18 Stories From People Who Lived In A Haunted House
For some people, living in a haunted house is a dream come true; for others it's a nightmare. Real haunted house stories are not as rare as one might think - and they are often so creepy, even skeptics can acknowledge that something strange is going on. As for anyone who can say they lived in a haunted house, the idea that ghosts or poltergeists are real is not all that hard to swallow.
- 1538 VOTES
A Little Blond Girl Lived In The House
From Redditor /u/Economy_Cactus:
When I was younger, I used to take naps upstairs but by the time I was eight years old, I absolutely REFUSED to go upstairs. The upstairs had two large closet... They ran from one side of the upstairs all the way to the other side on both sides. It was essentially a crawl space that was maybe 30 feet long.
It started one day when a friend and I went crawling from one side to the other with flashlights like kids normally do. Then I saw a girl, sitting there, in the corner acting like she wanted to play with us.
I know a lot of people say when they see a ghost they aren't scared. Just interested. Nope, I was beyond terrified. This girl looked normal, had blonde hair, a nice dress, and seemed friendly. I stayed silent, kept crawling behind my friend and got out of the closet. Told him what I saw in there, he said he didn't see it, but felt like he didn't want to go back in.
Then my parents would occasionally send me upstairs to get something and when I would get up there I would see the doors swing open. As if they were trying to get me to come inside. I would lose toys and wouldn't be able to find them anywhere. Suddenly, my parents would be fishing Christmas presents out of the attic and we would find some of my toys in there.
I remember being eight years old, my parents are asleep still in the morning and I leashed up my dog to go take on the monster in the attic. My dog, usually up for anything refused to go off the top step into the attic.
My parents never believed me with all the weird things that happened in that house. I would get blamed for things that happened all over the house. Leaving lights on, toys all over, things I knew I didn't do.
Well, anyway we move out of there when I was 10. Not a week passes before the new owners call us up and ask if the house is haunted. There daughter sleeps upstairs, she says that she has been playing with a blonde haired girl at night.
My parents laughed at how crazy these new homeowners must be. To make an already long story short, the girl started appearing in other parts of the house for them (they kept in contact with us). They would look over while watching TV and see the girl sitting on their daughters lap, etc. They looked up on the computer the past owners of the house, found an old dress maker that lived there and yep, a picture of the little girl wearing one of the ladies dresses.
- 2582 VOTES
Their Uncle's Home Is Haunted By The Former Cleaning Staff
From Redditor /u/Twigsnapper:
My uncle's house out on a very eastern part of NY was said to be haunted... [The old stableman] and the maid were said to have haunted the place. We always used to joke that you would hear people or things moving at night but since the house is so old, we used to just laugh it off.
My uncle's friend had her and her sister stay over [at] the house one night and the friend noticed a maid bringing towels down the stairs when she woke. She saw the maid again, bringing what looked like a percolator, down the stairs. She was so impressed by my uncle hiring staff (he is a neurologist in NYC, so he had a habit of spending a little bit extra). She went back to bed and woke up later downstairs to see my uncle and his friend just chatting.
She asked where the maid went and she thought that the maid was cooking breakfast. My uncle had no idea what she was talking about and asked what she looked like. The sister explained and he laughed. Walked her to the living room and pointed to an old picture. She said that was the woman.
My uncle replied, "Yea, she has been dead for about 100 years."
- 3623 VOTES
The Ghost Spoke To Them Through The Stereo
From Redditor /u/lunchesandbentos:
One Saturday morning, my husband was on his computer in another room, I'm in the apartment playing with a Tamagotchi app on my iPad when I heard the stereo sitting in front of me click on and a girl's voice started talking from it. I thought he controlled the stereo from his computer so I ignored it because he often puts on music to work out before class started (he teaches the morning class). I do remember thinking, "What kind of weird indie music is he listening to anyway?" because the voice just said "Hi, my name is (I thought I heard Katie but I'm not 100% sure because I wasn't paying attention), I am ___ years old... I'm from ____..." etc. I didn't catch the specifics because I wasn't really listening, but that went on for about two or three minutes until it suddenly went, "Something's hurting me." And when I caught that, I looked up and squinted at the stereo...
"Something's killing me. Something killed me."
At this point the hair is standing on the back of my neck and I'm getting up from the couch to take a closer look. "Please, someone tell my parents, tell the teachers, tell the corrections officer..." at the word "corrections officer" I just bolt into the other room and start yelling at my husband and cursing him out because I was certain he was playing a trick on me. Told him, "We don't f*cking play jokes about dead people." And he's of course looking at me like WTF? When he finally calms me down long enough to get what I heard out of me and what I was accusing him of, he told me it was impossible and led me to the stereo. It's not plugged in. I thought maybe the stereo picked up the signals from an ebook or something.
- 4342 VOTES
Their Boss Owns A Big House That No Wants To Live In
From Redditor /u/iCountFish:
I used to live in a big house by myself. I was there as a hiring perk and to look after the place for my boss who lived out of state, but owned the home, one of those win-win situations. The first couple of months were fine, but when winter came I started hearing things coming from the second floor. (I lived pretty much exclusively on the first floor). It started with little bumps and bangs coming from above where I had my computer set up and progressed to distinct footsteps coming and going across the second floor.
I had been up to the second floor to check up on it from time to time and I knew that there were unfinished areas up there. One place always stuck out- an unfinished room that was a sort of walk-in closet for one of the upstairs bedrooms. It was attached to the garage attic (completely unlit). It was open when I went up to investigate the noises. I shut the door and locked it.
Two nights later, more noises. Footsteps - leading from unfinished room to the bathroom - then nothing. The worst part... the door that led to the unfinished room would not stay closed or locked. I tried everything. Eventually I pushed the bed up against the door to keep it from opening. That seemed to work. A few months went by without the door coming open, but I would find it unlocked all the time.
As time passed I would hear noises all over the house. Mostly footsteps, but the occasional "THUMP" with no explanation. I cannot explain how horrifying it is to hear little taps up and down the hall from the other side of a bathroom door during your morning shower.
I eventually moved out, but another employee moved in to take my place. His stay there only lasted about a month. The story he told me is that he was shaving one morning before work and he heard a slam, like someone dropped a heavy stack of books right outside his bedroom door, then heavy footsteps like someone running down the hall. He won't stay there anymore and no one in the company will live in the house.
- 5509 VOTES
The Former Owner Might Have Saved Them From A Freak Incident
From Redditor /u/TheToenailCollector:
I lived in [a haunted house] when I was a teen, along with my parents...
One day I was underneath my truck, which was supported by only a jack, (stupid, I know). I was in the middle of working on it, with no good reason to get out at that moment. Suddenly [I had the] overwhelming urge to get out from underneath. No sooner than I got out, the truck fell to the ground, the jack had slipped. Freaked dad out, he thought I was under it. When mom got home, we mentioned it, and she started crying, sobbing pretty hard. It turns out the previous owner died in the driveway, under a vehicle, in that spot.
I would often see moving shadows, and strangely hear music from the upstairs area. The windows of the old house were caulked shut, and blackbirds would often get caught between the panes. We ended up replacing all the windows but we had to break three inside panes to get them out. One of the more disturbing things happened when my mother was cooking breakfast, she turned away to get something out of the cabinet and when she turned back around, all the forks set out were bent straight up.
- 6668 VOTES
Their House Was Haunted By Doppelgangers
From Redditor /u/1LT_0bvious:
I was a teenager at the time, and I was instant messaging my girlfriend with my webcam turned on. I had the viewer up, so that I could see myself in the webcam. Behind me, there was the stairs leading up (left of camera view) and the entrance to the living room (right of camera view). My younger sister would typically fall asleep every night on the couch in front of the TV and make her way up to bed in the middle of the night.
At one point in my webcam view, I saw my sister leave the living room and go up the stairs. The thing that struck me as odd was that I didn't hear anything. It was an older Victorian house, so the wooden floor and stairs were loud. Without saying anything to my girlfriend, I got up and looked into the living room and there was my sister passed out on the couch. I sat back down and asked my girlfriend if she had seen anything in my camera. She said, "Yeah, I just saw your sister go upstairs."
- 7406 VOTES
Their Father-In-Law Didn't Want To Miss His Grandchild Growing Up
From Redditor /u/ragxdoll:
My father-in-law [passed] before my son was born, so he never meet him. When we moved into our new home, my son would often be laughing in the middle of the night by himself. No biggie, kids will play with anything.
One day, we were finally putting pictures up in the house and once I put up the picture of my father-in-law, he said "Oh mommy, why do you have a picture of the man that comes and play with me at night?"
He had never ever seen a picture of my father-in-law before.
- 8516 VOTES
They Used Kindness To Settle An Unsettling Presence
From Redditor /u/Nai75:
[I] moved from the US to the UK and our parents bought an old, beat up house. It still had lead pipes for the water... Anyway work proceeded on the house whilst we lived there. We started seeing bright lights in the corners of rooms at night. Foot steps on floor boards, the house had carpet. I was about 6 at the time and started getting woken up in the night by a little girl, who would dance on my chest of drawers for me. I was fricken terrified. My mum just fobbed it off as me dreaming. Workmen complained of strange things happening like tools being moved and odd feeling like being watched.
After about a year of this my eldest sister's friend stayed over night. She woke the whole house up screaming, saying a little girl had been in her room, she had apparently pulled her from the bed. The friend left the house and refused to ever come back. Mum decided she might need to do something about it and got some advice. He suggested my mum and the whole family should treat the presences as part of the family. So when we got home we'd shout, “Hi, we’re home, did you have a good day?”
Over time the house settled and we didn’t get anymore trouble. We also found out a little girl did die in the house of asthma.
My parents still live there and it is a beautiful homely place now.
- 9478 VOTES
Their Cat Hung Around For Awhile After He Passed
From Redditor /u/Reyali:
I grew up with a cat, Boots, who was just a year my junior. Boots was motivated only by food and spent his later years sleeping on my parents bed until someone came home, then he'd jump off the bed, with a "thunk-thunk" of his front and back paws hitting the ground, and run to his food bowl to beg. He had to be put down when I was 18.
My parents moved out of my childhood home during my first year of college. I went back a few times before it sold. Every time, I was certain I felt a cat's presence. Like, I’d hesitate my step because I was sure a cat just walked under my legs kinda thing. Also, upon walking in, I'd always hear a "thunk-thunk," like Boots jumping down to beg for food.
My mom and I went back for the last day my family would ever be in that home, and I told her on the way what I'd experienced. To my surprise, she had the exact same feeling. When we walked into the house: thunk-thunk. We exchanged shocked glances, and confirmed we both heard it.
I went and sat in my empty room while my mom got the final things together, and while my eyes were closed I had to force myself to not pet a cat that I felt walk up to me, because I knew logically he wasn't there.
Before leaving, we stood in the hallway outside my parents’ bedroom... I said I thought Boots was still around, and suggested we take his spirit to the new house. She agreed, so she called out, "Bootsy!" From my parents' room: "thunk-thunk."
We both heard it.
I don’t think he came with us. He never liked car rides. But I hope the owners since us have enjoyed their ghost kitty. He was a good boy.
- 10353 VOTES
Their College Home Was Supposedly Haunted By An Elderly Ghost
From Redditor /u/munchyz:
I lived in an old, haunted house in college. Things got so weird that everyone moved out except for me and one roommate. Here's a few:
1) I woke up at 3 a.m. because my roommate's door kept opening and slamming shut. From bed, I yelled for him to stop only to realize I was the only one home that weekend. As soon as I yelled, the slamming stopped, but the hippy beads I had hanging outside my closed door began to sway perfectly, yet violently, against the door frame, for a half hour, while I debated if I should pop out my air condition unit and jump out of the window. I laid in the fetal position in bed [until] it stopped.
2) I woke up at 3 a.m., alone again, hearing the Nintendo in the back porch playing loudly. I figured a drunk kid came in and started playing. I grabbed a bat and walked towards the back of the house as the music got louder and louder. As soon as I opened the door, it was completely quiet, mind you it was loud enough to wake me up.
3) I had friends over and told them the house was haunted. No one believe me so I asked the ghost to do anything to prove it was there. As soon as I asked, all the lights in the house began flickering for about a minute straight. This was the middle of the day, everyone witnessed it.
4) Almost everyone who stayed at my house had sleep paralysis at least once in the house.
5) Every time something spooky happened, the house would smell like old lady, flowery, strong perfume.
- 11422 VOTES
Kevin Saved Their Life
From Redditor/u/fitnurse6:
Two weeks before we moved, my dad and I toured our house and I noticed this guy was painting the water heater which I thought was weird but I was 10 so whatever. Anyway we moved in on a Wednesday and my parents let me stay home from school until the following Monday and preoccupied me with coloring books and a new doll house. In my brand new crayons pack, there literally wasn’t a blue crayon, like it was a 64-pack, but there were only 63 crayons in it.
One day I went downstairs into the basement and my blue crayon was next to the hot water heater and scribbled on there it said, "Hi fitnurse6 - Kevin." I was so confused. I started school and my new classmates were like, "OMG do you live in Kevin’s house?! Your house is gonna be haunted!!” It turned out that Kevin was a little 8-year-old boy that lived in our house prior to us and he got hit by a car in the front yard.
He would write notes if you left out a pen and paper, open and close doors, adjust the thermostat (the kind where you had to turn a knob), and always turn on Christmas music when it was that time of year. We had a swing set in the backyard and even on the hottest, calmest days of summer, only the left swing would be moving back and forth.
We had this cat that I would lock in my bedroom at night and every morning my parents would open the door and let him out, then close it back. One night, I woke up and the cat was meowing at the door and it woke me up, but the door opened and the cat hissed and ran out really fast. I asked my mom the next morning why they didn’t close my door and they said they didn’t open it.
The last story is when I was very upset and nearly [ready to take my life] one year during Christmas break, the police just randomly showed up at my house. The policeman said he was patrolling our neighborhood and felt like something was wrong at our house. I'm absolutely certain Kevin had something to do with it.
- 12264 VOTES
Their Friend Was So Freaked Out They Refused To Ever Go Back To The House
From Redditor/u/Doctor_Philly:
I grew up in a huge 17th-century house... During my nine years living there, I found out: It once was a brothel, it once was a plague-hospital, it once was a normal hospital, it once was a morgue, during WWII it was a German SS post, Napoleon slept there a couple of days (which is pretty cool), and there were three families where multiple murders occurred inside the house...
As a kid I saw a lot of shadows, heard a lot of weird noises, the usual. My sister who lived on the third floor came down to my room a lot at night to stare at me (sleepwalking) and sometimes slept in my room and forgot about it the next night. The doors creaked and opened and closed on themselves a lot. Which can happen in an old house due to draft. Now this is all stuff that any kid can imagine due to the suggestive state an old house can give a person; nothing really scary. Also the alarm went off a lot during the night...
One time; my parents were in China for business. Me and my brother and sisters slept at other places because my parents were away for quite [some] time. I had to go to hockey practice, but I forgot some gear so me and my friend went to get it.
The house was engulfed in darkness [and] very silent. As we walked out of my room, we hear footsteps in the attic. Two of my siblings had their bedrooms there, so I thought one of them was at home. I shouted at them which made the footsteps stop. After 5 seconds or so we heard the footsteps coming closer to the stairs and actually setting foot on the very old wooden creaky steps. One step at a time. I actually felt a "weight" setting foot in front of me. Very strange. But I saw nothing. Nevertheless, we were 12 so we noped out of there.
Outside my friend had a total nervous breakdown because he saw some scary face/form that looked like an alien to him. He never set foot in my house again.
I credit it all to the creepiness of the house; but that one night with my friend still gives me the chills.
- 13310 VOTES
Their Ghost Frequently Disrespected Their Stuff
From Redditor /u/WeeklyPie:
I'd come home to the windows on the second floor being open when it was raining. To food containers being open in the fridge that I hadn't touched yet.
The worst was that the "ghost" hated clocks. She hated them. I had antique cuckoo clocks that had worked for 50 years that would just stop. Brand new wall clocks that ate through batteries like it was candy. My watch ended up on the floor one morning, the crystal shattered, even though I knew I slept with it on. The one that [frustrated me] the most was that I got a brand new Kit-Kat clock for Christmas - and the [ghost] threw it off the wall. I was cooking and out of corner of my eye [I] saw the cat freaking FLY. Turned around and it was across the kitchen. Broken. It was brand new!
- 14358 VOTES
The Old Residents Apparently Still Occupy The House
From Redditor /u/iMostLikelyNeedHelp:
[One man ended himself] in the garage and the [another] fell ill and [perished] in his bed in the basement [of my house]. I lived in the basement room and often just felt like I was being watched all the time. The bedroom in the basement has a secret storage room behind a bookshelf with a locking latch. I would always wake up to find the door wide open. It happened so often that I would wake up cold and routinely go shut and lock the latch of the door in the middle of the night. For the longest time I thought it was my dad or step brothers messing with me but it wasn't. My stepbrother now occupies that room and he says it still happens to him and that he's even seen it open on its own! There are no air vents or anything so I've ruled out wind.
Also in the garage, I always see light coming from under the door through the crack only to open the door to pitch black. I've heard sounds coming from the garage only to find saw blades clanging together and slightly rotating in their place on the hole storage wall. [I] didn't think anything of it at first, but when you find [stuff] moving on more than one occasion, it makes you look over your shoulder...
- 15363 VOTES
Their Ghost Wanted To Play With The Cat
From Redditor /u/MTSwagger:
I watched one of our cats being pulled backwards about five feet by her tail. She was walking through the dining area and suddenly was sliding backwards, as if someone was pulling her by her tail. Only there was [no one there]. She freaked out and tried to run, but couldn't. I tend to think that was the handy work of a four or five-year-old girl ghost who hangs out and she just wanted to play with the kitty.
- 16300 VOTES
They Suffer Ghost-Induced Sleep Paralysis
From Redditor /u/Imported_Thighs:
I used to sleep on the 2nd floor and my sister [slept] in the attic. She used to have sleep paralysis often. Then she moved out and now I have her old room.
She no longer has sleep paralysis, but I do.
- 17249 VOTES
Their House Survived Both World Wars
From Redditor /u/suspiciouspalmtree:
I live in a house built in the 1800s. It’s survived the two World Wars and it’s seen some sh*t I imagine. One of the previous owners had two sons, who both [ended their own lives].
A lot of strange stuff happens. The animals (dog and parrots) will wake up from their naps and follow something with their heads just as they would follow me if I walked around. Also, before I switched rooms in the house, my brother had a room and he refused to sleep there as he would hear voices. He slept with my parents (he was a child) until the day he got my old room and since then has slept in that room without problems.
There’s also a whole floor we don’t use and I sleep in the attic. I pass through that floor to get to my attic (weird explanation, but it’s a weird house) and I have a motion activated light there that goes on as I’m walking the stairs to that unused floor. It also switches on in the middle of the night while nobody is walking under the motion detector. Also, there’s cold spots.
- 18332 VOTES
They Have A Ghost Who Cares
From Redditor /u/coolicidal:
I had fallen asleep at night with my fan running, and woke up freezing - I turned it off. Not long after, I woke up hot, and turned it back on. This happened several times. The last time, I woke up hot once again, and the moment I opened my eyes, I heard the pull of my fan and looked up to see it slowly start speeding up.
I said, "Thank you," and fell back asleep.
