It may seem cliche to start with this: but before this experience I was not a believer in paranormal or supernatural things or encounters.
This experience happened fourteen years ago but I remember it perfectly and still get active goosebumps recounting it or thinking about it. (I was 21 at the time, 35 now)
I had a series of events happen to me while working at a large gym.
As I relay the story, understand many of these events are not close together. Often times they’d be months apart, sometimes 2-3months, so if people wonder why I wasn’t concerned, it’s because I was young and didn’t connect these occurrences together until the end.
Okay here goes:
I worked as a front desk guy for a gym from 17 to about 21 1/2.
The building wasn’t new or old (built in the mid 90s). It was a large, warehouse style facility with an upper floor area that had catwalks and all used for cardio.
There were multiple emergency exits located throughout the building all with security capabilities on them. Locker rooms located on the far side of the building from the front entrance, and the “back” offices were actually located near the front off to one side.
Essentially, you could see 70-80% of the place from the front desk if you turned around.
I was a workaholic because the money was easy, I could workout for free, and I was in school. So I willingly chose to do the closing shift Monday-Thursday 530-1030, most Fridays 530-930, and mornings on weekends.
Over the course of my time working there, I’d notice small things here and there.
The sound of a door handle from the office.
Or footsteps in the distance.
Or the sound of a small weight plate clink against another plate.
Honestly, I never gave this shit much attention and chalked it up to being regular noises buildings make.
(In retrospect, these noises ALWAYS occurred between 10:45-11ish every night. Gym would close 10pm, and because I was young and wanted money I’d STREEEEEETCH out my closing procedures to rack a few more hours over the course of a month.)
Whereas other coworkers would count, cleanup, and lockup well before 10:30 and be out their door as soon as possible when they closed.
So over the time of working there I’d have instances of footsteps, or a door softly moving, or something but there was a dramatic escalation one evening I’ll never forget.
One night after having done a sweep of the gym and ensuring all doors were closed and locked, I’m counting the money behind the counter, when off in the distance I hear the unmistakable sound of a bathroom stall door close.
Now, it’s not uncommon to have someone be in the bathroom showering or in the sauna or something and missing them. You just have to give them a whistle and let them know it’s times to go.
So I walk over to the lockerrooms and they are completely empty, and not only that, none of the doors are moving. They’re completely still as if no one has touched them.
Understandably this left me a little uneasy, but I finished my tasks and left.
This is where things begin to happen closer together.
From here, everything transpires over a 5-6 week period.
Sometime later, (probably close to a year because things began to occur closer together), I was once again closing, doing a sweep of the building and heard the sound of a bathroom stall door again, but this time it was not the gentle jangling of the lock.
It was the crash of the door being SLAMMED shut.
Despite having brushed off every other experience, this one I KNEW I had heard.
So I ran straight from where I was and said “who’s in there?”
No response.
Dead silence.
I walk through both lockerooms and they’re completely empty with no doors moving.
The building is empty except me.
Remember. If you’re on the landing above the gym floor, you can see most of the gym, so I would’ve been able to see anyone entering or exiting and the doors were locked.
By now I AM starting to get off feelings being there at night, and do my best to get out more quickly than usual, but often times my desire to get more time on my card wins and I stay late.
About two weeks later, I’m closing and hear the sound of steps on the catwalk above me where two areas of the upper level cardio intersect.
I don’t need to check.
I KNOW there’s no one else here.
I go running down the walkway, up the stairs and look out over the whole upper area and there’s nothing, but I can HEAR the muffle of footsteps.
As I come closer, maybe 20ish yards away, they stop, everything becomes silent, I stand waiting in silence for several minutes, but nothing else happens.
I go home.
This was the final straw.
I’m finishing closing one evening. The whole building is locked up, drawer is counted, and I shut off the lights.
I drop the money in the box, clock out, and as I leave, I go to the security pad to run a system check. (It scans every door to ensure they’re locked before you enter the code)
The pad makes a noise indicating there’s still a door left open and it’s the childcare door leading from their room to an enclosed outdoor area they use.
For context. When you enter the front double doors, the desk is in front of you, the locker rooms are way over to the right, gym has stairs immediately down to the floor from the lobby and to the left is a seating area with a walkway to childcare and the back offices. There’s a separate side door directly to the left 20-30ft where the security keypad is.(Again, all of this overlooks the gym floor)
So I walk over to childcare, look inside and see someone left the door to the outside propped open. I go inside, close the door & lock it, and as I turn to leave I’m about halfway across the room when I hear from out in the main gym area the voice of a young girl loud enough to echo in the gym say: “WHERE ARE YOU???” 🥺
I only froze for a second before swing the door open and shouting “WHO’S THERE???” into the darkness.
There was no answer.
Only silence.
By now I’m absolutely done, I’ve finally begun connecting all the different happenings over the years.
I walk with my back pressed to the wall down the walkway, around the corner, and to the keypad. I press the button for the keypad for it to scan all the doors.
AS the system is conducting its scan which only takes a few seconds, the latch bars on the double doors in front of me JERK like someone is attempting to push them open to get out.
I BOLTED out the side door, hopped in my car, and drove home as fast as I could.
I didn’t work there much longer.
Every shift I’d perform all my closing duties early, sweep the gym, and be out the door before I was even supposed to most nights.
Nothing happened after that and I haven’t had an experience like that since.
But it changed me and my perspective on paranormal shit forever.