Supernatural Horror Stories

By ANN GAIMAN

Real life supernatural stories that'll scare the $#!* out of you

People through-out the ages have claimed to have mysterious and blood-chilling encounters with unexplained forces, such as mothman, demons, ghosts, and extraterrestrials.

Ann Gaiman has compiled an anthology of over 25 of the creepiest real-life short stories on the most shocking and mysterious supernatural events that have taken place. 

All based on eyewitness accounts telling their encounters with the supernatural…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Citrus Fields books
• Release date: Feb 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393538172

Book preview

Introduction

Caution: If you are faint of heart, turn back now. This collection of stories will not bring you comfort or pleasant dreams. It will not soothe your mind or leave you content. Those happy thoughts are best left to other books. This is a much different anthology, one that peddles terror, panic, and dark truths. The accounts of real experiences you are about to read will make you question what lurks in the shadows. Did you lock your door? Are you sure you’re really alone? Was that noise you heard really the wind, or was it something more?

Folklore stories change from one area to the next. They morph depending on the cultures that tell them and the people who are brave enough to share what they have seen. The whispered details conjure up images of everything from shapeshifters and demonic beasts to things that are felt but not seen. Sometimes the encounters are a whispered voice, a smell that seems out of place, or leftover shredded remains. It is human nature to try and rationalize strange experiences, to comfort ourselves with rational explanations, but what happens when the explanation falls short?

There are things that even the most skeptical people can’t rationalize away: that foreboding feeling when something unseen is watching you from the shadows, the clenched knot in your gut when you know danger is near, the indescribable animal instinct that urges you to run. Perhaps those sensations are left over from a time when humanity was all too aware that the dark was indeed something to be feared. The Survival instinct isn’t something easily forgotten. Sometimes, that intuition is the only thing keeping you alive, whether you know it or not.

If you want to remain in the dark, stop now. If your gut is telling you that what you will read will change the way you look at the world, perhaps you should listen. The terror captured in these pages is not for everyone. A flicker from the corner of your eye will never again be just a figment of your imagination. The shadows in the corner of your room will never be truly empty. Every temperature change, every strange smell, and every bizarre encounter with a creature—some that seem human and some that do not—will make you question your safety and maybe even your sanity. The brave people written about in the following stories do not share these occurrences lightly. They have experienced what goes bump in the night—and most of them were lucky enough to live to talk about it.

Most of the people involved in these recounted events were never the same after their ordeals. Some have resisted telling others about their experiences out of fear or the worry of not being believed. For others, telling their stories is the only way to warn others about what is out there. You see, these cautionary tales are not just a compilation of fireside ghost stories and eerie folktales. They are a warning. It is up to you to decide if you will heed them or not.

If you insist on reading further, you will not only be opening this book but also your mind. The words you read may haunt you, and after you read them, there is no going back. Afterall, even the most incredible stories contain a grain of truth—or as in the case of these stories, sometimes more. The folktales you are about to read will challenge your definition of impossible, and in the famous words of Albert Einstein, Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

Chapter 1: Scary True Skin Walker Stories

Skinwalkers are known as animals that are possessed by people—or people that have the ability to morph between an animal and a person. Sometimes, the skinwalker falls somewhere in the middle, exhibiting both traits of a human and a beast. In Navajo tradition, skinwalkers are evil witches or yee naaldushi (it goes on all fours in Navajo) that take on the appearance of a wild creature. Sometimes, there is a motif involved, such as a coyote as a trickster or malicious one, or a crow as a bringer of misfortune. Generally, these beings are associated with bad omens, so they are best avoided. Such power isn’t acquired by chance. To become a skinwalker, a Navajo medicine man or woman needs to reach the highest level of the priesthood and perform some truly evil deed, such as killing a family member. Once they have attained the supernatural powers of changing into animals, they are free to inflict suffering however they wish—following people around, tapping on windows in the middle of the night, and making scary noises to pierce the silence.

The shapeshifting ability is also associated with a flight-or-fight response. There have been stories of native witches transforming into a cat when cornered by people more powerful than them. Other abilities include the power to transfer their consciousness to another living thing—such that they can control the actions of the host. Once in animal form, the witch is granted supernatural physical ability, such as being able to travel long distances without getting tired.

It Watches Me

I grew up in a mostly white neighborhood in southern Utah. Though I am of mixed descent, I have a grandma who is full-blood Navajo who lives a few hours’ drive away from us. Every once in a while, my dad drives me and my younger brother Joseph to her house to stay for a few days. The place is fairly remote—it’s just a piece of desert land with a double trailer stuck in the middle. She has a chain link fence that separates her plot from her neighbors, but the distance between the two homes is astounding. In a way, I envy that way of living. You never have to see your neighbors or worry about them spying on you. I get a little weirded out every time we go because my grandma is the type of person who believes they are cursed. When grandpa passed away—I was still too young to understand—but the one thing I remember is how my grandma openly talked about the curse and how it killed grandpa.

My dad says that grandma is going senile, so we need to check up on her frequently. If she talks about weird things, we have to go along with it. We had a visit recently, where we stayed for Labor Day weekend. I was pretty bummed out about it because some of my friends invited me to a concert, but my dad said that visiting her was more important. He feared that she was developing dementia and that it was getting worse. When we got there, the yard was very unkempt. Weeds were growing everywhere, and my grandma had spread what looked like a white powder all around her house. My dad brought his lawnmower to help clean, while I and Joseph were tasked with entertaining her.

She was making food that day and told us we could watch TV while she prepared dinner. Though it was still light out, the inside of her trailer was completely dark. We had to turn the lights on because she kept them off. All of her windows were draped in heavy curtains that let zero sunlight in. It wasn’t long before she started doing weird grandma things. She handed me a Coca-Cola bottle filled with a greenish liquid and said it was a protective ointment. It kind of smelled like flowers and rubbing alcohol. It didn’t sting, though. I rubbed some on my hands and neck and did the same for Joseph.

I noticed that grandma kept peeking out of the curtains with wild eyes. My dad noticed it too and finally asked her what she was doing. "Yenaldlooshi is watching me," she said with a nonchalant tone. She could have been talking about the weather or today’s Powerball numbers. My dad gave me a look that told me we had to be patient with her. This continued for the rest of the stay there. She would periodically look outside or open the front door and sniff the air—but never staying outside for a prolonged period. I thought it was a little scary, but as my dad said, we had to be patient with her.

When it was time to go back home, my dad threw open the grill and had a small barbecue just for us. I and Joseph took it upon ourselves to prettify the yard, so we planted potted flowers my dad bought and placed stones in interesting patterns. I don’t know how this happened, but I lost track of my little brother Joseph. One second he was looking for stones right next to me, and the next second I hear grandma yelling at him from the porch. Get away from that animal, Joseph! It isn’t safe! I turn around to see grandma with a bowl of casserole in her hand, and then I see Joseph sitting behind the chain link fence poking his fingers through the gap at some large dog. I know it was big, as Joseph is already large for a 3rd grader and yet this dog towered over him. It took a while to recognize that this dog wasn’t at all normal-looking. The snout was longer than most breeds, the fur long and hairy like a wild animal. Then, I saw the sunlight reflect off its eyes—yellow as a traffic light.

But it wasn’t staring at me or Joseph. It was looking directly at grandma with such intensity! I’ve never seen a dog stand perfectly still and stare like that. Normally, they move around or sniff at something after getting bored