Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.
Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.
I have already stayed in a haunted house! One of my relatives owns a townhouse that used to have shadow people in it a few decades ago.
The shadow people were never dangerous or violent. From what I’ve been told, you’d simply see them out of the corner of your eye or maybe catch a quick glimpse of a dark shadow walking across the room and then disappearing into a wall.
Sightings of these creatures stopped after a cleansing ritual was done many years ago.
While I did hear someone walking up the stairs there a couple of times when nobody was actually using the stairs, it was probably just the the sound of neighbours walking up their own stairs that echoed through their shared walls.
To make things more interesting, would I stay in a house with a more active supernatural presence?
Some places might have reputations as being haunted when they actually have raccoons or other creatures scurrying around in their attics and knocking stuff over or some other rational explanation for occasionally odd events. I’d stay there once all of the furry little intruders had been taken somewhere else, the squeaky hinges had been fixed, and all sources of cold drafts wafting through the house had been repaired.
Other houses might be haunted by mischievous spirits who open kitchen cabinets at night but otherwise keep to themselves. I might be willing to stay there if that was the extent of their shenanigans. Honestly, sometimes I leave kitchen cabinet doors open by accident, too, so the ghosts would be in good company (and/or would be annoyed that this human is stealing their thunder).
If we’re talking about a genuinely haunted house that has any history of entities causing harm to the living, no thank you. I am not at all interested in fighting over real estate with anyone, supernatural or otherwise. There are plenty of other places in the world to live.
Oof, Lydia, not gonna lie, that actually does sound creepy. Whenever I get sleep paralysis I tend to see shadowy figures in the room, and although I know it’s a hypnagogic hallucination, they can still be quite creepy. Any odd sound in a quiet house can raise hairs though.
I hear you there. 🙂 And, yeah, sleep paralysis is scary even when you know what’s happening.
Yeah, I’d avoid any place that had an active and malevolent supernatural presence, but anything short of that and I’m not too worried.
We agree then. 🙂
Did you experience any of these shadow people yourself? Personally the only ‘ghostly’ experience I’ve had was a music box playing on its own..
No, I never saw them. Just heard a few things that could have rational or supernatural explanations.
Your music box story is an interesting one. I don’t know much about how those boxes work. Can they play on their own generally?
I’d definitely avoid a known malevolent spirit but I’d happily visit a place where the spirit was just thought to be mischievous.
And I’d love to hear more about Stephen’s music box experience.
That makes sense.
Stephen talks more about the music box here: https://readingfreely.com/2024/07/31/haunted-house-bnb-www-wednesday/
Things half seen out of the corner of one’s eye would creep me out.
Same here!
*shudder* yikes, no thank you!
🙂
Part of me wants to experience a (non-hurtful) haunting, because it’s the kind of thing that’s hard to explain properly. But also, I tend to not believe most of the reports of them… I guess I’ve seen too many scams, so it’s easy to write them off. Definitely don’t want to be involved in anything with malevolent spirits, though!
I totally agree with you there.
Can’t believe the Internet’s actually working again. I’m seeing comments. I’m posting comments. It’s past time to log off for this week but I’ve been away too long.
I did, for a few months on a family road trip, live in a supposedly haunted house. It had been a slaves’ and then sharecroppers’ cabin in Mississippi. There may actually have been a radon problem because, within living memory, an occupant started seeing snakes everywhere, and shooting at them, and had to be locked up. This had left many leaks and broken windows.
We didn’t believe in ghosts and didn’t see any but it was a spooky, creepy season, living THAT close to exotic nature. Nothing down there felt completely real.
Baby sister went back to see, around 2010, and reported that the house has been flattened and the plantation made into a golf course.
Welcome back!
Yeah, that sounds like it could be a radon problem. It makes me wonder how many historic “haunting” have actually been due to things that have perfectly rational explanations like gas leaks, toxic mould causing hallucinations, etc.
It’s a shame that plantation was torn down. It must have been in bad shape! Or maybe the land was too valuable not to sell.
I had a friend in high school who said her house was haunted, and a few things did happen when we were over there, so I don’t think I’d have been keen on sleeping over. Probably could have been explained though.
That makes total sense.