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When Have You Encountered “Ghosts” That Were Just Innocent And Easily Explained Things? (Closed)
Around half of Americans believe in ghosts, and many seem to have encountered them. While there is no scientific evidence of ghosts, many people still claim to have seen them. Some are fake, seeking their 10 minutes of fame, some don’t know what they saw, and others mistook things for ghosts. A lamp left on, a shadow caused by a chair—many perfectly innocent things can cause encounters with “ghosts.”
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#1
A few times I went to pee at night, and as I exited, got startled by a black figure that was about a foot away from me. It was just a jacket on a hanger. Scared the heck out of me. You know, it looks like a human figure, so there's no wonder why it was so startling.
Final score:
17points
RELATED:
#2
So back when my gradma was alive and living in our house she would get up in the middle of the night to check on us. Well one night I was dead asleep the I woke up because I felt like something or someone was watching me. I look towards my door, see it wide open and a black body shape thing standing there not moving not talking at all. Then it walks away I hear it go into my grandmas room then the dots finally line up together. She was just checking up on me. I didn’t have a demon ready to steal my soul!
Final score:
15points
#3
ok, so plz dont laugh.....
So I was like 5 and every time I went to bed, I would hear footsteps. But then when I got up out of the bed, the footsteps stopped. This freaked me out for 3 years straight, because I thought there was a demon and it wanted to eat my soul. Years later I just realized it was my heart beating against the bed...... ;w;
Final score:
15points
#4
One time when I was younger, I thought that there was a ghost in my house because I always heard voices from downstairs at night. I was big into ghost stories, and my house is over 100 years old, so I totally thought it was haunted!
Turns out it was just my parets eating desert and watching tv without me. TwT
Final score:
12points
#5
I kept seeing a black cat in my house out of the corner of my eye. Apparently, my ADHD medicine can cause hallucinations. I thought I was going mad
Final score:
11points
#6
My mom and I had moved into a newly built house one summer in a quaint neighborhood. There didn't seem to be anything amiss in the home or on the property. For a few months, everything was fine. Then one evening I was laying in bed and heard a slow creak in the attic above me. It was a faint noise so I wasn't sure I'd actually heard anything, but then a few moments later I heard the same faint creak a few feet further down the ceiling line, and then another a few more feet down the attic floor towards the end of the house. There were footsteps slowly and carefully walking across the attic floor above me. It was night and my mom had just gone to bed so I wasn't sure I wanted to wake her so I waited. Nothing. No noises. 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes pass and nothing. I start to relax and then I hear the faint creaks at the end of the house slowly start to walk back across the ceiling towards the area over my bedroom. I'm in a full panic now. At first I thought it might be a ghost, but then I began to fear that someone had gotten into the house during the day and was hiding in the attic above. I slipped quietly out of my room, lept across the hall and woke up my mother. She didn't quite understand what I was trying to urgently whisper as I dragged her into my room. My finger against my lips we sat in the dark, waiting. Nothing. Everything was quiet. Just as I thought I'd lost my mind a tiny faint creak right above our heads. Her eyes got wide as did mine. We listened as the creaks slowly crossed the ceiling again, in the same pathway down the spine of the attic floor towards the end of the house footstep by slow methodical footstep. It stopped once again and she and I rushed downstairs to the living room. We made a plan. She got her firearm and I got a knife. We poised ourselves at the bottom of the attic staircase. Everything was silent as she went up to the attic and I stayed in the hallway. A few minutes passed and she yelled down that there was nobody there. The attic was empty. Just then, the central heat kicked back on and I once again heard the creaking above me. The hot air was expanding the metal vents just slightly as it progressed down the floor of the attic and into the rest of the air vents. When it turned off, the vents began to cool and contract in the same way, only backwards so it sounded like footsteps. That fall evening was the first time we'd used the heat!
Final score:
11points
#7
My cat once batted at nothing. Probably weird thing cats do though.
Final score:
10points
#8
Well, I was awake late at night, and looking out my window. I saw a "ghost"- a figure walking that disappeared when they turned the corner. It could've just been a person wearing a white shirt, though.
Final score:
9points
#9
I'm 67 years old & I still can't hang my hand over the edge of the bed at night because I still believe something might reach up from under my bed & hold my hand.
Final score:
8points
#10
I'm only 13, so bear with me. My mom has this really creepy jester mask that she pulls out every year, and this year she decided to do something new with it. She brought it out to our car, and put it in that little gap between the window and the door, and it sat there for WEEKS. Every time I go out into the driveway, I see this thing, and it scares the crap out of me (Not literally, but you get the point). She only just put it away a couple days ago, but I still check the window. Plus, she has gotten so many text messages and pictures from her friends that say that they were surprised when they came out of somewhere and saw this thing. It's also hilarious to see the looks we get from strangers on the road, looking at our car, and having their face go white from shock. It's so much fun, I'm going to do this every year!
Final score:
7points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago
This is great. My neighbor would cover his hand in blood and stick it undr the garage door so it wouldn't go all the way down. Then when people look at his "decoration" he would try to grab them. He passed a few years ago.
#11
One time, my sister and I were home alone, and the power went off while it was still daytime. Later, I heard the floorboards creaking, but my sister was right next to me, then, I heard voices. Later, I realized that our house is 100 yrs old and moves, so that was the creaking, and the voices was just the T.V. turning back on because the power came back on.
Final score:
6points
#12
So my brother got these huge stuffed animals for christmas. I walked to the bathroom in the middle of the night without my glasses in the dark. And I thought I saw a dead body, about the size of my older sister. Who was not home at the time. I got closer and realized it wasn't my sister, but it still looked like a body. I switched off the light really quick to not wake my brother, and it was just a lion.
Final score:
5points
#13
this was actually very recent. While working on homework, I heard knocking on my window. When I opened the window, I saw a woodpecker fly away. Not sure if it was pecking the window pane for insects or it was fighting it's reflection.
Final score:
5points
#14
One night, at around 2 in the morning, I woke up to a yowling-scream-thing from outside my window. It sounded animal, almost catlike. Anyway, I was groggy and terrified, and covered my ears. No matter what I did I could still hear it, after what seemed like forever the yowl-screaming stoped, and I lifted my hands of my ears. I heard a moaning sound. it continued, on and of until I fell back asleep. I don’t know for sure, but it was probably a cat fight. I checked in the morning, but there was nothing outside. (I know I was not dreaming because my brother heard it too)
Final score:
5points
#15
okay, so the night after i watched the first movie of the lord of the ring (yikes that was superrrr long ago, i think i was 8) and i went to bed, i put some tea on and forgot about it, i ended up falling asleep upstaires in my bed.
i wake up to the sound of a faint whistling, that grew louder and louder. i got freaked out because i thought that it was someone whistling as they were coming to kill me. i was young and lived with my fam, so they turned it off, and went back to bed, i got freaked out because it stopped and a couple of minutes later when i got the courage to check on my parents and sisters, they were gone from their beds and i freaked out so much and ran back to bed and i tried to sleep but i couldent so i went under my bed so the whistling man coudent find me and i thought that in the morning i would get up and call the police and i somehow fell asleep under my bed.. i woke up to the sound of my name being called. i thought it was the whistling man and i stayed under my bed. not to long after i heard footsteps and then someone looked under my bed and i screamed but then i realized it was my mom and i was so surprised that the whistling man didnt kill her then she laughed and told me the story and i felt so stupid later XD anyway that was really scary
Final score:
5points
#16
One time, I woke up earlier than usual, and it was still dark. I get up to turn on the light, and I feel something that feels like hair brush my hand. Human hair. I freaked out and ran the rest of the way to the light switch, flipping it on as fast as I could. It was a cobweb.
Final score:
4points
#17
Literally every time I go to bed and decide to open my eyes, I see ghosts and demons EVERYWHERE. I don't sleep a lot.
Final score:
4points
pansexualandproud 4 years ago
might be sleep paralysis or something. i have a sleep paralysis demon that just comes to watch me at night. he looks like a skeleton demon thing and has really sharp teeth that are covered in blood and he is just huge and takes up most of my room. i call him horror because he reminded me of the sans au called horror but like a lot bigger and with more teeth. sort of animal-like but he does have the big crack in his head like the real horror does.
#18
I occasionally see a shadowy figure moving in peripheral vision. As a child my eye was scratched by my pet bird leaving a permanent scar in my eye. Its only visible when the lighting is low enough for my pupil to open up but not too dark. It appears to move because our eyes work in funny ways. We only focus on small areas of our field of vision and our brains fill in the rest.
Final score:
4points
Janet Bird 4 years ago
It has always freaked me out that our brains fill in the rest. Very unsettling.
#19
I got spooked by the reflection of car tail lights once. To be fair, it was right after i got spooked by the bathroom hangy lightswitch thing.
Final score:
4points
#20
The night before halloween I hung my costume up on my closet door, and so did my sister. But I didn't notice my sister hang hers up and the costumes made a shadow that looked a like a large reptile with long claws. It scared me and I got about 5 hours of sleep only.
Final score:
4points
#21
Window kept making strange noises. Turned out to be a stuck lock.
Final score:
4points
#22
Once there was a time when I was watching myself in the mirror and I saw a shadowy black girl-thing behind me. My sister has also reported these strange sightings.
I think our house is haunted.
Do u believe in ghosts?
Final score:
4points
Janet Bird 4 years ago
Of course. I've lived in that many haunted houses! Poltergeists are another matter tho', pain in the posterior.
#23
i sleep in the room my great grandfather died in so when i saw a light floating across the ceiling i was terrified turns out my sister likes her flashlight a little to much
Final score:
4points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago
Once at halloween we had these lights that project on the house and it scared me when I saw a light moving across my window.
#24
One night a couple months ago I was up late and just waiting for sleep when I heard a weird noise, like claws on paper. I thought the cat had gotten in and was stepping on my ***very important*** folder of papers I had left on the ground on accident. I sleep in a hayloft bed for space convenience. So I looked over the side of the bed- nothing. But the noise continued. Every time I moved, the regular creaking was accompanied by the sound of scratching on paper. Honestly I was just super terrified that there was a demon? Writing stuff down for Satan or smth? I dunno it was like one in the morning. The next day I was just down on the ground shaking the bed trying to find the noise, but it didn't seem to be coming from the bed, and the noise didn't come unless it was dark. So then I thought it was a ghost cause what other ~~possible~~ explanation could there be right so anyways it eventually got so bad that my heartbeat would trigger the noise. I was seriously scared cause it was a super creepy noise late at night. When i was finally like not getting sleep I deep cleaned my room in hopes of getting rid of anything for my bed to bump into and make noises on. The noises continued. It can change very slightly, sometimes it sounds like claws on paper, sometimes it sounds more like a creaky door, but it is super unsettling and I don't have it pegged
Final score:
4points
#25
OK, so this happened a long long time ago... I think I was around 6 years old, and every time I went to bed, after my parents left, I heard this weird mechanical clicking noise in long intervals. I was too scared to move, or even speak. I finally screamed for my parents, and we found the source of these sounds. Apparently it was a remote control car that wasn't turned off, and it kept trying to move forward, only stopping when the gears clicked together to stop it from burning the motor...
Final score:
4points
#26
For years as a child I saw lights moving around my room in the dark at night. I would also see repetitive visual sequences like a little girl on a swing or a knife cutting an endless spiral of meat (WTF!). All this was coupled with weird physical feelings of having huge extremities and the walls moving infinitely far away. Also, the sound of people calling my name. Needless to say, I though these were all supernatural events. Turns out, they are common, textbook symptoms of hypnagogic hallucinations caused by insomnia. Relief!
Final score:
4points
#27
A dripping faucet that reminded me of that creepy story with the girl and her dog who licks her hand to comfort her
Final score:
3points
#28
In the middle of the night, my dog would start barking in my room. Then, I would hear footsteps come and someone opening my door. I would see a black figure and then I would hide under my blankets and pretend to be asleep. I finally realized my dog was barking at the birds that used to sleep on our roof. The black figure turned out to be my mom who was checking to see why the dog was barking...
This happened for a whole week. Plus, I was really young and I had a creative imagination
Final score:
3points
Abigail Nagel 3 years ago
it seems like most of these stories are from when people are kids. makes sense because kids have active imaginations.
#29
So I have always had pretty long hair and this happened when i was 10ish so me and my cousin were at the beach and i felt someone touching my shoulder so i yelled at my cousin and told him stop touching me!! He comes out from under water and is like Trinity Im not touching you. Soo now i am screaming and freaking out turns out i was just my wet hair on my shoulder.....
Final score:
3points
Arctic Fox Lover 4 years ago
Omg, I can sooo relate! Whenever I'm in my basement and I feel the feathery ends of my long hair on my hand or arm, I think it's a spider or cobweb, and I jump 10 feet into the air to look down and realize it's just my hair X3
#30
I was *trying* to sleep, but I could not. I was laying down, in my bed, and my blind were drawn. Suddenly, I see a silhouette / shadow of a buff mad on my wall. It didn't have any light streaks through it, which was odd because my blinds were down. There was nobody else on the room except me, and I was laying down. I also am a twig (super skinny and *petite* as my 2nd grade teacher said). I never found out why that happened. I was super freaked out and the next day, I told my parents. They were convinced it was someone outside or me, but none of my neighbors were super buff like the shadow. Looking at the shadow, you would think, 'FBI'. That's how ripped he was. It couldn't have been outside because there were no streaks of light through the shadow, which there should have been if the person was outside. The only option that leaves is that the person was inside. I looked around, there was nobody, and when I looked back at the wall, the shadow was gone. Some of you might say, "Was it your dad?" No, it was not. My dad has a beard, and this dude was clean shaven. This shadow was also short and stocky, whereas my dad is a bit taller and not as muscular. My parents said it also could have been an illusion, or simply a dream or me just thinking, but to this day, I do not know what caused that occurence.
Final score:
3points
#31
So I usually wake up around 1 am to go to the bathroom. On the inside of my room, there is a mirror. As im walking in I see this 'figure' behind me... It scared the living heck outa me. But when i look back in the mirror it was just my shadow on the wall reflecting in the mirror... ehehehe...
Final score:
3points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago
I am sorry it is at zero it was negative 1 when I upvoted. UPVOTE!
#32
everyday at the same time a weird shadow flys across the paddock and all of the horses and see it. but the funny thing is the day that this started happening was the same day that my old horse died and its almost like the shadow goes towards his grave
Rip Percy
Final score:
3points
#33
OK so, this is my second post, but I have long hair and i keep looking over my shoulder and seeing a black figure that disappears when I turn. IT'S MY DAMN HAIR MOVING.
Final score:
3points
The Imposter (Submission author) 4 years ago
It happened again but i had just cut my hair, it was my damn mascaraed eyelashes
#34
I thought I had a ghost in my phone, tv, and Alexa. for my phone sometimes when someone would call me I would hear music that sound like it was coming from their side but it wasn't so I thought it was a ghost but turns out it was just a glitch that if someone called me as soon as I click play on a video I will hear the sound from the video come through the call. my tv sometimes plays a creepy music box sound when I would look through YT, it sounds like the puppets music box from fnaf and I never found out what made that happen. and my Alexa would turn on randomly at night and play megalovania from undertale. never found out what did that either so if I do have ghosts I call them chara and charlotte/puppet.
Final score:
2points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago (edited)
Once, although I didn't think it was a ghost, I accidently set my phone alarm for 4:00 instead of 6:00. I left my phone on my desk instead of plugging it in. When it went of, I thought it was my ipad because I was tired, and was super confused when I couldn't turn it off. I started freaking out and thinking I would wake my brother.
#35
I was using the bathroom and talking too myself when I heard shhh. Turns out it was just the generator that was by the bathroom door, cause outside the bathroom door is the laundry room.
Final score:
2points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago (edited)
When you heard it, did you think it was someone warning you, a noise a monster makes, someone trying to kill you making you not scream, or were you too scared to think anything?
#36
I had just moved from my room on the top floor to the basement of my house. there is a hallway separating my room and the living room and a bathroom. the door to the living room was closed and my door open, I saw a small light under the door to the living room. I was scared, but managed to stay in my bed until morning, just in case there was something from a horror movie there. turns out it was just the bathroom light that my mom had forgotten to turn off.
Final score:
2points
#37
My brother gets up at 6ish every day. My dog taffy is deaf, so the sounds she makes are a little of from what you’d expect, for example, her barks can sometimes sound like a crying child. So, one morning I wake up to what sounds like a blood curdling scream, I’m super freaked out, and the scream continues. it takes me a second to realize that it’s just taffy whining really loud, wanting to get out of her kennel, because she sees my brother up.
Final score:
2points
#38
I have a black wall hanging that has scared me so many times while I'm drifting off to sleep. Also, yesterday I got scared when I saw something move in the corner...it was my shadow.
Final score:
2points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago
Does the wall hanging have anything on it? Or do you have just a black wall hanging?
#39
When I was ten or eleven I had a thing for Tuff Hedemen. He was a professional bull rider for those that don't know. (I believe the movie 8 seconds was made after him) any how my mom worked at a gas station and he made the finals that year and there was a life size cutout of him. I told her I wanted it for my room so bad. A few weeks later un be known to me, her manager let her have it for me. She brought it home and set it up in my room. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and saw a silhouette of a man in my room that did NOT match the body shape of my dad or brother. I freaked, they ran in and turned on the light and there was my childhood crush smiling back at me in all his cardboard glory. They cracked up .... I did not.
Final score:
2points
#40
I had this old cupboard thing in my room as a kid. It was about five feet tall, and I could easily stand in it if there wasn't a desk underneath it. My mom always kept a bunch of plaques and old posters and stuff in it. That combined with the reflection on the glass looked like a ghost if you glanced at it. Needless to say, I had a hard time sleeping for many years.
Final score:
2points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago
I am sometimes scared when things reflect in my mirror, @GinnyWeasley.
#41
I have a really close friend that passed away and he stays with me, he’s really kind hearted and we still talk. I know I sound crazy when I say that but I don’t care. He’s like my big brother and I love him, ghost or not!
Final score:
2points
#42
Anytime anything falls off of a desk or a jacket falls or anything. It freaks me out even though i know it was probably just to close to a ledge or hanging off and gravity was like NOPE and made it fall over.
Final score:
2points
#43
My sister came home from school early and I thought she died at school and came back as a ghost to visit me.
Final score:
2points
#44
There used to be a coat rack by my door to my bedroom. (i was like 7 or 8 at the time) At night when the light from the top of the stairs came under my door the coat rack looked like the faceless man from one of those horror movies. It didn’t help that my dad watched a horror movie with me the day before. I got so scared I ran into my parents room screaming and my dad got really mad. My mom ended up making me some tea and gave me a heart shaped pillow she had made and showed me that it was just a coat rack. Lmao I felt so stupid.
Final score:
2points
#45
K I have to, both happened to my mom. one time, my oldest brother put a recording on his phone, and put it in her closet. in the middle of the night she just heard "I can see you.." from her closed. another time my mom saw this shadow come from the doorway. it projected onto the ceiling, and it had huge horns. she hears a little bell jingling and realizes that it was out chihuahua.
Final score:
2points
#46
I lived in a very haunted house. Like clockwork every Sunday at 1:00 a woman would walk thru the house. She was short and just heavy enough that she waddled when she walked. She was dressed like an old fashioned nurse. She had blond or gray hair. Ok who can get scared of a plump nurse waddling thru the house on a sunny afternoon. She smiles and nods at every in the room. She goes into the middle bedroom. Now if you happen to be in bed at 1:00. The nurse will come to the bed. Take your temperature and pulse. Ask if you are feeling better. The disappear in the closet. I miss my haunted house.
Final score:
2points
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago
At first I was super confuse because I thought you meant a real nurse came and did all that, not a ghost.
#47
well, it was around 11pm at night, and i was abt to sleep... and i stay in my own room, those days i always get the vibe tht someone is protecting me... anyways, i was lying in my bed facing the wall and my eyes were slowly closing, then i felt someone stroke my cheek, (all the doors were locked and i was all alone, its a small room so its not easy to hide) well smthn stroked my cheek, so i turned my face real quick and looked back and saw this black figure... he had a star shaped face and had matte black color a creepy smile.... he vanished two seconds after i turned around, just gave me the smile and vanished.... i was real sleepy, maybe i just hallucinated... but after tht night i stopped getting the vibe of being protected... and i miss the vibe...
Final score:
2points
#48
I have a big wall of drawings in my room, and at night they look sooooooooooooo creepyyy
Final score:
1point
JoJoReferenceFinder 4 years ago
I have an MHA poster above my bed. When I look up, Izuku stares down at my mortal souk
#49
i woke up at like 4am today and looked around and saw someone staring at me so i hurried up and tured the light on but turned out it was just one of my posters....
Final score:
1point
#50
i have a bunk bed and a shoe hanging thing on the back of the door and it always looks like a demon in the corner watching me sleep. XDXD
Final score:
1point
Anonymous Panda 4 years ago
I have a little pouch thingy that has owls and leaves all over it and at night it looks like a face.
#51
I wouldn’t say this was an easy mistake...but once I was sleeping in the living room at 12:00 am. And then out of nowhere a loud knocking was on the back door. It was SUPER loud that I thought I was gonna die and that somebody was gonna break in. Then...THE GLASS ON MY BACK DOOR SHATTERS! And I freaked out! But I never screamed bc I thought the killer was coming for me! But my mom walked in and was like: “What the- Jason what r u doing??” (Jason’s my step dad. But not his real name) so I walk into the kitchen and see that apparently he was locked out. ;w;
Final score:
1point
Elaine Mattingly 4 years ago
Oh dear. Insead of knocking if a person taps on the glass gently with a coin it can easily wake you and be clearly earrd all over the house.
#52
I was in my room when my curtain moved and scared me because I wasn't even close to it but, turns out the air vent was under it causing it to move.
Final score:
1point
#53
I feel like this happens everytime i watch a horror movie or a movie with a monster in it. but... After i watched stranger things i had nightmares ever day for the next 4 weeks that the demogorgon was coming to eat me or whatever. This is also why I slept under the bed for awhile. Same thing happened with the grievers from "The Maze Runner" and Pennywise from IT.
Final score:
1point
#54
I would put my jacket on my old box fan I used to have. This meant that if I woke up in the middle of the night, I saw a crouched and moving figure in the figure of my room, and this happened all too much. Luckily, we have a ceiling fan now, and no longer have to worry about that.
Final score:
0points
LingLing 40 Hours (Submission author) 4 years ago
I meant to say that there was a figure crouched in the CORNER of my room.
#55
-This is not answered yet-
Soooooo at my house, I have lots of stuff, HoWeVeR sometimes I would leave something somewhere, and it would sit there perfectly for like 3 days or something like that, then I would be in bed just contemplating the meaning of my existence {As you do} and it would crash to the ground. And it's not like it was just slowly s l i d i n g off. I literally did NOTHING, and i'm just laying there, and it falls off. Wow venting about fake sh#t feels good.
Final score:
-4points
What do you think ?
No Username 4 years ago
Why did people downvote so many posts? I gave all the posts that had a -1 an upvote. I'm sorry people can be so mean sometimes without any reason :(
QueenoftheSquids 4 years ago
I know! I wish I could give more than one upvote, I feel so sad when I upvote a -5 or something and that doesn't take it out of the negatives :(((
Load More Replies... No Username 4 years ago
Why did people downvote so many posts? I gave all the posts that had a -1 an upvote. I'm sorry people can be so mean sometimes without any reason :(
QueenoftheSquids 4 years ago
I know! I wish I could give more than one upvote, I feel so sad when I upvote a -5 or something and that doesn't take it out of the negatives :(((
Load More Replies...
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