Weekend pub thread - what paranormal stories from family have you heard recently?

Right, mate, pull up a chair. Had a few pints last night and my old dad was telling stories about encounters his dad had back in the day. Nothing mad, just little things - sounds in the house, weird coincidences, that sort of stuff. Got me thinking about all the family stories people must have that never make it to paranormal forums because they seem too mundane or untestable.

So what's the best family ghost story you've heard? Not necessarily your own experience, but something a relative swore blind about. My granddad apparently saw a woman in white near our old house in Yorkshire about fifty years ago, but there's no way of investigating it now. Still, the fact that different family members mentioned seeing weird things in that house over the decades is... something, innit?

Anyway, I'm genuinely curious what sort of stories people's families have. Sometimes the informal tales are more interesting than the formal investigations.

My nan used to tell this story about seeing her recently deceased sister sitting at the foot of her bed. She was absolutely adamant it happened, not a dream, perfectly coherent about it. Could've been grief hallucination or genuine paranormal encounter - no way to know. But it clearly meant something profound to her, and I don't need scientific proof to respect that experience.

My mum used to live in a flat in Manchester that everyone agreed was 'off'. Nothing dramatic, just constant small weirdness - doors opening, cold spots, the general feeling of being watched. Eventually she moved out and never mentioned it again. When I asked her years later, she changed the subject. Some experiences are too personal or unsettling to discuss, I reckon.

the fact that different family members mentioned seeing weird things in that house over the decades is... something, innit?

That's actually more compelling than one-off accounts. Multiple witnesses across generations reporting similar phenomena suggests either genuine haunting or shared family expectation/psychology. Either way, interesting. My family doesn't really do paranormal stories though - we're boring southerners.

My uncle claims he and a mate saw a full apparition of a woman at Borley Rectory during a visit in the 80s. Just... saw her, clear as day, walking through a wall. He's not prone to exaggeration, which makes it more interesting. Borley's got enough documented activity that I believe him. Never could convince him to do a proper interview about it though.

Family stories are brilliant because there's no film crew, no pressure to prove anything, just memory and the weight of someone's word. That's worth something. My great-aunt saw something in the Scottish Highlands that terrified her so much she'd never go back to that area. Whatever it was - paranormal, animal, psychological - it was real enough to affect her entire life. That's evidence in its own way.