When I was first married (2007), my husband and I lived in a small 1-bed room flat on the ground floor. This place was not in the slightest bit haunted and we were very happy there. However I did have one strange experience while in bed one night.
It might help if I describe the layout of our little home. There was a large open-plan living room with a tiny kitchen, and a short corridor off that led directly to our bedroom with the bathroom also coming off this corridor. Our bedroom was the only carpeted room in the flat, with the rest being wood laminate.
The night wasn't anything special, but I awoke suddenly from my sleep for no apparent reason. I have no idea what the time was but it was still pitch dark outside. As I lay in the darkness, trying to get back to sleep despite being wide awake, I became aware that there was something in the living room. I instinctively knew that this wasn't a person, and an image formed in my minds eye of a black swirling fog moving about that main room - I could feel malevolence radiating from it.
Suddenly, it seemed to know that I was aware of it, and the mist developed into a tall reaper-like figure that turned to face the bedroom. With growing horror, I heard footsteps approaching the bedroom. The sound changed as it entered the little corridor (as you'd expect them to when moving from a very large room to a more confined space) and at that point a voice in my head clearly said "shut your eyes!" The order was given with such urgency that I complied just as the sound of footsteps moved from the wooden floor of the corridor to the carpeted bedroom - the sound of the footsteps changed just as you'd expect it to when moving from a hard surface to a soft one.
I was so terrified that I hardly dared to breathe and in my head, I could see an image of a very tall (around 7ft), black robed figure standing beside the bed looking around the room - it looked like the classic grim reaper but without the scythe or a wraith from Lord of the Rings. I slept with my head very close to the door, so you can imagine my terror that this thing was so close to me!
As suddenly and mysteriously as it arrived, the presence sort of faded away and I gradually felt safe enough to open my eyes again. My heart was pounding and there is no way that this was a dream - that evil presence was there, just inches from me.
I guess the main point for dispute is that I didn't actually see anything with my own eyes - it was all images in my head, apart from hearing those footsteps. The voice urging me to shut my eyes was probably just instinct working overtime. One odd thing was that I got the impression that if my eyes had been open, and I'd looked directly at the entity, something bad would have happened - it seemed to be looking around the room as if it couldn't see me with my eyes shut (I know that sounds really childish!).
I'm afraid the whole experience is basically pure gut instinct and mental images, but it unnerves me to this day so much that I thought I'd share it and see what others make of it.