vacant property) my parents asked me if I’d like to move in to the house so that I could watch the house, and also to move out and not live at home. I said absolutely.
I remember right after he passed away, strange things started happening. The portrait we had of him in the living room fell off its hook. Picture frames containing pictures of him flipped onto their front during the night. I didn’t mind though because I thought my grandma was making it up.
Before I moved in, my family got a big dumpster so we could clean some of the clutter out of the house. Since we’d spend most of the day cleaning and it was summer, we’d bring the family dog with us. My grandpa loved our dog dearly. But since he passed, my dog wouldn’t go down to the basement anymore, where my grandpa spent most of his time in his office. She refused to go into the basement at all, and barked at the stairway a few times.
This was weird, since our dog almost never barked. It finally made me think “he’s here”. I moved in shortly after. While I lived there, things went missing all the time. I had bought a new lockset to change the backdoor lock, brought it home and put it in the cupboard to tackle on the weekend. Few days later I go to change the lock, and it’s gone. After a week of looking around I finally found it in the trunk of my uncle’s old BMW 2002 which he stored in the garage (I happened to be looking at the car). My grandpa was always a prankster, so I almost came to expect these occurrences.
He used to wake up at 530 every morning to listen to the early news on the radio in the kitchen. I’d wake up some mornings and the radio would be on. I often heard typewriter noises coming from his office in the basement. It became comforting. I found myself talking to my grandpa outloud. Having conversations with him. I missed him. After about 6 months, suddenly I wasn’t hearing any noises anymore. Nothing was going missing. The radio wasn’t turning on at 530.
I shrugged it off for a few days, but it started to worry me. I went back to my parents and grabbed the dog, brought her back. She was apprehensive at first, but she entered the house. There was an issue though. Everytime she’d been over since my grandpa died, as I mentioned earlier, she refused to go downstairs. This time though, she went downstairs, and went right to his office. Nothing was any different about the office, but she wasn’t barking. She wasn’t pacing. She wasn’t doing anything. That was when I realized he was gone. I broke down. Suddenly I felt incredibly alone. Even though it’d been about 8 months since he died, it was the first time I felt like he was gone.
03. When the wife (then gf) and I were in our second apartment, I saw thing all the time, but the first encounter was the weirdest.
I was hanging curtains, standing on a poofy chair, when I started to lose my balance. I felt a hand on my butt steady me. I finished drilling in the last screw, then turned around to thank… Nothing. I expected my lady there. As soon as I turned around, that’s when the feeling of the hand left my butt. My wife had been in a completely different room the whole time.
04. Not me but my dad. When he was younger, he used to see a woman in a white nightdress holding a candelabra walking along the hallway at his old house. No one ever believed him but he thought it was his grandmother.
Fast forward 20+ years and he’s talking to someone he works with. This girl says she used to see a woman in a white nightdress holding a candelabra in her old house. My dad asks where she used to live and it was his old house. Spooky.
05. I was living in an apartment with 3 roommates at the time. I was working all sorts of weird hours, and would stay up late most nights. Our apartment had 2 hallways that formed an capital L. My room as at the “top” of the L, the bathroom was in the corner of where the lines meet. With the door being in the inside middle of the small section. In the outside corner was the living room. I walked out of my room to go to the bathroom, no need to turn the light on as this was a trek I had made hundreds of times before.
As I left the bathroom I turned to go back to my room. Just as I turned off the lights of the bathroom there standing where the short hallway and the living room met there was a teenage girl standing there. Wearing a white flowery dress, just smiling. She didn’t look “evil” just a normal person standing there smiling at me. I freaked out and went running for my room.
About 20 minutes later I finally came out of my room. Turning all the lights on as I went through the apartment. She was nowhere to be seen, however where I saw her standing was noticeably colder than the rest of the apartment should have been for an August evening.
Creepy, but not the worst part. I lived there for about another year, and I never saw her again. After I had moved out I was hanging out with my one roommate who had the bedroom at the end of the small hallway, right next to the bathroom. We were talking and I told him that I never felt comfortable in the apartment after something happened. To which he responded “Oh, you saw her too.” I nearly drove off the road when I heard this. We then both described her, finishing off each others sentences describing her. He had seen her twice. I was indifferent about ghosts before that. Now I believe in them or believe in something. It was very creepy and every time I tell the story the hairs stand up on my arms.
6-10 Mysterious/Paranormal things You’ve Witnessed
06. I’ll be the first to say that all this stuff could have taken place in my head. The mind is a freaky thing and can play some pretty trippy tricks on you. Sorry for the length. Whenever I was scared as a kid my dad had always told me that in life, you should not be scared of ghost… fear the living because they can actually hurt you.
In my late teenage years I came into some money after my father committed suicide and I received an inheritance from him. At the time of my dad’s passing he and my mom owned a cabin up in Oregon by Mount Bachelor. The cabin had been put up for sale since my mom could no longer afford the payments and renting it out was not covering the payments either. The cabin was set to go on the market for sale in less than a month and was in the process of finalizing all the paperwork with the Realtor and lawyer. So for that month’s time the cabin was not going to be rented out any longer and was going to be vacant. I saw this as a chance to get a way for a while and clear my head in light of all the things going on. I quit work, packed up my snowboarding gear, grabbed my dog and headed up in my dad’s car(that he had willed to me) to the cabin. Now this was our family cabin that my parents rented out throughout the year when we were not using it. I had keys to the cabin and also had the code for the alarms so I did not feel the need to stop at the rental management company and advise them of my stay. This has nothing to do with the coming story, but felt the need to mention it anyway.
My first two days at the cabin were normal and nothing out of the unusual happened. Spent my days playing with my dog in the snow, snowboarding and the evenings playing PlayStation or listening to music, drinking and smoking out on the balcony. Had already stocked up on food, cigarettes and liquor so I was pretty much a shut in aside from the occasional out to hit the slopes. With my dog as company and dvd’s/PlayStation as entertainment, I was quite content and started to feel relaxed after all the drama that had preceded my outing. The cabin itself was two stories, bottom story had the living room and a side guest bedroom along with small kitchen. Upstairs had another two rooms along with a walk out balcony attached to the master bedroom. Most my time there was spent either in the living room, kitchen or master bedroom. I never ventured into the other rooms and always kept the doors leading into them shut (open doors to dark rooms always creeped me out). Anyhow, the third day came around and I was going through my usual routine of playing with my dog (his name was Midnight by the way and he also since passed) playing games and watching DVD’s. That day it was pretty heavy snow fall so I did not feel like trekking down the hill to the main road in my car and decided to stay in. That’s when things started getting a bit weird. In our area there were only two other Cabins adjacent to ours (maybe a block away from each other). All other cabins aside from these two were around a mile away from ours. Surrounding us was mostly forest and very tall pine trees(tall… this is important later on). Both these cabins were empty and from the past couple of days I knew that no one was currently staying there.
Around midday while outside with my dog I noticed what looked like footprints in the snow around the area surrounding our cabin. It was still snowing so the foot prints looked semi fresh like someone had been there in the last 20-30 minutes before me. I thought that maybe someone was staying in the cabin near me that I may not have noticed, maybe they were shut ins like me. Whatever, the prints lead away from my cabin and they disappeared in the snow towards the denser part of the trees. I disregarded the footprints and went back inside.
Nighttime came around and decided to head to bed. My dog Midnight was laying on the bed with me when I noticed his ears perk up to a standstill/listening position. This was followed by him quickly jumping off the bed and running downstairs to the living room. I lay in bed and stayed silent (I was kinda freaked out) and could hear him moving around down stairs back and forth. After around 5 minutes he ran back upstairs to me and started to do his doggy dance for the sign that he had to pee or that he wanted to go outside. Sh*t… well fine. I cant say no to him so we both went downstairs to the outside driveway for him to do his thing. Only, he didn’t want to pee. As soon as we were outside he started to pull on his leash trying to drag me to where he wanted to go. He kept looking into the dense part of the trees where the prints had been earlier. But he also kept sniffing the side of the house and looking up towards the roof. After he figured out that I was not going to go to where he wanted he sat himself down and just stared into the darkness… a bit unusual for him but alright, maybe there are forest animals out there that he wants to chase down. I did not want to chance anything so I pulled him back inside and we both headed back upstairs. Around half an hour later I was lying in bed when I heard what sounded like hooves walking on my roof. It was only a series of around 6 steps and I rationalized that it could be a pine cone falling from a tree onto the roof or maybe a kind hearted forest animal running around. But here’s the thing, the steps seemed to be spaced apart like a man length stride. So it was really freaking me out. Midnight also heard the noise and was quick to run to the balcony screen door expecting for me to let him out. Alright, you know what, I’m a tough guy and at the time considered myself to be fairly well built and strong enough to handle myself. So I grabbed my coat and shoes along with my cigarettes and flash light and went out onto the balcony. Fu*k it right? As soon as I was outside I lit up my cigarette and started canvassing the roof with my light. Nothing there and the snow on top was undisturbed. Weird, must have been all my head? What about Midnight hearing the noise? Maybe he was feeding off my fear or paranoia. I started to calm down and relax again. (by the way… I am shaking right now and my heart is beating hard as I am typing this next bit).
My eyes started to adjust to the darkness and I kept smoking and just staring at the stars and trees next to our cabin. That’s when I saw it. In a tree that was a little taller than our cabin and around 20 feet from the balcony I saw what looked like a man crouched in a squatting position in between two branches. It was squatted on one branch and its arms were extended above its head holding onto the branch above it. Fu*k me… what the fu*k is that? I wasn’t sure if I was really seeing this thing and stood just staring and sat there motionless. I noticed Midnight stand up and start pacing behind me and lightly barking at the same time. The thing still did not move. I put my cigarette out and was debating on shining the light in the things direction, but something in my head kept screaming not to. So I walked backwards to the inside of the room and pulled Midnight with me. Once inside I locked the door and shined the light in the things direction but there was nothing there. I shut the curtains to the screen door and retreated back to bed. But later on in the night I heard light tapping at the screen door, like someone was tapping on the glass with their fingers. It was consistent and did not stop for nearly an hour. Midnight seemed to stare at the door but he wouldn’t go near it anymore. The weirdest part was that I had a feeling like someone was inviting me to open the door. But at the same time I kept hearing my dad’s voice in my head telling me to stay in bed and not do it. I listened to my dad’s voice and just stayed where I was. I passed out eventually and woke up in the morning and everything was normal. The rest of week I spent there was non-eventful and nothing else out of the ordinary happened. I totally admit that it could have been all in my head. A lot of stuff was going on at the time.
07. I saw a ‘shadow person’ once. I didn’t know that’s what it was called until much later. I was living in a house in Laguna Beach that had been there since the 1920s. In it’s history, it had been a speakeasy, a brothel and a house for smuggling illegal immigrants.
One day, my new wife and I were having an argument. I can’t even recall what it was about. She walked down the block to get a cup of coffee and cool off, and I was alone in the house. The way the place was built was incredibly haphazard. There was a bedroom and living room on one side, then a bathroom with two entrances. On the other side of the bathroom was a hallway that had windows in one side and two bedrooms on the other. From my bedroom, I could look across the hall into the bathroom, then through the bathroom and down the other hall. I was standing at my dresser, and I just noticed movement out the corner of my eye, and looked down there. There was… and honest to god, this gives me goose bumps just typing it, 17 years later, a black figure. It was maybe three feet tall, and it was only vaguely humanoid. it looked like black scribbles, like someone had scribbled a human shape, but the scribbles moved, like electricity arcing, that’s the best way to describe it. There was no sound that I could remember. I distinctly remember when I saw it I wasn’t afraid, just like, WTF? Then it noticed me looking at it. I can’t say it turned around, it just, focused on me I guess. THEN I was scared. I didn’t move, didn’t scream, nothing, I was just frozen, because it just came at me, it RUSHED down the hall towards me. I have no idea what it intended, but as soon as it entered the bathroom, the door closest to me just SLAMMED shut on it. Then I screamed. I yelled for my wife. She wasn’t home. I went outside, into the daylight, and didn’t go back in until she got home about 10 minutes later.
I don’t believe in ghosts. I don’t believe I saw something supernatural, but I know I saw something. I don’t know what it was.
08. When my mom was a young girl growing up in Vietnam she had this weird dream about being in a darkened church. Everyone was talking in hushed tones, but it was English so she didn’t understand what was going on. But she remembered certain details, like the stained glass windows and the baptismal font. She told her parents, but they were kind of dismissive. They just told her it was a weird dream.
A few years later she was forced to flee South Vietnam because of the Vietnam war. Her family relocated to Florida, and they started their life over. About 10 years later she went to the local Catholic Church for her younger sister’s confirmation. And suddenly she realized it was the same church she had dreamed of as a child. The same darkened church, the same stained glass, the same baptismal font. She talked to her parents again and they remembered her having the dream and describing the place exactly. Maybe some of it is altered memory, but it’s one of our family legends.
09. It was in my first year at University, completely new to the city and its surroundings. One evening, my friend and I decided to take a trip to the mall. It was 8 pm and we got on a bus that my friend claimed would take us to the mall. We ended up at an empty bus terminal and it was around 10 at that time. We waited and waited for another bus back and there was no one there but us. Awhile later, an old man walked by and told us that since its so late, another bus won’t be coming for an hour or so. He told us to turn and walk down the road and we’ll find a bus stop in the middle where a bus will soon come.
We followed his instructions and entered this single lane road with tall trees on each side. There were only a few street lamps working so the area was dimly lit. The road was sort of built on a slant – our bus stop was in middle, so we could see all the way up the road and down the road, and it was a single lane road. All we could see was the road and trees on either side for at least half a km on each side.
Anyways, so we’re waiting and waiting. My phone battery died and my friend had forgotten hers in her dorm room. We were starting to think there won’t be any bus coming and started to panic. Then, as we were waiting, I turned around to see two kids with backpacks walking down the road. I was relieved to see them and so was my friend. When they were close by, I asked them if they knew about any buses coming. There were two kids, maybe around 12-13, one was a boy and other was a girl, both had backpacks. Here is our conversation (not exact, but close):
Me: Hey! Do you know if there are any buses coming?
Boy: Let me check takes phone out, walks towards the bus stop sign, ( but its empty and doesn’t say the timing nor the stop number, just a picture of a bus – I knew this from before)
Me: The timings aren’t there and there’s no number to text either, I’ve looked at it before.
Boy: still looking at phone Oh its okay, your bus will be here in 10 minutes I think.
Meanwhile, during this conversation, my friend started talking to the girl:
Girl: Where are you guys from?
Friend: We just started University here, what about you?
Girl: Oh, we’re in school and we’re just going back home from school.
Friend: Oh okay.
After the boy told me that the bus would be here in 10 minutes, I turned my head to tell my friend this, turned my head back to thank the boy and he was gone. Gone. The girl and the boy were nowhere to be seen. I literally probably looked away for a second MAX. We both looked down the road, up the road, and by the trees. They had a fence around them but even if they went there, we would’ve seen them. I literally looked away for a second.
Needless to say, both of us were scared until our bus arrived. It was the last bus and it was around 12:17 am when the bus came. I know because we asked the time from the bus driver. I asked my brother about the area later, I didn’t tell him what happened. He said that there’s a graveyard there.
And then it hit me… what would two 13 year olds be doing in the middle of nowhere coming back from school at midnight? I didn’t believe in paranormal activities, but I can’t seem to find an explanation for this one.
10. A few years ago, my best friend and I moved into a rent house. It was definitely a weird house and I got some weird vibes out of it. Every night when I went to sleep, I would hear music. Not singing, just music, like someone had a distant radio on, and not any song I could ever name.
I had dreams every night of a crowd of faceless people with a little boy standing in front. He never spoke but I could tell he was trying to tell me something.
The fridge would often open on its own and the cats would hiss at corners and such. We would smell cigarette smoke coming from the back room at three o’clock every day. My aunts were (still are) big into ghost hunting so they set up cameras in my house one night. We didn’t catch much, but one of the cameras was spun in circles for about fifteen seconds and at three in the morning, the front porch light turned itself on and got really bright and then faded off.
When I moved out of the house after two years, I had trouble sleeping because I didn’t have the music anymore. It was definitely a strange, strange house.
