Topics
Each story gets one or more categories from a fixed list. Categories describe what callers reported. Any explanation the person telling the story gives is noted separately. So “a figure at the foot of the bed” counts as a bedroom visitor whether or not the caller believed it was a ghost.
Someone sees a figure, a shape, or a light.
Strange things that keep happening in one place.
Something unseen moves objects, works switches, or touches people.
Things that happen while falling asleep, sleeping, or waking up.
Contact that the person telling the story links to someone who has died.
Sounds with nothing there to make them.
Strange voices or images caught on tape, on the phone, on radio or TV, or by a camera.
Things that happen after someone tries to contact spirits or performs a ritual.
Presences described as hostile, threatening, or not human.
Knowing about something before it happens.
Time, places, or people that seem to shift, vanish, or double.
Changes in a room with no visible cause.
A child has the experience or sees it happen.
Stories that aren't about ghosts or don't fit the categories above.
Recurring details
Details that come up in story after story. A detail is added to a story only when the story includes it.
- Bedroom219
- Old house119
- New or rented home95
- Staircase83
- Road or highway75
- Farm or rural property62
- Window57
- Hallway56
- Basement or cellar50
- Workplace or night shift47
- Hospital or nursing home45
- Doorway43
- Kitchen40
- Cemetery or grave38
- Bathroom32
- Military base or barracks25
- Closet19
- Church15
- Said to be built on a burial ground14
- Attic13
- Hotel or inn13
- School or campus11
- Ship or sea11
- Battlefield or war site10
- Looked like a living person101
- Dark mass or shadow65
- Deceased relative seen59
- See-through figure49
- Old-fashioned clothing46
- Ghost child31
- Faceless or featureless figure28
- Figure at the foot of the bed26
- Elderly man or woman22
- Woman in white or a long dress22
- Glowing red eyes18
- Man in a hat15
- Soldier or uniformed figure10
- Feeling watched or not alone147
- Being touched104
- Cold spot or sudden chill65
- Footsteps62
- Knocking or rapping46
- Crying or screaming36
- Unable to move35
- Voice calling the teller's name26
- Music heard24
- Bed sinks as if someone sat down16
- Pressure on the chest14
- Foul, rotten, or sulfur smell12
- Whispering12
- Smell of perfume or flowers11
- Smell of tobacco or smoke5
- Car or vehicle119
- Objects moved or missing100
- Door opens or closes86
- Lights flicker or switch on and off45
- Ouija board40
- Strange phone call34
- Objects thrown or falling29
- Something strange in a photo27
- Recording or camera23
- TV or radio turns on or changes22
- Mirror20
- Clock stops or behaves oddly12
- Religious object, prayer, or holy water11
- Doll or toy9
- Bed shaking7
- Rocking chair7
- Left unresolved524
- Recurring over many years75
- It gets worse over time69
- Later research matches the experience61
- Family moved out53
- Warning or message52
- Learned of a death afterward50
- Previous occupant died there48
- Contact in a dream42
- Rescue or protection31
- Prayer or command stops it30
- Blessing, cleansing, or exorcism27
- First time telling anyone18
- Unfinished business15
- Figure later recognized in a photo10