What's everyone's "gateway" paranormal experience? Mine was weird

I've been lurking on Quirk Reports for about 18 months and never posted, but I thought it'd be fun to share what got me into this whole thing. Plus it's Friday and the pub's closed due to renovations, so I'm procrastinating on actual responsibilities.

When I was about 13, at my nan's house in Wales, I woke up in the middle of the night because the room felt different. Like air pressure had changed? Couldn't explain it then. There was a woman standing at the foot of the bed - she looked solid, real, not ghostly. Grey cardigan, short grey hair, kind of anxious expression. We made eye contact for maybe 3 seconds and she just turned and walked to the corner of the room and vanished.

I screamed, my parents rushed in, nobody believed me, typical story. But 20 years later I saw a photo my mum had - my great-grandmother (who died about 50 years before I was born, never met her) in a grey cardigan, short grey hair, exact same anxious expression. That's when I got seriously interested in paranormal stuff.

Curious: what's everyone else's origin story? The experience that made you go "yeah, there's definitely something weird going on"?

That's a proper gateway experience - visual apparition, family connection, confirmed by photo. Those are the ones that actually convince people because you can't rationalize them afterward. My moment was less dramatic: I was at a party in university, completely sober, and I knew something terrible was about to happen. Mate had a car accident 10 minutes later. Survival instinct or premonition? Still don't know, but it made me think differently about how mind works.

there's a woman standing at the foot of the bed

Mine was Ouija board at a friend's house when I was 16. We were laughing, not taking it seriously, and the planchette started moving without anyone clearly pushing it. Spelled out a message that nobody in the room could've known. Freaked us all out - I didn't touch a Ouija board for 20 years. Now I'm convinced they actually work and I'm scared of them, which is stupid considering I research this stuff professionally.

My gateway was boring. I just started noticing pattern - repeated numbers, coincidences that were too frequent, dreams that predicted minor stuff. Nothing dramatic. Just gradually becoming aware that reality operates on more levels than school taught me. Less specific than yours but maybe more disturbing because it's ongoing.

Love these threads 🔮 Mine was a poltergeist-type incident at my old flat in Manchester - things moving, inexplicable loud noises, electrical stuff failing. Got an electrician in, all the wiring was fine. Got a priest in (even though I'm not Catholic), he blessed it, and it stopped completely. That's when I realized: this stuff is real, and sometimes professional help actually works.

Great-grandmother reaching out across death for 50 years to say hello is actually incredibly touching. Don't diminish that as a "weird" experience - that's a love story. Paranormal activity that involves family connection tends to be protective or communicative rather than malevolent. Glad she said hello.