Scary stories thread

A few weeks ago I asked Thought Catalog readers to share their scariest experiences with us. These are the scariest accounts our readers sent in. Tell us your own in the comments! My brother’s girlfriend moved in, and brought her demons with her This happened to my older brother. His ex-girlfriend used to live with my parents and me at our house until they could get back on their feet after a financially difficult period. Krista used to tell me stories about how she has always been able to see “things” ever since she was a little girl. When they moved in, I immediately could tell that something had changed. The air felt heavier and it felt like there was always something was watching you, especially at night. Well what happened to my brother was nothing short of a “Paranormal Activity” scene. Anyone who owns an Xbox Kinect knows that it throws those green dots all over the place. My brother woke up in the middle of the night and saw a reflection in their TV. There was someone standing at the foot of his bed and the Kinect registered it. The figure crossed the length of his bed and stood next to him. His girlfriend woke up and the figure vanished. After he told me that, I always kept a light on and was happy when they moved to Ohio. When Krista left, so did whatever she brought with her. I believed in paranormal stuff before, but it was what nightmares are made of.

We lived in a bungalow type house. The dinning room would be a hallway away from the two rooms facing each other. I was in one of the bedrooms, after not finding an interesting show on TV I turned it off. I grab a magazine and flip through the pages. I usually love to read about horror stories or articles since it’s more interesting than the local news. When I finished the last article I hear footsteps coming from the hallway. You see, I know my family really well, I know who’s footsteps belonged to who so when I heard a different type of thud my heart started beating fast. The footsteps sounded like it was running around, it would run in circles at a certain part then ran back to the end of the hallway, it continued a few times. I wanted to wake my niece whom was peacefully sleeping but she wouldn’t even stir. Gulping down, I went to open the door and ran to the dining room where the hallway ends. I saw my other niece watching TV with the maid and my father cooking. With a shaky voice I asked “We’re you running around?” My 6 year old niece looked at me oddly before shaking her head. “We’ve just been watching T.V. ever since you went inside.” The maid answered. I looked at my father whom was suddenly intrigued of my sudden nervousness “Pa, didn’t you hear anything?” He shook his head. “Someone was running around.”I exclaimed. My father shook his head with a smile. “Must be one of our friends again.” Our house used to be a rice field, they say the Spaniards killed some people here and left hidden until someone find their remains.

A celebrity saw me in my night clothes. Imagine wearing your silky night bottoms in front of one of the hottest people on the planet.

The power is out in my house, and I'm still here sitting in my house on the same internet connection. How is that possible? WTF is going? There is no one around, and pitch black outside.

~~~~~I'd thought I'd post this in case no one has read it. It was something that I was fascinated with in the past but its all based on true events. After reading, you can search "dibbuk box" to find out more about it. sorry, it's a long read but its worth it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All of the events that I am about to set forth in this listing are accurate and may be verified by the winning bidder with the copies of hospital records and sworn affidavits that I am including as part of the sale of the cabinet. During September of 2001, I attended an estate sale in Portland Oregon. The items liquidated at this sale were from the estate of a woman who had passed away at the age of 103. A grand-daughter of the woman told me that her grandmother had been born in Poland where she grew up, married, raised a family, and lived until she was sent to a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. She was the only member of her family who survived the camp. Her parents, brothers, a sister, husband, and two sons and a daughter were all killed. She survived the camp by escaping with some other prisoners and somehow making her way to Spain where she lived until the end of the war. I was told that she acquired the small wine cabinet listed here in Spain and it was one of only three items that she brought with her when she immigrated to the United States. The other two items were a steamer trunk, and a sewing box. I purchased the wine cabinet, along with the sewing box and some other furniture at the estate sale. After the sale, I was approached by the woman's granddaughter who said, I see you got the dibbuk box. She was referring to the wine cabinet. I asked her what a dibbuk box was, and she told me that when she was growing up, her grandmother always kept the wine cabinet in her sewing room. It was always shut, and set in a place that was out of reach. The grandmother always called it the dibbuk box. When the girl asked her grandmother what was inside, her grandmother spit three times through her fingers said, a dibbuk, and keselim. The grandmother went on to tell the girl that the wine cabinet was never, ever, to be opened. The granddaughter told me that her grandmother had asked that the box be buried with her. However, as such a request was contrary to the rules of an orthodox Jewish burial, the grandmothers request had not been honored. I asked the granddaughter what a dibbuk, and keselim were, but she did not know. I asked if she would like to open it with me. She did not want to open it, as her grandmother had been very emphatic and serious when she instructed her not to do so, and, regardless of the reason, she wanted to honor her grandmother’s request. I finally ended up offering to let her keep what seemed to me to be a sentimental keepsake. At that point, she was very insistent and said, No, no you bought it! I explained that I didn’t want my money back, and that it would make me feel better to do what I thought was an act of kindness. She then became somewhat upset. Looking back now, the way she became upset was just plain odd. She raised her voice to me and said, you bought it! You made a deal! When I tried to speak, she yelled, we don't want it! She began to cry, asked me to leave, and quickly walked away. I wrote the whole episode off to the stress and grief she must have been experiencing. I took my purchases and politely left. At the time when I bought the cabinet, I owned a small furniture refinishing business. I took the cabinet to my store, and put it in my basement workshop where I intended to refinish it and give it as a gift to my Mother. I didn't think anything more about it. I opened my shop for the day and went to run some errands leaving the young woman who did sales for me in charge. After about a half-hour, I got a call on my cell phone. The call was from my salesperson. She was absolutely hysterical and screaming that someone was in my workshop breaking glass and swearing. Furthermore, the intruder had locked the iron security gates and the emergency exit and she couldn't get out. As I told her to call the police, my cell phone battery went dead. \ I hit speeds of 100 mph getting back to the shop. When I arrived, I found the gates locked. I went inside and found my employee on the floor in a corner of my office sobbing hysterically. I ran to the basement and went downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, I was hit by an overpowering unmistakable odor of cat urine (there had never been any animals kept or found in my shop). The lights didn't work. As I investigated, I found that the reason the lights didn't work also explained the sounds of glass breaking. All of the light bulbs in the basement were broken. All nine incandescent bulbs had been broken in their sockets, and 10 four-foot fluorescent tubes were lying shattered on the floor. I did not find an intruder, however. I should also add that there was only one entrance to the basement. It would have been impossible for anyone to leave without meeting me head-on. I went back up to speak with my salesperson, but she had left. She never returned to work (after having been with me for two years). She refuses to discuss the incident to this day. I never thought of relating the events of that day to anything having to do with the cabinet. Then, things got worse. As I already indicated, I had decided to give the cabinet to my Mother as a birthday gift. About two weeks after I made the purchase, I decided to get started refinishing it. I was surprised to find that the cabinet has a unique little mechanism. When you open one of the doors, the mechanism causes the opposite door, and the little drawer below, to open at the same time. It is very well made. Inside the cabinet, I found the following items: 1 1928 U.S. Wheat Penny; 1 1925 US Wheat Penny; One small lock of blonde hair (bound with string); One small lock of black/brown hair (bound with string); One small granite statue engraved and gilded with Hebrew letters (I have been told that the letters spell out the word SHALOM); One dried rosebud; One golden wine cup; One very strange black cast iron candlestick holder with octopus legs. I saved all of the items in a box intending to return them to the estate. The family has refused the items, so they will be included in this sale of the cabinet. After opening the cabinet, I decided not to refinish it. I cleaned it, and rubbed in some lemon oil. It was at this time that I noticed that there was an inscription in Hebrew carved into the back of the cabinet. I have no idea what it says or if it is significant. I have included a picture of that inscription below. On my mother’s birthday, October 28, 2001, my mother called to tell me that she was going out of town with my sister for three days, and we postponed celebrating her birthday together until she returned. On October 31, 2001, my mother came to my shop. We were going to have lunch together, but before we were going to leave, I gave her the wine cabinet. She seemed to like it. While she examined it, I went to make a phone call. I hadn't been out of sight more than 5 minutes when one of my employees came running into my office saying that something was wrong with my mom. When I went back to see what the matter was, I found my mom sitting in a chair beside the cabinet. Her face had no expression, but tears were streaming down her cheeks. No matter how I tried to get her to respond, she would not. She could not. It turns out that my mother had suffered a stroke. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance. She ended up suffering partial paralysis, and losing her ability to speak and form words (she has since regained the ability to speak). She could understand things being said to her, and could respond by pointing to letters of the alphabet to spell out words she wanted to say. When I asked her the following day how she was doing, she teared up and spelled out the words: N-O G-I- F-T. I assured her that I had given her a gift for her birthday, thinking that she didn’t remember, but she became even more upset and spelled out the words: H-A-T-E G-I-F-T. I laughed and told her not to worry. I told her I was sorry she didn’t like the cabinet, and that I would get her anything she wanted if she would promise to get well soon. Still, I didn't associate anything that had happened with the cabinet itself or anything paranormal. Frankly, I don’t think I ever even used the term paranormal until this last month.