If you can’t get enough of paranormal shows like Ghost Hunters, then It Was a Dark and Creepy Night is the book for you.
It’s called the “supernatural” for a reason—phenomena that’s outside the scope of the scientific method or other tools used to measure the natural world. So often, reports of the paranormal rely on direct experience—and therefore, are not subject to the objectivity needed for irrefutable proof.
And yet, if there are no such things as ghosts, monsters, or otherworldly phenomena, how do so many people across the world have such inexplicable experiences? That’s why we devour these tales. Whether we’ve experienced strange encounters ourselves—and many of us have—or whether we, just like Fox Mulder, want to believe, we turn to eye-witness accounts, again and again, in search of our own versions of "proof."
Until the day that science develops heightened tools to measure what we currently think of as “supernatural” or “paranormal”—we’ll keep leaning in to hear stories whispered in the dark, tales of strange encounters or other terrifying phenomena.
Related: The Haunted House Diaries Reveals Generations of Unsettling Phenomena
It Was a Dark and Creepy Night: Real-Life Encounters with the Strange, Mysterious, and Downright Terrifying by Joshua P. Warren with Andrea Saarkoppel is a collection of such stories. When Warren began collecting these tales from around the world, he had only three rules: they had to be true, they had to be short, and they had to send a shiver down your spine. Each tale is short, so this creepy little book of the uncanny is perfect for a subway ride, a plane flight, or a night entertaining guests in a candlelit lounge.
So, go ahead—read the excerpt below, and then pick up your own copy. The stories contained within these pages will not only chill you—they’ll leave you wondering…what if?
Read on for an excerpt of It Was a Dark and Creepy Night: Real-Life Encounters with the Strange, Mysterious, and Downright Terrifying by Joshua P. Warren, and then purchase the book.
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It Was a Dark and Creepy Night
The Butcher Knife and the Bathtub
Thomas Glenn Kelly, Wholesaler, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1997
Photo Credit: Erik Mclean / UnsplashIn 1997, my girlfriend and I were renting a huge, beautiful, old duplex in south Minneapolis. My girlfriend worked the night shift, 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. I would go to bed just after she left for work and she would wake me in the morning when she returned home.
One morning she woke me up and asked me why there was a butcher knife in the bathtub. I told her I had no idea, and we laughed it off. A few weeks later, she woke me up and asked why the bone-cutters were in the bathtub. Again we laughed it off, as the kitchen was adjacent to the bathroom and the butcher-block knife holder was on the counter just outside the bathroom.
Related: 19 Real, Scary Ghost Stories That Will Haunt Your Dreams
A month or so later a similar thing happened; my girlfriend asked why the bone-cutters were in the bathroom sink. This odd occurrence continued throughout the three years we lived in the duplex. A total of probably 10 times, somehow in the night, kitchen cutlery ended up in the bathtub or the bathroom sink—once in the toilet. Toward the end of our time there, twice, the butcher knife was laying at the foot of our bed.
During our last weekend in the duplex, we threw a party and invited the downstairs tenants. They were a couple who had lived in the building for years and during the course of conversation and drinks, the subject of our landlord came up. We both went white when they informed us that in 1968, our landlord’s mother had committed suicide in our unit. In the bathtub. With a butcher knife.
Do Bad Dreams Do This?
Tracy, Entrepreneur, Garden City, Michigan, 1972
Photo Credit: Ahmed Ashhaadh / UnsplashOne night many years ago, I went to sleep and a few hours later I was awakened by the sound of gnashing of teeth and growling of what I thought was a very angry dog. I could feel its claws scratching into my chest. I immediately started flailing at it to get it off of me, then jumped out of bed and ran to my parents’ room. I knocked on their door. My mother opened it, and I told her what just happened. We went into my room, she looked around, including under my bed and proceeded to tell me it was just a bad dream. I pulled up my pajama top and showed my mom my chest. I asked her, “Do bad dreams do this?” My chest was covered with red claw marks!
Energy Being
Reba Duncan, Retired, Mira Loma, California, 1992
Photo Credit: Stefano Pollio / UnsplashIt was my first night in our new home alone. I was writing in the living room and my pen ran out of ink. I turned on the hall light, went down the hall to the bedroom, got a pen, and returned to the living room. I realized I needed more paper so I immediately went back to my bedroom, only this time, I did not turn any lights on.
Upon reaching the doorway to my room, I saw what I now describe as an “Energy Being” standing just outside my bathroom next to the sliding doors that went outside. He had his arms held high toward the sky as if basking in the energy from the moon. The Energy Being seemed to be deriving pleasure, moving its head side to side and smiling until it detected my presence. It held its head to one side, as if it were listening, then began to slowly back into my bathroom.
I was unable to see its features clearly, but could determine it was a male. The outline of its body was lit up like lights. It was almost cartoon-like. I ran back to the living room area where I slept for a long time thereafter.
Related: Tips from Paranormal Experts on How to Cleanse A Space of Evil Spirits
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