Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

A few short years ago, I was homeless and destitute. I had no job, no money, no wage benefits of any kind.

I spent most of my days walking around the city looking for a place to sleep for the night and trying to keep food inside myself and the odd luxury of a pouch of cheap tobacco and cigarette papers. I had a few friends who I would occasionally meet up with and ‘crash’ on their couch’s for a day or two before moving on.

I knew I was being a drain on them, so I tried to never stay in the same place for too long. Nights when I couldn’t hook up with my buddies I would just find an abandoned apartment block or warehouse and curl up there instead.

I hold a dual American/Canadian citizenship so I often found myself in either downtown Vancouver or in the Seattle area, In January 2007, I had arrived back in the U.S. with about 70.00 and a new (used, but new to me) winter army jacket. Not wanting to spend any of my hard to come by cash, and arriving late in the evening at the bus depot I started off to old areas where I knew there were abandoned buildings and vacant lots where I could keep warm for the night.

I had no lighting expect a small book of matches as I approached a run down old brick building surrounded by empty lots on both sides within earshot of the main freeway. I half expected to find other people here, (as I sometimes would), but on this night it was completely empty and dark. Windows were at least boarded up which held back some of the freezing wind and snow as it drifted onto me.

I got to main door and with a not that much effort managed to pry back the thin plywood sheet and slip into the old building. It was an old and from what I could guess a long abandoned apartment block built a few decades ago for low income earners.

I immediately felt a strange and unfamiliar creepiness come over me. having been a street bum since I was 16, almost 10 years to that day I have spent the night in some pretty dark and gloomy places without much fear. But standing in the dark foyer of this building looking up at the staircase sent a chill up me that I cannot even begin to describe.

The darkness outside fell quickly in the winter months and I had little choice but to press on, so I grabbed my newspapers which I collected earlier that day (for insulation) and walked to the edge of the staircase.. it was almost pitch black and I could not see all the way to the top, but I had a most eerie feeling that there was something up there standing and glaring down at me.

I know it must sound ridiculous to some people, but there was something inside me that just told me to STOP. a strong and overpowering thought intruded itself onto my mind telling me that it was not wise to proceed up those stairs….. and, I believed it.

I quickly tried to erase the negative feeling from myself and pushed into one of the ground floor apartments close to the stairs. I managed to lay my newspaper out in a corner of the main bedroom and light a small fire to heat the room a few degrees and unthaw my hands.

because of lack of ventilation, I was only allowed to keep the fire going short while, but managed to warm myself slightly before curling up and falling asleep.

I was awoken by a terrible and horrific stench and a noisy rustling that seemed to come from the apartments laundry area. I knew I was not alone, and I was hoping it was not a rabid dog or god forbid a badger or something like that. My heart started racing and I looked around for a weapon to defend myself if need be.

I ran to the closet and pried the wooden rod from where the last inhabitants used to hang their clothes on. Since I would not be able to sleep again until I had determined the source of the noise, I rekindled what was left of my small fire and made a rudimentary torch out of newspaper, carpet and debris from the area.

As I approached the source of the noise in the small laundry area with stick and torch in hand, I expected to find a dog or cat sharing refuge with me in the abandoned lot… but instead what I saw, nobody will believe.

I froze because I had never seen anything like this before in all my life. an old lamp which was left behind was being dragged across the floor with nobody and nothing attached to it!

I was stunned and fell back a little, just then at the same time a broken ceramic mug left over from one of the work crews rolled past me, the handle had been broken off and it just rolled within inches of my foot.

I quickly flung myself around to see where the mug had come from, And without a word of a lie, a small two or three foot wispy shadow in the shape of a man looked up at me. The torch lit the room and the small humanlike shadowy black figure stood out as clear as a bell, at least for a few seconds, then it vaporized into the air and dissipated so quick that I stood there wondering if it was real.

my nerves were so shaken and the darkness pressing in on me and my dying torch from every angle was too much to handle. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck sticking straight up… I did not want to be on the ground level anymore, so I started up the staircase.

My intuition and inner voices once again warned me to stop, but I pressed on, knowing what was waiting for me down there. I had the distinct feeling of being trapped, I could not go back outside or I would surely have frozen to death, and after the bizarre and terrible encounter in the laundry room I could not stay where I was at. my only option was to go ‘up’.

I took it slow making sure to look behind me often, I could feel the eyes of a presence glaring and grinning at me from behind as my feet pressed into the old creaking wooden staircase. My torch too at this time began to fade out and I had to resort to feeling my way up the wall.

The feeling returned to me to stop and go back, it was overwhelming as if it was a warning. I could see even less of what was in front of me now, and it took a great deal of strength (believe me) to ignore it and press on.

The staircase was high and steep and as I approached the landing the death stench which had woken me up initially, now, had returned. this time it was coming from upstairs and I could hear in the distance more clanking from one of the back rooms.

The walls were cold and so was I as finally came to the top. A few of the windows had not been boarded up on the top level and I stood there staring down that long dark hallway which went for 30 feet or more. Lights from the freeway above shone in on the upper lever. The carpet was a dark red and the amber walls which lined it for some reason creeped me out even more.

By now my torch was reduced to a smoldering mass of barely lit embers which I threw out of the nearest window into the sleet and snow below.

There I stood looking down the long dark menacing hallway at the end of it there was a banging and random scraping noise coming from the other side of the door. The stench was so overpowering it was nauseating. I felt physically ill to my stomach and not because of lack of food.

I still had my wooden rod in hand which I gripped tight. Not believing my eyes about what happened downstairs I decided to cover my face and just go for it, I was almost thrown back a few times by the intensity of the smell. it was like rotten dead bowel.. I apologize for the descriptiveness but that is the only way I CAN describe it.

If pure evil was put into a smell, this would have been it without question. Then for no apparent reason whatsoever the banging stopped and out THROUGH the door as if it were a gate of some kind cam a dark shadow spilling the contents of itself onto the floor and expanding out onto the dark red carpet as if the shadow itself were liquid being poured out or drained from the room.

It rose up and formed the most hideous little creature  I have ever seen in my life. I stood alone and in the dark of that abandoned apartment block at one end of the hallway next to the stairs and IT, whatever it was, stood like a goblin or a little troll that was not entirely human about 30 feet from me and the end of the hallway, we stared at each other and I know it sounds made up, and if someone would have told this to me I would not believe it either, but I could feel it staring THROUGH me, its gaze was penetrating me so much that I could almost feel it inside me, (forgive the vagueness, it is really difficult to explain)

Whatever was in those apartments was definitely NOT a figment of my imagination or just a shadow, it was very real and very much alive in ways I wish I could better explain.

We gazed at each other for a few moments and I could ‘feel’ its anger and hatred, its need for destruction and I felt as if it wanted to and could take my life from me.

Without warning the little goblin man sprinted at me so quick, but my reflexes were on full alert and all of my senses heightened. I darted out down those stairs as fast I could and pulled the board back far enough in an instant to escape the abandoned lot.

I ran from the house as fast as I could, I am embarrassed to admit that I lost control of my bladder but was unconcerned about that at the time. I ran until I found another shelter.

I went back there afterwards a few months later after sharing my story… But never went inside and my friend who did EVP on it refused to talk about it afterwards and just told me how lucky I was to have gotten out of there when I did. I know nothing beyond that except that I hope I never experience anything like it again.

He encouraged me to write this and so I have, but I have no intention of ever going back again.

Sent in by Jeffery S, Copyright 2010 TrueGhostTales.com