The Creepy Stories Thread

[Eisa]

Read Phantoms by Dean Koontz right before bed. You will never sleep again.


Anyway, I decided I would write up the story of my house. It's very long and a bit rambly. So you're forewarned.

First of all, a bit of history about my house. It was a brothel in the '40s for railroad workers. We found some...shall we say...evidence in the kitchen ceiling. It's one of those ceilings that goes up pretty high, and then had a lower ceiling of those weird tiles put in. We've also found a letter from 1902 and other stuff in the dirt of the basement [the basement's unfinished]. What's interesting is that the house wasn't built until around the '40s!

Anyway, we moved in the summer before I started sixth grade. We were in a desperate hurry, as we needed to find a house ASAP or we would have to put the dog down [he was a one-family dog, he would have pined away if we tried to give him to someone else ]. So we found this house. It should have been condemned. It was almost completely structurally unsound, several of the electrical outlets were literally held together with duct tape and Elmer's glue , and the floor was collapsing. But we took it.

Because it was so unsafe, for the first several weeks, we were living in our Westie in the backyard. However, I got the stomach flu and had to start living in the house. My sister went with me, so for a while, we were sleeping on a cot in front of the window in our new room [which faced the backyard]. One night, I was getting ready for bed when I looked outside the blinds. There were glowing red eyes staring back at me. They were too high up to be, say, reflected tail-lights from the alley. And there was this...malevolence that seemed to emanate from them. You know that sense that something REALLY doesn't like you? It was like that. I was terrified, but I couldn't even go and tell my parents because they were outside with it--it, whatever it was, would get me first.

The next incident happened when my father and I were in the basement, shoring up the floor. My mom was at work, my sister and dog were in the backyard. We heard very distinct, heavy footsteps, like a man wearing boots, walk from the back door through the house to the front room--and it sounded like they were walking through the walls. We went up...no one was there. My sister hadn't come in, no one had come home...it was inexplicable.

I'm not sure when this next thing happened. All of this happened over a period of several years, you see. That's why we didn't have much of a sense of urgency about them. But my dad saw a girl with long brown hair, wearing a white shirt, walk into the kitchen from the dining room. He thought it was my sister, so he called out to her. It turned out my sister was sitting at the table and hadn't gotten up. This girl kept visiting my dad, although I don't believe anyone else ever saw her. She said, or he sensed that, her name was Elizabeth. She would even come into his room at night and touch his back or whisper to him! He never felt that sense of malevolence, but we were all understandably a bit creeped out.

Probably the freakiest thing that happened was one day when my sister was dancing. My sister loves to dance and she would do so all the time to the songs on the radio. Well, a Linkin Park song came on while she was dancing just outside our bedroom. At the lyrics: "I can't believe I didn't fall right down on my face," something grabbed the back of her head and slammed it down against the floor. She wasn't really hurt--more scared than anything, but we all freaked. That was more than just seeing or hearing something.

One night, I was getting ready for bed in the bathroom and I heard my sister calling for me to come in there. I hurried up and went and asked her what was wrong. She said that she'd heard a man's voice talking in the doorway of our room. She couldn't make out the words clearly, but he sounded very mean and almost...evil. Also related to our room: we had a bunk bed. She was on the top bunk and I was on the bottom. Too many times to count, we would hear noises in the other bed like someone was moving around or settling down to sleep...only to discover the other person wasn't there. It was freaky, but we got used to it, I guess.

Another time, I was home alone and sitting on the floor in my room. From the doorway of my room, I had a clear view through the living room to the front door and the front room. There's a large window in the front room and in the living room--you can see right through to it. Well, I saw a man's shadow walk across the curtains of that window. EEEEEK! I was never so grateful when my family came home!

Our computer was in the front room, as well, and I was often on it late at night. Almost every time, I would feel like something bad was watching me. It was just this...very creepy, very unsettling feeling.

My mom had her religious friend and someone who was "sensitive" come over. He walked through the house and said that he could feel something evil that lived primarily in the basement, but would go through the rest of the house. [For the record: after the original shoring up the floor stuff, NO ONE but my dad would go in the basement. It just felt wrong down there.] He also mentioned Elizabeth and that she appeared to be harmless, I think kind of an echo or something...but that the evil thing would pretend to be Elizabeth sometimes. They prayed over the house, and whatever it was left...but kept "testing our defenses," I think. Since several times, the dog has looked into my room and started barking, all the hair on his back standing straight up. My room has always been colder than the rest of the house, too.

A few months ago, my dad felt like there was something behind him. He turned and there was this...warty thing with tons of fangs standing right there! It looked at him and then ran away and disappeared. This summer, I also saw someone wearing white go through the dining room out of the corner of my eye--I thought it was my dad, but he was in his bedroom.

So...I believe that our house is not technically "haunted" anymore. But I also believe that something is still...lurking. Trying to come back.

And I'm very glad that I'm posting this from my dorm room.

[TelephoneAngel]

And I'm very glad that I'm posting this from my dorm room.

That does sound creepy - the worst thing being the part about "it was pretending to be Elizabeth" Shudder.

It reminds me of my old house I think I have written about it before on the face of it an expensive luxury "wow factor" house, but once we were living in it I couldn't wait to leave with the atmosphere it had.The number of nights I laid awake in that house terrified out of my wits. And I'm not a "terrified of the dark sort of person" in my new house I happily wander about at night in the semidarkness.

[AccountingDrone]

This is one of my favorite, it has just barely enough detail to make it vaguely almost plausable [especially if you are used to 'sea stories' - military fairy tales] There is actually an army duty station in the area described, several of the duty stations in Germany are reputed to be haunted, though some of the activities are obviously bogus [if an officer went missing, it doesn't matter that it is winter, and just after a blizzard, the MPs would search for the body with corpse dogs. They wouldn't just wait until everything melted in spring to go looking.] but it is a fun sort of creepy read [and I could see it made into a short for masters of horror]

[Eisa]

That does sound creepy - the worst thing being the part about "it was pretending to be Elizabeth" Shudder.

It reminds me of my old house I think I have written about it before on the face of it an expensive luxury "wow factor" house, but once we were living in it I couldn't wait to leave with the atmosphere it had.The number of nights I laid awake in that house terrified out of my wits. And I'm not a "terrified of the dark sort of person" in my new house I happily wander about at night in the semidarkness.

I know. That was just like...OMG get out of this house. And I haven't thought about this, but it's interesting that Elizabeth left when they prayed...I wonder if maybe she really wasn't all that she pretended to be...?

That guy really could sense stuff, though, it was so freaky. Like he told me something about how he knew I hated myself. There is pretty much no way he could have known that, my mom didn't even know. Fucking weird.

That sounds scary. I'm not usually a scared-out-of-my-wits-in-the-dark person either, but my house? Oh yeah. Like in the dorm, I can go around in the dark and be ok, I just have an obsession with locking the door. But that sounds so creepy, did anything actually happen?

[Andara Bledin]

That does sound creepy - the worst thing being the part about "it was pretending to be Elizabeth" Shudder.

That sort of thing is actually creepily common. Bad things will disguise themselves as things that are considered benign to get past defenses.

I know. That was just like...OMG get out of this house. And I haven't thought about this, but it's interesting that Elizabeth left when they prayed...I wonder if maybe she really wasn't all that she pretended to be...?

It could be that the prayer helped her move on. That is one of the main functions of prayers to relieve a haunting situation.

^-.-^

[Whiskey]

I’m doing this for you. And for Mike, too, I guess, though I don’t think there’s much I can do to help him at this point.

I suppose I should provide some background information first. I’m a sophomore in a fairly good university in Boston - no, not MIT or Harvard, but still one that’s a bit of a chore to get into. My freshman year, I had the option to live in honors housing and decided to roll with it; after all, at least the people would be interesting. Whatever arcane algorithm they use to process roommate requests took in my preferences and spat out the name of my future roommate: Mike, just another random honors kid from St. Louis. The two of us got along fine for most of freshman year - my enjoyment of Miley Cyrus notwithstanding-and so we decided to room together sophomore year as well.

Now, Mike had always been a pretty obsessive guy. He tended to bounce around in his interests; one week, he would devour entire series of anime, only to later start watching random online episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and then begin working his way through the archives of the hottest new webcomic. And, of course, like any real obsessive, he would keep me posted on his latest craze. I humored him; what else are roommates for?

One day earlier this week, he started telling me random scary stories. You know, those random things you find on message boards-I think his main source ended up being some site called “creepypasta” (I never understood why pasta could be creepy, but whatever). I’d hear about a med student eating an arm, or someone being autopsied alive, or some random youtube video that will drive you insane. We usually had a good laugh about them.

The third day of this obsession, however, things got weird. He threw a few more stories my way before hitting the sack, but something seemed a little off. His voice had a sharp edge to it. As the hour got later, his banter got more and more inane, as though he were talking just to stave off having to go to sleep. Eventually, I pointedly got into my bed and rolled over, effectively ending any further chance at conversation. I wish I hadn’t.

I sleep like a log, and that night was no exception. I don’t think I even came close to waking. Usually I can’t remember any of my dreams, but the nightmare I had that night has been clear in my mind for days now. I dreamt I was trapped in a fog so dense I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. The damp air sent chills down my spine. I could hear muffled screams in the distance. There didn’t seem to be any words, just guttural shrieks of pain. Instantly (don’t ask me how), I recognized the screams as Mike’s. I tried my best to run to him, but my feet just slid through the fog; I couldn’t get any real traction on the ground, if there indeed was any ground. The screams got further away and more indistinct, though I could still tell they were Mike’s. Eventually, they faded to nothing and I woke up.

And every last trace of Mike was gone from the room.

Everything. His laptop, his sheets, the “Official Zombie Survival” guide poster on the wall, the heap of trash he let accumulate on his half of the windowsill-everything. A thick layer of dust coated his entire side of the room. Absolutely nothing on my side of the room had been touched-nor had any of his stuff in the bathroom, the kitchen, or the living room of our suite. Only in the bedroom had anything been taken.

I couldn’t believe it. I prayed it was a dream. I pinched my elbow until the skin was red, until my fingernails drew blood. When I didn’t wake up, I dialed campus security, who quickly brought in the Boston Police Department. I was immediately kicked out of the room so they could go over everything with a fine-toothed comb.

I think I must have been in shock. I felt completely numb, like nothing around me really mattered. I’d left my laptop out in our suite’s common room, so I used that to distract myself-or to try to, at any rate. When I popped open the laptop, however, a word document stared at me. Its text was the following:

‘I know this is stupid. I can’t help but think how much I’ll regret this in the morning, but for some reason I’m genuinely scared and I feel like this is the only way I can tell someone why. So here goes: earlier, I was scouring the ‘net for short horror stories-you know, rituals, tales of scary places, and the like. I came across this…warning, I guess it was. I won’t say what, and I won’t say where, for fear of you finding it yourself. Suffice it to say it sent chills down my spine, something not much has managed to do. Still, as has become my habit, I just clicked on the next hyperlink, going ever farther down the rabbit hole.

The warning stayed with me, though. In the back of my head, just nibbling away, waiting until I would focus on something else to rear its ugly head. This was irrational, I knew; my mind was just playing tricks on me. Some ancestral fear had been played upon, some age-old nightmare that was just that-a nightmare, no more and no less. But that didn’t make the fear go away. Only when I looked at the clock to see how long I had until you got back that it dawned on me I had passed the time alloted me by the warning to stop what was coming (any vagueness is out of concern for you, I promise).

And then the real anxiety kicked in. My palms started to sweat, and my eyes refused to stay closed for more than a second at a time. All my hairs stood on end, and I could feel my heart rate start to increase. Instantly, I knew that the warning had been real. And I had failed to heed it. My time was limited.

It was about then that you got back from the TV station. I was so glad to see someone else, I can’t imagine how I sounded. Finally, someone to fight off the dark with, a companion against the now terrifying night. But clearly you weren’t interested; your yawns were a dead giveaway. You headed to bed, and I (to stave off sleep a little longer) decided to write you this. Do me a favor - if I’m wrong, forget this ever happened. If I’m right…warn them.’

So that’s what I’m doing. I’m warning you. Just be careful. Next time you go on an archive binge at creepypasta, or start checking the horror thread of your favorite discussion board, or even just try googling “creepy stories,” if you feel a chill run down your spine at some warning you’ve never read before you might want to heed it. If you decide not to, however - if you just click on your merry way-please tell Mike I’m sorry I couldn’t get to him in the fog.

[Lachrymose]

http://www.ichorfalls.com/2009/03/15/candle-cove/

[Mytical]

((A short dream I had last night, which started at the end..I will try to explain))

A woman was being dragged by a large man by her hair, she was kicking and screaming. They come to a stop in the middle of the woods, the guy looms over her, a pickax in one of his meaty claws. The woman's scream gets louder, and she tries to protect herself by putting her arms up, and closing her eyes..she hears a thunk. Expecting excruciating pain, she is very surprised when there is none.

Looking up, she sees the man standing there as if a statue, and he slowly falls. A carving knife protruding from his back. Behind him a scared looking female stands, her hand still positioned as if driving the knife into him...

Earlier..

Two women are holed up in a tiny little metal trailer during a fierce storm. The whole trailer was rocking from the strength of the wind, and they were frantically trying to board up the windows. The radio was announcing the storm, and warning people to stay in their homes. A thump was heard.

"That doesn't sound like any wind!" one of the women was obviously frightened.

"It was, wind can make some odd sound, but that storm is getting worse. We can't stay in this metal death trap. We have to get out." came the reply from the calmer of the two.

"O..ok, but where can we go?" asked the first..and another loud thump sounded..the whole trailer shook from that one.

"Mack's place. It isn't very far at all, and he has one of those old storm shelters."

They both agree, and just as one of the reaches for the door, it is pulled open. At first they jump, but there is nothing there..it is just the wind. As they head out through the door, the braver one looks to the left..just as a giant hand grabs her by the hair.

Shoving the door closed hard, knocking the one still in the trailer down, the behemoth of a man drags the other woman by the hair.

Which was when I woke up. No clue how or why they were in the metal trailer. The radio was one of those turn nob ones, which I hadn't seen in forever.

[TelephoneAngel]

But that sounds so creepy, did anything actually happen?

It really was more of a feeling.That house was brand new and yet it made creaks like houses do when they are hundreds of years old.It also made other noises like clanking and my exboyfriend looked all over the house then came back and said "there is nothing here which can be making that noise".Everywhere i went in that house i had the feeling that something was watching me or something would be behind the door.

It was a very beautifully decorated house yet it felt evil.Many nights i cried if i was alone because i was so frightened.sometimes i asked my parents to come over so i wouldn't be alone.When i left that house my mother said to me "i didn't like to tell you while you were living there but something isn't right with that house and when i used to come and feed the cats when you were on holiday i would NEVER come by myself even in the middle of the day".

The previous occuppier fell off the roof and broke his back.He seemed eager to leave the place.

[blas]

My friend and her husband went to a convention about local hauntings, hosted by a local ghost hunter who is pretty reputable. Nearly all of the places described were private property or no tresspassing, but there was a public park that sparked their interest.

It's by a dam in a very small farming town a few miles outside of town. Supposedly, some 20some or more years ago, a girl was hitchhiking in that area and was murdered. Also, supposedly the park is named after her. Rumor and legend has it that if you go to that park/the dam at night, you can hear her screaming for help.

My friend and her husband went there last October. Husband got out of the car to investigate, friend lost her nerve and was getting scared just because of it being dark and a really small town and having probably watched too many low budget movies regarding what goes down in small towns.....anyway, she just sat in the car waiting for him.

They both hear a loud scream, sounds like it's almost right next to the car. Husband gets back in the driver's seat, and she yells at him to gun it, go go go go! He starts to go, but it's a long straight drive back onto the main road, and the scream is still as loud as it was before, and it goes on and on until they get back on the main road.

Now I just have to convince bf and I to go there, and convince my friend to go again.

[TelephoneAngel]

there was an old church in the country where i used to live which was always surrounded by that sort of mist you get across fields and it was spooky.

one day i argued with my exboyfriend and he left me there in the middle of the night to teach me a lesson. no houses for miles.

another day i was there with a friend and her toddler who was only two and just starting to speak.the most awful frightening thing was when the baby suddenly said clearly

"it's very eerie here"

however did a toddler learn to apply a word like eerie? and in such a clear grammatical sentence.

friend and i just looked at each other with the same look "did he really just say that?" and all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

[mlmama]

Okay, I have to tell mine after reading everyone else's. I lived in a small two bedroom apartment with my kids a few years ago, and I took what would have been considered the "Master" bedroom. It was okay at first, but after not too long, I started having nightmares, and see black people-shapes (demons to me) coming out of the closet. Even with the closet door closed and my boyfriend in the room with me, I would still sit up in the bed and say, "They are coming to get me!" I don't know why, but I just KNEW they were evil and wanted to take me with them. Haven't had a problem like that since I moved, so I think it was just that closet. I still feel creeped out when I think about it, and it's been at least 10 years.

[Food Lady]

Okay, I have to tell mine after reading everyone else's. I lived in a small two bedroom apartment with my kids a few years ago, and I took what would have been considered the "Master" bedroom. It was okay at first, but after not too long, I started having nightmares, and see black people-shapes (demons to me) coming out of the closet. Even with the closet door closed and my boyfriend in the room with me, I would still sit up in the bed and say, "They are coming to get me!" I don't know why, but I just KNEW they were evil and wanted to take me with them. Haven't had a problem like that since I moved, so I think it was just that closet. I still fill creeped out when I think about it, and it's been at least 10 years.

I've had that experience in a couple different places in California. It seems common.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Here's some of mine; not ones that happened to me personally, but ones I read. These are put down as true ghost stories; whether they are or not doesn't matter, cuz they're creepy to read. XD

Glamis Castle

The family chapel is haunted by a Grey Lady, who is said to be the spirit of Lady Janet Douglas, burned at the stake as a witch on Castle Hill, Edinburgh in 1537, on charges of plotting to poison the King. It is likely that the charges were fabricated for political motives. The apparition has been seen relatively recently in the chapel by a number of witnesses. She is also said to appear above the Clock Tower.

The ghost of a woman with no tongue is said to haunt the grounds, and to look out from a barred window somewhere within the castle. She runs about the park pointing at her mutilated face. There is no suggestion as to who she might be.

A young black boy, the ghost of a Negro servant who was badly treated around 200 years ago, haunts a stone seat by the door of the Queen's bedroom.

One of the more infamous ghosts is known as Earl Beardie, who is otherwise known as Alexander, Earl Crawford. Allegedly he was a cruel and wicked man, probably stemming from his rebellion against James II. His spirit is said to wander the castle, and there have been reports of children waking to find the figure leaning over their beds. He is also said to be gambling for all eternity in a secret room with the Devil, people have reported loud swearing and the rattling of dice. He is often mixed up in literature with the second Earl of Glamis.

Revenge From an Unquiet Grave

Late one night in 1681 a miller, James Graeme, of Country Durham, England, was accosted by the hideous ghost of a young woman. She was drenched with blood and had five open wounds on her head. She told Graeme that her name was Anne Walker and that she had been murdered, with a pickaxe, by one Mark Sharp acting on instruction from a relative of hers, also named Walker, by whom she was pregnant. She made clear to Graeme that unless he gave this information to the local magistrate she would continue to haunt him.

Refusing to believe what he had experienced, Graeme did nothing. But after the apparition appeared, pleaded, and threatened twice more, he went to the authorities with the grisly story. A pit identified by the ghost was searched, and Anne Walker's body was found. Sharp and Walker were arrested. During the trial, a hideous shadow hung over Walker; the ghost of the murdered baby. Both men were found guilty and hanged.

Anne Walker's ghost was unable to find peace until the two men who murdered her were arrested and hanged.

Colonel Buck's Tombstone.

In a cemetery on Bucksport's main thoroughfare, clearly visible just inside a wrought-iron fence, is the gray tombstone of Col. Jonathan Buck. Appearing on one side of the tomb is the dark image of a woman's stocking foot, a reminder of an 18th-century curse. During the Salem witch trials, all New England was caught up in the fever to exterminate witches. Colonel Buck, an influential resident and a member of the family from which the town took its name, decided that Bucksport should purge itself of witches also.

He found a perfect candidate in an old, feeble woman, whom he had tried, convicted, and executed. With her last breath, she cursed the colonel and declared that when he died his tomb would bear the print of her foot as evidence that he had murdered an innocent woman.

Colonel Buck, not one to tempt fate, cautioned his heirs to choose a tombstone unblemished in any way. Soon after his death, however, the shape of a woman's foot gradually began to appear on the marker. Dutiful heirs made many efforts to have it removed, but to no avail. Finally they replaced the stone with a new one. Within a few months, another footlike shape appeared. Like the first footprint, it could not be removed. When a third stone was put in place and yet another footprint appeared, the heirs gave up. Today the third stone and footprint remain for all the world to see, like a wound that will never heal.

[TelephoneAngel]

strange thing which happened in the house boyfriend and i live in.There is a great atmosphere here in general its peaceful, but...

some tiome ago we heard a noise like someone falling downstairs it was clearly in the house here not in a neighborouring house we looked all round but nothing had fallen, I even opened some cupboards to see if somehing had fallen over inside, nothing............no sooner had we sat down than it happened again.

Then yesterday I was standing in the hall and boyfriend was sitting in the room dorectly off the hall.We both heard the noise of lots of heavy things falling to the floor in the space between us but there was nothing there.............