"I Never Really Was A Believer Until This Happened:" 28 People Share Their Shocking, Unexplainable Paranormal Encounters

I asked the BuzzFeed Community to share their spooky, unexplainable paranormal experiences. From cryptids to ghosts to UFOs, here are 28 of the best ones:

Note: Submissions have also been sourced from r/Ghosts.

1."It was late afternoon and I had just finished putting a food shopping order through online. My daughter was sitting at the dining table, so I told her what I'd ordered for her and she said, 'Thanks Mum, I like those ones.' A few moments later, my husband came downstairs and asked me who I was talking to. I said my daughter, but I hadn't looked up from my phone by that point. He said, 'She's been upstairs playing for the last hour or so, I was up there with her.' I put my phone down and saw that no one was at the dining table. I still can't figure out who (or what) was sitting at the table that day, but it certainly wasn't my daughter!"

—Anonymous

2."One night my wife and I were putting together an IKEA bookshelf after we moved into a new apartment. Before we got started, we laid everything out in front of us in our empty living room. I looked down to read the instructions and start putting the thing together, but the screws were gone. We couldn't find them anywhere. We looked under all the pieces, the boxes, etc....but they were gone. As we were about to give up for the night, we noticed that the screws were right on top of one of the shelf pieces. We didn't think much of it so we started putting the bookshelf together. Near the end of the steps, we all of a sudden got a strong whiff of cigar smoke coming from the room. At that moment, we turned over the particle board to nail it on the bookshelf and there was a fresh circular burn mark on the back of it. We like to joke that the ghost of IKEA came home with us that night and has been hiding things ever since."

—Anonymous

3. This ghostly intruder:

4."In college, I was sleeping in my dorm and woke up at 3 a.m. really thirsty. When I opened the door, the light from the hallway illuminated my roommate asleep in her bed. This was a little weird, because she normally slept at her boyfriend’s, but I just had to remember to open and shut the door quickly when I got back so I wouldn’t wake her. On my way back in, I saw her turn over in bed when the light hit her. I was a little scared I woke her up, so I mumbled an apology and went back to sleep. She wasn’t there the next morning because she had class, but when she got back to the dorm, I asked her when she got in last night because I hadn't heard her. THAT'S when she told me she wasn’t there last night at all."

"Turns out, she had gone home to her mom’s place three hours away. She even showed me pictures she took that night to prove it! Our doors lock automatically and I checked them every night. I don’t know WHAT was in her bed that night, but I was TERRIFIED it would come back."

—twilight1640

5."It was 7 p.m. in early winter, so the sun had already gone down and it was dark out. I was heading home through campus after getting some groceries, and was paused at a stop sign by a popular campus breakfast spot. There wasn't too much going on, but I thought I saw someone trying to cross the street out ahead of me, so I waited for them to go. It didn't take me long to realize I'd made a mistake. The thing in front of me had been kind of hunched over, like a person picking something up. But when it stood up, it was obvious that it wasn't human at all. Its eyes reflected in my headlights like an animal and it moved in a very un-human way, like someone had shoved it into a human-like suit that didn't fit quite right. I noped out of there and refused to drive home after dark again."

—torbielillies

6. This hospital encounter that turned a skeptic into a believer:

7."Years ago, I was spending the night at my boyfriend’s apartment. He had two housemates — one was out with his girlfriend and the other was working a night shift. I was heading to the bathroom and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guy who was supposed to be at work sitting on the sofa, looking in my direction. I figured his shift had ended, but when I came back out of the bathroom, he was no longer there. Whatever, I just assumed he’d gone to bed. The next morning, I was making breakfast when he came through the front door. I asked him why he was so quiet last night, and he looked at me like I’d lost my marbles. He said he wasn't home last night, his shift was 7 p.m. to 7a.m. and he'd just now finished. So...who was sat on that sofa?"

—Anonymous

8."I grew up in a big Victorian house in Adelaide, Australia. One morning, I woke up and could hear the family having breakfast — voices, cups and plates clinking, the usual sounds. I wondered why my parents hadn't woken me, so I got up and went down the hall toward the kitchen. The noise got louder and louder the closer I got. However the kitchen door was shut (which was really unusual, we never shut it) so I pushed it open. The second I stepped into the room, the noises stopped abruptly, like a radio being turned off, and the room was completely still and empty."

"I ran back down the hall looking into the rooms as I went. It was really early in the morning and everyone was still asleep in bed. I told my mom, but she wrote it off as me having an overactive imagination. This happened about four times, and it was certainly not my imagination."

—Anonymous

9. This Tesla feature, which warns the driver when a person is nearby, that picked up on a 'person' standing in a visibly empty cemetery:

10."When I was in college, I was in the shower and heard my girlfriend's voice from right outside the bathroom. She was calling to me, saying, 'Where are you? I need you!' There was a small, frosted glass jalousie window next to the tub, which was partially open. I thought she was standing right outside. I called to her, 'I'm in the shower. I'll be right there.' I hurriedly rinsed off and threw on clothes. When I went outside, she was nowhere to be found. This is in the days before cell phones, so I called her house. She was there. Long story short, she had been home the whole time. She had an argument with her parents and was up in her room, crying. At the same time I heard her outside my bathroom, she was saying those EXACT same words from her bedroom, MILES away from my house."

—Anonymous

11. This ghost cat who is still causing chaos:

12."My dad worked nights when I was a kid and would get home every night at 12:08 a.m. like clockwork. My mom would always wait up for him, but this particular night she fell asleep on the couch and had a very vivid dream. She dreamt that she walked out into the backyard and found my dad staring up into the sky at a weird light. They were both transfixed by the sight. Suddenly, she woke up with a start and realized it was 12:20 and she had not heard my dad come home. She looked in the driveway and saw his truck, so she went to the backyard to look for him. There he stood, staring into the sky at a strange light like he was hypnotized. She, too, became frozen in place, watching the light. Eventually, the light zoomed off and they went back to normal. Neither had realized that almost an hour had passed."

—amandawade1

13. This creepy crawly cryptid that was filmed outside some unfortunate person's home:

14."For years and years, people would tell me I was someplace when I wasn't. My 'twin' apparently had the same backpack as me, which was a Native American-inspired blanket bag. My friends told me they saw me on a different university campus with the exact same book bag, right down to a noticeable stain on the back. The thing was that, at the time they 'saw' me, I was on a different campus and had proof of it. My favorite account, though, was the time my grandmother thought I had ditched school. She was furious. She walked right up to 'me' and pulled my 'twin' over and started to chew 'me' out for ditching school. She realized almost immediately that while this person looked like me, something about them was slightly different.

"She apologized to them. The funny thing about that was, prior to that, she didn't believe I had a twin when I told her. The last time I heard about this 'twin' was two years ago and apparently he was in front of me at a drive thru! Ironically, we ordered the same thing. The poor cashier was so confused because she said she'd just given me my order! She seriously thought I had tricked her, but I swear I didn't. Only thing that was different was his car was black while my car was green."

—Anonymous

15. This phantom who certainly made their presence known:

16."Several years ago — when my now husband and I were in our early 20s — we were driving around in his car in the country, just for something to do. It was particularly dark that night, maybe around 8 p.m., and it was raining. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. The next thing we knew, about 15 minutes had passed and we were in the same place on the road. There were no houses around and no other vehicles. We don't really believe in aliens, but neither of us can explain what happened that night."

—Anonymous

17."My older brother died in August of 1999. I was living in California at the time and he had been living with our parents in North Carolina. My parents shipped his body to Ohio (where we are originally from) and that's where we had his funeral. A day or so after, we were all sitting in my aunt's house, which is way out in farm country. It was dark as it was probably around 10 p.m. The curtains in the back were open and we could see the wooden swing set in the yard. My blood ran cold as I saw my brother standing there, leaning against the play set with his arms crossed, watching us. He was wearing jeans, an old red plaid shirt he had, and a baseball cap. I didn't say anything until the next day and my dad told me he saw him too."

—Anonymous

18. This old-timey ghost who apparently knows what "photobombing" is"

19."We have a ghost that my friends refer to as my 'kitchen bae.' Years and years ago I lived in my car, but would occasionally couch hop with friends. I went to a friend's house to have a shower and sleep on a real bed while he was at work, and his roommate was home. They lived in a house that was a remodeled old farmhouse on a swath of land surrounded by fields and ponds. It was a creepy house but this was during the day, so I was only slightly unnerved hanging out there. I fell asleep and had a bought of sleep paralysis. Even though I couldn't look around, I knew someone is in the room with me. After what seemed like ages, I was finally able to look up at the head of the bed, and standing beside it was a girl, roughly 11-12 years old wearing an old style floor length sleeping gown and sleeping cap, just staring at me."

"I woke up to my friend's roommate shaking me awake and telling me I was screaming bloody murder in my sleep. Shortly after, my friend got home and I told them both what I saw. They laughed, because the girl that I saw was a regular appearance in the house. Apparently the family that lived on the land hundreds of years ago lost a daughter that drowned in a pond. She has stuck with me ever since, it's been about 20 years now. Every place I've ever lived, she's stayed in the kitchen. I've concluded that this is because she doesn't like carpeted floors.

My kids have both seen her while dreaming and described her just as I saw her. My ex on more than one occasion would get up in the middle of the night because he would hear light footsteps or cabinets opening and closing in the kitchen. I've had friends over wonder why they would hear the occasional clank of silverware moving or things being shifted around. We've all gotten used to her...she'll even keep the cats entertained occasionally. I'll watch them stare into a void and then jump around as if they're chasing an invisible string being waved in front of them. Hella creepy at first, and now just part of our everyday lives."

—Anonymous

20. This ghost who wanted attention and wanted it NOW:

21."My cousin and I were mowing my grandmother’s backyard in June, because my grandfather had died in February. I was weed whacking and he was using the push mower. This was 1987. I saw my cousin stop in the yard and just looking at the house for a good two or three minutes. He shook his head, then turned off the mower and headed into the house, I assumed for a drink. I went over to the mower and started it. I was on my second trip up the yard when I glanced at the house for whatever reason. In the bedroom window I saw my grandfather, watching me. I stood there just dumbfounded and in shock. He smiled and waved. I looked at him for a couple minutes, trying to process what I was seeing. I put my head down and shook it, and when I looked again, he was gone."

"Unknown to me, my cousin had come out of the house and was standing by the driveway, watching me. He came over to me and said, 'You saw what I saw, didn’t you?' We had. We both agreed that Pop wanted to make sure we were mowing the lawn like he did. A couple months later, I mentioned my grandfather to my grandmother and she said she had heard him calling her and saw the rocking chair he regularly sat in rocking on its own. I told her what my cousin and I saw and she said that he just wanted to check on things and make sure things were OK. After our conversation, she never heard him call her or rock the chair again."

—Anonymous

22. This tattoo studio ghost wanted to make it crystal clear that they did not like that man:

23."When I was about 12 years old, my friend and I camped out in his backyard. My house was about 500 yards from his in one direction, and there was a cemetery about 700 yards from him in the other direction. It was around 10:30 at night and we were hanging out in our tent. All of a sudden, we heard my six-year-old brother yell out, 'Hey Alan! Hey Alan!' The strange thing was that his voice sounded like it was coming from the direction of the cemetery. Being six years old and all, he shouldn't have been out by himself that late looking for me. We ran down to my house quickly. My mom and dad were in the kitchen, so I asked them why my brother was outside by himself yelling at me. They told me he was in bed and had been asleep for about two hours. Both me and my friend clearly heard him yelling my name from the cemetery. We NEVER camped out in his backyard again."

—Anonymous

24. This man who seemingly disappeared mid-step:

25."My boyfriend was driving on the highway about two weeks ago, and traffic was slowing down because a cop had pulled someone with a trailer over on the side of the road. A silver car next to us swerved towards us, so much so that I gasped and braced for impact. They never hit us. The weird part? The cop car and vehicle with the trailer were completely gone. The silver car was in its own lane, and my boyfriend and I were both absolutely confused because he never took his eyes off the road and could not explain how the cop/trailer just disappeared into thin air. I swear the silver car should have hit us. I think we may have died in another timeline."

—tbfsrvb

26."My sister and I saw an alien when we were kids. A UFO landed in the field across from our house, something got out, and it walked away toward the corn field. We flipped out and even made my dad go out and check. Anyway, a few years ago we were watching the BuzzFeed Unsolved episode about the 'Men in Black' and my sister got very uncomfortable. I asked why, and she explained that as a child, she had a dream about the scenario I just described. I looked at her and said, 'No, I was there too, remember? We were so scared we played Barbie computer games to calm down.' The blood drained from her face, because in that moment she knew for sure it wasn't a dream."

—Anonymous

27. This ghost that hesitated, but closed this girl's door nonetheless:

28."In 2012, my now-husband and I were traveling from Atlanta (where he’s from) to Charleston, SC (where we both went to college) after visiting his family. We decided to leave his parents house around 3p.m. and expected a six hour drive back to the dorms. Everything was fine the first four hours of the ride. I was driving, it had started to get dark, and we were on some back roads I’d never been on before. I just figured Google maps was helping us avoid traffic or something. Shortly after, I noticed what I thought was a plane flying above us and said, 'Oh look, there must be an airport near.' Not even five minutes later, I looked up and noticed the 'plane' was getting closer and closer to us. I was confused — I’d NEVER seen an airport in a rural area like this. I looked back to the road for no more than two minutes and when I turned my head back, the 'plane' was less than 20 feet above our car."

"But, it wasn’t a plane at all. We saw a jet black, matte, triangular craft with blue lights on each wing and a red light at the front end. And even stranger, there was no sound. No wind, nothing. It was absolute silence. I don’t recall hearing the radio from the car or anything. The environment outside was unchanged – the grass and the trees hadn't moved an inch and neither had my I or my boyfriend. We watched in complete silence as the craft glided above us. We were in disbelief.

I was still driving somehow, so we rolled on slowly until we reached a red light up and sat there to gather ourselves. We looked to our right and the car behind us pulled up next to us, looking terrified too. We didn’t speak, but it was in their eyes the same way I know it must have been in ours. We all just stared at each other in silence until the light turned green. My boyfriend and I were reeling, trying to rack our brains about what had just happened. We weren't paying attention to the time or much else for that matter. It’s a wonder we got home safely, because I barely remember the ride. Finally we pulled up to our dorm, and it was 3 a.m. We were on the road for 12 hours and have no account for eight of them. We’ve told this story a thousand times and nobody believes us, but we know what we saw."

—Anonymous

Now it's your turn! Do you have a paranormal, unexplained experience like these? If so, tell us all about them in the comments below or via this anonymous form.

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.