Discussion Has anyone had any weird ghost-like encounters?

[ThatStateOfMind]

I'll start this thread off by saying I'm not a huge believer in stuff like this, but I have literally experienced it and I can't shake it.

As a kid, I vividly remember talking to this spirit or ghost or something that I only ever called "The Man". My mom recalls me mentioning this as a kid as well. This is gonna sound like such BS but I remember these encounters, unfortunately I don't have any proof because I was so young and didn't have a phone or anything.

I remember "The Man" being really tall, but maybe that's just because I was a kid. He always wore a suit and a top hat, and his shoes were always shiny. He was oftentimes friendly but I think I made him mad sometimes. I don't remember completely. He was relatively harmless and I just remember having conversations with him. My last really vivid encounter was when I was outside on a swing, he came out of nowhere and I remember just talking about no recollection about what. I haven't seen him since I was really young. I don't want to go into the finer details about "The Man" and encounters I've had, but I will say I believe he was benevolent, rather than malevolent.

Has anyone had similar weird experiences or am I the only one?

 

[vitbar]

Yes, but only in the sense of sleep paralysis. A bunch of weird and scary experiences.

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

Yes, but only in the sense of sleep paralysis. A bunch of weird and scary experiences.

I've never experienced sleep paralysis. And I'm honestly thankful as I've heard so many horror stories.

 

[guinea-pig]

Not a ghost but it was something weird and similar. One night i was doing something that was wrong and I saw a bright red orb flash in the middle of my room when I don't have any light like that and the blinds were closed. Then I asked "should I be doing this" and a few seconds later I saw it again real quick.

My mom also has to "cleanse" the house sometimes because we get GIANT black flies in the basement and then when she "cleanses" the house the actually go away for a long time. My brother and sister lived in the basement too (separate times) and they both were the worst in the family with mental health issues when they lived there, they both also claimed to see figures and objects moving and lights flickering. My brother said he saw a human that was in the shape of a spider basically on the ceiling for a bit.

 

[Rocinante]

Many

 

[winamp]

actually think that I had one last night for the first time in a while not sure but something shook my bed and before that I saw a shadow at the foot of my bed for a moment and it disappeared but that could also just be a bad omen I didn't look into it though

but in the past I guess there was a ghost who used to follow me around the house more specifically it would only appear when I was in the kitchen or when I was doing dishes in the kitchen or I would hear weird breathing noises while sleeping or feel a cold presence during the times I would do the dishes or walk around the house alone I could easily blame all of this on the draft in the house since the doors would slam on their own sometimes but the cold presence was extremely close so I don't think I can explain that

 

[StolenLife]

When I was 13 I was in the hospital, and the hospital bed that I was on started moving by itself. There were also sounds like someone was banging on the bed but there was no one there. The nurses were pretty freaked out as well. Also one time during sleep paralysis I felt a sensation like someone was trying to pull me away from the bed, but that one is perhaps more explainable by it being a dream.

 

[Himalayan]

Just dreams, but I ignored it. Idk, I am not sure, I had watched a movie related to the experience, so I wouldn't know

 

[not-2-b-the-answer]

Yes, but only in the sense of sleep paralysis. A bunch of weird and scary experiences.

I've never experienced sleep paralysis. And I'm honestly thankful as I've heard so many horror stories.

I've experienced sleep paralysis but never any ghosts or horror stories. I'm even too boring in my sleep.

 

[vitbar]

I've never experienced sleep paralysis. And I'm honestly thankful as I've heard so many horror stories.

Funnily enough I'm glad to have experienced them.

 

[TheSpookyNameGuy]

I have schizophrenia so i see hallucinations constantly, not true ghosts but i guess..

Whispering, black figures, sometimes i get "white embers" of a semi figure flickering in my vision for but a moment.

Think of a persons outline, only a quarter is visible as white ember like shapes, quite beautiful to see.

I see people at graveyards all the time, strangely missing faces and can be either clipped inside an object or the ground, sometimes only a arm being visible inside a wall.

Im pretty into it, i like that this happens.

 

[Myforevercharlie]

Many

Same

 

[jazzcat]

I've never had in spite of being interested in that sort of thing

 

[brainwormz]

I'll start this thread off by saying I'm not a huge believer in stuff like this, but I have literally experienced it and I can't shake it.

As a kid, I vividly remember talking to this spirit or ghost or something that I only ever called "The Man". My mom recalls me mentioning this as a kid as well. This is gonna sound like such BS but I remember these encounters, unfortunately I don't have any proof because I was so young and didn't have a phone or anything.

I remember "The Man" being really tall, but maybe that's just because I was a kid. He always wore a suit and a top hat, and his shoes were always shiny. He was oftentimes friendly but I think I made him mad sometimes. I don't remember completely. He was relatively harmless and I just remember having conversations with him. My last really vivid encounter was when I was outside on a swing, he came out of nowhere and I remember just talking about no recollection about what. I haven't seen him since I was really young. I don't want to go into the finer details about "The Man" and encounters I've had, but I will say I believe he was benevolent, rather than malevolent.

Has anyone had similar weird experiences or am I the only one?

Wow that's pretty interesting

Yes, but only in the sense of sleep paralysis. A bunch of weird and scary experiences.

Blob sleep paralysis demons can be terrifying. When I was like 18 I went through a few months of it happening multiple times a day every day. First time was the classical hag encounter. But I never got the hag again. One time I decided to fight a demon and learned the hard way to never fight demons. After a while I learned to break out though sheer will power. You have any experience like that?

Okay so I probably shouldn't tell anyone this but when I was about 10 I saw a thing outside my window staring at me. He was tall and skeletal with actually glowing red eyes. Ever since I've been terrified of open curtains and blinds. I always assumed it was a skinwalker or something but I do t really know anything about [redacted native people's] folklore and the one native from that region I've told was very alarmed by it so I never bring it up.
So one time when I was in second grade, a ghost appeared in my shower and just watched me.
I don't really believe in the supernatural though I assume all of it is my aleged schizophrenia but I thought I'd share casue I'm here and y'all are too.

 

[vitbar]

Blob sleep paralysis demons can be terrifying. When I was like 18 I went through a few months of it happening multiple times a day every day. First time was the classical hag encounter. But I never got the hag again. One time I decided to fight a demon and learned the hard way to never fight demons. After a while I learned to break out though sheer will power. You have any experience like that?

Hmm. So I have found I can get some movement if I really try and sometimes it seems to pass quicker if I force it.
Mostly it has been presences and shadowy figures looming over me. One time it was huge and only somewhat man shaped. The upper half filling the space between me and the ceiling.

The worst time I could feel warm breath on the side of my face and stubble brushing against me. It then made some kind of warning about my mother.

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

Funnily enough I'm glad to have experienced them.

Hmm, that's interesting. My fear might come from the fact that I've never experienced it so it's like the fear of the unknown maybe.

I have schizophrenia so i see hallucinations constantly, not true ghosts but i guess..

Whispering, black figures, sometimes i get "white embers" of a semi figure flickering in my vision for but a moment.

Think of a persons outline, only a quarter is visible as white ember like shapes, quite beautiful to see.

I see people at graveyards all the time, strangely missing faces and can be either clipped inside an object or the ground, sometimes only a arm being visible inside a wall.

Im pretty into it, i like that this happens.

My mom has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia and her experiences are so different. It fascinates me how it can affect people differently (I've read stories and it seems to vary greatly).

If I may ask, why do you like that it happens?

 

[Disappointered]

I've had a couple of minor incidents but I find other explanations for them than ghosts. I am very curious about it though.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Apparently I saw my Mum when I was young, (she died when I was 3) but I don't remember it. (I wish I did.) My Dad asked me what I was smiling at and I told him I could see her standing there. Another Aunt in my family saw her at a different time too. That was at night though- so- maybe it was that weird thing you get when you just wake up. I quite often see things that aren't there when I first wake up. My Dad also saw his grandma when he was young. She lived with them for a while. It terrified him I think.

I don't really know what I believe to be honest. I'm not a total disbeliever but then, I also think our minds can play tricks on us. Honestly- the weird stuff I've 'seen' for like a split second after waking up has been crazy- water pouring out of the wall, brightly coloured lights and signs, figures. I though a big alsatian was looming over me once. It's never anything nice! That's the worst thing. It's always something threatening.

 

[stilldreaming]

For the record I'm an atheist and so don't believe in ghosts but I can share an experience my siblings and I had. I was upstairs when my brothers started making a fuss, and on going downstairs was told there was something outside in the bushes shaking them really hard. We all stood in the front doorway, front light on (it was completely dark out), and watched as the bushes shook - and I mean really shook - for quite a long time. My brothers couldn't find anything in these bushes to make them do that. (They were quite tall, perhaps 8 feet, and nothing but a long empty driveway behind them.) Imagine someone standing there and just really shaking bushes hard, that's what it looked like, but there wasn't any wind and it was just this one big bush, and not the ones to either side.

My eldest brother is really into spirituality (though not paranormal things), but my other brother was not, and very convinced there had to be a rational explanation. I was trying to imagine squirrels somehow doing it, but flashlights revealed nothing, and like I said it just kept going on.

So my eldest brother is convinced there's spirits about and it could potentially be amazing / something special to go for a walk in woods right then, and my other brother isn't convinced there are spirits about but is willing to go. He wants to take flashlights and a knife, but my brother is emphatic that neither shall be brought. I remember him very firmly saying that to bring a knife would be bad and project negative energy and potentially attract violent spirits. (And hey, "The blade itself leads to violence" is a paraphrased uh Plato quote!)

Our other brother argued against this for awhile as he thought that was silly, but in the end agreed and off they went into the woods for a long walk (the bush had stopped shaking but then), I was in bed asleep by the time they returned. They left the front door open though, front light on, and I was scared to approach the front door to close it. (I was somewhere around 11 I guess?) Eventually did, and a bit later parents came home. I don't recall my brothers saying anything interesting happened on the walk.


Many years later, I was in bed reading one night and that same eldest brother (who'd been out walking our precious dogs), I heard him come inside the house and rather than go through the usual evening routine of dinner for the pups heard him unusually come straight up the stairs. He came into my room and asked if I wanted to experience something unusual. He said there was something going on in the woods out behind our house, something was just throwing things and the dogs weren't concerned. He'd stood around for a long time listening to it. He thought it was Bigfoot.

I was like sure I'll go check it out, though I didn't really think much of it. We went out into the trails behind our house (left the dogs), it wasn't a long walk at all (5min max), and it was obvious when we got to the spot. Something indeed was out there in the trees, and every once in awhile throwing things. It just sounded like someone picking up a stick or rock something and tossing it. (it would land with a thud, so it was something with a bit of weight).

No flashlights of course, and the thuds were quite close, and we just stood there amongst the trees listening and peering. Eventually, I got used to the sound, and got tired of standing and crouched down, and it being late, put my arms on my knees to rest my head on. I stayed like that until the tossing sounds stopped. When we got back home, we'd been gone for about 45 minutes which surprised me, as it didn't feel like it was that long. (I discussed that with my brother, about how easy it is for me to zone out like that, and we both agreed it was from all the long road trips I experienced as a child that go me used to just sitting still for so long )

In hindsight.......going out in the middle of the night and listening to someone throw rocks or something for over half an hour is just really dumb. But, whoever was doing that, they were doing it for about an hour, so perhaps I can say they're even less intelligent than us? (It was around I think 12:37am when we got back, that just stuck with me for some reason.) I uh highly doubt it was bigfoot or (as my brother also suggested) some sort of spirit just making some noise for the fun of it.

My stories are very underwhelming I know, especially the second one, sheesh. "Someone threw things around in a forest for awhile oooOOOooooh" I can't say for certain, of course, that there's no such things as spirits or an afterlife, I just would need a lot of proof I suppose. Personally, I am quite content at the thought of oblivion awaiting me. It sounds peaceful. No suffering, no sadness ever again.

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

I've had a couple of minor incidents but I find other explanations for them than ghosts. I am very curious about it though.

I can't think of any logical explanation for mine besides MAYBE imaginary friends but there are some parts that wouldn't make sense if that were the case.

Apparently I saw my Mum when I was young, (she died when I was 3) but I don't remember it. (I wish I did.) My Dad asked me what I was smiling at and I told him I could see her standing there. Another Aunt in my family saw her at a different time too. That was at night though- so- maybe it was that weird thing you get when you just wake up. I quite often see things that aren't there when I first wake up. My Dad also saw his grandma when he was young. She lived with them for a while. It terrified him I think.

I don't really know what I believe to be honest. I'm not a total disbeliever but then, I also think our minds can play tricks on us. Honestly- the weird stuff I've 'seen' for like a split second after waking up has been crazy- water pouring out of the wall, brightly coloured lights and signs, figures. I thought a big alsatian was looming over me once. It's never anything nice! That's the worst thing. It's always something threatening.

That is pretty fascinating. I also wouldn't say I am a total disbeliever and will acknowledge that the mind can do some crazy things. I haven't had any experiences besides that one and no diagnosed mental disorders besides ADHD and PTSD later in life after all this.

I can't imagine seeing something threatening like that. I would say I'm easily frightened by stuff like that.

For the record I'm an atheist and so don't believe in ghosts but I can share an experience my siblings and I had. I was upstairs when my brothers started making a fuss, and on going downstairs was told there was something outside in the bushes shaking them really hard. We all stood in the front doorway, front light on (it was completely dark out), and watched as the bushes shook - and I mean really shook - for quite a long time. My brothers couldn't find anything in these bushes to make them do that. (They were quite tall, perhaps 8 feet, and nothing but a long empty driveway behind them.) Imagine someone standing there and just really shaking bushes hard, that's what it looked like, but there wasn't any wind and it was just this one big bush, and not the ones to either side.

My eldest brother is really into spirituality (though not paranormal things), but my other brother was not, and very convinced there had to be a rational explanation. I was trying to imagine squirrels somehow doing it, but flashlights revealed nothing, and like I said it just kept going on.

So my eldest brother is convinced there's spirits about and it could potentially be amazing / something special to go for a walk in woods right then, and my other brother isn't convinced there are spirits about but is willing to go. He wants to take flashlights and a knife, but my brother is emphatic that neither shall be brought. I remember him very firmly saying that to bring a knife would be bad and project negative energy and potentially attract violent spirits. (And hey, "The blade itself leads to violence" is a paraphrased uh Plato quote!)

Our other brother argued against this for awhile as he thought that was silly, but in the end agreed and off they went into the woods for a long walk (the bush had stopped shaking but then), I was in bed asleep by the time they returned. They left the front door open though, front light on, and I was scared to approach the front door to close it. (I was somewhere around 11 I guess?) Eventually did, and a bit later parents came home. I don't recall my brothers saying anything interesting happened on the walk.


Many years later, I was in bed reading one night and that same eldest brother (who'd been out walking our precious dogs), I heard him come inside the house and rather than go through the usual evening routine of dinner for the pups heard him unusually come straight up the stairs. He came into my room and asked if I wanted to experience something unusual. He said there was something going on in the woods out behind our house, something was just throwing things and the dogs weren't concerned. He'd stood around for a long time listening to it. He thought it was Bigfoot.

I was like sure I'll go check it out, though I didn't really think much of it. We went out into the trails behind our house (left the dogs), it wasn't a long walk at all (5min max), and it was obvious when we got to the spot. Something indeed was out there in the trees, and every once in awhile throwing things. It just sounded like someone picking up a stick or rock something and tossing it. (it would land with a thud, so it was something with a bit of weight).

No flashlights of course, and the thuds were quite close, and we just stood there amongst the trees listening and peering. Eventually, I got used to the sound, and got tired of standing and crouched down, and it being late, put my arms on my knees to rest my head on. I stayed like that until the tossing sounds stopped. When we got back home, we'd been gone for about 45 minutes which surprised me, as it didn't feel like it was that long. (I discussed that with my brother, about how easy it is for me to zone out like that, and we both agreed it was from all the long road trips I experienced as a child that go me used to just sitting still for so long )

In hindsight.......going out in the middle of the night and listening to someone throw rocks or something for over half an hour is just really dumb. But, whoever was doing that, they were doing it for about an hour, so perhaps I can say they're even less intelligent than us? (It was around I think 12:37am when we got back, that just stuck with me for some reason.) I uh highly doubt it was bigfoot or (as my brother also suggested) some sort of spirit just making some noise for the fun of it.

My stories are very underwhelming I know, especially the second one, sheesh. "Someone threw things around in a forest for awhile oooOOOooooh" I can't say for certain, of course, that there's no such things as spirits or an afterlife, I just would need a lot of proof I suppose. Personally, I am quite content at the thought of oblivion awaiting me. It sounds peaceful. No suffering, no sadness ever again.

The underwhelming-ness of it actually makes me believe it a little more than I would some outlandish type of story.

I agree that no afterlife would be preferable. I'm not very suicidal or anything. I just don't find the idea of a life after this one appealing to me. I feel it would get rather old after a certain period of time, perhaps a hundred years or maybe a couple hundred.

 

[stilldreaming]

I agree that no afterlife would be preferable. I'm not very suicidal or anything. I just don't find the idea of a life after this one appealing to me. I feel it would get rather old after a certain period of time, perhaps a hundred years or maybe a couple hundred.

Have you seen The Good Place? If not I won't spoil it, but they had a pretty good/acceptable resolution to the afterlife question I thought. Granted, just because I like the idea of it doesn't mean I can start believing in it.

 

[ANONYMOUSM]

no but my mom believes that she can see and hear ghosts

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

Have you seen The Good Place? If not I won't spoil it, but they had a pretty good/acceptable resolution to the afterlife question I thought. Granted, just because I like the idea of it doesn't mean I can start believing in it.

I haven't seen it, I might look it up later to see what it's like.

 

[Disappointered]

Some people claim that they communicate with gnomes from another dimension when they're on certain drugs. If true I would love to join them (assuming the gnomes are friendly and the dimension is a happy one).

 

[Alltheywanted]

At least once per every week i see my door handle slighty move or a black figure in the corner of my eyesight but i've been also diagnosed with some psychotic symptoms and I'm not sure which one is it.

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

Some people claim that they communicate with gnomes from another dimension when they're on certain drugs. If true I would love to join them (assuming the gnomes are friendly and the dimension is a happy one).

Hm, i wonder why gnomes, of all things.

 

[Ruma]

Years ago I was visiting the grave yard with my ex husband. We were there to put flowers on his gran s grave. When out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure dart behind a tree. When I went to look I found the grave of a lad I went to school with,he had died of a heroin overdose some years before. I believe that it was him saying hello,out of all the gravestones in the cemetry,my attention had been drawn to that one.

 

[trashprincess]

For a while I lived in the room my brother ctb'd in. Then I went and did a bunch of ritualistic sh in said room. Between these two things, I managed to summon some sort of a spirit to the room.

The first time I noticed it, I was trying to go to sleep in the morning. It's not something you could see with your eyes, but very much something you could "see" with your mind. It hovered over top of the spot my brother ended his journey on. It was mad. Terrifyingly mad. But I didn't want anyone in my house to think anything so I just laid there. But all I wanted to do was run screaming and never look back.

The presence seemed to go away for a while, until one day I told someone about it. Then it came back with that same terrifying anger. It never did anything to me. Instead just being a constant reminder that I wasn't welcome there.

I've luckily managed to leave that place. Now to find out if it's going to follow me...

 

[Disappointered]

Hm, i wonder why gnomes, of all things.

Yeah I'm not sure. Maybe that's just the term used by the first few people who had that kind of weird experience so the term just stuck. Someone I vaguely knew years ago once told me that if you don't clean your living space "elves" will come and play mischievous tricks on you such as hiding one of your socks. That person's first language was Spanish so maybe they translated it into something different than what a native speaker would have said. They're all mythical categories w/o strict definitions so it isn't relevant. Some people just believe in otherworldly beings, some friendly, some mischievous. And some not so friendly...hopefully those ones aren 't real.

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

Years ago I was visiting the grave yard with my ex husband. We were there to put flowers on his gran s grave. When out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure dart behind a tree. When I went to look I found the grave of a lad I went to school with,he had died of a heroin overdose some years before. I believe that it was him saying hello,out of all the gravestones in the cemetry,my attention had been drawn to that one.

Wow, that's interesting. I feel like it could've been him.

For a while I lived in the room my brother ctb'd in. Then I went and did a bunch of ritualistic sh in said room. Between these two things, I managed to summon some sort of a spirit to the room.

The first time I noticed it, I was trying to go to sleep in the morning. It's not something you could see with your eyes, but very much something you could "see" with your mind. It hovered over top of the spot my brother ended his journey on. It was mad. Terrifyingly mad. But I didn't want anyone in my house to think anything so I just laid there. But all I wanted to do was run screaming and never look back.

The presence seemed to go away for a while, until one day I told someone about it. Then it came back with that same terrifying anger. It never did anything to me. Instead just being a constant reminder that I wasn't welcome there.

I've luckily managed to leave that place. Now to find out if it's going to follow me...

I hope it hasn't, that sounds terrifying. Just to sense the anger.

Yeah I'm not sure. Maybe that's just the term used by the first few people who had that kind of weird experience so the term just stuck. Someone I vaguely knew years ago once told me that if you don't clean your living space "elves" will come and play mischievous tricks on you such as hiding one of your socks. That person's first language was Spanish so maybe they translated it into something different than what a native speaker would have said. They're all mythical categories w/o strict definitions so it isn't relevant. Some people just believe in otherworldly beings, some friendly, some mischievous. And some not so friendly...hopefully those ones aren 't real.

Yeah, I know Iceland still has a large amount of people with superstition surrounding elves and I would say elves are somewhat similar to gnomes. I also know there's some places with superstitions about gnomes but I don't recall what places believe that.

I hope there's no malevolent gnomes out there too. I think most people just believe gnomes and elves to be more mischievous than anything but I very well could be wrong.