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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Just-General-4187 on 2024-04-07 17:21:39.

I didn’t believe in ghosts… until I saw one in real life that is.

Growing up, I was always told that that thing in the corner of your eye that you noticed but when you turned around nothing was and the unexpected shiver you felt randomly, even on hot summer days was a ghost. I always assumed these were jokes because I was taught that there was no such thing as the paranormal, more specifically, ghosts and spirits. The only real thing about a ghost were the costumes my friends would dress up in for Halloween. I was quite happy living in my blissful, non-believing world that anything that went bump in the night was all made up. Sometimes I wish I still lived in that world…

This incident happened a few weeks ago. The six week summer hols were almost over and school was about to start up again. Being stupid and bored teenagers, me and a group of friends decided to explore abandoned buildings in our town. We always did this during the daytime, however, my best girl friend, Amy, came up with a daring idea. She said that there was one place we had yet to explore: an old, rotting house on the outskirts of the industrial buildings. We all agreed to go but Amy said that we should do it at night. Of course, we were all very concerned about doing this now but Amy played the “chicken card” on us, so we all agreed to go at night.

When night came, we all snuck out of our homes and met up at a bus stop near the industrial estate. Despite it being warm, we were all shivering with a mixture of excitement and slight fear. The potential of getting seen by strangers living in the house wasn’t what we feared though… it was getting in trouble with our parents for sneaking out so late.

Once we were all together, we walked to the outskirts of the industrial area and the house came into view. It was large and wooded, with what looked to be at least three floors. It smelled and it gave a very “dead” vibe. During the day, we probably wouldn’t have been so nervous about going inside because nothing bad ever happens during the day right? In my head, it’s at night were the drug dealers and killers come out to play. But either way, we persisted and walked up the steps to the front door. The wooden floorboards of the porch creaked as if they were going to crack by the weight of a feather. Luckily, they didn’t and one of us opened the door that looked like it was going to fall off the hinges. Of course, it was dark, so we all pulled out our phones and turned on our lights to see.

The house was empty but the smell of decaying animals, feces and dirt filled the air. Cobwebs stuck to ever nook and cranie of the walls, ceiling and floor. To cover more ground, Amy suggested that we split up. So that’s what we did. I ended up going with my other girl friend Pip and my guy friend Scott. We decided we were gonna take the upstairs area while Amy and the others stayed downstairs. Once upstairs, me and my group explored the rooms that looked like they used to be inhabited by children. The walls of one room were a decaying pink while the other was a decaying blue. There were some leftover toys, like dolls in dresses and race cars. Scott made a joke about how maybe some kids died in these rooms and that their ghosts still remain. Pip laughed and I just rolled my eyes, after all, I didn’t believe in ghosts.

I decided to go off on my own at one point as I was getting bored of following Pip and Scott’s slow ass pace. Eventually, I discovered the ladder to the loft so, without telling anyone, I pulled it down and climbed up. It was even smellier in there than the whole house combined. I shown my light around and eventually landed on something in the far off corner. Not wanting to go up any further, I squinted my eyes and the thing moved to look at me. It was girl. She must have been no older than six or seven. Her presence at first spooked me but then I became more concerned for her wellbeing. I asked her if she was okay but she said nothing. However, eventually she stood up and walked over, well, more liked glided over because as she came closer to me I noticed she didn’t have any goddamn feet! At first I thought I was seeing things but then she got right up to my face and screamed so loudly I think it popped an eardrum. I yelled in surprise at my feet slipped. I fell off the ladder and landed on the floor, right onto my back. Pip and Scott must’ve heard me because they came running in to see if I was alright. They got me up and I tried to explain what I just saw. Pip got excited, saying I must’ve seen a ghost. I was about to protest when I realised that I couldn’t be so sure if it was a ghost or not.

Just then, we heard screams coming from downstairs so we rushed down and saw Amy and out other friends standing outside on the porch, shaking and sweating like mad. We asked them what was wrong and the shouted at us to get out and that they just saw a tall old man with a pitchfork yelling at them to get out. Thinking about my own experience, I actually listened to them for a change and we all got the hell out of there and straight back to the bus stop. We all then discussed about what the hell we just saw. I told them about my experience up in the loft and Amy even said that she saw a glimpse of the basement and about 12 or maybe even more children, malnourished and begging for release. We all went straight back to our houses after that but I couldn’t sleep. I decided to do some research on the place and what I discovered still frightens me to this day:

About fifty years ago, that place was owned by an old man who would take in children whos parents couldn’t look after them. People thought he was a saviour, however, within his walls was a child’s worst nightmare. He would use his pitchfork to threaten the children and even stab them with it if they did something he didn’t like. Most children were kept in the basement as punishment for disobedience and most even died down there from lack of actual food. According to the article, some children were even found deceased in the loft having been locked up there. That though, wasn’t even the worst part. A couple of pictures were on the article of some of the dead children… and one of them I recognised. The girl from the attic. Who screamed at me… I had seen her ghost.

From that moment on, I started to search for anything I deemed paranormal and suspicious. That thing in the corner of my eye, the shiver I feel even during a hot summers day… maybe it’s not just my imagination. Ghosts are real… and that terrifies me…