1. Tyler from Colorado --Tyler shares a deeply unsettling paranormal experience that began after his kayaking accident left him clinically dead for three minutes. Since being revived, he's been experiencing disturbing phenomena, but here's what makes this truly terrifying: other people are experiencing it too. His roommate heard Tyler's voice calling from an empty bedroom while Tyler sat right beside him. His girlfriend heard it coming from his car while he stood next to her. His own father heard it from the basement. Most chilling of all, Tyler himself has heard his own voice calling to him from empty rooms. He also sees patches of "glitching air" that look like TV static, and his friend Marissa witnessed one materialize at a coffee shop.

2. Emma -- The Life-Sized Clown That Wouldn't Stay Gone Emma recounts a childhood nightmare involving a life-sized knitted clown her cousins purchased from a thrift store. The clown would move on its own, appearing in different rooms despite being locked away. When they finally locked it in outdoor dog kennels, it was found inside the house the next morning, sitting on the couch. But the most terrifying moment came when Emma, her sister, and their cousins saw the clown running, like a human, through tall grass 50 meters away before vanishing completely. When they checked, it was no longer on their uncle's truck, where he'd placed it for disposal. The clown was never seen again, but the mystery remains: where did it go, and what caused it to move?

3. Carlos from San Antonio, Texas -- Danny Still Works the Night Shift Carlos shares his brief but terrifying experience working the night shift at a 24-hour diner off I-10. On his first day, his manager showed him a memorial shrine for Danny, a beloved cook who died of a heart attack in 2015, and casually warned him, "You'll see him sometimes. Just acknowledge him." Carlos thought it was a joke until his second week, when he encountered a figure in a cook's uniform blocking the walk-in freezer doorway at 3 AM.

4. Jenna from Boise, Idaho -- The Red Eyes Outside Her Third-Floor Window Jenna describes a two-month nightmare involving two red eyes that appear outside her third-floor apartment window every night around 11:30 PM. Despite being three stories up with no balcony, fire escape, or ledge, just a sheer drop to the parking lot, these glowing red eyes hover and stare through her window with malevolent intent. Her boyfriend witnessed them too, and shockingly, her neighbor on the second floor has been seeing the same red eyes outside her window for months.

5. Marcus from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- The Battlefield That Refuses to Be Photographed. Marcus, a professional photographer, recounts his eerie experience at Triangular Field near Devil's Den in Gettysburg. While attempting to photograph the Civil War battlefield at golden hour, all of his high-end camera equipment simultaneously stopped working: multiple cameras, backup batteries, and even his phone. The moment he stepped away from the field, everything powered back on perfectly. Later research revealed dozens of similar reports: cameras malfunction at Triangular Field, photos come out blank or washed out, and visitors feel watched by unseen presences. Marcus experienced an overwhelming sensation of being observed by many eyes from the rocks, trees, and the field itself. 

6. Tony from North Dakota -- The Clown in the Ceiling Who Made Deals Tony shares a disturbing childhood memory of a clown doll that would speak to him every night from a hatch in his ceiling. The clown was friendly, listening to Tony vent about his day and having conversations—but with one terrifying rule: if Tony slept with his hands or feet outside the blanket, the clown would come down and take them. To this day, Tony cannot sleep with his limbs uncovered. This only happened in one specific house, ruling out hallucination. 

Hey, it's Michelle, and this week's five calls include a glass that exploded with nobody near it, a deacon whose prayers had a disturbing track record, a hospice patient who found his way home right on time, a real Cold War legend that still haunts Eastern Europe, and a headless ghost who just wanted in on a card game.

Christina from Phoenix, Arizona calls in again, this time about moving into her aunt's house, where she'd sensed something before she even signed on. A tall shadow figure slipped into the garage the first day she visited. After moving in, constant footsteps and distant voices filled the house whenever she was alone, and a warning feeling stopped her cold at the garage door one night, the kind of instinctive dread she describes like the moment right before a car accident. After her aunt moved out and the house sat mostly empty, a freshly washed glass exploded on the drying rack with nobody near it, followed days later by a glass candle holder that split perfectly in half on its own. Both her husband and her best friend insist the activity follows Christina specifically, stopping when she leaves and starting again the moment she returns, something she's lived with since childhood in the form of doorknobs that visibly shake as if something is trying to get in, something she refuses to open.

Helen from Tupelo, Mississippi calls in with a story about her Uncle John, a respected deacon known for unusually powerful prayer. When his daughter fell in love with a man he disapproved of, he asked her to wait while he prayed on it, and within three days her fiancé died suddenly of spinal meningitis. It was only afterward, in conversation with her aunt, that Helen learned this wasn't the first time someone standing in her uncle's way had met a sudden end, and her aunt's only explanation was four words that still haunt her, "there have been others."

Donnie from New Mexico, a hospice nurse, returns with a story about his friend Nikki, a resident with Down syndrome and part of Donnie's daily coffee routine. One morning Nikki arrived in tears, having spent the night hearing his mother calling him home for dinner and unable to remember the way. He seemed better after their usual visit. He died before lunch that same day.

Dimitri, calling from Chicago but raised in Poland in the early 1980s, shares the Cold War legend of the Black Volga, a black car with white curtained windows said to snatch people off the street, never to be seen again. Some said it was the KGB. Others said organ thieves. Dimitri's grandmother was certain it was the devil himself, collecting souls. At nine years old, Dimitri and a friend watched one slow past them on the sidewalk, curtain shifting as if someone inside was looking out, before they ran the entire way home.

And Cindy Ketron from Avon, Indiana closes the episode with a story from her great-grandfather's card game the night before a funeral for a man decapitated in a farming accident, his head never recovered. Partway through the game, her great-grandmother looked up and asked who exactly had joined them, a headless figure sitting at the table, apparently there to play cards.

Five real callers. Five true ghost stories.

If you have a real ghost story of your own, a haunting experience, something you heard, something you cannot explain, I want to hear it. Call 1 (701) 484-2666 or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tellmeaghoststory.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to share your story.

You might end up on the show.

And if this episode moved you, leave a comment on Spotify. I read every single one, and your comments help new listeners find the show.

Support us with official merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠newmanmedia.shop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, catch us on YouTube at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @tellmeaghoststory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and follow along on Instagram at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tellmeaghoststorypodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Theme music is Sexy Sax by Cool Cascade.

Production by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newman Media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

• From Atlanta, Noah remembers playing hide-and-seek in a Mississippi antebellum mansion when a ghostly figure with red reflective eyes appeared. Years later, in a Las Vegas hotel room, he encountered the spirits of a grayscale boy and a father dressed in 19th-century clothing. (Noah also hosts Real Hauntings, Real Ghost Stories, where I joined him on the episode “Ghost in My Bed.”)
• Michael from Watertown, MA, tells me about the chilling appearance of a woman in a blue nun’s habit. What started as strange sightings turned into escalating paranormal activity at home and a spiritual reckoning he’ll never forget.
• Christina, in Phoenix, lived in an apartment next to a cemetery and endured some of the most unsettling hauntings I’ve ever heard: a little girl’s apparition, phantom footsteps, children’s laughter, and even a violently shaking coffee pot.
• Reid from Colorado Springs shares how a towering shadow person first appeared in their childhood bathroom, and later followed them to a new home years later.
• Cindy Ketron from Avon, IN, has been haunted by “Herbert,” an invisible entity that’s been with her and her brother since childhood. Her haunted tale is a reminder that sometimes the scariest ghosts are the ones that stay with us for life.

This week on Tell Me A Ghost Story, I, Michelle Newman, your host, bring you another collection of real ghost stories told directly through your phone calls. These aren’t campfire tales; they’re true ghost stories that listeners lived, and now share with us on this paranormal podcast.

Anna from Tacoma tells of a family ashtray that mysteriously filled with cigarette ash one afternoon, then followed the next day by a shocking local crime tied to cigarettes. Don't smoke, kids.

Marshall in Florida shares a late-night haunting when his bedroom door slammed shut at 2:40 a.m., the room dropping cold around him.

Donnie, a hospice nurse, recalls hearing a dead patient’s voice say “thank you”, proving good manners are important even after death. 

Julia’s young son claims he talks to “the lady in the corner,”  an old-fashioned woman who smiles but never moves, and who told him not to tell his mom. 

From Hollywood, Jimmy describes the dark, unsettling energy of a famous actor, sparking rumors of a deal with the devil. 

And Christina from Phoenix shares her haunted tale of working in a medical office where a tall man appeared at the foot of her chair during a nap, a figure she still glimpses from the corner of her eye.

📞 Have a real ghost story or spooky tale to share?

Call 1 (701) 484-2666 or visit 

to share your own ghostly experience.

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Credits:

🎵Theme Music: "Sexy Sax" by Cool Cascade.

🚀Production: