Paranormal Experiences: More As I Age?

Growing up I never thought much of ghosts or, in general, the paranormal. As a child there were a few occasions but I never thought much of it, until years later when I met my old best friend in high school. Let's call this old best friend K.

K was very attuned with the paranormal. She would always tell me stories where she would hear tapping or scratching on the walls, voices (sometimes distorted) or see figures, orbs and mists in the hallway. It was not rare for her to accidentally interact with ghosts either, where in public places she would be approached and would hold conversations, only for strangers to give her weird looks - because it seemed she was talking to herself. She would often have to visit her temple to be blessed (she is Buddhist) and would wear white string on her wrists and ankles to school. I'll admit I was never completely convinced with her stories or, in fact, that ghosts were real until later incidents.

K and I were still in high school at the time, and we were sitting in class at a table towards the back of the room. The table we sat next to was beside a window, and the walls of the class were entirely white.

We were mindlessly chatting until I realised K was not looking at me when we were talking, but behind me. She looked scared and froze. From the corner of my eye there was a black mass that suddenly vanished the moment I turned my head to see what she was staring at.

I was shocked because I was sure I saw something black hovering over my shoulder from the corner of my eye, only to later confirm with her that a black shadow was right behind me as we were talking. I was a little unnerved, however, I simply assumed if something was there it was there because of her attraction to spirits, rather than mine. However, more incidents occurred where I became more of a believer.

Once again, K and I were sitting at a table, however in this scenario we were on a school field trip based on building leadership skills. It was lunch time and we were eating at another school's dining area which was basically their own restaurant/kitchen designated for culinary students, thus explaining the fancy table cloths over the tables.

At the table K and I sat with a mentor who was discussing our goals for the future. I gazed over our mentor's shoulder and caught a corner of a table cloth from another table lift in mid air as if someone was holding it? There was 1 - no one there at the table, and 2 - there was absolutely no wind that day. It also seemed I was not the only person confused, as K also was staring at the corner of the table cloth being held up. The moment our mentor turned her head to see what we were staring at, it dropped, leaving K and I baffled.

I came to the conclusion these experiences were more likely to happen simply because I was with K. However, I have figured out that this is not the case.

I soon started to experience minor things at home that would leave me a bit spooked. In the kitchen, I would walk in and see cooking utensils that were placed in the sink fall onto the floor despite being placed in the sink. No one else was in the kitchen, windows were shut (it would be impossible for wind to somehow move a wooden spoon from the sink onto the floor).

Once I was showering and left a cabinet draw open, only for it to close whilst I was in the shower. Note that these drawers were not flimsy and it is impossible for any form of wind to close them. Additionally, the bathroom window was shut. These were only minor experiences, and I often doubted, thinking maybe I was just taking things out of context and exaggerating.

Late 2016, several occurrences happened. I was sick from a case of gastro and had been vomiting until the early hours of the morning. I soon fell asleep around 3am, only to wake up around 7am, my usual wakening time to see what appeared to be smoke. I shot up from my bed, thinking something had caught on fire since it was right near the power switch on the wall. Assuming my eyes were blurry due to the fact I had just woken up, I rubbed my eyes and it was still there. It looked like a thick white mist/smoke and it slowly dissipated as I leaned closer. I felt calm and did not think of it as harmful or demonic. It was in the corner of the room, and was not largely dispersed or anything, it was basically just in one particular spot.

Later in the year, my older sister went to study abroad so I moved into her room. Because I was often home alone, my old room made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I became a little paranoid. I lived in a house where anything and everything echoed, a door closing from one end of the house could be heard from the opposite end.

I had been moving things from my old room to my sister's, and had left my laptop in my old room on the floor as I had cleared majority of my things. I was in my sister's room when suddenly I heard music playing, it was a song I often listened to. I walked back into my old room and found my laptop on YouTube, playing that song. It sounds normal however, this laptop is a macbook and was only a few months old. It was in top condition, and I often cleared the history browser out of habit. Checking the browser, it was completely clear (the way I had left it), with the only other website used being the Google default page, the page it was on before I left the room. Nothing had been searched, even on YouTube. There was no way it could have landed on another site since I never bookmarked pages.

Another problem with my laptop happened when my mum was home with me. My sister had just arrived in Canada and there were problems with her luggage, so my mum forced me to submit a lost luggage form online. I completed a form with my sister's travel details but my sister messaged and said to not worry about it, so I refreshed the page losing the information I had filled out. My mother then argued and said I should have submitted it anyway, so she came and sat beside me as we went to fill out a new form. I scrolled to the bottom of the form we had not filled out, and my mother soon pointed at my screen and laughed, where the address section was answered with 'DUMMY'. I was confused and weirded out, I had not touched the laptop nor had my mum (she had actually asked if I wrote it, and has no clue how to work technology).

As for this, I am unsure if it was a dream. It is hard to explain, but when I dream there is never light. I can distinguish the setting, colours, time (day/night) in my dreams yet they always lack the authenticity of light or darkness. My dreams are also NEVER completely realistic and I am always conscious that it is a dream. I could also see what was happening from my eyes, where when I dream it is as if I am a bystander. Anyway, back to this 'dream'.

I recall waking up one morning, my eyes opened slightly, when a woman walked into my room. My eyes were not completely open, so I cannot recall her face, however I know she was fair skinned and in a blue patterned dress. She spoke to me, commenting that I had moved into my sister's room, kissing me on the forehead in a motherly fashion. Her voice sounded similar to my mother, and I was fairly disorientated from being 'woken up' so I had assumed she had come home and checked up on me. I closed my eyes, going back to sleep.

Back to what I know is reality. A few hours had passed and I had woken up again. I went into the living room, expecting to see my mother as I assumed she was home only to see I was home alone. I even checked the garage and her car was not there. I soon took another nap in the afternoon, and woke up to my mum coming into my room and checking on me. It was eerily similar, yet dissimilar, my mother kissed me on the cheek, commented that I had moved rooms yet her words lacked the same warmth.

Other incidents include a friend's birthday party, where a few of us were messing around in the garage. The garage door was left open, so we were exposed to the street and there was a large mirror on the wall. Me and one friend were busy taking photos in the mirror, whilst my three other friends were chilling outside of the garage on the street. I remember looking into the mirror and seeing something flash by the others who were playing around on the street. It was incredibly fast, and was a blinding white. I had no idea what it was. The street was completely quiet, there were no cars and it was definitely too fast to have been a car. I turned to my three friends on the street, one of whom had the same confused look. I asked her if she saw that too. She told me she saw a girl in a white dress run past.

These events do not happen often, they usually occur once every few months. I am not bothered by it, since paranormal events interest me in all honesty, and these odd things that occur to me aren't alarming or dangerous. At least not in comparison to my friends.

As of recent months I have felt a comforting hand on my shoulder, only to look in the reflection of my computer screen and see that no one was behind me.

I had my first occurrence of sleep paralysis, where a demonic woman crawled on top of my body (like the grudge but basically looked as if her body was decaying) which I blame on me watching too many horror movies. I discussed it with friends whom said it was common when sleeping on your back or when you are stressed. They have also said that watching movies can also open you up to the paranormal.

I have heard a man's voice speak IN my room upon awakening. (There are no males in my household, my parents are separated.)

I have seen a blue orb float down my hallway in the dark when I was home alone.

Maybe it's my imagination. Perhaps it isn't. I am not particularly concerned as I am not bothered by it. The only question I have is out of curiosity - why have these things happened more as I got older compared to when I was younger? And is it influenced by those around me?

Anyway, thanks for reading and apologies for the length.