Non-human creatures
Creatures or beings described as not human, such as a hag or demon-like forms.
Ouija board spirits, a ball of light, and an old man with shark-like teeth
A caller named [name withheld], from Pahrump, Nevada, tells Art Bell that at about age 17 in Houston they used a Ouija board alone and spoke with spirits, including one called [name withheld] and a dark spirit called Baal. They report a ball of light appearing near a model airplane. About three days later, they say, they saw an old man in a brown leisure suit who seemed to move instantly across the street and smiled with shark-like teeth before vanishing. The story ends with Art Bell warning against casual use of the Ouija board.
Bull-headed figure over a bed, a voice from a sleeping husband, and a trailer fire
The caller, [name withheld], from Cooley, Arizona, relays a story they say a friend told them about seven years earlier. The friend woke in bed beside their Native American husband and saw a bull's-head or demon-like form hanging over the bed. The friend heard a voice they could not understand coming from their husband's mouth. The story ends with the friend's trailer burning to the ground the next day. [name withheld] mentions a newspaper report of an electrical fire, a replacement trailer, and a witch doctor being brought to the property.
Gray-eyed man on a friend’s couch after a Ouija session
A caller from Colorado says a high school friend, with whom they had once used a Ouija board, phoned them at about 3:30 a.m. in December. The friend was crying and standing outside their own house in the snow. The friend said they had come home to a smell of sulfur and found a well-kept man sitting on their couch with entirely gray eyes. The friend had broken their bedroom window to escape. The caller and their mother later entered the wrecked house and had priests bless it.
A sensed presence with a tail and blunted nails during an out-of-body experience
A live caller, introduced by the host as being [quote withheld] says they have been a spiritual person since the age of two. They say an “essence” came around them about twelve years ago when their sister died and has come and gone since. They say the one time this presence turned angry and violent was as they were returning from an out-of-body experience in their bed. It disappeared into “some hole,” leaving a long, heavy, grayish tail in view. They say it still visits and presses long, sharp nails into their back at night. They report feeling only blunted pressure and take that as a sign they are protected.
Basement door, a shared dream, and a slow-burning teddy bear in a country home
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Dayton, Ohio, describes several “spooky moments” in a country home that the caller and their husband bought in the mid-1970s. A basement door opened by itself each evening at supper time. Their son said something was coming into his room. One night the caller and their husband reportedly shared the same vision of their daughter being raised out of bed and slammed to the floor. They found the daughter asleep and unharmed on the floor. They concluded there was an entity in the home. They blessed the rooms with holy water and burned a handmade teddy bear the caller distrusted, which, the caller says, took hours to burn. The caller says they left the house with their children a few months later.
A face materializing in the caller’s own vision, followed by a dream
A caller addressed by the host as [name withheld] from California tells of sitting in their living room on the phone about 15 years earlier when a gray spot in the corner of their vision grew and materialized into what they could barely make out as a non-human face. The caller says it went around a corner smiling at them and that they ran out of the room. The caller later had a dream of an abyss and something screaming for them to come outside. The host cut in to say they were out of time, and the call ended.
A bull-shaped figure at the bedroom door and a sensation of being smothered
A caller describes an event they say happened when they were about seven years old. The caller says they woke at night to see a bull, which they call a demon, standing at their open bedroom door, and then struggled in bed, unable to scream or breathe. The caller reports praying for it to be taken away, after which they say it let go and never returned. The caller says their father, who came in after they screamed, did not believe them.
Ouija board channeling and a father’s figure in an Ohio farmhouse
[name withheld], calling from San Clemente, tells Art Bell about something they say happened when they were about fourteen or fifteen, in an old farmhouse in Ohio. They and a girlfriend used a Ouija board, a Christmas gift, to channel spirits. The caller says that on their first try they seemed to watch from outside their body. A spirit complained about the candlelight, their dead father briefly appeared, and then their vision went black and showed two-headed serpents and red-eyed rats. The caller says they came to with the lights on and their friend panicking. The caller ran to the bathroom, unable to breathe, with chest pain and a burning feeling. They never tried it again.
Cold spot, woman, and giant arm during a church overnight
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], in Pearl, Mississippi, tells Art Bell about a night they and about half a dozen friends spent in their church at the end of a summer. The caller reports a cold spot, a woman seen in the hallway, a huge arm reaching around a classroom door, a moving white pattern on a window, and a face with glowing eyes before the group fled and huddled together. The caller says nothing else happened that night and that they are the only one who has told anyone. The caller thinks the beings were angelic and demonic rather than the dead.
A horned, red-eyed figure at the foot of the bed and a friend’s matching story
An unnamed first-time caller tells Art Bell that they woke to see a huge horned figure with bright red eyes at the foot of their bed and in their doorway. When they said “in the name” of Jesus, “be gone,” it walked back through the door and faded away. The caller reports that a friend later described the same figure, with “horns” like a Viking cap, and that the two discovered a shared ancestor in Ireland. The caller sees such figures as demonic manifestations rather than ghosts.
A woman in 1800s dress, a boulder death, and a disturbed forest circle
Mary, calling from Salem, Oregon, tells Art Bell a story they call [quote withheld] about their brother-in-law, [name withheld]. Mary says that during a birthday party they went out for burgers and, waiting out front, saw a woman in 1800s clothing whose feet they could not see. When they looked back, the woman was gone. Mary reports that while they were away, [name withheld] was struck by a boulder on a forest trail and died. Months later, Mary says, an acquaintance said a ceremony [name withheld] had been performing was interrupted when the acquaintance stubbed out a cigarette in his circle and a growling, monster-like sound came down the hill. Mary says some of them think that whatever it was came and got him.
Bedroom attack by a creature “astride” the caller, later called a succubus
A live caller who identifies themself as [name withheld] from Santa Rosa tells Art Bell they were attacked in bed by a creature they describe as a mixture of animals sitting astride them. The caller says it briefly paralyzed them and came back once in the same night. The caller says they fought it off and drove it away by covering their navel and genitals, something they say they had learned from friends. Asked what they encountered, the caller says it was a “succubus”/“incubi” that feeds on sexual energy. The host calls such stories “pretty common” and says such things [quote withheld]
26 more stories
- Family friend's reported vision of devils and fire during clinical death2 min
- A figure watching from a child’s bedroom window in a rented house2 min
- A door, a figure on a cross, and footsteps in a rented 110-year-old house in Paw Paw, Michigan6 min
- A coma, three selves, and walking with Jesus after a 1980 car crash4 min