Remote distress signal
Pearoast
Years ago, when my Dad was dying, we went out to a Bonfire night party. Now, at this point I knew Dad had not long to go, but I knew nothing of what had happened this particular day. When we got home, I was chatting to a friend, and suddenly I knew, without being told, that I had to phone home. I also knew that the phone would be engaged.

It was. After redialling a few times, I got through to my Mum. She'd just had a call that Dad had collapsed, and she'd just been ringing a taxi to take her to the hospital.

Dad died early the next morning.


In the original, posted 3/7/08, I had taken her into hospital for the last time, and that she'd let me know.

At about 0630 on 28/7/08, I awoke, and my mobile rang 30 seconds later. Which might be a coincidence, but the hand on my forehead, and the low voice that said something I didn't quite catch certainly wasn't.
(all my scars face forward possesses 2.5% of a hyperalloy combat chassis, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 11:10, Reply)

Final Fantasy 7 - Shinra Mansion
That part of the game used to shit me right up - the music especially
( h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Sat 9 Apr 2011, 10:42, 6 replies)

My dad is a man of SCIENCE, and thus not really given to weirdness and oddness.
As an example, when my sister's guinea pig died, she went into the kitchen that evening after bed time, to find my mum and dad had dug it up and were dissecting it to see what it had died of. That's the sort of approach he has.

So anyway, one day during the school holidays, he took a day off work to do some DIY chores. It was a beautiful summer's day, and he spent the entirity of it outside painting the guttering, listening to the cricket.

We lived in a hamlet about 20 miles outside the city where he worked, and thus to go in was a right mission and about an hour's chore minimum. He didn't go into town that day. I know this, as I was helping him much of the day, or playing nearby.

That evening, he took three 'phone calls, from three very different people, all following up conversations they'd had with him that day when they'd met him in the street in town.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 10:04, 6 replies)

Bad times
As a young captain, the clan spent a lot of time camping in the cairngorms. One day, aged about ten, I'm having a nice relaxing poo in the toilet block when I hear a small bang followed the sound of a small happy dog going mental followed by silence then lots of shouting. That was odd thinks I, and I return to my thoughts. I finish my ablutions and wander outside to find out what is going on.
Two young german girls were cooking breakfast inside the porch of their tent on one of those little blue camping stoves and hadnt fitted the top bit on right, this was the mid eighties prior to the safe gear you get now. Cue gas explosion in a small, highly flammable tent, with the fire blocking the only exit. Two bloke saw it happen and got one of the girls out, badly burned. The other died in the explosion. 20 feet from a young me having a nice relaxing poo.

Apologies for lack of funnies,
Length..... I was only little.
(Captain Benzo Panda fighting, live on tuesdays., Sat 9 Apr 2011, 9:42, 2 replies)

This QOTW prevented me sleeping, cheers. I did the most awful Ouija board one night though, first time ever, all excited and old enough to know better. No reply for ages then finally in answer to my increasingly desperate 'is anyone there?' the glass shifted to Yes. Relieved, I asked 'do you want to talk?'. The entity clearly dithered for a bit then replied in the negative. The board we were using was old and still dusty so I thought perhaps this was the problem. This time I asked 'is the board too dirty?'.
'YES'
'well, shall I clean it then?'.
'YES'
I duly polished the board till it sparkled, then replaced it. 'is that better?' I ventured timidly.
'YES'
'do you want to speak now then?' I pleaded.
'NO. GOODBYE'
Just my luck to get a fastidious entity.
(resurrection_mary cannibal_ferox, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 9:28, 3 replies)

The Merchant of Venice
Specifically the movie with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. I knew the whole pound-of-flesh bit was coming, and it didn't worry me particularly. I watch a lot of Asian horror movies, so I've sort of built up a tolerance to creepy, and I knew that Shylock is stopped before he actually cuts out a pound of Antonio's flesh. I should be fine, right?

First part of scene: the court's pleas for mercy are ignored. Antonio is sentenced to have a pound of flesh forcibly excised from his body. First thing I notice is Shylock's knife. It's HUGE. It's like a machete, and he spends a lot of the scene violently sharpening it while leering at Antonio. Ew, creepy, but nothing I can't handle.

Then they strap Antonio down. It looks like it hurts. (And obvious Christian imagery is obvious.) Okay, I can deal with this.

and then Shylock advances on the clearly terrified Antonio, still sharpening that machete and makes like he's going to slice into his chest.

Okay, this is the part where the court stops him....no? They're going to play it up to the last second for dramatic purposes? Okay.

...Surely they must stop him now?

...wait a sec, aren't they supposed to stop him?

...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SOMEBODY STOP HIM!

They do stop him. When the knife is a hair away from Antonio's chest. I swear to god, I thought Shylock was going to go through with it.

Antonio lives, but The Wombat spends the rest of the movie sitting in a puddle of rapidly cooling sweat. And then has horrible nightmares the following night.

Possibly I shouldn't have watched Se7en before I watched Merchant of Venice.
(TheWonderfulWombat It came to me in a dream., Sat 9 Apr 2011, 4:30, Reply)

The woods at night
While I was in my first year of university, I had regular bonfires with my friends in a field near our halls. Now this was most likely illegal, but we cleared a fireplace, circled it with stones and always made sure it was complely out before leaving.

The area itself (storthe's hall student village in Huddersfield for any one who cares) had a few derelict buildings surrounding it, so the view was a little creepy. As the wood pile grew smaller, a few of us would venture off into the woods in the dark to gather more. It never occured to any one to make a big pile at the start. I was in the woods with a friend, using the light of our phones to see. We searched for a little while before hearing rustling and a loud crack of wood breaking.

You know in scooby doo, when scooby would jump into shaggy's arms in fear? I swear, we did a great impression of that. We quickly began to giggle. "Are you far more scared then you reasonably should be?" I asked "I'm fucking bricking it!" laughed my mate. For some reason we both found it funny and scary at the same time, though had I been alone, I'd most likely have ran away leaving a trail of urine.

Still, dragged half a fucking tree back with us, thus proving our manliness.
(Mong goose, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 3:34, 1 reply)

That Bloody Mary thing...
...you're supposed to say her name into a mirror three times after midnight and some women'll appear beside your reflection and maim/mutilate/murder you, etc, etc.

Never attempted it - always too scared. And I'm in my 30s...

Anyone had a go?
(SonoraAeroClub "OH SWEET HELEN OF BALLS!", Sat 9 Apr 2011, 3:27, 14 replies)

Sleep paralysis.
Woke up in my bed once, and as usual, looked around the room, being lazy, and thinking about going back to sleep. Then I saw some motion out of the corner of my eye. My entire ceiling and all the walls in my room were covered with 3ft across, purple spiders, and more seemed to be rushing in by flattening themselves under the door, before popping back up to be a foot tall. They were swarming at me in order to eat me, and I discovered I couldn't speak or move. Scared the shit out of me, but in the end I went back to sleep as they disappeared.

I've since read that it's the result of becoming conscious before you slip out of the REM cycle, so it's like your dreams get projected onto the world around you. Sounds like it could be cool said like that, but it scared me real bad when it happened.
( Ithyphallophobia, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 3:20, 3 replies)

My cousin was over
and he was playing "doom", that ludicrously old video game with me, my sister and brother (roopy) watching. no sound (I dont think we had speakers). Watching him turn corner after corner through an area with strobing lights, getting slowly and slowly more tense until finally he turns a corner and screams "ARRRRRRRGHHUHHH", naturally we all defaecate. There's nothing there; he's just screwing with us.

Bastard.
(StruStru saving the world at no extra charge, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 1:47, 1 reply)

Hillwalking with a group of mates
We were staying at a bothy called Staoineag, a few miles from the Corrour halt on the West Highland Line (which you may have seen in Trainspotting, the deserted 'there's nothing here' railway station) ... We got the train up, then walked to the bothy with our gear and bedded in for a couple of days using Staoineag as a base, intending to walk the hills round that side of Ben Nevis (the Mamores for the Munro-baggers among you) ...
Sadly, overnight i came down with a bug and felt like utter crap next morning when everyone was getting ready for Binnein Beag, Binnein Mor, Sgurr Eilde Mor and a couple of others. I tried walking with the group, but after a while just gave up and went back to Staoineag to lie in my sleeping bag and feel sorry for myself.
There's nothing quite being ill in a tumbledown old cottage (the bothy) in a deserted Highland glen on a gloomy day in September to dampen your sunny outlook. After an hour or two reading a mountain guidebook, gazing at maps, making tea and feeling like shite, I was reduced to staring at the walls (it was too cold and windy outside to be sitting about in the open). A couple of times, I dozed off, then woke up feeling pretty rough and disoriented, until I remembered where I was.
The rest of them had been gone for hours by this point, but if the conditions were okay and they felt that they had the energy, they could keep ticking off tops all bloody day til it got dark.
The usual nonsense happened that unnerves you when alone - the door banging open with the wind; creaks and cracks from the bothy - but generally I was too absorbed in my health-misery and sheer bloody boredom to be scared. Generally.
By late afternoon, after I had been on my own for around six or seven hours, I was hoping the weather would turn really nasty - that would mean the guys would get back faster, but it just stayed cold, dry and windy. I nodded off again.
I can't have been asleep for long, but this time i woke up to a hissing noise. Not wind, nothing structural from the bothy, something more like static. I couldn't really tell where it was coming from and now I really did get scared. Bothies are not full of modern conveniences - this was basically just an old place where you stayed out of the rain, no electrics at all. I was saying to myself, "Hissing noises, sci-fi movies? Oh come on, bullshit. Don't be silly." But the tssssssss just kept going and going and going. Plainly I would have to sort this out myself, but I had no idea what to do, I was weak, shaken and confused. Then, despite me being alone in the bothy, someone spoke to me and my skin turned cold in an instant. 'When you were here before...' said the voice, then paused. 'I've never been here before,' I blurted out, feeling both like a complete twat for talking to a disembodied voice and the most terrified I'd ever been in my life... I think I actually spoke over his reply - you know those telephone conversations where you both speak at the same time, then you both pause? I waited and his next utterance came soon enough. 'You're just like angel,' at which point I got out of the sleeping bag and ran out of the bothy into the heather outside, terrified ... only noticing a few seconds later that that I was trailing an iPod from my trouser pocket and the voice was calling after me, 'I'm a creeeeeeeep, I'm a weirdo...'
That was the Creep-iest thing I've heard.
( writerblock ... embedding disabled by request on, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 1:31, Reply)

My house
Is a very old house. Roughly 400 years old with the oldest walls having originally been built with mud and straw. It's been in the family five generations now.

Now for the creepy things. Safety Windows opening themselves. Doors opening themselves, has hqppened several times in front of people. A coke can rolling up a plank. Kettle turning itself on.

When my wife has been pregnant objects would fall from the wall/presses at her. Maybe later I'll go into the stories in greater detail.
( dazbrilliantwhites has been meaning to change this..., Sat 9 Apr 2011, 1:17, 4 replies)

Headless mannequin
In my old house between the ages of 6 and 8 I'd have the same 'dream' about 2 or 3 times a week. I'd be asleep and then wake up hearing a strange shuffling, jangling noise. Really hard to describe, but it'd always be the same thing. I'd get up and walk out to the top of the very dark stairs and look down. Then a mannequin made of shiny brown wood and no head would come around the corner and start walking up toward me. Each step it took it would 'tick', and I knew that it meant me harm. It never got to the point where it reached the top, but it got fucking close. The last night I remember seeing it was the same...heard the noise, got up to the landing, and then it started climbing the stairs.
Weirdly, it was different this time. There was a kind of red haze around the mannequin, and it felt more sinister I suppose. And it was 'looking' at me, and it wasnt a ticking anymore, more of a thudding. It was climbing with more menace, I was fucking terrified, rooted to the spot. It was coming closer than before, faster. I can remember thinking that I was fucked if this thing came nearer.
It was about then that I realised that my hand had involuntarily grabbed the bannister in a cold grip and this fucking thing was reaching out for it.
The spell broke, I screamed hellishly and burst into my parents room for salvation. I dove straight under their covers.




My Dad was noisily fingering my Mum and I had just acquired a front row seat.

Fucking mannequin cunt
(Nigella Pussycat picking baked-in hair from creme brulee, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 1:01, 4 replies)

Not mine
But I remember being told this story a long time ago and it still creeps me out.
Ive actually got goosebumps right now.
A friend of mine related this tale late one morning at a party when there were only a few of us left and we got into telling ghost stories, as you do when its early morning and youve had a few drinkies.
When he was 11, his parents were having marital difficulties and he was sent to stay with his gran for a while.
She lived on a farm in Yorkshire, it was once part of a quite large estate and there were a lot of rundown unused buildings, including another derelict farmhouse across the courtyard that had burnt down some time in the 50's.
He said he had a great time, gran was indulgent and he had loads of places to explore and build dens in.
He had also made friends with a couple of local kids, a brother and sister, and this being the early 70's they pretty much went and did what they pleased away from all adult notice.
Then the evening came that his gran told him that his dad was coming to take him home the next day.
Although he was happy to go back home he was upset that he couldnt let his new found friends know, so asked his gran if she would tell them, told her their names and he remembered that his gran looked a bit odd, but patted him and said she would.
That night as he went to bed, he looked out the window and saw his 2 friends waving at him from the upstairs window of the burnt out farmhouse opposite.
He waved back and they smiled and then seemed to step back out of view.
When he was 16 his gran got ill with angina and he went with his parents to stay a while while they looked after her.
One night he asked about the friends he had made while staying there, were they still there etc, he'd like to meet up with them.
And his gran told him that he couldnt have known them because they died in a fire in the other farmhouse before he was born.

I dont think this was BS because the way he told us this was just too real to be a lie, he was ashen and scared.
Years later he wouldnt talk about it at all

Bloody creeps me out
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 0:21, Reply)

Dreams
A story below reminded me of some of the feverish and strangely lucid dreams I had when I was a kid.

Me and my brother were young, playing in the hall way of my Nan and Grandad's house at the bottom of the stairs. Everything felt normal, but still, like something was wrong but I couldn't figure out what was wrong. My Nan and Grandad and my mum were in the living room, and I could hear them talking about my uncle. They were saying things along the lines of 'I can't believe it, I can't believe he's gone' and me and my brother started listening, as we did so the whole hall went ice cold, the house went dark and everything went quiet. In my mind for I instantly knew what this was and for some reason I glanced at the stairs.

Floating down the stairs, silently staring at me was my uncle.

/shiver
(mr-lizard Hell's teeth man!, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 0:07, Reply)

Driving through the city and notice a cat had been knocked down. Cue us two females getting out of the car to help. Various running around, trying to strangle the cat (since learnt you are unable to strangle a cat easily) we finally found the owner. All sat in the car. And a man (this is no joke but really does sound so cliche) came from some where wearing a blue boiler suit carrying a plumber type bag. By this time, we were both sat with the owner (who's in the back of the car) ready to drive to the vets. The aforemention man came up to the side of the open windowed car, and without a word, drew an axe out of his bag. 'Er fuck mate just drive' being my response.

How the fudge axe man knew what was going on...and more to the point...wtf did he intend to do..or is that just a silly question.

Creeped me out for a week. Both trying to strangle the cat and the axe man.
(Oops....did I say that out loud cos I really bloody want to., Fri 8 Apr 2011, 23:56, 2 replies)

Paranormal activity
Watched it alone, at night, in my dark living room, on my laptop with headphones and my dog was rustling in his basket - never watched again and still getting goose bumps and makes my hair stand up at the neck thinking about it.

My personal favourite horror movie so far - because you don't see the evil creature and therefore leaves all to your vivid imagination, too many good stories are ruinied at the moment some bad CGI-monster enters the picture. And the scene where she gets pulled out of bed is every kids - sticking your toes out from under the duvet in bed - worst nightmare come true.

kthanks
(threeverse ultima ratio regum, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 23:51, 5 replies)

Yoob yoob
I used to have the same nightmare as a kid of an old wild haired woman with a big nose the same as postman pats. That would chase me down an infinite corridor with doors up each side her name was yoob yoob. In the dream I would run and run until I was far enough away and hide behind one of the doors and I would her her screaming up the corridor opening and slamming the doors as she got closer I would wake up before she found me. The last time I had that dream I had got to the end of the corridor and jumped out a window. I still shudder when I think of her
(hughheff just been tipped 5 dollars, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 23:49, 6 replies)

A dream my mate's sister had as a child
She told us that she was in a bed in a freezing cold room and all her family were at the foot of it glaring at her silently. She lay paralysed while her mother's disembodied face levitated above her. After calling out 'Mum' about three times the face distorted and screamed "You're Not My Daughter" and flew out of the window.

We all agreed that's the most unpleasant dream anyone has ever had!
(CharlieSomethingElse, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 23:31, Reply)

Oh thanks, perfect timing
Just bought a house, naturally it was dirt cheap and therefore needs a lot of work. Guess what's in the shed? An incredibly creepy doll, matted hair and dirty plastic and probably evil. For the first time ever I'm living for prolonged periods in a house by myself, and what is QOTW all about? Sodding weird ghosty stuff. Damn you!
( Greenbat, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 23:28, 1 reply)

Something less flippant.
When I was younger my little brother and I stayed at our older brother and his wife's house on a fairly regular basis, to give our mother a break and so my brother and his wife could spend time with us, though I think they were gluttons for punishment wanting to.
Anyhow, on one such occasion my brother had invited a fellow business-type blokey to dinner with us and, since little bro and myself were there, he'd suggested the guy bring his daughters. I don't remember much about the girls, but what I do recall is that they were subdued, and that whenever their dad picked them up to give them a kiss or tickle them they half-resisted and then sort of seemed resigned to it.
I'm not the most empathic person, in fact I'm anything but, but I really did and possibly do think that there was something very wrong there -- I don;t think a little girl should look at her dad quite the way those girls did. I do hope I was wrong, but part of me thinks I should have tried to find out.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 22:45, 2 replies)

On a hilltop
South of Emerald in central Queensland is a locality called Gindie. It's at the top of a long ridge. There isn't much there, a few farmhouses scattered along the road, a community hall, a one-teacher school and a railway siding. I suppose I was 15, my father stood in the hall chatting to another man I didn't know about something I knew nothing of. They were there for the duration so I sloped off outside. Their voices tailed off and I was in the near silence of a winter's morning in rural Australia.

The hall is just on the northern side of the crest of the hill, and if you stand near the road and look south, you see a patch of gently rising ground in front of you and then sky. Nothing else. It looks like the edge of the world.

I stared for a few moments. Though I knew my mother's old home was a mile from the bottom of the hill I got shivery. I turned away and reality returned with a rush. There was our car parked near the railway a few trees and Dad coming out of the hall.
(Redemption blamed it on the Bossa Nova since, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 22:32, Reply)

I did a massive poo
brought a tear to my eye
( nightbuffalo needs more duct tape, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 22:16, Reply)

Creepy guy
Not quite sure why i'm telling you this, but...

Anyway i was a young lad, not even a teenager and quite naive. I'm walking home from town on a nice sunny day. Not a care in the world.

A bloke in his thirties approaches me, quite smart looking and looked harmless and asked me for directions to the bowling alley. We weren't far away so I told him the directions. He walked with me (as it was on my way home) and asked me questions 'where you from?' 'how old are you?' 'do you live in this town?' - things like that, but just casually. As we arrived I was ready to walk away, but he insisted on paying for a game of bowls, but i was hesitant, i really wanted to walk away but he insisted that I join him for a drink. Stupidly I agreed (yes i know... stupid) and went inside the bowling alley and he bought me a coke. He was very hushed, speaking quietly and politely and just kept asking strange questions, and i made every excuse to leave. At this point i realised how foolish I was, accepting a drink from a complete stranger.

I eventually started to leave, he then offered to pay for my bus, but i refused and he even offered to walk me home, but i eventually managed to get the fuck away from him and ran home.

Now that i'm older it really gives me the creeps, especially at easily I could have been drugged or god knows what.

And the fact that he looked so normal, not like the horror stories of filthy old men, just a normal, smart looking thirty year old guy.

Eurgh....
(mr-lizard Hell's teeth man!, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 22:11, 6 replies)

Sleep Paralysis
Not sure if anyone has suffered from this, but it's awful. Basically it's been explained as a biological 'glitch', when your body is completely asleep and your mind is fully aware, somewhere between dreams and reality. You can't feel your limbs, you feel heavy and at the same time weightless and often you have hallucinations both visual and audible.

Some of the worst experiences include hearing voices like on a radio coming from the wall, tall shadowy figures looming at me in the darkness, strange rushing feelings like i'm underwater and electrical sensations in my limbs and head, and worst of all is a crackling sound like a plastic carrier bag rustling in my brain.

Apparently this experience has been documented for hundreds of years, known as the night hag to some. Some used to attribute it to demons, curses or possession, but in actual fact it it's something to do with chemicals or hormones released into your body when you sleep and can occur with stress or broken sleep cycles.

But it's creepy. Very creepy. The scariest was the time i was sleeping on my mates couch in a living room that had a front door exit (i.e no porch, just a door to the street). Anyway I had a sleep paralysis episode and i swear it felt like someone was trying the door handle and tapping on the door..
(mr-lizard Hell's teeth man!, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 21:56, 8 replies)

I nearly died man.
I had being going out with the to be Mrs Ring of Fire for a little while, and earlier in the day had given her a copy of my front door key.

How did the love of my life react to me moving the relationship to the next level? The very first night of key ownership she waited until 2am, let herself in, snuck into my bedroom, knelt down putting her mouth about an inch from my ear and using a back of the throat gurgle said "I'VE COME FOR YOUR SOUL"
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 8 Apr 2011, 21:54, 11 replies)

Salvation lies within
I once had a nasty, protracted bout of food poisining. After a dozen trips to the loo each day for 3-days, I was pretty sore and bleeding from areas I shouldn't be bleeding - so I headed off gingerly to my local GP to see if there was anything he could do.

'Take your trousers & pants off, and lie down facing the wall', he says. Now, I could be called naive for not expecting what was gonna happen next, but without warning, he inserts a digit into my backside for 'a look around'.

'Jesus Christ!', I gasp.

'He can't help you now' comes the reply from behind me.

[shudder]
(daytripper, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 21:32, Reply)

Creepy
There's a church just outside Glossop called, "Top Chapel". It's just nasty to look at and not helped by the 10 foot neon red cross outside. A story I remember from an old friend involved him and his mates having a little camping "not scared of the big red cross" night on the hills just behind the church.
They were minding their own business, joking about, "no such things as ghosts" and such when one of them spotted a light bobbing it's way towards them.
Thinking it was just the rector coming to check they sat and waited.
As the light came closer my mate remarked that the guy must be pretty tall, at least six feet. Nothing unusual there.
except...
The closer he got the taller he seemed to be...
when he came within twenty yards or so they saw why.
Between his ankles and his shins... there was a gap.
And between his shins and his knees.
And his hips and his spine. And his neck and his head...
His arms were segmented in much the same way.
He wasn't evil looking, or angry, or showing any emotion at all... he was dressed in "somethng old fashioned" as my mate remembered. he was just carring a gas lantern and looked 10 ft tall and had clear, empty spaces where you and I have joints.
My mate and pals ran, leaving beer (yes BEER!) behind.
I know you'll all think it's a bunch of crap... but I've heard this from my mate, who was there, and a few of his mates (who were there). I've never detected one of them smiling when they tell the tail; they all had the same look.
Scared.
(DustyD, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 21:07, 2 replies)

Old women
in make-up. And furthermore, young girls wearing make-up. Particularly American beauty pageants. Not just creepy, but a bit sickening.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 20:59, Reply)