Stories of haunted houses are tales as old as time – as children, we told stories during sleepovers with friends, and as adults, we read books or watch movies about them.
But what about those who swear they have experienced a real haunted house? Not merely through folklore, but in their everyday lives.
From people growing up in spooky family homes, to real estate agents stumbling across strange mysteries – here are some real-life stories of haunted houses, that will surely make you want to keep the lights on at night.
1. The spooky house inspection
“I was inspecting a big old two-storey house by myself in Wellington Point, almost 20 years ago, back when people could pick up the keys from the rental agency and go by yourself without being bothered.
I walked through the entire place thoroughly, both upstairs and downstairs, and the house was completely empty. As I was finishing up, almost to the front door, I heard footsteps on the floor above. I yelled out to see if anyone was there, but no one said anything back. Seconds later, I heard more footsteps that gradually became louder and louder, followed by a loud ‘bang!’ of a door slamming shut. Totally freaked out, I got the hell out of there, and as I was driving away, I thought to myself — no need to apply for this one, as that’s a big NOPE for me!”
— Luke P, Brisbane QLD
2. The haunted share house
“I once moved into an unusually large, incredibly old, three-storey terrace in Newcastle. There was only one other occupant on the top floor, myself in the middle, and the lower level was uninhabited and sat in a blanket of dust. Both myself and my housemate worked a lot, so seldom saw each other, but pretty early on, I started to feel like I had other company.
I would hear constant footsteps below me, which then escalated to sounds of someone running up and down the hall. During the middle of the night, I would hear sprinting up and down the stairs which were next to my room. Some nights, it became so loud, I would jump out of bed, sure there was a kid loose in the house playing a trick.
I would get up and walk around, text my housemate to see if she was home, but she would reply and say that she wasn’t. I started to even investigate the downstairs area, but the dust was completely unmarked.
About three weeks in, I started seeing a guy who would occasionally stay at my house. One night as we were sleeping, he bolted awake screaming, after hearing similar sounds. He jumped up and shone his phone light down the stairs, but no one was there. It was a terrifying reminder that I wasn’t going crazy, but it was also one of the last times he would stay over.
After three months of what felt like sleepless nights, I saw my housemate out at a bar and confronted her about my issues. I thought she would look at me like I was stupid, but instead, she said ‘yeah … so I didn’t want to tell you because I really needed to pay the rent, but the house is haunted, and your room is supposedly the worst’. Needless to say, I moved out a fortnight later.”
— Genevieve R, Newcastle NSW
3. The eerie doorbell
“We had a house in Bathurst that had two doorbells, one at the front of the house and one out the back. I think maybe the previous owners had used the house as a business and would use the back area for an office, who knows.
One night, me and three friends did the ouija board and asked for a sign, and before we knew it, the doorbell rang. We freaked ourselves out, of course, and over the time we lived there, the doorbell continued to ring on and off every now and then. The thought of it still scares me to this day, seriously. I think I will forever hate doorbells.”
— Emma F, Bathurst NSW
4. The ghost that refused new owners
“A few years back, I was selling a property in Coogee and the owners randomly said that ‘someone wouldn’t be happy about it,’ but I thought she was referring to another agent. Anyway, when I turned up, the key for the front gate wouldn’t turn. It wasn’t too hard to convince someone to jump the fence, as we meant business, so the copywriter hopped over, and when he tried to unlock it from the inside, it still wouldn’t work. He then tried to unlock the front door, and again, the key went in but wouldn’t turn.
I then phoned the owners to let them know, and they didn’t seem that surprised, and asked if I could reschedule as they would get the locks changed. They did this and gave me a new set – tried and tested and said to be working – however, surprise surprise, we couldn’t get in.
Once again, I went back to the owners and they said ‘they were having trouble at home with certain things too,’ and when I pushed them, they said that ‘the ghost of the house didn’t want them to sell’. In the end, they decided to withdraw from sale and stay put, and at first I just thought they had another buyer that had approached them, or had something else going on, but as time went on, nothing changed, and there was no sale there. Maybe the ghost got their way, who knows.”
5. The bossy ‘old lady’
“My dad used to live in a house with a ghost in Nelson Bay when he was younger – apparently, it was an old lady who used to live there.
Dad said, whenever she would show up, he would just ask her to go away, and she would. But this one night, he let a mate sleep at the house, and in the morning, he was gone. When he later asked his friend where he went, the guy told him that an old lady came out and yelled at him, telling him to leave, and Dad figured it must have been the ghost.
Other people in our family have said they’ve seen her too, and whenever they would hear cupboard doors shutting for no reason, they’d simply say, ‘there goes the old lady again’.”
— Peter L of Port Stephens
6. The ‘pulling force’ from the piano room
“When I was three, my family moved to a small town in the Riverina area in NSW. The house we moved into was built around 1910 and we moved there in 1980. It was a creepy house, and everybody in my family seemed to agree on this. I don’t believe in ghosts, but there are things that happened in that house that I find difficult to grasp still today (37 years later). For example, there was a very long hallway to my parents’ room from my room, and I used to go in their room to sleep as I was always afraid, almost every night. At the end of the hallway, there was a piano room that felt very dark and haunted.
This one night I woke up afraid, so I walked the hallway terrified, and once I got to my parents’ room, I felt as if I was being pulled further down the hall (toward the piano room). I remember I grabbed the door frame of my parents’ room and pulled my body into their room, and at that moment, it felt as if the pulling force suddenly let go.
Incidentally, I dream of this house maybe twice a month, and I feel very drawn to getting back to the house and confronting that hallway as an adult, however I don’t really want to bother the people who live there now.”
— Excerpt from Ghoststories77, Riverina NSW
7. The rocking chair with a view
“I was once selling this house in Gordons Bay (previously named Thompsons Bay), and the owner told me that it’s where ‘the ghost of Thommo’s bay lives’. They assured me that the ghost was very friendly and wouldn’t cause a fuss, before pointing to a rocking chair and saying ‘he sits over there and enjoys the view’.
I remember not making too much of it at the time, but when I found myself alone in the house, walking around lighting candles and fluffing cushions before potential buyers turned up, lo and behold the chair started to rock. I just laughed and talked myself out of feeling scared, showed people around, and worked very hard to get the property sold so that I didn’t have to go back there again!
As it turned out, the property sold very well, and the purchasers are still there some 25 years later. Who knows, maybe they have some stories to tell …”