Ok, now that I've got some free time, I'm gonna share my stories!
One experience: I got home from work or school (or something) around 10 PM, so it was dark out. My mom's boyfriend looked out the window when he heard a car, to see who it was. He then asked my mom if I'd brought (another) animal home with me- which I have a habit of doing- because he'd seen a white form (about the size of a small dog or large cat) moving along behind me as I walked up the front walk. By this time, I was already upstairs in my room, so my mom came in to say "Ok, yeah, it's cute. Now give it back." The thing is, I hadn't brought another animal home, and I hadn't been carrying anything other than my black messenger bag.
Another time, I'd just gotten out of the shower and was sitting on the edge of my bed in a bath robe. I heard purring, and figured that my sister's cat had come in (because my cat had passed away several months prior). I looked, and realized that the door was shut and I was alone. I then felt a draft around my ankles, like a cat weaving in and out- the way they do when they're rubbing on you.
Another time, I came home pretty late, and everyone was getting ready to head to bed. My mom was already upstairs, sitting in bed. My sister was on her computer in the living room. I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, and she had gone upstairs (also to bed) by the time I came out. I shut off the living room light and went upstairs, said good night to everyone, and went to sleep. Now, I'm a heavy sleeper, so it was weird enough that I jolted awake at exactly 1 AM. I looked around, to see my mom looking-in on me. She said she was wondering if I was downstairs, because the living room light had turned back on, and my sister was fast asleep in her room. As my mom was turning to walk away, I asked her what was behind her. I don't know what it was, just that it was a dark shape that appeared to be on or directly behind her shoulder, and it pivoted when she pivoted. When we realized it was some unknown thing (which is not uncommon in our house), we just kinda said "Huh. Wierd." and went back to bed (after mom went down to turn off the light).
At exactly 2 AM, I jolted awake again. By this point, I was pretty cranky. I looked into the room outside of my bedroom door (you have to walk through the guest room to get to my bedroom) and saw what looked like a person standing at the window, looking down onto the driveway. Because I was in a foul mood, I yelled at it. I said "HEY! Who are you and what the hell are you doing?!?" as I reached for the light. Then, it was gone. Even though I couldn't see it anymore, I told it "Look, I don't care if you pop up to hang out, but give me some damn warning!" I then slept through the rest of the night without interruption.
Now, this one includes my mother again. Just for a little background, her bedroom door is IMPOSSIBLE. As in, you have to slam it with your shoulder to get it shut, and yank it violently to get it open, because it's warped or needs to be planed or something. So, my mom went to bed, but left the door cracked because the cat was in her room. After a while, she woke up, wondered what the streak of light across the ceiling was from, realized it was from the night light in the hallway (shining through the cracked door), and fell back asleep. This happened a couple more times throughout the night. The next morning, she jolted awake (abnormal for her also) to see that the door was closed. The thing is, you can't pull it shut from the outside. Mom figured it was one of our "guests", making their presence known. She said "Why can't you do something useful, like flush the toilet?" because we'd been having trouble with the plumbing in her bathroom.
Fast-forward (almost exactly) a year. Mom's on a business trip out of state, and brought the dogs with her. My sister is staying at a friend's house, so I'm home alone. I'd been sitting in bed, reading, but finally took out my contacts and was about to turn off the light when I heard the toilet in my mom's bathroom flush. I'm no newbie to unseen guests, but that just about made me wet myself.
And another one: A close friend of mine got into a horrible car accident on her way to school one day during our senior year, and both she and her younger brother were killed. A few weeks later, I was standing in the kitchen at her family's house, talking to her mom. Her younger sister was outside, playing with the dog, and her dad was at work. The house was completely empty except for me and her mom. So, like I said, we were standing there, when I heard what sounded like someone running across the second story of the house, then someone chasing after them. I looked at her mom to see if she'd heard it too, and she just nodded and said that Aly and Ryan still chase each other around the house.
Now, for some other stories that aren't quite spirits/ghosts/entitie s, but are still paranormal:
For years, my mom and I have been sharing the same dreams. I mean, some people have coincidentally similar dreams, but these were just too bizarre to be coincidence.
When I was a kid, we both had repeating dreams about being on the dock with my little sister, always in some sort of wheeled thing like a stroller or a shopping cart. In the dream, we'd go into the house for something (usually to refill my sister's cup) and come out to find her missing.
When I was a teenager, I/she had a dream that I/she had a pimple on my/her cheek that, when I/she popped it, something weird came out. In my dream, it was a black bullet. In her dream, it was a black bug (similar to a centipede) rolled up into a ball. We had that dream on the same night.
Finally, just a few months ago (also on the same night), we had a dream about thrown away animals being washed away in a river. In my dream, I was in my apartment. There were a bunch of people there, like we were having a party. I went to go out into the hallway, only to discover that there was suddenly a steep hill directly outside my apartment door, leading down to a river. In the river, there were tons of animals that had just been thrown away. Some looked to be perfectly healthy, and some looked to be injured. I jumped in and started grabbing every one that I could, and taking them into my apartment before going back for more. I ended up with dozens of dogs and cats and other miscellaneous animals in my apartment (where no pets were allowed), where I took care of them and fed them.
In my mom's dream, there was a sort of party going on here at the house. She looked outside the front door to discover a steep hill leading down to a river that went around the house. In the river, she saw a mother dog trying desperately to rescue her puppies, so she jumped in and started helping.
There are several more stories, but none that I can think of at the moment...
