THIS ONE HAPPENED TO ME (My 1993 Paranormal Experience)

I share my own frightening paranormal experience...on the 1st of May, 1993, a friend of mine rushed into my house, saying, 'I've seen a ghost, I've seen a ghost.' Another friend and I hurried back to the frightening spot he had seen, and all three of us had a frightening paranormal experience. One that seemed to follow me home.

Tonight, I will share the diary entry that I wrote that night and tell you what happened after. This is a different episode from any I have done before because…

THIS ONE HAPPENED TO ME.

CHAPTERS
00:00 1st May 1993
00:59 90s Teenage Ghosts Hunts
05:11 The Hermitage, Chester-le-Street
07:46 The Scariest Night of My Life
22:32 Grizedale College and St Thomas' Church in Lancaster University
32:32 Clouded Vision Black Rabbit in a Blackpool Hotel Room
36:14 I Still Can't Explain What Happened. 

I'm Peter Laws, an author, podcaster and now YouTube creator. I've had a long-time fascination with the scary, spooky and macabre. I'm a columnist for the acclaimed paranormal magazine, The Fortean Times, and I've been an 'expert' on the BBC Sounds show Uncanny. I'm also the creator of the Creepy Cove Community Church Podcast and the writer of five books.

After growing up very anti-church, I wound up becoming an ordained Reverend in my thirties, but after 12 years of working for churches, I had my first novel published. There have been four books in the Matt Hunter horror-thriller series, as well as a non-fiction book called The Frighteners (which explains and defends morbid interest). I've now stepped away from being a minister to focus on my creative work, which I love.

Join me as we peel back the veil of the unknown, one story at a time. If you're ready to walk the line between fear and the unexplained, subscribe and become part of our community of the curious.

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Peter regularly speaks at events, conferences and on radio. His literary agent is Joanna Swainson of Hardman and Swainson.

[IntoTheFog]

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Thanks for watching. ❤

[eleveneleven]

Back in the early 90's my wife and I were walking back home from our Worcestershire village pub.
At one point my wife said that someone was behind us. I looked back and a tall black cloaked figure was there. I'm 6ft and it was well over head and shoulders taller than me.
I grabbed my wifes hand and we walked fast to a street light at the end of the lane. It was gone.
A couple of nights later we woke to find it standing at the bottom of our bed !
I shouted st it to go...and it faded.
Some time later I was talking to a friend who's family had lived there for generations.
I began by saying we'd had a weird experience on Braces Lane. He immediately said "Was it a tall black figure ?"

Apparently its been seen for over a century.

[Squirrel-iu]

I'm being completely honest when I say this. You are without a doubt, the best storyteller on YouTube. Thank you for the stories.

[nolaanderson]

I have had experiences since childhood. My most memorable experience was just after my grandfather died. It was very sudden and devastating for me. We were always very close since our birthdays were two days apart. I was 11 and I didn’t study for my history exam on WW1. I flipped the sheets over and I could FEEL my grandpa’s presence. He looked over my shoulder and I could hear him say “Oh I know that one.” He gave me the answers to all but 1 question and that was the only answer I got wrong. My grandpa helped me cheat on my history test.

[meatavoreNana]

I live in New Zealand 🇳🇿 and many years ago, while house sitting, I saw a Maori woman walk through the wall of the room I was in. She stopped, held out the basket she was holding to me , and then walked on and out the opposite wall. I spoke to a Kaumatua( elder) and he told me that in the past, the area was gardens where kumara were grown and herbs were gathered. It wasn't at all scary but was very vivid .Im 74 now and still just as clear as it was all those years ago.😊

[KrisRocheleau]

I believe you about your experience with seeing a ghost. I am a nurse, recently retired after 46 yrs. I worked11-7 for about 18 yrs. One morning around 5 AM before starting my morning med pass I was sitting at the nursing station working on my nursing notes when I randomly looked up and for a second someone walked in front of me out of nowhere. It was like this woman that I saw seemed to walk out of maybe a portal, I don't know. Then she was gone. I knew exactly who it was, she looked just like she did when she was alive. It was clear, like a real live person. She never looked at me, thank goodness. This little lady had severe dementia and wondered up and down the halls. She was a sweet little thing always smiling or kissing your hand when you approached her. I know what I saw, but to this day I still am blown away by this experience. I've seen shadows many times while working but never like the other time. I knew exactly who she was, I new her name and that she was dead, but it was like she was alive and just doing her usual wandering. Thank you for sharing you experience. I enjoy your channel and stories. Only watch you during the daytime, or I would never be able to fall asleep. 😊

[amandasmith]

The beauty of it is, it doesn't matter whether your experience in the church was "real" or "imagined". The point is that the impact it had on you was genuine.

When my grandad died, I didn't really get the chance to mourn him at the time. I was busy worrying about my mum whose dad he was. The summer of the same year I volunteered in South Africa for a month. While I was on that trip, I saw rhinos for the first time in my life. My first thought was "I can't wait to tell Grandad!" immediately followed by the realization for the first time that I couldn't. I burst into uncontrollable tears. That night, I dreamt that I was sitting in a wing back chair opposite an identical chair. The room was completely black but for a floor lamp between them. Out of the dark, walked my Grandad. He sat, smiled, and said "So tell me about it." So I did. I told him everything about my trip, the people I'd met, the places I'd been, how much I missed him. And the next morning I remembered thinking that although I'll never know if my Grandad really came to visit me or if it was just my brain's way of sorting out the trauma, it didn't matter. It was real enough to me, and the comfort that dream gave me was real.

[GayleSimpkins]

This story reminds me of a boss I worked for over 20 years ago. She is a vet and a very private character. She had found her faith quite late in life, took it seriously but not pushy about it in any way. I had an experience in my own flat that I couldn't explain, and the lack of sleep was starting to affect my work. My boss was amazing. She gave me numbers of people within her church I could call day or night who may be able to help me.
I asked her why she believed me and she said a few years previouly while on a night call out, she had been driving and had seen a figure standing just into a field and though she didn't know what it was, she knew it wasn't of this world and she felt it was not there to play nicely.
From that day on, she believed there were more layers to this world and not to judge those who say they have seen things. She is long retired now, but I often wonder if she still thinks of that 'figure' she saw.

[HoboWorld-hx]

I have had unwanted paranormal experiences all my life. The thing that I have learned is that if you instinctively feel that the experience is paranormal—it is.
If you have doubts, it isn’t.
Dealing with the paranormal requires you to trust your instincts implicitly. Your instincts will tell you if something is dangerous or not—trust them. Not all paranormal experiences are scary. Some are uplifting.
Trust your gut.

[marsdentubes]

My husband and I had a very similar experience and I just stumbled across your video... Thank You! We live in Florida and it is quite common to have a screened enclosure around the pool area. One evening we were enjoying our back yard when we were absolutely astonished to see four of those creatures or demons on top of our neighbors "bird cage" (screened enclosure). We sat there in complete silence just watching them frozen in fear! What resonated with us was your description of how they moved- very ape like and they were crawling down from the top into our neighbors yard!! They were the size of a normal human being but exactly as you described! We have never told anyone about it as who would believe us? My husband just said if he hadn't witnessed it with me he would have thought I had lost my mind. I always thought they looked like human size gargoyles. We watched them for about 10 minutes or so and thank goodness they never noticed us watching them. We discreetly went into the house and have never seen the world the same again. I worried they may come over into my yard but thankfully we never saw them again. Thank you for sharing your story as it feels a bit validating to us. I have now subscribed to your channel.

[museemerging]

Amazing! I did a 'clearing' in an ex mortuary, now a funeral home, here in Sydney. There was a bad and harmful presence there that was affecting people who worked there mentally and physically. As soon as I went in I felt it was extra angry, seething actually, that I dared to challenge it. The clearing was tough, it was a very thick, overbearing, gross, almost sticky gunky malevolent presence. I felt physically ill and dizzy but pushed through. It tried to scare me by snapping a small plate with crystals I had with me. Frankly, that only made me more determined. On the way home, I was walking along a path and felt a push and went tumbling down an embankment, grocery bags and all. I heard in my head laughing and the words, "who do you think you are? Not so tough now." It decided to teach me a lesson and it did come home with me. Took a few days to get rid of it. Dark entities exist, if you are psychic or open to energies, they see you clearly and you can be a target. Important to learn how to protect yourself. Also, we are drawn to the dark as much as the light, we want to understand it all. I worry for those who dive in to the paranormal as if it's a game. I dive in without fear because t have fortified myself and still there are things I will not challenge.

[betelgeuse]

Thank you, Peter, for letting us into your personal story. It isn't easy when it hits so close to home. I've had a few paranormal experiences over the years and there is no crescendo or big finale, it goes just as fast as it comes. My most memorable experience happened when I was a backpacker through the UK around 2003 (I'm Aussie). I was working as a live-in general assistant at the Seaforth Inn in Ullapool. There had been a series of smaller events leading up to one very scary event and then just like that everything stopped. The first event was in the staff living quarters a few blocks away where my room door held itself open after I had closed and locked it. That door was heavyset with a pully thing that always pulled it shut no matter what.

Then one night after we closed around 3am and all the staff were leaving, we all gathered around the manager chatting outside and I looked up to the second floor window and could see a tv playing the football. There is a restaurant up there now but unbeknownst to me it used to be a hotel. At the time I thought it was just the crazy chef up late drinking in the restaurant and watching the football in an office room I'd not seen (I was still new there and didn't quite know my way around yet). A few days later I was positioned in the upstairs restaurant and I was looking around to see where on earth could that little office be located? Everything was open plan. I asked my restaurant manager where was the little room with the tv and explained what I had seen a few nights before. She looked baffled and then shocked. That's when she told me there is no office up here but that all these windows used to be little hotel rooms. She was sure I'd seen a glimpse into the past.

Then a few weeks later I was asked to close the restaurant one night as my manager needed to attend something at her 5 year old's school. I had been given very specific instructions, lay all the napkins and then cutlery on top, turn all the lights out and leave via the kitchen back stairs that run down into the chippy, and if NOTHING ELSE DON'T FORGET THE BINS!!! Otherwise the rats will come. After those careful instructions my manager left and I was locked in the restaurant and went about cleaning and setting up the tables. I thought the fastest way to set the tables up would be to place all the napkins down and then come around with the cutlery afterwards. I placed a folded napkin on each table row after row and the grabbed the cutlery bucket and went about placing the cutlery on each table. From memory there might have been 4 or 5 rows of tables. I got through half the tables putting the cutlery on the napkins and when I finished the middle row and went about starting the final 2 rows I suddenly noticed that all the napkins were missing from underneath the cutlery that still sat on each of the tables! Every single table had the cutlery sat there but not a single napkin in sight! I freaked out naturally and checked if I had accidentally left a window open, but everything was shut tight and this was summer so it wasn't particularly cold or windy. I remembered my dad telling me if I ever experience anything paranormal just tell them to stop it! So I called out, almost embarrassed to be speaking to an empty room "to just stopped it, you're scaring me!" Then I quickly re-set the napkins, never did find the missing ones, and launched the cutlery on top and ran for my life towards the swinging kitchen doors to get the hell out of there. As I was running I suddenly heard an old mans voice scream a single word at me. I was the only one up there locked into the restaurant! I froze in absolute shock for a moment when I thought, what did that voice say? It had said "BIN!" I realised I had forgotten to collect the bins which was the one thing if I failed to do would have seen me fired on the spot!

In that moment I knew whatever it was wasn't trying to hurt me. I quickly gathered the huge bin as fast as I could and ran back towards the swinging kitchen doors and as I pushed the doors to swing open I stopped, turned back and said "thank you" before running for my absolute life out through the kitchen, down the stairs, launched the bin into the back alley, ran back in and through the chippy until I came to a door that would take me into the main downstairs pub. I flew through those doors to some folk band playing live and as the chippy door closed behind me and self locked I felt a sigh of relief. That experience however, was not the most terrifying experience I had working at the Seaforth Inn in Ullapool in the summer of 2003.

[ivorybow]

I made the very grave stupid mistake of "playing" with an Ouija board when I was a teenager and I paid a very heavy price. It took a very long time to clear my life of what I let loose. So stupid to fool around with the supernatural. It was faith that cleared it from my life. I totally believe you.

[dmcgill]

Wow! That was a terrifying story, Peter. I can hear a little shakiness in your voice tonight. 😮 Thanks for sharing 👍

[arelcrest]

It's incredible how well some spirits can shapeshift.

[Googurz]

The description of a black shadow swaying back and forth really struck a nerve with me. I witnessed something exactly like this 40 years ago with 2 other people. In hindsight, I realized that it originated on the roof of a friend's garage. The swaying was really odd and unnatural looking. This incident has been crystal clear in my memory all this time.

[TheOceanLoader]

Hey Peter - I have lived in Bradford, Doncaster, and now Hull. There are a LOT of paranormal experiences to be had. I went driving and entered a field in the early hours. We were rushed by these 3 shadowy dwarves. I love how you were a priest and now do this kind of investigation. I have gone the other way because I believe there 100% a devil so there must be a God. It helped me accept Jesus into my life.

[TrueTalesoftheParanormal]

Peter, I’ve had many paranormal experiences, some weren’t so friendly, like this one. Ghost hunting is seen as a fun thing to do, but most don’t realize you can come home with attachments. Spirits can see the future. I believe that entity knew you would end up becoming a minister. It attached to you planning to keep you embroiled upon your then current path. These entities don’t want us doing good works, especially helping others come to Christ. The visions you had while on the bus were sent by that entity in a final effort to prevent you from walking a path of Light. That big dog barking outside your window - in my personal experience entities will take on the form of a huge wolf-like black dog. I’ve seen that with my own eyes. The minister who saw the entity, he no doubt encouraged you to confess your transgressions so you would walk out of that church a new person, purged of the energy of those activities. He knew that the entity would then have no further claim on you. God bless that minister & God bless you. ~ Nefer, The Positive Artist who wears many hats.

[deannfrey]

I know what you mean about it happens and then nothing….when I was 6 or 7, I was the youngest. My sisters were able to stay up and watch things with my mom that I was too young to watch. My dad got up at 4:30 in the morning, so was always in bed by 8. We had a bunk bed that was up against the wall. I slept on the top bunk. On the other side of the room was a huge window to our back yard. If the back porch light was on, it looked like a yellow movie screen with the shade down. My door was shut and it was dark in my room except for the yellow glow from the window. I was rolling over to get comfortable and inside my room was the shape of a large person. No features, just dark and big. I said ‘hello?’ But it didn’t move or make a sound. I covered my head with the blanket and then peaked back out. It was still there. I slide along the wall to get to the door and reached down to the knob, never taking my eyes off the thing. When I opened the door to let light in, it vanished. I climbed over the rail and ran into the living room to tell my Mom and sisters but they just yelled at me to go back to bed. I did but left the door open.

[Carol-ug]

My sister and I grew up on a farm in Kentucky. We both separately saw a figure with a black cloak in our old farmhouse. Later we had neighbors tell us a cloaked specter had been seen walking a fence row there since the early 1900’s. We both have a huge interest in the paranormal and your comment about seeking answers in those pursuits makes sense to us. Love your videos.