20 Funny Instances When People Mistook Something For Being Paranormal, As Shared In This Online Community

Have you ever been spooked by a coat hanger in the dark thinking that it was a ghost?  It's very common to get startled by casual things sometimes. People often assume that there are some paranormal activities happening around them until they realize that it was just a silly thing. Folks in the Bored Panda community recently shared stories of "a moment when they thought they heard or saw something that they mistook for being paranormal". Scroll below to read some of those stories, and share your own story in the comments if you've ever been through such an experience. More info: Website

#1

Source: Rae Reyn "Have you ever heard a fox at night in the woods? They make ungodly noises. Also, I didn't secure my food properly and raccoons invaded my campsite. I huddled in my tent, not sleeping, convinced the Blair Witch was going to take me. I was 34."

#2

Source: Nope "This one is from when my grandpa was young (the 1920s): His sisters once became very scared hearing some eerie sounds in one of the bedrooms, like laments. One said it was a penitent soul for sure, who couldn't go to the Other Side. Later, they found out that a chicken had snuck in, hid under the bed, and was cooing because it couldn't get out."

#3

Source: Iʕ •ᴥ•ʔ "When I was little, I heard these really realistic door slams around the house and got paranoid that there was a ghost. But then, I noticed in the summer, the second the door “slammed", it began to get humid. So now, I’ve realized how stupid I was and that 'slam' was the AC turning off. ??‍♀️"

#4

Source: Nubis Knight "It was way past midnight and I had just stopped working on my studies and threw a scrunched-up piece of paper in the bin, went to bed, and shut off the light. I heard a soft rustle and a "plop" so I turned the light on to investigate. The scrunched-up paper lay beside the bin. So the bin was filled up high, I thought I missed the bin the first time. I got up, threw the paper in the bin, and got back to sleeping, but again: rustle... rustle... plop. With something of a "dafuq?" moment. I got up again and the scrunched-up paper lay beside the bin again. Now I was fearing I was hallucinating or having a strange form of deja-vu or something. I got up again, threw the paper back into the bin, back to sleep and... rustle... rustle... Now I really was frightened about what was happening and didn't wait for the "plop". Much more fearful, I got up a third time and investigated carefully. A little scarab beetle was shoving my paper back up to the rim of the bin, surely wondering why this scrunched-up piece of paper was turning up again and again in his bin!"

#5

Source: Wendy Van Ausdal "Do aliens count as paranormal? Was asleep in my basement bedroom and woke to find a glowing red light about 3 feet off the ground slowly approaching me. I had plenty of time to wonder what the hell it was and finally came to the conclusion that it was an alien. Nothing else made sense. Eventually discovered that it was a partially-deflated mylar balloon reflecting my alarm clock light and being blown toward me by the heat vent."

#6

Source: Anita Lourens "I was driving in a remote location to visit my parents. It was dark and I was alone so I was already a little creeped out. There were no streetlights and it was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. No one else around me. I kept hearing this weird screeching sound from the back so I turned the music down and listened. The noise came again. I didn't want to look in the rearview mirror (I was afraid of seeing a ghost or something like in the movies). Eventually, I turned the inside lights of the car on and looked back, and waited. Turned out, I had accidentally turned on my rear window's wiper at some point and it was screeching on the dusty window."

#7

Source: J "London, 2008. Came home from a gig, went to bed, and genuinely thought I got haunted by a poltergeist as my bed started shaking with me in it. The timing of the whole predicament was so precise that as I sat up trying not to sh*t myself and compute what the hell was happening, the only thing I could think of was to recite a prayer that my grandmother taught me and hit the light, only for the bed to stop shaking right at that precise moment. Panic, tears, parents who were peacefully asleep now wondering if their teenager was high as a kite…only to find out in the morning that the UK was hit by the biggest earthquake in nearly 25 years (5.2 magnitude) and the tremor reached London. I didn’t even realize that earthquakes were a possibility in the UK and was fortunate enough to never experience one before, but damn, just the precise timing of the whole predicament made me think there was a portal to hell in my room ?"

#8

Source: Sathe Wesker "My boyfriend has this rack that hangs on the top of the bathroom door with towels on it. I had a friend over and he moved it to the bedroom door, so if my friend wanted to use the bathroom, he could fully close the door. Fast forward to bedtime. I wake up in the middle of the night in darkness, completely forgetting the rack is on the door, as it's normally on the bathroom one. The door is half closed and I see this dark shape "peering" around the corner by the door, high up. I f*****g screamed, scaring both my boyfriend and the dog. He thought I was an idiot when I figured it out."

#9

Source: Phoebe Carter "A few months ago I was fast asleep in bed and was woken up by what sounded like knocking on a little ‘door’ in my wardrobe that connects to the attic. “Knock knock knock… knock knock… knock knock” Scared the crap out of me and I couldn’t get to sleep for a while after that. I was terrified that it was ghosts or maybe someone was living in the attic and we didn’t know. Turns out it was just the wind shuffling the door panel in its frame."

#10

Source: Panda Kicki "I was 16 and my mom worked the night shift. We lived in a small cottage deep in the woods, with no neighbors. Watching TV when I suddenly saw a book dislodge from the shelf and fall. Like Ghostbusters. Another one did the same thing. Too terrified to move, wondering if the police would believe me if I called. Finally mustered enough courage to actually walk to the shelf and have a closer look, as a third book was about to fall. The cat was behind the row of books, pushing one out with his butt every time he turned... He stared strangely at me as I almost fell to the floor, laughing hysterically."

#11

Source: Silre "I worked at a daycare in the early 2000s. Since I was in grad school, I’d open so I could go to my classes in the evening, which meant getting there at 5 to clean before the kids started arriving at 6. So, one morning I got there, it was dark, I’m alone, I’m turning on every light I can find, and I hear the most terrifying sound I’ve ever heard coming from the toddler room. So, I locked myself in the office until some other people get there (my army of 6-year-olds!). Then I went to see what it was. It was a Tickle Me Big Bird whose batteries had been ruined by going through the washing machine."

#12

Source: E R "As a kid, my neighbors loved to have flashing lights on at Christmas, and for the first few nights after they went on, I would freak out every time I woke up as the different strands threw shadows in weird places. I HATE flashing Christmas lights to this day!"

#13

Source: A girl "Just moved into the house. Slept in the main floor bedroom the first few nights so we could paint our room. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Didn't turn on the light because I "knew" where the bathroom was. All of a sudden, I'm in a pitch-black portal. I can feel the walls on either side but ahead, nothing. I called out my husband's name a couple times and asked, "Where am I? Help me." Hon, you walked into the cedar closet. Try door number two."

#14

Source: Sabs "One time, at my in-laws' house, my husband's mom was saying how recently she had been hearing this low moaning sound every once in a while coming from somewhere in the living room. We stayed over for a while and sure enough, we too heard this odd sound coming from somewhere in the living room. We couldn’t place the sound but it was definitely eerie. Naturally, the conversation about the house being haunted started, but we decided it was probably something more realistic. This went on for a few days until one day she called us laughing uncontrollably. We asked what was so funny and she said the grandkids had come over for a visit, and the youngest, Charlie, wanted to play with his farm book. Now, this book was one of those interactive books where you press the animal and it makes a sound. He had left it in the toy box in the corner of the living room. He pulled it out and pressed the various animals only to discover most of them didn’t work, he pressed the cow and this low moaning sound came from the book. The batteries were so low from it being jammed in the toy box and being pushed up against another toy, it would go off occasionally, draining its battery. This farm book cow was the culprit for making the ghostly sounds! We laughed over it for years."

#15

Source: Xenon "Scared the h*ll out of myself in the shower, was rinsing my hair and felt something grab my butt. It was my long hair sticking to a cheek and it felt like a grab when I turned my head. Another time, woke up out of a dead sleep because someone grabbed my stomach. It was my own hand that had just squeezed myself in my sleep."

#16

Source: ben woskje "When I was a kid - let's say around 12 - just started to watch horror and paranormal-type movies, read Stephen King books, etc. There was a sound - barely audible voices - that I could hear in a room of the house - but I couldn't work out where from. Given my age and the movies and books I was watching/reading - I, of course, jumped to a bunch of completely insane conclusions. Eventually, I found out it was a small-ish (it was the '80s, so nothing was actually small) portable radio that had been left on and fallen down under something."

#17

Source: Ashley_Queen688 "I once saw a plastic bag in the dark and thought it was a ghost because it was shaped weirdly!"

#18

Source: Titas Burinskas "Two words. Coat hangers. I can't count how many times they looked like a person in the dark."

#19

Source: VeninTheNonBinaryRogue "So I was laying in my bed, half asleep, listening to Hamilton. Then all of the sudden, I felt something touch/move on my stomach. I had my hand on my stomach. And moved it. Turns out, it was just me being an idiot and literally forgetting where my hand was. I still dunno how I managed that. Freaked me the heck out."

#20

Source: Luis Hernandez Dauajare "I live in an apartment building. Alone in my study, I had been listening to creepypastas on YouTube and it is 11:00 at night. I cranked open a window and lit a cigarette. Then I start hearing whispers coming from my closet. A clear, soft voice: "Don't!" I froze. The voice continued: "Don't! You hear me? Don't! Come here..." I got up. And then realized the voice belonged to the neighbor. He was in the parking lot, just underneath my window, scolding his dog. *facepalm*"