Stories That Begin With the Letter A

A Dog's Revenge
A Friend's Return
A Haunted Apartment In Pittsburg
A Little Ghost Story
An Experience Unforgotten
Angela
Angry Match Maker's Voice
Antebellum Lady
The Attic
The Apparition

A Dog's Revenge

Author: Teresa from Canada

This one is closer to home- one of my sister-in-laws is absolutely petrified of dogs- anyhow- we had the most darling little dog growing up- a cute fluffy, yappy pomeranian named trixie- she roamed around our house (again in winnipeg) and kept everyone company- she was absolutely harmless and extremely friendly- well when my brother and his wife would come to stay with us (they lived out of the province) little trixie would come bouncing up and wait to be stroked. my brother of course acquiesced but my sis-in-law would freeze. several times she was left alone with the dog when all of us were in different parts of the house -which she later admitted terrified her.she even learned to recognize the sound of trixie's bell around her neck and the sounds of her jumping up onto couches etc. to guage what area of the house the dog was in to avoid contact. well, trixie died at the age of 16 and we moved out of the house 5 years later. last year my sis-in-law confessed something to me. she told me that on those occassions that she was left alone with the dog she was so scared that she would trap trixie in a room or closet until she was safely out of range and then tell my brother to let her out. i was shocked but she is a gentle person and would never have hurt my dog. anyhow- after trixie died, when they came to visit us again, my sis-in-law would again find herself alone at times and only then would she hear these sounds. they would be the sounds of trixie jumping up and down onto things and her bell ringing everytime she entered a room alone. she was certain the dog was haunting her- just her- and i must say i'd rather agree as it did not happen to anyone else- this went on for the whole 5 years we remained in the house and nearly drove her batty- naturally she hated coming to see us- i call this one: "a dog's revenge"

A Friend's Return

Author:TC

Email:t_chance@(nospam)hotmail.com

I graduated from highschool with the class of '91. I wasn't an extremely popular girl, but I knew pretty much every one. Anyway, a couple months after graduation this one guy, I will call him Mike, in my class was killed in an automobile crash. Mike was extremely popular in the school, he was quite the lady's man and had a promising college baseball career ahead of him. Despite all of his charm and popularity he was a real nice guy who would socialize with people of any "social rank". Anyway, Mike was driving home from a game with some of his team mates and the car went off the road and he was the only one killed. Needless to say, this was a tradegy in our town.

Before he had left for this game he had been over to his girl friends house visiting with her and her family. She had a neice who was approximately 3 or 4 years old. Well, this little girl absolutely adored her aunt's boyfriend. He would sit and play with her and read her stories. When Mike got ready to leave this last time his girl friend's neice got quite upset and begged him not to go. He settled her down by promising her that he would be back to play with her again.

Well, he never made it back. And naturally all of his friends, family and his girl friend and her family were heart broken over this tradegy. The family didn't have the heart to mention his death to the little girl. She was too young and would not understand what death meant. Shortly after they learned of his death the little girl came prancing out of her room with a big smile on her face. The family asked her what she had been doing and she said that Mike had just been in her room playing barbies with her. And she was very glad he had come to see her and he told her he would be going away for awhile. He told her he loved her and to be a good girl. The family was totally shocked.

Also, a couple of years after his death a good friend of mine was playing with a Ouija board and they had been talking to a spirit and the spirit said that he was the same Mike I mentioned in the other story. He told her how he had died and that he knew her, he even told her what school she had gone to and when she had graduated.

A Haunted Apartment in Pittsburgh

Author: Ross

E-mail: ross@(nospam)critpath.org

I have a good one that you might want to post. This was told to me a few weeks ago by a friend from Pittsburgh, who knows the people involved. I think it's the scariest story I've heard in a long time. "John" and "Pauline" were living together in this really small apartment They thought it was a "wierd" place, but they could never really put a finger on what it was that made it feel so strange. Anyway, they went to a party one night, and somebody at the party had brought a ouija board, so the two of them had a turn playing with it. Pauline began to feel all freaked out after a while, so they decided to go home. When they walked into their apartment and turned on the light, they saw that there was a thin, red line drawn all the way around the livingroom walls. It was about 6 feet off the floor, absolutely straight, and looked kind of like pencil. They followed the line around the room, and at the very end of it was written the word "SCRATCH".

IT LOOKED KIND OF LIKE A SIGNATURE.

There was no sign of forced entry to the apartment, they were the only ones who had keys to the place, and they were only gone from the apartment for a little over an hour. They never figured out who (Or WHAT) had done this to their apartment.

They have since moved.

Ross In Philadelphia

A Little Ghost Story

Author:Tiffeny

Email:tiffeny@(nospam)ibm.net

My sisters, my brother and I are all convinced that my parent's house is haunted. The first thing that I ever recall happening occurred when I was about ten or so. My parents had gone out of town and my older brother was watching us. I was sleeping in my bedroom, which was a room my dad had built inside the garage. There was a door leading from my bedroom into the interior of the garage, and another door leading outside. Anyway, I awoke to hear the knob on the inside door turning. This door was always kept locked, so no one was going to get in that way. I thought maybe my brother had locked himself out, and was trying to come back in that way. However as soon as I called out to him, the knob stopped turning and all was silent. I eventually fell back asleep, and asked my brother about it in the morning. He said no, he hadn't locked himself out, and had in fact made a point of locking all of the exterior doors and windows on the house before he went to bed. We checked them, thinking that maybe someone had tried to break in, but the exterior garage door was still locked!

A few years later, my brother surprised us at the dinner table by telling us about his ghostly experiences. His bedroom was at the back of the house, sort of apart from the rest of us. He said he and his girlfriend were lying on his waterbed watching television with the lights out. Her dog was lying on the floor asleep. There was a lamp that hung from the ceiling right above the television, and they noticed that it began to sway back and forth slowly, although there were no windows open nor any breezes in the room. At about the same time, the dog woke up and began growling and backing away from the lamp. Another time, my brother said he was asleep in the middle of the night, and woke up freezing. He though this was strange, because he had a waterbed with a heater on it. He rolled over to check the thermostat on the waterbed and said it felt like he was rolling into someone lying right next to him. There was even an indentation in the bed like someone (a very cold someone) was sleeping there.

Anyway, we all laughed at my brother and said he was having hallucinations (he was known to smoke a joint or two). However, at one point or another since then, my sisters and I have all lived in that room and have had strange experiences.

My younger sister and her husband were sleeping one night, and my sister was pregnant. She was used to waking up in the middle of the night and going to get a drink or use the restroom. One night she woke up and sleepily walked to the kitchen. On the way back into her room, she noticed a dark figure sitting on the couch and assumed that her husband had gotten after her and was waiting there for her to come back to bed. She climbed back into bed, assuming that he was following her, and was shocked to find her husband was already there, fast asleep! She turned back to the couch but no one was there.

A year or so later I was sleeping in that room alone one night. I woke up and heard the strangest noise. It was like someone pacing back and forth on the floor next to the bed. I wasn't hearing footsteps, only the sound of movement, like cloth rustling against skin. This went on for about 15 minutes, although when I looked no one was there. I lay there terrified, unable to move, until it stopped and I eventually fell back asleep about an hour later. Needless to say, I was never too eager to sleep there again.

My youngest sister lives in the room now. She doesn't volunteer much information about the ghost, but she has told us about something strange. In the closet there is a ceiling panel that leads to the crawl space above the house. She periodically finds this ceiling panel leaning against the wall inside the closet. She drags a chair over and replaces it each time, but she will still find it leaning against the wall, always in the same place. It stands to reason that if it had fallen out, it would land on the floor, not leaning against the wall. Perhaps we have a neat ghost, although he could just replace it when he's done and save her the trouble!

One little interesting thing did happen that is unrelated to our bedroom ghost. My father passed away three years ago, and during the week of his funeral, a number of people were staying in the house. People were sleeping anywhere there was a free space, including the floor. There must have been 15 or 20 people there one night, and we had all gone to bed when a loud crash woke everyone up. We all rushed into the kitchen and found that a cabinet had opened up and all of my mother's tupperware was spread out on the floor. My mom just laughed and said that was daddy. When he was living he had one steadfast rule. He always went to bed late and he insisted on knowing who was in the house before he retired. He said if he wanted to walk around in his underwear he didn't want to be surprised by one of his daughter's friends. With four teenagers, sleepovers were a common thing, and we weren't allowed to bring anyone in after he had gone to bed. Mom said that was just dad's way of telling us he didn't like all of these people staying in his house with him not knowing about it...made sense, especially if you knew my dad and his temper...

An Experience Unforgotten

Author:Carolina

Email:cliffh@(nospam)hhs.net

I am 22-years-old and had one experience that I have never forgotten. My sister (14-years-old), cousin (12-years-old), and I (11-years-old) would bring our radio out in the frontyard and dance. One day my cousin had to go to the bathroom, so we asked my dad to watch the radio (since he was working on the car) while we all went into the house. My sister went into my aunt's room, I went into my cousin's room, and my cousin went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, I see my sister running through the hallway, passed the room I was in, and into the bathroom with my cousin. I ran after her to see what was going on. My sister and I leaned against the bathroom door while she told my cousin and I why she was freaking out. In my aunt's room, there is a bathroom. Well, she said that while she was in my aunt's room brushing her hair, the bathroom door opened by itself.

That's when she freaked out and ran out of the room into the bathroom my cousin was in. At first, my cousin and I knew there had to be a logical explanation for the door opening by itself. But all of sudden, something, began pushing with great force against the door like it was trying to get in. So much force that my sister and I could feel our bodies' bouncing off the door. We all screamed and that's when it stopped. We sat there for a few moments scared to death, then we finally got the nerve and all ran out of the house. As we ran out of the house, (the radio still outside) said, "Get out of my house." We screamed so loud that we could be heard a block away. We explained to my dad what had happened, him a skeptic, told us that it was our imagination.

No one believed us for a long time, they actually thought we were just playing around. Little childish pranks or something. Well, my Aunt Sally told us that one day she was in her room and saw a full dressed woman come out of her closet, walk over to her dresser, and began brushing her hair. My Aunt said she could see the brush float up in the air. Another Aunt that lived in the house also, my Aunt Virgie, said one day she saw a full dressed woman and a naked woman come out of my Aunt Sally's room, walked into her room, right into her closet. She sat stunned on her bed.

My family became good friends with the family that moved in after my cousin and her family moved out. Nothing ever happened again in that house. My sister and I believe that my cousin and her family took the ghosts with them. I'm not quite sure if anything ever happened to them after they left the house, the ghost experiences are kind of off limits. We just don't talk about it anymore. Past or present. I can't say if what happened to both my aunts were true or not, because I was not there to see it. They never got into detail of what these women looked like or what the full dressed woman was wearing. Maybe they were just making up the whole thing to scare us more. All I know is what I experienced and it was real!! I know that it could not have been my imagination, because how can you imagine your body bouncing off a door that's being pushed on from the other side. No one was in the house, because everyone was at work. You give me a logical explanation as to what I experienced 11 years ago and can still remember vividly to this day.

Angela

Author: Patrick

Email:pkeyes@(nospam)worldnet.att.net

Most of us, the ones that were still awake when the wooden hands on the clock passed two, sat near the crackling fire in the great room of my aunt's Eastbrook home. What was planned as a night of sleepless adventure for us children, slowly turned into open yawns and sleepy sighs as our childhood games could not keep sleep from our little minds. The idea of us rampaging throughout the open hallways and darkened rooms of my aunt's home in the wee hours seemed, at an earlier time, like a grand way to spend among classmates during the long weekend. But now, most of us, the ones still awake, were sitting in a dreamlike state, listening to the fire sputter and spark, waiting for sleep to draw its warm blanket across the quiet children.

My aunt, wrapped up in her grandmother's green shawl, gazed steadily at the fire, and then to the clumps of children sprawled among the floor. I could see her thinking, for many times my aunt did not need to speak. On looking at her features, one could tell what she was saying. The roll of her eye, the twitch of her brow, or the curling of her lip brought the forbearance of a conversation that was soon to come. Although the room was quite dark, I could see in here face that she wanted to tell us something. I thought a stern lecture was coming, on how children our age should be long in bed at this late hour, and how their parents would react if children such as ourselves would be allowed to stay awake this late. But I was wrong, for she simply wanted to tell us a story.

I listened to her quiet voice. She told a tale of her childhood and friends that she grew up with. But one friend in particular she described with such detail that one would image that this friend was in the room with us. Her name was Angela, and my aunt made her acquaintance when grandfather was in the throes of death. He would sit in his bed, grandfather would, staring at the white walls in his room, slowly murmuring the thoughts and words of a fevered brain. At first, my aunt was too scared even to enter his room. She was afraid that what ever he had, whatever was making him act like that, she would also contract if she neared him. For many weeks, she would sit outside in the hall by his door, listening to the murmuring. Occasionally, she thought she could make out words. It seemed like he was talking with someone. The garbled words, quiet at first, would suddenly get very loud, as if someone he recognized entered the room. When friends and relatives came to see grandfather, my aunt would sit outside and listen for the strange talk, but it never happened. All she would hear was the weepings of loved ones, and a long moan from grandfather.

As grandfather grew weaker, my aunt’s courage grew stronger. Now, when she heard grandfather’s murmingings, she would peek quickly into the room, and then duck her head back into the hallway. In those brief moments, she saw grandfather sitting up in his bed, his arm stretched above him. The glassy eyes still stared ahead, but something seemed to fix his gaze. My aunt would then run from the hallway, around and down the stairs into grandmother’s waiting arms.

And then it happened, she told us. The special day when she met Angela, and would always remember Angela as if this episode had happened yesterday. Grandmother would put together a plate of food for grandfather, and then bring it up to him in his room. On this day, grandmother told my aunt that she should bring it up, for grandfather missed seeing her. My aunt at first refused, for she still was deathly afraid of what grandfather had. But grandmother would hear nothing of the sort and ordered my aunt to carry the steaming bowl of soup and crackers up to grandfather.

She clutched the tray in her hand and slowly made her way up the long stairs. At the top, she could see grandfather's door down the hallway. As she neared, my aunt could see that the door was open, for a pane of light reflected through the door in the floor of the hallway. Then she saw it. A shadow passed through the pane of light on the floor. My aunt thought that somehow grandfather was up and better. She dropped the tray, the soup and crackers fell to the floor with a crash. She ran down the hall and into grandfather’s room. He slumped upon the pillow, his white face staring at a small girl sitting across his chest. When my aunt entered the room, the girl looked back, and then she smiled. She was small, very small my aunt said, maybe five or six years old she thought. She had dark curls running down the sides of her head. When she smiled, her lips revealed a set of pearly white teeth, but large teeth for such a small girl. The teeth chattered, as if the girl was cold and trying to keep warm. My aunt stood and stared, as the girl looked back to grandfather. She ran her small hand through grandfather's hair, and then looked back toward my aunt. The girl then raised a finger to her lips, and then pointed at the door behind. When my aunt looked back, grandmother was at the door, and with one look, ran to grandfather’s side.

My aunt, still gazing into the embers of the fire, then told us that that was the last of grandfather. He had passed away on the very day she saw the little girl so long ago. By now, the sleep had left our little bodies, the ones still awake, and we were pressed around my aunt’s chair. We had questions. Who was the small girl? When did Angela come into the story? Who was Angela? Did grandmother see the little girl too?

Angela, my aunt said, was a name that I loved. I had wished my name to be that when I was your age. But a name is a name, and I have kept mine like you will keep yours for the rest of your lives. I never had children, like your mothers have, so I named the small child I met that day Angela. In my heart, she is mine.

We sat, as the fire slowly crackled in the darkened room, and listened to my aunt. But we heard nothing, for my aunt, wrapped up in her grandmother’s green shawl, slowly stood and left the great room. We were left alone. Most of us the ones still awake.

Angry Match Maker's Voice

Email:j7r@(nospam)hotmail.com

In Dec.1994, I was downhill skiing in the Rocky Mountains with my much older married brother. He was a far more experienced skier than I and as a result far more enthusiastic. It was the end of the day and I had skied enough. My brother, however, insisted going up for the final run, so he went up alone. I sat it out at the bottom of the mountain. A rather attractive man appeared shortly and said as he walked by, "Hello! How are you?" (He kept walking towards his friends). I was rather surprised but smiled and returned the greeting. At that very moment, an extremely stern and authoritative man's voice very loudly said from the outside of my ear (not from within my own head): "THAT is the man you are going to marry!!" I was completely shocked as you can well imagine. I swung around to see who had said that. It clearly came from beside me and was spoken right into my ear! There was no one there. (This fellow was about 50 feet away with his group of friends). I was single at the time but not unhappily so and I was certainly not inclined to hearing voices nor even thinking about marriage. Once I established that no one was there, I had no choice but to temporarily disregard it as I was standing alone at the base of the ski hill and naturally did not want to appear unstable. The fellow wandered back towards me and we briefly talked. It turned out he was a Yale-educated Neuro-Surgeon living in L.A. You can imagine my delight. Though it was the final day of their trip (he was leaving the next day) and though we had only talked all of 10 minutes-their shuttle bus was ready to take their skiing-party back to the city- he insisted that he felt we must exchange numbers. Of course, in retrospect this was rather mad on my part to agree to such an exchange with a stranger, but something was urging me on as well and yes, I was young and impressionable. So we did.

The moment my brother dropped me off at my parents' home 5 hours later, the phone rang. (My brother thought it was rather dangerous of me to allow him my number and my parents thought it ludicrous). Anyhow, it was he on the phone. We talked a few hours and we decided to continue our correspondence following his return to LA the next morning. Well, for a year, nearly every night, he either called me or I would page him at the hospital and he'd call back. (I never spent more than a few dollars on the phone bill). I was pleased with my acquaintance with this fellow but was growing tired of the apparent futility of it all. (He had urged me to visit him several times but I was in school and besides, my parents would never have allowed it). Shortly after, I met a nice fellow in my own city and we started dating. Things were going very well and I had virtually forgotten about this fellow I had spent all of 10 minutes with. We still chatted now and then and my boyfriend was aware of this friendship that had ensued but I was no longer interested in keeping this phone relationship alive. After six months of happy dating, Jake and I were walking down the street hand-in-hand. I had nothing on my mind at the time, but I do recall having an overall sense of happiness with him, our relationship and my life at the time. Well, just as suddenly as before, the identical loud, stern, authoritative voice (but this time angrily) said: "REMEMBER!!! JOEL is going to be your husband!!!" (Joel was the MD in LA). The voice sounded very cross this time. As you can appreciate I am sure, I was completely freaked out. I whipped around (to the shock of my boyfriend) and demanded to know who had said that. No one was there (and I had never told my boyfriend about the voice on the mountain). I asked my boyfriend if he had heard anything as it was so loud and originated from outside my ear! He replied that he had not. Well, to cut to the chase, this relationship only lasted about a year and wouldn't you know it, Joel and I started our long-distance phone conversations again. This time, he insisted I come see him and just sent me a airline ticket in the mail. Influenced and encouraged by this mysterious and persistent voice, I felt I had to go (much to my parent's chagrin of course). Well, surprise surprise, it was a huge disappointment (as any sensible person would have predicted). (He turned out to be far too arrogant for my liking. I stopped our contact once I returned home although he continued calling, we have moved and I haven't talked to him since). So who's voice was it? My girlfriends' think it was perhaps Joel's subconscious will -as he possessed a very assertive and aggressive strong character. I have considered this notion but also wonder if it was my Great Grandfather who was very psychic. (Always dreaming future events well in advance of them). But why would he wish to tell me untruths?

Anyhow, that's my love story gone awry. Hope you liked it! (Oh, I never heard the voice again and I have yet to marry!)

Author: Kelly

E-mail: Kelly.Williamson@(nospam)Bethesda.KellerBruner.com

I just found your page today and wanted to add some experiences of my own. Sensitivity to ghosts and other paranormal experiences seem to run in my family. My mom, grandmother, brother, cousin, and myself all seem to have these sensitivities.

Antebellum Lady

When I was very small, about 5 or 6, my mom and I lived in an apartment off Granby St. in Norfolk, Va. I suffered from terrible ear-aches as a child and would wake up several times a night. Anyway, I woke up one night in pain with an ear-ache and rather frightened from a nightmare when I looked up to see a woman standing at my doorway. (The doorway was diagonally across the room from the top of my bed, so I had an excellent view of the door and the hallway.) At first I thought it was my mother because she was the only other person living there and because this "woman" gave off maternal vibes. However, I soon figured out that this wasn't my mom when the woman walked across the room to my bed. She wore this dress that I can only describe as looking like something out of "Gone with the Wind." The skirts were huge. I wasn't afraid even though the woman sat down on the bed next to me. I don't remember feeling cold or feeling anything odd at all. She seemed real, but transparent (although not completely. Parts of her were less transparent than others.) I fell asleep soon afterwards with my ear-ache gone and slept peacefully through the rest of the night. That was so unusual that my mom commented on it the next day. Weird!!

The Attic

Author:Molokolite

Email: MolokoLite@(nospam)aol.com

Get ready, this is scary, true, and it just happened a couple of days ago. We have an attic, but we've never been up there. So, we were talking about maybe seeing if there was good stuff from other families we could take down, and that night we went to sleep with the intent of going up the next day. That morning, my sister went to her car to go to student teaching, and to her horror, there was a fully assembled dome tent on top of her car!!! Her first instinct was to run, but bravely, or perhaps foolishly, she instead tried to get it off. It was really hard, and almost scratched the paint as it came off!!! Later my Mom told us she heard lots of movement above her room the night before. Anyway, we obviously never thought about going into the attic again, who knows who or what is up there, and how many tents they could have.

The Apparition

Author: Chris Thorn

Email:thornc@(nospam)bvsd.k12.co.us

I tend to be skeptical about claims that a human "spirit" can survive death, if that even means anything. But I will tell you about my experience anyway because I have no explanation for what I saw and I'm just curious as to whether others have reported anything similar. When I was around 11 or 12 years old (circa 1962), my younger brother and I shared a bedroom that had been converted from an attached garage. The room was heated only by means of an electric heater, which in my opinion, was woefully inadequate. St. Louis winters can be very cold and I often had difficulty falling asleep in the chill. On one night in particular that I remember quite clearly, due to the unusual occurrence that I am about to relate, I had been awake for some time, trying to ignore my discomfort. I could feel the warmth on my face when the heater was on but it had an internal thermostat that periodically turned the unit off. When it turned off, I could once again feel the cold air and would anxiously wait for the heater to come on again. Sometimes, when it seemed that it was taking too long for the thermostat to work, I would open my eyes and stare through the darkness toward the thing, concerned that maybe something was wrong, until once again, I could see the orange glow of the heating springs.

It was during one of those thermostatic delays that something else in the room caught my attention. I looked toward the doorway that led into the main house and it was then and there that I saw the apparition. It was human in size and form but didn't seem to have a definite outline although it did appear to have a head, a neck and a pair of shoulders. Rather than arms or legs, however, there seemed to be only vague suggestions of appendages, kind of floating or drifting in slow motion, like strands of seaweed under water. There was very little ambient light in the room but the form seemed to glow very faintly; it was like smoke or fog and, though the edges swayed in an eerie slow motion, the figure did not move from the doorway. At first I thought I was experiencing an illusion caused by the curtains on the door's window but had to rule that out because the figure was full length and the curtains were not. It was obviously not my mother coming to check on us, but I desperately hoped that it was and I attempted to call out to her. My voice would not work on the first try, but I eventually did manage to get out, "Mom?" There was no answer. Hearing my own feeble voice cut through the dead silence and getting no response made me feel an even deeper chill than the winter cold and I was terrified. I dared not investigate any further and tried to deny the thing's existence by shutting my eyes to it.

I didn't tell anyone about what I had seen; not back then. I tended to dismiss the whole thing as some sort of hallucination. But now here's the interesting part. About thirty years later, when I and my family happened to be visiting my brother's family during a vacation, somehow the topic of the paranormal came up and I told them of the encounter I had experienced. And to my complete and utter surprise, my brother said he remembered seeing the exact same apparition! We had never said one word of it to each other ever before. His recollection of the night in question matches mine exactly. And when he told me he had seen it too, it gave me a deep chill, because I had never been sure that I had really seen anything. He was another witness, which confirms that there had, in fact, been something there and whatever it was, it made a lasting impression on the minds of two young boys.

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