Controlled Burn
When I was a child, two of my friends and I decided to explore an abandoned house that was down the road from us. It had the typical abandoned house look—there was paint peeling off with exposed wood in some spots, overgrown vines scaling its sides, broken windows, roof tiles missing here and there, etc.
Well, we walked inside and it matched the outside. The cupboards were broken, the walls were rotting, and floorboards throughout the space were splintered and cracked.
Other than the place being extremely empty, we didn’t really get any scary vibes from it. Nothing really stood out to us as “paranormal” as we’d expect. We left the house mildly disappointed…but the nightmare was actually beginning.
Then, as we were walking alongside one of the windows, this very well-dressed, well-groomed man, maybe in his 60s wearing a black dress coat, white shirt, and black tie came into view from inside the house.
We didn’t see him inside or hear him approaching, yet there he was, just staring at us blankly through the window. My friends and I booked it as fast as we could and rushed back home.
It was probably one of the property owners who just happened to be inside the house on the same day that we were there (there were a few rooms we didn’t go in), but man, that scared the heck out of us.
A few years later, the local Fire Department burnt the place down in a controlled burn, so if it was paranormal… Welp, it’s gone now.
Story credit: Reddit / The_Wandering_West