Seven women share their real-life chilling ghost stories.

Ghost stories are endlessly fascinating.

No matter who you speak to, almost everyone has one – whether it’s something that happened to them or someone they know.

Often at the same time, encounters with ghosts can be both terrifying and comforting, and perhaps that’s why we can’t stop telling them.

Here are seven ghost stories told by women in the Mamamia office.

Nana was trying to tell us something.

“I always told my Nana that when she died she had to do something to let me know she was still there. A few days after she died, I was sitting in my lounge room looking through photos and having a bit of a cry. And then I heard a very loud “thud”. I went into her bedroom, and a suitcase full of her things that had been sitting in the middle of her bed, had fallen to the floor. There was no one in there and no windows open. I can’t understand how it happened. And when she died, my uncle’s watch stopped.” – Catherine, 28

Footsteps in the middle of the night.

“I used to hear footsteps in the hall outside my room when everyone including my dogs were all asleep. There was never anyone there, but one time I went to check and heard “it” throw itself against my door. Then from then on would wake up having felt what I assumed was my cat jump on my bed, go to pet it, and nothing was there. That kept happening for a while. Turns out an old dude died in my room, so there ya go.” – Amy, 31

Come play with me.

“The last place we lived in – my son’s toys started speaking at exactly 3am every night for a while. One was a little dog that could only be activated by moving it and it would say “Come play with me”.

One night, his helicopter toy started a song that we’ve never heard before - every button we tried to push the next day, nothing. Only by violently shaking it did this song play." – Jane, 26

"Have you met the ghost yet?"

"I lived in a house built in the 1870's - it always had this strange smell in it. We would always hear footsteps down the hallway, and the TV turning on and off at random times. One night we heard a crashing sound and thought a brick had been thrown out the window. Turns out that this vase that was really old (and heavy) had fallen off a top shelf in our kitchen that was pushed back against the wall.

Our neighbours also owned the house before us and they asked us if we had the met ghost yet (they researched the house and it turns out someone had died in the home). They also woke up to smashed picture frames in the middle of rooms and those creepy footsteps." – Emily, 34

Voices in the other room.

"My boyfriend lived in this creepy apartment - and I would always ask if his roommate was home because I could hear people talking (specifically laughing) in the other room - he's also heard someone ask him really specific questions (he thought it was his roommate) to find out there was no one home. Soon after he started experiencing sleep paralysis and vivid dreams of being trapped in his apartment." – Michelle, 31

Doors opening on their own.

“We used to live in an old Victorian house, which no doubt had seen a lot of history. I’m not so open to these things, by my mum was never comfortable in the house; she said she felt a presence there. My husband and I usually laughed her off and teased her about it, but then one night, we both heard our baby son crying in his cot. We walked down the long corridor to his room, only to find him fast asleep as we’d left him – but the bedroom door was wide open. The door handles were too high for any of our children to reach even if they had gotten up, and we always closed the doors tight.” – Annie, 29

And hold on tight. This next one is really intense.

“My mother in law passed away very suddenly in January and my sister in law was 6 months pregnant at the time.  When she'd had the baby (at the same hospital her mum passed away at) and was leaving the hospital they had the obligatory "first family photo".  My mother in law is in the back of the photo.” – Beth, 22

(Note: I have seen the photo, but the family would prefer to keep it private. Trust me though, it’s everything you imagine it to be).

So there you go. There are some things that just can’t be explained.

Have you had a spooky experience? Share it in the comments below!