I don't believe in the reality of ghosts, but I do believe that the phenomena of 'ghostly encounters' can really mess people up. I associate it with sleep paralysis (which is when all my ghosts come out of the woodwork) and I know how deeply traumatic the experience can be. Nightmares as well can do really strange things to someone's psyche.

I don't really have nightmares, so I don't believe in them.

I get nightmares on occasion of a very invasive and personal nature. Each time they are scarily consistent, while being rare (likely due to my overall herb intake minimising my overall ability to dream).

I can fully understand how someone could relate this to a paranormal event, as I have myself. The consistency, colour, solidity and all round reality of those dreams (and yes in them I cannot wake up and am in a state of physically paralysis) is way beyond any other types of dream I experience. I still am not convinced one way or another to be fair but it does play on the mind when they occur. I do not preclude that they could be due to childhood trauma however.

There is also a one time dream I had wherein I was what I call 5 laters deep.. I kept waking up to find myself still asleep and reality would slowly get more and more abnormal. Each time something crazy happened and was not until the last (5th) time "waking up" that I was back here.. I was not convinced right away and had a bit of a freak out. Of worthy note is that this was in the middle of a patch of complete sobriety for me, so no substances as potentiators for this experience..

On another paranormal note, having seen physical movement of solid objects myself, along with stuff being moved/hurled around a room of my own domicile (while no one was in that room) among some other moments of "oddness", I can say I have also seen some crazy stuff while definitely being nowhere near by bed or in a state of slumber.

Most of that all happened a long time ago mind you, except the dreams which have been a lifelong thing.

This is a koan zen story:

A young wife fell ill and was about to die. " I love you so much," she told her husband , " I do not want to leave you. If I miss you, I do not want to look at another woman . If you do, volvere as a ghost and I will make you life miserable ."

The woman did not take long to die . The husband will respect your first three months , but then he met another woman and fell deeply in love . He promised in marriage.

Immediately after you commit , the woman ghost appeared to him every night the man , echandole on face for not having kept his promise. The ghost was clever . She could tell you exactly all that was between him and his new love. If you toward a gift to his beloved , the ghost could describe in detail . He could repeat entire conversations over and over again throughout the night , preventing him from sleep. She was advised to ask a Zen master and lived near the village. Finally , in despair, went to the teacher for help .

" Your ex-wife has become a ghost and knows everything you do . " Commented the teacher. " Whatever you do and whatever you say , she knows it. Whatever gift you do to your new love, she knows . Must be a very wise ghost . You should admire . The next time you appear , tell him she knows so much you can not hide anything , and if you answer one question , will break your compromisio and will you stay single. "

" What questions should I ask ? " Asked the man .

The master replied: " Put your hand in a bag of lentils and takes a handful . Then ask him how many lentils have in your fist . Failure s able to answer you, you'll know that she is not more than an imagination yours, and do not bother more . "

The next night , when he returned the ghost to appear, the man told her that she knew so much that he could not hide anything .

" Sure, " replied the Ghost, " in fact, that you attend to see that Zen master today. "

" And since you know so much , " the man said , "tell me how many lentils I have in my hand!

And there was no ghost to answer the question.

I've definitely had some really strange sleep paralysis episodes. My ex-girlfriend when I was much younger lived in a medieval house that used to be a convent and was also used in the English Civil War by soldiers based there. Every time I slept in the living room I would half wake up with sleep paralysis and get chased round the room by an old man in my sleeping state - same thing every time. I've had sleep paralysis plenty of times, usually when sleeping during the day, and have found that if you just go with it and don't give in to the fear or panic you can have some amazing lucid episodes.

Also in that house my ex was regularly woken up by ghostly nuns walking through her bed and she used to scream the house down. One night after being awake for a ridiculous amount of time trying to finish a maths project to a deadline I was using their computer (this was the 90's and not everyone had them) and heard what sounded like canonballs rolling across the floor above me for hours on end. Sleep deprivation probably but given that the place was used during the civil war i'm not 100% sure.

Then there was the time I was in a pub that my parents were running and it was past closing time. My stepfather is a pagan and used to let wiccans meet there. We were all standing round the bar talking when a plastic menu holder flew from the other side of the room - I saw it fly over in a parabola and bounce of the counter. Of course there was nobody over that far side of the room.

We now live in a house that is definitely haunted and I have lost count of the events that have happened here. My mum visited and we both saw and heard a metal poker move by itself. We have heard voices, seen lights, heard footsteps, had toothpaste squirted up the wall in a straight line, had conkers mysteriously appear stuck in a toaster between the base and the bottom of the piece that holds the bread - I practically destroyed the toaster trying to get it out.

One of the spookiest occurrences was when my daughter was asleep in a cot at the end of our bed. She had an electronic mobile that played songs, sounds of water, birds etc and was attached to her cot. We were woken in the small hours by the mobile being switched on. I sleepily got up to investigate and a few seconds after I walked to the cot and switched the mobile off my daughter woke up crying. It therefore couldn't have been her who switched on the mobile and I checked and it was way too stiff a switch to happen by itself and my daughter wouldn't have had the strength at this point. As she was crying though both my girlfriend and I heard a voice clearly saying "sleep sweetheart".

I guess I should disclose I have always been interested in this side of things so may be predisposed to 'believe'. My partner sees the same things as me though and I cannot explain that by hallucination.