00:00I lived with my grandmother for a large part of my life. Across the street from her house lived a
00:06woman, her neighbor, who always looked at us in a strange way. She hated our family, and I still
00:12don't know why. She didn't hide it either. You could see it in her eyes, in the way she glared,
00:17like we'd done something unforgivable. But then, in 2015, when I was 8 years old, something
00:23unexpected happened. That same woman called me over to her front yard. She was smiling.
00:29It was the first time she'd ever acted friendly. I was an innocent, naive child, so I crossed
00:35the street without hesitation. She was holding a doll, a big one, around 3 feet tall. It
00:41had blonde, shoulder-length hair with bangs, and looked just like one of those old dolls
00:46from the 80s or 90s. She gave it to me, and I accepted it. Why wouldn't I? I brought the
00:52doll home and showed it to my family. They thought it was odd that she'd suddenly act
00:56nice, but no one really questioned it. Days passed, and for no clear reason, I started
01:02to feel afraid of that doll. I didn't want to be near it. I couldn't look it in the face.
01:08My mom and aunt thought it was funny. They'd play little pranks, like putting the doll next
01:12to my bed, holding a fork while I was asleep. It wasn't meant to scare me. They always cared
01:17about me, but to me, it wasn't funny. I was terrified. And then, strange things started
01:24happening. My grandmother had already been struggling with depression after losing a
01:28close relative, but after the doll came into our house, her condition rapidly worsened.
01:34She began having hallucinations. She stopped recognizing people, even me, even my mother,
01:40and aunt. The only person she recognized was my uncle. She would talk about seeing the
01:45house on fire. She told us she saw me and my cousins lying dead in the kitchen. She walked
01:51aimlessly through the house, never speaking clearly. There was always a worried, almost
01:56haunted look in her eyes. She wasn't herself anymore. It was like something had taken over.
02:03My family started to believe something spiritual was happening. We brought in a pastor to bless
02:08the house. We even called a medium from Mumbanda, an Afro-Brazilian religion, to try and expel
02:14whatever was there. During one of these sessions, my mom, who has always been spiritually sensitive,
02:21said she felt a hand around her neck, trying to choke her. Eventually, my grandmother had to be
02:27admitted into a psychiatric hospital. Even there, the hallucinations continued. She believed the doctors
02:34were trying to kill her. She begged not to be left alone. And that doll, the one that the neighbor
02:40gave me? My uncle took it and threw it away somewhere along the road. To this day, I don't
02:46know what was inside that doll, and I don't know if our neighbor cursed it, but it's the only
02:50explanation that makes sense. My grandmother is okay now. She's stable, but she has to take a lot
02:57of medication to stay that way. We don't talk much about it anymore, but it's something none of us
03:02will ever forget. And that woman, that neighbor, who gave us those dirty looks? She still lives
03:08across from my grandmother's house, and she still looks at us with hate. And once, she even tried
03:14to run me over with her car. I just wish I knew why. Why did she do this to us?
03:19Hi, my name is Nikola, and I live in Bulgaria. This happened when I was just seven years old.
03:34I was staying at my grandma's house in our village during the winter. It was a small,
03:38quiet place where everyone knew each other. One night, I was out in the center of the village
03:43with my cousins and a couple of friends. We ate, we played, and as the night went on,
03:48it got later than usual. Eventually, it was time to go home. Now, our house was at the very edge of
03:54the village, and to get there, we had to walk down this long, dark road. There were houses along the
04:00way, sure, but it was still pitch black. The street lamps were there, but they didn't work.
04:06As we were walking home, we noticed a man standing by the road, all by himself. At first,
04:12we thought nothing of it until we got closer. He didn't look right. His posture was off. His eyes
04:19were hazy. He was drunk, and as we walked past him, he looked directly at my youngest cousin.
04:25She was only five, and said something under his breath.
04:29You're a cute kid. Want to come to my house? I'll give you some candy.
04:34I froze. Then I grabbed her hand and started dragging her along with me and my other cousin,
04:40who was six at the time. We didn't say anything. We just walked faster, and the man, he just stood
04:47there, watching us. By the time we got to our house, my heart was racing. We had a gate in front,
04:53and it was locked. I quickly helped my cousins jump over it. It wasn't that tall, so I jumped over too.
04:59I grabbed the key from under the rug, opened the door, shoved everyone inside, including myself,
05:06and locked it. The house was silent. Everyone was asleep, even my grandma. We made our way up to
05:12the third floor. That's where our room was. I grabbed some firewood along the way, and lit the
05:18metal oven to keep us warm. And once everything felt safe again, I turned out the lights. But
05:24something told me to look outside, some feeling I had in my stomach, and I listened to it. I pulled
05:30back the curtain, and there he was. That same man, just standing there, staring. We made eye contact.
05:39I didn't want to scare my cousins. They were already drifting off to sleep. So I closed the blinds,
05:45and went to bed, laying in between my cousins. Eventually, I fell asleep. The next day,
05:52I didn't see the man anywhere outside. And for a while, I let myself believe it was over.
05:58But a few days later, I had to go to my other grandma's house to deliver some things.
06:03And as I got there, I overheard a few people talking. And what I heard made my blood run cold.
06:10They said a man had been arrested the night before. He'd followed a young girl through the village,
06:15and tried to break into her house. They had found him armed with a knife. In that moment,
06:21everything clicked. That man, he wasn't just some drunk villager. He was hunting. And if I hadn't
06:28grabbed my cousins, and locked the door in time, God only knows what would have happened to us.
06:36My name is Yuma, and I live in a small city in India. My best friend Raj and I were beyond excited
06:43when we managed to convince my parents to let us have a week-long sleepover to kick off our summer
06:48vacation. My parents, both doctors, had to attend an urgent conference. So we had the house all to
06:55ourselves. We spent the day having a blast, prank calling, doing our nails, trying our new makeup
07:01looks, and just enjoying the freedom. As night fell, we decided to watch a movie and finally called it a
07:08night around 2am. We went upstairs to my bedroom. But of course, being teenagers, the chatter didn't
07:14stop. Everything was perfectly normal, until Raj suddenly went quiet and whispered,
07:20Did you hear that? Hear what? I asked, a bit confused. The rustling of the doorknob, she said.
07:28I brushed it off at first, but a few minutes later, I heard it too. That soft, eerie sound made both of
07:36our faces turned pale. But then, as suddenly as it started, the noise stopped. I looked out the window,
07:43but there was no one there. We tried to go back to our conversation, but the unease lingered. It's all
07:49we could think about. Out of nowhere, a loud crash from downstairs shattered the silence. It sounded like
07:56something had toppled over. We were paralyzed with fear, clinging to each other, our minds racing.
08:02Raj decided to call her mom, who lived just a few blocks away. In a panic, she rushed over,
08:09telling us to stay locked in the room until she arrived. She knew where we kept the spare key,
08:14so she was able to let herself in. As we waited, we heard the unmistakable sound of a vase shattering
08:21near my bedroom. We were terrified and convinced we were in real danger. Then, the front door unlocked.
08:28Raj's mom arrived, and as she came upstairs, she knocked on the door, reassuring us that everything
08:34was fine. When we opened the door, she was laughing, telling us that a stray cat had somehow gotten
08:40inside. We were dumbfounded, but then remembered we had left a window open earlier. We laughed it off,
08:47but still shaken. We decided to spend the night at Raj's place instead. The next morning, over a lazy
08:54breakfast, a chilling thought hit me. I turned to Raj, my face drained of color, and quietly said,
09:01If it was just a cat, how did it fiddle with the doorknob? The realization left us both speechless.
