I feel like there’s been a few times in my life where I might have heard or seen something strange in the various houses I’ve lived in (and a few places I happened to be visiting), but, of course, I can’t really say for sure.
But these folks, they seem to be CONVINCED that they had real-life terrifying experiences in legitimately haunted houses.
Halloween is just around the corner, so are you ready for some spookiness?
Let’s check out some stories from folks on AskReddit.
1. Dead neighbors.
“Two neighbors have died in the apartment next door but I only had a ghostly encounter with one.
That was when I was 4 years old in the 1990s. I used to play with the deceased woman’s kid all the time and she would watch over us, this is while she was alive. She died in a really bad car accident. Few nights after she passed, I saw her when I looked up while laying in bed, she was smiling down at me and calling me to her.
I looked toward the bedroom door cos my grandma was on her way to the room, when I looked up she was gone. I never saw her ghost again. When I told my family they were afraid and took me to see a priest. The neighbors who moved in next door have told us they’d seen her walking around the apartment or a strong perfume scent would suddenly appear in some areas.
The wife died of breast cancer in 2012 but she had told us that the woman appeared to her several times with a sad expression, after she was diagnosed she took it as the ghost woman warning her of what was to happen.”
2. Childhood home.
“Not my current house, but the one I grew up in.
It was built in the late 1800’s, which for America, is pretty old for a dwelling. There was always some sort of activity. Nothing ever seemed to harbor any malice, but it was definitely present. Had I been the only one experiencing things, I would’ve chalked it up to me being crazy.
However, there was almost always someone else around to verify what had just occured. We had the classic someone is on the stairs, but it was coupled with footsteps running around once they reached the second floor. You’d often see things from the corner of your eye, and dismiss it. Until it would circle back, and you’d get a better look.
In particular there was a little girl who’d frequent the doorways of the upstairs. She was about the height of the doorknob, and would peak in, and then run away. I’d often have friends over, and I’d notice their gaze lock on the door. I’d ask if they saw someone, and they’d describe her to a T without me giving any descriptors.
Had an encounter with a shadow figure there as well. There was always a sort of energy there, you never felt alone.
I lived in another house that was haunted after this one. Not sure if I’m susceptible, or something more than what we packed came along for the move.”
3. This sounds scary.
“I lived and worked in an enormous (50,000+ square feet, dozens of rooms) mansion/castle which had a reputation for being haunted.
The day I moved in I saw a man walk down a very long gallery and go through the last door on the right. I followed and when I got to that door I saw that they were in-swinging and that they were bolted shut with chairs in front of them.
I also had one of a pair of cuff links disappear. Weeks later I had cleared my bedroom to vacuum the enormous carpet in it. I was in the middle of the room when I heard something hit the floor and tap the back of my foot. I looked down and behind me and saw the cuff link on the floor, and it was polished.
I picked it up, put it beside its unpolished mate and left the room. When I came back the other one was missing. Found it weeks later on a window sill on the other end of the floor I was on (160 or so feet away).
Many other stories…”
4. Where’s the dog?
“My aunt’s old house.
Randomly but at least twice a week you could hear a big animal or dog get up and run across the hard wood floor.
Also barking. You could hear a dog barking but no dog was in the house or near it.”
5. Free of that nightmare.
“The house that I lived in a few years ago was very active.
The most common occurrences consisted of knocking on the doors and windows (always 3 knocks), the bathroom door opening and closing on its own (if the door started to open/close and you told it to stop it would cease immediately), the feeling of being watched. Less frequent, but still somewhat common were the sounds of furniture being moved and moving objects.
The most frightening things that happened there included:
My roommate K and I had been in bed for about 45 minutes when suddenly something slammed into the bed with enough force to shake the whole mattress. My bed frame didn’t fit in the small room, so the mattress was on the box spring on the floor. Both K & I felt it.
We turned the light on and there was nothing so we got as far from the edges of the bed as possible and tried to sleep. Something grabbed Ks foot and yanked her blanket away. Once again the light revealed nothing and we were terrified. Something slammed into the wall next to the other side of the bed. These things continued into the night and we ended up sleeping in the living room with my dad staying with us.
My parents eventually moved out after a few months into the house they were working on and left us the hell house. K & I moved into the master room and made our old room the area where we kept our 2 new puppies kennels.
On 3 occasions my 8 month old pit would walk into that room, throw himself on the floor with all of his hair standing on end, and scream and growl while fixated on the upper corner of the room. When he would do this I would have to physically drag him from the room and shut the door to calm him.
The other dog would somehow get out of a locked kennel when he was left in there alone and the kennel would still be locked and secure, we still have no idea how he did it.
K and my mother started hearing voices when they were there alone and the uncomfortable feeling got worse. One night something started clawing at our bedroom door from top to bottom and we we so freaked out by it that I called my bf (he had a room on the other side of the house) to come look at the door from the other side because I was too scared to unlock and open it.
We are very thankful to be free of that nightmare . The house had to be torn down after a hurricane and we moved instead of rebuilding there.”
6. Footsteps…
“At my parent’s house, if you slept on the couch in the living room, you could hear what sounded like footsteps walking down the hallway upstairs, then down each step. You’d think it was just dad coming down to use the bathroom.
Then the steps would continue to the living room and stop right at the entrance. You felt like you were being watched. Then the steps would continue on until they got to the door to outside.”
7. The paranormal.
“In the house I actually grew up in, we had shadows and voices.
I saw a shadow person standing in a doorway, during the afternoon, and full on. It wasn’t out of the corner of my eye or anything. I turned the corner and there it was, leaning right against the jamb. As soon as my brain processed what I was seeing, it was gone. I also saw a black shadow blob float down my hallway. It was totally silent, and it just glided along before disappearing.
I’ve heard voices call my name, but they always sounded pleasant. Then, sometimes, when I was in my room doing my makeup, you would hear my bed creak, and a corner of the bed would be slightly tilted down, like someone was sitting there watching me.
Then, at night sometimes, you’d hear what sounded like a conversation between a few people, but it was always hushed, and I could never pick out discernible words.
That house was built in 1901, so again, I think they might have just been old owners. It never scared me, honestly. Well, actually, there was only one instance that scared me, but that’s because the “ghosts” were making such a racket downstairs one night that I legitimately thought someone had broken in, to the point that I crept downstairs with a baseball bat, fully prepared on coming face to face with another living person.
No one had broken in though, and the banging and clattering around stopped once I went upstairs.
I’ve also had a few experiences at work, which is in a library that was built in 1861. Nothing major, but I’d open in the morning and hear a book aggressively being flipped through. Whenever I went to look for the noise, thinking someone had gotten in, the noise would stop. I’d walk away, and it would start up again. I would go search the rows and the noise would stop, and then when I headed towards the stairs, it would start again.
I’d hear the rustle of heavy clothes when I was closing up by myself, and once, while making lunch for myself, I heard someone walk up behind me, and then whisper “hey” into my ear. I turned around, thinking one of my coworkers had come in, but there was no one there.
I’ve always had experiences, even as a little kid, so I don’t know if I’m more susceptible/open to things for some reason, or it’s because the paranormal doesn’t scare me, or maybe something else, but even with all that, I still consider myself to be somewhat of a skeptic.
I believe in the paranormal, but I don’t think everything is paranormal.”
8. Strange noises.
“Random doors opening and closing, footsteps and knocking coming from the attic. Sometimes a voices can be heard.
You know, all the normal sh*t. But me and my ghost buddies are usually vibing.
If I’m sitting in my bedroom and they randomly open the door, I will just ask them to close it behind them, and usually they do. Same with the knocking and footsteps.
So, I would say where on good terms…”
9. Four long years…
“We lived in one for 4 years.
We never discussed it until the day we moved out. Neither one of us wanted to scare the other or the kids. At first it was just a white woman you would see out of the corner of your eye. When you turned to look at her, she was gone.
Then it was footsteps at night. The home had hardwood floors throughout, so it was easy to hear. One night at about 3 am, the ghost ran through me. I did not see her, but she was running and I could hear the footsteps coming toward me. I felt her run through me.
Not easy to go back to sleep after that. Never felt menacing or evil. The original owner had died in the home a few years before. We had made some improvements on the house. I think she just looked after her house of 80 years.”
10. A lonely ghost?
“There was this house I lived in for about 3 or 4 years. It wasn’t that old, there was always weird noises, like you could hear someone walking up and down the stairs, or doors opening and closing on the bottom level.
One night I decided to leave my bedroom doors open I usually would have little lights in my room cause I’m scared of the dark. I’ve been tossing and turning most of night and for some reason I kept feeling pressure on my ankles.
As I was drifting back off into a deep sleep a felt a little tug. I shook my foot a little cause maybe I caught my foot on the blanket idk. Then a few moments later I felt another tug. Now I’m thinking okay it’s my sibling being a jerk and thinking it’s funny. I told them, “Knock it off you’re not funny go to bed. I didn’t even bothering looking up because in my heart I thought it was either my older brother or sister.
Another few moments go by and now I can literally feel the fingers around my ankles and just as I’m about to yell at them, I get jerked by my ankles hard like I was halfway down the bed. I sat up quickly and looked at the foot of my bed around it. No one, not even under my bed.
There was no way they could’ve ran down the hall that fast I would’ve heard him the upper floor is creaky as hell. I heard a small creak at the top of the stairs, I turned to look and I saw a little figure at the steps it looked like it had white hair. I could feel it staring at me I got so scared I ran and slammed my door shut and hid under the covers in the corner of my bed.
I brought up the situation with my dad I was a little hesitant because I thought he wouldn’t believe me. Turns out he’s seen the white haired figure too. One night he heard like kids playing on the stairs. It was super late and he was about ready to yell thinking it was me and my siblings and he saw a little white haired girl run down the steps.
He chased after her and saw the door under the stairs open. That closet is jammed pack not even a small child or animal could fit in it. He went and looked around nothing. Garage was locked, the bathroom empty. He said as he was walking back up the stairs he felt someone looking at him. He didn’t bother to look back just hurried up the stairs turned the lights off and went to bed.
We never really spoke of it again or brought it up to anyone else. I’d still hear the noises but I’d try and ignore them. My dad became friends with the neighbor and he said, that the people that lived in the house before us lived in there for years but there was always trouble around and you’d always see kids come in but never really any would come out.
I dunno if he was saying it to try and spook us or what but all I know is something was up I dont think it was ever malicious I just think the little kid may have been lonely. 🙁 “
11. Odd activity.
“Parents’ house would occasionally have weird activity. Mostly the sound of footsteps on the 2nd floor when no one was up there.
But there were a few times that stuck out, like my father and I hearing someone walk up the basement stairs, open the door to the kitchen, and then come back downstairs. My dad went to investigate and couldn’t find evidence of an intruder.
My parents also heard someone use an upstairs bathroom when I was in my room – I didn’t hear anything even though I was awake and my room boarded that bathroom.
Occasionally the smell of cigarettes wafted through the house. Mother doesn’t smoke, and my dad only smoke cigars which smelled differently. Neighbors at the time didn’t smoke.
Had 2 different figures – the one that smelled like smoke, who’d appear in the living room once in a while. He seemed to like the couch. And the other with a musty odor that’d stand in the dinning area for a brief moment or two.
But the biggest annoyance was the disappearing items. Things would go missing all the time! The house only gave them up when 1) you stopped thinking about it or 2) 3 or more months passed. That house stole my car keys!”
12. Demon cats.
“From what I can tell my house is haunted by my two dead cats.
I still hear them meowing and sometimes I will see them running down the hall or jumping onto the bed.”
13. Downright chilling.
“My house was built in the 1920s and several different families have lived here in the past.
There’s always someone home and we have several pets so it isn’t noticeably creepy, but the few times some weirdness went down it was downright chilling. There was a hot night my now ex-partner couldn’t fall asleep so she sat up watching TV. She heard me calling for her from the dark hallway to our room and saw my shadow move.
I had hurt myself with a knife while making dinner hours ago so she was worried the bandages needed to be changed. She quickly got up to check on me, but I was deep asleep and could not have possibly been calling for her from the doorway. She decided to watch TV in our room with the door closed and a light on after that.
Another time I was alone, trying to take a mid-day nap after working a grueling 90 hour week, and heard footsteps move across the floor. I felt the bed shift behind me like someone was lying down, which was nice- until I remembered that my ex was out of town visiting family that weekend so I could rest!
I felt so cold from fear and wanted to run, but I was so tired and had finally started to get comfortable. So I said aloud, “You can stay, but my back hurts and I am exhausted so please be kind and let me sleep. I’ve had a really rough week and this is my only day off”. And that’s how I ended up spooning the house ghost.
Those were the two most notable events. Most of the time things just go missing and pop up in the strangest places.
It could be worse, I guess.”
How about you?
Have you ever had any haunted house experiences in your life?
If so, please share them with us in the comments. Thanks!
