I may not like haunted houses, but I can tell you ghost stories to keep you up at night.
Stories about my first trip to Molokai when I was a kid and I swore there were people — or spirits — swarming around me. Stories about seeing Pele dancing in the spewing lava on a geology trip to the Big Island. Stories about dead cats clawing at my legs, voices in my ears, shadows in my windows, scratch marks that I can’t explain and a dress hanging in my doorway.
Who needs haunted houses!
For most of my life, I’ve come to understand, I’ve been plagued by spirits. I would see people no one could see, smell things no one else could smell. It’s hard to explain.
One of my visitors was turned into a character in Lois Ann Yamanaka’s book, “Behold the Many: A Novel.” (She thanks me in the acknowledgements for letting her borrow him for this story.)
I don’t like to talk about this, this, whatever it is, a gift, an affliction. I’d rather keep the doors shut so nothing gets in. People who know understand what I mean.
But the more I share these stories, the more I realize how many people have their own personal stories. About dead grandparents visiting them. About unexplainable messages left on dollar bills or in books. About hearing things — usually crying babies or laughing women — in public restrooms around Hawaii.
These stories send shivers up my own spine, too.
So in the spirit — no pun intended — of Halloween, I thought it would be cool to share our stories.
I want to know what’s your scariest personal ghost story. Where were you? What happened? And what do you make of it now?
Scare me!
17 Comments
for years I’ve read and heard stories of the choking ghost that sits on folks in bed and chokes them
I didn’t pay to much attention
Till I moved into my current apartment 2 year ago
Now I know what folks are talking about
I live alone
It has happend to me about 60 times
At one point it was three times a week
Sometimes it doesn’t occur for a month
But mostly it’s every 2 weeks
It visited me last Thursday night
It comes visiting night or day
Happens when I’m in bed, or on the couch watching TV
And I feel a prescence lie next to me
or on top me
can’t see it
but I can definately feel it
I can’t move
Can’t lift my arms, or turn over, or turn my head
Pins me down
And the damn thing talks to me
Whispers in my ear
Breathes hot breath on my neck
Pokes its’ fingers on my ear, or my back
Gross
It’s happened so often, it’s no longer scary
more annoying than anything else
I can’t move, but I can speak
I tell that damn thing to “F*&@ off ”
sometimes it goes away
sometimes it hangs around
but it doesn’t choke me, yet
that’s probably why I tolerate it for so long
That same thing happened to my brother long time ago. My parents had the house blessed and that never happened again.
Oh, I know the chocking ghost really well. It only happens in certain areas of certain houses I’ve lived in. I haven’t had that problem in this new place. Knock on wood.
I believe it’s called sleep paralysis and there is a scientific explanation.
I’m an amateur paranormal investigator and have talked to a few people who swear their experiences were supernatural. Not to take away from their (or your) experience, but there are other possible explanations if you would care to research.
Not my site but good info here:
https://www.trueghosttales.com/nightmares/sleep-paralysis.php
Truth be told, I’ve always been somewhat jealous of people who are able to believe in ghosts and/or paranormal activity. It must be thrilling to believe one has experienced such things as it plays a certain part in one’s life and memories…
I guess I’ve always been too demanding of scientific explanations to support the belief in monsters, ghosts, magic, etc. …and it goes on into my questioning of dogma and religion as well…
I honestly do long for the days of my youth when the belief in mystical things led to exhilarating times with adrenaline filled moments!!! My friends now all have fun in retelling and comparing their stories and experiences; and I’m always the one looked at as the odd one when asked about my own and I reply that I don’t believe in such things! It is a genuine disappointment that I can’t join in. Maybe it’s not too late for me yet!!!
!!! H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N !!!
What? Jealous? You don’t want it. Trust me. It’s not any fun.
The scariest experience in any parent’s life is when child custody and a four day hearing loom large. Never ever been more afraid of anything before and since not too afraid of anything anymore. Ok,, it isn’t a ghost story. But those few moments before the judge hands down the ruling will make the strongest person’s knees buckle.
my dad’s aunty was psychic and a Shingon Buddhist monk. she had all sorts of stories about spirits and blessings and said that there were some blessings that she couldn’t do because the evil spirits would attack her since she was able to sense their presence. for those, a non psychic monk would have to fill in for her and conduct the blessing because they weren’t sensitive/aware or the spirits.
when she trained in Japan, she was at a particular garden when she saw a rock whose features showed a distinct ape face on it. she asked one of the older monks about it and he told her that he did not see the ape face but that it was given to the garden by an ancestor of ours whose nickname was “monkey man” due to his short legs and long arms. she took a picture of the rock and showed it to us. it turns out that even in the picture, the ape face was distinct…to our family. the direct descendants could clearly and instantly, often without prompting, see the face in the rock. our relatives with no blood ties (and other randoms who saw the picture) could not make out the face, though. even when the features were pointed out in the picture, viewers would start to see the face, but it would go away pretty quickly.
That is SO interesting. I hear this “gift,” or whatever you call it, is passed through families. Interesting story!
Hello Cat,
My wife can feel spirits like you.
A few years ago while in Japan we stayed at a hotel that offered a traditional tatami matted bedroom for and additional 100.00. My wife wanted to go for the traditional room, I don’t understand why we had to pay extra to sleep on the floor, we should have gotten a discount. Anyways, about 3am my wife heard foot steps in the bedroom, When you walk on a tatami mat it makes kinda like a swooshing sound and that’s what she heard. At first she thought it was me but when she openned her eyes, I was right there next to her still a sleep and she still could hear the foot steps so she cloesd her eyes and then she felt a chill. She felt both of her legs being pulled and she let out a scream so loud the whole floor could have heard it. I jumped up and she yelled, “turn on the lights!”. She explain what happened and told me to trun on every light in the room and look around the room to see if someone else is here. I looked and nothing. We didn’t go back to sleep, good thing we only stay for the night because she wouldn’t have stayed. To lighten things up, I told her for the extra we paid the spirit was included. She didn’t think it was funny.
LOL, I had to laugh about paying extra to sleep on the ground! And that the spirit was included! Hahahahaha!
But back to her story, that’s super scary. I don’t think I would’ve stayed either. Creepy.
Hey Cat … awww!!! … I created a post … kinda long … had to step away … tried to submit … but lost connection … and lost my post …
… boo hoo!!! …
… maybe I’ll try to recreate it … if I remember it …
… HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! …
Post it again! I want to read!
Well, it’s not really a haunted story, but like you I can feel spirits too. I live in this little house here in Fort Worth, Texas that was built sometime in the 40’s. I have a couple of spirits that live with me I know for sure that I have this little old woman that still calls this house home. She really made herself known to me when I was going through my divorce, she would always sit at the foot of my bed while I cried myself to sleep. I know that my aunt comes by every once in a while. I have her favorite wind chime hanging on my back porch and that thing will start singing even when not one drop of a breeze is around. I sense her, then the last I have would be another woman or even a gentle old man who loves his old music. I can hear old old old victorian record player music in one room of my house. I have never felt danger or evil with them, so I find comfort in them here with my pups and I. Other than that I can feel spirits in people’s homes or even when I go looking for spirits at haunted places. I love the paranormal, I love knowing that there is something else then what the books write.
… ok Cat … I’m back …
… sorry, I was just going to talk about similar experiences I’ve had … it was a collection of stuff I thought was unusual … but in got zapped … maybe because it’s Halloween today …
… buahhhahahahhahaha!!! …
… but here of some experiences in my home … the abbreviated version …
… in my bedroom, I see shadows go past my bedroom door … always at night … always when I’m home alone … it doesn’t frighten me though … I just notice it often …
… lights in certain rooms are mysteriously on … doors or drawers are left open after I swear I closed them … I might just be forgetful … but it always surprises me …
… I’ve experienced being held down while I’m sleeping … it feels like someone is on top of me … pushing down of my chest or holding my arms down … I can’t move … I think my eyes are wide-open but I don’t know … it feels like I’m awake …
… I have unexplained scratches on my neck, chest or back … I usually find it in the morning … I thought it was from a necklace that I wore, but the scratches are beyond where the necklace touches … and it looks like finger nail scratches … like 3 or 4 nails scraped acrossed my body … it’s red in the morning, but disappears by mid-day …
… late at night … usually past midnight … I would hear drumbeats in the distance … I used to think it was just neighbors tv or music playing … but the drumbeats were steady and rhythmic and would continue longer than a typical song … someone told me about nightmarchers and that my house may have been along a path that ancient warriors may have used … but I don’t know …
… and this one particular story … is not spooky … but … well … a few years back … I was in a particularly stressful situation … and I had an important but stressful interview the next day … I don’t want to say what it was, but let’s just say I had sleepless nights and shoulder and back aches because of it … anyway, that night as I’m walking though my house … I smell a distinct smell of those muscle creams like Icy Hot or Bengay … that smell like menthol … strange thing is that I don’t use those creams and didn’t have it in my house … but then it dawned on me that my Dad used that alot and it reminded me of him … my Dad passed away about 10 years ago … at that moment, I had such a calming effect on my body … and a warmth spread through my body, as if some burden had been lifted … I really believe he was there to support me … and assure me that things would be alright … needless to say, everything did turn out fine …
… there’s one more I’d like to share …
… this one happened way back in high school … one night, I was out with four friends doing, well, what kids normally do … goofing off and having fun … later that night, we decide to head to Ala Moana Beach Park … well, this was before it was shut down at night …
… it was about midnight … and we parked on the main street at the entrace to Magic Island … we get out of the car … a few of us sat on the sidewalk … and a couple of us sat on the trunk of the car … we were there for about a half an hour just talking, when we notice someone walking towards us from a distance near where the concession stand was …
… it was kind of dark because of the overhanging trees … but when this person moved out of the shadows … what I remember seeing was a woman dressed in a long white flowing dress(?) … she had long white hair, but I couldn’t tell what her ethnicity was … I don’t know who or what she was … but her appearance was ghost-like …
… she moved towards us … making no sound … and did not attempt to say anything to us … but she had a grin on her face … she stopped just about ten feet from the back of the car … so we jump up off the sidewalk and the two on the trunk jump off … now we’re all standing there just staring at her and I think someone asked what did she want … again, she says nothing and just grins but now she has her hands folded over her chest …
… at that point, someone yells for everyone to get in the car … so the driver gets in and starts the car … everyone else gets in the car … except one of my friends who hopped off the trunk and was now standing beyond where the lady was … his path to the car was blocked by the woman … he tried to move one way, she moved with him … he moved the other way, she followed … we yelled at him to run a certain way and hop on the car … he runs around her, jumps onto the hood and we drive off about 50 ft … we stopped and he got into the car … and we sped off … we did not look back …
… that was scary and strange … to say the least … we did not know if she was a psycho … or dangerous … had a weapon … or whatever ….
… thinking back at it though … I think some of us should have stayed outside the car with my friend and made sure we all got in safely … it’s crazy to think we left our friend outside … because there were five of us there … and just one lady … but one hella scary lady!!! …
Have you seen “Ghost Adventures” on the Travel Channel? I’m curious what you think of the paranormal investigators and the ways by which they try to document the events “scientifically.”