I am 53 years old, and the memory of this experience, which occurred when I was 11, the sheer terror I felt, is still as fresh as the night it happened. Retelling the tale to my kids, and learning about this website, has prompted me to share.
My parents own an old, old Hotel, built in the 1850’s, and we used it as a vacation spot (it was not open to the public). The ghost story that came with the Hotel, told by many guests, involved hearing a dragging sound from an upstairs hallway, and foot steps heard when it was a fact nobody was there…
At any rate, my mother and I had arrived a day early, before the rest of my family and our friends. There was NO way I was going to sleep upstairs, alone, in one of the twenty small bedrooms, so I elected to sleep with my mother in her room at the foot of the stairs.
For some reason I woke up, alert and instinctively knew something wasn’t “right”. Though my mother slumbered on, I lay there, eyes wide in the dark, and shivered in the suddenly cold atmosphere. As I lay still, I clearly heard, above me, the sound of something heavy being dragged; the sound a steamer trunk from the 1800’s might make as a boarder left his room, hauling his belongings. My stomach clenched, and I lay frozen, my entire being focused on the sound. Appalled, I heard the sound of footsteps, slowly descending the wooden staircase outside the closed bedroom door. Creak, creak, creak, the steps slowly came closer. I still lay, absolutely frozen with terror, holding my breath, every fiber of my young body focused on the sound; I knew I was hearing the infamous Ghost that until now had just been a laughable story to me. The footsteps sounded clear and solid, as if a corporeal body was making them, though I knew the Hotel was empty of all but my mother and me.
When the sound appeared to be right outside the closed door, they stopped. I strained to hear more, but to no avail. I noticed the cold disappeared, and the summer heat returned, yet still I lay in a state of shock, scared mute. Finally I drifted off to sleep, and woke in the morning, safe, but with clear recollection of the paranormal experience I had gone through. So, 42 years later, the experience is as fresh as the night it occurred. Can you explain it? I can’t.
Credit To: Kim Brown
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it could be sleep paralysis. and if anyone replys i cant see so i might never reply
anticlimactic
It was me
I find it slightly unnerving that the place you described in the story sounds almost exactly like a hotel I know of.
THIS LOL
I might have a clear explaination. The sheer terror you felt that night might have stuck with you from hat night. I have experienced a similar occurence in my house. I may be fairly young, as I am only 12, but when I was very little, I believe I was 2, I heard footsteps outside my door. The only person home was my mom, but she was sound asleep, right next to me. I felt a tug on my hair, as soon as the footsteps stopped. As I got closer to my mom, I felt a large hand with long claws grip me down on the bed. I was in complete shock, and through the morning I barely moved. I still feel fear and remember it like it was yesterday, when infact it was 10 years ago. The explaination? The sheer terror I felt that day has stayed with me, and it’s rememberence of it will stick with you because of that terrorizing feeling. I hope this is of help to you.
If it wasnt open to the public… How did the guests tell you these “ghost stories”?
People hearing things from people who were allowed to stay there. And old myths.
Honestly, I would say that it was your imagination. When I was two years older, I was faced with the reality of mortality. My father has a heart-attack and several months after he was out of the hospital I was sleeping at his house, in the very same room when I started to hear things. Very clearly I heard footsteps ascending to the 2nd floor. They were dragging and slow, deliberate. They approached the couch I was on and I yelled GO AWAY as loud as I possibly could. Annoyed my father and couldn’t find a trace of anyone ever having been there.
The mind can create any number of extraordinary hallucinations using any combination of senses, but the most common one that people experience is auditory. Especially in childhood, people are very prone to these kind of illusions. It is merely my opinion that that is what this was, but who am I to truly judge what is "real" and what is not?
he just wants his 20 dollahs
My father is 56 and he doesn’t say things like ‘(telling a) tale’ or ‘electing’ to do something. Why do creepypasta writers think that using fancy/outdated language makes things ~spookier~?
actually this is scary because everything seems so real to me. and.. oh! you have a very good memory.
The spirit must have taken a liking to you, it didn’t want to be without you. Strangely touching when you think about it.
It is a set of ghoasts living the same murder over and over. everynight forever because of regret. Thay were all killed. the dragging was a body. there stuck there forever. i bet if you went back, stared in that room, the same thing would happen
I found the wording of this story incredibly awkward in parts, especially the first paragraph. There are also unneeded commas. But it was an interesting story. :)
Honestly, I believe in ghosts and I have seen them with my own eyes from time to time. Your experience was probably a real encounter with the supernatural. However, since you already knew the ghost story before you arrived at the hotel, you might have been expecting something to happen and we all know how powerful the mind can be. All in all though, I believe you, and I think what you experienced was indeed the real deal.
Hey, I’m sorry to have to break it to you, but ghosts/demons or anything supernatural don’t exist. Please don’t get angry at me for saying the truth. And don’t ask me to disprove it, for you cannot disprove a negative.
This was actually a pretty freaky, if usual, ghost story.
It seems you have a good memory. Sorry i’ll go serious from now. I think it’s a ghoat trying to say : WE ARE EVERYWHERE DONT DENY. But what do i know c:
Raccoons.
I don’t get the ending.
Very nice story! Whether or not it is real, I like that it plays on the fears we have of old houses and things that go bump in the night. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I would’ve been psyched to find out what I could about the place’s history. It seems that you’re describing a residual haunting, as it never appears to interact with anyone. Thanks for sharing. :D