True Ghost Stories Around the Fire
by Brandi Fleck
immerse yourself into the perils of the paranormal as we explore the thinning veil between worlds and get entertaining chills with TRUE ghost stories from our Human Amplified friends
We’re out in the woods, sitting on some uncomfortable camp chairs around a crackling fire contained by a circle of rocks. You can feel the crisp air on your face occasionally interrupted by the heat of the fire as the breeze ebbs and flows. Luckily, the smoke is staying out of our faces.
We’re each bundled in our favorite hoodies. I’m definitely wearing a big ol’ scarf and you probably have on a beanie to keep your head and ears warm. We both are covered in tartan blankets with our boots popping out of the bottoms. We each have a mug of something hot to drink and an open bag of half-eaten marshmallows has been forgotten over by the tent, which will make a glorious feast for the ants.
You make a joke about how this is exactly how horror movies start out and we both laugh disproportionately hard.
The sky is dark, so dark. But we can’t see it all because the pine trees are so tall, the clear sky with a few twinkling stars only peeks in at us through their fragrant top branches.
If we get quiet, we can notice an eerie calm the night woods carries with the dark. We hear leaves rustle and wonder if it’s the wind or an animal or…something else.
But wait, isn’t this really how horror movies start? People just hanging out in the woods, having an innocently good time…
You shake the thought and say, “Let’s have another s’more.”
Then I say, “Wanna hear a ghost story?”
Why You Should Ditch the Ouija Board Right Now
As a tween, and even into my teenage years, some of my friends and I played with Ouija boards — the Hasbro ones that were billed as games for kids.
This had nothing to do with worshipping the devil or doing evil things. It had everything to do with curiosity and an innocence in which we secretly believed it wasn’t real, outwardly hoped it was, and in normal fashion didn’t think anything could happen to us.
Some parents definitely minded when they found out what we were doing. Others didn’t seem to mind, because like us, they thought it was just a silly game.
Let’s back up to where it all began for me though. I have an uncle who is only 11 years older than me. He feels more like a brother sometimes. And when I was younger, he and my only slightly older aunt — they were just kids then — would regale me with stories of the weird happenings with their Ouija board.
Like, once, so many weird things were happening around the house, they decided to throw their Ouija board into a dumpster at a local gas station, but it magically reappeared at the house. Or once, there were lights flashing all around my aunt’s bedroom downstairs and my uncle’s bedroom upstairs at the same time that woke them from sleep, but when my uncle looked out the window, there was no one outside. They got freaked out and tried to burn the Ouija board, but it wouldn’t burn.
This particular house was in Fredericksburg, VA where we lived for a short while before moving to the south. Fredericksburg is known for its civil war history, with a plethora of battlefields, and has burial grounds for thousands of Union soldiers.
I believe that the house was, in fact, haunted. I was too young to notice, or remember at least, what was going on, but I remember our cats not liking the place too. Once, a white rat appeared in my aunt’s bedroom and then vanished into thin air.
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This was the only house we had that ever had such in your face paranormal occurrences. I never thought they were related to the Ouija board though.
So, fast forward to my middle school years, I no longer live with my aunt and uncle, but I’m finally old enough to play the thrilling game. I don’t remember the details of all the times my friends and I played it. Sometimes, nothing happened at all. Other times, the indicator moved around and we got what we thought were messages from spirits.
One particular evening, a friend and I were playing and the indicator starting moving quickly in erratic circles. Whoever we were talking to was perturbed — we could tell. We asked what it wanted to tell us, and it spelled 9-1-1.
The attacks of September 11, 2001 hadn’t happened yet, but we sure watched a lot of Emergency 911 (remember the show from the 90s?) and knew that you only called 911 if something bad happened, so we freaked out. We both immediately took our hands off the indicator and looked each other in the wide eyes. Without even speaking, we grabbed the Ouija board, tore ass through the house, and threw it in the backyard. Through heavy breaths, we discussed what to do. The only logical conclusion was to burn it.
Back then, we used kerosene heaters inside of houses. So, we found some kerosene, poured it on the board, lit a match, dropped it on the board, and ran.
It. Would. Not. Burn.
We tried multiple times. We even switched from matches to a lighter. (Don’t try this at home, folx — it’s dangerous).
I’ve since actually looked into the combustibility and flammability of kerosene, because maybe the kerosene was the issue. I know that even though it’s considered a combustible liquid, and it has flammable vapors, it’s flash point is higher than a more volatile liquid like say, gasoline. But, kerosene does burn. It is flammable. It does ignite. And I can’t explain why the Ouija board wouldn’t burn.
I didn’t fully learn my lesson that day. I picked it up again with other friends and have more stories of boom boxes coming on by themselves, stuff falling off shelves, and erratic, unintelligible messages. I finally did learn my lesson though: playing with a Ouija board is like dialing a random number on the phone and talking to a stranger who picks up (if they even pick up these days when they don’t know who’s calling, ha!) This can be harmless. But it can also be harmful, especially if you don’t know how to protect yourself should a harmful or negative entity answer. It’s playing roulette with your spirituality and life energy.
No thanks for me!
The Veil is Thin: Otherworldly Traditions Steeped in History
Fall is absolutely the best time to go camping in Tennessee, in my opinion. But those creepy vibes you might get from being in the dark woods isn’t just your mind playing tricks on you.
Around this time of year, we start hearing people say things like, “the veil is thin.” This means that because we’re more open to and looking for spirits and the paranormal, we’re more likely to find them as the different worlds are able to intentionally collide.
In fact, this likely occurs because we have centuries of traditions, that we still practice some form of to this day, that are steeped in the belief and reliance on an increase in our awareness of paranormal activity in the Fall. We, as humans, are said to be able to more clearly communicate with and experience the presence of spirits and ghosts during this time period.
Celebrations that go on around this time of year, such as Halloween, Samhain, and Dia de los Meurtos, for example, all stem from some form of ancient rituals to honor the dead. According to history.com, ancient Celtic forms of pagan Samhain were celebrated to usher in the darker half of the year while doing harvest work before joining druid priests around a fire used to relight home hearth fires that went out during the harvest work. Feasts and celebrations would occur and offerings would often be left out for the spirits of the other world.
Samhain was eventually co-opted by Christianity, which eventually became All Saints Day, the day after Halloween. Nonetheless, ancient Samhain, as brought to America by Irish immigrants, influenced what we know as modern day Halloween where we dress as goblins and ghouls and receive offerings from our neighbors handing out candy on porches lit by jack-o-lanterns and such. A modern version of Samhain also still goes on, primarily in the Wiccan religion.
Similarly, Dia de los Meurtos began with the ancient Aztecs who used skulls to honor the dead and it has now evolved and is an ever-evolving celebration where offerings are given to loved ones’ souls and music and dancing ensues. This celebration’s evolution was influenced by the Catholic Church, much like Halloween was influenced by Christianity and Christian ideas of the afterlife.
While Samhain remains a true pagan tradition today, Halloween and Dia de los Meurtos have held onto many of the pagan and indigenous rituals, respectively, despite Christianity’s influence.
The thing that all these modern day celebrations have in common is ceremony, celebration, and ritual to honor our ancestors.
Regardless of religious affiliation and practice, tradition keeps us connected to our ancestors and the humans who shaped our lives and world millennia before we were here. Because we’re so connected in this way, why would we not honor them?
It’s in our make up and lineage to do so. Along the way, different groups of humans added in their own perceptions and wishes to make the traditions more comfortable for their own beliefs — perhaps to calm cognitive dissonance or affirm superiority — rather than changing their beliefs.
We can only speculate based on our knowledge of human nature.
One thing that we can say for sure though is that if the veil is thin now, it’s because we’ve been trained since ancient times to look for it during the Fall (speaking of the Northern Hemisphere, that is).
Maybe this has been the practice since ancient times because as the days grow shorter and the dark stays longer, and as nature dies and hibernates in preparation for the cold, we think about what that means for us and our ancestors. And we have more time to look into the darkness and see the energy that can more easily materialize there rather than in the hot sun.
They don’t say the dark 3 am is the witching hour for no reason.
TRUE Ghost Stories from Friends
And now for a real (trick or) treat, we’ve compiled snippets of r-e-a-l ghost stories from our friends on Facebook and Instagram for you to peruse.
From funny to just plain eerie and everything in between, humans share their paranormal experiences that they haven’t been able to explain as anything but.
After you look them over, tell us your real ghost story in the comments!
A Samhain Surprise
“Mike visited us at Samhain last year… So we had Samhain for RB and our Ktown friends at my farm in WV last year. Damn near 20 of us, including Mike’s brother. So just before ceremony, we’re all getting dressed in our Celtic finery and woaded like you do. So I’m sitting there, being woaded, and very suddenly, we heard the very very loud sound of a tree falling — not very far away from camp. Now, I’ve spent a lot of time camping in that field in my life in all seasons and I’ve never been there to hear a tree fall (though I know it happens). So I said something flip about, ‘that’s just Mike telling us to get on with it! It’s ceremony time!’ A minute later, another huge tree falls in the forest, also close by but in a different direction (as in, the first tree didn’t cause the second to fall). It was wild and I know it was a him.”
-LAURAH J.
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An extra member of the cast
“Summer stock production of Streetcar — haunted theatre. But I didn’t know it when I was interacting with the ghost while putting on my makeup, till I looked her in the face…. She looked, from a distance, then out of the corner of my eye, like Becky, the actress playing Blanche — tall, slim, wearing a yellow floral sundress. However, it wasn’t Becky.”
-STEPHANIE S.
Related: Episode 023: Made by Hand — How Artisanal Pursuits Produce Connection and a Magical Perspective
Three’s Company
“When my husband and I first started dating we stayed at his friend’s house one night. He got up, went to the door, and opened it and then shut it. He stood by the door and just listened. I thought it was odd, but whatever, maybe he was just being nosey. That was until he walked back into the room and I realized it was not him at the door.
Same house: I was in the bathroom and I heard boots on the floor. I could see the shadow of the person under the door right in front of the bathroom. I figured it was just a roommate. I opened the door and no one was there.
Same house: I went to make something one day and I cracked four eggs into a bowl. I walked away and when I went back the yolks had made a smiley face.
Finally, I was at the house by myself one day and I just said, ‘Listen! I know you are here. I don’t mind, but please just don’t scare me.’ I never had any issues ever again, but the guy that owned the house did. His experiences were way more aggressive than mine though. I recall him getting choked at some point. He did a lot to get rid of it, but he finally just sold the house and moved into our apartment.
What I still to this day think is crazy is that the night I thought [my husband] was listening at the door, I literally just rolled over like whatever no big deal because I didn’t want to freak [him] out.”
-JENNIFER H.
Questionable decor Choices
“My step mom used to do paranormal videos, lol. They lived on [this] street [where] all those duplexes are haunted. She caught ghost cats once. And a soldier was in my brother’s room. They didn’t like that she painted the kitchen yellow. A trash can lid flew across the room. It was scary and creepy.”
-SANDRA H.
The shadow person
“My daughter had a ‘shadow person’ follow her from ages 10 to 13. She refused to sleep anywhere by my room and would tell me ‘Jack’ was in the corner watching her. She would be too scared to get out of the car at night because he would stand by her door so I would always have to walk to her door and walk in with her. He would even follow her in public. She said she just knew his name was Jack. The only ‘THING’ he ever did to her was one night in the very beginning he ripped her covers off of her when she was sleeping. She said she heard a creepy voice in her head say go sleep with your mom NOW. Then one day he was just gone. She is almost 15 now and if anyone mentions Jack she still starts crying.
The theory is that shadow people follow people that are going through a rough time or [are] not as strong as usual. And it showed up right when she started going through puberty and left towards the end. And you know puberty is rough for girls so I am thinking that’s how he found his way in with her!
We also have a ghost living in our house now. But he is super friendly. He always stays upstairs and loves my son. He will sit on my son’s bed and watch him sleep. But no one has ever gotten a bad feeling from him. We tell him goodnight and hello when we come home! He’s a cool ghost!”
-JODI H.
A helpful haunt
“Something constantly opened an interior door in our house and our kitchen cabinets on a regular basis for years. My dog would wake us up at night barking and the door or cabinets would be open the next morning. One evening I was painting to put our house on the market, and I asked [my husband] to turn the hall lights [on] as the sun was going down. The lights came on and less than a minute later, [my husband] walked in the front door from outside. He’d been outside for at least 20 minutes and never heard me ask him anything. At least the ghost was helpful.”
-SUSANNE T.
A “rubbish” ghost app
“I went in St. Augustine with my husband and best friend. We downloaded a ghost app, which we were convinced was rubbish. Then we went to a pub and kept getting a word coming up (Russian), seemingly underscoring how the app didn’t work. There’s nothing Russian in the historic district. On the way out, we passed a group of people speaking Russian.”
-SHERRY M.
An unusual set of stairs
“I’ve got an experience from when I was about 17 that’s always stuck in my head and still can’t explain it.
I was on my own at home, doing college work on the computer in my room when I decided to head downstairs for a quick snack.
When I headed back up, I got as far as the top of the stairs and completely froze (physically but my blood froze as well). I could see into both my room and my mom’s, where the doors to our wardrobes were wide open, as well as all the clothes drawers.
Not only that the drawers were open in such an exact way, they looked like steps — the top drawer would be open a little, the middle a lot more, and the bottom all the way.
I ran out the house so quick and refused to go back until my mom got home…at which point everything was shut again!”
-BRETT J.
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Good Night, Don’t Let the Ghosties Bite
I hope you enjoyed our time together discussing what happens when the spirit world collides with our own.
On second thought, perhaps there is no collision and the worlds are the same. We only notice different parts of our world when we’re looking for them or when they’re looking for us — when the veil thins — and we naturally follow the same traditions as our ancestors so we can reconnect. It doesn’t have to be scary, but it can be if we’re not careful.
Either way, tell the stories.
One day, we will be the ancestors opening drawers, turning on lights, and being remembered and honored.
Oh, and don’t forget to make that s’more you wanted.
About the Author
Brandi Fleck is a writer, artist, and a recognized communications and interviewing expert. She is also an avid researcher of human nature and founder of Human Amplified, where she helps people embrace being their true selves so they can expand more fully into their own humanity without fear of being seen and heard. Brandi hosts the top-rated Human Amplified podcast (formerly the On Being Human podcast). READ MORE
UPDATE: After four years of producing Human Amplified independently, Brandi has recently moved on to working as a trauma-informed certified coach.
