Strange Tales of Haunted and Possessed Computers | Mysterious Universe
The phenomenon of ghosts and hauntings has been with us for since as long as we have entertained the idea that the soul might exist past our physical expiration date. Over these centuries our society has changed, technology has advanced and evolved, and ghostly phenomena seemingly along with it. Whereas once ghosts and spooks were solely within the realm of haunted houses, seances, and Ouija boards, they seem to have evolved with the times, with there being many accounts of hauntings related to machinery, electronics, and even smart phones and computers. Indeed, it seems that computers and the like are a sort of new frontier for hauntings and tales of the paranormal, and here we will look at some eerie stories of this sort of thing going on.
In some cases, the phenomena of “haunted computers” almost seem to be like the poltergeist activity of an afflicted home, with various strange things going on without any discernible cause and for the most part just troublesome and annoying. With computers, it might be our tendency to write these off as mere technical glitches, but some cases seem to be more than that. One such account comes from Reddit user “AcidGatter,” who claims that what he originally taken to be the hacking of his brother’s computer soon turned out to be something perhaps far more mysterious. He says of what happened:
So my brother bought a used but still relatively new laptop a few months ago, and recently its been acting really strange. The first thing that happened was his mouse started moving on the screen (like the cursor) by itself. It would randomly click things and on rare occasion open seemingly useless programs as soon as he left his laptop unattended for a few minutes. I myself have only witnessed this once but he says it happens every few days. The next thing was almost every account he had on social media had their password changed to random strings of nonsense. I think he recovered most of the hacked accounts but he had to make some new ones.
So at this point we both just thought his computer was hacked. (even though he hadn’t downloaded anything suspicious or given any information to anyone) Until even stranger things started to happen, including distorted images popping up on screen, and his computer turning on and off rapidly (which I’m pretty sure is impossible, i think it takes a couple seconds to turn on a computer) and I also hear that it sometimes makes strange noises. I have not witnessed the noises or turning on and off but i have seen the strange distorted imagery popping up on screen. The pictures aren’t really “of” anything. Sometimes it’s just a distorted rainbow screen, and sometimes its what looks like a blurred and glitched face. That one always makes us jump, its really terrifying. So tell me what you think. Is the computer just messed up? Did my brother accidentally download a virus? was he hacked? Is a ghost haunting the computer?
Who knows? A similar type of story appeared on the site Above Top Secret, from a witness who says his computer has seemingly sort of developed a mind of its own, turning on and off and making anomalous sounds at all hours. The phenomena is creepy enough to have left him wondering just what is going on, and he explains:
I know this sounds ridiculous but recently i have woken up a number of nights in a row in the early hours of the morning, to hear my computer has turned itself on and is making a loud sound. I sleep with my door locked so there is nobody turning it on. I have taken the computer to an pc expert to check if there are power problems which can cause pc turning on or off, and he did a diagnosis for malware or something like that, and it was okay. Still charged me 25 for the diagnosis though, ridiculous! Anyway earlier on i came into my room i was the only one in the house. I heard the name Cindy (my real life name), whispered softly. There was nobody in the room or the house.
Besides this weirdness, other supposedly haunted computers seem to involve actual ghosts or entities reaching out through the screen from beyond. One type of this sort of phenomenon are cases where lost family or friends seem to be trying to communicate from the beyond the veil that separates life from death, in a way serving the same purpose that Ouija boards once did. One commenter on a forum at Unexplained Mysteries says he believes that his long dead grandfather is trying to make contact with his grandmother through his computer. He explains:
About 2 years ago in September, my grandmother passed away. My grandfather died before I was born, so I never knew him. Anyways to try and finish this up before I go to bed. The night after she died, my mother was drinking, and at my computer trying to type up something for the funeral. At about 5 in the morning she comes in going, come see your grandparents are here.. and being asleep for like what.. 2 or 3 hours. (Stayed up late) I said leave me alone and went back to sleep. She’s drunk anyways, and when she drunk a certain beer she’d get crazy…
So the next morning, I wake up, have some breakfast, and she urges me to come to the computer. Something that I will probably always remember, there was a poem on the computer screen, typed to her, and at the bottom it said “-Dad”. Of course that was talked about for a while, and I don’t think my mother had it in her to write such a good poem, because she just isn’t capable of it, even in a drunken state of mind. But the fact is, later on two years later, I had to sell my computer. And it was that very night before that I was gonna sell it that I formatted the hard drive, and surprisingly about 150MB of space was corrupted, which is a lot when you think about it. Now this could have been due to the age of it, its conditions. But it was when I was going to sleep that night, I think actually around this time last year, I saw two orbs as I came into my room. And it was pitch black mind you, I saw one where my computer was, and I saw one go into my bed. Anyways, I just thought it was an interesting paranormal story.
As for giving out the poem, I think that might be giving away to much information about myself. But a few little facts is that I’m native canadian/american, whatever way you want to look at it. My family vouches saying they always had psychics in the family, and as for me… I’ve had my share of experiences as well. And so that’s about it. Maybe I should have sold that haunted computer on E-Bay or something…
From Reddit user “Boseph617” we have an account of his dead uncle seemingly trying to make contact through his computer in ways that have left him baffled. It seems to have all begun when he decided to go to grad school, something his uncle had always wanted to see him do, and for which it seems he is willing to communicate something from beyond the grave. The witness says:
So, my uncle passed away from colon cancer about 6 years ago. He wasn’t exactly a computer guy, although he had to use it sometimes for work (he was a teacher). Either way, I could never see him using it to buy anything online. He had dial up, ’nuff said. Very recently, as in a month ago, I was entering my information to pay for my GRE test. When I typed in my email, my uncles name, address, and phone number appear in the fields. Needless to say, I was a little creeped out. I did joke around with my family that he was proud of me for finally taking the initiative to go to grad school (he was always pushing me to go back to school). Since then, this has been happening every time I enter my information, across multiple computers. To my knowledge, I never used his information for anything in the past, so having it link to my email makes absolutely no sense to me.
More stories at site!
Have you ever had a moment when your computer seemed possessed or haunted?
The phenomenon of ghosts and hauntings has been with us for since as long as we have entertained the idea that the soul might exist past our physical expiration date. Over these centuries our society has changed, technology has advanced and evolved, and ghostly phenomena seemingly along with it. Whereas once ghosts and spooks were solely within the realm of haunted houses, seances, and Ouija boards, they seem to have evolved with the times, with there being many accounts of hauntings related to machinery, electronics, and even smart phones and computers. Indeed, it seems that computers and the like are a sort of new frontier for hauntings and tales of the paranormal, and here we will look at some eerie stories of this sort of thing going on.
In some cases, the phenomena of “haunted computers” almost seem to be like the poltergeist activity of an afflicted home, with various strange things going on without any discernible cause and for the most part just troublesome and annoying. With computers, it might be our tendency to write these off as mere technical glitches, but some cases seem to be more than that. One such account comes from Reddit user “AcidGatter,” who claims that what he originally taken to be the hacking of his brother’s computer soon turned out to be something perhaps far more mysterious. He says of what happened:
So my brother bought a used but still relatively new laptop a few months ago, and recently its been acting really strange. The first thing that happened was his mouse started moving on the screen (like the cursor) by itself. It would randomly click things and on rare occasion open seemingly useless programs as soon as he left his laptop unattended for a few minutes. I myself have only witnessed this once but he says it happens every few days. The next thing was almost every account he had on social media had their password changed to random strings of nonsense. I think he recovered most of the hacked accounts but he had to make some new ones.
So at this point we both just thought his computer was hacked. (even though he hadn’t downloaded anything suspicious or given any information to anyone) Until even stranger things started to happen, including distorted images popping up on screen, and his computer turning on and off rapidly (which I’m pretty sure is impossible, i think it takes a couple seconds to turn on a computer) and I also hear that it sometimes makes strange noises. I have not witnessed the noises or turning on and off but i have seen the strange distorted imagery popping up on screen. The pictures aren’t really “of” anything. Sometimes it’s just a distorted rainbow screen, and sometimes its what looks like a blurred and glitched face. That one always makes us jump, its really terrifying. So tell me what you think. Is the computer just messed up? Did my brother accidentally download a virus? was he hacked? Is a ghost haunting the computer?
Who knows? A similar type of story appeared on the site Above Top Secret, from a witness who says his computer has seemingly sort of developed a mind of its own, turning on and off and making anomalous sounds at all hours. The phenomena is creepy enough to have left him wondering just what is going on, and he explains:
I know this sounds ridiculous but recently i have woken up a number of nights in a row in the early hours of the morning, to hear my computer has turned itself on and is making a loud sound. I sleep with my door locked so there is nobody turning it on. I have taken the computer to an pc expert to check if there are power problems which can cause pc turning on or off, and he did a diagnosis for malware or something like that, and it was okay. Still charged me 25 for the diagnosis though, ridiculous! Anyway earlier on i came into my room i was the only one in the house. I heard the name Cindy (my real life name), whispered softly. There was nobody in the room or the house.
Besides this weirdness, other supposedly haunted computers seem to involve actual ghosts or entities reaching out through the screen from beyond. One type of this sort of phenomenon are cases where lost family or friends seem to be trying to communicate from the beyond the veil that separates life from death, in a way serving the same purpose that Ouija boards once did. One commenter on a forum at Unexplained Mysteries says he believes that his long dead grandfather is trying to make contact with his grandmother through his computer. He explains:
About 2 years ago in September, my grandmother passed away. My grandfather died before I was born, so I never knew him. Anyways to try and finish this up before I go to bed. The night after she died, my mother was drinking, and at my computer trying to type up something for the funeral. At about 5 in the morning she comes in going, come see your grandparents are here.. and being asleep for like what.. 2 or 3 hours. (Stayed up late) I said leave me alone and went back to sleep. She’s drunk anyways, and when she drunk a certain beer she’d get crazy…
So the next morning, I wake up, have some breakfast, and she urges me to come to the computer. Something that I will probably always remember, there was a poem on the computer screen, typed to her, and at the bottom it said “-Dad”. Of course that was talked about for a while, and I don’t think my mother had it in her to write such a good poem, because she just isn’t capable of it, even in a drunken state of mind. But the fact is, later on two years later, I had to sell my computer. And it was that very night before that I was gonna sell it that I formatted the hard drive, and surprisingly about 150MB of space was corrupted, which is a lot when you think about it. Now this could have been due to the age of it, its conditions. But it was when I was going to sleep that night, I think actually around this time last year, I saw two orbs as I came into my room. And it was pitch black mind you, I saw one where my computer was, and I saw one go into my bed. Anyways, I just thought it was an interesting paranormal story.
As for giving out the poem, I think that might be giving away to much information about myself. But a few little facts is that I’m native canadian/american, whatever way you want to look at it. My family vouches saying they always had psychics in the family, and as for me… I’ve had my share of experiences as well. And so that’s about it. Maybe I should have sold that haunted computer on E-Bay or something…
From Reddit user “Boseph617” we have an account of his dead uncle seemingly trying to make contact through his computer in ways that have left him baffled. It seems to have all begun when he decided to go to grad school, something his uncle had always wanted to see him do, and for which it seems he is willing to communicate something from beyond the grave. The witness says:
So, my uncle passed away from colon cancer about 6 years ago. He wasn’t exactly a computer guy, although he had to use it sometimes for work (he was a teacher). Either way, I could never see him using it to buy anything online. He had dial up, ’nuff said. Very recently, as in a month ago, I was entering my information to pay for my GRE test. When I typed in my email, my uncles name, address, and phone number appear in the fields. Needless to say, I was a little creeped out. I did joke around with my family that he was proud of me for finally taking the initiative to go to grad school (he was always pushing me to go back to school). Since then, this has been happening every time I enter my information, across multiple computers. To my knowledge, I never used his information for anything in the past, so having it link to my email makes absolutely no sense to me.
More stories at site!
Have you ever had a moment when your computer seemed possessed or haunted?
