Shannon
I have had a few run-ins with ghosts in my life. However, I mostly discredit the ones from when I was a kid because being a kid, your mind isn’t as reliable. Two small stories I do have is that when I was sleeping over at a friend’s house once when I was a teenager, we were sleeping in her living room on the floor. She fell asleep before me and we had kept hearing weird noises outside and around her house. We always felt like her house was haunted because she had said before she saw ghosts and every time I slept over I always had a very uncomfortable feeling and not because of her. So anyway, we were laying on the floor, and I’m trying to get to sleep, but I can’t keep my eyes closed cause I’m staring off into space just hoping I’ll get bored enough to sleep. I’m staring and staring and then all the sudden a figure runs by me. My whole body stiffened and I got so terrified. I wrapped myself up in my blanket and shut my eyes super hard and I think I finally fell asleep out of fear, just hoping that I could make it be morning more quickly. The other one is that one time, late at night, my TV turned on by itself. I laughed and said, “Okay, stop it ghosts.” and the TV turned back off. It was so freaky. Maybe it was an electrical thing? But it still is spooky to this day that it “answered” me and turned off.
Hannah
In fifth grade my family had moved quickly into a home as my mom was pregnant with my brother and there were now going to be seven of us. So we needed space. I went from sharing a room with my two younger sisters to having my own room. I didn’t necessarily mind this house but my room always scared me. I refused to leave my room at night and If it was I was downstairs when it became night, I would not go upstairs. I know it sounds silly and childish but I could feel something watching me in that room. I began to sleep in the living room much to my parents dismay. For christmas in 6th grade I got a laptop. Around this time I noticed things in my room changing (just little things being moved) and I blamed it on my sisters so I sneakily set up my laptop webcam to capture anyone who came into my room for the day. Instead, it captured the voice of some man. I can’t remember what it said, all I remember is being so terrified. I showed my sisters and my cousin, but when I went to show my parents it was deleted. I hadn’t thought of this moment in years, but when I was trying to think of scary stories I had experienced it appeared so quickly. I think I might have buried it in my mind to cope with living there.
Jordyn
Moving to a new house was always an overwhelming idea to me. Having lived in the same house since I was 2 years old, the idea of moving to a new area with so much unknown was truly terrifying. You hear so many stories of people moving and their houses being haunted by ghosts or poltergeists. We moved last summer to a house in the middle of the woods. This house is entirely surrounded by trees. We are not even able to see our neighbors’ houses through the woods. Living in the country means there are no street lamps or lights to break up the darkness outside. Personally, I am very afraid of the dark. I can’t even sleep in complete darkness, always needing to have my TV or phone on. The unknown of what could potentially be waiting for me in the darkness leaves me unable to even leave my house at night. When my dog has to go outside, I turn every light in the house on to hopefully light up the outside even a little bit. Having my dog by my side helps slightly in my fear, but there are those moments when I bring her outside, and she stares at the tree line to the side of the house. She stands completely still and just listens, almost seemingly fixed in a trance. Being a hound dog, and me having trouble hearing, she can definitely hear a lot better than I can. I always wonder what she’s listening to. The only thing I hear is the creaking of the trees as the wind pushes the falling limbs. But it’s possible that she can hear more. Possibly a creature of the night. A menacing being creeping in the darkness waiting for their opportunity to strike. I hear a name being called faintly, but loud enough to be distinguishable as my own name. My heart races as I try to make out who or what was out there. I try to pull my dog inside but, like always, she refuses to budge. I result in just picking her up and carrying her inside, locking the door tight behind me. Who knows what could have been out there, waiting, watching us. I look out the window before I go to bed to make sure nothing is there. It could have just been the wind through the trees making me believe I heard something. My anxious brain telling me it was my name being said. As I looked out the window, I swear, I saw a pair of eyes in the woods. I could not tell who or what they belonged to, or if they were even real. We stared at each other through the window before I lost their eyes in the trees of the woods.