I am only 20 and have had a lot of strange experiences in my life. I have been told that I attract the paranormal. The first experience that happened to me with a witness was around 2015. I was living in a small townhouse with my Mom and Brother. Me and my Mom were laying in her bed, watching a depressing documentary about a boy with autism who had ended up taking his own life. My Brother, who is also autistic, barged into the room and was standing in front of the T.V. making demands and shouting. My Mom, who is usually extremely calm when it comes to handling these matters grew agitated and screamed for him to get out and close the door. I remember him shouting “fine” before slamming the door and leaving. This is where things got weird. He opened the door once more after slamming it to say “fuck you” (or screw you if you don’t curse on the podcast) and immediately after doing so, slammed the door again. When he slammed the door for the second time, me and my Mother both heard a little girl clear as day asking “Why?” I can still remember the exact high pitched voice we heard. I didn’t know what to do so I curled into my Mom and stayed silent, she asked “Ash, did you hear that?” I nodded into her. She then asked “What did it sound like to you?” (Later she told me she asked this to make sure she wasn’t crazy or hearing things.) I vividly remember tearfully telling her, “it sounded like a little girl asking “why?” She jumped up and said that’s what she heard too. It had sounded like it came from the left of the bed, closer to where she was laying. The documentary had been paused at the time but we rewound it to see if there was any possibility that what we heard could be explained by a sound the TV had made. There was nothing that could have made that sound, and I’ve never heard a voice so inquisitive, young, and innocent. It was distinct and real, and we moved out of that townhouse shortly. My next experience is the first paranormal experience I can remember having, and I must have been around 8 or 9. I woke up in the middle of the night, strange for me at the time since I would go to bed extremely early and sleep until 7:00 am. I remember walking to the kitchen for some water and hearing whispering. The whispering was between what sounded like a few different voices and was unintelligible. I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I turned on the light and of course, there was nothing there. I then went to the bathroom, and although this part doesn’t make much sense, I remember it like it was yesterday. As I was using the restroom, I began to hear angelic voices to the left of me where the shower was. When I leaned to my right I couldn’t hear them, but leaning towards the shower, I heard what sounded like sirens singing an entrancing song.I couldn’t understand the words but it was beautiful and unlike anything I’ve heard before or since. I have no way to explain this as everyone in the house was asleep at the time and I was very alert and awake when it happened. Once, while I was alone in the townhouse which my first experience happened, something tried to open my locked bedroom door and casted a shadow underneath like someone was standing there. I thought it was my Mom, and that she had come home from the store early, but when I called for her there was no response. In the house we rented after the initial townhouse where we heard the little girl asking “why?” I had another experience. I was home alone, as my Mom and Brother had gone on a walk. Since I had the house to myself and was studying on the main computer, I decided to sing loudly and quite frankly, sort of annoyingly. From the direction of my brother’s room, in his voice, I heard an angry “Shhh!” “Jacob?” I asked, thinking he had simply stayed home and I just wasn’t aware of it, but there was no response. I was too scared to get up and check so I called my Mom and asked if he was with her. She confirmed that he was and I told her to get home as soon as she could because I was so scared. In the same rented house, we were all laying down watching Ghost Adventures. For some reason we always get tired and fall asleep while watching the show, but that’s besides the point. My Mom was asleep and I was laying on the couch watching the episode while my brother was in the computer room playing video games. My Brother used to like to jump out at me and scare me, so I assumed when I heard a loud “BOO!” In his voice that he had snuck up behind me and tried to freak me out. I remember getting angry and turning around but there was no one there. I heard him from the Computer room asking, “Ash?” I said, why did you just scare me, and he said “that wasn’t me but I heard it too.” We both freaked out and tried to investigate what could have made the sound. The thing is, is that it was in his exact voice, and we couldn’t figure out any explanation. The last encounter is the most recent, and the most troubling to me. I am from New Mexico (unfortunately) and went to El Paso with my Mom to visit a haunted italian restaurant that was actually featured on Ghost Adventures. The vibe there was weird, but the food was good and our server told us scary stories and gave us a tour. When we went to the back, which was dark and closed off to the public, there were three small tables ajoined, and as the server was talking about the experiences she had had, the salt and pepper shaker on the table began to shake violently and glass was clinking together. I was the first to notice, and had to interrupt their conversation so they would look and see what I was seeing. It stopped shortly after, and we thought it was weird but nothing definitive. We even thought maybe the server had set us up to prank us. After we left the restaurant, I felt completely drained of energy. I am not one to take naps at all, but I remember passing out on the couch after getting home. I then experienced my first encounter of sleep paralysis. In the dream, I was in the exact same room that I was in real life, and thought I was awake. Suddenly a black figure starting floating towards me and I couldn’t move. I tried to scream out but couldn’t. It wrapped its hand against my neck and began choking me. I started to sob, and my family finally heard me and was able to break me out of the paralysis. Could it be a coincidence? Maybe. But I had never had sleep paralysis before going to that restaurant or after that experience, and think it strange that it happened after visiting a notoriously haunted place. Afterwards, I had bruises and red marks on my neck. -Ash