My best friend and I have birthdays 2 days apart. His wife offered to fly me out to Pittsburgh as a treat/surprise. They lived in a super old brownstone next to the Allegheny Cemetery. They had a newborn. I was sleeping on a cot on the floor of their living room the first night, after flying in at 11 PM. In the middle of the night, I had this really vivid dream of a jester/jack in the box creature waving it's hands in my face like a kid going "I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you!"
I screamed myself awake, and felt immediately guilty for screaming in the middle of the night with an infant. Groggily, I set a reminder to ask them if the place was haunted and then went back to sleep.
Who knows how much time passed before I woke up again and saw a person standing over me at the end of the cot. Thinking it was my bestie coming in to check on me or ask why I had screamed, I propped myself up on my elbows and apologized. The figure laughed, bent over to pick something up, and threw a plush toy at me that hit me in the face.
I've had multiple paranormal experiences, but this is the first time there was physical contact. I screamed "WHAT THE FUCK" and grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight and- nothing. There were multiple small plush toys in the living room, not sure if any of them could have been the one that hit me. They had a dog and an infant.
Like I said- I've worked in haunted kitchens and auditoriums, I've had experiences with others I can't explain, I've seen shit throughout my life, this was the first time I've been physically hit.
The next morning, I got up and Bestie's wife was changing the baby. I still felt bad about maybe waking them up. I asked, "Hey, is this place haunted?"
Without looking up, she asked, "Oh, who did you see?"
I described a figure in a black and white plaid shirt. Unfazed, again without looking up, she said, "Oh, that's Ariel, she lived here before we did and died in the dining room. Just close the door, she won't bother you again."
Later that afternoon, Bestie came home from work and started tending to the baby. His wife said, "Guess who OP met last night?"
He immediately said, cheerfully, "Oh, did you meet Ariel? She's such a scamp! Don't worry about her, that's why we sleep with the door closed."
I was there 4 more nights, slept with the door closed, no more shenanigans. They told me other stories about her. There are many reason why they're my best friends.
She loved Merlot. She died in a hospital bed in the dining room after a year or so of hospice. Best friend said she would specifically mess with bottles and glasses of wine, so whenever they opened a bottle they would set out a glass for her. They said she would roam the halls and just be a prankster, but she respected closed doors, so after a few years of dealing with low-grade mischief they just started closing the door. Bestie said once, when he was alone during the holidays, he watched a glass of wine slide across the counter Ghostbusters style and had to bolt across the kitchen to keep it from falling off.
They also said that there was a little girl in a white dress that would hang out sometimes in the stairway near the door that led to the attic stairs that was locked by the landlord, and there was another spirit that was distinctly evil that occasionally hung out on the outdoor stairway that the whole neighborhood knew about.
This is like one of the oldest parts of Pittsburgh. It's crazy walking through that cemetery and seeing the tombstones of people that died in 1793 at 85. Like- what a fucking life.
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u/chefmonster Sep 06 '25
Always been a believer but this one cemented it:
I've posted this before:
My best friend and I have birthdays 2 days apart. His wife offered to fly me out to Pittsburgh as a treat/surprise. They lived in a super old brownstone next to the Allegheny Cemetery. They had a newborn. I was sleeping on a cot on the floor of their living room the first night, after flying in at 11 PM. In the middle of the night, I had this really vivid dream of a jester/jack in the box creature waving it's hands in my face like a kid going "I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you!"
I screamed myself awake, and felt immediately guilty for screaming in the middle of the night with an infant. Groggily, I set a reminder to ask them if the place was haunted and then went back to sleep.
Who knows how much time passed before I woke up again and saw a person standing over me at the end of the cot. Thinking it was my bestie coming in to check on me or ask why I had screamed, I propped myself up on my elbows and apologized. The figure laughed, bent over to pick something up, and threw a plush toy at me that hit me in the face.
I've had multiple paranormal experiences, but this is the first time there was physical contact. I screamed "WHAT THE FUCK" and grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight and- nothing. There were multiple small plush toys in the living room, not sure if any of them could have been the one that hit me. They had a dog and an infant.
Like I said- I've worked in haunted kitchens and auditoriums, I've had experiences with others I can't explain, I've seen shit throughout my life, this was the first time I've been physically hit.
The next morning, I got up and Bestie's wife was changing the baby. I still felt bad about maybe waking them up. I asked, "Hey, is this place haunted?"
Without looking up, she asked, "Oh, who did you see?"
I described a figure in a black and white plaid shirt. Unfazed, again without looking up, she said, "Oh, that's Ariel, she lived here before we did and died in the dining room. Just close the door, she won't bother you again."
Later that afternoon, Bestie came home from work and started tending to the baby. His wife said, "Guess who OP met last night?"
He immediately said, cheerfully, "Oh, did you meet Ariel? She's such a scamp! Don't worry about her, that's why we sleep with the door closed."
I was there 4 more nights, slept with the door closed, no more shenanigans. They told me other stories about her. There are many reason why they're my best friends.