When the sun goes down and the lights are off, it seems to be a welcome sign for ghosts and ghouls to come play.
Footsteps behind you and handprints in the windows leave a chill down your spine. Your only comfort is that constant reminder that it’s all in your head. Ghosts aren’t even real, right?Digging a little deeper, you might be frightened to learn that some of the scariest tales are true.

Grab a flashlight and a blanket, as you read the stories that aren’t made up.

“[Looking] back, she couldn’t see anything and wasn’t going in there to flip the light back on and check. The bruises remained for a couple days but eventually went away.” – nomorepumpkins

“Now, the Pink Room is basically the main activity room and most of the time, its a totally normal, boring conference room. It’s pretty big, but in no way over-the-top special, at least during the day…

“[My mom] was one of the head waitresses for events for the pink room. They had a rule that whenever you closed down the building after an event, you always did it in pairs. This was a pretty obvious rule for safety.

“What struck [her] as odd was that at the end of an event, you had to set all the tables and chairs up against the wall. The last thing you would do is turn off the light and then make your way to the door on the other side of the room.

“When she turned off the light the sound of dragging furniture started. In full sprint, she took off towards the door, when all of the sudden, a full table slammed into her, throwing her to the ground. She crawled and ran the rest of the way to the door.

“[Looking] back, she couldn’t see anything and wasn’t going in there to flip the light back on and check. The bruises remained for a couple days but eventually went away.” – nomorepumpkins

“When I was a kid, I woke up in the middle of the night to my bed shaking. Normally, that would scare the crap out of me, but instead, I was just kind of annoyed. I rolled over and muttered, ‘Stop it.’

“The shaking stopped immediately. Then, a male voice speaks right beside me, saying, ‘Sorry.’ That’s when I freaked out.

“I’m pretty sure my childhood house was haunted.” – NinaLaPirat

“I was driving home from work one night when I see a little girl on a tricycle riding across the street and into some woods that drop off into a creek. I brake and skid to avoid her and walk to where I thought she fell.

“I see no one in the woods, and a cop pulls up to ask me what I am doing. I tell him he was the person I needed and that I saw a little girl riding her tricycle across the street heading into that area where it dropped off.

“He then tells me right away that I saw what some other drivers here have seen. More than 40 years ago, a child was killed riding her tricycle across that section of road. Others have seen her multiple times. Sometimes walking, other times on her tricycle.”– AndGraceToo

“My friend and I would stay over each other’s house since we attended the same school and would take turns driving to get there. One of the nights I stayed at her place, we were getting ready to sleep.

“The lights were off and her windows were still boarded up from the hurricane that had hit. We were just talking, nothing special, when I looked over and saw this black mass gliding from her bedroom door, past us, and into the closet.

“The moment it came into view, I was filled with this deep sense that made my eyes water. I whispered to ask her if she had seen it too and she had. Needless to say, sleep did not come easily that night.” —Samizara

“I woke up to get a glass of water at night and passed my dad on the way to the kitchen. I asked him something about where was he going. He walked right past me like he didn’t see or even hear me, just was in a type of trance, and he walked out the front door. I looked out the front window, and he was sitting on our sidewalk under a tree, hands on his knees staring into the dark.

“I went to my mom’s room to ask her what dad was doing, she said, ‘What do you mean? He’s right here?’ she scooted over, and there was my dad, laying in bed asleep.” – frankenboo

“When I was a kid, I once woke up in the middle of the night. Complete silence. I looked around the room and behind a wardrobe, I saw a small hand waving at me. It was like a kid’s hand, it was dark but I remember seeing it so clearly, I could see each finger.

“I started crying and screaming and my parents had to check my room few times before I would fall asleep.” — Andysaurus_Rexx

“At my previous job, our building was still under construction. The only floors that were occupied were the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th. One time, I was alone inside the elevator going from 1st to the 6th floor when, suddenly, it stopped and opened on the 3rd floor.

“Normally, I would just disregard it, but rumors were all over that a ghost child was playing around on the vacant floors.

“So I pressed the close button as I fast as I could. When it closed, I heard noises like someone was tapping their fingers on the walls of the elevator.” – sizzlorr26

8| Footsteps

“When I was little, I would always sleep with my door open. I went through a phase where I would wake up between 3:00/4:00 A.M. every night, and every single night I would hear footsteps. They would always stop before my door, turn around, and go down to the basement.

“But one night they didn’t stop.

“That night, I saw a shadow of a little boy walk right in front of my doorway, look at me for a few seconds, then walk away, back down the stairs. I slept with the door closed the next night.” – asds10

“One time I fell asleep on the couch. Around 1 in the morning I woke up and saw a man walk through the wall adjoining our living room to my brother’s bedroom. The man noticed me and turned to face me.

“He had half of his face missing as if he had been dragged along the highway. He put his finger to his lips as if to tell me not to tell anyone and then turned forward and walked through our glass door out into the yard. I ran into my brother’s room to find an empty bed.

“I run screaming and crying to my parents, and they start trying to find him. When they finally got in touch with him they found out he had been at a college party drinking. My dad went to pick my brother up.

“The next day we found out that the kid who was originally going to drive my brother home was killed when he was ejected from his car during a drunk driving accident.”– emmiebe18

“When I was a teenager, I used to babysit my cousin Alyssa. She was little, maybe almost two, maybe a little older, old enough to say sentences.

“I’m giving her a bath before bed when she looks out into the hallway and gets a terrified look on her face and starts crying. The atmosphere in the room became uncomfortable, and I started getting scared.

“I took her downstairs to try and calm her down. I asked her what was wrong, and she said something along the lines of ‘The man with the black eyes’ was there. When I continued to pry, she looked up at the second-floor stairs, her eyes getting big and looks at me, bringing her finger up to her mouth and said, ‘shh,’ while shaking her head ‘no.'” – FuzzyBanditz

“Years and years ago there was this little girl that would be dropped off at this bridge to swim under the creek every day while her parents worked on their farm. One day, she drowned in the creek.

“Legend has it, if you drive to this bridge, park your car, cut your lights and engine and honk three times, she will come to your car. Supposedly, this is how her parents would pick her up.

“[Trying it for ourselves,]  we all heard the sound of something tapping against the roof of the car. Immediately we freaked out, and got the hell out of there. We stopped at a nearby gas station to refill the tank for the ride home, but before any of us got out of the car, my friend yelped. I turned to him, and he was pointing at his window, and there was a small hand print, too small to be any of ours.

“I went to wipe it off as if to say ‘Nice try,’ except when I did, the hand print was still there…from the outside…

“And that wasn’t the only [one]. Every single mirror of the car had hand prints on them, all the same size and shape as the first one we discovered.

“Sufficed to say, I’m never going back to that bridge.”–Frank_The_Dank_Tank

“I lived in this house with a basement. Every time I walked up the stairs I would get this weird creepy goosebumps feeling on the back of my neck. My craft room was down there, so I spent a lot of time there.

“I would have items I was using disappear when I looked away from them. One day I got frustrated and to no one in particular, I said, ‘Can I please have my scissors back?’ I had just looked under a pile of new mail and when I turned my head, my scissors were on top of the pile.

“My neighbor told me that the original owner of the house was a jolly old man who loved to prank people. He had fallen coming up the stairs one day and died. I think [he was] trying to tell me to be careful! Every time after that, when something would disappear, I would politely ask for it back and it would appear.” – ScarletBeezwax

13| I See You

“When I was about 10-11 years old, I saw a ghost. I was playing a game with my cousin, and decided to head downstairs. But when I opened the door, I saw a lady.

“She looked like she was from the 1800’s, but from a poor family. She had a long dress and a bonnet, so you couldn’t see her hair. She was walking to the wall, and when she saw me, she opened her mouth like she was screaming…

“And then she ran and disappeared through the wall.”–bellathealien

Join us at the Castle this Friday the 13th! Do you think you’re brave enough?