ghosts

It used to feel like a black-and-white issue: you either believed in the paranormal, or you didn’t. But nowadays, since people can share their stories more readily, more people are opening their minds to the possibility of aliens, magic, and yes, ghosts. And once they cross that threshold, it’s hard to turn back.

According to a 2022 study by YouGov, a market research firm based in the UK, two-thirds of Americans alone believe in some kind of paranormal activity, while over 40 percent specifically believe in ghosts. In 2021, People Magazine cited a small study (commissioned by Phantom Wine and conducted by OnePoll) which claims 57 percent of Americans believe in spirits. While that's not quite everyone, it’s certainly not as rare as it used to be to admit that.

On the Paranormal subreddit, one user asked, "What is THE moment that made you a true believer in ghosts?" The amount of upvotes and responses, which came from people all over the world, was extraordinary. And although each story is more bone-chilling than the next, the community comes together to validate and comfort one another. Here are a few of the best stories from the thread.

You Okay, Dear?

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A Redditor shares that "they never believed in the paranormal" until they briefly moved into a house built in 1845 as part of an exchange program in South England.

"The second week, someone frequently knocked on my door. Every time I looked outside, there was no one. I even asked my roommate from across the hall if she knocked. No, she didn’t. I walked down to the kitchen to ask my guest parents if they knocked. No, they didn’t. I asked their kids, three sons if they knocked. No, they didn’t. That made me really suspicious, but I was like, well, old house, noise from the floorboards and stuff."

But things got weirder. "One night, I had to go to the bathroom, walked down the hallway, and heard a clear 'you okay, dear?' I turned around to look for my guest mom. The hallway was empty. THAT freaked me out. The next morning, I talked to my guest mom, and she said it was Grandma Rosie, who had died in the house and who loved to keep watch over the children and the guest children. She had a habit of knocking on the door, coming in, checking on you, asking if you're okay, and then leaving."

The Man at the Foot of the Stairs

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One commenter shares, "When I was a kid, I used to stay after school sometimes with an elderly neighbor lady who was a widow. The very first time I entered her house, I glanced up and saw a man standing at the top of the stairs, looking right down at me. It scared the CRAP out of me, and every time I came in, I would keep my eyes on the floor and hurry through the foyer as fast as I could go. But I could always FEEL him there, even if I managed not to see him."

They claimed they kept this information to themselves for years. But finally, "Years later, I was talking to my family about these neighbors. It came out that our neighbor's husband had died several years before I began staying with her, and he had passed after suffering a fatal heart attack and falling down those stairs. I like to think he was still there, keeping watch over his wife, who for a while had a young companion to keep her company in the afternoons."

The One Who Made Us Move Out

Some ghosts aren't so friendly. Photo by Rene Böhmer on Unsplash

Nothing like a ghost shaking your mattress. This user shares, "I became a true believer in 2017. I was working an early first shift at the time, and my husband was working second shift. We lived alone in our townhouse, which always had a weird vibe, like you were being watched, and I would sometimes hear someone calling my name. But we just shrugged it off. One night, I was lying in bed, trying to sleep, when I felt the mattress moving, like someone was trying to bounce me on it. I opened my eyes and saw a shadow on the wall, so I assumed it was my husband and asked him to stop. He didn’t, so I rolled over to where he should have been standing and no one was there. It was like an hour before he got off work. We moved out of that place not too long after."

The Orb Who Liked TV

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A woman shares that she and her husband "were watching TV at 10 in the morning when a 5-inch orb began flickering down through the ceiling, just a few inches from me, and then flew out the wall. We looked at each other and said, 'Well, that just happened.'"

Did any of these stories convince you? I'm starting to wonder myself!