Same with me! It was a very clear outline of a tall man, but none of his features could be discernible. He was completely black, like a giant shadow. It was really weird, because it was very late one night, and all the lights were off in the house. The apparition was darker than the rest of the darkness though..

My then friend (now partner) and I were in the kitchen getting a snack, and hadn't bothered to turn the lights on, as we didn't want to wake my parents. We were talking quietly, and I was facing the direction the apparition appeared, but wasn't paying attention. All of sudden, I stopped mid sentence and gasped before my conscious brain even realized what my eyes had focused on. I blinked, and then it was gone. I turned to my friend and said "I thought.. I thought I just saw someone standing over there." My friend just shrugged it off and we continued to get something to eat and then returned to my room. When we got back in there, after we'd eaten, he admitted that he had seen it too, attention drawn to it when I gasped, but hadn't wanted to say anything because he was really hungry and knew I wouldn't want to be in the kitchen if he confirmed my suspicion. I was seriously peeved at him!

The odd thing was, I was shocked by its sudden appearance, but I wasn't scared. I've had similar encounters and felt other presences, but this one didn't frighten me. It had no negative intent towards us. It was just there, looking at us, and then it was gone. That was one of my more pleasant encounters. less

Same with me! It was a very clear outline of a tall man, but none of his features could be discernible. He was completely black, like a giant shadow. It was really weird, because it was very late one night, and all the lights were off in the house. The apparition was darker than the rest of the darkness though..

My then friend (now partner) and I were in the kitchen getting a snack, and hadn't bothered to turn the lights on, as we didn't want to wake my parents. We were talking quietly, and I was facing the direction the apparition appeared, but wasn't paying attention. All of sudden, I stopped mid sentence and gasped before my conscious brain even realized what my eyes had focused on. I blinked, and then it was gone. I turned to my friend and said "I thought.. I thought I just saw someone standing over there." My friend just shrugged it off and we continued to get something to eat and then returned to my room. When we got back in there, after we'd eaten, he admitted that he had seen it too, attention drawn to it when I gasped, but hadn't wanted to say anything because he was really hungry and knew I wouldn't want to be in the kitchen if he confirmed my suspicion. I was seriously peeved at him!

The odd thing was, I was shocked by its sudden appearance, but I wasn't scared. I've had similar encounters and felt other presences, but this one didn't frighten me. It had no negative intent towards us. It was just there, looking at us, and then it was gone. That was one of my more pleasant encounters. less

With me I was lying in bed and I have sliding mirror doors for a closet. I opened my eyes and it was at the foot of my bed, standing there, and i could SEE it reflected in the mirror. He tilted his head like he was confused, as if he found the wrong person? And I never blinked, but the darkness just kinda drifted away into the air like smoke from a cigarette. It was creepy. less

Ive had a couple weird things happen to me. Shortly after my grandfather died I was playing with Gack (for those who don't know gack is its made of glue water and borax) it was running over my hand onto the table and spelled out my grandfathers nickname. It was very strange and shocked all of us. My uncle's family also owned an old farm house that his grandmother had died in and if you sat in her favorite chair you would feel something pushing you up out of the chair. There were also rumors that my college was haunted. People claimed a nun had killed herself in one of the dorms and that a psych patient had hung themselves in another dorm room. One night when we were wondering around campus taking pictures we got on film some very weird mist that looked like people. I totally believe in the paranoid and find it very interesting. less

Gak was my first sex toy..but anyway...

I think almost every college or university has half a dozen stories. I went to the most central university in Michigan () and there were a LOT of stories from there.

You'd have to think that decades of drama would have to instill itself in the walls of those places after all the teens that've lived there. less

I had an experience once when I was having a nightmare. In the nightmare I was being attacked, pinched viciously, repeatedly, painfully. I woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed, a whimper leaving my lips uncontrollably. When I layed back down, I noticed my door was cracked open. It looked like someone was standing there grinning broadly, and somewhat maliciously, at me. Like they were laughing at the way I awoke. I thought it was my mother, and I scowled at the face. Again, I blinked and they were gone. I got up and no one else was home. Unsettled, I called my friend and asked if they were on their way yet, as they were supposed to be spending the night. It seriously gave me the wiggins.. less

According to my research into paranormal investigation encounters, the 'shadow' is a common manifestation of entities. My group had lots of footage and personal encounters of dark figures and formless shadows, which are easier to see in the dark. The white mist and normal figures take a lot of energy to form, the shadows are simply the easiest.

I had found that sometimes 'ghosts' will hang out at graveyards when people show up. Either by a relative/friend visiting the grave in memorial, or they'll take the company of wandering goth kids or photographers. I used to have some beautiful manifestation mist photographs from the cemetaries around Boston. (In fact, my very first Boston cemetary photo was an arm reaching towards me from Billy Dawes' tomb while I was standing next to it and lecturing on the man's involvement with the Midnight Ride.)

EVP's (voice recording) ... I'm still skeptical on, even though my group recorded hundreds of them. They're too inconclusive for me to take at face value, and many of them can be interpreted several ways. Except for the very distinctive ones I've witnessed ... when your name is being called while the whole group is right there ... it can get a little creepy.

Physical interaction - totally possible, although it needs to be verified thoroughly. I've been choked at one time, and another time pushed back while I was sitting on the floor. They also drain fresh batteries; theory we had is that it's an energy source for them to use for manifesting. They've caused my camera to shut down totally and revert back to a default setting when it began working again - fresh batteries were put in before we started.

I have also come to the conclusion that some 'ghosts' are not entities at all, but are places in the fabric of space-time that have been worn away by one person's continuous routine. I have SEVERAL stories gathered through the years concerning that theory. less

SO cool, but EVPs are weird. Sometimes I simply can't believe that they are saying what people say they are (I mean, you get 2 hours of static SOMETHING is going to sound like your name or "GET OUT!" which is what people usually hear) other times I just get goose bumps and don't even want an electronic tape player in my house.
Why do they always say, "GET OUT!" I think we're bothering them.... less

A girl I used to work with years ago goes ghost hunting ALL the time - like several times a month for years now. She is totally into it. I recall many times she'd show me hundreds of orb photos with blurs around the edges and would ask, breathlessly, "do you see it?" - I would say she is the most convinced person I have ever met.

I get feelings more than anything, but talking about it just feels awkward. less