Author Archives: shinogi

The Secret Girlfriend Dream

Age: 20

Informant: “The craziest paranormal thing that’s ever happened to me is my sister predicting that I have a girlfriend in Qatar. Like months before I told any of my family. She dreamt that I had a secret girlfriend in Qatar in like September”

Interviewer: What happened in the dream?

Informant: “The ghost of my dead grandfather told her. It was strange since he died a long time ago. 

Interviewer: How did you find out about this dream?

Informant: “It’s crazy. She knows everything. Really this last time was the craziest by far. She’s predicted other things, but I don’t remember exactly what. 4 months after her dream I came home to tell my family that I had a girlfriend in Qatar. They were shocked too. They were like ‘your sister had that dream months ago, and we didn’t really care because it was a dream.’ I wonder what other things she knows about me.”


Context: The informant has a girlfriend who currently studies in Qatar that he had held off sharing with his family until this point. This story was told to the interviewer because the informant was truly shocked by the events. 

Their Thoughts: The informant reflects a partial belief, as the experience challenges his sense of control over personal information. This story is a memorate, since it’s a firsthand account of lived experience. 
My Thoughts: This narrative fits within similar narratives of dream revelation and communication with the dead. The informant’s sister’s dream functions as a form of supernatural knowledge acquisition, where hidden or private information is revealed without normal means. The appearance of the deceased grandfather aligns with a belief in spirits acting as intermediaries. Instead of predicting a future event through precognition, the dream reveals an already existing but concealed reality. The sister is framed as having a special intuitive ability, even without consistent evidence. This is often shown throughout ghost stories as a clairvoyant. The specificity of the detail makes this a strong ghost story, as the perceived legitimacy of the supernatural explanation is strengthened.

The Long Shadow

Age: 18

Informant: “I became very paranoid when it first started happening. My parents were on a work trip in another country for a month. This wasn’t the first time they did this, so I wasn’t worried about being home alone. It randomly happened one night when I was sitting on my bed in the dark. I felt something feel my back.”

Interviewer: Was this a one time occurrence?

Informant: “Every day for the rest of my time home alone, I felt the sensation again. Eventually, I started using my sunset lamp since I was afraid to be in the dark. With the sunset lamp, I realized that there was an unforeseen issue. I could see shadows. The first night I used it, I started to see a long figure, kinda like slenderman, and afterwards felt it again.” 

Interviewer: How did you react to this, it sounds scary.

Informant: “I tried to check the shadow, but it was only ever in the corner of my eye. When I tried to directly look at it, it disappeared, but it never really went away. Once my parents came back, I never felt the sensation again, but my paranoia has spiked to a maximum. They’ve gone on more trips, but my anxiety is at an all time high every time I’m home alone. I can’t help but think it’s going to happen again.”

Context: The informant lives in a suburban neighborhood, and has not previously experienced paranormal activity. The house that the informant resides in was built within the past 20 years. She has only told the interviewer this story.

My Thoughts: This is a supernatural memorate. The reference to slenderman shows that internet folklore shapes the way that people interpret unexplained experiences. The fact that the experiences stopped when her parents returned suggests a link between isolation and vulnerability. This theme is commonly seen where being alone creates conditions for encounters. Folklore can produce long term psychological effects, even after the events cease, as seen in this case. 

Their Thoughts: The informant believes that this was a supernatural experience, and it has taken a toll on her sense of security at home. However, she considers scientific explanations, such as light and shadow distortion or a psychological reason for feeling tactile sensations.