Genesys Casual

My husband used to work for a resort with many reported sightings of a lady in black haunting one of the wings. Everything I know about it is second or third hand though. So, here's my own mini tale of paranormal happenings:

My roommate and I were having a chill Saturday night at home and popped in Pan's Labyrinth. We're watching the movie and munching on popcorn when all of the sudden the screen just freezes right at a point in the movie where one of the characters is looking back over her shoulder with a gaze of fear and mild agony. We fight with the remote to try getting the movie going again to no avail, and make similar attempts to use the controls on the dvd player itself. Still nothing. The movie won't pause, play, stop, rewind, fast forward, anything. It just sits there with this scene. Eventually I eject the disc. Still there. So I turn off the dvd player all together. I go to look for a cloth to wipe off the disc and turn around... and - you guessed it - she was still there on the tv screen. We decided that maybe a night in wasn't a great idea after all, turned off the tv, and got dressed to go out. Even with the tv off, that frozen image still hung there until we were on our way out the door, keys in hand. 

Not the scariest story, but it was super fricking weird.

This isn't the exact frame from the movie, but it's this character and around this part.

I love this story! Perfect example of the unexplainable. Did you ever get the image off the TV or try to finish the movie? Or was that DVD burned alive for the good of all humanity?

My husband used to work for a resort with many reported sightings of a lady in black haunting one of the wings. Everything I know about it is second or third hand though. So, here's my own mini tale of paranormal happenings:

My roommate and I were having a chill Saturday night at home and popped in Pan's Labyrinth. We're watching the movie and munching on popcorn when all of the sudden the screen just freezes right at a point in the movie where one of the characters is looking back over her shoulder with a gaze of fear and mild agony. We fight with the remote to try getting the movie going again to no avail, and make similar attempts to use the controls on the dvd player itself. Still nothing. The movie won't pause, play, stop, rewind, fast forward, anything. It just sits there with this scene. Eventually I eject the disc. Still there. So I turn off the dvd player all together. I go to look for a cloth to wipe off the disc and turn around... and - you guessed it - she was still there on the tv screen. We decided that maybe a night in wasn't a great idea after all, turned off the tv, and got dressed to go out. Even with the tv off, that frozen image still hung there until we were on our way out the door, keys in hand. 

Not the scariest story, but it was super fricking weird.

This isn't the exact frame from the movie, but it's this character and around this part.

My husband used to work for a resort with many reported sightings of a lady in black haunting one of the wings. Everything I know about it is second or third hand though. So, here's my own mini tale of paranormal happenings:

My roommate and I were having a chill Saturday night at home and popped in Pan's Labyrinth. We're watching the movie and munching on popcorn when all of the sudden the screen just freezes right at a point in the movie where one of the characters is looking back over her shoulder with a gaze of fear and mild agony. We fight with the remote to try getting the movie going again to no avail, and make similar attempts to use the controls on the dvd player itself. Still nothing. The movie won't pause, play, stop, rewind, fast forward, anything. It just sits there with this scene. Eventually I eject the disc. Still there. So I turn off the dvd player all together. I go to look for a cloth to wipe off the disc and turn around... and - you guessed it - she was still there on the tv screen. We decided that maybe a night in wasn't a great idea after all, turned off the tv, and got dressed to go out. Even with the tv off, that frozen image still hung there until we were on our way out the door, keys in hand. 

Not the scariest story, but it was super fricking weird.

This isn't the exact frame from the movie, but it's this character and around this part.

My great-grandfather bought a 200-acre ranch in Southern California back in 1916. My dad grew up there, my grandmother died there after a fall in the bathroom, who knows what happened in the years before the home came into our family.

My dad moved us there when I was 7. It was a spooky old house. Upstairs my uncles had "rooms" which were just partitioned spaces on the sleeping porch. The most fascinating was my "Uncle Sunny's" room. He died in the 1940s in a car wreck while he was in college...dead man's curve kind of thing. His room was left just as it was the day he died, even up through 2000 or so.

The basement was very creepy. Full of old junk (plus some rattlesnakes...had to be careful). One time when I was about 9 a friend and I crept down the stairs to the first landing (you had to go down in the dark to get to the pull-string for the light). We could hear a cat meowing. When we got to the light and turned it on, there was a cat skeleton sitting on the top of the foundation wall. We freaked and ran :-)

Every night I had to go to the back end of the house to my room to go to bed. Long hallway. I would talk to the ghosts to let them know it was me coming..I didn't want them to think I was a stranger and do something to me.

Through the years, various weird things happened in that house. Doors would open on their own. The radio in my room would turn on by itself. TV would turn on by itself. Weird noises in the night. My mom and sister just joked about the poltergeists that lived there...friendly ghosts.

I once put some rat poison in the attic in a few spots to try and cut down on the population. A week or so later I went to check on it...and found all the poison carefully covered by squares of newspaper that had obviously been chewed into shape. Freaky smart rats...

Not to mention the bats that lived in the attic (and sometimes came into our rooms downstairs). Millipedes, centipedes, and sometimes a tarantula would visit us inside the home.

We had a couple of old ranch hand houses on the property. One we rented out, the other was officially known as "The Haunted House".

Funniest story...my dad was named executor for his uncle Rudolph Ganahl (not kidding). So, the upstairs room above the carport became "Uncle Rudy's Room" where papers and other stuff related to the estate was kept. One Christmas we were getting home after midnight mass (which was actually at midnight in those days). As we came up the drive to the house, all of us (Mom, Dad, sister and I) saw a red light shining in the window of that room...Rudolph's room...LOL (I know it sounds like a joke, but we all saw it, and no one ever figured out what it was).

My dad had dementia in his later years, and he set the house on fire by mistake one night. He survived just fine, but the placed was partially burned and smoked out, so we had to move him to assisted living and boarded the place up. Some kids broke in and set it on fire again, burning everything on the property (orange trees, eucalyptus, olives, pecans, figs...you name it...all gone).

Anyhow, a fair number of folks have written about the place, and done paranormal research. Half the stories aren't true (like the nanny setting the place on fire and killing the kids). But only half...

Some links:

Hell's Gate YouTube

Another Hell's Gate vid

CSPAR vid on FaceBook

https://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/hells-gate

https://backpackerverse.com/did-the-babysitter-burn-down-the-ganahl-ranch-with-the-children-inside-on-purpose

My great-grandfather bought a 200-acre ranch in Southern California back in 1916. My dad grew up there, my grandmother died there after a fall in the bathroom, who knows what happened in the years before the home came into our family.

My dad moved us there when I was 7. It was a spooky old house. Upstairs my uncles had "rooms" which were just partitioned spaces on the sleeping porch. The most fascinating was my "Uncle Sunny's" room. He died in the 1940s in a car wreck while he was in college...dead man's curve kind of thing. His room was left just as it was the day he died, even up through 2000 or so.

The basement was very creepy. Full of old junk (plus some rattlesnakes...had to be careful). One time when I was about 9 a friend and I crept down the stairs to the first landing (you had to go down in the dark to get to the pull-string for the light). We could hear a cat meowing. When we got to the light and turned it on, there was a cat skeleton sitting on the top of the foundation wall. We freaked and ran :-)

Every night I had to go to the back end of the house to my room to go to bed. Long hallway. I would talk to the ghosts to let them know it was me coming..I didn't want them to think I was a stranger and do something to me.

Through the years, various weird things happened in that house. Doors would open on their own. The radio in my room would turn on by itself. TV would turn on by itself. Weird noises in the night. My mom and sister just joked about the poltergeists that lived there...friendly ghosts.

I once put some rat poison in the attic in a few spots to try and cut down on the population. A week or so later I went to check on it...and found all the poison carefully covered by squares of newspaper that had obviously been chewed into shape. Freaky smart rats...

Not to mention the bats that lived in the attic (and sometimes came into our rooms downstairs). Millipedes, centipedes, and sometimes a tarantula would visit us inside the home.

We had a couple of old ranch hand houses on the property. One we rented out, the other was officially known as "The Haunted House".

Funniest story...my dad was named executor for his uncle Rudolph Ganahl (not kidding). So, the upstairs room above the carport became "Uncle Rudy's Room" where papers and other stuff related to the estate was kept. One Christmas we were getting home after midnight mass (which was actually at midnight in those days). As we came up the drive to the house, all of us (Mom, Dad, sister and I) saw a red light shining in the window of that room...Rudolph's room...LOL (I know it sounds like a joke, but we all saw it, and no one ever figured out what it was).

My dad had dementia in his later years, and he set the house on fire by mistake one night. He survived just fine, but the place was partially burned and smoked out, so we had to move him to assisted living and boarded the place up. Some kids broke in and set it on fire again, burning everything on the property (orange trees, eucalyptus, olives, pecans, figs...you name it...all gone).

Anyhow, a fair number of folks have written about the place, and done paranormal research. Half the stories aren't true (like the nanny setting the place on fire and killing the kids). But only half...

Some links:

Good pics on FaceBook

Hell's Gate YouTube

Another Hell's Gate vid

CSPAR vid on FaceBook

https://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/hells-gate

https://backpackerverse.com/did-the-babysitter-burn-down-the-ganahl-ranch-with-the-children-inside-on-purpose

------------------------------
George Ganahl GCP, GCSME, ICCE, ICHD, etc.
Senior Principal PS Consultant
Genesys
------------------------------

I...LOVE the story about the cat, so you saw the red light and no one went to investigate? It was just like "Hi, red light. We acknowledge you and are going to bed now"? 

My great-grandfather bought a 200-acre ranch in Southern California back in 1916. My dad grew up there, my grandmother died there after a fall in the bathroom, who knows what happened in the years before the home came into our family.

My dad moved us there when I was 7. It was a spooky old house. Upstairs my uncles had "rooms" which were just partitioned spaces on the sleeping porch. The most fascinating was my "Uncle Sunny's" room. He died in the 1940s in a car wreck while he was in college...dead man's curve kind of thing. His room was left just as it was the day he died, even up through 2000 or so.

The basement was very creepy. Full of old junk (plus some rattlesnakes...had to be careful). One time when I was about 9 a friend and I crept down the stairs to the first landing (you had to go down in the dark to get to the pull-string for the light). We could hear a cat meowing. When we got to the light and turned it on, there was a cat skeleton sitting on the top of the foundation wall. We freaked and ran :-)

Every night I had to go to the back end of the house to my room to go to bed. Long hallway. I would talk to the ghosts to let them know it was me coming..I didn't want them to think I was a stranger and do something to me.

Through the years, various weird things happened in that house. Doors would open on their own. The radio in my room would turn on by itself. TV would turn on by itself. Weird noises in the night. My mom and sister just joked about the poltergeists that lived there...friendly ghosts.

I once put some rat poison in the attic in a few spots to try and cut down on the population. A week or so later I went to check on it...and found all the poison carefully covered by squares of newspaper that had obviously been chewed into shape. Freaky smart rats...

Not to mention the bats that lived in the attic (and sometimes came into our rooms downstairs). Millipedes, centipedes, and sometimes a tarantula would visit us inside the home.

We had a couple of old ranch hand houses on the property. One we rented out, the other was officially known as "The Haunted House".

Funniest story...my dad was named executor for his uncle Rudolph Ganahl (not kidding). So, the upstairs room above the carport became "Uncle Rudy's Room" where papers and other stuff related to the estate was kept. One Christmas we were getting home after midnight mass (which was actually at midnight in those days). As we came up the drive to the house, all of us (Mom, Dad, sister and I) saw a red light shining in the window of that room...Rudolph's room...LOL (I know it sounds like a joke, but we all saw it, and no one ever figured out what it was).

My dad had dementia in his later years, and he set the house on fire by mistake one night. He survived just fine, but the place was partially burned and smoked out, so we had to move him to assisted living and boarded the place up. Some kids broke in and set it on fire again, burning everything on the property (orange trees, eucalyptus, olives, pecans, figs...you name it...all gone).

Anyhow, a fair number of folks have written about the place, and done paranormal research. Half the stories aren't true (like the nanny setting the place on fire and killing the kids). But only half...

Some links:

Good pics on FaceBook

Hell's Gate YouTube

Another Hell's Gate vid

CSPAR vid on FaceBook

https://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/hells-gate

https://backpackerverse.com/did-the-babysitter-burn-down-the-ganahl-ranch-with-the-children-inside-on-purpose

------------------------------
George Ganahl GCP, GCSME, ICCE, ICHD, etc.
Senior Principal PS Consultant
Genesys

My sister and I went into a graveyard with a voice recorder in a very old cemetery in our southern small town. As we were walking through, we would ask random questions, but we never heard anything physically as we walked around. It wasn't until we played the tape back that we heard their answers...

Clear as day, you can hear my sis and I walking through the main cemetery gate and a voice that sounded "windy and whispery" says, "GET OUT!" Of course, not hearing the warning, we kept going.

The next instance occurs when you hear me trying to make out a date on a tombstone. I say on the tape, "Looks like she died in 19...I can't tell." And another whispery voice responds "15. 15." Then I say, "I think it says 1915." 

BUT the EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) we captured that made me sleep with the light on for a month was when we came across a child's tombstone and I say sadly, "Oh it's just a baby." And a sing-song voice (I kid you not) copies me and says, "It's a bbbaaaayyy-beeeee." 

When I heard that, I actually ran away from the tape recorded and locked my door I was so scared.
My sister still has this tape and I haven't listened to it since we recorded it. Not sure I'll ever be able to. I've been a believer ever since!

------------------------------
Nicole Milliken
Genesys - Employees
------------------------------

Wow...makes me wonder what I might have recorded in our house over the years if I'd thought of it! Freaky!!!

My sister and I went into a graveyard with a voice recorder in a very old cemetery in our southern small town. As we were walking through, we would ask random questions, but we never heard anything physically as we walked around. It wasn't until we played the tape back that we heard their answers...

Clear as day, you can hear my sis and I walking through the main cemetery gate and a voice that sounded "windy and whispery" says, "GET OUT!" Of course, not hearing the warning, we kept going.

The next instance occurs when you hear me trying to make out a date on a tombstone. I say on the tape, "Looks like she died in 19...I can't tell." And another whispery voice responds "15. 15." Then I say, "I think it says 1915." 

BUT the EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) we captured that made me sleep with the light on for a month was when we came across a child's tombstone and I say sadly, "Oh it's just a baby." And a sing-song voice (I kid you not) copies me and says, "It's a bbbaaaayyy-beeeee." 

When I heard that, I actually ran away from the tape recorded and locked my door I was so scared.
My sister still has this tape and I haven't listened to it since we recorded it. Not sure I'll ever be able to. I've been a believer ever since!

------------------------------
Nicole Milliken
Genesys - Employees

My sister and I went into a graveyard with a voice recorder in a very old cemetery in our southern small town. As we were walking through, we would ask random questions, but we never heard anything physically as we walked around. It wasn't until we played the tape back that we heard their answers...

Clear as day, you can hear my sis and I walking through the main cemetery gate and a voice that sounded "windy and whispery" says, "GET OUT!" Of course, not hearing the warning, we kept going.

The next instance occurs when you hear me trying to make out a date on a tombstone. I say on the tape, "Looks like she died in 19...I can't tell." And another whispery voice responds "15. 15." Then I say, "I think it says 1915." 

BUT the EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) we captured that made me sleep with the light on for a month was when we came across a child's tombstone and I say sadly, "Oh it's just a baby." And a sing-song voice (I kid you not) copies me and says, "It's a bbbaaaayyy-beeeee." 

When I heard that, I actually ran away from the tape recorded and locked my door I was so scared.
My sister still has this tape and I haven't listened to it since we recorded it. Not sure I'll ever be able to. I've been a believer ever since!

------------------------------
Nicole Milliken
Genesys - Employees
------------------------------

What would it take to get that tape uploaded to the community? More than anything, I want to meet an teenage Nicole. How old were you when you did this?

My sister and I went into a graveyard with a voice recorder in a very old cemetery in our southern small town. As we were walking through, we would ask random questions, but we never heard anything physically as we walked around. It wasn't until we played the tape back that we heard their answers...

Clear as day, you can hear my sis and I walking through the main cemetery gate and a voice that sounded "windy and whispery" says, "GET OUT!" Of course, not hearing the warning, we kept going.

The next instance occurs when you hear me trying to make out a date on a tombstone. I say on the tape, "Looks like she died in 19...I can't tell." And another whispery voice responds "15. 15." Then I say, "I think it says 1915." 

BUT the EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) we captured that made me sleep with the light on for a month was when we came across a child's tombstone and I say sadly, "Oh it's just a baby." And a sing-song voice (I kid you not) copies me and says, "It's a bbbaaaayyy-beeeee." 

When I heard that, I actually ran away from the tape recorded and locked my door I was so scared.
My sister still has this tape and I haven't listened to it since we recorded it. Not sure I'll ever be able to. I've been a believer ever since!

------------------------------
Nicole Milliken
Genesys - Employees

My stories aren't so creepy as they are comforting. I've had a few family members pass and, on their birthday, or another special day, I'll see an animal that reminds me of them that day. 
My grandmother lived in Florida and fed a great blue heron in her backyard every day. You never saw him until she opened the door, then he would fly over from across the canal or sitting a tree waiting for her and his treat of the day. We named him "Big Bird" (not very original). After her passing, I've seen Big Bird fly over my house or out the window of my office on her birthday every year. I live in North Carolina and never saw a great heron in this area until her passing. 

My stories aren't so creepy as they are comforting. I've had a few family members pass and, on their birthday, or another special day, I'll see an animal that reminds me of them that day. 
My grandmother lived in Florida and fed a great blue heron in her backyard every day. You never saw him until she opened the door, then he would fly over from across the canal or sitting a tree waiting for her and his treat of the day. We named him "Big Bird" (not very original). After her passing, I've seen Big Bird fly over my house or out the window of my office on her birthday every year. I live in North Carolina and never saw a great heron in this area until her passing. 

Ah, the unexplained… I have just the tale, and it still raises the hairs on the back of my neck when I think about it.

Years ago, I was working late into the night at an old office building, which had a bit of a history. It was once a Victorian-era bank, long since repurposed for modern businesses, but the air always seemed to carry a weight of something lingering from the past.

One night, as I sat alone, deep into some IT work, the power flickered-nothing unusual, just an old building, I thought. But then the printer across the room sprang to life. No commands were sent, no one was around, and it started printing page after page of jumbled text and symbols. The eerie part? The text looked like old bank ledger entries, the kind used over a century ago. I thought maybe it was a glitch in the system, so I unplugged the printer to stop it.

Then, the temperature in the room dropped noticeably, and a strange shadow flickered at the edge of my vision near the door, where an old vault still sat, unused. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. Gathering my things, I decided to call it a night.

A few days later, I casually mentioned the incident to a colleague who had worked in the building for years. With a strange look, he told me that I wasn't the first to have an encounter like that. Apparently, the story goes that one of the old bank clerks never left after an accident in the vault-long since sealed up. Some claim the printer activity happens when "he" tries to balance the books from beyond.

I haven't worked that late at the office since. Coincidence? Perhaps. But unexplained? Absolutely.

Now, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it... 👻

This is an incident that happened to me when I was about 9 years old and neither myself or my cousin can explain it until this day. 
My grandfather had died, and his service was early in the morning that day. It was my first time witnessing a cremation and it was outdoors. I watched as they brought out new bottles of perfume and poured it all over him and the stacked wood he was laid upon. The smell was overwhelming, so I decided to move away from the area to give myself enough space to not be impacted. As they burnt his body I remember thinking he will never return to the earth and this is the last time I will ever see him. Of course, my cousin ruined the moment by whispering, "I heard his head is supposed to pop".

Later that day the entire family gathered at my grandfathers house to "Keep wake". They retold stories of fond memories and played games together. My cousin and I decided to play dominos which was in my grandfather's room. We retrieved the dominos and played together for most of the evening. When we were done, we both went to return the dominos to his room. I entered the room first followed by my cousin, as we entered, the overwhelming smell of the perfume we smelt during the burning was all we could smell, and we begin to feel dizzy. My cousin immediately turned and ran out of the room leaving me with the dominos in hand and loosing consciousness. He shouted for our grandmother who came to get me before I completely passed out.

When she brought me downstairs and my cousin started to tell her what happened, she interrupted and said "I know, he's there. Don't worry, it's okay".  Needless to say, we both went pale and thought back to all the possession and other beings stories we were told that we never believed. It took a while for us to ever go back to his room, but that smell is burnt into our memories forever. We can't explain or make sense of it because the perfume they used was never in his room and the bottles were tossed out at the site of the burning. It's even more bizarre because we were in his room earlier when we went to get the dominos, and nothing happened.  

------------------------------
Nazlene Hamid
One Contact Inc.
------------------------------

When my Uncle was in his late teens he was hitchhiking from Barrie Ontario to Orillia late at night after going to the fair. The road was pretty quiet so he was walking for a while. but he swore he heard a loud honk and then the sound of a car crash. He kept walking but never saw the wreck. Eventually a red pickup truck drove by and offered him a ride, but he got skeeved out and declined. About half another car drove by an offered him a ride. They were driving for about 10 minutes before they came across that red pickup flipped rolled over on the side of a road. The driver of the pickup truck was not alright.  

------------------------------
James Rowberry
Northwestel, Inc.
------------------------------

One more story to share, much more recent than the home I grew up in...

We have a fair number of refugees in Indianapolis from various parts of the world. I have been deeply involved with the Karen refugee community, people originally from Burma.

One evening I got a call that I needed to come cast a demon out of one of the women in the community. When I arrived at the apartment, 6 men were trying to hold her down on the floor, but she was way too strong and was sitting upright, her eyes rolled back in her head with only the whites showing. Her head was pointed toward the corner of the room and she was screaming at something in the Sgaw Karen language. The other folks in the room said that while in Burma she had mistakenly walked between two witch doctors who were throwing spells at each other, and she was caught in the "crossfire". She was addressing one of those (now dead) witch doctors in the corner...

I prayed over her as she got increasingly violent, I spoke biblical truth to the demons in the room...it went on for a bit. She finally slumped back, closed her eyes, no more fighting or screaming, and eventually came around...with no memory of what had happened.

It happened one more time on another night, same basic scenario, same praying and speaking truth until the demons left her alone.

It has not happened again, and she is a beloved mother and aunt and member of the community.

Real life Exorcism story- whoa George! You have lots of experiences. I'd love to talk about them all over a Zoom! Or a campfire. LOL

One more story to share, much more recent than the home I grew up in...

We have a fair number of refugees in Indianapolis from various parts of the world. I have been deeply involved with the Karen refugee community, people originally from Burma.

One evening I got a call that I needed to come cast a demon out of one of the women in the community. When I arrived at the apartment, 6 men were trying to hold her down on the floor, but she was way too strong and was sitting upright, her eyes rolled back in her head with only the whites showing. Her head was pointed toward the corner of the room and she was screaming at something in the Sgaw Karen language. The other folks in the room said that while in Burma she had mistakenly walked between two witch doctors who were throwing spells at each other, and she was caught in the "crossfire". She was addressing one of those (now dead) witch doctors in the corner...

I prayed over her as she got increasingly violent, I spoke biblical truth to the demons in the room...it went on for a bit. She finally slumped back, closed her eyes, no more fighting or screaming, and eventually came around...with no memory of what had happened.

It happened one more time on another night, same basic scenario, same praying and speaking truth until the demons left her alone.

It has not happened again, and she is a beloved mother and aunt and member of the community.

Campfire...flashlight under the chin...banshee wailing in the distance...

Real life Exorcism story- whoa George! You have lots of experiences. I'd love to talk about them all over a Zoom! Or a campfire. LOL

One more story to share, much more recent than the home I grew up in...

We have a fair number of refugees in Indianapolis from various parts of the world. I have been deeply involved with the Karen refugee community, people originally from Burma.

One evening I got a call that I needed to come cast a demon out of one of the women in the community. When I arrived at the apartment, 6 men were trying to hold her down on the floor, but she was way too strong and was sitting upright, her eyes rolled back in her head with only the whites showing. Her head was pointed toward the corner of the room and she was screaming at something in the Sgaw Karen language. The other folks in the room said that while in Burma she had mistakenly walked between two witch doctors who were throwing spells at each other, and she was caught in the "crossfire". She was addressing one of those (now dead) witch doctors in the corner...

I prayed over her as she got increasingly violent, I spoke biblical truth to the demons in the room...it went on for a bit. She finally slumped back, closed her eyes, no more fighting or screaming, and eventually came around...with no memory of what had happened.

It happened one more time on another night, same basic scenario, same praying and speaking truth until the demons left her alone.

It has not happened again, and she is a beloved mother and aunt and member of the community.

Once, my aunt shared a captivating tale about a night she spent driving on a deserted highway. It was late, the kind of late where only the moonlight illuminates the road ahead. She was on her way home from a late shift, the glow of her headlights cutting through the darkness. The radio was playing softly, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched.

As she drove, she noticed a figure by the roadside-faintly lit by her headlights, a man dressed in a tattered coat and jeans, waving for help. My aunt's instincts kicked in, and she decided to stop. The man approached her window, his face obscured by shadows. He claimed his car had broken down and asked for a ride to the nearest town. Though my aunt felt a chill run down her spine, she remembered her courage and opened the door.

As they started to talk, she realized something was off. His story didn't add up-details were inconsistent, and his eyes held a strange depth, as if they had seen far too much in his lifetime. The air felt heavy, thick with tension. Suddenly, she spotted something in the rearview mirror-a second vehicle, tailing them closely. Panic set in, and she floored the gas pedal, her heart racing, the man gazing calmly in the passenger seat as cars whizzed by.

In a moment of desperation, she chose to take a detour onto an old back road, hoping to lose whatever was behind her. The man remained eerily quiet. Minutes stretched into eternity as she maneuvered through the winding path. Just as she thought she had lost her pursuer, she dared to glance over at her passenger, only to find he had vanished without a trace. The seat beside her was empty.

Terrified, she rushed home, her heart pounding in her ears. Even after arriving, she felt an unease settle in-a lingering presence that just wouldn't leave her, as if the man's spirit had found a way to follow her. The next day, she learned from a neighbor that a sighting of that same man had been reported for years on that particular highway, always asking for help but never being truly there.

My aunt never drove that road again, forever haunted by the night she picked up a ghost. And from then on, she warned everyone about the dangers of helping strangers on lonely highways late at night.

I've been haunted or lived in a haunted home on several occasions in my life. I have 3 encounters to share - 

First, when I was a teenager, a friend committed suicide in my old bedroom. Our family was unable to break our lease, but we were allowed to move into the upstairs unit of this duplex, as those tenants ran after the incident, penalties be damned. So we moved upstairs. Only my friend never left. He used to play the intro to the song he died to, at midnight, every single night. We had a flap-latch lock on the door, I'm sure theres a technical name for it, but it was one you couldn't accidentally lock. He would lock that behind me often when I came home. Move things around the room etc. Nothing malicious, just, you know it was him. 

Second one was where things got dark. My nephews know how to say I love you in ASL. Looks similar to this 🤘 - but your thumb is out too. So, my brother wakes in the middle of the night, goes down the hallway to use the RR. See's my nephew signing I love you and whispering... So, of course, he pops in and says what're you doin bud? He responded, Grandma was just here. She says hi and she loves and misses us and that she'll be back tomorrow. Our mother had been gone at this time, for at least a year. My brother, astonished, says OK and leaves it at that. Lets the boys go to bed the next night, and came in and slid his phone in the room to record. He saved this recording to a USB. He gave me that USB and I played it when I got home.

I still get chills when I think about this.... I played the audio segment he gave me. When it starts off you could hear inaudible whispers, which came in clearer and you could hear 2 distinct voices calling my nephew by name. It sounded like someone was tossing the room looking for something and that went on for several minutes. Then you heard whatever IT was, find the phone because you could hear it hit/knock the phone (we know the sound when you hit a recording device sounds different than if you hit say a desk it was sitting on). That was immediately followed by an unearthly screech I can never unhear, and then, silence. It killed the recording.

When we talked to my nephew, he said he woke up at some point and looked out his window and saw a dog-like creature, with fire red eyes and a demon-dog like face staring back at him. My nephews room was on the second floor of an apartment in Vegas. No way to just stand there. Things got weird after that. The glasses from the top of the cabinet that were there for decoration flew off the shelf into walls and broke. When my brother would try to hug his wife, he would get punched in the chest backward, he had 2 bruises on his chest from it. His wife is tiny, theres just no way on this earth she did that. Just really weird, really malicious things started to happen with them, and it followed to my house after I played the recording. A lesson I learned about those who stay behind, anything is a mode of transportation into your life.... That locket at the flea market, or that USB housing a recording of their actions... 

Third, was much calmer... When my family moved into a historic building, in the basement. The upper parts of the home were used as a reception hall for weddings and the like.. No one lived there. And you knew when someone was having an event or if it were empty. Parking made it quite obvious. So... In the basement, it had low-ish ceilings, but with recessed lighting. In the kitchen, there was a bulb that had gone out, but when you tried to take it out, it spun infinitely. We didn't like bothering the owners so we just left it be. One day we went to a farmers market, but when we came back, the light bulb was removed from it's fixture and set gently in a pizza box on the counter.. When I would lay down in the room designated as a bedroom, it was loud.. not for everyone, but imagine the sound you'd hear walking passed an elementary school, during recess.. A big elementary school.. The loud yelling of hundreds of voices doing hundreds of things.. It was wild. Sleep deprivation is a real life thing 😬

These are the... socially acceptable highlight reel, and the scariest I can share. I have others but they're NSFW so, in the vault they shall stay. 

Blessed Samhain friends! And stay safe! 

The Toothpaste

I don't remember the month but it was 1991 and I was 15. I was staying the night at a friend's house they pre-warned me they had a ghost. (Of course, I was skeptical.) They told me not to worry because it has never done anything malicious, but from time-to-time it moved things in the house, close/opened doors, etc. There was also no rhyme or reason when these things happened and sometime they could go months between incidents, but they felt it was necessary to tell me in case anything happened while I was there. I shrugged it off. I thought they were just trying to scare me and, perhaps, going to try something that night.

I vividly remember when we were getting ready for bed, I used the bathroom last and brushed my teeth with the new tube of toothpaste they had put out. After I finished my night time routine, I went to my friends room, which was right next to the bathroom. The other bedrooms were down the hall and her mother's bedroom was on the other side of the house. She only had a younger brother who was fast asleep by the time we had decided to turn-in for the night and 2 dogs.

We stayed up talking into the wee-hours of the morning, when we both heard the bathroom door close hard. It didn't slam, but it was loud enough to hear from her room, and not how someone would normally close a door. We both looked at each other and jumped to check it out. As we peeked through her door we saw the bathroom door was closed, and I know I left it open. We checked on her brother down the hall and he was snoring, so we returned to the bathroom to open the door. After we opened the door, we didn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. We looked around a bit to see if anything was out of place but everything appeared to be where left it.

I just happened to lookup and saw toothpaste smeared all over the bathroom ceiling, but the tube on the sink it was still full. There was no other toothpaste tubes in the trash. My friend has said this never happened before and we dreaded telling her mother in the morning. We left it for her mother to see so she wouldn't think we were making it up, but when she saw the bathroom, she said "Well, that's a new one." She was not upset which led me to believe this was an actual ghost, because what parent would be calm about having toothpaste smeared all over the ceiling and not question her children. She did tell me about the ghost and said they have only moved things or messed with doors, but never did anything destructive. (I thought I might be the cause; something new.)

As the years went on, and I spent a lot of time at my friend's house, the occurrences happened infrequently but was contained to doors closing or things being moved. Very strange and unexplainable to me but due to the time when it happened we did not have cell phones to prove anything (instant photos/videos).

I used to feel and see strange things since I was a kid and ignore it all the time since I am not that afraid of those things yet... But time goes by and as I groew older these odd and strange things and happenings are more bolder and it sometimes get into my head. I have loads of scary things to share but let me share these two stories below.

1st Story : An Extra Band Mate?

Way back year 2007 I watched my cousin and his band mates practiced their set for they will have a gig the next day. It ended very late like 2AM so they asked me to sleep over. I said yes however when were about to sleep I felt un easy so I told one of his band mates a girl that I will just go home. They were okay with that and we went to the studio where my cousin and the other male band mates were sleeping for me to tell my cousin that I will going home. The girl band mate went in and I said I will just wait out side. It was already 3AM at that time, I am sitting outside waiting, the moon is full so it's it's not very dark. Suddenly I felt weird , it's cold but I feel very hot at my back, I had a goosebump and I felt something whispers at my nape. I turned my head and I saw a full black shadow at my back! I was shocked and stunned I cannot move, my eyes were wide and I cannot scream. I heard footstep going outside from the studio and the shadow went in the wall, that was the time I was able to scream that my cousin and his bandmates went outside to check what happened. That was the last time I watched their practiced from that place I never went back again it was so scary and traumatized that I thought that shadow will going to get me if I go back there.

2nd Story:  Night Shift 

I love Japan I used to lived there way back 2001 - 2004  I also worked there and yes, there's loads of creepy and scary things going on out there.

My half Japanese cousin and I are working on a small Kaisha (Company) as Quality Checkers. All of us including Native Japanese colleagues which are all of them are old, are only working dayshift like 8AM -5PM.  We have a creepy clock there that chimes every hour. One day, we had a lot of orders and we need to finish some work. Since my cousin and I are the only younger people there our Leader requested us to work overtime until 7PM which never happened before. So we agreed, at 5PM the creepy clock chimed  a loud and all of our Japanese colleagues went home our leader gave us the key for us to close the shop after 7pm. My station is far from my cousin because she is at the back and I am at the front facing the creepy clock. So we worked, it was winter at that time so at 5PM it's already dark, the only light we have is the light at our station and one bulb in the middle of the shop. Then 6PM came, it's weird because the clock did not chime! and the clock stopped then the weird noises begins! There were like blag, blag everywhere as if there loads of people working but I am not seeing anyone or anything moving!. I was so scared I ran to my cousins station and she was just so cool, I asked her can you not hear the noises as it is very loud? She just calmy said I can hear it, and I was just why are you still calm? I am so scared I dragged her outside so we could go home we did not finish our overtime work and went home. Even when were outside we can still hear the Night shifts loudly working in the dark. I resigned after a week.

------------------------------
Irish Ann Reyes
Sr Technical Support Engineer - Japanese Speaker

I grew up in rural Michigan where farmland was usually on one side of the road or the other. It was a time where you could ride your bike to your friend's house and just come home when the street lights went on. Children of the Corn was a popular movie that I somehow convinced my parents I was old enough to watch. 

So, one cool autumn evening, I was likely 10, I was ready to make the 1/2 mile trek home alone on my bike. I heard a car coming and it was slowing down as it saw me and I could hear it pulling up behind me. On the right side was corn fields that went on and on, opposite was a row of homes. I didn't want them to hit me because it was dusk, so I went in the ditch and then decided to hide in the corn field a few feet. The car stops altogether and I hear the door open, but at this point I'm feeling pretty far into the field where they surely can't find me. Another door opens and I hear voices coming into the corn field!

Remember, and everyone is pretty much in for the night.

For those of you that have watched Children of the Corn, you can only imagine how much I'm TREMBLING and FREAKING out at this point! For those of you that haven't watched it... well, let's just say, it's not exactly my cup of tea. I'm standing still, it's dusk now and cooling down, the street lights are on and bats are flying overhead. Out of nowhere, one of the guys grabs me from behind, says, "BOO!" and scares the living beejeebers out of me (that's putting it mildly!!)!!! I nearly jumped out of my skin!!!

The other guys find his friend that is next to me now and they all run out of the field laughing and hooping and hollering. Meanwhile, I'm now crying but have to get out of this corn field. I hear the guys get back in the car and squeal off. Looking back, they were likely a bunch of highschoolers that were drinking and were acting more like a big brother just wanting to scare me as they didn't hurt me in any way! But SCARE me??? YES!!! Between visions of the movie dancing in my head, to the time of day it was, and then having them all find me in the corn field, I still steer clear of corn mazes - LOL!

I grew up in rural Michigan where farmland was usually on one side of the road or the other. It was a time where you could ride your bike to your friend's house and just come home when the street lights went on. Children of the Corn was a popular movie that I somehow convinced my parents I was old enough to watch. 

So, one cool autumn evening, I was likely 10, I was ready to make the 1/2 mile trek home alone on my bike. I heard a car coming and it was slowing down as it saw me and I could hear it pulling up behind me. On the right side was corn fields that went on and on, opposite was a row of homes. I didn't want them to hit me because it was dusk, so I went in the ditch and then decided to hide in the corn field a few feet. The car stops altogether and I hear the door open, but at this point I'm feeling pretty far into the field where they surely can't find me. Another door opens and I hear voices coming into the corn field!

Remember, and everyone is pretty much in for the night.

For those of you that have watched Children of the Corn, you can only imagine how much I'm TREMBLING and FREAKING out at this point! For those of you that haven't watched it... well, let's just say, it's not exactly my cup of tea. I'm standing still, it's dusk now and cooling down, the street lights are on and bats are flying overhead. Out of nowhere, one of the guys grabs me from behind, says, "BOO!" and scares the living beejeebers out of me (that's putting it mildly!!)!!! I nearly jumped out of my skin!!!

The other guys find his friend that is next to me now and they all run out of the field laughing and hooping and hollering. Meanwhile, I'm now crying but have to get out of this corn field. I hear the guys get back in the car and squeal off. Looking back, they were likely a bunch of highschoolers that were drinking and were acting more like a big brother just wanting to scare me as they didn't hurt me in any way! But SCARE me??? YES!!! Between visions of the movie dancing in my head, to the time of day it was, and then having them all find me in the corn field, I still steer clear of corn mazes - LOL!