I lived in an apartment that was definitely haunted. And that was in Brooklyn, so....I don't think it only happens in rural areas. (cities have old buidings, haunted hotels, etc). My friends bartended at what had been a Communist speakeasy, and they all swore they had seen the same ghost, a man, many times, and would even see him around while they were working, when the bar was busy, and barely took notice of him.
I never thought twice about "ghosts" until I lived in this apartment and three very clear incidents happened, spaced apart over a year or so. So I would not say I was "predisposed" to believe. But I definitely do now.
1.) This first one I'm on my bed, and I start hearing an unbelievable commotion in the next room, as if someone is wrestling. I thought maybe someone had tried to get in via the fire escape and had fallen on the floor.....and was just rolling around and around?
Here's the terrifying part. i felt a weight on my chest. I could not move. Was I just frozen in terror? It was more like I was being held down, on my chest, and the noise kept going and going, reaching a fevered creshendo when all of a sudden, the acoustic guitar that was leaning against the wall, next to my bed, PLAYED, all six strings, one loud strum across the open strings.........and the noise suddenly ceased.......I could move again, as if I had been suddenly released......and all that was left was the sound of the guitar strings, fading away.
2.) Maybe six months later, I have all but forgotten about this incident. A friend of mine has gotten into an argument with his girlfriend, he needs somewhere to stay tonight, can he stay with me? I say sure. He comes over, I give him my bed, and I take the other room. I all but tuck him in, then go around and shut off all the lights. I go into the other room, and start setting up my sleeping bag.
But only a minute or so goes by when I hear a knock on my door. My friend is freaked out. He said that as soon as I left, and went into my room, ALL the lights in the apartment went on simultaneously. Sure enough, the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom lights all were on, including two lamps in the bedroom, and the overhead light.
I call this "the Light Incident", lol.
3.) This next one is the hardest to describe. it was evening, just after dark, I was on my computer, - probably on the TMF! lol - and all of a sudden, the entire vibe of the room turned electric. I can't explain it. It was like suddenly being in an acid trip or something. The light of the room seemed to change. The air was thick, and the silence heavy and deafening. I didn't know what the hell was going on, it just felt very weird.
All of a sudden, to my left, behind me, and from, like, the floor area, I distinctly heard a low male voice all of a sudden flicker, like tuning in a radio station, something unintelligable, just a fleeting fragment of a sentence it seemed........I looked down behind me,from where the sound was coming from.Nothing was there.
I looked back up,and turned towards the window. Being evening, and me having one lamp on, I could see the reflection of myself and the room in the window. And just as I looked at the window, having heard this sound,I see a figure, looming, moving behind me. I snapped my head around.....and there was nothing there.
And then? Reality. Hard light. The spell was broken. Suddenly it's back to normal, the vibe in the room is......very ordinary. And I'm just like.....what the fuck was that?
So.....there's my three experiences. My building was from the turn of the (last) century; I asked my landlady about it. She scolded me: you need to clean up your apartment! That's why you have ghosts! It made sense.....I lived in absolute bedlam, absolute anarchy, it was an art project how messy my place was.....people would come in and immediately laugh, and marvel, you couldn't even be disgusted by it (it was clutter, not unsanitary). Anyways, I could see the ghost(s) being just fed up with my bullshit. lol