I remember having my first visual encounter when I was around 9-years-old. Me and my mother had gone on a day trip to Beaumaris castle in North Wales. It was midweek and bloody cold so the place was practically disserted. We were wandering around and making it our personal goal to avoid any of the few other visitors - castles are way more fun when they feel secluded - when I saw a long haired brunette woman pop her head around the corner of an alcove, smile, and go back to the window. I thought nothing of it and said to my mum "There are people down there, want to keep going or turn back?" We decided to just keep going as we weren't sure whether there were more stairs at the end or just a dead end. When we walked forward there was no one there, so we assumed there were stairs. Alas, it was a completely dead end. Nobody could have walked past us without us realizing it as the corridors are barely wide enough for us to walk side-by-side. It freaked us the heck out so we made a speedy exit. It was a few years later when we visited once again, and went on a 'tour' with a guide. He mentioned that in that exact area of the tower, a young woman once died waiting for her father to return. The castle went under attack and she didn't make it out. I still get creeped out thinking about it as for a paranormal experience it was so.. normal. She was just an average pretty woman with a friendly smile and a pinkish dress on. Shudder.

My second unexplainable experience happened much later in life. I was in my late teens and our family dog Jess had recently passed away. Me and my mum were "camping" in the living room with mattresses on the floor, all our bedsheets, pillows, blankets, and we were marathoning movies with an array of snacks between us. We had recently gotten a new puppy and she was an epic handful. I was laying with my back to the door on my phone and my mum had just gone outside to put the dogs out to do their business. I heard the puppy come walking in so I quickly shoved myself under the blanket. She had a habit of jumping onto me and licking my face every time she entered the room, so I was making an attempt at saving myself. I felt her walk on the mattress and use her paw to scratch at my back for attention. I ignored her and she proceeded to scratch harder. That one hurt. I used my best scolding vow to say her name and lifted myself up. She was gone. Assuming she had left in a huff, I called out to her. My mum having heard my voice, opened the second door to the front garden and yelled 'what?'. I said that Lily had just scratched me again. Only, my mum had been outside with the door shut since leaving at least 15 minutes ago. She hadn't let either of the dogs in and Lily was still outside That creeped me the hell out as my back was still on fire from the scratch. Never wanting to miss out on something weird my mum came in to take a look. I had an 8 inch scratch going down my back that looked exactly like dog nails (Three claw marks). The mark stayed for a few days but the creeped out factor still hasn't gone away. 

In a similar vain, on the way home from the shops with my mum one day I casually mentioned that the dog was in the upstairs window. I could see her face, ears, and tongue as she seemed to be panting. The dogs had been taken for a walk by a friend so we just thought that he had brought them home early. Unlocking the door to a completely empty house was not the outcome we thought. I still clearly remember the silhouette of a dog. 

Me and my mum have heard an echo of a bark coming from upstairs despite both dogs being the room with us and no one having a dog next door. We've heard what sounds like a dog jumping off the bed only to discover, you guessed it, both dogs with us. I've had scratching come from outside my bedroom door yet both dogs were closed off in my mum's room with her. 

In 2016 me and my now husband took a trip to Edinburgh so naturally we went on all the ghost hunting tours available. The vaults was fun but nothing spooky happened (thank god). Next we went on the much loved Cemetery Tour. Which is exactly what it sounds like, a tour of the infamous Greyfriars Kirkyard. During the tour you walk around the place with the guide telling you all about the stories of who is buried there and it ends with a trip inside the locked The Covenanters' Prison. Only certain tours have the key. You go into a manualism that is supposedly home of the The Mackenzie Poltergeist. Upon entering I started to feel really weird. I was already not well due to a Fibromyalgia flare up but that sensation is something I will never forget. I lost my sight for a good portion of the 5 minute visit, my body was ice cold while still feeling like it was covered in tiny scratches that were burning, my head felt like a train was running through it. I would've passed out if it were not for my partner holding me upright. I wanted to ask to leave but it felt like my throat was closed yet contracting, almost like the feeling when you're about to throw up. The weirdest part to me, is that the moment we walked back outside, I started feeling better. Like a switch was flipped. My body didn't properly recover for a few days.

Lastly, since my Nain passed away last year a lot of freaky things have been happening in my home. Which is weird as she passed in the UK and I'm, you know, in America. However, things are connecting way too heavily with her for it to be anything else. Multiple times now I've put on the Food Network app only for it to be playing midway through Barefoot Contessa, a show we routinely watched together. Neither I or my husband have watched any of it so I have no idea how it's midway through an episode. A Nigella cookbook keeps falling randomly from a high-up cupboard where it had lived for over 5 years without ever falling. (We would also watch Nigella a lot together) Vacuum's keep getting unplugged whenever I'm still cleaning despite having a dizzy spell. I've been making breakfast and the microwave will stop mid-timer, yet it hasn't ever happened to my husband and doesn't if he's in the house. When me and my mum are skyping and one of us is upset, the call will keep going staticky. Multiple times now my cat has seemed to be watching something come down the stairs and would proceed to roll onto his back as though he wants scratches. We had lived in the house for over a year before my Nain passed and nothing weird had ever happened. It's a full on newly built home that no one else has ever lived in. A lot of little weird things can quickly amount to a full on mystery and that's exactly what's happening.

There have been quite a few other small experiences, but these are my main ones. Tell me about an experience you've had! I'd love to hear it.