There’s no better way to celebrate the end of spooky season – known to some as October – than by sharing eerie stories that give you the chills. Our very own Her Campus CWU members have experienced things that they can’t explain, even here in Kittitas County. Here are their personal encounters with the paranormal.
“It started in my first apartment in Ellensburg. Everything had been normal until I got the random urge to rearrange my room quite late at night. I hadn’t been sleeping well, and my cat who was only a few months old at the time had been acting weird and avoiding my room if I wasn’t with him. I hadn’t thought much of it if I’m being honest, but when I moved my bed and took my decorations off the wall, I noticed huge black handprints all over the walls that were completely unexplainable. They were all over, and much bigger than a human hand. They were only around my bed and reached much higher on the walls than my hands could. I had pictures from before moving in that showed the walls were clean, so I am confident that they weren’t there before. I called in my sister, and she also saw them. We both tried to clean them off the wall with bleach, but it didn’t work. It was very scary; they looked scary, smelled bad, and the entire time this was happening my cat wouldn’t go near me or the room. I did some research and found ways to cleanse my room – after I called my mom and cried a little – and once I did that, I was able to easily wipe away the handprints and move on. Everything returned to normal until right before I moved out, when the handprints reappeared, right behind my bed once again. I had no idea how they could be there other than something supernatural because I checked all over my room before moving my bed, and it was too weird that the only places they appeared were behind where I sleep. It looked like something was crawling up my walls and stopping right above me, which was horrific to imagine. Since moving out I haven’t had any issues, but I do fear that the handprints will appear once again.” – Sierra, HCCWU President, Junior
“The house that I grew up in and my parents currently live in, in South Cle Elum, was built in 1900, so it has seen over 120 years of history. A house of this age is bound to have strange creaks and unexplainable eerie feelings, and this one is no exception. Growing up I heard unexplainable noises in the night, such as the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen or my brother playing with toys across the hall. However, these noises would occur at late hours of the night when my family is sound asleep and there isn’t a single light on in the house. I would frequently wake up at 3:00 am – AKA Witches Hour or the Devil’s Hour – and had strange nightmares, and friends would sleepover and have similar experiences. One of many memories included the time that my family and I saw a shadow cast across a wall while we were watching a movie. It was dark outside and in our living room, so no light source made sense to create this strange mass. It walked by for just a few seconds but creeped me out for many years to come.” – Kyla, Senior
“My aunt lives in the historical district in Yakima. Her house is one of the oldest ones there. When I was young, she would tell me her ghost stories. How spirits followed her around from her childhood home and whatnot. There is an old wooden rocking chair that came with the home from the previous owner(s). I really liked that chair, but she would always tell me about how it rocks at night by itself. I never believed her until I saw it for real. I was sleeping over one night when I was in middle school. The rocking chair was in the living room. Everyone went up the old staircase and off to bed. I always had a hard time sleeping there at night, the house in the dark gave me the spooks. I randomly woke up in the middle of the night. The wind was howling outside, and tree branches were brushing the windows. I laid there anxiously listening and heard the creak of the wooden chair hit the floor. The rocking chair was moving on its own. I knew no one was awake but me. My blood ran cold. However, my curiosity outweighed my fear, and I needed to see what was happening. I slowly made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was definitely rocking! Right as I went to peek in on the chair it stopped. There was no one. I asked my aunt about it in the morning. She said, ‘It happens sometimes. An old woman used to live here and that was her chair. She likes to make herself known.’ My aunt said nothing bad or violent ever happened. Every so often the chair would just start rocking.” – Sophia, Freshman
“I absolutely love ghost hunting. There is something fun and extremely terrifying about it that just makes me continue doing it. Two years ago, I went to this place here in Washington called Fort Casey, located on Whidbey Island. It is a historical site that has chambers that you can go into, super creepy. My friends and I were there at night, and we only had our cell phone flashlights (I know…dumb) and we swore we were hearing voices and another set of footsteps. Of course, the obvious thought would be more visitors, but the footsteps were directly behind us and then disappeared as soon as we turned our lights to it. There was a point where we felt all the air in the room leave. There was one room left to see before we made it out and inside was a pentagram on the floor with black candles. The scariest part is that the candles were freshly blown out.” – Paije, Senior
Is anyone else feeling slightly inspired to go ghost hunting? Have a fun and safe Halloween!
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