Who doesn’t love ghost stories? As a Halloween special, we have six ghost stories from Capsule readers to share with you – ranging from classic ‘eek-was-that-a-ghost?!’ stories, through to some really heartwarming tales, where surely there was a lot more than just a series of coincidences taking place… Happy Halloween friends!
I’m Going to Come Back As Me…
I’d been trying to have a baby for years. Finally we did IVF, but during it my mum was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Our round of IVF wasn’t successful – and then, a month later Mum died. It was painfully fast. Before mum died I asked her if she’d come back to visit me, if she could and she said of course she would but she’d try not to faff around coming back as a rainbow or butterfly or whatever. She said maybe that would be all she’d be allowed to be, so to look out for those things, but she’d try her best to come back as herself.
Mum’s name was Barbara, but everyone called her Barb. I worried it was too soon, but three months after she died, we started another round of IVF. For the very first blood test I went to labtests and the woman walked me to the cubicle and I realised her name was Barbara. I asked if her name was Barbara and she said, ‘Oh yeah it is, but no one calls me that – I’m Barb’. I started crying and then I told her the story and she cried too.
Then, when it was around time to check, I went to the supermarket to buy a pregnancy test. Who was the woman on checkout? Barbara.
I was pregnant. I had an obstetrician for the pregnancy – I didn’t get to choose my midwife, because they assigned one to me for postnatal care. I probably don’t need to even say the words right now, because yes, her name was Barbara.
I had been so worried that my mum would never get to see me have a baby, but it turned out she was there at every step of the journey.
The Cozy Ghost…
I used to live in a haunted flat. I called her the cozy ghost because she was unlike any other ghost I’ve heard of. I have always felt the cold so have always owned a lot of blankets and robes and warm things. Every night, no matter if the blanket was on a chair or far away, I’d wake up with a blanket over me. If anyone stayed over, anywhere in the flat, they’d wake up with an extra blanket on them. I nicknamed her the cozy ghost. When I moved houses, sadly she didn’t come with me.
One Last Visit…
After we got married we spent the first Christmas at my Mum and Dad’s place. They were in Wellington and we were in Auckland and flights were so expensive we decided to drive. We spent a few days there over xmas then started the drive back. We decided last minute, on the drive up to break it up and stay a night in Taupo. We checked into a little motel and went out for dinner. The motel was fine, but at 3.30am the lights in our room came on. My husband got up, turned them off and came back to bed. When he got into bed the lights turned back on again. He got up again and turned them off – then the same thing happened. The last time, I got up and turned them off and they stayed off.
When I woke up in the morning I had a missed call from mum – she’d called about 30 mins earlier at 8am. I called her back and she told me the devastating news that my dad had a heart attack and had died. I was numb. We turned around and drove back to Wellington.
When we got there, mum told us more – about how she’d woken up because dad suddenly tensed up. She said it was very fast and he didn’t seem to suffer at all. I asked her what time it was. She said it was 3.30am.
Dad must have done one last fly over and said goodbye on his way out.
The Ghostly Warning…
I was with my ex for four years and we finally broke up for good because he cheated on me. Twice. For three years of it we lived in a flat that I believe was haunted. Weird stuff was happening constantly. Mostly to my boyfriend, although he never liked to admit it. He was constantly having cold showers because the hot water wouldn’t work – although it would always work for me (even if I got into the shower right after or right before him). The lights would go off when he walked into a room. His stuff would mysteriously go missing. Doors would slam when he was around – pictures would fall off the wall. I found it all very spooky at the time, but he was never afraid of it and laughed it off as being an old house (it wasn’t). Now, with everything I know, I’m quite sure it was a very kind ghost trying to let me know that I shouldn’t be wasting my time with him.
The Tall Man…
My husband pretty much refuses to talk about this experience, and pretends it didn’t happen or there must have been a logical explanation… but I know how scared he was after it happened, so I know that’s really why he never wants to revisit it. It was before we were married, when we were on a holiday overseas and we were staying at a cabin in a woodland/forest type area. We’d been there a couple of nights. when, in the middle of the night, the door flew open while we were asleep in bed and a very tall man walked even and steadily through the room, the door shutting behind him, across into the bathroom opposite the front door. The door of the bathroom was open and he strode on in, not shutting the door behind him. I was so afraid, I didn’t even scream. My husband said to call the police so I turned on the light and grabbed my phone, while he leapt out of bed, pulled the lamp out and went towards the bathroom with the lamp. There was no one in there. There was no exit from the bathroom, anywhere. We searched EVERYWHERE in the very, very small cabin. The front door was still locked. It still gives me shivers thinking about it. We left the next morning.
Quick, Quick, the Baby…
It was the middle of the night when I heard my mum yelling my name – it woke me up out of my sleep. While I was adjusting to being awake I heard her yell, “Quick! Quick! The baby!”. I jumped out of bed and ran across the hall to where our daughter was in her crib – she was only six months old. I quickly realised that she was suffocating. I’d accidentally left a blanket hanging over the side of the bed and somehow it had fallen into her cot and she was face down on it, not breathing. We were so lucky – if it had of been a few minutes later… I can’t even say the words. My husband was quick on my heels into the room and he called 111 immediately. When he asked me why I knew to woke up I said, “Didn’t you hear my mum calling?” It was then that it finally occurred to me that my mum had died two years earlier.
