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40 Hilarious Moments When People Mistook Something For Being Paranormal, As Shared By The Bored Panda Community
How many times have you freaked out because of a weird sound or a dark silhouette "watching" you? I am pretty sure that we've all had these moments when we thought that our presence was being "honored" by a ghost or an alien, which then turned out to be just a pile of clothes recklessly laying on a chair.
So I asked the Bored Panda community to share their stories of a moment when they thought they heard or saw something that they mistook for being paranormal. The responses are hilarious and might make you laugh! Do share your "creepiest" moments with us as well!
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#1
One time, at my in-laws' house, my husband's mom was saying how recently she had been hearing this low moaning sound every once in a while coming from somewhere in the living room. We stayed over for a while and sure enough, we too heard this odd sound coming from somewhere in the living room. We couldn’t place the sound but it was definitely eerie. Naturally, the conversation about the house being haunted started, but we decided it was probably something more realistic. This went on for a few days until one day she called us laughing uncontrollably. We asked what was so funny and she said the grandkids had come over for a visit, and the youngest, Charlie, wanted to play with his farm book. Now, this book was one of those interactive books where you press the animal and it makes a sound. He had left it in the toy box in the corner of the living room. He pulled it out and pressed the various animals only to discover most of them didn’t work, he pressed the cow and this low moaning sound came from the book. The batteries were so low from it being jammed in the toy box and being pushed up against another toy, it would go off occasionally, draining its battery. This farm book cow was the culprit for making the ghostly sounds! We laughed over it for years.
Final score:
420points
#2
Have you ever heard a fox at night in the woods? They make ungodly noises. Also, I didn't secure my food properly and raccoons invaded my campsite. I huddled in my tent, not sleeping, convinced the Blair Witch was going to take me. I was 34.
Final score:
329points
#3
I was 16 and my mom worked the night shift. We lived in a small cottage deep in the woods, with no neighbors. Watching TV when I suddenly saw a book dislodge from the shelf and fall. Like Ghostbusters. Another one did the same thing. Too terrified to move, wondering if the police would believe me if I called. Finally mustered enough courage to actually walk to the shelf and have a closer look, as a third book was about to fall. The cat was behind the row of books, pushing one out with his butt every time he turned... He stared strangely at me as I almost fell to the floor, laughing hysterically.
Final score:
310points
#4
Just moved into the house. Slept in the main floor bedroom the first few nights so we could paint our room. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Didn't turn on the light because I "knew" where the bathroom was. All of a sudden, I'm in a pitch-black portal. I can feel the walls on either side but ahead, nothing. I called out my husband's name a couple times and asked, "Where am I? Help me." Hon, you walked into the cedar closet. Try door number two.
Final score:
298points
#5
I worked at a daycare in the early 2000s. Since I was in grad school, I’d open so I could go to my classes in the evening, which meant getting there at 5 to clean before the kids started arriving at 6.
So, one morning I got there, it was dark, I’m alone, I’m turning on every light I can find, and I hear the most terrifying sound I’ve ever heard coming from the toddler room. So, I locked myself in the office until some other people get there (my army of 6-year-olds!). Then I went to see what it was.
It was a Tickle Me Big Bird whose batteries had been ruined by going through the washing machine.
Final score:
238points
Chloe *Leah* Pheonix 3 years ago
Anything about sounds is gonna get me. I absolutley hate eerie sounds
#6
So I was laying in my bed, half asleep, listening to Hamilton. Then all of the sudden, I felt something touch/move on my stomach. I had my hand on my stomach. And moved it. Turns out, it was just me being an idiot and literally forgetting where my hand was. I still dunno how I managed that. Freaked me the heck out.
Final score:
225points
#7
I live in an apartment building. Alone in my study, I had been listening to creepypastas on YouTube and it is 11:00 at night. I cranked open a window and lit a cigarette. Then I start hearing whispers coming from my closet. A clear, soft voice: "Don't!" I froze. The voice continued: "Don't! You hear me? Don't! Come here..." I got up. And then realized the voice belonged to the neighbor. He was in the parking lot, just underneath my window, scolding his dog. *facepalm*
Final score:
220points
#8
Two words. Coat hangers. I can't count how many times they looked like a person in the dark.
Final score:
209points
#9
I was on a trip with my friend. She had invited me to go with her and her grandparents to watch her little cousin while the family was on vacation. Anyway, I end up sleeping in the kid's room. He had mirrored closet doors which are already creepy enough. In fact, I find them SO creepy that I opened the closet so there would only be one door. So I'm almost asleep when I distinctly hear a menacing laugh coming from the closet. I have a great imagination so I'm questioning the reality of the situation when I hear it again. This time it laughs and says, "Scared yet?" in a mocking tone. Now I'm quietly freaking the f**k out because the boogeyman (or IT) is in this kid's closet and I'm going to die. The thing laughs again and I'm like "YOLO" and fly to the light switch. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this because I am a huge skeptic, even if I still thought the boogeyman might turn out to be a bigger problem than I had anticipated, but I was gonna fight this thing if it was. There was no boogeyman in the closet, what I *did* find was a talking shark Hotwheels toy where you have to race the cars through the shark's mouth. It had settled in the toy pile and the switch had been triggered to make it talk. I was going to fight a toy car accessory. I went to bed and slept soundly.
Final score:
205points
#10
A couple of years ago, I was up early to get to work. Driving through the empty town in the grey early morning light, I stopped at a traffic light. Ahead of me, there was something crossing the road, about a yard high. It had a big head, and small thin body, and seemed to be barely moving its legs as it almost glided across the pavement. My brain did a quick search and said 'nope', and I suddenly felt this shock of 'that's not something in the real world'. The light changed and I slowly drove towards it - turned out to be a mylar balloon that was mostly deflated, with ribbons hanging down from it, moving in the breeze. But for a minute there...
Final score:
193points
#11
My daughter was convinced she heard a ghost. I heard it too. An eery almost melodic sound, barely audible. Discovered it was the next-door neighbor learning to play the flute.
Final score:
179points
#12
In 2002, I bought my first house. I’m a city boy and my house was in the country 1/4 miles from the nearest neighbor. Not long after moving in, one morning before sunrise, I swear I heard the faint voices of a man & woman talking in a normal tone from my backyard. I jumped out of bed & looked but there was nothing there. But I heard it again a few days later. It was a brand new house so I didn’t suspect that it was haunted by any previous owners. But it happened again & again over the next several months and I just didn’t worry about it anymore. What was it? I had a clock radio that was set to turn on the radio instead of the alarm at the appointed time & it was tuned to a religious station at a barely audible volume never loud enough to make out the words. Just preaching- no orchestral music or anything that would’ve given me a hint. Was glad to know I wasn’t losing my mind.
Final score:
179points
Agent 8433599 2 years ago
Oh, I got one like this, ok so one morning I snoozed my morning alarm, cut I couldn't fall back asleep with all the hustle and bustle in the house so a went ahead and got ready for school. Well I get home and I hear voices in my room, I was SUPER freaked out but I do into the room and check it out. It turns out to be my alarm playing the radio, but out was just people talking.
#13
One night, I was hanging out on my bed watching TV with my puppy and she all of a sudden gets up very alert and crawls timidly to the corner of my bed and just stares at the corner of my bedroom. It freaked me out! And then she slinks back to me and just kept watching and staring and staring at the corner of my room. A few hours later, this cute little lizard came crawling out from behind my bookcase. I returned it back outside. She must’ve smelled it.
Final score:
164points
#14
I was once driving home from my night job and it was the proverbial dreary night. Foggy, and I had to drive through a swampy area that was reputed to be haunted anyway. This was a classically scary-looking place, deep south, Spanish moss, etc. But this shortcut took a good ten minutes off my drive. As I was going along, I noticed approaching me, two HUGE glowing yellow eyes about 18 inches from the ground, about 200 yards away. I slowed down, thinking to see that it was the reflection of my headlights on the fog, but to my bowel-loosening horror, the eyes sped up, as if now aware of my regard, they were coming in faster. I nailed it, with the intention that I would get past whatever it was, and get home! I don't mind telling you I was absolutely terrified! This THING was coming at me faster and faster, bobbing, but with intent! Every scary story I'd ever heard about all those spooky lights, I was about to have my own. Closer... And closer... The eyes... Kept... On... Coming... I came to the bridge just a bit before they did, just in time to see...the fog part. And then, a Volkswagen Beetle and its antique headlamps come into view. The reflections of the swamp had given the lie to where it was located and it looked closer than it was. But no lie, it almost scared me into having to buy new underwear that night!
Final score:
153points
#15
I would swear our house was haunted because I could always hear scratching noises coming from the corner of the basement rec room at night. Sometimes it would get so loud.
I kept telling my dad we had ghosts, but he didn't believe me. He decided to get to the bottom of it and went outside to investigate. He came to the door laughing and said, "Come see your ghosts."
I went out and my dad had disconnected the downspout for the gutters which led to a drain pipe. Inside the pipe were about 20 frogs that apparently would work their way up and down the pipe at night so they could find something to eat. He relocated them to a nearby pond.
Final score:
143points
#16
Our cupboards close with magnets. They make a loud *click* when they close and open. (Now, we've had a few unexplainable sounds from time to time, and some of the sounds I have traced to things that just don't make a noise without someone tapping them. And it's just me and my daughter in this small space.) Sometimes we'll be in the living room or in bed at night and hear the cupboards clicking.
Last night, after years of hearing this, I walk into the kitchen, along the shifty, squeaky floors and hear one of the cupboards. I've now realized our cupboards come off the magnets and close when someone's walking around close by. We live on the top floor apartment, and people who walk around below us shake our floors slightly.
Final score:
136points
Chloe *Leah* Pheonix 3 years ago
I've had something like this similar, walking around noises in the hallway, but I'm not sure that it's not something walking around
#17
This one is from when my grandpa was young (the 1920s):
His sisters once became very scared hearing some eerie sounds in one of the bedrooms, like laments. One said it was a penitent soul for sure, who couldn't go to the Other Side. Later, they found out that a chicken had snuck in, hid under the bed, and was cooing because it couldn't get out.
Final score:
130points
#18
It was way past midnight and I had just stopped working on my studies and threw a scrunched-up piece of paper in the bin, went to bed, and shut off the light.
I heard a soft rustle and a "plop" so I turned the light on to investigate. The scrunched-up paper lay beside the bin. So the bin was filled up high, I thought I missed the bin the first time.
I got up, threw the paper in the bin, and got back to sleeping, but again: rustle... rustle... plop.
With something of a "dafuq?" moment. I got up again and the scrunched-up paper lay beside the bin again. Now I was fearing I was hallucinating or having a strange form of deja-vu or something.
I got up again, threw the paper back into the bin, back to sleep and... rustle... rustle...
Now I really was frightened about what was happening and didn't wait for the "plop". Much more fearful, I got up a third time and investigated carefully.
A little scarab beetle was shoving my paper back up to the rim of the bin, surely wondering why this scrunched-up piece of paper was turning up again and again in his bin!
Final score:
130points
#19
This actually just happened last night. I woke up around midnight and quietly tip-toed to the fridge looking for a snack. I’m standing there trying to focus my eyes due to the dark room being lit up by the fridge light and suddenly catch movement out the side of my eye. I knew everyone else was asleep so as soon as I see this movement, I ball my fist and swing HARD! Only to realize I had just tried to assault my own shadow. Paranormal or paranoia 😂😂
Final score:
129points
#20
My sister and I each had a room in the basement when we were teenagers. Good old wood paneling walls. One night, I turned out the lights and saw Red Eyes looking at me from the closet. I freaked out and turned on my bedside lamp. I had a piggy bank that was yellow and red, sitting on a shelf in the closet and the crack in the wall between the wood paneling had a beam of light from the next room over, shining right on the red eyes of the piggy bank. I had to sleep with the closet door closed for a few years.
Final score:
126points
#21
When I was little, I heard these really realistic door slams around the house and got paranoid that there was a ghost. But then, I noticed in the summer, the second the door “slammed", it began to get humid. So now, I’ve realized how stupid I was and that 'slam' was the AC turning off. 🤦🏻♀️
Final score:
111points
#22
Do aliens count as paranormal? Was asleep in my basement bedroom and woke to find a glowing red light about 3 feet off the ground slowly approaching me. I had plenty of time to wonder what the hell it was and finally came to the conclusion that it was an alien. Nothing else made sense. Eventually discovered that it was a partially-deflated mylar balloon reflecting my alarm clock light and being blown toward me by the heat vent.
Final score:
106points
#23
London, 2008. Came home from a gig, went to bed, and genuinely thought I got haunted by a poltergeist as my bed started shaking with me in it. The timing of the whole predicament was so precise that as I sat up trying not to sh*t myself and compute what the hell was happening, the only thing I could think of was to recite a prayer that my grandmother taught me and hit the light, only for the bed to stop shaking right at that precise moment.
Panic, tears, parents who were peacefully asleep now wondering if their teenager was high as a kite…only to find out in the morning that the UK was hit by the biggest earthquake in nearly 25 years (5.2 magnitude) and the tremor reached London.
I didn’t even realize that earthquakes were a possibility in the UK and was fortunate enough to never experience one before, but damn, just the precise timing of the whole predicament made me think there was a portal to hell in my room 😅
Final score:
98points
Otter 3 years ago
When I lived in the San Francisco area, earthquakes were so common that when one would hit when I was at work, people would say "That one felt like a 4.5" (on the Richter dmdvale), and someone would argue "No, that had to be over 5.0, maybe a 5.5!", and then someone would check the news and see who was right.
#24
I was driving in a remote location to visit my parents. It was dark and I was alone so I was already a little creeped out. There were no streetlights and it was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. No one else around me.
I kept hearing this weird screeching sound from the back so I turned the music down and listened. The noise came again. I didn't want to look in the rearview mirror (I was afraid of seeing a ghost or something like in the movies).
Eventually, I turned the inside lights of the car on and looked back, and waited.
Turned out, I had accidentally turned on my rear window's wiper at some point and it was screeching on the dusty window.
Final score:
96points
Charlise Fenton 2 years ago
The garage lights were off and I was sitting in my car finishing some work and I hear this gentle *screeeech* from behind me so I turned around to investigate and there was nothing there... 20 seconds later i hear it again, now im finished my work but don't want to get out of the car... every 20 seconds for about 3 minutes im wondering "what the hell, there's something scratching the back of my car" then i catch the windshield wiper in the act.
#25
The house we rented the owner had just installed a mottled earth-toned linoleum floor in the kitchen. I was walking into the kitchen and saw a portion of the floor MOVE. I froze in place and screamed loud enough to wake the dead, my boyfriend (now my husband) comes tearing in thinking something horrible has or is about to happen, screeches to a stop, and upon not seeing anything, asks me what is wrong. I stutter out that the floor moved and point to where I'd seen it. He looks down and starts howling with laughter then asks if I want to jump up on a chair too. Turns out the "moving floor" was a little field mouse that had gotten into the house which was nearly perfectly camouflaged against the earth-tone mottled flooring. Poor field mouse was as frozen in place as I was - he caught it up in a box and we relocated it to a nearby field. Twenty plus years later and he still brings it up anytime I'm startled...I can't live down that I screamed bloody murder about a little field mouse.
Final score:
87points
#26
At the Girl Scout Camp I went to as a kid, you could stay in an old barn, creatively called "The Barn." One night, one of the other girls told us she was psychic and described all the ghosts she'd seen. All of a sudden she said, "There's something outside. Everyone quiet." There was a knock at the door and a couple girls screamed. Then we heard voices saying, "Let us in, the door is locked." It turned out that two girls had gone out to the bathroom without the rest of us noticing. They were locked out and just wanted in.
Final score:
84points
#27
My (now ex) fiance and I were asleep after our son's first birthday. We awoke to these awful loud popping and banging noise. I looked at him and his face was full of terror... He said, "What the f**k?!" in the most scared way... It was pitch black. After fumbling for the light switch we saw what made the loud noises: A couple of the balloons from my son's party were caught up in our ceiling fan that was on. I haven't laughed as hard as I did that night since then.
Final score:
69points
#28
As a kid, my neighbors loved to have flashing lights on at Christmas, and for the first few nights after they went on, I would freak out every time I woke up as the different strands threw shadows in weird places. I HATE flashing Christmas lights to this day!
Final score:
66points
#29
Scared the h*ll out of myself in the shower, was rinsing my hair and felt something grab my butt. It was my long hair sticking to a cheek and it felt like a grab when I turned my head.
Another time, woke up out of a dead sleep because someone grabbed my stomach. It was my own hand that had just squeezed myself in my sleep.
Final score:
66points
Stephanie Paich 2 years ago
I scared my best friend once. She was in the shower and I screamed. She came out of the bathroom with a towel and a baseball bat thinking there was an intruder only to find that I was pointing at a daddy long legs on the wall.
#30
When I was about 12/13, I read The Lawnmower Man (a short Stephen King story). Shortly after, I kept hearing a muffled but still quite loud sound of a motor during the night and early hours. I was absolutely terrified, imagining The LM was after me and didn’t tell my parents for about a week as I didn’t want them to think I was going crazy. Turned out there was a massive wasps’ nest in the loft/roof, right over my bed. Dad had ‘fun’ dealing with that!
Final score:
65points
#31
My boyfriend has this rack that hangs on the top of the bathroom door with towels on it. I had a friend over and he moved it to the bedroom door, so if my friend wanted to use the bathroom, he could fully close the door.
Fast forward to bedtime. I wake up in the middle of the night in darkness, completely forgetting the rack is on the door, as it's normally on the bathroom one. The door is half closed and I see this dark shape "peering" around the corner by the door, high up. I f*****g screamed, scaring both my boyfriend and the dog. He thought I was an idiot when I figured it out.
Final score:
63points
#32
When I was a kid - let's say around 12 - just started to watch horror and paranormal-type movies, read Stephen King books, etc.
There was a sound - barely audible voices - that I could hear in a room of the house - but I couldn't work out where from.
Given my age and the movies and books I was watching/reading - I, of course, jumped to a bunch of completely insane conclusions.
Eventually, I found out it was a small-ish (it was the '80s, so nothing was actually small) portable radio that had been left on and fallen down under something.
Final score:
61points
Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago
My mum and I were outside at night preparing to walk the dog when we heard a voice coming from the roof. Dad had left his radio up there while he was fixing the air conditioner. Again.
#33
There is a beautiful, empty, old small church and cemetery near where I live. Coming home late one night, I rounded the corner to see the entire building filled with a dazzling light from the inside, rays pouring out of the windows in all directions. I slowed in front of it, quite certain the rapture was upon us. As I crept past the other side came into view…along with the large vehicle parked with it’s brights on shining into the church windows.
Final score:
58points
#34
I once saw a plastic bag in the dark and thought it was a ghost because it was shaped weirdly!
Final score:
56points
Jackie Porter 3 years ago
This has happened to me too. It was stuck in some bushes that were behind some trees so I couldn't see it properly. I just saw a white thing wafting about. My brain automatically went with 'ghost' rather than 'mundane thing that's not a ghost'.
#35
A few months ago I was fast asleep in bed and was woken up by what sounded like knocking on a little ‘door’ in my wardrobe that connects to the attic. “Knock knock knock… knock knock… knock knock” Scared the crap out of me and I couldn’t get to sleep for a while after that. I was terrified that it was ghosts or maybe someone was living in the attic and we didn’t know. Turns out it was just the wind shuffling the door panel in its frame
Final score:
54points
#36
Ah, whenever I was home alone when I was 11, I would hear footsteps and the floor creaking on the upper floor.
I didn’t live in an apartment, just a huge house, which had only me in it amongst the furniture.
I would always arm myself with hangers, and try to find the source of the sound.
It took me about 3 months of this before I asked my mom about it, it turned out to be the AC shaking the wooden tiles, and the water from the pipes would go occasionally.
Now, imagine my shock when during those 3 months I was getting a snack from the fridge, and something fell over in the pantry 😅
What do you think ?
Eucritta 3 years ago
Years ago, we rented a1911 one-bedroom Craftsman bungalow, a beautiful little place with a lot of built-ins that had only been minimally remodeled. There was just one catch: it might've been haunted. Well. It seemed like. Mysterious footsteps would sound in the night, and there'd be odd knocking in the attic. The kitchen and cabinet doors in the dining room would open by themselves. Right around when I was on the edge of a serious case of cumulative heebie-jeebies, though, we started to figure it out. The footsteps were only mysterious because the subflooring was continuous throughout the house, and steps in one room would 'echo' in the next - and our enormous old cat's footsteps were heavy enough to trigger it. The knocking was the antique gas heater in the attic shutting down & cooling off. And the doors opened when the heater kicked on, and hot air came down vent. Old heating, cats, and balloon-framed houses - they'll do it every time.
Daniel Marsh 3 years ago
Did you know that old-fashioned television sets can store a fair amount of electricity in what's called a capacitor? And the capacitor can discharge spontaneously.... meaning even an unplugged television set can just "turn itself on." I had some friends move in with me who were already a little creeped out to find an old lady died in the apartment right before I moved in. The cat somehow locking itself in a cupboard was pretty creepy because we couldn't figure out how he did it, and man those were strange noises he made. But the TV turning itself on (to a regularly scheduled episode of the Twilight Zone) was the icing on the creep-out cake for them.
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
Yep, old TVs do weird things. You can get a spontaneous one-ring-no-call on really old landline phones, too. My gran's would do it. (Not a party line.) Electricity is fun if not freaking stuff. However, no Twilight Zone involved. That woudl be the creepy part!
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Eucritta 3 years ago
Years ago, we rented a1911 one-bedroom Craftsman bungalow, a beautiful little place with a lot of built-ins that had only been minimally remodeled. There was just one catch: it might've been haunted. Well. It seemed like. Mysterious footsteps would sound in the night, and there'd be odd knocking in the attic. The kitchen and cabinet doors in the dining room would open by themselves. Right around when I was on the edge of a serious case of cumulative heebie-jeebies, though, we started to figure it out. The footsteps were only mysterious because the subflooring was continuous throughout the house, and steps in one room would 'echo' in the next - and our enormous old cat's footsteps were heavy enough to trigger it. The knocking was the antique gas heater in the attic shutting down & cooling off. And the doors opened when the heater kicked on, and hot air came down vent. Old heating, cats, and balloon-framed houses - they'll do it every time.
Daniel Marsh 3 years ago
Did you know that old-fashioned television sets can store a fair amount of electricity in what's called a capacitor? And the capacitor can discharge spontaneously.... meaning even an unplugged television set can just "turn itself on." I had some friends move in with me who were already a little creeped out to find an old lady died in the apartment right before I moved in. The cat somehow locking itself in a cupboard was pretty creepy because we couldn't figure out how he did it, and man those were strange noises he made. But the TV turning itself on (to a regularly scheduled episode of the Twilight Zone) was the icing on the creep-out cake for them.
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
Yep, old TVs do weird things. You can get a spontaneous one-ring-no-call on really old landline phones, too. My gran's would do it. (Not a party line.) Electricity is fun if not freaking stuff. However, no Twilight Zone involved. That woudl be the creepy part!
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