Friday fun: what's the spookiest thing that's ever happened to you?

[Monique vdB]

Do you believe in ghosts or other spooky phenomenon? Have you ever had an experience you can't explain? Please tell us your spooky story!

As a bonus, if you're in a part of the world celebrating Halloween this week, let us know what you're dressing up as. Anything spooky or Halloweeny is welcome in this week's thread!

[Ana Retamal]

This was me for Halloween! I dressed up as Cheshire cat, from Alice in Wonderland. It took me more than 1 hour to finish my makeup!

Regarding horror movies, I like them but I have to stay away from them (they're good material for nightmares!) If I have to name one it would be The Grudge, that was one of the first movies I watched with my friends and we were all scared for weeks! 

[Leslie Lee]

Don't believe in ghosts, but in my formative middle school years, I heard and believed the Bloody Mary legend which said that if you knocked on a mirror three times and repeated "Bloody Mary" each time, she would appear. After I heard this, I was so scared, I refused to sleep alone. To show me how nonsensical this was, my dad came to my room, knocked on the mirror three times as he chanted, "Bloody Mary." Then he said, "See, nothing happened! Now, go to sleep." I legitimately thought I was going to die that night. Still seared in my memory!!

[Celina Zamora]

Hahah! Your dad sounds like mine, except he took me to see the movie Poltergeist when I was 6 years old and told me "none of this is real". Seriously? Everything is real at 6 years old. 

[Nic Brough _Adaptavist_]

I'm an engineer.  Which, in short, means knowing that ghosts (and a lot of other bullshit) don't exist.

The dichotomy for me is that I absolutely love ghost films.

 I'm typing this while watching "The Babadook" (a bit slow to start but horribly creepy once you get into it) and for All Hallow's Eve weekend, I've lined up a pile of films.  The woman in black, The Devil's backbone, and Wise's The Haunting.  If I can survive that lot, I may try to watch the only one that really scares me properly.

[Monique vdB]

lol, I'm coming back to haunt you for that one. 

I hate horror films with jump scares and the like. (Although creepiness is fine; Psycho is one of my favorite films.)  Which one is the one that really scares you properly? Hmm?

I don't have any spooky experiences to recount, although I have friends that do -- even engineers! But one time our family won the San Francisco Chronicle costume contest. 

My little noodle is going as Moana this year.

[Leslie Lee]

best costume @Monique vdB!

[Nic Brough _Adaptavist_]

Loving the mini-macaroni!

[Nic Brough _Adaptavist_]

Yes, I like horror films in general, but jump-scares don't work for me.  It's the creepy sense of unease, and psychological stuff that works for me.  Hence "The Haunting", where you never really see the ghost.

The only horror film that has ever given me a problem is Dougal and the Blue Cat - Buxton is the stuff of nightmares, and Fenella Fielding's "Blue is beautiful, blue is best. I'm blue, I'm beautiful, I'm best!" is ten times worse.

[Monique vdB]

Even just reading that sentence creeps me out @Nic Brough _Adaptavist_. 

[Thomas Schlegel]

@Nic Brough _Adaptavist_, if you ever get the chance to see the theatre play "Horror" by Jakop Ahlbom, buy tickets! They're touring around Europe and it is a Horror movie on a stage. It was so great, nightmarish and fascinating - one of the best shows I've ever seen on stage (if you like Horror movies. If not, I wouldn't recommend it).

[Erica Moss]

1) Gif game strong, as always.

2) For as much as I appreciate things of the spooky persuasion (reading the Goosebumps series growing up, watching "Are You Afraid of the Dark," embracing scary movies, etc.), I don't think I've ever had any actual encounters that couldn't be explained. (Boring I know.)

BUT there was one specific Halloween in my youth that scarred me for life — I decorated a pumpkin in the likeness of Rajah from "Aladdin" (complete with a plastic tiger nose), placed it on my front porch, and by the time I returned from trick-or-treating, someone had smashed him to bits in our front yard. I may or may not have sobbed. RIP, Rajah.

[Monique vdB]

Noooo Rajah! That is the saddest thing ever. Where did you grow up that hooligans smashed children's pumpkins?!?!?!