Scary Stories: A Recollection

The Rest Stop.

Some night in the summer of 2019, I had to pick my sister up from the Chicago O'Hare Airport. It was going to be a late arrival and we live about one and half hours away so my partner tagged along. He's the worst going far distance because he has the worst bladder and stomach. We picked up my sister from the airport around 9pm. It was about an hour into the drive when my partner needed to use the bathroom. We were in that section of the freeway where there were literally no gas stations or fast food around, but we saw a "Rest Stop - One Mile Ahead" sign. I don't usually mind using rest stops but I've never stopped at one during the night. But we stopped anyways. There was one car parked a few spots over and there were people in there, just sitting. It was kind of a foggy humid night so the mist was thick in the air. I went in with my partner and there was no one in the bathroom. He had to #2, so I went in the stall next to him just on my phone waiting. When we came in there was no one in the stalls. Matter of fact all the stalls were just left wide open. The bathroom was huge. It was empty and we could hear the echo of our own voice. I get a text from my sister, "Hurry! It's scary out here!" She was in the car waiting. I asked my partner, "Are you done yet??" As he flushed, we both walked out together. All the stalls were open and I didn't see anyone or anything. But my partner, as he washed his hands, said in Hmong, "There's someone in the stall?" My heart sank to the bottomless pit of wherever. I said, "No there isn't..." He said in Hmong, "Yea there is, they're just standing in the stall with the door open..." My heart literally sank even further down. I was close to hyperventilating and my spirit literally dropped dead right there on that bathroom floor. Before my partner could even finish washing his hands, I grabbed his arm and said in Hmong, "We need to run..." His reaction was slow, unaware that I wanted to get out. I said again, "let's get out of here!" I dragged his arm and we ran out. I ran to the wrong exit, couldn't find the damn door that we came through. I said, "Run. Yog Dab (ghost) os!" We ran back to the car and left.

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Black Figures

It was my sophomore year in college undergrad and I lived with two roommates. It was the end of November, so almost close to exams. I was up studying and around 12am I decided to head to bed. My bedroom is the only bedroom at the back of the house in the same section as the kitchen while my other two roommates had their bedrooms towards the living room and bathroom. It had just been ten minutes when I laid to bed and then I realized I couldn't move... I get sleep paralysis a lot, almost every night or every other night since I was kid. But this time as I was paralyzed, I noticed seven or eight very tall black shadow figures around my small twin size bed. I didn't have a bed frame and my bed was on the floor so everything seemed taller. I couldn't move. I almost couldn't breath. As the ally street lights shined through my window I could see these shadow figures just staring down... And then all at once they all jumped onto me and I remember an intense pain in my stomach which was what freed me from the sleep paralysis. The next day, my back hurt for one whole week...

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Poj Ntxoog On My Ceiling

I hadn't been feeling well. I came home because my parents were doing ua neeb or a shaman healing ritual for me. My old bedroom is left empty and unattended. No one sleeps in there unless I come home some weekends, otherwise it's empty and the doors are always shut. It was late as I went to sleep. My dad was still downstairs just moving the sofas and doing last minute clean up before family comes over. I had just closed my eyes when I felt it. I don't know about other people's sleep paralysis experience but sometimes I can feel when it's going to happen. There's usually a ringing noise in my eye or a wave of suffocation almost. I was in sleep paralysis. My eyes were so heavy. My arms so stuck to the bed. I could hear an old lady humming or moaning, "Ehhhhhhhh...." Hearing people's voices during sleep paralysis wasn't anything new for me at this point, but it was still scary! I manage to open my eyes and I saw an old lady poj ntxoog (monster lady) laying flat right above me on the ceiling. Her eyes were sizes of a raisin. It had no nose. It's skin was all wrinkly and almost torn apart. No hair. No eyebrow. It had a very pale white skin. Most disturbing of all its mouth was wide open from ear lobe to ear lobe. It's tongue was massive, just dangling it out of its mouth. I shut my eyes and tried to calm myself down because I knew that if I panicked I wasn't going to be able to breath. I was going to suffocate and I didn't want that to happen. So I shut my eyes and tried to to scream. I tried to bite myself to wake up. I opened my eyes again and the same poj ntxoog was still there, only this time its smile was even bigger... I shut my eyes and prayed and prayed in my head to my great grandma. And finally I escaped sleep paralysis and was able to move. I screamed for my dad, ran downstairs, and told him what happened...

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Dead Man Next To Me

My partner and I had moved in to a town home, a side by side duplex. At the time there was no one living next door yet. My partner went on a vacation with his family out of state so I had the whole house to myself. I actually love spending time alone and love my own presence. All the bedrooms were upstairs. A few weeks before my parents came to visit and they slept in the bedroom next to ours. I hadn't cleaned up that room yet and all the blankets and pillows were left there. So around 11pm I head for bed. We had three bedrooms and they were all in a line in the hallway upstairs along with the full bath. Our bedroom was the last bedroom in the hallway. I went to sleep and had a dream I was sleeping in the next room. But everything was so black and gray and quiet. I was laying on the floor on top of the blanket. I thought to myself, "Why am I sleeping in here??" I heard the blankets shuffling and moving so I looked to my left and noticed a man sleeping next to me. This man's skin was blue gray and it looked very moist and moldy. It's mouth was left open. It's eyes were closed like a sleeping person but its hands and feet were moving around like it was searching for something. I tried to fucking get up and scream but I couldn't. And then I woke up... Only I was actually in the other room like in my dream. I was laying down on the blankets and next to me was someone laying down. I tried to fucking scream but I couldn't. I tried to move. To bite my tongue. To do anything but I couldn't. The man was Hmong, dressed in Hmong clothes. He was dead. But his arms kept shuffling around. His mouth gaped open and he made heavy breathing and suffocating noises.

I freaking woke up in a sweat!!! Realizing I was in my room the whole time having a dream within a dream and experiencing sleep paralysis at the same time....

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Something Crawled Out...

I've never told anyone this story. This was at the very beginning stages of my shaman journey. I traveled back to my parents home, about an hour north from where I was staying because of school. On weekends I'd go back home to ua neeb (shaman ritual). One specific night after an ua neeb, I decided to sleep in the living room. My shaman altar faced the main living room wall and the sofa on the opposite wall. Everyone was asleep by this time. I had the living room/dining room lights on but you could control how bright or dim you want the lights so these lights were on the lowest brightness. I was still on my phone when I heard the joss paper under my altar ruffle. I looked and saw nothing. I thought 'ok, that's fine. Paper is thin, it can move, maybe it was going to fall or unfold anyways." Then, I heard some scratching noises coming from my shaman altar. I looked and saw nothing. I didn't think much of it. But then I heard a dragging noise on our carpet floor like someone dragging an item or a bag. I looked again at my altar and saw a long black shadowed poj ntxoog slowly crawling from under my shaman altar. It was crawling like a baby from under the table and towards the corner of the wall going to the kitchen. I was fucking scared as shit and ran upstairs so fast to sleep in my old room.

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Poj Ntxoog At The Park

My partner and I went fishing in Sheboygan, WI at a park called Kiwanis Park. By the river before the main entrance there's a small grass path that you can jog or go fishing on. It was around 5pm so it's wasn't too dark but it certainly wasn't morning. We had gone onto this path and he was ahead by a few yards. I stayed a little back with my fishing rod trying to catch some fish. Nothing was biting so I decided to catch up to my partner. When I walked right back on the path I felt an erie feeling like something was wrong. I looked back and I saw two little mi nyuam (little kids) poj ntxoog in white waving their wet hair back and forth. Their hair was long and it covered their face. They kept waving it from left to right, left to right... I caught up to my partner real fast and told him to leave the spot now. I didn't want to tell him because I didn't want to scare him so he insisted we kept going. I looked back and they were hiding behind the tall grass, still waiving their hair and their head from left to right. They were wearing white but the clothes were so dirty. I was scared but kept my calm.

Shortly after we left and went home. I tried not thinking about it but felt scared the entire ride home. We went to sleep that night and I kept falling in and out of sleep and kept experiencing sleep paralysis. I then had a dream that I was at the same place in Sheboygan on that same path. The two little poj ntxoog were there but this time they were jumping up and down trying to catch butterflies. So many butterflies everywhere. The poj ntxoog's arms were literally snapped in half and as they were jumping their arms dangling, moving in a circular motion. Their legs all disfigured and backwards facing. They were smiling and laughing but their mouths opened so wide when they laughed I thought their jaws were going to fall right off. They were wearing a black t-shirt with a white Hmong dress...

I woke up.

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Open The Door...

This is a short story that happened just about a year ago in 2019. It was probably 3am in the morning and I woke up to use the bathroom. I was so tired and felt kind of half asleep. I heard footsteps approaching and the hallway floor creaking so I thought.."Who's awake at this time?"

"Knock, knock knock...Tub (son)!" Said my dad.

"What..." I said.

"Open the door for Mai, she's outside." Said my dad.

Without thinking I hurried up, washed my hands, and opened the door. The hallway lights were still off. The house was completely quiet and dark. I was about to walk to the kitchen where the side door was but had a moment of hesitation. I thought to myself, "Who tf is Mai?? And why would anyone be here at this time???" I ran back to my room, locked the doors, and slept with the lights on that night. The next morning I asked my dad if he woke up during the middle of night and he said no...

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My Mom's Surgery...

This is my mom's story. This incident happened awhile back when we were still in elementary school, little kids we were. My mom had gotten a small surgery on her stomach. She was home resting during the day, all of us were at school, and my dad at work. She would only be in bed all day and get up to eat or use the bathroom because she was still recovering from her surgery. Anyway, my mom was home alone and she dazed off and took a mid day nap. As she napped, she went into sleep paralysis and couldn't move. She heard the front door open and slam as if someone had come in the house. She heard footsteps approaching her bedroom and thought maybe it was my dad and he came home early or something. She couldn't see anything but could hear this heavy footstep and heavy moaning coming onto her bed. This creature came on top of her and crushed her. She said it was extremely hairy like a bear and it felt so heavy she couldn't breath. She twist and turned and she couldn't wake up. She then tried to push her stomach even though the doctors advised her not to because her surgery was in the healing process and any kind of pressure or push will cause it to bleed. She pushed her stomach and she felt a huge pain and that woke her up immediately. There was blood coming from her surgery and it stained the bedsheets. She could barely walk so she got off the bed, crawled onto the floor, and right at that moment one of her cousins came to visit her and was at the door ringing the bell and knocking on the door. She slowly crawled while still bleeding and opened the door. Her cousin came in and asked what happened? My mom explained to her and she stayed with my mom until we came home...

After this incident my dad revealed that he had gotten a piece of animal hair and said it was from a dab Phim Nyuj Vaim (a strange animal in Thailand and Laos believed to have evil powers). He said it was good for medicine and luck and said someone from Thailand sent it... I remember how it looked like. The color was orange and the hair was very thick and pointy. After the incident he got rid of that piece of hair because the OGs said the thing that visited my mom was the Phim Nyuj Vaim...

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Man In The Chair

We moved into my grandma's house for some time. That house was so freaking scary I can't even begin to describe it. I slept in the downstairs bedroom while everyone else slept upstairs. On many occasions I heard footsteps throughout the living room. Dishes clinking in the kitchen. The side door leading to the basement opening and closing, and even the sink turning on and off. One particular night I had woken up super thirsty! It was around 2am or 3am and everyone already asleep upstairs. I turned on the bedroom light and went to the kitchen without turning on any lights. I opened the fridge and the fridge light cast some light to the kitchen. I looked a little to my left and there was a headless gentleman sitting in the chairs by the kitchen table. His head missing and his hands on the table. It was just a body with a neck, but no fucking head. I saw that shit and ran so fast back to my room, kept the lights on, and went under the blanket. This bedroom didn't have a door, instead it was one of those sliding doors. So I went to sleep holding a pen, ready to stab anything and anyone that came in. I prayed so hard quietly to myself that nothing would slide those doors. During this time we didn't have cell phones yet and I couldn't even call my parents. I was too scared to run across the dining room, living room, and upstairs. I was too afraid to scream or call for someone...

The next morning, all the three chairs were pushed in except for that one chair where I saw the gentleman sitting...

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The Hallway

Freshmen year of high school was a really tough year. My sister had gotten married. My mom wored 3rd and my dad worked 2nd so he wouldn't get home until 11:00pm, sometimes he worked overtime. This left my younger sister and I just home alone. I remember those nights we just walked to the K-mart and bought food, sometimes we'd go to the Block Buster nearby and rent movies. This was right around November so the Hmong New Years in my hometown was approaching. We lived in a big blue house. The upstairs consisting of all the bedrooms. We had these long hallways separating the bedrooms. My bedroom was the closest to the stairs and my sister's bedroom was the farthest, making hers the last one around the corner. That night we went to sleep. Most nights were fine because we knew my dad would be home by 11pm or a little after. But this night he had worked overtime and it felt like the longest night of my life. As I went to sleep I kept hearing someone going up and down the stairs. But it felt like they were doing that to just the three stairs at the top where my bedroom was. They went down two times, came up two times, went down 2, and that kept happening. I sat up on my bed and quietly listened. It stopped. But then following that, I kept hearing a heavy bag being dragged in the hallway. I would sound far as if it was the other side and then it gradually got closer all the way right up to my door. It kept doing this and at this point I was scared as fuck! At this point I had a cell phone but my younger sister did not. I didn't know what to do or who to call. I'm pretty sure I was experiencing a panic attack which did not help! Sometimes the noise would stop, but then 10 seconds layer continue. I could hear whatever was being dragged rub against my door... I was scared shitless but ran to turn on the light and locked my door right away! I called my aunt and told her what was happening. She said to just book it to my sister's room. I was so scared because our hallways were literally so long. But I had to... I opened the door and freaking turned on the hallway light and sprinted towards her room. I opened the door, hyperventilating and we waited for my dad to come home....

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My Dad's Last Hunting Trip

This is my dad's hunting story. He and my uncle use to go hunting a lot. Since this incident they've both stopped. He and my uncle agreed to stay within where they can see each other. If they can't see each other they've gone too far and would try to follow behind the other in their direction. My dad in the north direction and my uncle in the south. For whatever reason they forgot to stay where they both could see each other. The sun had set, this was around 8:30pm and it was dark but still enough light to see in front of you. My dad kept walking and he heard something to his right digging and shiffling through the dead and dried leaves. He turned and what he saw was literally the scariest shit he said he's ever seen. He saw a headless naked person with their hands to the ground searching through the leaves. This person had no head!!! It was missing a head! It kept digging through and feeling its way around the ground. My dad's heart literally dropped dead at that point. He said he has never been so scared in his life he felt like his whole body just melted. He felt his arms and legs just sank right into the Earth. He slowly backed away but keeping his gun on the headless person. He said if he looked away he wouldn't know what that thing would be doing, it could chase my dad! So to be safe he wanted to keep en eye on it. My dad was far enough when he turned around and sprinted towards my uncle. My dad gave my uncle a look, a stare! And my uncle too gave my dad a strange look like, "Let's go!" So they both booked it, not saying a single thing to each other. The entire time trying to get back to the car my dad said they were on full alert. He said they were both praying to our ancestors and their grandparents for help and protection. They got in the car, locked the doors, and drove out so fast. On the freeway they told each other what they saw. My uncle too saw a headless person where he was and my dad told him he saw the same thing!

As my dad retells this story he still chokes on the words. I can see in his eyes the fear and how he wished he could forget what he saw that night.