Category Archives: general

The Face that was Later Called Grandmother

Age: 19

Context:

One evening, while in front of a campfire at my high school, my friend and I began talking about strange experiences we have had. She suddenly recalled something that had happened to her as a child that had haunted her ever since. It was a moment of confused fear, imagination, and something she still can’t fully explain. This is the story she told me.

The Story:

When she was around six years old, she lived with her parents and two siblings. One spring day, her family was hosting a gathering with relatives. While the adults were occupied, she and her siblings were playing roughly, and their energy escalated into play-fighting.

At one point, she swung at her sister — not hard, but enough for her mother to step in. As a punishment, her mother placed her in time-out in the front foyer, a quiet space near the door where guests would remove their shoes.

A few minutes into sitting alone, she began to feel restless. She turned her attention to the nearby window and looked outside. In that moment, she describes what she saw “not as a typical ghost,” but rather as “a presence that was spying” on her. 

She could not make out a full face or body, but she distinctly remembers the expression: “feminine, stern, and filled with anger.” It was intensely disapproving. The feeling it gave her was immediate and overwhelming.

In that moment, her sense of guilt deepened. What had just been childish misbehavior suddenly felt much more serious, as if she were being judged.

Terrified, she ran away from the window and out of the foyer, breaking her time-out, which led to her mother making her stay in time-out for even longer.

Years later, while reflecting on the experience by the campfire, she came to associate the presence with her grandmother. However, this interpretation was not present at the time it occurred. In the moment, the figure felt unfamiliar and unrecognizable; it is only in retrospect that her memory has recontextualized it as resembling her grandmother.

Informant’s Thoughts:

What unsettles her most is how her interpretation of the event changed over time. As a child, the presence felt completely foreign and threatening. But as she grew older, she began to associate it with someone familiar and close to her—her grandmother.

This shift raises questions about memory itself: did she actually perceive something external, or was the experience gradually reshaped by her mind in order to give it meaning and familiarity in retrospect?

My Thoughts:

I think my friend’s story is definitely connected to spirits that haunt us after making immoral decisions. My friend felt feelings of deep shame for attempting to hurt her sister. I think it’s also interesting that she got in even more trouble as a result of running away from the presence.

What makes this story compelling isn’t just the possibility of a supernatural presence but how closely it ties to guilt. In that moment, my friend had just done something she knew was wrong. The appearance of a disapproving figure, whether real or imagined, seemed to reflect her internal emotions.

Rather than a traditional ghost story, this feels more like a psychological haunting. The “presence” may not have been a spirit punishing her but a manifestation of her own conscience, shaped by childhood fear and authority.

At the same time, the later association with her grandmother adds another layer of unease. It suggests how memory is not fixed but something we reinterpret as we grow older. The blending of emotion, family, and imagination into something that feels real.

What lingers is not the image itself but the uncertainty: was she being watched, or was she learning right from wrong? 

Bloody Mary in the Third Floor Bathroom

Age: 19

The Story:

It was just something we did in elementary school. I don’t even remember how it started, it was just one of those things that existed and everybody already knew about it by the time you heard it for the first time. Someone would bring it up at lunch, usually when things were slow, and by the end of the day there’d be a whole plan. You’d pull together a group of girls, maybe five or six, and you’d sneak up to the bathroom on the third floor because it was the farthest from any of the classrooms and teachers basically never came up there during lunch. It felt far away enough from everything that whatever happened up there stayed up there.

The whole setup was that you had to turn the lights completely off. And that bathroom with no lights was actually, genuinely dark in a way that caught you off guard every time. No windows, no light coming under the door, nothing. Just total black and the sound of everyone breathing. You’d all crowd around where you knew the mirror was and then somebody had to say it. There was always a pause before that part, everyone kind of waiting for someone else to go first. Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.

We never made it through. Not once. Every single time, the second the lights went off, someone would flinch or grab someone else’s arm and that was it. One person would start screaming and then everyone else would too, even the ones who had been completely fine half a second before. We’d crash into each other trying to find the light switch, spill out into the hallway in a pile, and just completely lose it laughing. Like, unable to breathe laughing. Every time.

And then we’d do it again the next month in the same bathroom with the same plan to stay calm this time, same outcome. There was one time we made it maybe thirty seconds further than usual and everyone acted like we’d accomplished something real. We hadn’t. Someone still screamed. We still ran out.

Nothing ever happened. No face in the mirror, nothing moving, nobody got hurt. I want to be clear about that. But I also don’t think that was ever really the point. Even at that age, I don’t think any of us genuinely believed something was going to show up. It was more like you wanted to be the kind of person who could stand there in the dark and not flinch. And nobody ever was. And for some reason that made it worth doing over and over again.

My Thoughts:

What strikes me is that the fear was completely self-generated and everyone knew it  and it still worked every single time. Nobody screamed because they saw something. They screamed because of the dark, the buildup, and the sound of other people holding their breath next to them. One person flinching was enough to send five people running. More people doesn’t mean more rationality. If anything, it means more surface area for fear to spread across. The thing that actually made everyone run was each other. And there’s something weirdly intimate about being that vulnerable and exposed together, which is its own kind of bonding. Horror doesn’t just scare you, it binds you to the people you’re scared with.

Forbidden Forest

Age: 18

Q: Before we begin, who and where did you first hear about this story?

A: I saw it in this old tv show I can’t remember the name of years ago and I was watching at night. 

Story: There’s two really poor people in this village that faces a gloomy forest. They are a mother and son and this forest was believed to be cursed, holding spirits that would cause the death of anyone who goes inside. Despite this, the mother and son decided to go into the forest out of desperation for a source of food as they had been starving. When they went in, the had unexpectedly found tons of food and told all the villagers, but the villagers were skeptical but the mother and son ignored it. Instead they ate the food and went home, but that night the villagers claimed they saw a green haze wandering into their home that night. The next day, the villagers found the mother dead and the son barely surviving looking so pale it was like he had no blood left in him. The son’s last words were to never go into the forest again, reiterating what the villagers had said to them before that it was both evil and cursed. 

Q: And what do you think about this story?

A: I think it was a very common ghost story I’ve heard throughout the years. It was from a tv show so I don’t think it’s really a true one, but I’d say it could be scary. 

Interviewer’s thoughts on the story: This story, much like the teller said, is a very classic cautionary tale about ignoring warnings and desperation.  I think it does a good job showing how the mother and son were pushed into a dangerous decision because of their situation, which makes what happens to them more tragic than just a simple “they should have known better.” The mysterious green haze adds a creepy, supernatural element that reinforces the idea that the forest is truly cursed, not just a rumor and overall I would say would be classified as a ghost story. 

Catholic Ghosts, or demons?

Age: 51

BN: [When I] came across listening to Cha Hong, who was one of the very well-known priests in the Vietnamese community church. He has lots of different videos on YouTube people recorded and they put it up there. 

BN: So one time [when I] came across Cha Hong, sort of share that when he was in Vietnam, he witnessed himself, a person that is very, very young. Maybe a teenager, boy or something. That is acting like the grandparent like his own grandparent. 

Me: Wow. 

BN: So meaning…if [you], imagine if [you are] someone that knows the grandparent right? [You] ask this little boy [what year you were] born, everything they knew the answer. And this boy would even know something very, very special between the grandparent, and whoever that is in the room. So let’s say [you are] the grandfather’s son, right? 

BN: And then [when you were] very young, maybe he spanked the heck out of a [you] or something like that. Then this boy would even know that. So in short, Cha Hong also believes that there are spirits that could be…

Me: Haunting him?

BN: Yeah, will go into the person’s body and make the person act as that person. 

Me: Interesting. [Do you] believe that’s true?

BN: [I] also believe some of it, and then, in another time that [I] witnessed myself was in a marriage enrichment course. So every year there is an enrichment course…that we invite the couple, the husband and wife to go on a 3 day retreat, right? And then in [those] 3 days we do different things, we learn different things and [I] saw it twice. This couple. 

Me: The same couple twice?

BN: Yeah, the same couple twice. This couple, the wife when she is blending in with other people, she’s very normal. But during one time, in the course this is where, like, [you] suppose to look back and reflect upon you, your relationship with your spouse in relationship to God. Right, so it’s extremely extremely personal. And extremely spiritual. 

BN: And this time she would then [start] screaming gibberish words very scary things like nobody can understand what she was saying. But she was extremely loud, and [would] shake her body. 

BN: Like non-stop, and then somehow unbrokenly, she was able to say “Help me help me save [me], pray a Hail Mary, pray for me, Our Father pray for me. 50 of them,” like in broken spacing, out between the gibberish stuff, the scary stuff she was able to say that stuff 

Me: Sounds scary. 

BN: Yeah, it is then to the point where, after [I saw] like maybe 30 seconds to a minute of that, it was very exhaustive, so she kind of collapsed, she didn’t pass out. But she would collapse like on the floor. 

BN: Then, the priest in between there. Because we always have a priest in the room. So the priest was trying to do, like, you know, my Father and Son in the Holy Spirit and was doing some, maybe things that try to get the bad spirit out of her soul, whatever that is and would take a little bit, then she’ll snap back to normal. 

BN: But that only happens during the peak of the, you know, whatever we learned in class, not like normal conversation. So that’s why we believe that there’s some kind of bad spirit that goes and quáy phá, yeah. Anyway, that’s what [I] experienced. 

Me: [Do you] think, it’s the same spirit in both stories?

BN: Same mechanisms, same idea, but just depending on the circumstances. And the relative, or the person that’s affected by it. It’s different people, different means like on the little kid, it could be that the grandfather had to reappear to want to do something. But then in the case of that couple, the why, what the why went through is because the quáy phá, you know..what is it in English? 

Me: It’s like, causing disturbance. 

BN: Yeah, disturbing when she’s trying to get closer to God and trying to reconnect herself through realization and things like that. That’s when the bad stuff comes right during that time. 

Me: I see. 

BN: So, it’s different things with [the] same mechanism. 

More Details:

  • Context: This story was told March 18 2026, around bedtime by my mom. She was aware of USC Folklore archives collecting this story and told it freely.
  • Their thoughts: My mom thinks it’s a “religious” ghost or a demon causing these things. She largely leaves it unexplained, and isn’t 100% sure.
  • My thoughts: I agree, maybe the devil is up to weird things with some people. I do agree with the religious point of view for the second one, although the first it’s hard to tell.

The Humming Step-Grandpa

Age: 18

Context: The following story was told on April 28th, 2026, in my dorm room to me by the informant, who is one of my close friends.

Me: “Okay, so just go ahead and just tell the story like how you normally would.”

NB: “Okay, so this was the day of my step-grandfather’s funeral. I will never forget this day. This, I have no explanation for this. Still, no one knows. It’s like a complete mystery. We don’t know what was going on. But anyway, basically what had happened was my grandma had went to the church already with my uncle to take care of like a few things before the funeral actually happened. My mom was putting on her makeup in her room, and when we woke up, my dad wasn’t in the room, but, um, we just assumed that he was in the bathroom because the bathroom was closed. And my sister and I were just, like, talking and whatever, and we were like, oh my god, like dad’s taking, like, forever in the bathroom, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then we knocked on the bathroom door, and then we heard humming, and we were just like, really?”

Me: “And this was in your house that you still live in?”

NB: “Yes.”

Me: “And you’ve lived in this house like your whole life?”

NB: “Yeah, my entire life. And yeah, it has a lot of history. Like every single one of my family members has grew up there, including my mom. So, yeah. And we’ve never moved. But it has a lot of history, but anyway, basically, we knocked on the door. Um, we heard humming, and one thing about my dad is he’s not a sing-songy person, like, he’s not someone who hums, and, like, that was just really unusual for him. And when we heard it, it was like weird because it was like in a much deeper voice. It genuinely sounded like my step-grandpa, and we were like weirded out by it because we were just like, dad doesn’t do that. Like, it’s very odd. And basically, we went back in the room and we were just waiting because we were like, oh, dad’s taking forever. And my mom was like, oh, what’s going on? And we’re like, ugh, like dad is taking forever. But she looked at us like, what are you talking about? Like, what do you mean dad? And we were like, I don’t know. And then my dad came home with breakfast. And we were just like, what the, like, what? You weren’t in the bathroom? Like, what happened? And, um, he was just like, no, like, I wasn’t in the bathroom. I was getting breakfast, and we were talking to our mom, and my mom was like, oh, like, maybe your step-grandfather was just, like, getting ready for his funeral or something in the bathroom, and we were like, what?”

Me: “So did he live in the house prior?”

NB: “Yeah he did. Okay. We all lived in that house together, just like one big Brady bunch, like genuinely, but it was…it was weird, and I still, like to this day, I’m like weirded out because we we’re the only ones home, and, like, I don’t know. Like, there’s no explanation for who was in the bathroom, but yeah.”

Me: “So like, overall, like, what do you make of it? Like, you think…do you think it, like, was his spirit or you just, you don’t know what to think?”

NB: “I just think that maybe, because I do believe in like the paranormal and stuff, I think maybe, yeah, if… I mean, if I died, I’d want to get ready in my house too. So I think that, yeah, it’s valid if he just wanted to get ready one last time before he was buried. Um, but yeah, and that day when I woke up, the house just like felt very off. I’m very like into like energies and like sensing tensions and stuff and that day was just really gloomy and it was just really sad. And then I remember as soon as we buried him, like the sun came out. So it was very, very strange and yeah, half of me just doesn’t know what to make of it. But then another part of me is like, maybe that was him, like, possibly.”

Personal thoughts and analysis: This story was very interesting to hear, as unlike some ghost stories, this one doesn’t really have a logical explanation, and as a skeptic, it has me very conflicted. I believe the informant and their siblings’ account, which conflicts with my views on the dead interacting with the living. The only explanation I can think of is perhaps some sort of appliance was on that sounded like a hum; however, this appliance sounding like the informant’s step-grandpa on the day of his funeral would be a very interesting coincidence. Overall, if it was the spirit of the informants’ step-grandpa just getting ready for the day one last time before he was put to rest, there is something very wholesome about that.