By: Eric Lewis ……
There is just something about basements that makes them inherently creepy. Maybe it’s because they are underground, reminding us of how we will likely end up in the ground ourselves one day. The lack of sunlight certainly doesn’t help, and let’s not get started on those creaky, wooden stairs. It should be no surprise that their are tons of scary cellar stories on the internet.
Most people who’ve lived in a house with a basement have had at least a few creepy basement encounters, and a few brave Redditors have taken to the web to share those stories. Some of them discovered creepy artifacts, while others claimed to have encountered basement ghosts. These scary stories from basements will make you think twice about going down to the basement alone anytime soon.
They Were Chased By A Shadowy Figure
From Redditor /u/CamoCoveSNIPER:
My buddy’s old house was haunted, and people would always hear footsteps and creaking floors, and they would see a black figure around the house (I didn’t). One night, we were all over, and my friend who lives in the house dared someone to go into the basement. Being the only one who didn’t see sh*t, I was fully willing to go to the basement. I got down there and waited for about two minutes. Then when I was about to get out of the basement, I saw a shadow in the corner of my left eye. I snapped to my left and saw a large, dark figure. Like, not black. It seemed devoid of anything or any presence other than the cold that came over my body.
As soon as I saw it, my hairs jumped to a stand on my neck. I froze, just staring at it. The feeling was surreal. I can’t put it into words at all. Then… my heart pumped super fast, and my body got really warm. Everything just screamed danger in my head. So, I turned to my right and ran towards the stairs. I looked for half a second back at it… It is now just a few feet away. That’s when everything in my body went wild, and I just jumped up the stairs and ran up to the first floor where everyone was. I dropped behind the armchair, staring at the stairs.
Everyone asked me what was wrong. I pointed, and they finally looked and saw the thing on the stairs…
We booked it towards the balcony and jumped into his backyard. We looked up, expecting to see it standing there, but nothing. Nothing was there.
They Heard A Piano Start Playing In An Abandoned House
From Redditor /u/Speechisanexperiment:
My friends and I broke into an abandoned “haunted house” when we were kids. It was in typical abandoned haunted house condition, some old furniture and other household junk. When we went down to the basement. There was no light bulbs, so there was only natural daylight from the small windows – dark, but we could still see around. We didn’t search very long because a piano that we couldn’t see started playing. We ran out of the house, and though I didn’t see it, a couple friends saw someone in the upstairs window as we ran back into the woods.
As I typed this out, I’m wondering for the first time ever if the house wasn’t even abandoned and someone living there decided to f*ck with us instead of getting mad. Regardless, I was spooked for days.
They Realized They Were Not Alone
From Redditor /u/of_the_delta:
My (former) basement: I was home alone, working in rear area of semi-unfinished basement where luggage and travel stuff was stored. Had a creepy feeling as I shut off the lights one by one when exiting. Just as I’m shutting the door behind me and looking into the dark, I hear the distinct sound of a large zipper (like a duffle bag or suitcase) zipping open or shut, like “zzzzz-zzzzzzzzzZIP!” Tore upstairs like a terrified five-year-old.
Zippy the ghost?
They Met The ‘Basement Ghost’ In A Mexican Hospital
From Redditor /u/GustavoAlex7789:
I used to do social service at a hospital here in Mexico as part of my computer science degree requirements. Most of the time, we were doing little tasks like cleaning computers or checking the internet – the boring jobs the actual workers didn’t want to do. One day, the manager wanted us to change the cables located in the basement, so two other students and I went down the basement with ladders to remove and replace all the old ethernet cable. Now, the thing about hospitals in Mexico is that as long as the infrastructure works, it’s the same decade after decade, no renovations, and it shows.
The basement, while well-lit and clean, was really old. So, we were assigned a different hall and started with the job. About two hours into it, one of the students came running, looking mortified and asked me what’s wrong. I just looked confused and asked him what he meant, and he said he heard a man yelling for help and thought I had had an accident. We checked with the other student, and she said that she hadn’t heard anything. We finished the job and told the manager about it later. He just said, “Oh, you met the basement ghost.”
They Spotted A Potential Pool Poltergeist
From Redditor /u/Wrong_Answer_Willie:
In my wife’s parents’ basement, at the foot of the stairs, was a pool table.
My wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) and I went down to shoot some pool. As we got to the bottom step, we saw three pool balls rolling around on the table. No one else was down there.
They Saw A Doppelgänger Of Their Dog
From Redditor /u/BatSquirrel:
This actually happened last night.
I woke up and saw my dog scratching himself on the floor next to my bed. I called his name and told him to get on the bed, but he just sat there scratching. I called out to him again and again. He just sat there, scratching his head furiously. I used a sterner voice, hoping to get his attention. Suddenly, my dog walked out from under the bed and sat in front of the scratching dog. He was completely oblivious to his doppelgänger. I just laid there frozen, staring at my dog and what could only be explained as the creature from The Thing. What felt like minutes passed, and then, suddenly, the scratching dog just f*cking vanished.
That’s when I remembered all the caffeine I drank in the evening and how it triggers my sleep-related hallucinations. I called to my (hopefully) real dog, and he hopped up on the bed and laid next to me. I struggled to fall back asleep, thankful I didn’t have a full-blown episode of sleep paralysis.
They Were Creeped Out By A Woman’s Bizarre Collection
From a former Redditor:
Go home with this girl, and she’s showing me around her place. On a shelf, she shows off her large collection of jars with embalmed animal fetuses – mainly monkeys.
She worked in a staff canteen and had no university degree in an associated field. I still have no idea why she had them or where she got them from. Frankly, I was too scared to ask.
Their Friend Had A Basement Full Of Ancient Chinese Artifacts
From Redditor /u/Empz:
When I was younger, we had a family friend who collected ancient Chinese artifacts and antiques. They had a room in their finished basement where they kept all of the items on display. Their prized possession was some sort of gold burial shroud from a king or emperor (supposedly). That room was always colder and creepier than the rest of the basement. You always felt like someone was behind you. A little too close. Watching you from the corners. I always thought I saw shadow figures just at the edge of my peripheral vision.
They Discovered A Giant, Ominous Mirror
From Redditor /u/SiTheGreat:
When I was around six, my family lived in a house with a big basement, split into two main sections. One of the sections wrapped around the other in kind of an L-shape. The bigger part of that section was pretty cool and held toys and other random stuff.
There wasn’t any lighting in the smaller section, and whoever lived there before us had left a large mirror all the way at the end of it. It was big and heavy, so my parents never bothered removing it. It scared the sh*t out of me every time I saw it, because it was too dark to see anything besides my own faint, moving reflection.
Their Basement Flooded During A Sleepover
From Redditor /u/SamusOfTheStars:
I didn’t really think much of it at the time, but my friend’s basement flooded during a sleepover. We noticed it happening and decided to wade through it because “this is totally better than a pool.” … We could have literally gotten shocked because her dad had all this mechanical and electrical equipment down there. Never mind the tetanus hazards. Our nine-year-old brains freaked out because the washer, dryer, or something around it was making horrible noises, and we ran out of there screaming and were admonished by her parents. Thinking back on it is even more creepy because Pennywise could have totally been lurking.
Dark Fringe Radio 