I think I have shared, over the years a bunch of personal and passed-down stories that serve to raise the hairs on the back of the neck. 

The stories I tend to listen to the most and the ones that creep me out are those stories from people who are pretty solid. You know, the folks who rarely stray from the normal. These are folks who usually don’t subscribe to nonsense or get too caught up in anything dramatic or attention seeking.

One story I can think of was told to me by a family member years ago. He had been staying at the home of his parents and family members had been up late looking at old photos, telling family stories from way back and basically going down memory lane.  It was late when they all retired.

Sometime in the middle of the night, this relative decided to come downstairs for a drink or a trip to the bathroom. As most people do, he didn’t want to disturb others, so he decided not to turn on any lights. He made his way downstairs, guiding himself mostly by touch and the glow of either the moon, streetlights outside, or both.

At the bottom of the stairs was the kitchen. Now, this was an older home, so the kitchen may have been a little larger than most.  In this kitchen there was room for a table and chairs, the regular counters and appliances and an old, well-built rocking chair that had been in the family for several years.

As this relative recalls, he made his way to the bottom of the stairs. The door leading from the stairwell into the kitchen was left open to keep the upstairs area from getting too cold or stuffy, depending on the season. Therefore, once he got to the bottom of the stairs, he walked directly into the kitchen.

Sitting in the rocking chair, facing a window, was a man. The man was rocking in the chair and did not look at the person who told me this story. He continued to rock for awhile as my relative adjusted his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. He was there long enough to look closely at the person sitting in the rocking chair.

The “person” looked like his own grandfather, who had passed away in 1953. This was a good 20-25 years after.

My relative telling the story said he did not feel alarmed. It seemed almost natural to see his grandfather sitting there. He does not remember if the “being” disappeared or how the incident ended, but he does remember telling the family about it the next day and having them all believe him.

A college friend of mine lived in one of the oldest dorms on campus, a dorm known for lots of activity and never being short on strange stories. The building had been on campus since the 1920s or earlier and had plenty of stories told about it over the years.  

A few of us sat in the floor of my tiny apartment late one night, unwinding after classes and our off-campus jobs. On this particular night, rumors had floated around campus of a “stalker” of sorts.  

Girls especially were traveling in groups and there was an uneasy feeling on campus. It was one of those warm fall evenings.  The windows of my apartment were open and the breeze rattled the leaves outside. 

We heard a cat howl at one point, on top of various clanks and unexplained noises from a nearby warehouse, various trash cans, the bar a few blocks away, or the spooks that may have been out that night.

Let’s just say we were primed and ready for some hair-raising stories.

One friend turned to the other and finally talked her into telling all of us about “that night when she was a freshman.” We were now nearing the end of our college career, so this particular story had happened a few years before.

You know a story is going to be good when someone says “I’ve just gotten to the point where I can talk about this story.  For a long time, I wouldn’t even talk about it.” We all gathered in, intrigued by the way she began and spooked already at the somewhat strained look she had on her face.

It seems my friend had gone to bed early one night, not feeling well, and had decided to see if a good night of rest would help.  The dorm room was all dark except for a very small light left on in the corner.  

My friend was alone in her dorm room, not sure when her roommate would return.

At one point in the evening, she rolled over, opening her eyes a little and waking up as one does in the night. As she rolled over, she saw a figure crouching down in the corner of her room. It seemed to have a distorted sort of head. She froze in horror, closed her eyes tight and then reopened them.

The figure disappeared, only to  reappear when she opened her eyes again. My friend says she knew she wasn’t dreaming and just closed her eyes tightly, praying that whatever this was would go away.  

After a good amount of time, she opened her eyes.  She said she felt paralyzed in her bed, and was relieved when her roommate came in. As she told us earlier, she couldn’t talk about what happened for days.

She was so haunted by the appearance of this creature and by the way she felt that night, that she finally talked to a priest about it. His explanation was that most likely, someone in the building was messing around with the occult; maybe a Ouji board or seance or something. 

 He said he believed that such activity, even in jest or for entertainment sake, could stir up dark things from the spirit world.

Again, this particular person was a no-nonsense person. Not one to believe in the silly stuff. Not one to share hearsay or frivolous mumbo jumbo.

Plus, as I listened to these people tell their stories, their faces and voices changed. They were telling the truth.

Look, I believe there is spiritual warfare going on around us all the time.  Once in a while, some of us are going to stumble onto the unexplained, the weird and the scary.

Got any good stories?  Shoot me an email at marksremarks10@gmail.com.