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Ghost Stories

My first paranormal experiences occurred in the home my dad died in. I was alone and in the shower when I heard my front door slam shut. The second and third experiences happened after my family and I moved into a haunted house on the south side of Sheboygan. Apparently the home was built on top of Native American burial grounds, and later on I would find out that when my grandpa stepped foot into the house, he said in Hmong that there were Native Americans there.

My experiences in the rental home were mild in comparison to my siblings. They heard foot steps running down the stairs and voices from their closets, where I only saw a bright light hover over me during one of my sleep paralysis state and experienced a phantom door slamming while I was home alone. There was one collective experience we all went through and it was the feeling of being watched. After almost 2 years of living in that rental, we moved into our permanent family home, which would be where I experienced the traumatic paranormal incident.

On the night of the trauma haunting, my entire family was asleep and I was the only up, watching YouTube videos, or K-dramas, I can’t remember. What I do remember was the time. It was between 3AM and 4AM when I suddenly heard a loud and soaring voice come from the end of our bedroom hallway and into my ear. The voice sound both like a man and a woman’s voice. The only way to describe it was, you know the demonic voices in horror movies? — it sounded like that. The voice spoke in Hmong and asked me if I was going to sleep yet.

I had no there choice but to slam my laptop down and ran to sleep next to one of my siblings. I was terrified.

It wasn’t until recently when I told my grandpa, who is a respected shaman for the last 60 years. He told me that the voice wasn’t malicious or evil, and was probably an ancestor checking in on me because that time period was what Hmong folks would call ntuj sib faib sia, “the sky divides its life”. That short period of time is when both the spirit and living realm cross paths and the spirits are able to enter into our living realm for a few moments.

Since the haunting, it has continued to disrupt my life. I can’t sleep unless I’m drunk or have taken sleeping pills. There are nights where I feel brave enough to attempt to sleep naturally, but those attempts fail once 12AM rolls around and I start to feel the fear. I wish I had the privilege of not believing in ghosts and the paranormal, but after my family’s and my own experiences, it’s really hard to deny the fact that spirits or ghosts may exist along side of us.

by M Chang

M Chang

Critical Minerals: In my nightmares, I’m screaming your name like it’s an amulet

February 21 - March 28, 2026

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