Midnight has passed, and in the stillness of these hours, the hauntings are never silent.

This is Real Ghost Stories Online.

After midnight.

The apartment sat above a small row of businesses in an older part of the city, the kind of brick buildings that had been standing

long before anyone thought about modern renovations. Inside the rooms were large with tall ceilings,

wide doorways, and wood floors that creaked in places no matter how carefully someone walked

across them. During the day it felt bright and comfortable with sunlight coming through

the tall windows facing the street. At night it felt different. Lena noticed that the first

time she stayed there alone. Her boyfriend Aaron had lived in the apartment for a couple of years.

He loved the place for its location and its character. The building had history, he liked to say.

It had personality. Lina had always liked old buildings, too, so when she started spending more time there,

the apartment felt like a good place to land. Eventually, she moved in. Aaron owned his own business

and traveled often for work, which meant there were stretches when

Lena had the apartment to herself. The only company she had most nights was her small dog,

Max, a Yorkshire Terrier who followed her from room to room as if the entire apartment belonged

to him. The building was quiet after the stores downstairs closed. Most nights, Lena would settle into the living room with the television on low while Max slept

curled beside her. Outside, the sounds of the street faded quickly once the last few cars passed

through downtown. After that, the building seemed to settle into itself, the same way older

houses sometimes do, once the world outside goes

still. That was when the small sound started. At first, she assumed it was normal, old wood shifted,

pipes ticked faintly in the walls. Sometimes it sounded like someone moving on the stairs that ran along

the back of the building. She figured other tenants must have access to them somewhere,

...