ParaNorthern stories of strange unexplained and otherwordly occurrences banner full

Spirits

Things that go Bump in the Night

Stretching throughout history it seems that all cultures have ghost stories. Many of these stories are parables, and were used to warn people of tragic outcomes to bad or immoral behaviour. Sometimes, stories of haunted areas were used to simply keep people away from those places.

Hauntings usually involve more than the appearance of a shape. Hauntings usually occur in a fixed location, often involve heightened unexplained activities. 

Some people report haunting activities as random events, while others say happenings tend to occur around specific dates.

One thing is clear. Whether or not you are a “believer” many people have experienced things that they cannot easily explain.

Do you have a story of a ghostly encounter? Maybe you know of a haunted area, or other paranormal activity? 

Click here to Share Your Tale

Out Of Body Experience Or Just A Dream? 

Submitted by: Anonymous

Well one night I was rushed [to] the hospital due to my really bad seizure. I was out for some time. But when I woke up, I had a story to tell. When I was laying there in the bed hooked up to everything. I was looking down at my body, it like I left my body for some time.

Yes, the doctor said at one point they lost me and that [was] when it must have happened. Yes I was looking down at myself sleeping or out of it. Wow! When I woke I though I was dead. But to find I was not. Know if you have [ever] left your body, you would understand how it [felt] and how scary it can be watching the nurses and doctor work on [you]. This is why it felt like I was a ghost watching myself die.

This is a true story one I will never forget.

Artist's Image depicting Out of Body Experience

Image is an artist's depiction of an out of body experience found on Wikipedia's website entry discussing the phenomenon. 

Mysterious Banging Sounds From The Past, apparitional experience, residual haunting
"After that day they would hear the banging upstairs from time to time even though no one was upstairs."

Residual Haunting: Mysterious Banging Echo Sounds From The Past - Updated

Submitted by: Anonymous 

"A few months after I was born, my aunt's son who had cancer lost the battle and passed away.

Growing up he had lost his leg to cancer and where they lived at the time his bedroom was on the top floor of the town house.  So when my aunt's son would want to get around you would hear banging from him hopping around to get to the bathroom.

Mischievous Happenings in the Capreol Library

Submitted by: Sheryl Murphy, Hanmer, ON

"I live in Hanmer but volunteer at the Capreol Community Closet in the basement of the Capreol library. I've been volunteering there for 3 years. I first started noticing "noises" after being there for about 6 months. If I was in the store tidying up or putting clothes out, it would sound like someone was moving the clothes around on the racks. Other times, I would hang a piece of clothing up, leave and come back and find the previous piece of clothing hanging somewhere else.

Photo of the Capreol Library as found on the City of Greater Sudbury Public Library website

"Something" Saved Me

Submitted by: Anonymous

Cortona Guardian Angel - Are There Guardian Angels in Sudbury and Northern OntarioOn a dark but clear night, I was driving home from a friend's house. It was nearly 2 or 3 in the morning, and there weren't very many cars on the road with me. I turned down a long stretch of rural road lined on one side with houses, and the other with lonely fields. 

This road was a familiar route home for me and I was going through the next few turns in my head. Left up here at this street, go for a few blocks, turn right, down the lane and I'm home. I yawned, eager to lay my head down after an evening of fun with friends.

Up ahead, I noticed a shadowy "something" plodding along the side of the road. I slowed, knowing that as I approached, the "something" might bolt in front of me. Sure enough, the "something" veered in front of my car at the last minute, forcing me to stop short. I breathed a sigh of relief that I had not hit whatever it was. 

I pressed on, accelerating a little to reach the left turn that would bring me home. Suddenly, a big pickup truck blew the stop sign and nearly went into the ditch on the other side of the road before righting itself and screeching past me into the night. 

I would have been right in the path of that truck if I had not stopped for the "something". 

I started shaking as it dawned on me that the "something" had probably saved my life. And to this day, I could not tell you what it was... a raccoon? A porcupine? It passed inches from my car in full view of my headlights, but I cannot tell you what it was.