05/20/14

Reader Submission: The Attack

evil girl stare

“Kids have a knack for hidden spaces. If there’s a half-filled closet, or a nook behind the stairs, or a cluster of bushes with a well-obscured clearing inside them, they’ll find it and make it theirs.

As a kid, my preferred hidden space was just outside my elementary school. Still technically on school property, so I wasn’t breaking any rules, but as far from any supervising teacher as you could get. It was blocked off on one side by the school’s brick wall and surrounded on all other sides by an overgrown bush. If you were small enough there was plenty room to move around and you could disappear completely.

My best friend at the time was as into ghosts and the supernatural as I was. I’d read more Goosebumps books than any of the boys in our class and she swore up and down she had a deck of tarot cards somewhere in her basement. We figured that made us experts on the occult. In our hidden space, we’d draw initials on the wall with white rocks, followed by dates like 1967, 1921, 1880, and pretend they were written by whole histories of kids who’d come here before. We didn’t have an Ouija board but we knew what one looked like. So we drew letters in the dirt with a stick and put a leaf for a planchette in the center. If the leaf was blown towards one of the letters by a gust of wind (or maybe by one of us exhaling a little harder than normal, by accident of course) it meant the spirits were trying to contact us.

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05/14/14

Reader Submission: The Vanishing Hunter

the vanishing man

“About twenty-five years ago, a friend of mine and I were out hiking one afternoon, along with his dog. We were headed to our usual campsite to see what shape it was in after the winter.

The area we were in had long had a reputation for odd occurrences, and we’d had our share over the years. Even so, it was an annual ritual to get away to ‘our spot’ at  least three or four times between Memorial and Labor Day.

It was just past noon, and we decided to break for lunch in a clearing about halfway to the campsite. We built a small fire, cooked some grub, and made coffee. The dog, after having his lunch, stretched out on the ground for a nap.

As we relaxed, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, the dog suddenly sat up and looked back the way we’d come on the trail. Sure enough, a figure was approaching us through the trees, a tall man dressed head to foot in camo. We didn’t think much about it. That time of year (late May in Ohio), the woods were full of people hiking, fishing, and what not.

The man got to the edge of the clearing, about twenty feet from where we sat, and….vanished. He’d looked solid, and real, although (we realized later) he’d made no sound coming down the path, nor did he appear to notice us.

The dog yawned, laid back down, and went back to sleep. We looked at each other, shrugged, and finished our coffee.”

Have you seen a person vanish? Share your strange tales here!

05/11/14

True Ghost Stories on Niche Forums

creepy shadows

By far, the most popular posts on my blog are stories I’ve compiled from various occupation and hobby forums (sites for cops, nurses, pilots, etc.). These niche sites are great places to find creepy tales, though it often takes a lot of poking around. Thankfully, I’ve done much of the work for you. So…here’s the Master List, if you will, of all the niche forum posts I’ve done over the years, plus links to the original sources. Settle in and prepare to be spooked!

I’m always on the hunt for new stories and suggestions so feel free to contact me here or email christy@ghostsnghouls.com if you have something to share. Any teachers out there have a story? Lifeguards? Janitors? Railway employees? Ladies of the night?

05/10/14

Reader Submission: The Imaginary Friend

cropped-may_stringer_house_angel.jpg

“My dad owns a triplex and we always lived in one apartment as a kid while he rented the other two. When I was around 4 or 5 years old, my cousin and I started playing with a girl named Bridget. She was around our age, although she did seem really shy. I didn’t know this until years later, but apparently our parents assumed she was an imaginary friend because they had no clue who we were talking about. One day Bridget just stopped showing up.

Fast forward about ten years…one of dad’s tenants was mega pregnant, had her baby, came back a few days later, and was talking to dad. She asked kind of nervously if dad thought the house was haunted. He shrugged, said he believed it was possible, and then ‘Why do you ask?’ She kind of relaxed when he said he believed it was possible and told him this:

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