You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Haunted Places :: Hostel Terror

Real Ghost Stories

Hostel Terror

 

In 1984 my parents sent me to RSA ahead of our emigration out of Zimbabwe, to a boarding school in the Eastern Transvaal. This would be the first year (1984) that English would be integrated into a current Afrikaans school... Grades 8 & 9. It was a agricultural orientated school set in the high mountains.

On weekends, the local boarders would go home but us newbies obviously didn't have homes to go to for the weekend, as we are +_ 1500km from home. Anyway, come 2nd term most of us made local friends and guys would go be "signed out" and spend the weekend off hostel grounds. The remaining of us would watch movies in the study hall or potter around usually.

One weekend, I was the only person on my floor... Everyone else had gone home. On a floor in the girls hostel there are 1 room at each end of the hall that sleeps 2 (usually seniors) . Then there are 2 dorms in the middle, sleeping 6 each. I shared mine with 5 other Non-local girls with my bed at the far right corner from the dorm door. So if you walk into my dorm, my bed is the last, against the far right wall (under the window). Please bear in mind, my dorm is on the 3rd floor.

I showered and went to bed, like normally - no problem, even though I was alone. We have a door that closes at the entrance of the passage leading into our floor. I closed it, to feel better I suppose. Where I come from - you secure everything. Habit I guess.:) I don't know what time it was as there is no clock in our dorm room but I had long fallen asleep when I was awoken by the passage door opening. You could hear the handle creak. Then my dorm door opened in much the same fashion. I was facing the wall (fortunately) and I could hear bare feet walking towards my bed on the linoleum flooring tiles. Then the corner of my bed dipped, like someone sitting down on my bed.

"It" sat there for what felt like hours but must have been roughly a minute. Then my bed lifted and the footsteps retreated out my dorm and faded. I didn't move a muscle or slept. I watched under the curtain above me for sunlight.

I haven't gone into the school's history but I know its been around a long time. Any thoughts? Thanks very much.

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from South Africa

Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, ghostmachine, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

RoLeLu (1 stories) (6 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-02-28)
Hello, GhostMachine.

I can't help but think that this entity approached you *because* you were facing the wall, as you were in an already defenceless position and sleeping with your face towards the wall made you even more defenceless. Also I don't think this entity was benevolent, (I would say it's mischievous at best) as it seems to have went went out of it's way to scare you. Why else would it have come to you when you were alone and isolated in the dead of night.

As for it sitting on your bed, I think this was to scare you further as I believe some entities can only "feed" off of you when you exude a certain energy, and I believe that is why it did all the things it did (i.e waking you up with its *deliberate* actions) as it wanted you to be in a state of fear and panic so it could feed off of that fear.

Furthermore I believe the reason for it sitting on your bed may have also been to check if you were awake; some negative entities tend to attack or feed off (Drain Life Force) of people when they are asleep.

On a side note I would suggest not sleeping facing the wall as I believe (just a strong hunch) it leaves you more open to attack from these negative *opportunistic* entities.

Anyway that's my two cents, Take Care.
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2017-09-19)
Greetings, ghostmachine, and Welcome.

Several of the earlier posts suggest that the spirit was non-threatening and that you were reacting out of fear of the unknown. That certainly *is* possible. You felt threatened by the presence, so an entity with bad intentions *may* have been the cause. Either way, this entity knew where you were as it: 1) opened the hall door; 2) opened the door to your dormitory without opening any of the other doors; 3) walked directly to your bed; and 4) sat on your bed for a minute or so. As it undertook all of these actions, I'll state that --threatening or not-- it certainly was aware of what it was doing.

Now, I'm not going to criticize your fear during a supernatural occurrence. I would suggest, however, that if the spirit had harmful intent toward you, that you were facing away from it, you were defenseless, and you were isolated. Knowing all of this, it decided to sit down. When nothing happened after it sat down, it got up and left. It may have been a guardian spirit, an inquisitive spirit, even a dangerous one; its behavior was frightening. However, when was the last time a flesh-and-blood person tried to scare you by sitting nearby for a moment? Sitting down is not an inherently threatening gesture.

I enjoyed your description of the events, and I do believe that they were paranormal in nature, but if this spirit had wanted to harm you, it would have been able to do so with no difficulty. Instead, it sat down for a moment before it left. Unless there is some other detail that is relevant, or a second story that demonstrates an increase in the supernatural phenomena following this activity, I'm going to side with the "probably curious but not dangerous" group.

Best,
Biblio.
ghostmachine (1 stories) (3 posts)
 
6 years ago (2017-09-18)
Hi AugustaM: no, they lock the dorms at night, downstairs. There is no reason the teacher "on duty" would come upstairs. If it had been someone, surely they would have said something? In any case, I was too terrified to turn over and check lol! Weather? Calm, quiet and clear, too quiet infact 😨
AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-09-14)
My gut says it was a spirit come to let you know that you were safe and not alone. I don't think it frightened you on purpose. However, just to keep all bases covered, is there any possibility at all that it could have been a living breathing person? Someone from another dorm or nearby village? What was the weather like outside?
ghostmachine (1 stories) (3 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-09-14)
thanks Melda, yes beautiful but cold in winter lol. I never told anyone at school but not that I am aware of. I was only there for the year. 😆
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2017-09-14)
ghostmachine - As Ann suggested, I too believe that it was a good spirit popping in to see that everything was in order. I'm sure it didn't mean to scare you and probably didn't even realise that you were aware of it.

How lucky you were to spend some of your school years in such a beautiful part of our country! Many years ago when we lived in Polokwane (Pietersburg in those days) we often drove through to the Tzaneen area over weekends.

Did any of the other pupils report any unusual events at the school?

Regards, Melda
ghostmachine (1 stories) (3 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-09-14)
Hi Ann,
Thanks. The school is Hans Merensky in Tzaneen. I can't make up my mind on whether it was friendly or not. I know I felt threathened. I tell myself I should have just turned over and confronted, but something in my head told me not to move a muscle. I could only relax "literally" once I saw sunlight.
🤔
Ann4shadow (1 stories) (36 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2017-09-14)
Hello Ghostmachine,

I read your ghost story and really enjoyed it. I am wondering about the history of your dorm. Do you know anything about it or have the name and location?

It would be easier to figure out what visited you in your dorm that night if there was some records of the building, lands and people.

I do not know what is was but from your story it does not sound like it was something bad... More like the friendly old school ghost checking to see that you were alright being all alone in the dorm that night.

Did it feel friendly? Either way I think I might have freaked out a bit if it happened to me!

Thanks for sharing and I look forward to reading any other stories you might have.

Be Well,
Ann
😊

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site: