When you think of famous faces, you might not immediately picture them shivering in the dark, but these 10 celebrities who have brushed shoulders with the supernatural prove that fame doesn’t shield you from a good old‑fashioned ghost story. From haunted apartments to phantom whispers, each tale is as chilling as it is unforgettable.

10 Celebrities Who Faced the Supernatural

10 Fairuza Balk

Fairuza Balk has long been linked to the occult world, starring as Dorothy Gale in the eerie 1985 sequel Return to Oz and later conjuring a witch in The Craft. Though she practices Wicca, she steers clear of dark magic. On the TV series Celebrity Ghost Stories, she recounts a night in a rented house when she awoke to footsteps outside her bedroom. Assuming they belonged to her companion, she soon realized the hallway was empty.

Together they crept down to the kitchen, only to see pots and pans flailing wildly and a sinister, smoke‑like coil forming in the air. The apparition terrified her, despite her witchy background.

When they confronted the house’s owners, they learned a murderous couple had once lived there, casting a lingering shadow over the property.

9 Joan Rivers

The legendary Joan Rivers, famed for her razor‑sharp humor and ever‑changing looks, once toured a rundown New York apartment in the 1980s while renovating it after becoming widowed. She entered the unfinished space at night to inspect it, only to find her dog refusing to step inside.

Suddenly the temperature dropped dramatically, and she noticed strange writings plastered across the walls. An elevator operator suggested the presence of a particular specter, Mrs. Spencer, supposedly the niece of J.P. Morgan. Joan, intrigued, began leaving flowers for the unseen resident and claimed they developed a strange, ongoing friendship.

Her eerie encounter showcases that even the most fearless comedians can be unnerved by a lingering ghost.

8 Joan Collins

Actress and author Joan Collins, now 84, has lived a prolific life that includes a UK Top‑10 hit in 1963. Despite her seasoned skepticism, she found herself terrified during a dinner party when a mischievous poltergeist made its presence known.

The spirit first traced a body outline on the floor using almonds, then hurled a knife and a massive urn across the room, narrowly missing guests. A butler explained the chaos as the vengeance of a woman murdered by her husband in that very room, who wanted to keep others away. He pointed to a portrait of the victim that had hung there for years.

Joan’s reaction proves that even a seasoned star can be rattled by a truly malevolent apparition.

7 Jerry Stiller

Veteran comic Jerry Stiller, father of Ben Stiller, has entertained audiences since the 1960s. Though his career may have been eclipsed by his son’s, his personal life held a poignant supernatural moment.

After learning of his father’s death, Jerry longed for a final word of approval. One midnight, a mysterious force opened his bedroom door, materializing into the shape of his late father. The apparition whispered, “You did good, Jerry,” before vanishing forever.

This fleeting encounter offered Jerry the closure he had yearned for, delivered by a ghostly paternal figure.

6 Oprah Winfrey

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey, whose career has turned everything she touches to gold, once shared a hair‑raising off‑air ghost story during a taping of her show. While hosting fellow actress Akosua Busia in her Chicago home, Oprah awoke to see a translucent figure drift from the guest room into her bedroom.

She rose, prayed silently, and watched the shape glide through her space before exiting another wall. The next morning, Akosua confessed she’d spent a sleepless night wrestling a ghost, which apparently chose to haunt Oprah’s bedroom instead.

Oprah’s chilling encounter reminds us that even the most powerful personalities can’t escape a midnight visitor.

5 Emma Stone

Red‑haired Oscar winner Emma Stone, who first dazzled audiences in Superbad, admits to a quirky yet eerie supernatural experience. During a 2014 interview with David Letterman, she revealed that her late grandfather—whom she never met—appears to her as a phantom, leaving small gifts of quarters.

Emma, a firm believer in the paranormal, finds the spectral generosity both adorable and unnerving, treating the ghostly quarters as a loving, after‑life gesture.

This light‑hearted haunting shows that even Hollywood’s brightest stars can have delightfully strange encounters.

4 Kendrick Lamar

When acclaimed rapper and activist Kendrick Lamar was visited by the ghost of the legendary Tupac Shakur, the experience sparked a powerful musical tribute. The apparition appeared in the middle of the night, urging Kendrick to keep his music alive.

Inspired, Kendrick incorporated the encounter into his song “Mortal Man,” sampling an interview with Tupac and weaving the spectral message into the track’s narrative.

3 Keanu Reeves

Beloved actor Keanu Reeves, whose life has been marked by personal tragedies, experienced a bizarre childhood haunting. At around seven years old, while staying in a new New York apartment with his nanny, both witnessed a disembodied jacket glide across a doorway before vanishing into thin air.

This uncanny sight added another layer to Keanu’s already poignant life story, underscoring that even the most stoic souls can encounter the inexplicable.

2 Lady Gaga

Pop icon Lady Gaga, known for her role in American Horror Story, has long battled a persistent phantom named Ryan. The ghost allegedly followed her throughout her 2010 world tour, prompting her to hold a séance in an attempt to banish the unwelcome visitor.

Recent reports suggest Gaga escalated her efforts, acquiring professional ghost‑hunting equipment and hiring real‑life paranormal investigators to finally rid herself of the lingering specter.

1 Laura Linney

Acclaimed actress Laura Linney, a Julliard graduate with a versatile career across stage, screen, and song, encountered a spectral audience member during a rehearsal at New York’s historic Belasco Theatre.

She spotted a blonde woman in a blue dress perched on the otherwise inaccessible upper balcony, silently watching the dress rehearsal. Later research revealed the figure was likely the ghost of a chorus girl who died in the theater and now appears at every rehearsal for eternity.

While the phantom never leaves a review, her presence adds a haunting charm to the theater’s storied past.

Humans have long chased altered states of perception, and across cultures we see a kaleidoscope of ways the mind can conjure vivid experiences. In this guide we’ll walk through 10 different types of hallucinations that people encounter, from the everyday to the extraordinary, and uncover what makes each one tick.

10 Different Types of Hallucinations Overview

Below you’ll find a ranked rundown of the ten most fascinating hallucination categories, each with a brief look at what causes them, how they feel, and why they matter.

10 Excitation

Yes, something as simple as excitation can cause hallucinations and often does. The state of the brain which influences the mind and all its perceptions is a paramount consideration when it comes to the nature and origin of hallucinations, which can often result as a break from the homeostasis of the resting, so‑called normal state of brain functioning.

In some people, things like anxiety can trigger hallucinations and the psychosis that sometimes ensues. Anxiety is not experienced in a calm state of mind. It’s directly caused by an overstimulation of the brain, much like what happens when people ingest certain drugs.

Hallucinations through excitation and anxiety aren’t necessarily signs or symptoms of an underlying mental illness. They’re simply a physiological response to the stress (or perceived stress) that the brain is experiencing.

These states of mind and the hallucinations—the vivid, terrifying light, the loud noises which didn’t really happen, the chatter which sounds like voices in the wind—all of this can happen to sane, ordinary people under the right conditions. So if you experience anxiety or excitation that causes hallucinations, you’re not alone. A lot of people share this experience.

9 Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation is something that college students often experience religiously, and religious people often use it as a means of studying spirituality. But in all cases, under the right conditions, you might just end up with hallucinations.

Most of us have experienced this—the tiny, dancing movements that you know aren’t real, that feel so real, and that are just outside your focus. By and large, the mind comes from the brain as the various centers of the brain process their respective portions of our consciousness, which form a cohesive experience.

That said, if one goes for long periods of time without sleep, these centers of the brain and their constituent neurons begin to degrade, which eventually causes an inability for the brain as a whole to create a unified experience of consciousness. Thus, it is unable to make reasonable sense of the stimuli from the outside world.

Sleep deprivation mainly targets the visual cortex, and approximately 80 percent of people experience visual hallucinations when they don’t get enough sleep. Auditory hallucinations don’t occur with sleep deprivation.

Not all of this is under our control as it’s more than just staying up late watching TV. A slew of conditions, such as snoring, can prevent someone from getting enough sleep and send him down a path to hallucination. Sometimes, it’s just minor things that you see out of the corner of your eyes. But for some people, the hallucinations become bizarre, extreme, seemingly very real, and even nightmarish.

8 Hypnagogic Hallucinations

Hypnagogic hallucinations are the next most common type of hallucination caused by things relating to sleep. Experienced by 37 percent of the population, this is something we grow out of with age for the most part.

Have you ever been falling asleep and right before you get to the point of no return where you swim into your own little dreamland, you awaken suddenly, partially suspended in a purgatory between waking life and dream life? When this happens, many people experience hallucinations involving their waking selves and seemingly their dream at the same time. This is a hypnagogic hallucination.

Even more terrifying, these sorts of sleep hallucinations are primarily auditory in nature. They include ringing sounds, unpleasant or uncomfortable noises, chatter or popping, and even voices talking to you.

If people use certain drugs, even when they’re not on the drug itself, they can often experience hypnagogic hallucinations in the form of beginning to fall asleep, being suddenly jolted awake, and then suspended in a distorted reality of waking life. They perceive bugs or insects crawling all over their bodies, which sometimes causes these individuals to itch, scratch, or otherwise remove the hallucinatory objects from themselves.

7 Hypnopompic Hallucinations

The hypnopompic state occurs between waking up from sleep and being fully awake, and many know all too well that hallucinations can occur then, too. However, hypnopompic hallucinations are much less common, only experienced by approximately 12.5 percent of the population.

One of the common themes is sleep paralysis. It is a terrifying experience where the body is wholly paralyzed, suspended between wakefulness and sleep, and some rather dark sensations, even hallucinations, occur.

Sleep paralysis can be either hypnopompic or hypnagogic, but the feelings and fear are always the same. When transitioning out of sleep, the person senses some evil force coming toward him or in the room with him. Often, people report being stepped on, punched, or otherwise attacked by this entity—all while they can’t move.

Many creatures, demons, and ghosts have been attributed to this supposed entity. It’s seemingly universal and has been around and discussed since at least the days of ancient Greece, whose residents attributed the terrifying hallucinations to succubi and such.

Thanks to science, we now know that these terrifying hypnopompic hallucinations are actually errors in the brain that happen when there’s a problem with REM sleep. It’s a natural, albeit uncomfortable, part of how the brain works.

6 Blindness

One of the most fascinating forms of hallucination are the intense visual hallucinations of the blind. It’s actually rather common for blind people to see things that aren’t there or that they wouldn’t be capable of seeing.

These natural, nonpsychotic “trips” are precise, clear, and often elaborate. The experiencer is usually perfectly sane while seeing 140 small white gnomes prancing around in the snow in synchronization. Many people consider the hallucinations nothing shy of sublime, while others find them terrifying.

Charles Bonnet syndrome is the official name for this. Although the term was coined in the late 1700s, this phenomenon was nothing new. However, few know about it. One 64‑year‑old blind patient saw snakes crawling into and out of her body. Talk about a wild experience.

It’s estimated that at least 20–30 percent of the visually impaired population have these hallucinations. For obvious reasons, many people don’t feel quite right reporting them to others, including friends or family, for fear of mockery. So that number may be much higher.

5 Sensory Deprivation

One of the most challenging, terrifying, and unusual experiences is sensory deprivation. The brain was designed for all the senses to take in just the right stimuli to keep the organism alive. It was not intended to be deprived of these things.

This happens because the brain tries to adjust to the new level of sensory input, which is far different than normal. Any incremental changes are experienced as unusual and new phenomena.

This corresponds to hallucinations from excitation, where the brain is starved for new sensations but their input has been strongly blunted. It is much like a starved person who doesn’t need a full meal to be satisfied as he readjusts to a life with food again.

When the brain receives no sensory input for sound for long enough, it eventually begins to invent things from whatever hints of sound it supposes are there. People end up hearing imaginary voices and full‑on conversations inside their heads.

This coincides with both the visual hallucinations of the blind and phantom limb syndrome, in which an amputee experiences sensations in a part of the body which is gone. The brain doesn’t receive the input it’s used to, so it just makes up whatever it thinks might be there.

4 Schizophrenia

One of the tragic hallmarks of schizophrenia is vivid hallucinations. These often present in the form of annoyances–such as hums, buzzes, and noises—for the person suffering from the affliction. Imagine having a hummingbird or an insect flying right next to your ear for several hours.

The visual hallucinations are much like the static of an old TV set displayed over the person’s field of vision. It’s like seeing the world through the craziest photo‑video filter you can think of. Schizophrenia is a disease which gives people all sorts of hallucinations, not just those auditory ones mentioned already, but tactile, visual hallucinations where they close their eyes and “sense” themselves in other worlds.

Hearing voices or sometimes seeing and hearing people who aren’t in the room are common experiences in those diagnosed with schizophrenia. Having people whom these patients trust to tell them what is actually going on in the outside world is absolutely vital for many people with this disease.

With a nearly constant state of mind that misinterprets the inputs that the brain is receiving, it’s no wonder that this terrifying disease leads down the path of delusional thinking and behaviors. How do you know what’s real if all your sensations are lying to you at least a little bit?

3 Trance States

When humans didn’t have access to powerful drugs, they relied on a simpler and much more personal way of achieving the desired hallucinations through trance states and self‑hypnosis. We’ve all heard that drugs such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT) can transport someone out of his body into what’s seemingly another world. But did you know that we can do this simply with the power of our minds?

This process is called autoscopic hallucination. The person transcends his body and experiences another world which is totally in his mind. For a few seconds or possibly minutes, a person is “out of his body” like a short, strong drug trip or near‑death experience.

Autoscopic hallucinations can come from the trance states inspired by deep meditation and other means by which people transcend reality using nothing more than their mental faculties. Believe it or not, self‑hypnosis is a very real thing. It can be achieved through concentrating on a single focal point, using the power of the mind to eliminate your surroundings, and replacing them with something totally hallucinated.

This may be the oldest form of intentional hallucination, perhaps besides mushrooms or other substances which can bring about such states. But don’t underestimate the power of the mind to intentionally conjure up hallucinations.

2 Epilepsy

Different types of epilepsy can cause different types of seizures and experiences in the affected individuals. Sadly, much like those with paranoid schizophrenia, epilepsy sufferers can have hallucinations accompanied by a fear of persecution or a feeling that someone is out to get them for some time before the onset of a seizure.

It is now being discovered that epilepsy can also cause powerful auditory hallucinations. This happens when the left temporal lobe is damaged. We’re not talking about the fuzz or chatter of other types of hallucinations but extremely complex strings of sound heard by the afflicted person.

We’re slowly starting to piece together the entire story of how epilepsy affects the brain, but it is known that some people experience extremely powerful hallucinations and sometimes a feeling of transcendence. About 80 percent of seizures in those with temporal lobe epilepsy are focal aware, otherwise known as aura seizures.

Although the patient is conscious during the whole seizure, he hallucinates the entire time. This type of seizure only affects one portion of the brain and can produce vivid, astonishing hallucinations.

1 Drugs

Probably the best‑known form of hallucinatory experience in most places is the use of drugs or other mind‑altering substances. From LSD to psilocybin, the way that chemicals affect the brain to cause hallucinations has often been described as “jamming the circuits.”

The transmission of information, usually by way of chemical compounds in the nervous system, creates an excessive stimulation of the senses, at least perceptively. Drugs are the synthetic way to produce sensory overload, and things become transposed and blurred. Anyone who’s taken these drugs will know exactly what I’m talking about.

A lot of science backs the idea that these sorts of chemically induced states are actually quite good for your physical and psychological health. Other hallucinations happen when people intentionally or accidentally poison themselves with certain plants.

These methods have been practiced by humans to achieve hallucinatory experiences for thousands of years. Some of these plants were considered to be medicinal by ancient and tribal cultures. Now science may be confirming their beliefs.

I like to write about the weird, the dark, odd, and unusual. Here’s a fun little piece on different types of hallucinations.

When most people think about racial persecution and genocide during the Nazi era, the Holocaust instantly dominates the conversation. Yet the Nazis’ twisted vision of racial purity also targeted Africans living in Germany, and their suffering is rarely spotlighted. Below are 10 facts about the African experience in Nazi Germany, each shedding light on a hidden chapter of history.

10 Facts About the African Experience in Nazi Germany

10 The Death Camps

Long before Adolf Hitler seized power, the German Imperial army embarked on a ruthless campaign against African peoples in its overseas colonies. In the early 1900s, when Germany ruled present‑day Namibia, it established a system of extermination that pre‑figured later Nazi atrocities.

In 1904, General Lothar von Trotha issued a chilling directive demanding the total eradication of the Herero tribe to clear land for German settlers. He explicitly ordered that women and children receive no mercy. Within three years, roughly 80 percent of the Herero and half of the Nama were wiped out.

German forces set up five concentration camps on Namibia’s infamous Shark Island, a stretch of coastline later nicknamed the “Skeleton Coast” because of the countless mass graves. One missionary recounted a harrowing scene: an emaciated African woman asked a fellow inmate for water, only to be shot five times by a soldier outraged by her audacity.

The perpetrators even staged photographs of themselves surrounded by starving African prisoners, turning the grotesque scenes into postcards sent home. Some of these cards featured explicit, pornographic depictions of German soldiers assaulting African women.

Dr. Bofinger, a German physician stationed in Namibia, conducted macabre experiments on the corpses of these victims. He decapitated prisoners, preserved their heads, and shipped them back to scientific labs in Germany. These crimes occurred before the Nazis rose to power, yet they set a grim precedent for later racial science.

9 Propaganda

Propaganda was the Nazi regime’s most potent weapon for shaping public opinion about Africans. Most ordinary Germans knew little about the realities of German colonies, and the state flooded them with messages of a harmonious German‑African friendship.

One widely circulated poster depicted a German woman arm‑in‑arm with an African woman, proclaiming that Germany no longer harbored any “racial pride.” The government hoped to lure citizens to settle in imagined all‑German African colonies, but such fantasies required persuasive visual propaganda.

After the First World War, Germany lost its African territories to the victorious Allies. Simultaneously, thousands of Germans emigrated to the United States, fleeing dire unemployment and poverty at home.

When the Third Reich rose in the 1930s, German filmmakers produced movies glorifying the nation’s former colonial exploits in Southwest Africa. The long‑term Nazi goal was to reclaim those colonies and spread the Aryan race worldwide, and cinema served as a rallying cry for that ambition.

8 The Rhineland Bastards

Following the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Allied forces—including troops from French African colonies—occupied Germany’s western Rhineland. Black soldiers stationed there fathered children with German women, creating the first sizable multiracial cohort in German history.

These children earned the derogatory nickname “Rhineland bastards.” The German press and right‑wing agitators seized upon their existence, unleashing a wave of sensationalist propaganda that painted African soldiers as predatory and German women as victims.

One infamous illustration, titled “Jumbo,” portrayed a colossal, naked black soldier clutching a horde of distressed German women. A minted coin even displayed a white woman shackled to a massive phallus opposite the image of a black soldier, underscoring the vilification.

Although most of the German mothers reported consensual relationships—only a single woman claimed rape—the campaign framed the encounters as violent assaults, demonizing the black men and demeaning the women.

Hitler’s *Mein Kampf* echoed this rhetoric, blaming Jewish influence for bringing black soldiers into Germany and alleging a plot to contaminate the Aryan bloodline.

7 Rassenschande

The Nazi regime aggressively promoted the doctrine of Rassenschande, literally “racial defilement.” Enacted through the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, the policy forbade Aryans from marrying or engaging in sexual relations with anyone deemed non‑Aryan.

While the public most readily associates these laws with the persecution of Jews, they equally targeted Afro‑German individuals. Citizens seeking the coveted Aryan certificate underwent invasive medical examinations to prove their “pure‑blooded” status.

Contemporary publications warned that the presence of African soldiers in Germany represented an external assault on German racial purity. Nazis portrayed themselves as victims forced to defend the nation against an imposed multiculturalism.

Ironically, despite Germany’s earlier diplomatic outreach to African nations and its lingering colonial aspirations, the regime insisted that Black people belonged exclusively in Africa, never within the German Reich.

6 Murder And Sterilization

Anthropologist Dr. Wolfgang Abel conducted pseudo‑scientific studies on Afro‑German and Asian‑German children, labeling them “aggressive,” “psychotic,” and genetically inferior to their Aryan counterparts. He also suggested that the mothers of such children were somehow corrupted, likening them to alien vessels.

In 1937, the Gestapo received orders to locate and apprehend any Black individuals within Germany. Those captured faced execution, forced sterilization, or were subjected to inhumane medical experiments. Even Black foreigners caught in Germany were imprisoned or killed rather than being repatriated.

Under Nazi racial policy, anyone deemed to possess “undesirable DNA” underwent compulsory sterilization, preventing them from reproducing. The Rhineland bastards were specifically targeted, with over 400 recorded sterilization procedures.

5 The Extraordinary Life Of Hans Massaquoi

Hans Massaquoi stands out as one of the few Black children who survived Nazi Germany. Born to Liberian king Momolu Massaquoi—serving as Liberia’s consul general in Germany—and a German nurse, Bertha Baetz, Hans was technically a prince of the Vai tribe.

His father, Al‑Haj, a university student in Dublin, never returned to Germany. The king initially raised Hans within the consular mansion before returning to Liberia, leaving Bertha to raise her son alone in Hamburg.

As a youngster, Hans endured relentless bullying because of his skin color, yet his intelligence and friendly demeanor helped him forge local friendships. He yearned to join the Hitler Youth, captivated by the allure of the “cool uniforms” his peers wore.

Desperate to fit in, Hans even persuaded his babysitter to stitch a swastika patch onto his sweater for school. Although his mother tried to intervene, Hans continued to emulate Nazi‑aligned behavior, not fully grasping the regime’s true nature.

War‑time scarcity left Hans unable to secure employment, and despite his desire to serve, the German army denied his enlistment because of his race.

In 1948, his father finally brought him back to Liberia, where he was welcomed as the prince he truly was. Later, Hans built a successful journalism career with publications such as *Jet* and *Ebony*.

Crucially, Hans escaped the sterilization campaigns that targeted many Rhineland children, likely because German officials believed he could be useful if the Nazis ever reclaimed African colonies. He eventually emigrated to the United States, married, and raised a family.

His memoir, *Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany*, was adapted into a German film now freely available on YouTube.

4 Human Zoos

Theodor Wonja Michael’s parents hailed from Cameroon, a former German colony. They migrated to Germany believing the “motherland” promised better prospects, only to discover that employment opportunities for Africans were virtually nonexistent.

Stranded without sufficient funds to return home, the family was forced into a grotesque form of entertainment: acting in “people’s shows,” a type of human zoo where Black performers donned grass skirts and mimicked stereotypical African village life before German audiences.

These exhibitions frequently traveled with circuses and were sometimes staged inside actual German zoos, positioned beside animal enclosures. Promoters claimed the performers were freshly captured “savages” placed in habitats mirroring their supposed native environments.

German spectators laughed and mocked the displays, unaware that many of the performers were fluent German speakers.

By the 1930s, roughly 400 such human zoos operated across Germany. After the Nazi era ended, the practice faded—until a 2005 controversy when the Augsburg Zoo installed an exhibit featuring African mud‑huts, grass skirts, and tribal dances next to a baboon habitat.

The exhibit sparked outrage, as it echoed the historic dehumanization of Black people as beasts. Protesters sent threatening letters, picketed the zoo, and eventually forced the removal of the display. The Augsburg Zoo maintains that it never intended to revive “human zoos,” denying any racist motive.

3 The African Campaigns

World War II histories often spotlight the Blitz, the Holocaust, and European battlefields, while the brutal fighting that unfolded across North Africa receives far less attention. The desert wars pitted Axis forces against Allied troops from various colonial powers, leading to massive civilian casualties.

Much like contemporary conflicts, the North African theater centered on control of oil and strategic supply routes. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, roughly one million European soldiers were killed or wounded during these campaigns, with Germany briefly occupying Tunisia in 1942 and allegedly targeting civilian populations.

The National WWII Museum maintains comprehensive charts of global civilian losses, yet the figures for North African countries are conspicuously absent, suggesting a historical blind spot.

While some argue that the sparsely populated desert terrain limited civilian impact, personal testimonies and biographies attest to significant non‑combatant suffering throughout the region.

2 Prisoners Of War

International law traditionally mandates that prisoners of war be treated humanely and exchanged for one’s own captured soldiers. In practice, both Axis and Allied powers committed grave violations.

The Nazis showed no hesitation in killing African soldiers serving under French colonial forces, viewing their deaths as retribution for the so‑called “crimes” against German women in the Rhineland.

African POWs were barred from setting foot on German soil to avoid “contaminating” the Aryan race. Instead, they were detained in Frontstalag camps located in France, drawing prisoners from Algeria, Tunisia, Southeast Asia, the West Indies, Madagascar, Morocco, and beyond.

These camps housed detainees in flimsy, hand‑sewn tents offering little protection from the elements. In 1941, over 100,000 prisoners were recorded; by 1942, that number had fallen to 44,000 due to harsh labor, disease, and mortality.

In 1943, Germany ordered the French government to assume guard duties. French volunteers provided “godmother” services—cooking, reading, knitting, and religious instruction—while some forged romantic relationships with the prisoners, resulting in mixed‑race offspring.

Even after the war, these men remained barred from returning home or marrying the women who bore their children. They continued to be classified as French military personnel and were corralled into barracks.

1 After The War

When Allied forces occupied Germany after 1945, a wave of children born to African‑American soldiers and German mothers—known as Mischlingskinder or “brown babies”—entered the public consciousness. German media portrayed these children as symbols of a newly inclusive society, claiming that within a generation the nation would fully embrace racial diversity.

In reality, widespread racist attitudes persisted. The majority of these mixed‑race infants were abandoned to orphanages. An *Ebony* magazine cover displayed a black child with blue eyes, accompanied by the caption “Homes Needed For 10,000 Brown Orphans.”

During the 1950s, thousands of African‑American families in the United States adopted many of these children, yet countless others endured neglect, abuse, and institutional mistreatment. Documentary filmmaker Regina Griffin captured these harrowing stories in *Brown Babies: The Mischlingskinder Story*, including a chilling account of a caregiver attempting to drown a boy.

Today, the Afro‑German population remains small. In 2017, the United Nations issued a warning advising Black tourists to avoid certain German neighborhoods due to safety concerns. Ongoing investigations allege systemic discrimination, such as teachers deliberately grading Afro‑German students poorly and employers exhibiting bias in hiring.

Shannon Quinn, a writer and entrepreneur, continues to shed light on these overlooked histories. Follow her insights on Twitter.

When you think of star‑studded lives, you probably picture red‑carpet events, glamorous parties, and endless streams of paparazzi. But even A‑list icons have to wrestle with the same nighttime shivers that keep the rest of us up—sleep paralysis, cold spots, and the unsettling feeling that something unseen is watching from the shadows. In this roundup we bring you 10 more celebrities who’ve come face‑to‑face with the paranormal, proving that fame doesn’t grant a free pass from ghostly roommates, cursed cemeteries, or restless spirits lingering in the hallway.

Why 10 More Celebrities Encounter Ghosts

From abandoned factories in New Jersey to creaky Southern mansions, these famous folks have all reported encounters that would make even the most hardened skeptic raise an eyebrow. Whether it’s a spectral great‑grandmother keeping a watchful eye, a demon‑laden cemetery visit, or a phantom that simply refuses to leave the bedroom door ajar, each story is a reminder that the supernatural can pop up anywhere—even behind a microphone or on a movie set.

10 Brittany Howard

Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard has never tried to hide the spooky chapters of her upbringing. In a candid chat with The New Yorker, she laughed, “Oh, yeah. That house was haunted as hell.” She grew up in a rundown home near the railroad tracks of Athens, Alabama, where her great‑grandmother passed away shortly after the family moved in. According to Howard’s mother, the matriarch’s spirit would often appear at the foot of her own bed, a lingering presence that made bedtime feel anything but peaceful.

Howard herself described an ever‑present sense of being watched. Doors slammed on their own, cabinets clanged, and the house seemed to groan whenever she was alone. The unseen visitor grew bolder, repeatedly opening and closing her bedroom door while she tried to drift off, prompting her to retreat to the living room for a night‑long slumber. That very night, the entity escalated, growling in her ear as she tried to sleep, turning a simple night’s rest into a full‑blown terror session. The identity of the spirit remains a mystery, leaving fans to wonder what—or who—still roams those walls.

9 Ariana Grande

One would assume a pop megastar like Ariana Grande would have a soundtrack for every life event, including a demonic duet. Yet in 2013, the singer found herself tangled in a truly infernal experience after a trip to Stull Cemetery in Kansas City—a site reputed to be one of the world’s seven portals to Hell. Grande recounted an overwhelming wave of negativity washing over her car, a sulfur smell that signaled something malevolent, and a random fly buzzing around as if summoned by dark forces.

Following that fateful visit, the pop icon began seeing shadowy silhouettes and dense black masses that seemed to linger in her peripheral vision. Whispers and low growls haunted her nights, and a heavy, oppressive presence made every attempt at sleep feel like a battle. When she sought advice, she was told to simply tell the entity to “eff off,” a suggestion she admitted she was too frightened to try. Grande’s cautionary tale serves as a reminder: some doors are best left unopened, especially those rumored to lead straight to the underworld.

8 Matthew McConaughey

Even if you haven’t starred in a ghost‑filled rom‑com, you might still find yourself sharing a roof with a restless spirit. Matthew McConaughey, famed for his role in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, claimed his Hollywood Hills residence was haunted by a phantom known as Madame Bleu. While promoting the film in 2009, he revealed that the spirit confronted him, demanding a claim on his home.

Guests reported feeling Madame Bleu’s presence, and McConaughey eventually negotiated a truce, agreeing to share the house with the ethereal tenant. Since that uneasy accord, the household has reportedly settled into a quieter, more serene atmosphere—though fans still wonder what nightly negotiations might be taking place behind those gilded doors.

7 Melissa McCarthy

Comedy queen Melissa McCarthy has a knack for tackling the dead—both on screen and in real life. During her college years in Boulder, Colorado, she lived in an attic that quickly earned a reputation for being haunted. Friends refused to cross the threshold, describing an unmistakable “creepy” vibe that made the space feel alive with unseen eyes.

Doors would swing open and shut without a breeze, and the phenomenon persisted until McCarthy packed up and moved to New York two weeks later. She later shared a second eerie tale on Ellen DeGeneres’ show, recalling a 2nd‑grade encounter where her great‑grandmother appeared as a spectral figure. Ellen, meanwhile, confessed to seeing a turn‑of‑the‑century gentleman in a three‑piece suit staring silently at her—proof that the paranormal can be a family affair.

6 Mike Colter

Before Luke Cage patrolled the streets, Mike Colter grew up in the haunted corners of South Carolina, where nightly terrors were part of his childhood. In a 2019 interview with Kelly Clarkson, he described a suffocating pressure on his chest while he slept, an unseen force that prevented him from opening his eyes and breathing properly.

Colter’s mother identified the presence as a “hag,” the restless spirit of an elderly woman who allegedly haunted the family. He recalled teasing his cousins about the creepy lady living next door, suspecting she might have been a witch. The story underscores a timeless lesson: kindness to neighbors may keep restless spirits at bay.

5 Dan Aykroyd

Ghost‑busting legend Dan Aykroyd inherited a family fascination with the supernatural. His great‑grandfather, Simon Aykroyd, was a noted spiritualist who conducted seances, a legacy chronicled in his father Peter’s book History of Ghosts. Dan confessed, “They passed the psychic powers to me, and I turned it into a ludic exploitation with Ghostbusters.”

One chilling night, while home alone, Aykroyd felt a cold presence climb onto his bed. The bedroom door stayed shut, so he knew nothing had entered, yet the mattress beside him seemed to dip slightly. Rather than panic, he snuggled up next to the unseen visitor and, surprisingly, slept soundly through the night. The tale adds a personal, eerie touch to his on‑screen ghost‑hunting fame.

4 Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman

Sometimes the spirit haunting a home outshines its living occupants. Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman claim their Hollywood residence is haunted by the ghost of Nicole Brown Simpson. According to Mullally, the property sits on the same lot where O.J. Simpson once rented a house for Nicole, and the lingering energy manifests as unsettling noises and odd sensations, especially in the corner where the old bedroom once stood.

“That’s Nicole, and she’s pissed because Nick doesn’t get it,” Mullally joked on her talk show, noting that the activity ceased after Offerman binge‑watched ESPN documentaries about Simpson and the series American Crime Story. She believes the spirit simply needed acknowledgment, and once the couple gave it a voice, the hauntings faded. Whether it was a spectral protest or a psychological echo, the story adds a haunting chapter to their otherwise comedic careers.

3 Jenny Slate

Jenny Slate has turned her family’s haunted house into a recurring talking point across books, Netflix specials, and countless interviews. Growing up in Milton, Massachusetts, her parents moved into a home still filled with the previous owners’ furniture—an eerie setting that set the tone for future encounters. Slate’s father was the first to spot a phantom: a sea captain staring solemnly from the bottom of the staircase, a sight that shocked the entire family.

While every family member reported sightings, Slate herself has yet to see a spirit in that house, though she admits her current residence—once a dance hall built for her husband’s great‑grandmother—has its own spectral vibe. Guests often recount vivid dreams and unexplained sounds, a phenomenon Slate discusses in her stand‑up routine and a Refinery29 interview, underscoring how haunted homes can shape personal narratives.

2 NeNe Leakes

Ghosts often mirror unresolved trauma, a notion NeNe Leakes explored on A&E’s Celebrity Ghost Story. While attending a wedding, she began hearing the faint cries of children, only to turn and find no one there. The disembodied voices persisted, prompting Leakes to seek the help of psychic Kim Russo.

Russo relayed messages from Leakes’s mother, revealing deep‑seated emotional wounds tied to missed childhood moments. The spectral children, according to the show, may represent lingering energy from Leakes’s past, a haunting reminder that the spirits we encounter can be reflections of our own unresolved stories.

1 Ice‑T

Known for his tough‑guy role on Law & Order: SVU, Ice‑T faced his own paranormal challenge while filming at an abandoned New Jersey factory. The location’s eerie history left a lasting impression, and despite his initial skepticism, he returned with his wife Coco—who is more spiritually inclined—to investigate further.

Guided by psychic Kim Russo, the duo explored the factory’s dim corridors. Lights flickered ominously, and a sudden surge of cold made Ice‑T contemplate leaving, yet he pressed on. In the basement, they encountered unexplained sounds and unsettling sensations that, while not converting Ice‑T into a full‑time believer, added another chilling chapter to his otherwise hardened persona.

Some people live for adventure. They dive from planes, bungee jump from bridges, ski impossible slopes, and surf terrifying waves.

But there is another way to experience the wild side of our world: getting up close and personal with nature. For those who are not lucky enough to live in a natural setting, there are many wildlife and sea-life experiences to choose from around the world. Here are 10 adventures that will connect you with the wild side of nature!

10 Wolf Watching

Wolves are legendary creatures. They are highly intelligent and incredibly loyal and have found a permanent place in both folklore and fiction worldwide. In 2021, Yellowstone National Park officials announced that the wolf population inside their reserve had grown by 20 percent. Yellowstone also happens to be one of the best locations in the world for wolf-watching.

Here you will be led by a wolf tracker while keeping your eyes peeled for gray or black wolves hunting their prey in the snow. While there is usually a 50/50 chance of seeing a wolf while on a watching tour, the odds climbed to 90% during 2021. Popular watching spots include Elk Creek, Blacktail Plateau, and Hayden Valley.

If wolf-watching is on your bucket list, Yellowstone should definitely be one of your first considerations.^[1]

9 Whale Watching

Hermanus is one of the brightest jewels of the Western Cape in South Africa. Here you will find huge mountains and an unbelievably beautiful shoreline all in one place. Located at the edge of Walker Bay, the town of Hermanus offers stunning forests, sparkling lagoons, a hidden valley, and a whole lot more.

What makes Hermanus exceptionally popular, however, is the fact that it is a prime whale-watching spot. Tourists make their way here in droves between June and December to see southern right whales who migrate from the Antarctic during this time to mate and breed. You can see them right from the shoreline in Walker Bay, as well as various other locations close to Hermanus. And if you really want to get up close to these magnificent creatures, you can book a trip on a whale-watching tour boat for an unforgettable experience.

For those who want even more of an adrenaline rush, Gansbaai, which is less than 30 miles from Hermanus, offers great white & copper shark cage diving for the whole family (ages 12 and up).^[2]

8 Walking with Elephants

Also in South Africa, the stunning Askari Game Lodge in Magaliesberg offers excellent accommodations for wedding parties, conference attendees, and more. The biggest draw, however, is the touch-and-feed elephant experiences and the hugely popular “walking with elephants” sessions.

Here, you will get close enough to the elephants for them to playfully knock your hat off your head and give you a sloppy trunk kiss. While you feed them, the guide will give you interesting facts and titbits about these gentle giants.

Winding down the day at the pool overlooking the dam on the 4,000-hectare game reserve on which the lodge stands, you might just spot a hippo or two at the water’s edge.^[3]

7 An Unmatched Experience

The Galapagos Islands combine the pleasure of an island holiday with the thrill of seeing animals in their natural habitat. Here, you can keep an eye out for marine iguanas, the only known lizards with the ability to swim, and giant tortoises that live up to 150 years and weigh almost 600 pounds (272 kilograms). At the southeast point of the Galapagos lies Espanola Island, which boasts Christmas iguanas. These lizards turn red and green during their breeding season, hence the name.

Snorkeling is also a fun activity around the islands and will give you the opportunity to spot the world’s smallest penguin, green turtles, and a variety of colorful reef fish. Look down every now and then while under the surface, and you might just see hammerhead sharks circling below.^[4]

6 Giant Pandas

Even if you’re not one of the very lucky people who get to work with and hug pandas every day, you can still interact with them should you go on holiday in China.

The Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan is a non-profit research and breeding facility for giant pandas. It started out with six giant rescued pandas, and since 2008, they now house more than 80. At the base, visitors can observe the pandas while playing and eating or nursing their young. Experts are at hand to guide tourists in feeding the pandas while teaching them about the various ways these creatures can remain protected.

The panda base is also home to other creatures, including red pandas, swans, and peacocks.^[5]

5 Lounging with Leopards

South Africa might be famous for its wildlife encounters, but it is definitely not the only country in the world where wild animals can be observed in their natural habitat. The Yala National Park and Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka offer the incredible opportunity to see the elusive leopard. Yala has the densest leopard population in the world, but sadly this amounts to only around 40 of these magnificent animals. Their dwindling numbers are due to human settlements encroaching on their habitat and poaching.

At both Yala and Wilpattu, you should only go on a safari with an expert naturalist who will show you around at a safe distance from the wild animals.^[6]

4 See a Rhino before They’re Gone

There are only two Northern White Rhinos left in the world. And other species of rhino are dwindling fast because of poaching. Kenya was once home to around 20,000 black rhinos, of which almost 9 000 were killed over the last decade.

These days, rhinos are protected by 24-hour armed security guards, which is necessary to try and prevent the remaining species from becoming extinct. Fortunately, there are still some places in Kenya and elsewhere to observe rhinos in their natural setting. And if you are able to do so, you should, as it seems the fight against poaching is not going well at all.

At OI Pejeta Bush Camp in the OI Pejeta Conservancy, the last two northern white rhinos, Najin and Fatu, are living out their last days. Here, you will also find 20 south white rhinos and just over 100 critically endangered black rhinos.^[7]

3 Swimming with Dolphins

While swimming with captive dolphins is not something most nature lovers would want to do, a few places around the world offer an ethical swimming-with-dolphins experience.

One of these destinations is the beautiful town of Kaikoura which is located on the east coast of New Zealand’s south island. Here, a company called Dolphin Encounters takes small boats out on the water three times a day and offers tourists the opportunity to swim with dusky dolphins.

As soon as you get into the icy water, you will likely be surrounded by these playful dolphins who like showing off in front of visitors. Chances are you’ll also spot a whale or two in the distance.^[8]

2 Other Unusual Experiences

If you’re looking to experience something completely different, you can always take a trip to Burkina Faso, where in the town of Sabou, you will find crocodiles so tame you are able to swim with them and even sit on them if you so wish. If you have the nerves for it, you can also dangle a live chicken in front of them at dinnertime.

Alternatively, there is the wild griffin vulture experience in Aragon, Spain. A local naturalist has taken it upon himself to feed these creatures and has been doing so for nineteen years. Tourists can watch from a safe distance as the vultures line up for their lunch and wait for the man to spread food across a field.^[9]

1 Up Close and Personal with a Polar Bear

If swimming with dolphins and watching vultures is too tame an activity for your liking, you can always go and take a dip with a polar bear. However, you will be on the other side of a very thick sheet of bulletproof glass, seeing as how polar bears see humans as prey and all.

Located in Ontario, Canada, the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat has a unique wading tank that you can swim in while interacting with the three polar bears—Henry, Inukshuk, and Ganuk—who love lazing around in the water on the other side of the glass. Outside of the water, you can observe the amazing bears as they eat their favorite snack, watermelon, and play with their plastic toys.^[10]