As The Raven Dreams Podcast - Scary Stories For Dark Dreams - Vol 61 | ATRD Podcast

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

Today we have 22 More true scary stories with a late night ambience. Scary Stories For Dark Dreams is a collection of older stories, remastered and put together in a long form episode. This Collection includes the following stories; Paranormal stories from 2023, First Date & Hospital stories from 2024, Sleep over stories from 2025 So, turn down the lights, tune in, and fall into that eerie calm that can only come from these Scary Stories For Dark Dreams. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like or rate the podcast, and leave me a comment with your thoughts if the platform your own supports it! I upload episodes every 3 days, so there are 2 days between new uploads. The podcast consists of new scary story collections, Glitch in the matrix collections, and also what I call the "Dark Dreams" collections (which are older stories, remastered and layered with rain sounds). If you have a story to submit, would like to find where to listen to the podcast, or want to find me on social media platforms, all of that info can be found at https://www.astheravendreams.com You can also send stories into my subreddit (r/theravensdream) or email them to me at [e-mail] Want to check out some ATRD Podcast Merch? ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Or for signed merch ➤ https://ko-fi.com/AsTheRavenDreams I wrote a novel, "The Insomniac's Experiment" by Raven Adams! Check it out on amazon (Or you can email me for a signed copy!) Join Patreon to get early access and support the Podcast! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out my gaming channel with my pal Ghost_Ink ➤ @superNefariousBros On YouTube TIMESTAMPS One Ad After the First Story, No ads after that Story 1: 00:48 Story 2: 13:52 Story 3: 21:48 Story 4: 30:24 Story 5: 38:17 Story 6: 44:21 Story 7: 58:03 Story 8: 1:01:22 Story 9: 1:05:45 Story 10: 1:09:24 Story 11: 1:14:58 Story 12: 1:17:13 Story 13: 1:20:05 Story 14: 1:23:44 Story 15: 1:37:52 Story 16: 1:52:00 Story 17: 1:57:27 Story 18: 2:02:44 Story 19: 2:09:55 Story 20: 2:14:07 Story 21: 2:23:35 Story 22: 2:26:32 ----- Disclaimer ➤ Episodes include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Listener discretion is always advised. ALL Audio and visuals on this podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format. Bless This Mess. None of my audio is AI Generated, I am a real person reading real stories into a real microphone. Note: The podcast nor the host endorses any advertisements played during the podcast, ads are not chosen by ATRD or Raven Adams, they are chosen automatically by the advertisement systems by the platforms that host the podcast. I do not endorse, support, or promote any opinions or statements made in any adverts played during the show. #ScaryStories #UnexplainedMysteries #GlitchInTheMatrix ➤ And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey there, friends. wanted to say hi and say sorry this episode is late my couple days patients and I spent the weekend touching grass

which is not something we do often we were out at a state park and just enjoying the time so you can get a chance to get to work and yeah so you're going to get two episodes back to back today's Dark Rings podcast episode and then tomorrow you'll actually get a podcast episode

a regular new stories episode so I wanted to say that apologize for it being late and say that it was a nice weekend to go outside out here. So, yeah. All that said, friends, enjoy the stories, and sleep well. I had a pretty normal childhood. I had three siblings, one older, two younger, that I got along with most of the time. My parents were still together, and they were pretty normal people.

I even had my normal group of friends that I stuck to through most of my childhood as well, but there was one part that started normal that escalated pretty quickly, and I still think about it on occasion. I had this friend growing up that I'll call April. We'd been super close, and she was my usual go-to for those invite-one friend events. We were so much alike,

and I'm sure that's why we got along so well. But one thing that I didn't like about her wasn't her at all. but her older brother who I'll call Corey. Corey was five years older than us, and he was an outright jerk, to put it nicely. He always tried to do things to annoy April or pick a fight. He would barge into her room to knock something over.

He had tossed water at us before, ruining one of my coloring books, just really anything to be a nuisance. But it never made sense to me because every time April would, yell at him, and her parents would reprimand him. I never understood why he kept it up, knowing he was going to get in trouble. He also was never just mean to her. He directed his bullying at me a lot, too. He would make fun of me.

His favorite thing was about my braces and skin condition. I used to have eczema really bad on my face. He would make jokes, throw stuff at me. He'd even tripped to him. me and pushed me before. I didn't really do anything other than yell at him to stop, and when April would say something too, he would once again get in trouble. It was just something we dealt with when I wanted to go over to her house.

She went to my house more than anything, but when I would go to hers, I would just brace myself for having to deal with Corey at times. Like I mentioned, I had been friends with April for a very long. time. So, as we grew up and changed together, so did Corey. At the time of this story, we were both 14 and Corey was now 19. He was actually going to a nearby college, and worked at the same shop as his dad, but he was still living at home. Unfortunately, he was still his same bullying self, but with a twist. Now, he gave off these weird vibes. His bullying became more about my body, teasing about how I had developed.

I was compared to other girls his age, and he made weird nicknames for me. April always told him to knock it off. Being older, she stood up to him more. I typically just ignored him, and he would walk off since it wasn't getting to me anymore. Due to there being a holiday on a Monday, we had a longer weekend, so my parents agreed to let me stay at April, on a Sunday. Her parents were going to be going out that night for a friend's party, so we were going to have the place to ourselves. Well, mostly. Corey would be there too, and we expected the normal from him, but we both agreed that it was worth it to be adult-free.

We started by watching music videos in the living room. Early 2000s in cable TV meant we had MTV on demand, and it was one of our favorite things to do. everything started fine we hadn't really seen Corey much until later that night we were still in the living room when he finally came out and greeted me with one of the names

he liked to call me and we both ignored him he sat in the recliner and was watching TV with us and when we talked he would try to push himself into the conversation but he would actually say something relevant He wasn't doing his normal obnoxious things that he did.

It was weird, but a nice change, I'll be honest. But as we watched TV, I felt like I was being stared at, and would look over at him to see him staring at me. It was weird, and I really didn't understand why. At one point in the night, April's parents called the home phone and asked her to change out the laundry as she'd forgotten. She got off the phone, informed me that she would be back, and then went downstairs. After she left, Corey looked around the corner where the basement stairs were, and then went and sat next to me on the couch, putting his arm behind it.

I remember looking at him funny, but ultimately just went back to the show and ignored him. Shortly after, he tried talking to me, but it was a normal conversation. something I wasn't used to with him. I remember talking to him like I was expecting it to turn into a joke at some point, but it never did. He asked if I was ready to be done with school. About my siblings? All of that. But then, his questions turned a bit more personal. He asked if I had a boyfriend, currently or before.

How far I'd gone with the boy and commented on how grown up I looked at. compared to last year. I just tried to be vague and give short answers because it was making me feel really uncomfortable. Then he put his hand on my knee and offered to experiment with me if I wanted. I jumped off the couch and went to the bathroom, locking myself in until I heard April come back upstairs. I was scared he may try to stop me if he saw me go downstairs, so I went to a room that would make sense and I could lock the door. When I heard April come up and tell Corey to move, I hollered for her. When she met me, I pulled her into the bathroom and told her what Corey had said and done.

She apologized and agreed that he had been weird lately. She even said that he had asked about me and when I was coming over again. Neither of us expected him to get like this. Otherwise, we would have just gone to my house. We instead decided to move it to her room for, the rest of the night to avoid him. After doing whatever in her room for a few hours, with no interruptions from Corey, we got ready for bed, as both of us were getting pretty tired.

She had a pretty big bed, so we were both on it, me on the side closest to the door. I'm not sure how long I was out, but I remember waking up at some point, and it was still dark outside. I remember being in that weird state between... sleeping and waking up, where everything feels slightly unreal. As I lied there, trying to fall back to sleep, something made me open my eyes again. I looked around the room as I was facing the door, and that's when it finally registered in my head. The door was cracked open.

The light in the hallway was shining right on my face, and there was a dark figure in the doorway. I blinked a few times trying to focus, but no matter what I did, the figure was still there. I was trying to remember if we left the door open or not, because that was the only thing that I could think of, until the figure started moving. It entered the room slowly and turned, and that's when I realized it was Corey. He shut the door, and then I watched his figure from the little moonlight that was coming. coming in through the window, as he walked slowly towards the bed. I had completely froze. I couldn't move, and I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know what I could do. Your brain does weird things and moments of fear, and probably being half awake at that matter, and mine decided that if I stayed still and kept my eyes mostly closed, that he would just go away, that maybe if he realized I wasn't awake to witness his torment, then he wouldn't bother. But I now know that's not what he was going for. Corey knelt at the edge of the bed, and I could hear him breathing. I held my eyes mostly closed and watched him as he started reaching for the blanket. I had bawled some of it into my fist, and tucked my hand under my head to hold it in place. But I could feel him pulling on it.

He finally managed to yank it out of my hand, which made me jump. There was no way he didn't know I was awake at that point. He whispered my name, and the next thing I heard was, What are you doing in my room? Corey jumped back, and I sat up to see April turning on her lamp. She kept screaming at him, and he made his way towards the door with his hands out, like he was trying to calm her down. I remember pulling the blanket back up around me and listening to Corey say,

be quiet. April kept yelling at him, and her parents were now in the room yelling as well. April told her parents what she saw, and to my surprise, she woke up to the jolt of him pulling down the blanket.

They asked me the same, and I told them how I saw him walk into the room. I saw their dad's face turn red, and he grabbed Corey by his shirt and dragged him out of the room. Her mom came over to us and apologized, and April demanded that she should get a lock for her door, and her mom nodded.

She stayed there with us to try and calm us down and talk to us. She tried telling us about the party. They apparently hadn't even been home very long before this happened. It was nice of her to do this, but I could still hear her dad yelling and Corey apologizing repeatedly in the next room. After some time, her mom left the room and told us to go back to sleep. It took us a while. April was asking me what all happened and apologized, but I think we were both a bit too awake to sleep again. The next morning, I waited until April was awake before we left her room.

When we stepped into the living room, her dad was asleep on the couch, and Corey was nowhere around. April later told me that her dad probably slept out there to make sure he didn't try anything again. I didn't know this at the time, but her parents told my parents what had happened, and I wasn't allowed back over there. I was kind of upset, but at the same time, okay with it. April was still able to stay at our place. At that age, I was creeped out, but the fact that nothing worse happened, and I never saw him again, it was enough to make me push it behind me.

Once I started high school, April started hanging out with a different crowd, and we drifted apart. No hate or anything, we just weren't the same people. But this all came back up around, now that I'm an adult, because she had actually recently added me on Facebook. I noticed that, as we chatted, she never brought up her brother. And I feared maybe he died, or something, and I really didn't want to talk about it. I saw that her father had passed away from her previous posts, and she didn't mention it, so I assumed it was the same situation.

Until I started looking for him, I don't know why I did it, but I guess I was just curious where the guy that tried to flirt with a child ended up. Turns out, he's actually doing time for assault and domestic battery. So, I guess some people never change. I'm thankful that April wasn't like that, and that her parents even seemed to believe us. Her parents were always very kind and supportive, so it's strange to me that he ended up the way that he did. I can only hope that his other victims were able to heal and move on with their lives. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this.

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge. BetMGEMGEM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey, Raven. I wanted to share a story from when I started working at this first hospital since getting my RN license. I was delegated to an elderly gentleman, Roger, that had been in a coma for a few months. He'd been ill.

His wife described him as just feeling like he had a cold. This was back in 2012, by the way. And then he was rushed to the hospital as he had a stroke, putting him in a coma. Roger had several underlying conditions, and after a previous serious health issue, he and his wife had both agreed to sign DNR form. in case anything else would happen. After he went into the coma, his wife understood the chances of him waking up,

but wanted to give it some time just in case. I had met Roger when he came in for the stroke. He obviously didn't speak, but I saw him conscious and was helping where I could. The following months were pretty routine. We checked his vitals, moved him to prevent sores, cleaned him everything we would normally do for our coma patients. Sometimes his wife Sharon was there, or a couple others that I learned, were Roger's siblings.

Roger was stable, but that was it. He wasn't showing any signs of improving, or coming out of the coma. So the mood of the room would shift from being optimistic, talking to Roger like he was there, to being more melancholy at times. and it was understandable. You have to remain realistic in those moments because giving someone too much hope could have negative effects.

It can be hard, and it definitely was harder in the beginning, but it does get easier. Anyways, to move on to the reason for this story, I was doing my rounds when I came across Rogers' room. I went in and started my checklist of things to do. While I was writing numbers down and checking his vitals, I heard a quiet, raspy voice. Nurse?

Other than Roger, I was the only one in the room, so I wasn't expecting anyone in there. It made me jump a bit, but I turned to look for the source. And to my surprise, I saw Roger with his eyes open, looking straight at me. I composed myself and smiled and asked how he was feeling, and how much. long he had been awake. He gave simple answers, smiling, saying that he heard me come in and that's when he woke up. He said he felt tired and we had a small conversation as I physically checked him out. While we spoke, I called for assistance, telling a nurse to get the doctor since he was awake. Shortly after I called for them, I tried to ask him something else, but he held his hand up,

as if to stop me and opened his mouth to speak. I... No, I don't have long. Just tell Cassie to go with the pink one, please. I know that's what she really wants, and I want her to be happy. I was confused as I hadn't met anyone that visited by the name of Cassie. I was also confused by his statement. He was in a coma, but he was now awake and seemed fine.

Or as fine as you could. be from waking up from a two-month coma. But before I could question him, his eyes fluttered until they closed, and he flatlined. I called for help again, coding what was happening, but when the head nurse came in, due to the DNR request, we couldn't do much. We had to call the time of death and start the process of calling his wife and the works. His wife had just left maybe an hour or so before I was in there, as she told the nurse at the station, that she was going to go home to shower and get some more clothes. She often stayed the night two or three times a week.

Shortly after, Sharon, Rogers' sister Barb, any younger girl showed up in tears. Sharon seemed a bit more controlled. I think she was expecting the inevitable, which seemed to make it easier on her. We hadn't even moved Roger out yet, so they said their goodbyes there as we all finished in the room. Some people handle it better than others, but by the time the guys came in to collect Roger, they were all in better spirits, seeming to tell stories about Roger. We told them they could leave the room while they collected him, but they said they were okay with it. That's when I heard Barb say the name Cassie, as she talked to the younger woman.

It made me think about what Roger had said to me. I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but as they talked and I thought about it more, it dug at me that I needed to tell them. I was always told about how being a nurse could be a fine line. Some people liked the nurses being involved and being personable, while others preferred that we just did our jobs and left. And being that this was the first hospital I worked at, I didn't want to mess up and get a warning, or even fired.

But I knew from their conversation that they were pretty spiritual people, and laughed about Roger watching them and made a joke to Cassie about him teasing her for it. So I felt my chances of them accepting what I said was pretty good. So I went for it. I turned and apologized for interrupting, but I asked to confirm if the younger woman was Cassie. And they confirmed, saying she was Roger's niece, Barb's daughter. Roger and Sharon didn't have any kids, but he spoiled Cassie like she was his own. So I told them that right before he passed, he woke up, and that he told me something.

As I explained this, Barb and Sharon looked surprised while Cassie's eyes filled with tears, smiling. She explained that she announced that she was. was engaged shortly before Roger had his stroke, and her own father wasn't in the picture, so he was going to walk her down the aisle. He even agreed to pay for some of the wedding, but she had been dress shopping and was torn. Her mom wanted her to get a traditional white dress while she wanted a pink dress, and couldn't decide. They all claimed they never spoke about the conundrum while at the hospital, however, so they have no idea how he would have known. But they knew now that they had to go with the pink one. I was very happy that I shared that

message with them, and that they handled it well. But for being so early in my career, it was a pretty powerful moment for me. Obviously, I never found out what she did end up doing, or how it all turned out, but I'm sure Roger was still with them in spirit, celebrating. I've had some crazy stories since I've been a nurse so long, and worked in so many different places. I may share more of them eventually, if you or your audience are interested. I know that this wasn't exactly spooky, but I still thought it was pretty bizarre. So, I thought that you all would still enjoy it, as much as I did. I'd been single for quite a while when this took place. It didn't bother me, any, either. I was enjoying The Bachelor life. I was enjoying The Bachelor life.

I went on dates with some women that I met through apps, as well as some that I had mutual friends set me up with. That's actually how I met Cora. She worked with a friend of mine, Leslie. I met Cora at a business party that Leslie took me to as her plus one at the time. We'd been friends for a very long time. We tried dating, but we just didn't vibe that way, but we've always remained good friends. So, she took notice when I was looking at Cora.

Cora was very attractive. Long, blonde, curly hair, bright blue eyes, and very tall. Even better, she was very outgoing. She introduced herself and said that everyone called her Barbie because of how she looked, too. We joked about it, and later on in the date, Leslie called me out on my glances and there was no denying it. So, she said that she would play Matchmaker and ask Cora about it the next day they worked. Lucky for me, Cora was also interested in me, and Leslie gave her my number. She messaged me immediately, and the conversation was easy for both of us.

We talked about work and life and set up a date for the following weekend. The night of our dates started out great. We actually met at a restaurant slash entertainment, place. As in we had dinner, and then they had the whole arcade and bowling alley that we enjoyed together. She looked stunning in these shiny black pants and atop, and then she was wearing sneakers. She joked about not looking at her feet, but she wanted to be comfortable when we bowled. That night was fantastic, and while we both had a few drinks, her a little more than me, she became very flirtatious and suggestive.

And I was all for it. After a few hours there, she invited me back to her place, and I didn't decline. She had taken an Uber, but I drove, so I offered to take us there. I knew that I had to drive, so I didn't drink that much. When we got there, before she opened the door, she reminded me of her nickname at the office, and I confirmed that I remembered. remembered it. Then she said her looks were only part of the reason she liked being called Barbie, and that she was excited to show me. I was curious, but I was thinking, so she liked

to collect dolls? Okay? No big deal. Everyone has their collection or hobbies, right? My sister still has a bunch of dolls that she's collected. My brother and I still have boxes of baseball cards. Nothing to be worried about. But no. This was a little more than just a collection. She turned on the light, and her walls and shelves were filled with dolls, Barbies and other similar dolls, as well as a few porcelain dolls. I was surprised. She giggled and said that she loved them. She loved to collect them, and she even sometimes bought broken ones and repaired them, saying that she had her own doctor's office slash workshop in her spare bedroom for them. She even talked about how she's made decent money repairing other people's dolls.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting this, but I mean it wasn't that bad. It was one hell of a hobby and, I guess, a side gig for her, but it's not a deal breaker. far from it for Cora. But then she said that the ones that were truly special to her were in her workshop, and to make sure that they aren't hurt. She took me to the room, and, again, shelves lined the top of the walls,

and they were all filled with porcelain dolls. She called these her family. She started naming them off. Dolls named after her parents, her grandparents, her sisters. her old teacher, and even two of her exes. She even showed me a picture that was hanging on the wall of her sister, comparing it to the doll, and it was uncanny how much they matched.

Shoulder-length hair, curly, light brown. She had blue eyes and a mole above her left eye, and had on the same dress her sister was wearing in the photo. She said that her sister had thrown out the dress, so she snagged it, and made the dress for the doll out of it. She explained how she still cared for her exes, so she made them into dolls, too. Then she giggled and mentioned how she couldn't wait to make a doll for me. I'm sure that she meant that to be light-hearted, and maybe even funny.

It was obviously something she did, but it was actually kind of creepy to me. It was like someone admitting to wanting a voodoo doll of you. I don't know how else to explain it, so I just let out a nervous laugh, and she led me out of the room and went back to the Quora that I knew from our date. She kissed me and said that her bedroom was the best place in the house, and then led me to the other room with the closed door. I just prayed that it didn't have any dolls in it. She opened the door, and to my surprise, there were no dolls in the walls, sitting on the dressers or the shelves. so I felt that I could finally relax. I remember telling myself that I was just kind of being an ass about it,

and while it may seem weird to me, it was something that she enjoyed, and, ultimately, I could live with that. Until I tried to lay on her bed, and then felt something under the blanket. As a person's normal reaction, I moved quickly, not wanting to hurt or damage whatever it was. Cora giggled, and leaned over me to pull the blanket back, and revealed a nearly life-sized doll, laying in her bed, smiling. I'm a little over six feet, and that thing had to be about four or five feet easily.

Cora began telling me who the doll was. She told me his name, some of his history, and then told me why he was in her bed in the first place. I'll let you fill in the blanks there. She even suggested that we could include it in our night's activities. I tried to remain as polite as possible and told her that I just wasn't quite into that. However, instead of being a little understanding, she became upset, saying that those dolls were her babies, her life, and if I wanted to be with her, that I had to be with her dolls, too.

So, I left the room. I grabbed my stuff and walked out of her apartment, trying to figure out what the hell I had just experienced. She messaged me the next day, with a picture of herself and her bedroom doll, I guess, and said that I was welcome back if I ever changed my mind. I just couldn't picture doing literally anything in that place with a thousand eyes staring at me, watching every move I made. I didn't check the bathroom, but I wouldn't doubt if she had some in there, too. Thankfully, Cora at least made the conversation with Leslie easy. Cora told her that we just didn't click, so I didn't have to share my experience either,

and I don't think I will past telling you, a random person on the same. the internet. So I hope you enjoyed my slightly creepy and very uncomfortable first date. So I'm the fourth generation owner of a small farmhouse built in the late 1800s. My great-grandparents bought it sometime around 1920. At that time, there weren't really many houses built in the area, and there were no paved roads. An old graveyard. still in use today is on the ridge above us. The family, through all these years, have claimed that the house is haunted, but that the ghost is friendly, so no one has ever been afraid.

Back story to the ghost is that it's perhaps the spirit of a man wrongly accused, late 1800s before my family, of theft. A man's wallet had been stolen, and footprints led to this house. where a man was found sleeping in the woods. The story tells that the man was promptly strung up in an elm tree in the corner yard where he died. The tree continued to stand until last year when we cut it down, due to too many dead and dangerous limbs. I will add here that my great-grandfather was chopped into many pieces by a train in the mid-1960s, and his wife died here in the early 70s.

but evidently the ghost story precedes these events. There have been many witnesses over the years to a loud slam that happens from time to time that seems to be in the basement, which is a dugout. But when checked, the basement door is padlocked. The slam can even be heard over the phone by people on the other end of the call. We, too, keep the door padlocked, but we experience the slam from time to time. There's someone whistling a tune just outside a window, with, of course, no one there is another tale,

though no one other than my great-grandma ever heard this, until me. I lived in the house for a short time 40 years ago, and during this time I heard someone whistling a particular tune that was a fond memory for me. A friend used it as a signal for me to sneak out of the house on her summer nights when I was a teen. I checked, no one there. So, I told my mom about it, naming the Civil War era tune. She had a strange look on her face

and told me that she'd forgotten this was the very song that my great-grandma claimed to have heard. While she had told me about her having heard the whistling, she had never related the tune to me. Mom was quite jealous, actually, that I'd heard it. Many years past, the house was rented out for a couple of decades or so, and then was basically abandoned and left to ruin for a period of several years. I came in about five years ago and restored both house and yard,

which was a terrible brambled-up mess. Two weeks of serious work was needed in the yard Before we started inside During this time my boyfriend and myself Often heard a very loud, clear whistling Of old-fashioned tunes that seemed to come from everywhere And nowhere As it sounded the same from all areas of the yard

We would search for the source A neighbor in their yard perhaps But there was never a soul over around us. Weird, but not scary. We hired a man to help us do the interior work. Walls and ceilings all had to be replaced. Everything gone, but wall bones into roof. One afternoon, he stepped out for a break. He stepped back in to ask who was whistling so beautifully. My boyfriend and I laughed and told him about the ghost. He said that we were BSing him. and went for his own investigation.

He ended up leaving for the day a believer in, and scared of, the ghost. We remained friends after the job was done, and he's always wary of the house noises when he visits. It's funny, really. But now. I had ordered some trial creams for after bathing. Hang with me here. It was a 15-day trial, that arrived on a very large, 10 by 5 folded card, with small pouches that held two packets

for each day. It was large, thick, visible. I used it for three days. My boyfriend and I share the same vanity in which I stored the card. He was familiar with it. The fourth day, it was gone. This very large card is nowhere. We turned the bathroom upside down, cleaned and reorganized everything in the entire bathroom. Gone. I searched again the next week, tweaking my organization, hoping in vain to find the large card. I was proud of my clean bathroom, but no large card. I opened the vanity two days ago.

There it is. and center. I called my boyfriend in, simply pointed in he, having already seen its head, I know, right? Where'd you find it? I've given it much thought. I'm not being ridiculous. I did not overlook it, and it was not there. But here it is, front and center. My boyfriend has no guile, and I completely believe he is innocent of this being a possible prank. He's laughing about the matter, sort of, but he appears to think that I'm making

too much out of it. I think he's worrying about my mental health or possibly Alzheimer's. I'm 60. All I know is it was there. It disappeared for a week, and then it was there. Just to note, I'm retired and always home. Boyfriend is semi-retired, works 20 hours. or is otherwise home. We have only rare visitors who are directed to the guest bath. No one would have had access to the room, much less been interested in such an inconsequential item in order to play a prank. I hadn't spoken of the creams to anyone but my boyfriend.

Has my ghost moved it up a notch to Poltergeist? Or am I suffering dementia? Edits to add, there was another incident where I lived here 40 years ago. Two friends were visiting. There was a, not loud, but very audible noise in the next room. We all heard it. It sounded like someone was pulling a heavy couch, perhaps along the wood flooring. But there was no one there.

They left, believers, and scared. But again, it did not scare me. To begin, this happened about ten years ago, and I've only ever told this to a few people face to face. Most people think it's a tall tale. It was honestly one of the most unsettling things that has ever happened to me, and changed me from a condescending skeptic into somewhat of a believer. Background When I was A 22-year-old second-year

uni student, no drink, no drugs Living in the Stoke area of the UK, I rented an old middle terrace house in second year with my then-girlfriend and some friends. It was a creepy, dark house, as it only had windows at the front and the back. It had a dingy and damp old basement with lots of old furniture stuffed inside,

and a black cat that would show up at the back door every night, meowing, which I befriended and fed. It was also creepy because of the dark and muddy cul-de-sac that served as a communal courtyard and car park. All of this didn't bother me, however. I grew up in a pretty creepy old house built in the early 1800s. It did, as I later learned, bother my downstairs housemate and his girlfriend who heard regular footfalls in night in the highway, and adjacent living room only to find nobody when he would sneak out to look. I also discovered a year after this event that the students who lived there the year prior

all believed the house was haunted, and were glad to move out. So, the main story. My term time ended four weeks after all of the other tenants, because I had to do clinical placement. This meant I lived in this large house alone, which I loved. I'm an introvert, and I love alone time. It started great. For two weeks, I enjoyed it despite the background creepiness. I would just reason away any creepiness as I still do now. However, after the two-week mark, I became aware of a creeping sense of dread that I couldn't rationalize or find cause for. I'm not an overly anxious person, and I enjoy my own company, and nothing weird had

happened. I began to feel very unwelcome, and very much not alone. I felt how a prey animal must feel when they feel eyes on their back. I began to feel so scared that, even in the day, I would take the three-mile walk onto campus and sit and work in the library. if not on placement. I would come home and be afraid. I even devised a system for moving around the house at night without ever being in an unlit area. I also did this during the day in the windowless areas.

I had to move from my large, comfy room into the smallest bedroom, lock the door and sleep with my back to a wall, often with the light on. I was inexplicably afraid. On the final day, I had to lock all the windows, turn off all the plugs, get some stuff from the basement and lock the back door before I left. I was utterly terrified, and I felt like I was moving in slow motion the entire time. I went around systematically ensuring that a light was always on, and that I wasn't in darkness.

I'd piled all my stuff, backpack, and duffel bag. The rest was mercifully packed in my car the day before, at the front door. This is where it gets really scary, and I cannot explain what happened adequately. It was late afternoon and still light outside, but the house was dark. I stalled myself to turn the hallway light off, but the light switch was about four meters from the front door at the foot of the stairs. It was night dark upstairs, which was normal because no windows and all the doors shut. I turned the light off and scurried away without turning my back to the stairs. The daylight still lit the hallway from the open front door, but as I got to the door, the strangest thing happened.

My neck hairs stood on end. To my shame, if I needed to pee at the time, I think I would have peed myself. I could feel, or see, I can't really explain, a black and viscous, shadowy clouds slowly making its way down the stairs towards me. I felt such malevolence. I basically tripped backwards into the street and into daylight, shut the door, and everything felt fine, like nothing had just happened. I locked the door and posted the key through the letterbox and have never seen the house again. The only way I can explain the feeling is to liken it to a dementor and ring-wraith attack, except there wasn't a caped humanoid figure chasing me.

I couldn't see it, but I knew, knew. The fear and dread was indescribable, and I have never since experienced anything like it. I had, nor have, no mental health issues. I was happy and not stressed at the time, etc. I even feel crazy and embarrassing relating the story. Are there any other experiences like this? Hello. I wanted to share a weird and kind of unexplained situation that I was involved in

that I really feel like could have saved my life. Back in 2014, I was pretty heavy. into online dating. I'd been single for about eight months after my ex decided to break it off, and move across the country with no warning. I was gutted, and yeah, pretty lonely since he had moved in with me, so I was ready to spend my time with someone again. So I started with dating memberships and apps, wherever I could go that was free or didn't cost a whole paycheck. And that's where I met this guy, Jackson. Jackson messaged me first with a pretty normal greeting.

Hello, stranger. I'd love to get to know you more. I remembered it because it wasn't the desperate pleas that you normally see there. You know the ones, where they call you beautiful and beg you to talk to them, and if you're lucky, maybe some kind of raunchy comment. I looked at his profile and he was definitely easy on the eyes. In fact, he looked like my ex, shaved head, normal build, wearing sunglasses and holding his dog. Maybe that's my toxic trait, looking for someone that reminded me of my ex, right? So I responded to him, and we began talking, and there was a lot of it.

He asked a lot of questions about me and who I was. He was more than willing to share about himself, too, and even saying, he was. sent me a few more pictures of himself and his pup. He asked about meeting up, but I wasn't quite ready yet. I also didn't want him to think that I was just looking for a one-night stand, which was also common on these sights. He was understanding, and didn't push it, which was another win for me. But then one night I was having a particularly grumpy night. He texted me and was talking about a local carnival that was going on. I joked about how I hadn't been in years, and he sounded appalled.

He said this one in particular was the best one held in the state, and said that I had to go. And then he offered to take me. This time I agreed. Going to a carnival as a first date was definitely unconventional, but I liked that. I could even dress comfortably, and we could just have fun, and maybe be able to be. even skipped the awkward silent moments. We met that Saturday night at the carnival, and he looked just like his pictures, so that was a good start. He hugged me when we first met, and it felt so nice. I was already in a fantastic mood, and was excited to see where the night

would take us. We took a few rides, played a few games, and joked about how many were still rigged, and even tried to figure out how they did it. We also sampled tons of different food, which was all fantastic. We were walking around, waiting for a show to start, and made our way to the part of the carnival that they referred to as oddities and curiosities, or something to that effect. That's where we saw a guy playing a musical instrument with his toes. There was a lady juggling swords, and then there was also a tent for a fortune teller. Yeah, call me what you want.

but I'm all for that kind of stuff. I liked tarot, crystal work, all of it. I even had a friend that I became really close to that read my tarot and my tea leaves quite often. I won't say that I necessarily believed all of it. I was a skeptic, but some things I couldn't explain away, so I felt there had to be some kind of truth to it. So when I saw her sign, I absolutely wanted to check. her out and see what she might say.

And even if she had any thoughts or compatibility ideas with us. Jackson didn't have a problem with it, and he liked the idea too, so we went in. She greeted us, said that her name was Madame Joe, and asked what we were looking for. Jackson shrugged, smiling, and asked what I or Joe would suggest. She guessed that we were on our first date, and I confirmed, smiling too. Off to a good start, right? She said that she could do palm reading and get some compatibility, and even maybe some future readings, so that's what we agreed to. We both sat in the chair across from her and she started reading our individual palms. She started on mine, and she mentioned

how she could sense that I was still recovering, or had sadness from a previous loss. She was right, too, as I was still dealing with losing my ex. Then she read Jackson's, and that's when I started sensing a change in her. She quickly opened her eyes and basically told him that he was holding in a lot of anger, and that he needed to confront it before he hurt somebody else that he loved. Jackson looked confused, and didn't say another word, but Joe seemed uncomfortable. Then she grabbed both of our hands, and immediately her face soured. No, this will never work.

She said like a disapproving parent. We both looked at her confused, and she continued. You, sir, are a very dangerous man. You hurt everyone you've loved, and this will be no different. Jackson quickly pulled his hand back, his face, a mix of confusion and anger. I, however, did not move, curious what she meant by this. She continued talking about how he would hurt me, and I was running out of time to leave him. She said that she saw black and blue, all over bare skin.

She held my hand with both of herds, and with fear in her eyes, she looked at me and said, Do not let this continue. Please, before it's too late. and then let go of my hand. Jackson started going off. He asked who she was, and accused her of being in some kind of scheme set up by some other person, trying to sabotage his date.

I don't remember the name, but it was a female. Maybe an ex? I never found out. But she said that she wasn't, and claimed that he told her all she needed to know. He called her crazy. Ian said that he never believed in this crap and then grabbed my hands to pull me out. I was so confused and startled by this.

He pulled me out of the tent and again tried to talk about how those people were always full of hot air, and just after your money. He tried laughing and lightening the mood, but it was a little harder for me to just forget it. We went to the show, but I was so distracted by the psychic, and Jackson had to be. had to ask me several times if I was okay. After the show, he asked about doing something else there, but I told him that I was just ready to go home. He seemed to be pretty offended by this. We had seen most of the carnival already, so unless he wanted to go somewhere else, I don't know what he was expecting. He then asked, This doesn't have anything to do with that psychic, does it? You don't really believe in that crap,

do you? He sounded very angry and accusatory even, and it honestly made me uncomfortable. So I just laughed and told him no, and that I was just honestly tired. It was after 10 p.m.,

and I joked that I wasn't used to being out so late, and that that was all. He calmed down and then hugged me saying that he would talk soon, and we parted ways. The whole drive home, my heart was racing. Fortune tellers can't really see the future, right?

Was she jealous? Could she have been in on something? But his reaction to it, and his reaction to me, that was all really alarming. I knew that I was really going to have to be careful if I continued to see him. He messaged me the next day, asking how I was, and asking if I wanted to go get dinner that night. I thought that I should give him another chance. Being we would be in public again, maybe I could see him from a different perspective and let his actions make a decision for me, not Adam Joe's. So, I agreed.

We went to a local restaurant and everything was going as normal. Our conversation was fine, his attitude was fine. It was just a normal date. It really made me loosen up, and I was starting to think that I was really being crazy, freaking out over. what some stranger told me. So, by the end, I'd been very cheerful, laughing and just having a great night. By the end of the dinner, we started walking out, and he followed me to my car, thinking he was just being kind and walking me to it. But then, he got uncomfortably close to me.

I think, under other circumstances, it may have been romantic, but something was making me nervous again. So when the conversation didn't continue, I thanked him for dinner and moved to try to unlock my car. Apparently this was the wrong decision. He once again became unglued and said, so that's it. I looked at him confused. He started making remarks about me getting a free meal and him getting nothing in return.

I asked him what he meant because I definitely offered to pay, but he wouldn't let me. He then made a comment about coming back to my place, and I declined. I told him as I did before, we even met the first time, that I wasn't here for that, and that he was not going to get anything from me after two dates. He became furious. He started yelling, demanding that I tell him why and what was wrong with him. As he backed up to literally scream, I jumped into my car, locking the door instantly. He ran up to my car and kicked it hard enough to shake it. He'd now gotten the attention of some people nearby, so I took the opportunity and left. I drove around for about ten minutes before going home to make sure that he didn't find me and follow me home. And from there,

I ran inside, locking the door behind me. He tried calling several times, but I ignored them all. That didn't stop him from sending mixed messages via voicemails and texts. I just turned off my phone and went to sleep. The next day, I actually called my friend who did taro and asked her to read a little bit about Jackson and what our future looked like together. Now, mind you, I did not tell her about Madam Joe. At this point, I had told one person, and that was my mom, that was it. So when she told me something similar to Joe, I was pretty freaked out.

I explained to her what happened at the carnival, and she agreed that I needed to end it with him, and that something dangerous was going to happen. So I did just that. I messaged him that day and told him that I didn't think it was going to work out, and just ended it there. He sent more conflicting messages between begging me for another chance and calling me some unsublished. savoury names. Then he finished it off with a threat. I told him that I would be reporting him to the police, and he didn't respond. I didn't hear from him again, though, thankfully.

But he still had me paranoid for a little while. He lived in the next county over, so while he didn't live too close, he also didn't live that far away. I feared that I may run into him at a store, somewhere, or at a restaurant. I tried to avoid the place that we had gone to for dinner unless I was with company, in case he showed up too. I feel like I got very lucky in this situation. I don't know about his past or what he may have done, but sometimes I did think about it. I considered looking for an X, but I feared what I may find, so I just left it alone.

All I know is that I feel like going to that carnival was one of the best, and worst dates I have ever had. And I thank Madam Joe for possibly saving my life. I'm either going crazy or my apartment is haunted. At first, I thought that I was dreaming. Because my first week in the bedroom, I heard a female yell with surprise. What are you doing here?

The next thing that happened is that things will go missing for weeks at a time. and pop up again in places that I'm sure I checked. Then I started seeing shadows dart across the room of my vision. This week, she let out a scared scream at the foot of my bed, like she was surprised and gasped. I went back to bed, and then this thing slapped the foot of my bed so hard that I felt the mattress dip next to my foot.

I'll admit at this point I was more angry than surprised, so I told her to cut that crap out. Big mistake. Because before, I wasn't sure it was being haunted, because it always happened late at night when I was almost asleep. But yesterday, she turned on an adult toy that I have. It's embarrassing. I know, but she turned it on, and I promise this is not satire.

I got up and turned it off, and even put the on button facing the ceiling, in case maybe the button just got pressed down somehow. As soon as I sat it back down, she turned it back on. And at this point, I was a little scared, so I turned it back off and tried to go back to bed. She turned it on again. I threw the thing away at four in the morning into the dumpster on the street. I then tried to go back to bed, and I could hear her breathing next to my bed.

I then got this overwhelming feeling that I was being stared at until about 6 a.m. when I finally had it, got up out of bed anyways. I know it's a she because I've heard her voice, and it's always been scared. Like, I shouldn't be here. I live on an army barracks, and ending one's life is very common. My theory is that some girl took her life in the room, and that she didn't. doesn't know that she's dead. I didn't believe in ghosts before PCSing here, but I've taken to talking to her gently

before I do things. I tell her that I'm about to turn on some music, or that she has the place to herself, when I leave for work. I'm honestly hoping that she just thinks I'm her roommate or something, because obviously this was her space, and she isn't tracking that she's dead. She's never been violent or aggressive with me, but she has a habit of doing these things in the dead of the night and terrifying me. I need advice on what to do, because she is very real, and she's made a believer out of me, but I'd be lying if I said that she doesn't scare me. In 2006, I went on a choir tour of Spain and France.

The tour started in Madrid and ended in the Ocotain region and to Laos. This experience happened in Lourdes France. Already in Spain, I was having many deja vu experiences and memories of past life recall. One of the strangest experiences was visiting the Cathedral of Burgess and being able to talk with a tour guide with complete familiarity about the church. At the end of the tour, she said, You know a lot. I even took some of our group who didn't do the paid tour back the next day, and did the entire thing exactly as she done it the day before.

But the most unequivocal paranormal experience happened in Loris. Loras is a small town in southwest France that is famous for St. Bernardet, a teenage shepherdess who had visions of the Virgin Mary in 1858. On our first day in Lordus, our tour guide told us about how it had been a Roman outpost before Christianity with a temple to the water goddess. This is important, because all of the imagery in Lordus is water imagery. There is a huge tank of water to be dunked in to heal the sick. Everywhere you look, there are bottles in the shape of the Virgin Mary. Your travel through the town is constantly interrupted by streams and river.

of people. You get the idea. Miss Sikh Catholics flock to Lordus for pilgrimage and healing. It's extremely common to see groups of people in wheelchairs, and even on stretchers at the site. Especially the grotto where Bernadette had her visions, and on top of which the Church of Lourdes is built. This is the main pilgrimage site. Although I'm not Catholic, the tour guide had piqued my curiosity and I decided to go down, to the grotto to vibe it out. In front of the grotto was an empty space followed by five or six rows of benches, with more empty space behind it. All of this was fenced in. When I got there,

I wasn't able to go into the grotto because it was the designated time for stretchers. The benches in the center were full, but there was a bench at the very back against the fence, where I decided to sit and wait. The minute I sat down, I began to feel a buzzing that only got stronger and stronger. The energy was so strong that it pushed my head down towards my knees, so that I looked like I was genuflecting. Through the buzz, I heard this voice say, you will see where Bernadette saw the lady for the very first time. As usual, I was skeptical, but I took it under consideration. At around this time, the stretchers moved out of the area, and people started lining up from the benches to the center.

I moved to those center benches starting at the left corner until it filled up. As it did so, I slid down the bench until I was sitting at the far right corner of it. Once there, I thought maybe I should say some kind of oblations, so I started singing the choral version of Ava Maria, which we were singing on the tour in my head. As I did so, the buzzing vibration became overwhelming, and I started silently crying. The entire bench held space for me, while I cried without ever speaking to or touching me. After I finished crying, I knew that I didn't need to go to the grotto. I had had my lordess grotto experience.

When I reached down to get my backpack, I saw a bronze plaque on the ground which said, This is where St. Bernardettes saw the Virgin Mary for the first time, on the 11th of February 1858. I'd been sitting on that spot the entire time. In August of 1987, I was expecting my second child. My grandmother was in the hospital dying from internal bleeding, from a fall of. that she had from falling out of her wheelchair. My mother had gone to visit my grandmother in the hospital. While they were talking, my grandmother said, get me off of this ship. My mother reminded my grandmother, her mother, that she was in the hospital. My grandmother insisted that she was on a ship.

My mother asked her, who's on this ship with you? Because my mom was a big believer in all things supernatural. She thought that she could get more information. My grandmother replied, You know that guy who does the stories about the mob? Ned Day from the news? And my nurse? The one that comes during the night shift. My mom asked where the ship was going and my grandmother said, the cemetery. Obviously, my mom was a bit worried at that point, being a big believer. She knew the time was close for my grandma to pass away. The next day I went to visit my grandmother in the hospital. I was five months pregnant and wasn't feeling that great.

When I arrived, my grandma asked me to come close because she wanted to touch my belly. As she placed her hand on my belly, she told me, It's a girl, you know? I said, no, Grandma, I don't know. Because tomorrow they're going to do an ultrasound to see if they can see. They'll tell me if it's a boy or a girl. My grandmother assured me that it was in fact a girl, and I told her that I would let her know once I found out. She said, It's okay. I know it's a girl.

I just smiled and said, okay, Grandma. Later that evening, my mother went to see Grandma, and my grandma told my mom, Do you see her? My mom asked her, see who? My grandmother said, it's my mom. She's sitting in the corner, and she came to get me. My mom looked over, but she saw nobody, but asked her mother to describe the woman. My grandmother described her mother exactly, and told my mom that she was waiting for her.

After my mom left the hospital, she came home and was telling us all about what grandma had said, and I told her what grandma said to me about my baby. A few hours later, the hospital called my mom to say that grandma had passed away. We were all devastated, but what's even stranger is that, just a few days later, we heard that the newscaster, Ned Day, had also died. We were blown away. When my mom went back to the hospital to invite my grandmother's nurse to her funeral, my mother was informed that the nurse had tragically died in a car accident.

just that morning. Oh, and I got that ultrasound, and my baby was indeed a girl. So, that's it. I've been a true believer ever since. Grandma was right. Thanks for reading this, Raven. I love your podcast, and keep doing it. I will, and thank you for sending the story in.

For most of 2015, I dated this guy named Enrique. We met each other from... school and we were both in the 10th grade. It was a toxic relationship and he was very abusive and controlling. I tried breaking up with him many different times, but he would blackmail me. My father managed to put an end to our relationship. I don't know how he did it, but he must have threatened Enrique in a way that I can only imagine that it was beyond scarier than a horror movie. This didn't really solve anything, though. When in school, he would stare at me in class, and he would follow me around almost everywhere for about like a week, or a week

and a half after our breakup. I decided that I would go to my friends for help, and they in fact did help me. I had like three or four friends walk with me wherever I went, and this did the trick, but only for a short amount of time. One Friday night, I went over to my friend's Mary's house for a sleepover. We ordered pizza, watched a movie, and gossiped about other kids in our school. At around 1230, we went upstairs to Mary's room and we were getting ready to go to bed. I was going to sleep in the same bed as her because her house only had three other bedrooms,

which were a guest bedroom, which was off limits at the time due to reconstruction, her parents' bedroom, who were out of town that whole week, and her twin brother's room, which he was also at a house. friend's house on the same exact night. I got dressed into my PJs, brushed my teeth, turned off the light, and shut Mary's bedroom door. A split second after I shut the door, I heard the glass of the window downstairs being shattered. Before either of us could say anything, we heard a voice from downstairs say, I know you're here, Sherry. You thought you could hide from me, but you're wrong. I knew this voice very well. It was,

Enrique's voice. How did he even know that I was here if every shade in Mary's house was down? Was he following us? That could be possible. Without any second thought, we both went into the closet that was right next to Mary's bed. We found a drawer in the closets that had enough space to crawl behind, and both of us hid there. As we were hiding, we heard Enrique open every door every 15 to 20 seconds.

as he was most likely going through each room to see where we were hiding. We then heard his loud footsteps come upstairs. The first door he opened upstairs was the room that we were in. I remembered that it didn't have a lock on it. Enrique entered the room. You know when you say something accidentally at the wrong time? Well, that's what I did. As we were still in the closet, we heard Enrique's sneeze.

I don't know what came of me at that moment. but I wasn't thinking right because I was scared for my life, and I said, Bless you. I then heard him say back, thank you. I lipped out the words, oh, crap, screw me. Footsteps then came to the closet, and we heard the door open. We couldn't hide ourselves anymore because I had just exposed myself and my presence. So I walked up to Enrique, and Mary ran off.

He tried grabbing me, but before he could, could do that, I kicked him in the groin, to which he fell on his knees and groaned in pain. Then after that, I punched him right in the nose, which made his whole body lay down on the floor. It hurt my hand a little, but that wasn't the main focus at that moment. I ran out of the house and got outside and saw that Mary was walking up to her neighbor's steps. She got to the door, and she rang the doorbell like a dozen times. Just as I got to that door, I saw an old woman open the door and she was asking what was wrong. I told her that my ex-boyfriend had broken into Mary's house to find where I was,

and that I'd fought back and that he was still in the house. She let us in, and Mary called the police on her cell phone, which she had in her pocket. The police came no later than eight minutes. They searched Mary's house, but they couldn't find Enrique anywhere. We thanked them for the help, and I told an officer that I would report everything the next day at the station. The officer said okay, and they left after that. I went back into Mary's house to pack everything up, and I called my mother, which she was surprisingly still up. I told her to come pick me up, and I explained everything to her.

She came 15 minutes later. I got home and immediately went to bed. The next morning I went with my mother to the police station, and gave my report. Weeks went by, and I finally got a restraining order against Enrique for five years. He couldn't be within 300 feet of me.

The restraining order did eventually end, but Enrique never tried to contact me again, even though I have him blocked on everything. It's a good thing that he's moved on. I told my GP that I had an odd experience while coming out of anesthesia. He asked if I met God. Well, no, not God.

But let me start at the beginning. Apparently the first thing I said after the surgery was that if anything went wrong, my return address is on my back. I don't remember that, but in point of fact, my return address is on my back. It says property of the William M. Bass donated skeletal collection. My own memories are a bit scrambled. I knew where I was. I could hear the sounds at the recovery area, but that's not what I was seeing.

I was wondering among gigantic carved stone monoliths of deities from various religions, ages, and locales. They were aware of me, but mostly I was beneath their notice. To complicate matters, I was not wearing my glasses. Now, I'm not blind, yet, again. I will undoubtedly reach minus eight diopeters again, eventually, but in this instance my brain decided

that I never had eye surgery, and that my vision was still around minus 12, maybe worse. I had to get really close to the statues to make out details clear enough to recognize who was who before I moved on, which is why I was within. in arm's reach before I realized what I was seeing on one was a skirt of rattlesnates and a necklace of hearts and severed human hands. Mind you, I respect Coltlkew, but it occurred to me that the Aztec goddess of the womb in the tomb might not be a felicitous entity to encounter while recovering from heart surgery. I was trying to apologize respectfully while backing away when I finally woke up. I swear on everything that I love that this is a true story. You don't have to

believe me, but I want to share it anyways. I was seven or eight years old, and lived in a house with just me and my mom. It was a fairly big house, with four bedrooms and my room was at one end of the landing, and my mom's room was at the other end. If you were to stand by my bedroom door, you would look down the hallway and see my mom's bedroom door, as well as the top of the stairs. Anyways, my two slightly older cousins, nine female and eleven female, had come over for a sleepover and we had spent the whole evening slash early night, playing around and doing childish things as you do. My mom told us it was time for bed, and they went to sleep in the spare room and I went to my bedroom.

When I was younger, I had really bad trouble sleeping, and would often wake up around 2 to 3 a.m. and walk down the hall, and go into my mom's bed and sleep there. Almost every night I would do this. Anyway, so it comes to about 3 a.m. and I wake up. I get out of my bed, and I open my door as quiet as I could to not wake anyone else up. As I rub my eyes and look down the hall, I get out of my bed. I see a floating dress with tears in it. That looked exactly like what you would expect, a wedding dress that has been worn by someone living in a forest or on the streets.

It had tears in it. It was a bit muddy at the bottom. It was floating almost like it was moving through water. There was a woman wearing this torn and muddy dress walking down the stairs. I remember freezing and slowly walking back, closing my door a bit and getting into bed. I put my pillows over my head and closed my eyes and pretended I was asleep. I can't remember how much longer I was awake for before falling back asleep, but the first thing I did when I woke up was tell my mom and cousins. Obviously, as a little kid, my mom didn't believe me and my cousins thought I was trying to scare them.

I'm 20 years old now, moved houses a long time ago. I remember this woman walking down the stairs so clearly that I could draw you a picture of it now. I tell the story to people to this day, and obviously no one believes me. But I swear on everything that I saw something that night. There was something in my house. My mom has worked at a small rural hospital for about six years now. She's the ER receptionist, so she is the first person you see when you come into the emergency room,

the one to give you all the paperwork to fill out and such. Throughout these six years, she worked mostly nights, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and has seen quite the cast of characters the town has to offer. Every transient, druggie, and local has passed through that lobby, and she has seen each one at least twice. But one night, she encountered something she had never seen before or again since. Back in the first year, my mom was quick to get the hang of things, so she was left alone to work the counter. The ER faced the parking lot so she could see people coming in from far away and anticipate their moves. One night, at about 2 a.m., she was working on her computer, looked at a.m., looked at her. up and was surprised to see two people standing there.

A man and a woman just standing there, staring at her. And she stared back. The parking lot was dark. No car in sight, and they just appeared. After a long moment, they came into the lobby and went right up to the desk. My mom said the alarm bells started going off in her head that something wasn't right. For one thing, they were very very. very tall. The desk my mom sat at would come up to mid-chest on an average person.

With these people, my mom could see the pelvic bone of the woman. They were dressed for hot weather because it was summer. They were also very skinny and my mom emphasized this very dry-looking. But they didn't look like your typical druggies. The woman kept stroking her neck with long fingers, saying she had a sore throat. My mom, for the first and only time, didn't say a word. She just looked at them. A word kept repeating in her head. Strigue.

As my mom looked at them, the woman looked to the man, looked back at my mom, and then to the man again. The whole time just smiling and stroking her throat, and said to the man, do you think she'll let us through? Or should we go somewhere else? My mom stayed silent as the woman repeated the pattern of looks, and then they both smiled at my mom and left. Almost after, my mom texted me, asking if vampires needed permission to enter places like hospitals.

I told her, since she was technically the person to say who went back to the ER, they would need her permission. We both knew that Strigwe was a type of Romanian vampire mythos, and that was the word she kept hearing in her mind. She has never seen that couple again, and we still talk about what happened. It does make me wonder when I hear about stories of black-eyed children and other tales of vampires. What did she see that night? And how close was she to something unreal? Back in the fall of 2022, I went on a date with a guy named Lewis.

We matched, had a lot in common, and after talking for about two weeks, we decided to meet up. We went to a nice restaurant nearby. I was wearing one of my favorite skirts, a flattering top, did my hair and makeup and was just looking forward to a great night. I spotted him standing near the entrance when I arrived. and he was stunning. He was wearing maroon dress pants and a matching jacket, with a black shirt underneath. With his dark hair and bright green eyes, he looked great standing there waiting for me. So, when I walked up, I complimented him and he returned it.

We got to our seats, our meals shortly after, and really enjoyed the dinner. The night was going great, but I perked up even more. more when he mentioned an old abandoned building that he knew about. One thing we had actually bonded over was our love for Urbex, or exploring abandoned buildings and places. We talked about places we had explored and shared pictures, and talked about finding a place that we could explore together. So I instantly had the itch to check this place out that he said he'd found. Now, I know, record scratch right there. Some people would never meet a stranger privately, let alone in some abandoned building, but that's how some of us Urbex people are. We liked the thrill and the risk.

So when he offered to take me there, I was all for it. So when we finished our meals, we then went out to our cars, and I would be following him on my own. I always kept a pair of sneakers, and an old pair of pants in my car, so I was a little better dressed for the occasion. However, Lewis opted to remain in his suit. I made a comment about it, thinking if he was hoping I would agree, why not bring something to change into. That's why I always kept an extra outfit in my car. But, alas, it was his choice, and maybe he'd been here before, so I didn't think too hard about it. So we approached the door, him leading, and when we got there, he rammed the door with his shoulder,

and with a loud thud, it opened. I flinched at first because it was loud, and I didn't want someone to hear us and possibly call the cops. The building used to be an old daycare center that had a new strip mall being built nearby. The building was surely going to be torn down soon as it would be an eyesore to the new shops. and apartments being built. So it was possible that people would see us and report it. But after looking around and not seeing anyone, Lewis waved me in shutting the door behind me.

It was pretty dark at this point. So Lewis used his cell phone lights, and I pulled out my mini flashlight that I had on my keychain, always prepared. I could see the once colorful wallpaper peeling off the walls. There was a front desk covered in dust, a few visitor tags. As we walked through some of the rooms,

we could see toys and play sets, but it had all been shoved to one corner of the room. That was for all of the rooms. It was curious to see, because I started thinking about what led to this place being left as it was. Did they move to a different building? If so, why not take your stuff with you?

And if they closed for good, why not donate some of the things like the toys. I always felt like it was such a waste to see so much stuff left behind, just to be thrown into the landfill when someone else could have used it. But then I noticed more about the rooms. The chairs in the rooms, be it the small children's chairs or normal folding chairs, were all in a line, facing the blank walls.

I thought a white, board or something similar used to be there as the color of the wall was slightly different. Seeing it in one room was odd, but by the fourth time, I was curious, so I pointed it out to Lewis. He smirked and also said that it definitely looked odd with no context, and I started agreeing until it finally processed what he said. What do you mean no context? I asked him suspiciously. He again smiled and took my hand and said that he wanted to show me something. He started leading me towards a hallway that had a sliding glass door that appeared to have some kind of paper taped on it, or maybe to have been painted over, so that you couldn't see

through it. It was still pretty dark, and forgive me for not inspecting the door more. But as we walked towards the door, I could at least tell that something was covering it, as there was a slight glow to it. Like, the door looked like it was glowing. I stopped a little further back from the door and let go of his hand, which got his attention, too. He turned around and asked if I was okay, and I told him that I was getting a bit spooked. His comment earlier was suspicious, and now he was leading me to this room, and I was starting to realize my mistakes. Lewis, again, gave me his soft smile and said that everything was okay, and that neither him nor anything else was going to hurt me, and that he would make sure of it.

He just wanted to show me what he'd found in the room when he went there alone. Again, I should have said no. I should have tried to run when I had the chance, when he wasn't so close to me. Who knew what would be behind that door? but for some reason I felt like I could trust him. He seemed very sincere, never once pushing or forcing me along. For the most part, I led the way. He held my hand on our way to the room, but it wasn't a firm hold,

and he let go when I let go. I guess thinking about it now, I could see why girls fell from Manson. Lewis was very nice on the eyes. He was kind. very convincing, so I agreed to go with him. So we got to the door and he asked if I was ready. I gave a shaky reply, and he slowly slid open the door. What I saw was definitely unexpected.

Candles and books lined the floor. There were about a dozen people sitting on the floor with their legs crossed, both men and women. They all held hands and held their heads up with their eyes. closed. There was one man standing in the center of them facing us, smiling, and they were all wearing the same thing. The men were in maroon suits. The women were in some kind of maroon hooded robe. They all matched the same kind that Lewis was wearing. What the hell did I just get myself into? The man standing in the center welcomed us with a soft voice, which made everyone else slowly looked down at us.

Lewis immediately kneeled and greeted the man. I forget what he called him now. Lewis then told him my name and wanted to introduce me to his family, as he put it. The standing man reached his arms out, and not wanting to set someone off, I held my hand out to shake his. He grabbed my hand with both of his, slowly caressing it, and telling me how I was always welcomed there. He then went on to speak about their mission, I guess.

He explained how they were Earth's children, and they found buildings like this, and that they would pray in it to calm the planet, and offer it back to them. Stupid me was curious, and I asked how they gave it back, and the man smiled and said, We baptize it, my child. He asked if I would like to join the prayer and experience one for myself. saying once I saw one, I would understand and fall in love. Everyone was staring at me, waiting for my response, but while nothing was really happening at this moment, I was kind of terrified.

He was speaking in clear English, but I felt like everything was cryptic. I started hunching over a bit and said to Lewis that I felt like I was going to be sick, and that I needed some air first. He rubbed my back and said that he would help me out, and motioned to the others that he would be back soon. Once we got outside, I made a mad dash to my car, got in, and I locked it immediately. Lewis slowly walked up to my car,

not shouting at me or anything, again, making me feel like maybe I overreacted. So I rolled my window down a bit, allowing him to talk. He only asked if I was okay, to which, now, feeling safe in my running car, I asked him what the hell that was all about, and if he thought that that was funny. He again smiled and said that they were his family, his chosen family. He said that they would never harm me. In fact, everyone there was willingly there, and that they only wanted to offer abandoned and forgotten places back to the earth.

He explained how we humans just use whatever piece of land we want, when we want to build what we want, not considering the life we were taking away. Then, when we're done, and the buildings have nothing left and they're no longer of use, we just leave these eyesores. So their job was to pray for forgiveness and offer it back to the earth. I asked how exactly they could give it back, and what he meant by back. He smiled and explained that it was however the planet chooses to take it back, giving some examples. Sometimes the building collapses, is overgrown by nature, sometimes they even flood and slowly crumble, or possibly fire.

I started asking him if he meant he catches these places on fire, and he laughed and said that they never touched the buildings, claiming it was the work of the prayer and what the planet decides to do. He then made the comment about how I knew of these abandoned places, and thought that I would be interested in this, suggesting that I stay to witness a prayer. I told him that I would think about it, but that I had to go. He smiled again and waved at me goodbye without a hint of anger or disappointment in his voice. I don't know if that freaked me out more, or if it made it better.

I got home and immediately called my friends to tell her the crazy-ass date that I had just experienced. She thought that it sounded just as crazy, and suggested we look into abandoned places nearby that were destroyed to see what we could find. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. After we looked, there was one building almost two months prior to this event, where it had been sitting empty for nearly a year. Someone had recently bought it, hoping to fix it up and turn it into an indoor water park. And then, for some reason, and completely random, a pipe burst in the building, flooding it, rendering it completely damaged. It would have cost more to repair it, so what was left was demolished.

Then we found a building in a state over from us that had been empty even longer. I had actually once been in that building. and structurally it seemed completely fine. However, one whole side of the building collapsed, so the city voted or something to have it torn down as well. As we continued looking at these places, comparing ones that we'd previously explored, we kept finding all these places with similar outcomes. And while I can't prove anything, I wonder if they were related.

I'm not religious, nor do I really believe in the paranoia. but this really had me thinking. Were they doing something that could cause the earth to take over these buildings? Or am I sounding just as crazy as they are? Or was this all just a big coincidence? And before anyone asks, yes, I really did contemplate and consider contacting the police. But then I just thought about what I would even tell them. Yeah, I broke into an abandoned building and there were people in there that praise

to the earth, and those natural seeming things that happened to the buildings may not have been so natural, they may have just locked me up instead. So, no, I did not report it. And when Lewis asked me about another date, I just told him that I wasn't interested, and then never heard from him again. But sometimes, I get paranoid when my friends and I go urbexing, and even more suspicious when something happens to the buildings. This strangely enough took place at a bachelorette party. My friend Avery got engaged in 2019 and originally plans to get married in 2020. Due to unforeseen circumstances, they decided to hold off on it, wanting to have a large ceremony and they wanted everyone to be comfortable with it. So finally they had set a day in 2022 and some serious

planning was in play. I was to be her made of honor, so I helped with a lot of the planning. One of the things I got to help with and was excited for was her bachelorette party. Instead of the typical bar hopping in Wild Night Downtown, she wanted something more low-key. She wanted to do an adult sleepover in a sense. She would have a normal party for the day, and then she invited a few of us close to her and or in the wedding, to stay overnight at her parents' holiday home.

They moved further south, but they kept their old house to stay in at the winter, or when they came to visit her and her siblings. They told her she could use it for her party, and she was even more ecstatic, because it was her childhood home. I even stayed nights there with her when we were younger. There were six of us in total, Avery, our mutual friends, Joy and Robin, Avery's sister-in-law, Margaret, and a girl that Avery worked with named Tanya. I knew Joy and Robin, of course. I had met Margaret a few times, and she was also super chill,

and we loved hanging out with her. Avery said that she'd become the little sister that she never had. And Tanya? I only met her once, but she seemed nice, too. Avery obviously liked her enough to not only invite her to the wedding, but even the party. She got along with everyone and clicked well with our personalities. In fact, it felt like we had known each other for years.

And we just hadn't seen each other for years. The plan was to drink a lot of cheap wine, eat, talk, play games, and soap and presents. We made dinner together as we played songs from our childhood and judged each other. We had started playing a rowdy game of Never Have I Ever with shots of wine. when Tanya kept getting distracted by her phone. We were all adults, and she probably still had responsibilities, so no big deal. That's when she interrupted, apologizing, but she said that her boyfriend lived nearby and asked Avery if he could stop by to give her a charger for her phone because she forgot hers.

Avery said that was fine, so she ran outside excusing herself. We continued with our game, and Tanya came back in about her. 20 minutes with a bag in hand. Sure, it took a while, but they were probably talking or something. It wasn't anything that we found too weird. The night continued and we moved on to opening presents. It was all the normal gag gifts and some fun ones, but once again, I noticed Tanya constantly being on her phone, but I would notice a change in her expression as she looked at her phone, more like she was concentrating or upset. Then, when she put her phone away, she would look up and smile and laugh like everything

was normal. A bit strange, but again, I chalked it up to it being a serious conversation that she was involved in. But then she would excuse herself and walk outside, as she put her phone up to her ear. Avery said that she didn't have any kids, so I assumed maybe it was a fight with her boyfriend or something. I just thought at least she was nice enough to walk away to not make things awkward. Whatever the situation, I felt bad for her, but it was also none of my business. It was around midnight. A lot of our energy was low and we had all settled into the living room,

just trying to find something to watch. I followed Avery into the kitchen to get some sweets for us at her request. That's when she asked me how I felt about Tanya. At first, I said that she seemed fine. But then Avery asked very specifically about how she was acting, and confirmed that she was noticing the same thing. She said she didn't mind her being on her phone or stepping away for the calls, but was more concerned by how upset she looked. She even said that when she went to the bathroom,

which was by the front door, she could hear her talking and heard her say, Because I don't want to, not tonight. She was concerned if she needed to do something or leave. Maybe she was being told to do something and she didn't want to. I agreed that it was strange, but I was at a loss in how we would even bring it up. Or even if we should. We brought in a tray of different snacks,

and Avery stopped to take a moment and thanked us all for coming out for her silly sleepover. but then she also said that she wouldn't be upset if anyone had to leave now or early, and that she wouldn't kick anyone out of the wedding if they did. Hence, we all laughed. I paid attention to Tanya, who smiled at the comment, but the laugh seemed weak and insincere. Margaret made a joke to bring the moods back up, and we finally decided on a movie to watch.

But throughout the entire movie, Tanya had her phone out and even left the room a few times. After the movie, Joy and Robin said that they were tired, and Avery told them that they could take her old room and they headed off. We were going to start another movie, and about halfway through, Tanya said she was going to head to bed too. I remember looking at her to wish her a good night, and her eyes looked watery, like she was going to cry.

I finally butted in and asked her if everything was okay, trying to look genuinely worried for her. She smiled and said she was fine and just really tired. Avery pushed the subject too and asked if she was okay or if she needed anything, but she once again said that she was fine and thanked her for the invite. Avery showed her the spare bedroom, and then we continued with the movie. At some point during the movie, Margaret passed out on the couch, so we left her alone. I agreed to take the other couch so Avery could have the last bedroom, her parents' room. After the movie ended, she shuffled into the room and I got myself set up on the couch.

I was starting to drift off when I heard a thud that woke me up. I looked around and didn't immediately see anything, so... I lied back down, not wanting to get up from my position. I drifted back off. I don't know how long I was out after that, but I was jolted awake when I heard screaming. Margaret and I both looked back towards the bedrooms, but we were frozen in place.

Then we heard a bunch of shuffling and more screaming. We both jumped from the couch. I grabbed my phone and Margaret by the arm in motion toward the kitchen. The garage door was through there, and my only thought was to go somewhere they were less likely to check. We ran quickly and silently, as I tried to peek down the hallway. The light was on in the room that Joy and Robin were in, and I could see shadows on the wall, but that was it.

Once in the garage, I called 911 who said that there were already cops en route. At the time, I was relieved. I didn't think about it until I had more time to think about it, but I didn't know who managed to call before we had. We waited in the garage, and I asked Margaret if she thought we should go check on the others, but she said no. The chances of us being able to help if the four of them couldn't help themselves was not looking good in our favor.

I felt awful, and I knew Margaret did, too. All we could do was wait and hope that they weren't injured. The police seemed to get there a lot faster than I expected, and I could hear shouting at someone to get on the ground. That's when we opened the door and stood in the kitchen. I saw three cops in the hallway, two on the floor holding someone down, the third cop standing behind them. They turned and saw us and asked who we were.

We explained who we all were and why we were there. We then asked if the rest of them were okay, and they said yes. And that's about when the other two started walking. some guy out in dark pants and a hoodie, handcuffed. I had never seen that man in my life. Avery, Joy and Robin all came out looking distraught with tears in their eyes. We all sat in the living room and gave statements, as we all noticed the same thing. Tanya was not around.

I feared something had happened to her, but no one was saying anything, until we all actually started giving our statements. We all brought up Tanya and the fact that she was supposed to be in one of the rooms, and we asked where she was. The cops said that they only saw the three of them in the rooms and no one else. Two of the officers did another sweep around the house and the outside, and still she was nowhere to be found. They even said all the cars were accounted for.

Joy and Robin rode together. Avery picked up Margaret in her car, and my car was out there. But Tanya's was not. It was like she was never there that night. The covers weren't even pulled down like she was in the bed. None of us could explain it. Only one guy was seen in Cots, so it's not like she was abducted. The only thing that made sense was that she left without telling anyone.

Was it because of her calls and texts from her. earlier that night? Did she decide to leave without telling us, maybe due to embarrassment? Did she just get extremely lucky with her timing? At the time, I was just hoping she was okay. But then, we soon learned that the break-in and Tanya's leaving was, in fact, related. Avery caught me up after going over it all with the police. She had gotten a long text from Tanya apologizing forever.

everything. She said that she wanted out of the life that she was living, and that she truly had a great night with us. She said that she never intended to plan a hit on our party, because she truly enjoyed our company, but she said that her life was threatened. So, she said she had to leave before anyone showed up, fearing Malcolm, Tanya's boyfriend, more than the police. But she also knew that we would be okay since she had tipped them off about it. Apparently, the police got there so fast because Tanya had called in and reported a break-in at the house before they even got there. Malcolm was apparently Tanya's boyfriend, and he was very controlling and abusive.

He used her to get close to other people, and then would use that as an opportunity to rob them. We were not supposed to be involved, but once he showed up unannounced, because she was required to tell him where she was going to be, he wanted something out of it, because the house looked nice. When she refused, he threatened to hurt her and us, so she finally gave in. However, she left, called it in, and then turned herself in the next day. She got all this from the cop who brought Avery in the next day. She said that she had sent her the text before she turned herself in.

Shocked is not a strong enough word to describe my thoughts. Avery knew Tanya from work, and she said she was a very typical co-worker. Avery was Tanya's mentor when she started, and she said she was always a hard worker. She was rarely late or missed a day. She caught on quickly and never gotten any trouble. Avery is a manager, so she would see the corrective actions. She never gave off any weird vibes or acted suspicious either, so she even found it hard to believe that this was all real. Tanya and her boyfriend had been doing this for years, and it obviously aided her enough that she turned herself in.

They had found duct tape, zip ties, and a knife on Malcolm, and if he was planning on using that all on us, I can't imagine the things he had done to others, possibly complete strange. I know he ended up in prison for the robberies, and thanks to Tanya, they were able to tie them to several previous ones. I read that Tanya was doing time, too, but it was less due to her cooperation. From then on, I've honestly had a weird paranoia about meeting new people. I thought I knew her well enough. Avery, especially, but you really have no idea what's going on, behind closed. doors. I have a semi-interesting story. For as long as I can remember, I've always had extremely

vivid dreams to the point of not being able to tell my real life from my sleeping one. As I got older, some of these dreams started to become premonitions. Some have come true weeks or even years later. For example, two years prior to moving to another province, I had a A dream about myself sitting in a small shack, legs up on a desk, looking at a fence with a giant's truck coming in. I was wearing a construction onesie, all blue, jumper, high-vis straps, steel-toed boots, and a hard hat. I was 20 at the time of this dream, and in my club and super-girly mode.

No way in hell would you ever catch me in that outfit. it. Lo and behold, two years later, I move to Alberta. I start working in a refinery, and I'm sitting at the desk feet up, and a truck pulls in, and my dream hits me like a slap to the face. Now to start the real story. I have to preface this with, at this point in time, I had only ever dreamt of my childhood home, obviously my safe space.

As I lived in five homes after this and never dreamt of any of them. This dream happened in Alberta, in a house that I had only lived in at the time for roughly six months. I lived with my boyfriend at the time and his younger brother. We also had two cats and a dog. We lived in a three-floor townhouse. Bedrooms upstairs, the stairway was in the kitchen, back about ten feet from the base of the stairs, was the back door to our parking spot, and the living room entrance opposite the back door, but off to the side of the kitchen.

So, I go to bed, and the dream starts with my walking down the stairs into my kitchen. There's a pasta pot on the front burner of the stove, and it's on fire. I freak out, because I have nothing to stop the fire. I wake up for my dream, walk out of my bedroom, look down the floor. the stairs and the kitchen lights off. No lights at all coming from downstairs, so I go back to bed and I fall asleep. At some point, I fall back into the same dream. I'm walking down the stairs to my kitchen. The pasta pot is on the stove again, but now the entire stove and wall behind it are on fire. I can feel the heat on my face. I panic trying to wake everyone up as my boyfriend is

asleep upstairs, his brother is asleep in the basement. I'm trying to locate my animals, but I can't find anyone or anything. I wake up again, this time way more frazzled. I walk out to the top of the stairs again and all is still normal. I go to the bathroom and try to shake off the feeling of terror from the dream. I eventually fall back asleep, only to fall back into that same dream. I'm for a third time. Now, this time I was walking down the stairs, and I can see before the base of it that the entirety of my kitchen is on fire. Red hot flames are licking all the walls, black smoke everywhere.

It hurts to breathe, and it's hot as hell. I get into the kitchen to see the same pasta pot on the stove. The wall of fire is blocking the living room door entrance. and my dog is on the other side of it, barking like crazy. I can't get to him. As I hit the floor, the stairs behind me were also set ablaze with both of my cats at the top of the stairs hollering. I can't save anyone. I want to run to open the back door as that's the only safe route to go,

but my brain is like oxygen will blow the house up. What do I do? I woke up, sweating buckets. crying my eyes out. I leave my room to go check out the kitchen, and now there's a light on. I freak out, and I run downstairs. Guess what I find. My stovetop is on, with the pasta pot on the front burner.

All of the water had boiled off, and it had started to turn red. My boyfriend's little brother came home drunk from the club and tried to make food, but passed out in his room. My mom thinks it was my great aunt protecting me as she had just passed earlier that year. Part of me thinks that I also may have some natural abilities for this as it's happened in the past, but never that instantly. Any insights or similar stories? So, I used to be a nurse at what one could consider a fairly dated hospital. It was in a rather small town in the Midwest.

and it wasn't very well equipped, even back then it was dated. Because of its size, there was a ton of gossip and stories that were passed back and forth between the nurses and doctors. And more often than not, at least one person would have a story about some weird paranormal experience they had had at the hospital. A disembodied voice, a phantom touch, those kind of silly things. Things you might expect in a building where things either either, get better or come to an end for those that visit. I was always a practical person in my approach to the work. Sure, ghosts may exist, but I was more of an ignore it and let's get this done kind of person.

And, as it happens to many, many people, I had an experience where that wasn't quite an option. It was a fairly quiet shift, which, when working as a nurse, on the night shift is an absolute blessing. It can also be a curse, because the moment you make that comment, something inevitably happens. We were fairly short-staffed, as always, so I was making rounds through the part to the facility that were temporarily closed. This may sound silly, but we had to make sure the wing was secure. It may be a quiet town, sure, but there were still rowdy teenagers in town.

and we'd had a few break-ins before. Basically, all I had to do was make sure the windows were closed and locked, and make sure that the construction crew hadn't left anything behind from their daywork doing the renovations. I went room by room, made my checks, and found nothing out of the ordinary, until I got to the last room. Of course. I opened the door, and was immediately hit with a cold breeze. I thought that maybe the window was open, but when I checked, it was completely secured and shut.

While I was checking the window, the door behind me made a creaking sound, and as soon as I turned to look, it slammed shut. I nearly jumped out of my skin when it happened. Definitely not a normal thing as the doors in this wing had to be pulled shut, like with a slight bit of force. I started to walk toward the door, and after the second step, I felt something grabbed my ankle. And I tripped, landing face first on the tile. It's important to state that whatever it was that wrapped around my ankle, it felt like it was frozen. It was like an icy hand had reached out of nowhere and twisted its fingers around my leg, causing me to fall. After I fell, I quickly turned to look at what it was that I tripped over.

But there was nothing there, like at all. This room was prepped for renovations, but hadn't been touched. The equipment had mostly been moved out, minus a few things being stored, but everything was back against the wall. There was nothing in the middle of the room to block my path. Then, it got slightly critical. beer. As I pulled myself up, I noticed what looked like a small piece of notebook paper sitting on the floor near me. I picked it up and unfolded it, and I honestly wished that I hadn't. There was a note that looked like it was written by someone that was struggling to hold the pen,

and it said, I went out. I'm so cold. I'm so lonely. A shiver ran straight down my spine. I pocketed that note and immediately jumped up and ran out of the room, and then speedwalked down the hallway, considering my rounds done. Now, obviously, it's possible that this note was left as a joke by a construction worker, or another night nurse, or something like that. But finding it alongside the chill and being grabbed by nothing was enough for me to be done with it all. joke or not it was creepy as hell and that's kind of it I know it's a short story but it's scared the hell out of me

and I wanted to share it the closest thing I experienced after that before I left was a lot of creepy whispering like voices in the hallway when there was no one around it was scary sure but I can handle that way better than I could handle handle being grabbed, or finding freaking notes like that. Hi, I was hoping that someone on here could give me some advice, because frankly, I've gone

from worried to terrified in the last few nights. I haven't been one for believing in the supernatural, but at this point, I don't know what else it could be. I have brought this up with my family, and they laugh it off like it's nothing. only reminding me that this is just like I'm a child again. I apologize for any spelling issues as I wasn't very good with that kind of stuff in school. Some backstory. I'm 25, male, and I was self-employed as a joiner. I guess handyman to you Americans.

Unfortunately, I had a stroke back in April. Until then, I was perfectly healthy, but due to work stress and to family. family gene linked to them, I had a bad one. This is all just context to why I recently moved back in with my grandparents. My rent wasn't cheap, and myself and my partner couldn't afford to keep living there without my income, so we decided until I'm better that we'll move back in with our families. It really sucks, and I wish that she was with me right now through all of this. So, last month, with the help of my brother and father, we moved me and my dog into my

grandparents' fairly large house in the countryside. They have three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a large living room upstairs and downstairs. The kitchen, the dining room, the living room, another bathroom, and down a small corridor at the back of the house, two more bedrooms. It was basically like living in an apartment myself, without the worry of being in people's way, as my grandparents don't come downstairs unless it's to go shopping or for food. Now this is where things started to go from bad to worse. About a week ago, I caught what we think was the norah virus, and due to my current health,

it unfortunately floored me. I was horribly sick and feeling tired all the time, and just losing my will to live. So I would take comfort in the times that I could sleep. In sleeping, though, I started to have this nightmare. I was lying in the bed in my room, and I could feel like someone or something was watching me from the corner of the room, closest to the window. I couldn't see anything actually there, but I know that's not. something was. It unsettled me. It was like a stranger following you late at night, and you don't know their intentions. This keeps happening. Each sleep, the feeling was there.

In the last two nights, it's gotten worse. Saturday night was the first time that I caught a glimpse of it, like a man, a really tall man made of pure darkness. Like, Vanta Black in the heart of an abyss dark. He was standing in the corner of the room where I felt like someone was watching me. I felt like the entire dream was only a few seconds long. I saw him and woke up immediately drenched in sweat. When I finally calmed myself down, I went upstairs to my grandparents' living room. I waited until they got up and I had a chat with them about my dream.

When I told my grandma about it, she laughed and said that I sounded like I was five years old again, talking about the scary monster in my dreams. The same scary monster. How, as a kid, I would complain whenever I slept here, because there was a scary man watching me, until I refused sleep over. Hearing all this scared the living daylights out of me, and it makes me want to leave,

but I have nowhere else to go. My grandparents' house is the only family that had space for me and my German Shepherd. Last night, I was determined to keep myself awake all night, and maybe find a friend's sofa to accidentally fall asleep on. However, it hit 4 a.m., and I couldn't prevent myself from sleeping any longer, and I crashed. In my dream from last night, the man was moving, reaching out for me. You know when you have that feeling like you're in a dangerous situation? Like standing too close to a cliff's edge?

I felt like that. Like whatever this thing was, I could not let it touch me, or something very bad would happen. I'm not sure what, but something very bad. In my dream I rolled over the bed and half stumbled into the door with a slam, as it was inches away from touching me. In the moment I slammed into the door, I woke up in the exact same position that I was in my dream,

with the exception that my dog was now there, hackles up, and growling angrily in the direction that thing was in when I was asleep. This all but confirms to me that this thing isn't just in my head, I don't know what to do, or where to go next. I'm kind of scared that I'm going to die. Does anyone know what this is or how I can protect myself? Please, can someone help me?

Update. I appreciate everyone's support here. My best mate let me take his couch last night, and I had the best night's sleep that I've had in a while. Unfortunately, it's only temporary, as he's getting ready to go offshore again and his partner will be home from her holiday on Friday. I've taken a lot of your advice, and I've booked an appointment with my local GP. However, the earliest appointment wasn't until the 20th.

I reached out locally to a woman that my friend swears could cleanse the room, too. She'll be able to stop by Thursday afternoon. I hope all the things that I've taken will help me move on from this. I just don't know if this truly is in my head, or if it's something more. I'll let you guys know what happens in a couple of days. Thank you all again. So, I'm 20 years old, and I'm getting married to my fiancé in October. And I know that the house across the street from us is haunted,

and we maybe start up the spirits doing a little. spooky ghost investigation, but me and my best friend have both seen something dark. I am a Christian, and I believe in the paranormal. One day when my fiancé was at work, I heard what sounded like my soon-to-be brother-in-law's voice from the living room. It sounded like him saying my name and asking if I was downstairs. Me and my fiancé live in a basement apartment. This wasn't abnormal because he would come down and ask me questions, so I answered with, Yeah, what is it?

But there was no response. I then heard what sounded like the screen door closing, so I thought maybe he left. I got up to investigate, and there was no one there. I called my soon to be mother-in-law, and she asked him if he came downstairs, and the scary thing is that he said, he hadn't been down there at all. I know what I heard, and it sounded exactly like him. That's not the scariest part. Yet another day, my fiancé was in the restroom, and I saw him go in there, and heard the door close.

As I'm on the couch, not even a few minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I see what looks exactly like him. tall, gray sleep shorts and a shirt, I'm standing outside the bathroom, which admittedly I thought was weird because I had heard the door close. So I look up, and he's not there. A few minutes later, he comes out from the bathroom. My best friend was over, and it was time to go to sleep, so I was praying when I thought I heard her whisper my names,

so I stopped praying and asked what she wanted. but she swears that she never said a word. That being said, one day she was in the shower, and the water was running, but I wasn't paying much attention. So I didn't hear the water stop running. When out of the corner of my eye, I see what looks like her curly hair, and her tie-dye shorts, and one of her shirts. And again, I know for a fact that she is in the shower. so I look up to say something to her and she's not there. Not a few minutes later she comes out at the bathroom.

Another day, I'm sitting at the table eating, and my fiancé goes to the restroom. I hear the door close and I just keep eating. I kid you not, I thought he was still behind me because it felt like someone was standing behind me looking over my shoulder. But when I turned around to give him a kiss, there was nobody there. So I shrug and go back to being on my phone, when yet again I swear,

I saw what looked like him in his black shirt and work pants, walking towards our bunny cage. But when I look up, there's no one there. Another time my best friend was over and she comes screaming out of the bathroom, telling me to hurry and go upstairs. Once we get up there, she tells me that she got out of the bathroom and saw what looked like a seven or eight foot tall black shadow that ducked when she looked at it. Whatever this thing is, it mimics my loved ones, and I don't like it.

I was in bed and saw the same shadow she was talking about next to the bed, so I covered up my head and hid. I don't know what this is, but whatever it is, it isn't. good. As a young girl, I had friends over and sleepovers quite often. I loved gathering with a group of friends and just doing whatever we felt like that night, not to mention all the inside jokes that came out of those nights. The thought that we knew something that no one at school would understand was a great feeling to me at the time. But there was one night that stood out from the rest that I want to tell you about now. It was my thought.

13th birthday, and after my party, I was allowed to have a sleepover with up to four friends. After we all got settled for the night, my parents said they were going to go out for a few hours, leaving my friends and I to be watched by my 17-year-old sister. She basically stayed in her room and left us alone, even though she wasn't obnoxious or anything. I think she just preferred to be in her room talking to her friends on the landline, or maybe in the computer room. Either way, it meant that we practically had the house to ourselves, and I was excited. I was a preteen now and felt cool and independent. That night consisted of myself, my friends Jade, Sierra, Mel, and Megan. My parents ordered pizza for us before they left, so we devoured that.

We watched some cheesy movies, gossiped about school, did our hair and makeup, and then had a silly fashion show on the back deck, wearing each other's clothes. My sister even let us borrow some of her scarves and dresses. We were all just having a genuine blast doing the typical girl's stuff. Around 11 p.m., we finally decided to pull out the air mattress and set it up in the living room, moving the coffee table and pushing back the chairs and couch. To give a little bit of the setup of the room, because it is relevant. The wall with the front door has a wide window on it. There's a cushioned rocking chair and a recliner against that wall with a table in between them.

The opposite wall has a half wall that you could see into the kitchen. The couch was also against this wall. The west wall was where the TV was, as well as a few wall decorations, including a clock and large decorative window. The east wall didn't have much to it. there was a small closet in a side table where we usually put our purses and backpacks. Then the hallway to the bedrooms. Once we got the mattress set up, we all sat on it and continued talking about whatever came to mind.

I think it was all the excitement and soda we drank, but we seemed to be pretty wired. I last looked up at the clock when it was 2 a.m., and we were talking about making popcorn. We were debating on popcorn or just pulling the pizza. it back out. As we talked, I heard a gasp from Megan and we looked at her, and I just remember how all the color drained from her face. She was staring up at the wall, and I followed her gaze to see what she was seeing. At first I thought it was the clock. Maybe she was surprised by just how late it was, until I saw the movement in the mirror that caught my attention. There in the mirror, it was reflecting the sliding door in the kitchen. The door was.

door that was slightly opened, and a single long arm was reaching in and running up and down the wall, like it was trying to find something. A light switch, maybe? We all stared for several seconds at this sight, frozen in fear. There were no adults home, and my parents certainly wouldn't be coming in from the back door. Jade whispered to me what we should do, and they all started talking about, what if the person sees us or runs in. I don't know what came over me, but I slowly stood up, motioning to my friends to be quiet,

and I approached the kitchen. I remember my heart beating so fast. I could feel it in my ears. I walked towards the slider, and once I reached the handle, I realized the person was facing away from the door, like their back was to it, and they were still waving their arm around against the wall. Then I grabbed the handle and quickly shoved it closed. The sound that came out of the man sounded inhuman, and he screamed and tried to pull his arm out. I pushed harder against the door, and I swear I heard a crack.

That's about the time my friends started screaming, too. I yelled at them to get my sister, and Jade came over and helped push on the door. As my sister came running down, she grabbed the phone from the kitchen, and I assumed, called 911. I heard another sickening pop sound, and the man let out one last scream and managed to get his arm out. We slammed the door shut and locked it. I was on high alert at this point, and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I shut the curtains that were on the slider and ran around, making sure the windows and front

door were locked, too. Then my sister yelled at me to call Dad. The computer room had another landline that was on. on its own lines, so I went to it and called my parents, telling them what had happened. I honestly don't remember who got there faster, because I remember them all running up to the door at the same time. They all asked us what happened, and I do remember how surprised the cop was when I told him what I did. It was a terrifying situation, but my fight-or-flight mode kicked in, and it told me to fight. He was impressed. I remember him even having a quick chuckle, like he was amused that the little

13-year-old girl did all that. It was a nice moment of relief between all the horror of what just played out. They checked out the back door, and they found several cigarette butts, but no one in my house smokes, and then they found what looked like the top part of a butter knife. I remember the cop explaining to my parents how they had seen something similar used in home invasions. They basically left it in the sliding doors or some windows, and that would prevent the latch from catching, so they could easily open it back up. That was pretty terrifying for me. We had been out on the patio, because it was long, using it as our catwalk. Was he out there watching us at that point? After all was said and done, they didn't catch the guy that night and didn't see anyone in the area,

so they left us after taking a report. My parents let us continue our party in my room, and they stayed in the living room that night. My sister even joined us after that. We were probably up until about 5 a.m. before we finally fell sleep. Thankfully, my parents let us sleep in, and we all woke up around noon. Still pretty tired, but... of us could sleep anymore. It was kind of awkward that morning, but thankfully, my friends didn't shun me after that. They actually thought what I did was pretty cool and brave, which did make me

feel better. When my friend's parents all came to pick them up, my mom told them all what had happened, and all the parents were just as shocked and impressed. I was also thankful they didn't ban them from coming over anymore. I heard my mom tell Jade's mom that they were the they actually caught the guy, so after they were all gone, I asked her about it. She confirmed that they did catch him, and I was instantly relieved.

Not only did I stop something worse from possibly happening, he was also arrested, so I didn't have to fear him returning. A few years later, my parents explained a bit more about what had happened with the guy. Apparently he went to the hospital,

because his arm became pretty useless and swollen. I had managed to shatter his elbow, and without he pulled his arm, he dislocated it and tore some skin. It was pretty hard to lie about since the cops were already looking for a guy with a messed up arm and called the local hospitals to inform them too.

Thankfully, they paid attention and reported it. So from then on, my parents and sister teased me about state, away from men and doors. I'm still impressed with what I did that night, even now as an adult, because I'm not sure if I would do the same. That just goes to show

you should never underestimate what kids are capable of. But truly, I also thank Megan, because she was the first one to notice him, and I don't know what would have happened if she hadn't noticed. Hi, Raven. I'm a huge fan of your podcast, and I listen to it every night because I can't sleep without something playing.

Anyways, down to business. For reference, I'm a 17-year-old male. In June, earlier this year, me and my brother went on vacation up to Missouri to visit my grandparents. During this trip, we went to an early 1800s mansion, known throughout the state as the Hunter Dawson House. As we were standing up on the front lawn and the tour guide was talking about the mansion, I began to feel uncomfortable.

Like, I didn't belong there. I didn't want my grandma to ask anything, so I just acted interested instead. When the tour guide led us in the house, I was awestruck by the beauty of the interior. It wasn't until we finished the tour of the first floor and went upstairs, that I began to feel uneasy again. For the record, I've had a general fascination with the paranormal, and when we went into the former children's room, I was just about done.

The vibe was totally creepy, like someone was watching me. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up, and I kind of felt like I was going to be sick. But for the sake of my grandma, I swallowed my fear and tried to pay attention to what the tour guide was saying. After the kid's room, we went into a woman's room. The tour guide said that this room belonged to the wife of the man who built the house.

As he was talking about the wife, he opened a closet, and what I saw made my heart leap into my mouth. It was a woman's dress. There wasn't anything bad about the dress. It was what... or who was in it. It was one of those stuffed torso dummies that you would see in a clothing store, but for a fleeting moment, it looked like an old woman was wearing it. The woman was old with long white hair pulled up into a bun and many wrinkles.

As soon as I saw her, she was gone. Soon after, the tour wrapped up and we made our way out of the house. When I stepped out through the front door, I took a huge sigh of relief. I loved the tour, but I wanted to get as far away from that house as fast as I could. For anyone who wants to go to the house and has a thing for the paranormal, just be careful. Hey, Raven, you asked for hospital stories, and I just so happened to have a story about something terrifying that happened, while I was a nurse a long time ago. I retired from that job several years ago, but this story has always stuck with me.

Probably because it was the most, I guess, exciting thing to happen while I worked there. I worked in the units where we had longer-term patients, ones that needed to be there for a few days to weeks, depending on what was really wrong with them. and among my charges was a man named Daniel. Daniel had a pretty bad case of pneumonia that had nearly taken him out. Like, completely taken him out, if you get me. He was a fighter, though, and he was on a good track in his recovery. He was a pretty quiet guy when he was finally able to start talking again,

which I didn't blame him for. I don't think I would want to talk either if I'd almost... died from pneumonia. On the third or so day of his stay, things took a pretty sharp turn into the unimaginable, and it wasn't even because of his infection. I was making my rounds, checking on my patients, and making sure everyone was feeling better. I got to Daniel and was checking on a few things, mostly his oxygen levels, making sure he was getting his meds and so on.

When the door got shoved open, hard enough for it to hit the wall, and this woman burst into the room like a storm. She was breathless, like she had been running, and her eyes looked wild. I tried to come between her and Daniel, and I asked her if she was his wife. She replied with, No, I'm his girlfriend.

Or at least I was until about an hour ago. Which was a weird way to phrase it, but I looked over at Daniel and I could see the fear on his face. I could tell that there was some major tension there, and I made an attempt to say something to her, but she cut me off and started yelling at Daniel. The whole time, his eyes wide and his heart rate spiking. She explained, very loudly, that she had gone to Daniel's house to surprise him, only to be met at the door by his wife.

The confrontation that they had had apparently unearthed a sordid, affair. And both women were now aware of the other. I again tried to step in and calm her down, trying to tell her that this was a conversation best had when he wasn't fighting pneumonia in a hospital bed. But I was basically just background noise at that point. Her eyes were locked on him, and his eyes were looking around for an exit. She started screaming more about how he had lied to her, and how she loved him. And I, in turn, grabbed the phone to call security. I had this gut feeling that it was going to get worse, that his already strained body was going to shut down, and he would end up coding or something.

And that's when she pulled out a knife from her bag. The world seemed to slow down as she lunged for Daniel. There was nothing I was able to do to stop her at this point, as I was several steps away, at the phone on the wall. and she was moving at the speed of a woman scorned. I started screaming for help, yelling that we needed someone in the room immediately, hoping that someone would notice all the commotion and figure out that something was wrong. And I watched as she plunged the knife straight into Daniel. Thankfully, though, he was cognizant enough to turn,

so the knife only went straight into his arm. If he had been any weaker, there was a high chance that she would have stabbed him straight in the chest. The next few seconds were loud and confusing. Several other nurses ran into the room, and together we were able to subdue her until security arrived and cuffed her for the police. The relief of this argument not ending in tragedy was palpable, but so was the shock.

In my years at the hospital, I had seen the toll illness could take on people, and their relationships. But I've never had anything play out like that right in front of my eyes. Thankfully, Daniel was already in the right place to be treated for the new hole in his arm. It was pretty bad, but nothing fatal, and nothing that wouldn't heal over time. Obviously, I think the mental scars were much worse for the guy. Yes, cheating is reprehensible, but so is stabbing someone in a hospital. hospital bed while there are a few days back from the verge of death.

The police did show up and take the girlfriend away, and it was really awkward when his wife arrived later. Thankfully, she was a bit more level-headed, though I'd be lying if I didn't mention the fact that we all watched her like a hawk to make sure nothing more happened. She was pretty devastated that he could do that to her, but she didn't bring anything sharp into the room. We made sure of that. Daniel did get better physically, but I can only imagine how messed up he was mentally.

Like I said, gross that he had an affair, but damn, did I feel bad for him. Going from being unable to breathe, to having a psychotic girlfriend run in the room and shove a knife in his arm in three days, is quite the feat. I have no idea what happened in his marriage. I just hope that nothing else happens to him. after he left our care.