495 | SCARESGIVING Special - 12 DISTURBING Things Seen During Autumn

I must apologize to you all. I missed out on doing a Halloween special this year, and I don't blame you all for hating me for it. So let me attempt to make it up to you with today's episode to celebrate the atmosphere and terrors of the autumn season. Welcome back to Unexplained Encounters. I'm your host, Darkness Prevails, and today's episode features stories of the unexplained and disturbing that happened during the fall.

Enjoy this fall special and be sure to follow and rate unexplained encounters on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Want me to narrate your story? Send it to me at darkstories.org. Now let's begin. By you beast. From 99 for Cajuns.

I'm a lifelong resident of a small town in Louisiana, nestled right alongside the bayou. Growing up, the swamp was our playground. My two best friends Antoine and Jace and I spent countless hours out there fishing, catching crawfish, and often just exploring the winding waterways. Last fall when the air started to cool, and the mosquitoes weren't as relentless, we decided to take Antoine's old flat-bottom boat out for a weekend trip.

We'd been talking about finding a new spot that Jay said heard about, a place where the fish practically jump into your boat, according to local legends. We sat out early Saturday morning, the mist still rising off the water. The boat's small motor puttered as we navigated through the familiar channels. Antoine steered while Jay said on either side, gear at the ready. The swamp was noisy that night, with birds and frogs and such.

After about an hour, we reached a part of the bayou, none of us had ever seen before. The tree branches here were draped with thick moss, looked like a bunch of curtains. The water was darker too, and it smelled much earthier. Y'all fill in this place?" Antoine asked, cutting the motor. It's got a vibe, that's for sure. Jase grinned. That's how you know the fish are going to be batten. Let's anchor here.

We settled in, casting our lines and cracking open some cold drinks. For a while it was perfect. Good friends, good weather, and the promise of a great catch. We joked around, talking about everything and nothing. Then things started to feel off.

It wasn't terribly noticeable at first. The usual course of the swamp seemed too quiet down. The birds we'd heard earlier were no longer calling, and even the insects seemed to take the hint. Do you hear that? I asked. Antoine looked up. Here what? Exactly. It's gone quiet. Jace shrugged. Maybe we scared everything off with all our talking.

We just went back to fishing. After a few minutes Antoine's line jerked hard. Whoa, I got something big! He exclaimed, bracing himself. The rod nearly bent in half. Antoine struggled to reel in whatever was on the other end. Need help? I offered, moving towards him. Before I could even reach him, there was a massive splash on the other side of the boat. The whole vessel rocked violently, nearly tipping us over.

What the heck was that? Jace shouted, grabbing the sides. We all stared at the spot where the water was still rippling. Then there was another slam against the bottom of the boat. This time we all lost our footing. Antoine's rod went overboard as he tried to steady himself. Start the motor, I yelled.

Antoine scrambled to the back and yanked on the cord. The motor sputtered, but didn't catch. Another hit, the boat lurched forward a few feet. Come on, come on, Antoine muttered, pulling the cord again. The motor roared to life. He didn't wait for us to sit down before throttling forward.

Jason and I grabbed onto whatever we could as the boat sped through the water. Behind us I caught a glimpse of something breaking the surface. A dark, scaly back that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. Did you all see that? I shouted over the engine's noise. What was it? Jason asked, his eyes wide. I don't know. I think it's following us.

Antoine steered the boat in a zigzag pattern, trying to throw off whatever was chasing us. The swamp was a maze, and at the speed we were going, one wrong turn could send us crashing into a tree, or run in a ground. There's a shallow area up ahead, Antoine said. Hang on!

We hit a stretch where the water was noticeably less deep. The bottom of the boat scraped against submerged logs and rocks. But whatever it was in the water seemed to fall back. I think we lost it, Jay said. Antoine slowed the boat, and we all took a moment to catch our breaths. What do you think that was? I asked. Antoine answered. I don't know. Gator maybe.

That wasn't a gator," Jason replied. That was bigger. Did you see the way it moved? We headed back then, none of us eager to stay out there much longer. I kept looking down at the water just in case. When I glanced at the other two, they were doing it too.

Thankfully we made it back to the dock without any problems. Back in town we went to the local bait shop where old timers gathered. Before we even said a word, they all looked at us and smiled. One of the older men, Mr. LeBlanc, gave us a long hard look. Looking a little shaken up, huh? Went to the wrong part of the swamp, he said. What do you mean by that, Antoine asked?

I saw where y'all went past you on the road a while back. I knew exactly what you were up to after them rumors were circling about.

Let me tell you this. There are plentiful fish in that area. The rumors aren't wrong. But why do you think no one goes there? Come on guys, he's just trying to scare us. Jace scoffed nervously. But Mr. LeBlanc leaned forward. You boys are lucky. Other folks who have been out there weren't so fortunate. Best you stay clear of that area.

We left the shop more unsettled than we were before. And we took Mr. LeBlanc's advice. Even though we were young and rebellious guys, he seemed serious. We never dared go back to that part of the bayou. Echo of the River From Mossy Grove

I remember the day Elias drowned like it was yesterday. We were kids, about ten years old, racing our makeshift rafts down Willow River.

It was late October, believes turning red and gold. Elias was always the daredevil, pushing us to go faster and doing things that were risky. That day he had decided to take us further downstream than we ever had before. The current was stronger than we anticipated. Halfway through our race, a sudden rush of water caught Elias off guard.

His raft flipped violently, and before I could even react, he was swept under. I stood there, frozen, watching him disappear into the churning river. Panic set in, and I shouted his name, but all I heard was the roaring water.

I ran home as fast as I could, got my parents, his family and my family, and some nearby kids, tried to help, tried to find Elias, but by then it was far too late. Elias was gone. They found him about a week later, swept up on the shore, dead.

Growing up without my best friend left a hole in my life. The two of us had been inseparable, always getting into some adventure or another. Losing him felt like losing a part of myself. And, for years, I avoided that river, watching what happened to him, the way it took him, but gave me a fear of bodies of water.

Fast forward to my twenties, I found myself back in our hometown for a family reunion. Life took me far away from there, but there's something about the Kansas fall that will always make me want to come back. Nikki, my girlfriend at the time, joined me, curious about where I grew up and wanting to meet my family. Seemed like things might be getting serious. One evening after dinner,

we decided to take a walk down to Willow River. It had been a long time, and my fear and trauma of bodies of water had slowly faded, but was somewhat there, subtly. I noticed that the town hadn't changed much. Still the same old houses and the same familiar smells of wood, smoke, and fallen leaves

We reached the old wooden bridge where Elias and I used to watch the sunset. The river was calm that evening. As we stood there, Nikki noticed something moving in the water. Look, she pointed.

I turned to see a shadowy figure moving beneath the surface. That's a big fish, I said. If it wasn't a fish, it was possibly some debris, maybe a plank. But then I saw something more clearly. That was no fish or wood. That looked like a little boy. Elias?

I whispered, my voice shaking. Nikki looked confused. Elias, your childhood best friend? I think we need to go back to the house. I tried to shake it off, telling myself it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but the figure was coming out of the water now, slowly. It was unmistakably Elias.

or someone that looked like him. He stared straight at me, and for a moment, I felt his presence again. That warmth, that laughter. But that couldn't be. I'd watched Elias die. Nikki grabbed my arm. I don't know who that is, but it's not Elias, she said.

We need to go back. She yanked on me, trying to pull me away. But I stood still. I couldn't tear my eyes from him. I hadn't seen him in so long. Was it really him? Usually in ghost stories they talk about, figures that are dark or blurry, but this was crystal clear. Maybe the trauma of being at the river again was coming back up in a bad way.

I finally backed away. Nikki continued to tug on my arm, and eventually I turned around, looking away from the figure. That was hard. How does a person turn away from something like that? As we made it back to the bridge, I turned back to look to check if he was still there. There were ripples in the water, but the figure was gone. I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath. I noticed then that I was crying

Baby, okay?" Nicky asked. I nodded. Yeah, but that was the creepiest thing I've ever seen. You saw the same thing, right? It was just a little boy playing in the water.

I looked at her, narrowing my brow. Then realized she was clearly faking it. She was trying to make me feel better. I took a deep breath in and replied. Yeah, just some kid playing in the river, like I used to. I'm sure it's a hot spot still for kids around here.

The two of us hurried back to the house, the night feeling heavier than before. I felt watched and tense for the remainder of the night, but it eventually faded. The next morning I woke up with a pounding headache.

I couldn't get back to sleep, but Nicky hadn't woke up yet, so I quietly got out of bed and decided to walk back to the river. Yeah, a stupid idea if it was a scary story, but this is different. I walked back because I needed to make sure of something. I went to the exact same spot we'd been at yesterday when I saw the kid, and I stopped. I picked up a nearby rock, threw it in the water, and I called out

Elias, I waited. There was no response, just the gentle sound of the river. I tried one more time. Elias, the morning remained quiet. I sighed, then turned around and began my walk back to the house.

To this day, I'm not sure why I saw what I saw in that river. If it was the ghost of my best friend, why did he show himself to me?

To scare me? To remind me? I have no idea. But there was something relieving about going back out there alone, calling his name, and getting no answer. Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe it was just a kid who had been playing in the water and looked a bit too much like my old friend. But why would he rise up like that and look straight at me?

It was just so creepy and real. I just hope that Elias doesn't blame me. I'm still scared that that was what the message was. Why didn't you save me? Why did you freeze there and watch? The way his face looked when I saw his apparition. It was not one of joy or satisfaction. He looked angry. I won't be going back there.

When four friends embark on a guy's trip to go ice fishing in the Alaskan wilderness, they expect adventure, but find horror instead. After strange events and gruesome gifts are left at the remote cabin, the men set out to find help, only to become hopelessly lost in the ominous forest as an unseen evil stalks them. Their friendships and sanity are pushed to the breaking point.

This is Lore, a new horror novel by Barry Napier. Buy lore today in paperback, hardcover, or digital at erycast.com. or become a member at erycast.com. to listen to the exclusive members-only audiobook.

This episode is sponsored by Darkness Plays. ErieCast presents their brand new and very first comedy show, Darkness Plays. Join Darkness prevails, host of unexplained encounters, and tales from the break room.

In an unscripted off-the-hing train wreck where he and three friends play scary games and discuss the most important aspects of human life. Like what would happen if Jeepers Creepers attacked the Lions and Lion King, and how the ancient Orangutan would react if he finally found him after seeking out his wisdom. Look for darkness plays on Spotify and Apple podcasts. You can listen, but you can also watch the gameplay on Spotify or YouTube.

That's Darkness Plays on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple. We'll see you there. The Hair of Harpest Hill From Amanda J In my free time every single day I tend to my garden, unless there's several inches of snow on the ground, but that doesn't happen often.

My garden is my sanctuary, a place where I can unwind after a long day of work. During the fall of 2019, I experienced something disturbing. It started with the rabbits. Normally, they were common around here. They would nibble on my carrots and let us. But this year, their presence was different. The marks left on my vegetables were bigger, more aggressive looking.

At first I thought maybe some sort of predator was in the area, something omnivorous, taking the opportunity to chow down on my garden. However, nothing showed up on my wildlife cameras, which I'd set up around the garden. Whatever they were, they were relentless, tearing through my plants with a ferocity I'd never seen before, and it was starting to aggravate me.

One evening, as I was trimming the roses, I noticed a big rabbit, watching me from the corner of my eye. This, I soon noticed, was unlike any rabbit I'd seen before. It was huge, as big as a domestic dog, I swear. And it had a weird look about it, too, like there was an intelligence in its stare, like it was planning something.

Its fur was a strange mix of gray and brown, and its eyes seemed too aware, too focused. Freaked out by its eyes, I tried to ignore it. I didn't want to scare it or make it mad. I've been bitten by a normal rabbit before, and it hurt. I didn't want to know what that thing's choppers would do to me. I remember calling my mom later to tell her about this giant rabbit I saw.

The following night, the attacks on my garden escalated. I woke up to find my dog Max, trembling in the living room. Max was a sturdy middle-aged basset hound, always greeting me with a wagging tail and very brave, more often than not. But that night, he looked downright traumatized.

There were scratches on the door frame outside and signs of a struggle. My heart sank as I realized something had tried to get inside. I grabbed a flashlight and got a cautious, closer look at these scratches. They were deep, like claws ripping through wood. Max growled behind me, hackles raised. We were outside to look at these scratches and I had my back turned toward the garden.

After a moment, as he kept growling, I turned and nearly jumped out of my skin, seeing that same massive rabbit from before. I'm telling you, this may have been a world record breaker. It was standing on a tight legs, the way a rabbit does, you know? I could see claws coming from its bottom feet, the way an animal's nails grow out way too far after they haven't trimmed or bitten at them for several months, but this was on a bit larger scale.

It was staring at us, and just the sight of it gave me chills. I backed away, but courageous Max lunged forward, barking furiously. He'd been scared before, but maybe because I was outside with him he felt protective. The rabbit didn't hesitate. It darted right towards us with alarming speed and knocked Max off his feet. Think about that for a second, a fully grown Bassett hound,

tackled and knocked off his feet by a rabbit. I screamed and jumped back. I watched the rabbit slash at Max, and I could hear him yelping in pain, trying to fend it off, biting and clawing and kicking. I panicked and realized I had to do something. I had a heavy garden hoe nearby, so I grabbed it and swung it at the rabbit.

And of course, its reflexes were like a rabbit, too. It ducked below the head of the hoe, then jumped back. It bounded forward and backward side to side a few times, as if looking for an opening to jump back in and kill Max. I was screaming and crying at the thing.

You gotta believe how scared I was at that moment. This continued on for a minute before it jumped in again and I managed to hit it with a desperate swing. God, that thing was heavy. But it was enough to make it flinch back and it ran off through the garden before disappearing. Max was injured but alive.

He limped away, whimpering as we went back inside. I was panting. I stared through the windows towards the back garden, looking for any movement or big floppy ears. But luckily, that thing seemed to be gone for now. My fear soon turned to anger. Something attacked my dog. Nearly killing him.

The next day I was off work. We took a visit to the vet, and when we came back I found more destruction in the garden. Plants were uprooted, vegetables shredded, and paths torn apart. It was like a hurricane had just passed through. Life went on for a couple weeks. The garden invasions kept coming almost every night, and apparently it wasn't just my garden it was targeting.

Neighbors were reporting similar damage, and a few even spoke of a strange large rabbit lurking around their yards. One particularly stormy night, the winds were howling and rain pelted the house. I was lying in bed, trying to sleep when I heard the familiar scratching at one of my windows. My heart pounded at it as I glanced over to Max. He was curled up beside me,

now awakened from a restful slumber. I grabbed the flashlight and approached the window cautiously. The storm outside made it difficult to see, but I soon spotted it. The big rabbit thing soaked in muddy. Before it could react, the dart thing jumped at the window and bounded off with its back feet, scaring the daylights out of me. I stared at the thing,

growing more scared and angry by the second. This dumb, massive herbivore was threatening me, being territorial over my land. There was a flash of lightning then, and I gasped. I'd been staring at the rabbit, and much of the dark substance I thought was mud on its fur reflected red during the lightning strike. That was blood.

The storm began to intensify, and the creature backed away, hopping back off into the night. I stood there, shaken, wanting to go back to sleep, but terrified at the idea of that rabbit being outside my house, just beyond the wall. Yeah, scared of a rabbit, so much so that I couldn't sleep very well.

The next morning the skies were clear. I visited a couple of neighbors to check in on them, worried about what I saw the night before, and then came the grave news. My most elderly neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin, confided in me during my quick visit that their 11-year-old Bluetooth hound, Barley, had been killed last night by a wild animal.

They didn't see it happen, but they found his remains and buried him just this morning. Garden and even pet attacks continued for a few more weeks, before suddenly just starting to subside. I guess the demon rabbit lost interest, though I would see the thing one more time. From my back garden,

I had a distant view of the woods, maybe about 80 yards from my house. I looked up while doing some gardening, and I swear I saw it again. That big freakin' rabbit. This time, looking its paws and ears, cleaning itself like it was some normal thing for it to do. God, I wanted that thing dead. I didn't like knowing that something like that existed. A rabbit big enough to kill hunting dogs,

It didn't stay there very long, maybe it wanted to remind me that it was still out there, before bounding off into the trees. Life returned to normal for us, my garden began to flourish again, and our community was a bit more tight-knit, as we frequently began to check on each other and our pets, exchanging vegetables and fruits we'd been growing. And if you're wondering, Max is completely okay.

His injuries were a bit deep, but nothing that would keep him down long. He's back to his brave and playful self, too. My loyal companion, he may have just saved my life that night. Because what if he wasn't out there, and that rabbit had attacked me? I honestly have no idea if I could have fended it off. So to anyone listening, what do you think? Have you ever seen a rabbit that big? Have you ever seen one that aggressive?

Because I'm telling you, that thing was evil. The long haul won't fall. From the Ivans. I'm a long haul trucker based out of the Midwest. Just last fall I had a route that took me through some of the most remote stretches of the Great Plains. I've always enjoyed the solitude of the open road.

One particular trip on this route stands out in my memory, and probably always will. It was late October. I was hauling a load from Kansas to Montana. The route required me to drive through vast expanses of open land, where towns are few and far between. I set out in the early afternoon, planning to cover as much distance as possible, before pulling over for the night.

As evening approached, the sky transformed into hues of orange and purple. I remember thinking how picturesque it all looked. If I was a painter, that would be the scene I painted, a perfect backdrop against the endless fields. I hadn't seen another vehicle for at least an hour by that point, and the only company I really had was the rhythmic hum of the engine.

Around 10 pm, the darkness was complete. The stars were out in full force, and the moon cast a dim glow over the place. I was cruising along a particularly desolate stretch when something caught my eye. Standing near the side of the road was a figure.

At first glance, it looked like a deer standing on its hind legs, maybe trying to reach at something. Even so, you don't see that a lot, so it made me do a double take. Slowing down a bit, I tried to get a better look. The figure was tall and thin, with limbs that seemed disproportionately long.

Its skin, or was it fur, appeared pale under the headlights. The eyes reflected the light with an eerie glow. Not the usual shine you see in animals, but something more intense, or at least something so different that it could startle a person. I felt a chill then. I've seen plenty of wildlife during my drives.

but nothing quite like this. I told myself it was just a trick of the light. Perhaps a distorted shadow. I kept driving, trying to put that out of my mind.

About half an hour later, I nearly choked on my own spit because I saw it again, the same figure from before. This time, it was on the other side of the road. Just within range of my high beams, I was sure of it, the same weird figure. Tall, gaunt, and unnatural. My hands tightened on the steering wheel. There was no way it could have moved ahead of me without me noticing. I was starting to feel genuinely creeped out.

I considered calling someone, but I wasn't sure who, and what would I say? I was wanting to call someone really just to feel less alone, but deciding there wasn't much I could really do, I impressed on, turning up the radio to shake off the nerves.

another hour passed without incident, and I began to relax. Convincing myself that fatigue was making it easier for me to get scared. I'd simply seen something the wrong way, and I quickly passed by it, so my two encounters so far were just happenstance.

And that was when I saw it for a third time. It was closer to the road now, almost as if it wanted me to see it. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest. This wasn't a coincidence or a hallucination. I sped up, my eyes flicking between the road and the mirrors. I didn't see it following me, but the sense of being watched was overwhelming. I needed a break, somewhere with lights and people.

A few miles ahead I spotted a rest area, a rare sight in this part of the country. Relieved, I pulled in and parked under one of the street lamps. The place was deserted, but the illumination provided some comfort. I stepped out of the cab to stretch my legs and clean my head.

The cold night air was refreshing. I walked around the truck inspecting the tires, more out of habit than necessity. But I began to feel it again. The unmistakable sensation of being watched. I looked around but didn't see anything unusual.

I was climbing back into the cab when I soft wrestling sound came from a cluster of bushes near the edge of the rest area. Squinting, I swear I briefly saw a pair of glowing eyes looking back at me. My breath caught. I was not sticking around here to find out what that was. I jumped back into the truck, locking the doors, and figured I would push through the rest of the drive without stopping.

Sleep could wait until I reached a more populated area. As I pulled out of the arrest area, I caught a glimpse of the figure in my side mirror. It stood near the entrance, watching me drive away. You guessed it the same one as before. My hands were shaking so bad, but I focused on the road, determined not to let fear get the better of me. The next few hours were pretty tense.

The road was basically a dark tunnel, illuminated by my headlights. Every now and then I thought I saw shadows moving along the periphery, but I wouldn't be slowing down or stopping to take a look. Around 3am, I finally made it to a truck stop near a small town. The place was lit up, and there were other trucks parked there. I pulled in and turned the engine off, letting out a long breath

Inside the diner, I ordered a strong coffee. The waitress, noticing my disheveled state, asked if I was okay. I hesitated a moment, not really sure if I should share what I just saw, but I thought it would make me feel better. In the end, I told her a brief account. She listened closely. I couldn't read her expression at first.

When I finished, she leaned in slightly and said, You're not the first to see something strange out there. I've heard people say it's the land remembering it's past. I had no idea what that meant, but her words stuck with me even now. After resting for a few hours, I completed the delivery without further incident. However, the experience nodded me.

Once I was back home, I visited my stepdad David. David is Native American, Navajo to be specific. He's always been a source of wisdom to me. And something about this encounter was very familiar. Over dinner, I recounted the whole story. He listened quietly, his face serious. When I finished, he remained silent for a moment before speaking.

And when he did, he told me exactly what I expected to hear. What you saw might be a skinwalker," he said. Yes, I know you recognize that word, but why you saw it at all out there. That's what I'm worried about. I tensed up. If he was worried, I was even more worried.

Why do you think it was out there? Why do you think it would show itself to me over and over and over? It felt like someone was stalking me." I explained. Scanwalkers are said to be drawn to those who might disrupt the balance of something, more wander into places they shouldn't be. He cleared his throat, then drank some water, before going on. Sometimes they appear to those who are vulnerable, those who are more open to seeing them.

Despite hearing stories about them as a kid, I never really believed in them, but I could not deny how scared I was of seeing it again. But, well, have you ever encountered something like that? I asked. He nodded. When I was younger, before I met your mother, I had an experience while camping with friends near the reservation.

We heard sounds that night, calls that mimicked human voices but didn't sound exactly right. One of my friends even claimed to see a figure watching us from the ridge. We left immediately, just like the elders had warned us. What did you do after?

The elders performed a protection ritual for us. It's important to respect these entities and protect oneself. I felt a bit weird asking, but I went ahead. Is that something I need to do now? To make sure it's not following me. He nodded again. That evening he prepared a simple but meaningful ceremony.

Using Sage and Cedar, he performed a cleansing ritual around me. He softly chanted in Navajo, words that I didn't understand but felt very comforted by. He emphasized that the rituals meant to purify and protect, not to challenge or confront whatever I had encountered.

Throughout the process, he explained the importance of intention and respect. It's not about magic, he said. It's about realigning yourself with positive energy and distancing yourself from negativity.

Afterward, I did feel a lot better. Whether it was the ritual itself, or just the activate being a placebo to my fears, I can't be certain. But I was very grateful that he went out of his way to help me. Thank you, I told him. I didn't realize how much this was affecting me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. Be cautious on your journeys. The world is bigger and more mysterious than people realize.

Since then, I haven't had any similar experiences. I continue to drive long routes, but I avoid that particular stretch of road whenever possible. On the occasions when I can't avoid it, I make sure to carry a small pouch of sage that David gave to me. A token of protection and a reminder of the respect we should have for the unknown.

By now I've shared this story with a few fellow drivers. Some laugh it off, others suggest I was just tired, and some others admit to seeing strange things themselves. Whether you believe in skin walkers or not, there's something about the vast emptiness of the open road that can make you question what's real.

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Hey there, Darkness prevails here, founder of EerieCast, my little network of scary shows. I appreciate you listening to our scary content. But did you know you can support us, get ad-free feeds of your favorite shows, get a 20% discount code to the EerieCast store, and unlock access to members-only audiobooks all at the same time. Just go to ericast.com-plus and become a member today.

It's cheap, and really helps us out. That's erecast.com. Thank you. Not too long ago, I went back to my hometown in West Virginia, helping my parents get our old house ready to sell. I haven't been there in years, not since moving to Pittsburgh for work.

Being back was a strange feeling. The house and the dense woods behind it brought back a flood of memories, especially if my grandfather, who had passed away not too long before that.

Growing up, he used to tell me eerie stories about those woods. One that always stuck with me was about something he called the Whispering Winds. According to him, every fall when the leaves changed and the air turned crisp, the wind would whisper people's names, luring them deeper into the forest. Some who followed those whispers too far never came back.

He also mentioned sightings of a shadowy figure that might accompany those who were about to get lost, or who had recently passed, appearing as phantoms of their old selves. As a kid, I thought these were just tales to keep me from wandering off too far. It made a lot of sense that way. While helping my parents, I found some old stuff in the attic. Comic books, a slingshot, other childhood treasures.

It made me feel really nostalgic, so I decided to take a walk in the woods to revisit some of the old places I used to explore. It was late afternoon when I set out. The woods looked just as I remembered, though the trees weren't as tall as I recalled, but they were gorgeous in those red and gold shades. The ground was covered in a thick layer of fallen leaves that crunched every step I took. I followed this old trail that led to a small clearing.

where I used to love hanging out. After walking for a while, I thought I heard someone call my name in the distance. I assumed it was my mom or dad needing to tell me something. But when it came again, I realized it sounded faint, not like a distant yell.

but more, like a whisper. Now, keep in mind, at that time, I had not been thinking about grandpa's old stories. I hadn't thought about them for years, so the paranormal or unexplained was the last thing on my mind. When I heard it, I just stopped and looked around. I didn't see anyone nearby, so I dismissed it as my imagination or possibly the wind moving through the trees in just the right way. I then continued on.

A few minutes later, though, I heard it again. It was a bit clearer than before. And it definitely sounded like someone calling me from deeper in the woods. But there was no one out here with me. That fact made this unsettling. I called out. Hello? Someone out there? I got no response.

An uneasy feeling began to creep in. The woods were getting quieter. No bird songs, no rustling of animals. Just the wind through the trees. I prayed it was because it was getting late. But where were the insects? Feeling creeped out, I decided it might be best to head back before it got too dark. As I turned, I realized I wasn't sure which way the trail was. Everything looked unfamiliar suddenly.

I hadn't been in these woods for a long time, so it wasn't impossible that I may have wandered off the path without noticing. I pulled out my phone to check the compass app, but it wouldn't calibrate properly, and my signal was nonexistent. I chose a direction I thought would leave me back, and I started to walk. After a while, nothing at all looked familiar.

And then I heard my name again from a different direction. It sounded urgent like someone needed help. Against my better judgment, I decided to follow the voice. Maybe someone was out there and in trouble. I called back. Who's out there? Do you need help?

But still, there was no answer. As I moved toward where I thought the voice came from, I caught a glimpse of something moving between the trees. I couldn't make out many details, just a silhouette. I called again and got no response.

My unease grew stronger. I decided to stop following the voice and focus just on finding my way back. But every direction I took seemed to lead me deeper into the ones. The trees were going denser, not thinner, and the light was fading quick. I had been out here way too long.

I tried to stay calm, telling myself I'd find the trail eventually. Then came the voice again, closer now, almost right behind me. My name, whispered but somehow echoing. I spun around, but no one was there.

My heart was pounding now. I began to walk faster. Then thought, forget it, and broke right into a jog, trying to put distance between me and whatever was happening, and whoever was trying to make that happen. I saw a figure again ahead of me this time, and what really freaked me out was the way it wasn't walking between the trees, but sort of gliding. I couldn't see a face or any features, just a human-shaped silhouette.

I was panicking then. I ran full force, not caring about the direction anymore. I just wanted to get out of there. Branches scratched at me, and I nearly tripped over roots several times. After what felt like hours, I burst out of the tree line and stumbled into a field.

I recognized it as part of our neighbor's property. I was so relieved. I looked back into the woods, thinking I was about to see something come out at me. But it was just still and quiet. I took a moment to catch my breath. Then made my way back home, sticking to the roads this time.

When I walked into the house, my mother took one look at me and knew something was wrong. I must have looked shaken, probably tired too. I told both my mom and dad what happened. They exchanged concerned glances. My father admitted that over the years, especially during the fall, people around these parts had reported strange experiences in the woods. And from time to unfortunate time, folks would go missing.

He said that my grandfather always believed there was something unexplained out there. I don't think he knew that Grandpa already told me those stories. That night I couldn't sleep too well. I was a bit stressed out because something inhuman tried to lure me into the woods forever. At least those were the vibes I was getting. The following morning I decided to cut my visit short. I would be heading back to Pittsburgh the next day.

Before I left, my mother gave me an old necklace that belonged to my granddad. She said he always wore the thing when he went out into the forest, and I wondered if it was a superstitious thing. Personally, I'm not usually superstitious, but I appreciated the gesture. Back in the city, things returned to normal, but I would never forget about my experience.

an experience which to this day I can't explain. Not entirely. A lot of folks with similar stories would be saying stuff like hallucinations, but that's not really how the human body works. If you're gonna go out in the woods and hallucinate, there has to be a reason for that as well. A good one. A specific one too. Because most hallucinations aren't visual or auditory.

Anyway, after leaving, I haven't been back to that place. My parents ended up postponing the sale of the house, and they still live there. I kind of feel bad about abandoning them, but I know it wasn't my fault that the sale never went through. I still have my granddad's necklace, and whenever I go out to places I am not too sure about. A new bar, a new side of town, or even the woods when I go hiking on occasion.

I wear it, just in case Grandpa knew something that I didn't. I went camping with my fiancé, from F. Deerson. The fall always brings back memories of the woods where I grew up.

The changing of the leaves makes me very nostalgic. Last October I decided to revisit those woods with my fiancé, Serafina. We wanted a quiet weekend before the wedding, away from the chaos of city life. I thought it would be a good way to share a piece of my past with her.

We picked a spot deep in the pine forest, not far from where I used to hike as a kid. Setting up our tent was easy. The ground was covered in a thick layer of leaves and pine needles. By the time night fell, we had our little campfire going, roasting marshmallows and swapping stories from our youth.

Serafina loved hearing about my childhood adventures, and I enjoyed seeing her so relaxed in nature. That first night was peaceful, just the sounds of the forest settling down for the night. But on the second evening, things took a turn. Dark clouds rolled in very quickly.

turning the peaceful sky and ominous gray. We packed up to get out of the rain, but the storm hit harder than expected. The rain was relentless, pounding the tent and making it hard to sleep. Serafina was restless, tossing and turning, while I tried to stay calm for the both of us, listening to the storm outside.

Around midnight, the rain eased up a bit, but an eerie silence settled over the woods. I was drifting off when I heard a faint scratching noise. It sounded sort of like a branch scraping against the tent fabric, but the sound kept getting louder and more deliberate. My heart started to pound, and I nudged Sarah from awake.

Did you hear that? I whispered. She nodded eyes wide. Probably just something outside.

but the scratching didn't stop. It felt like something was trying to get in, testing the fabric. I slowly unzipped the tent. The flap opening to reveal nothing but the soaked ground. The smell of rain and damp earth filled the air. We both stayed quiet, just in case, listening closely.

After a few tense minutes, the sounds faded, and we tried to get some rest. But we were both a bit creeped out. The next morning the storm had passed, leaving the forest glistening with moisture. As we packed up our things, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. A few miles into the hike, I noticed some scrapes on the trees. They looked like claw marks, running straight through the forest,

It was unsettling. Serafina saw them too. Have you seen anything like that before? She asked, pointing to the marks. No, never. It could be a bear, but... But what? Well, I didn't want to say it. I don't want to freak you out. Come on, just let it out.

Well, this area has never been known for bears or mountain lions. I really have no idea what could have done this. We kept walking. The marks becoming more frequent and larger. It was clear that something powerful was moving through the woods. I tried to think logically. Maybe some larger animal that we hadn't encountered out here before. But the way the marks were made didn't seem natural.

As we went deeper into the forest, the trail began to narrow. We were surrounded by thick underbrush and towering trees. The air got colder too, and a thick mist started to rise from the damp ground, making everything look haunted. Every sound seemed amplified. The crunch of leaves under our boots, the distant call of a hawk. We would hear the occasional rustle of something moving just out of eyesight.

Suddenly, Sarafina stopped, staring ahead with a look of sheer fear. Tell me you see that. I followed her gaze to a clearing up ahead. There, partially hidden by the mist, stood a figure. It was tall and hunched over.

limbs stretched out in a weird way. The creature's skin was a dull gray, almost blending in with the surroundings. Its eyes really stood out, glowing faintly in the dim light. My heart raced as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, but I couldn't. Sarah, if we need to go back, I said, keeping my voice low.

When we turned to leave, something was off. The path we were on before now seemed more uneven, roots and rocks jutting out, making it harder for us to go faster. I glanced behind us and jumped. The figure was facing towards us now, and it was closer. Serafina grabbed my arm. We have to try to run. I don't want that thing getting near us.

We broke into a sprint, pushing ourselves quickly but awkwardly. The mist made it even harder to see more than a few feet ahead. My mind was reeling, searching for any possible escape route. But the forest seemed endless, amaze with no clear exit.

In the midst of our panic, I tripped over a root and fell hard to the ground. The world began to spin as Serafina reached out to help me. In my panic, I glanced back again. The silhouetted thing was closing in, hands outstretched towards us, making it painfully obvious that its limbs were completely wrong. Too thin, too angled at the joints, and I swear I could smell it. Hurry, Seraf!

I gasped, trying to push myself up. She was already pulling me up to my feet, her eyes never leaving that thing. Together we forced ourselves to keep moving. Just when I thought we couldn't run any further, the trail finally opened up.

We were met with a small grove, and in the center was an old abandoned cabin. The wooden planks on it were all weathered and the windows had been shattered. But still, it was our only lifeline at this point. We dashed towards it. Inside, the place was dark and musty.

The remnants of the last inhabitants were scattered about, like broken furniture, decaying books. The fireplace hadn't been cleaned in what seemed like years. We collapsed against one of the walls, gasping for breath. Thanks to the broken windows, we could clearly hear the forest outside still, making us more uncomfortable. It was like we were still out there, still in danger. But at least the immediate threat seemed to halt.

Should we stay here until morning?" Sarafina asked. I'd never seen her so scared. In our escape, I'd lost my phone and my wallet. But I doubt it would have helped. The signal out here was insanely bad. Sure, I said. We huddled close. There was only a little bit of light coming through a small window, where the very first rays of the sunrise were breaking through. The forest outside was extremely quiet.

And whenever I peaked, I didn't see anything weird. But I was still terrified. I prayed that what we saw was some strange man, an odd hermit we encountered, who would have rather been left alone. As we sat there, Serafina touched my arm again. What do you think that was? Do you think it was real?

I stared around the cabin and thought about it. I think it was real. If we both saw it, I doubt it was some hallucination or dream. But whatever it was, I can't be sure. But I'm just gonna tell myself it was some crazy man. We spent that morning in uneasy silence. As the morning grew brighter outside, we began to hear the sounds of birds and wildlife.

The trail out of the woods was the same as before, but the atmosphere felt different. These woods were my childhood, and now they felt alien to me. I hated it. I did not want something so nostalgic for me, being ruined forever.

We made it back to the car without a problem. We drove back to the city, thankful for our lives, knowing we would never forget that night. We told family members about the experience. They oohed and awed about it, thinking it was cool that someone they knew closely had a paranormal encounter. Weeks passed by, and strange things began to happen.

Alone at night I would hear unexplained noises, shadows moving at the edge of my vision, the kept feeling watched. I convinced myself it was just lingering fear and stress from our original encounter, and I prayed it wasn't something that followed us home. One evening I was preparing dinner. Serafina came up to me with a concerned look.

I forced a smile. Just tired from work and everything, and to be honest, still a bit creeped out from, you know what. She smiled and hugged me. Eventually we decided it might be best to do a different hike at a different location, to face my fears, so to speak, to remind me that the forest is usually safe, that what we experienced was a phenomenon of some sort.

We set out one early Saturday morning. The trail was nice. It was actually comforting to be somewhere I didn't recognize. Do you remember the campsite we went to that day? Sarah fasted, breaking the silence. Yeah, why? She hesitated for a moment, then continued. I found something in my backpack after the trip. What?

Why didn't you tell me? Well, you looked worried, and I didn't want to add to it. She pulled something from her pack. It looked like a woven little wooden doll, an effigy of some sort, about half the size of my palm. What do you mean you found this in your bag?" I asked.

I have no idea. It wasn't there when we got to the campsite, but it was there when we went back home. Sarah, if I swear to God, please tell me you made this while fidgeting or something and just forgot you put it in your pack. I'm telling you I don't know how it got there. Why would you bring me back out in the woods and show me this? Are you trying to freak me out? Honey, no. I just wanted to come clean so we can get past this.

Okay then, taking the little effigy, I cleared a spot on the ground nearby, found some dry brush, placed that effigy on top, and lit the kindling. Serif didn't say a word. She seemed to completely understand my reaction.

The idea of this thing that neither of us made not only followed us home, but also stayed in our house for weeks. It gave me the heebie-jeebies. But it was gone now, I thought. So, you ready to go now? She asked. To be frank, yes, I don't want to be out here right now. I thought I was up for it, but now I'm not.

Sarafina grabbed my arm and smiled, reassuring me without a word. We turned back on the trail and went back to the car. It's been a while now. Sarafina and I are married, and we're expecting our first kid soon. I'm doing what I can to fall back in love with the outdoors. Because I feel guilty at the idea of not letting that kid fall in love with nature, just over one bad experience. But yeah, life is good. No more weird experiences.

My advice to anyone out there who loves the outdoors as much as I used to, if you see anything weird in the woods, check your backpack when you leave, because something may have placed a haunted little effigy in your bag, and it might alter your mood for some time. Be careful out there. Tormented by an unclean spirit. From John Craigin.

These events occurred from the summer of 2015 to the summer of 2017. I'm from southern Ontario, Canada. I'm a very devout Christian, and I firmly believe in the existence of what the Bible calls unclean spirits, or familiar spirits, commonly called demons today.

Before I became very devout, my brother, I'll call him Joshy for security reasons, and a family friend, I'll call Brian, decided to mess around with the Charlie Charlie Challenge.

For those who don't know, the Charlie Charlie Challenge is a game where you place a pencil on a piece of paper with yes or no written on either side of the paper. Charlie is said to be a ghost. You ask him questions and if Charlie hears you, the pencil will move until the lead points at yes or no. Joshy, Brian, and I were at the beach, Sobble Beach during the summer of 2015.

we were doing the Charlie Charlie challenge. A few seconds after we asked the first question, we heard what sounded like a small stone falling on metal. We thought it may have been a seagull dropping something, but that idea was soon thrown out the window. When we noticed, there were no seagulls to be seen anywhere. To add to this, there was nothing metal nearby either. Even though the sound seemed like it was only a couple of feet away from us,

The next day, Joshy and I went to Bryan's house. His house was within walking distance from our cottage, and the beach was right across the street. Bryan told us that he heard strange sounds coming from the kitchen the night after we did the challenge. He also showed us what looked like red marks on his torso. This guide us pretty freaked out, but after a few days it faded and we brushed it off.

The summer of 2015 went by. I started grade eight, that autumn. Nothing eventful happened from autumn of 2015 to April of 2016. My family moved to a new house in May of 2016. I was finishing up grade eight and preparing for my first year of high school the next year. When I moved to the new house, I felt an uneasy, almost demonic feeling when I went into the basement. It felt like I wasn't alone.

One day I was alone in the house, and I heard my name called from somewhere in the kitchen. When I went into the kitchen to check it out, I didn't see anything. I thought I was just hearing things, so I went back to doing what I was doing. I finished grade 8. Summer of 2016 was largely uneventful in regards to strange or spiritual activity.

I started grade 9 in September of 2016. Strange occurrences became common around the house. It got to the point where I began to rebuke the spirits in the name of Jesus Christ. After I started doing that, things seemed to die down, and nothing else happened for a while.

The next occurrence happened back at Sombre Beach in the summer of 2017. Joshy and I were at Brian's house experimenting with ghost apps on the Google Play Store, when suddenly Brian began to sweat like crazy.

This was weird, because the air conditioner was on and at full blast. I freaked out and began to record a video of what was happening with Brian. A few seconds later, Brian said he felt a burning sensation on his torso. And out of nowhere, his guitar fell off its holding spot on the wall.

The skin on Brian's torso turned red. This happened for around two minutes, and all suddenly stopped at once. I started reading the Bible's many condemnations of conjuring of spirits. That I began to wonder if Brian, Joshy, and I had conjured an unclean spirit when we did the Charlie Charlie Challenge back in 2015. Maybe we had caused this haunting ourselves.

Strange experience at my apartment building, from Eldridge Guardian. Several years ago, I lived in an apartment building that was nestled right up against a thick patch of woods, which my girlfriend, now wife, and I had taken long walks in several times. There was a nice little creek and a stinky bog deeper in the woods.

We lived on the second floor and there was this beautiful old tree we could see from our bedroom window and our deck. A really old hickory tree about 4 feet in diameter with the lowest branch about 7 feet high.

This was our favorite tree while we lived at those apartments. Several strange instances happened while I lived at that apartment, but I'm going to cover one now that was probably the single coolest thing that has ever happened to me. It was more beautiful and surreal than scary. We had been living in our apartment for a few years together.

It was one of those that essentially had a stairwell outside the front door that connects the front doors of all the apartments on each level with a small, squarish landing. These were not the nicest apartments in the world, but they were what we could afford at the time.

I had to take the trash out late one autumn night. It was close to midnight. The dumpster was thankfully located just a short jaunt away from our building at the edge of the woods, maybe sixty yards at most, far enough away to not have to smell the stink of garbage on hot summer days. I had the bag of trash in my hand, and was walking toward the dumpster when I heard a rustling in the bushes to my right.

The hair on the back of my neck and arms stood up on end, and I took the last few steps toward the dumpster, throwing the trash bag into it. When I turned around, a small gray fox was standing in the middle of the parking lot, staring right at me. We were both frozen in place. I waved at it, and the fox kept moving along. When I got into the apartment, I told my wife about what had happened. We both thought it was really amazing.

We're huge animal lovers, and enjoy seeing animals of all kinds. We have a healthy respect for nature and keep our distance while admiring animals. So for a solid week after the sighting, I have the strangest dreams about foxes. Foxes would be dancing around our apartment in my dreams, and I recall one where I looked out the window by my bed.

and I saw several of them chasing around these small, bluish-white flames that were floating in the air. I believe that these were Foxfire. Not sure what else they could be, given the circumstances. I woke up feeling refreshed and energized after these dreams. I was really sad when I woke up one morning and didn't remember my dreams from the night before. I thought this meant an end to my beautiful dreams.

I got up at 6am to get ready for work. It was still dark outside. I got ready pretty quick and I was out the door by about 6.25. The sun hadn't crested over the trees just yet. I walked out the door and turned around, locking it. I then walked down the few flights of stairs to the spot I had parked my car. I unlocked the door and went to get in. But as I was turning this down, I noticed something huge, standing near the tree in front of our apartment balcony.

Underneath the tree was the most massive white fox I've ever seen before or since. It said, while it was sitting, was as tall as the lowest branch on the old hickory tree, about seven feet. It was almost shining with an inner glow. It was so bright white. It had more than one tail and the longest legs I'd ever seen on a fox.

then it looked at me and it smiled. It then stood up and bounded away, but instead of vanishing into the distance, it just vanished as it left the area of the tree, like it jumped behind some invisible barrier or into a hole in reality of some kind. I stood there, dumbstruck, for about ten minutes after that happened. While it was going on I felt no fear, and I actually felt like it had been waiting for me.

Foxes have always been my favorite animal since I was a kid, and I'd always enjoyed sightings of them growing up. Whenever we went to the zoo when I was young, I'd always want to go see the foxes first thing, and once again before we left for home. This event left me feeling fulfilled in a way I still can't fully explain, but it was so beautiful and amazing, I wanted to share it with everyone.

Not everything that goes bump in the night is something we have to fear. Sometimes the things you can't explain can be beautiful instead of terrifying. College UFO Experience From Anonymous Between the years of 2009 and 2012, I was a student at a small public university in the mountains of North Carolina.

It was nestled in a small valley in the Smoky Mountains that had originally been Cherokee Indian Territory. It was a beautiful rural campus with wonderful views of the surrounding mountainscape, but not much else.

The campus transportation system, called the Cat Tran, was essential to getting around campus. Between the hills and valleys that made up campus and the chilly autumn and winter weather, you couldn't realistically walk from the class buildings to your dorm unless you were prepared for a cold hike.

One evening in my senior year, my roommate Brett and I were waiting outside of the library for the Catran. It was late in the evening, around 8pm. The Catran stopped running at 9, so we would be on one of the last rides around campus. While we stood at the bus stop waiting, we began to look up at the night sky. Brett stood looking at the moon when he drew my attention to some lights in the sky.

There was a trio of lights arranged in a triangle.

slowly rotating around the moon. When I first looked up at them, I was convinced it was just a cluster of stars. But then I noticed movement. They were rotating in a clockwise motion around the outline of the moon. The lights would rotate around one light, then around the next, all the way around the moon. We stood there watching the light show for what felt like only a few moments. We were softly speaking to each other about what we could be seeing.

Brett thought it was just an ordinary airplane, but the motions didn't fit. I told him that I wasn't sure what it could be, and jokingly called it a UFO. Looking back now, I'm convinced that's what it was. We only stopped paying attention to these strange lights in the sky when we heard a car horn honking at us. It was the cat-tran driver blowing his horn at us.

He told us that he had driven past us several times and stopped to let us on. But each time, apparently, we just ignored him, staring off into space. He only got our attention this time because this was the last shuttle for the night, and he didn't want to leave us stranded.

I could have sworn we only watched those lights for a few moments. But when I looked at my watch, it really had been nearly an hour. As we boarded the Tran, I looked up at the spot we had been watching the lights, only to notice they were gone. The Shadow and the Asylum From Silver Bullet 54

If anybody dares you to go into an asylum, most people would tell you to agree. For anybody who has a thing for abandoned areas, an asylum has the perfect amount of creepy, historic, silent, and dramatic occurrences to get your heart pumping. It's also somewhere that has the look of a place that's bound to be haunted. The dusty books, abandoned fans, and solitary wheelchairs, all of which aren't exactly pleasant reminders.

A certain asylum in Pennsylvania, I won't say where because I don't want people going there. It's where a few friends of mine got the scare of their life.

My three friends, Fred, Chuck, and Henry, decided to scout out places that were rumored to be haunted. Since they didn't have the money to visit the Queen Mary, or the determination to explore the eastern state penitentiary, they settled on an abandoned mental asylum. Since Pennsylvania has at least four that I know of, they had plenty of options.

The one they settled on was nestled in woods, and hadn't been used since the 30s or 40s. Back then it had patients ranging from those afflicted by autism to ADD, which means many patients weren't even insane. They decided that to make sure they didn't miss anything, they would each bring standard ghost hunting fare. Fred was taking a night vision camera. Chuck decided to bring a tape recorder for EVP.

and Henry brought an infrared camera, which separates dark shapes from gray and white empty areas. They walked inside. It was about eight on an autumn night, so it was well past dark. Henry turned on a flashlight and looked around. Fred said, this place isn't even scary. It's just a dump.

The other two decided not to argue, as Fred was usually stubborn, and was convinced that he was always right. Chuck walked into an empty room, telling the other two to go on, while he tried to record some EPPs. Henry and Fred split up and soon reached the end of the hall.

From there, they could hear Chuck speaking. Fred then began to investigate a kitchen slash dining room, and Henry took a blind guess, ending up in the morgue. Fred's night vision camera picked up just a couple of rats and a hornet's nest, which at the time was quiet and still. Henry focused his camera into a freezer, which would have been used to hold a dead body, but didn't see anything.

After 20 minutes, Chuck came back and asked Fred and Henry to listen and see if they got anything.

Henry was about to put down his camera when a metallic crash sounded right behind him. Henry screamed and dropped his camera. Chuck dove onto the floor by reflex and Fred ran to them and asked why Henry had screamed. Henry pointed his camera and screamed again. He saw a mass of black, which meant he had caught something. Fred and Chuck said they had enough and sprinted down to the entrance with Henry close behind.

When they played it back, they saw a black mask that was moving from side to side on Henry's camera. Chuck admitted that a couple of times during the EVP session, he felt like someone was prodding him.

Turns out Fred had come up with nothing. I saw Henry's video and couldn't give him an answer. Fred and Chuck are at a loss too. Like I said, asylum seemed to be the perfect place for hauntings. Henry hasn't shown anyone else's video and Chuck never revealed what he heard on that EVP. He did tell me that he heard some scary stuff on it and doesn't like to talk about it. Henry and Chuck planned to take Fred to another asylum in Connecticut in 2020.

I hope they turn out okay. After what happened before, Chuck and Henry are being pretty gutsy. Fred probably just wants to catch something. The Hammond Train Horror From Silver Bullet 54

You've heard of the Barnum and Bailey Circus and Ringling Brothers Circus at least once. Indiana used to have a specific one called the Hog and Beck Wallace Circus that toured around the state every year. However, the year 1918 was far different. As it was the scene of a horrific crash between the circus train and a troop train at a small station between Hammond and Gary, Indiana.

called Ivanhoe. Animals, performers, and special attractions were killed in the crash. Things quickly went from bad to worse to downright surreal, as the trains caught fire and soon became a huge inferno. They say that to this day, the haunting and crash are on a constant repeat. That's the history. Now for a report. My cousin Nicholas used to live in Hammond.

He would travel to Michigan City all the time. Michigan City is where the train was heading from to go to Hammond. He was spending a night enjoying the crisp bottom air near the side of the crash in 2017, when he heard screams, roars, brays, winnies, and a huge smashing of metal. He looked around, but there was no train nor animal to be found.

He then began to hear crackling flames and he even smelled smoke. He looked at the tracks and saw something crazy. A train surrounded by foggy red, yellow and orange flames and lights. He then saw another train appear out of thin air and collide with the flaming train. Then both trains vanished along with the flames and the noises ended. He told his girlfriend about it, but she didn't believe him.

He took her to the area a few months later, and as they waited, they suddenly heard a screeching of metal on metal and saw a transparent train with the numbers 8485 on the side.

Engine 8485 was the other train in the accident from a century before. It suddenly stopped as if it had hit an invisible wall, and his girlfriend heard screams, yells, cries of terror, and trumpeting of elephants, while Nicholas had the same sights, smells, and sounds as before. The two left, vowing never to return to the horrific scene of that accident after such an in-depth and real encounter.

Odds are, other people have seen and heard a replay as well. A Hammond resident named Bobby Spencer had a father who experienced the same thing while working as a break man. I went to Hammond in 2023 myself after hearing all of that.

I didn't see, smell, or hear anything, but I did have this intense feeling of sadness, loss, and fear, even though moments before I was happy, and during that time I wasn't lonely or depressed or anything, not even scared. In other words, the feelings of those crash victims overwhelmed me, giving me different emotions from what I felt before I went there. I was so sad, I almost cried, but I left before any tears were shed.

I suppose the spirits of these people and animals will never find peace due to the sudden shock, loss, and ends of their lives, taking their hopes and dreams with them. Rather than rest in eternal bliss, those spirits are trapped on the tracks, constantly replaying a horrific accident that will never be forgotten, but a seldom mentioned.

Shadow people, UFOs, and many odd experiences, from Trolls Leaf. I'm a 36-year-old female from Finland. I have many encounters and experiences which I would like to share with you all, so this is going to be a long post.

Before I tell you my real stories, there are a few things I need to explain beforehand. First of all, I grew up and lived in a super tiny town in the middle of nowhere, literally for 22 years. Our home was surrounded by forest as far as the eye could see in all directions. The closest neighbor was 10 minutes of a walk away, and the closest market was half an hour away by car.

The nearest city was about an hour's car ride away. We had no internet, no cell phones, back in those days.

My family of five is not religious, so any encounter you're about to read or hear has no connection to religion. However, my big sister and I are spiritual people with 20 plus years of experience and knowledge. Neither I nor anyone else in my family has ever used alcohol, drugs, or smoked. So those haven't affected my encounters either. These stories are in random order. So let's begin.

Our old home. Our home was an old two-leveled wooden house that we got from the church, because we would have been homeless otherwise. My father has always been handy and self-taught, so he did a lot of fixing and rebuilding in the house, building his second floor and many structures outside in the art as well. Everything was good and normal, but that would all change when I was about fifteen.

It was a sunny summer day. I was sweeping our big garage's floor, which was separate from the house. When suddenly I felt as if someone had snapped their fingers in my brain. I gasped out loud and almost dropped the room, screaming in shock in my head about how negatively I'd lived my life. Note, I was bullied in school by students and the headmaster for five years, so it left its mark.

Not to mention my father was angry 24-7, which made us live in constant fear. From that day on, I lived my life more happily, also opening up to spirits and beings.

At first I started to sense negative energies in our home. It made me feel like I had an apple slice stuck sideways in my throat. The worst feeling always came at night, because I was a night owl, staying easily awake until 6am. Another negative energy I sensed.

It was from the forest right across our front door, a few hundred meters away. That part of the woods was the worst. Inside the house, mainly in the kitchen, I would hear pots and pans clanging hard against each other in the cabin, like they had fallen. But when I went to investigate,

All of them were exactly in their ride spots. None of them had moved. Once my father heard it, too, when he was in the kitchen. He turned to look at me with this confused look in his eyes as I stood there at the doorway.

Neither of us said anything. It was all familiar to me, but knew to him. There were times when I heard these sounds, but I never bothered with them. They were harmless, after all. As a side note, squirrels or other animals did not get inside our home. In Finland, houses are very well built and insulated, because we have long, cold winters.

That negative energy or being, whatever it was, which was in our home during the nights, was more or less a different thing. Like I mentioned, I stayed awake at night and almost every night I felt that negativity, getting the feeling of an apple slice being stuck in my throat. My big sister, who has been a spiritual person much longer than I, sensed it too. It never attacked us physically, but its presence was enough to make us feel uneasy.

The worst part was going to the bathroom during the night. Now summer nights in Finland are very bright. The sun barely goes below the horizon, but you can still see clearly at 3am outside. It looks more like a cloudy day instead of night. So going to the bathroom during summer nights was okay. It was totally different during autumn and winter when the sun sets much earlier. Darkness consumes almost 19 hours of your day.

Our bedrooms were on the second floor, which was basically just one big room cut openly in half. Mother and father slept on the other side, the front yard side, and my brother and I slept on the backyard side. My big sister didn't live at home anymore during these times.

My bed was right next to the railing that prevented me from falling down the stairs, which led to the living room. Right next to the stairs was a bright night light for safety reasons so that none of us would fall down the stairs during the night while going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water. That night I got up, went down the stairs, walked through the living room and stopped at the living room's doorway.

The doorway, which led to hallways two and one, was right to my left. But a cross for me in the cottage's wall was a wide and big mirror. I feared that mirror so much during the dark nights. It always felt like I would see someone or something evil and dark staring back at me. So I avoided looking at it. I dashed to my left, going through hallway two, entering hallway one, where our small bathroom was.

hallway one was small and had a front door. Right next to it was this small window. On the wall across from the bathroom's door were three other small windows, all facing towards that eerie part of the forest I mentioned earlier. Whenever I went to the bathroom during these dark nights, I felt like there was a line of evil beings staring in through those windows. Those three other windows were meters high above the ground. So no one could have been looking in.

Back in those days, we also had a male, Belgian Shepherd, who barked at everything and everyone. So no one could come into our yard without him hearing and alarming everybody. When I left the bathroom that night, I rushed out of that first hallway, walking through the second, and came face to face with that horrible mirror again in the cottage. I usually managed to not look at it.

But sometimes I did, feeling more or less relieved when I didn't see anything, even though I still felt something. Coming back to the base of the stairs leading upstairs was the worst. After a few steps, I, like my siblings, felt a dark presence standing right behind us.

I rushed up the stairs, sometimes looking behind to see no one at the base of the stairs, but I still knew whatever it was, was there, looking at me.

I think this thing attached itself to me since I kept feeling it behind me, even years after we sold our house. I still fear mirrors during the nights. Only after I drew an art piece of myself looking at the mirror, seeing this black hooded figure behind me, did it vanish. I think it realized only then that I was aware of it. Other scary encounters at my old home.

These encounters happened during the darkest times of the year. For some reason the activity was more, well, active during autumn and winter.

One night I was in my bed around 3 or 4 am, trying to get some sleep, even though I still wasn't tired. I was on my back, suddenly feeling strong negative energy radiating from my parent's side. Just by turning my head to my left, I clearly saw everything in their room. Their bed was on the left, the end of it facing a small fireplace.

Right next to this fireplace was a huge and wide black maggot, and it was only a few meters away from me. The top part, which was standing up, was as tall as the fireplace with the flu, maybe my height, 5.3 feet, if not taller. While the lower part, maybe as long as the upper body part, was lying against the floor.

It had huge bulging eyes on the side of its head. The outer circles of its eyes were red, and the inner side was yellow with small black pupils. On either side of its body were red yellow round marks. If I had to describe it with a living real maggot, I would say it was very close to an elephant hawk moth. Except it was fully black, with those red yellow marks and eyes, with that horrible negative energy and intense gaze.

It just stood there, staring at me without even blinking. I was so scared. I think I've never been so scared before. I turned my back to it, hiding under my blanket. I closed my eyes and prayed to Archangel Michael to come chew it away, to keep it away from me and protect my home and family, just like my sister and taught me to do. It didn't take more than a few seconds after my prayer for that negative energy.

to fade away. I waited a bit more, finally daring to look. It was gone. The maggot thing had left, and I felt so thankful and relieved. But you can bet I didn't sleep that night.

I believe one reason why there was so much negativity in my old home was my father. He was always angry, hard to please, very strict with rules, and so on. I can say we had no normal childhood, thanks to him. His anger and negativity

Attracted who knows what into our home, from who knows where. However, I believe most of the things came into our home from that nasty forest across our front door. But I'll get to that later. More nighttime experiences. These experiences were short and thankfully not as scary, but very special.

so I want to share them too. Please note that in every story, the night light was always on during the night. Night one. As usual, I was on my back on my bed with my eyes closed around 3am, still feeling pretty awake.

A bright and big nightlight shone behind the railing across the staircase on my right, illuminating the whole upstairs entirely. As I kept lying still, I suddenly started to feel invisible water on my face. It was slightly and pleasantly warm.

very relaxing. I didn't bother to open my eyes since I felt so peaceful and safe. I felt this water sensation going down the middle of my forehead, like a waterfall, slowly traveling down my face. I have to say I have never felt so relaxed and safe as I did during this moment. It didn't last long, but it meant so much to me. It stopped as suddenly as it started. I slept very well that night.

Night 2. Again, I was on my bed, on my back, eyes closed. I wasn't tired even though the clock must have read around 3 or 4 a.m. This time, I didn't feel the water, but I heard the most heavenly music I've ever heard before.

In all honesty, there are no sounds or words on Earth to describe what I heard. And no, it wasn't the TV or radio or neighbors. Just like myself, my father has always been an extremely light sleeper. He would not have been able to sleep if the TV or radio were on.

Our neighbors also lived one kilometer away, so we never heard any sounds or saw any intrusive lights, not from them. There was also no traffic, since we lived at the end of a small forest road, far away from the main roads. I listened to this music in awe, almost in tears, since it touched my soul so much. It felt so homey. I feel sad I've never heard this music again, or anything even similar.

Night 3. Once more, I was on my bed, on my back, facing the ceiling with open eyes. All of a sudden, I noticed something coming down through the ceiling. It was the bottom half of an old armor. I watched silently in slight surprise as this armor came through the ceiling soundlessly, slowly landing by the side of my bed.

When its toes touched the floor, it vanished. I was surprised and stunned in a good way. You don't see that every day. And I haven't ever since. I wonder where that armor came from. To my knowledge, our home spot had no history or activity that could have caused that or explained it. Summer Day Encounter

One summer day I was standing in the kitchen. I had a clear view of the cottage's doorway. We had an open concept design back in the early 90s. I stood sideways, suddenly seeing a solid black shadowy figure standing at the doorway. Now, the doors were open all the way to the outside, since my other family members were outside with our dog, who was off leash 24-7.

He never left our yard, and like I said before, he barked at everything and everyone. Our old wooden floors also creaked under the slightest weight, so I would have heard the steps, so I knew it wasn't a real person standing at that doorway. I eyed him for a moment from the corner of my eye. He was wearing a black cape with a hood, being fully covered by it. I didn't see his face.

But his shape otherwise was like a person, a human, only when I turned to face him did he vanish. I was slightly stunned but didn't bother with it more than that. As long as they didn't have negative energy, I didn't worry. Dragon Ball Z Experience

Once again, on a sunny summer day, I was in the living room, watching Dragon Ball Z back in 2003, when it aired in Finland for the first time. I don't recall which episode it was, exactly, but I remember seeing Vegeta on the screen. God, I had a huge crush on him as a teenage girl. I smiled and thought, he's such a wonderful character.

Instantly right after that, I felt two fingers taking a strip of my long blonde hair between them, sliding down extremely gently. I knew I was alone at the time, my family was outside, and no stranger could have come in without our dog noticing. I smiled and said, thank you in my mind. I don't know who it was, but the touch was so loving and gentle, it made me happy. Meteor encounter

My brother, sister, and I stood on the second floor, staring out the window during a dark autumn evening, watching the stars. My sister was on the phone with her best friend.

I was eyeing the sky right above the treetops when I saw this big black meteor-like ball coming down fast. It had blue flames and small, regular flames. It went behind the treetops and most definitely hit the ground behind those trees. But there was no sound, no shaking ground, nothing. My little brother saw it too, but my big sister didn't for some reason.

It wasn't a star nor a plane, helicopter or anything like that. It honestly looked like a black meteor, and it was quite big. I wanted to go check it out, but I was too afraid, since my father had warned us to never wander into those woods. He had done that once, stepping on an unmarked well. Luckily, he didn't fall in fully, but he did hurt his leg, so we never went to investigate.

No one else showed up to investigate it either. I still wonder what it was.

I was maybe six years old when my big sister and I saw huge yellow lights a few times while walking home from school. There were always two of them. It was winter when we saw these lights many times, always in the same spot. They always appeared behind us, looking like a car's long front lights.

My sister always told me to walk by her side so that a car could pass by. Except, there was never a car. We were the last ones living at the end of that road, and car lights couldn't shine to that curvy spot behind the woods from our neighbor's yard, which was one kilometer away.

Once these two huge round lights appeared on the side of our home when we walked towards home. There were never any sounds. They just appeared and disappeared like that. But I think I might know what caused them.

I was coming home alone during a dark afternoon, maybe around 3 or 4 p.m. It was late autumn, early winter time, so the sun rose at 10 a.m. and set at 2 p.m. I climbed up the stairs on our porch, looking inside through the window next to our front door. Back then, we had a male German shepherd.

He was never aggressive towards us, so I was confused when I saw him in the first hallway. He was keeping his head down, hair all stood up. He was growling. I had never seen him like that before.

Then, something made me look up to my right. Right next to our porch, which was many meters above the ground, was a floating small UFO. It had a dome on top, a disc-shaped middle part, with colorful lines going around the ship with a line of small, round windows. And at the bottom was another dome. Inside the ship was a grayish-green light that I saw through the windows.

I wasn't afraid or numb or anything like that. I just was. I stared at it for some seconds before I saw movement. From left to right, a figure inside the ship moved around, stopping behind the second window.

It turned to face me. It looked like an alien. Big head, big black eyes, the usual. It looked at me and raised its long, skinny hand waving at me slowly. I couldn't see its mouth, but I could sense its happiness. That made me happy, so I waved back with a smile. Now, the next part is confusing, since I don't know which is the real memory.

One, I opened the front door and stepped inside. Our dog's still on alert, with his head down and hair up, but no longer growling. Or two, I just suddenly was standing inside the hallway, in front of our dog who looked at me with concern, like he was making sure I was okay. I was okay, but I never did see this alien or UFO again. Shadow person on a birch tree.

I don't remember why I was going downstairs during a summer day, but I stopped in front of the window on the second floor. As I looked outside, I noticed something on the birch tree in our backyard. Someone or something was sitting on one of the branches. It was a solid black humanoid figure.

It was squatting on a branch quite high up on the tree at the same level as our second floor window. It had no face, nor any other visible features. It had overly long arms that hung down with two long legs. I wasn't afraid, but rather surprised. However, I had no time for it, so I just ignored it and went downstairs. Later on, I learned that this creature was a shadow person. I find them quite fascinating,

I would see it a second time one school morning. I was in middle school, which was further away, so a taxi came to pick us up, taking us to a faraway bus stop. At one point, during the trip, I felt horrible. I didn't want to go to school since I was bullied, but no one knew about it. I was never brave enough to tell someone.

As I rolled all kinds of thoughts in my head, I noticed something by the side of the taxi, at the edge of the forest. It was the same shadow person. It was running on all fours, keeping up with the taxi easily.

I saw it only then when it emerged from the shadows of trees and bushes with morning sunlight hitting it. I was shocked, but soon happiness and relief filled me. It had come to escort me to tell me I would be alright. I just knew it. It wasn't bad or evil. I smiled at it, saying thank you in my head. Right after my thanks, this shadow person stopped and a big shadow.

and I never saw it again. I hope it still lives in those woods, knowing how happy it made me back then. How grateful I still am to it. Winter Troll

It was a cold winter night and I was awake, coming into the kitchen. As I turned the lights on, I noticed a white ball of fur sitting back towards me on the windowsill. It was the size of a kitten or so. However, its tail was long and thin, having a black tassel at the end.

I saw it only for a few seconds when I turned the lights on. It turned to look at me, then jumped down from the windowsill so quickly my eyes could not follow it. I know it wasn't a kitten or any other wild animal. I think it was some kind of winter troll because it looked a lot like one small white troll doll I had back in my childhood. Bird that called my brother's name.

One summer day my little brother and I sat on the couch in the living room. The couch was against the back wall near the stairs going upstairs. We had a window open upstairs at the time with a bug net to get some fresh air in. All of a sudden both my brother and I saw a small bird fly to the window upstairs. It was weird, but we didn't mind it too much.

However, what we did mind was the fact that the bird called out my brother's name once before flying off. My brother and I stared at one another, surprised, not saying a word. I still don't know what it was. Since in Finland, we don't have wild birds that can talk or mimic speaking.

Particular crows, yes, but it's illegal to have wild animals as pets here, which I think is a good thing. Wild animals belong in nature, after all. Anyway, there were many times when I would hear an unknown voice, female or male, call my name inside the house. It was always inside the house, too. It was never bad, though, or scary, just weird and confusing.

evil forest. Now to that evil forest I talked about.

Like I've said many times so far, the forest right across from our front door was bad, or evil if you want to call it that. It was honestly dark, vibrating with negativity, which made me fear it. It was normal during the summers, but during autumn and winter, when most parts of the day were dark, it was totally opposite. Back then, my father had a stallion. He left him in my care.

Every evening I went to feed him at 8 p.m., giving him water and hay for the night. However, the trip to the stable, which was at the other end of our yard, was different.

Right away when I stepped outside on the porch, I could feel lots of eyes on me staring at me from the forest, evil ones. I ran. I ran all the way to the stable, feeling terrified with those gazes on my back. Only after getting inside the stable,

did I feel safe, but I had to do the same when going back inside the house. I ran from the staples to the porch, going in as quickly as possible. Only after I locked the front door behind me did I feel safe. It was horrible. Not to mention all those red orbs I saw at the edge of the woods at different levels.

I didn't know whether they were eyes, orbs, or what, but I know red is never a good color in these kinds of situations. A few times I saw yellow warps, which didn't freak me out, but they were a small comfort in the end. Still, to the stay, I wonder what's in that forest. I'd like to investigate, but not having my own car or a license, it's impossible. I'm not even sure I would like to know the truth in the end.

out of body slash sleep paralysis experiences. I never had any of these until I moved to my current apartment after my big sister moved out about 11 years ago. All was good at first until one night.

I woke up. I couldn't move or talk. I freaked out then, trying to scream myself awake and panic. But that didn't help. I begged Dark Angel Michael to come help me. And soon after, I passed out, waking up later, normally. Many other times were the same, either in my place or somewhere else. I always freaked out and tried to scream myself awake.

Once I was visiting my big sister when this happened. She has a small flat with one room, a tiny kitchen, and a tiny bathroom. She slept on the bed at the end of the room while I slept on the couch. I woke up on my back, my right arm up on the back of the couch. I realized I was having sleep paralysis, so I tried to scream myself awake again.

Suddenly I saw a white glowing being emerging from my big sister. It walked to me behind the couch, taking gentle hold of my arm and placing it back in my lap before vanishing. I woke up and told this to my sister later the same day. We both instantly agreed that the light being had been my sister's higher self, who came to my rescue.

Many other times I just wake up, realizing I'm walking inside either my apartment, my sisters, or my moms, if I'm visiting either of them. The moment I realize I'm having an out-of-body experience is when I try to turn on the lights. My hand just goes through the switch. It annoys me and I angrily tell myself to get back in my own body. It works, though I still don't enjoy those experiences. Ghost in the attic

On one occasion I've seen a ghost. My mother and I took my big sister to her friend's house when we were teenagers. The house at the farm was hundreds of years old. As I sat in the back seat of the car, I looked up at the attic window. There I saw an old woman's face. She looked very sour. I knew in an instant she was a spirit. I wasn't afraid, just fascinated.

She didn't stay behind the window for long. When I looked away and looked back, she was already gone. I later told my sister about it, and she knew to tell me that her friend's grandmother lived in the attic as a spirit. Sadly, the house burned down last month. I hope the grandmother has now found peace since she was quite an angry looking ghost. She apparently pushed people down the stairs if they dared come to the attic, which was her place.

guardian angel. We all have a guardian angel from our birth to our death. I feel blessed to have managed to meet mine. However, it happened via a dream. I was very open to getting messages and visions via dreams when I was younger. In this dream, I was dancing in a circle with angels on pink clouds. Five of them I didn't know, but the angel to my left was Michael, and the angel to my right was my guardian angel.

Well, when I was working at a daycare in 2003 through 2004, I was lying on my stomach on the bed between two children. I was reading them a story to help them fall asleep and take a nap.

In the middle of my reading, I felt a big warm palm on my lower back. It was such a loving touch that it made me smile and filled me with gentle joy. I know it wasn't any of the adults since I was in the room alone, and it wasn't any child since the kids were small, between two and a half and four years old.

One was already asleep, and the other was still looking at me. Eventually they both were sleeping, and I got out of the room, still feeling amazed by the touch. I just knew it was my angel.

The second time my angel stepped in to help me, I was walking to a nearby market with my mother during the summer. It was maybe eight years ago, if not longer. In the nearby yard were two girls, maybe ten at most, who were going to take a hunting dog for a walk. As my mom and I walked forward, two bikers went past us, but we all stopped when we heard those girls scream.

My mother was way ahead of me going down the hill, stopping to wait for me as I spun around, coming to stand behind the bikers. I saw the dog, running away from the girls without a collar or a leash right beside the road. The girls screamed and yelled at the dog, but I didn't listen.

It was then when I felt a strong but gentle encouraging push on my back. Like a mother who pushes her child forward, telling them to be brave and say hi. I've never felt so confident as I took firm steps forward, stepping out behind the bikers. The dog was still far away, but I pointed in front of me, saying loud and firm, here,

and the dog came. He ran to me instantly, stopping to stand in front of me sideways panting hard. The other girl yelled at me to grab him, but I didn't. I pet him instead, knowing deep inside he wouldn't go anywhere. The girls came and took the dog. Bikers stared at me like I was something beyond this world.

After I was sure the girls would be okay with the dog, which appeared to be not well-trained, I turned around and headed to my mom, continuing our trip to the market. I felt and still feel so amazing when I think of that moment when my angel gave me that push. Who knows what would have happened to the dog and the girls if my angel had not given me that push? Shadow people at my sister's place.

I used to visit my big sister four times a year when she was living with her roommate in a bigger apartment. During one of my visits, something happened. Her roommate's family was coming to visit, so there wasn't enough space for all of us. And my sister went to spend the night at her best friend's house, giving me her room. It was late.

and I lay on my back on her bed. The bed's head was against the wall. On my left was a wall with a big window. A cross for me was another wall, so my right was a wall with closets, and right next to the bed on my right was a door, which was closed for privacy reasons. The curtain was open and city lights were shining outside, brightening the room. I saw everything clearly. I closed my eyes, sighed, and relaxed.

You know that moment when you close your eyes very tight and everything goes black? Well, imagine a second layer of that darkness coming inside your eyelids. That happened to me. Everything became more black. In bewilderment, I opened my eyes, coming face to face with a solid black face.

It had no eyes, no eye sockets, no nose, no mouth, no hair, no ears, nothing that a normal person would have, just a simple and clear black silhouette. It was right there in front of my face. If this shadow person had a nose, it would have been pressed against mine hard. It was so close to me. I stared at it for a second or two before it seemingly realized I was awake and looking at it.

This shadow person jumped back in clear panic, standing up by the side of the bed. It was tall and thin. From there it glided with great speed past the bed, right through the closed bedroom door, all done without a sound. I set up, staring after it. I was rather surprised and happy, but also felt sorry for the poor thing.

I know some shadow people are curious about us humans, but they're also very shy, not wanting to scare us. This was one of them, so I apologized to it in my mind, then lay back down. I was able to sleep well that night without it visiting me again. However, it would show up to me a few days later.

I was sitting in the living room where I could see the kitchen and my sister's roommates closed door, while my sister sat on a chair across from me. Her roommate sat between us, playing with her PS3. I sat on my mattress on the floor. As I sat there, I noticed a figure from the corner of my eye.

It was the shadow person, the very same one from that one night. It stood shyly at the kitchen's doorway near the roommate's door. Its body language and energy gave out a sign that said, I'm scared. I'm shy. Please don't be afraid. I'm unsure. I didn't mean to scare you earlier. I felt bad for it once again, so I smiled at it after turning to look, thinking

It's alright, I'm not afraid." This shadow person visibly relaxed, standing up straight instead of trying to bend forward, making itself small and hiding. It felt happy, but most of all, relieved. After it stood straight and relaxed, it disappeared.

I later told my sister about it, and she informed me that her roommate, just like she herself, had seen this same shadow person a few times, but the roommate refused to talk about it, or listen to anything about it, because she feared it. That's why my sister and I always talked about it and other supernatural things when her roommate was at work. Because to us, the spirit world isn't scary if you know how it works and how to handle it.

These days I wonder where that shadow person is. Is it still in that apartment? Or has it moved on to somewhere else? Helping the soul move on. This happened in 2016.

I was alone at home around 1am when I suddenly got a huge urge to meditate. Back then, I meditated very rarely. I had no idea what was going on, but I had a feeling someone desperately wanted to speak to someone. I lit a candle and incensed, said a protection prayer, and started to meditate after grounding myself.

It didn't take long for me to travel to a nearby hospital, landing in a room with a bed. On the hospital bed lay a skinny old man, clearly weak and sick. I had never seen him before, still haven't, and yet instantly I knew who he was. Beside the bed were his son, his daughter, and my mother, because my mother was dating this son who was in the room. No one else saw me except the dying old man,

I smiled softly at him as I made my way to the edge of the bed. Sitting down, facing him, I placed my hand on his, holding it gently, then asked, do you see bright light? He whispered happily, yes. I smiled softly and asked, are you afraid? Do you feel okay? He said, no, I'm not, and I feel great.

warm and calm." I nodded and smiled, saying my last words. Then go. You're free to go if you want. He felt so happy and relieved after hearing that, and finally relaxed. Soon after, my meditation ended, and I went to bed.

when I woke up the next morning and checked my Facebook. My mother had sent me a private message saying this old man had passed away during the night around 1 a.m.

I felt happy and relieved. He was now gone. Since, as my mom had told me, the man had had a rough life with an abusive wife who kept him starved and abused in many other ways. He was now in love and light, in peace and free. He only needed someone to come and give him permission to leave.

At times, souls don't move on because their loved ones keep telling them not to go. It's important to support our loved ones, encourage them to heal, but we also must learn when to let go and give them permission to leave, no matter how much it hurts to let go. They deserve love and peace, always remaining in our hearts and minds.

These were my experiences, at least so far in life. I hope you all enjoyed them despite the fact that this was quite a long set of stories, maybe not so well written or told. But thank you for listening, nonetheless. I wish you all the best lives.

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