Homes are beings, or at least they seem to be. They shift and readjust themselves. They make noises, creaks and thuds. They house you but also creepy creatures. They’ve got organs in the form of radiators and furnaces and boilers, each moving and reacting to the house. Houses can be wonderful and I love ours. But I’ve also experienced a 1:06 AM noise that was unexpected and it shook me. They’re just more than a building, they’re sort of a creature in themselves.
Dec 28, 2024
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I think ghosts are energy that lingers over time and, if it’s not cleared or amplified, it can be made manifest. Not to be metaphysical—I see the clutter that arises out of hoarding in the same way, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Houses, especially those steeped in history, are inherently liminal spaces—they exist at the threshold between the past and the present, the seen and the unseen.
We were once afraid of the darkness in the open expanse of the wilderness at night, and now the darkness is contained with us within four walls. You don’t know what’s going on in those four walls until you’re inside and staying there for a while, whether it’s an overnight stay as a guest, a lease with a fixed term, or a long-term purchase.
Mark Fisher’s concept of the weird captures this unease perfectly. The weird is that which feels out of place—an energy, an object, or a memory that doesn’t belong but refuses to leave. Houses are often full of these anomalies: a creaking floorboard, a shadow in the corner of your eye, a strange layout that never quite makes sense. These small dissonances accumulate, creating an atmosphere that feels uncanny, as though the house itself is alive and aware of your presence.
The trap of the house is also deeply modern. Once you discover its unsettling secrets, you have to stay there, tethered by responsibility and the cost of leaving. The house becomes a site of entrapment—a perfect example of Fisher’s liminal, where you’re stuck in a space that isn’t quite safe but isn’t immediately escapable either, with whispers and presence making themselves known to you from out of time.
If this resonates, you might enjoy my autobiographical contemporary gothic story about living in a house that used to be an old maternity hospital (pictured), where I explore these feelings and ideas. You can read it here: Haunting.
Dec 28, 2024
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So I lived in a house in Erie, PA which was haunted as fuck and I had several experiences there.
1. I helped the landlord (who is a good friend of mine) before I moved in because he got a report that someone had potentially broken into the house. We walked around the house and as we were leaving I went to close the door and something ripped it out of my hands and flung it open. I screamed but we didn't see anything there.
2. I holed up in this house during COVID and at the time only myself and my friend/landlord were living there and I began to really notice the activity when I had been there for a while. I would constantly hear walking through the house, even when we were both in our rooms or he was gone for the day. The walking was not just the house creaking, it was footsteps sounding off the ground. There was also some more conventional spooky stuff like seeing stuff peeking at me from hallways/doorways and shadow men standing around places.
3. The worst experience came when I was talking to two of my roommates one night (this was probably in fall of 2019). We were just chatting and suddenly I felt a hand come down hard on my shoulder. Nobody was behind me, nobody else was home but the three of us, so I have no idea what did this. I screamed and I'm not even sorry. To this day it is the most terrifying experience of my life.
There was some other minor activity and I had some friends tell me about a few weird things that happened when they hung around the house. My friend just told me he is selling the house so I suppose someone else will be saying hello to that house's other residents soon.
May 26, 2024
Top Recs from @marianoleonczik
florinegrassenhopper riotgrrrl brendanooooo slowdazzle buck_mcgraw and indianjones — we did it. Not only did we successfully meet for drinks, but we also schemed the hostile takeover of this app from tyler tonight.
In all seriousness — weird that an app I downloaded in April would make genuinely want to drive back into Brooklyn during end of day traffic for a happy hour. Great app filled with great people.
Jul 20, 2024
♥️
I feel like there’s a special connectivity on this app that I haven’t felt in a long time, maybe since early 2010’s tumblr. The fact that you can’t promote yourself like IG is wonderful. The fact that there isn’t mass video content like Tik Tok is great. It’s not this monetized / paid sponsorship app. People are here because they want to be a part of something with nothing to gain besides friendship. Seeing the URL -> IRL meetups warms my heart so much (waiting for an NYC or Brooklyn meetup).
Thanks for your participation on this niche little app. I smile reading all the recs and all the comments and all the asks. Hope we’ll all be here for a long time.
Jun 15, 2024
🖥
I think a life rule for me is to surround myself with people who know more / are smarter / are cooler than me and just absorb their aura by listening / observing them. It’s made me the incredibly smart / cool person you all know and love.
I just never thought I’d feel the same way about URL friends. I’m constantly listening to the songs I see posted here, reading the articles, subbing to newsletters, and googling topics that get tossed onto the feed.
It’s nice to know you can become a more rounded person by just absorbing what your mutuals post on here. I’m going to sit on my couch, have a cocktail and digest my lovely feed. Happy Sunday!
Sep 15, 2024