Ghosts or demons scratching and biting people

My 10-year old nephew was visiting some relatives. They have a cool old two-story house. The house isn't "haunted", nor is it scary in any way. He slept in a bedroom on the second floor. When he awoke in the morning, he got up and went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, etc. He took off his shirt to put on a clean shirt, and noticed some light scratches on his chest and stomach. A lot of scratches, in a pattern.

The consensus from the adults was that he scratched himself while sleeping. He told me that he knows he didn't scratch himself. He's a level-headed kid. Not an attention-seeker or teller of tales.

I once worked with a girl who said when she was young (from ages 8-14) she lived with her family in a "haunted" house. On several occasions, she suffered attacks where she had scratches appear on her lower back.

There have been threads here on ATS by people who claim they were scratched by ghosts.


This is a subject that is very bizarre and, imo, very scary. It's one thing to have ghosts or spirits knock on walls and mess with electrical devices, but this is something else! There are even reports of entities biting people. People generally assume whatever is doing it is evil or malevolent. (That's understandable!) Demons are often suggested, or angry ghosts that want the living humans to get out and leave them alone.

I did some very brief research online. Of course there's a variety of explanations offered.

I found this picture here.
It supposedly occured while some ghost hunters were investigating the notoriously haunted Ohio State Reformatory.


Paranormal researcher John Tenney offers this possibility:
What if you were an entity, human or not, that was trapped in a location for years, maybe centuries or more, and in all that time you’ve finally mustered up enough energy to reach out and let the living know that you’re still there. Maybe you can’t control it and it simply manifests as a set of red welts on a ghost hunter’s skin. That doesn’t make it demonic, it makes it contact.

That's a comforting thought. The idea that the entity just wants to contact the living, and means no harm.


I continued the research, and found this explanation for the phenomenon. Negative, malevolent entities at work.
They've even studied cases where scratches appeared on photographs or paintings of saints or deities.
I like the other idea better! Where the innocent ghost just wants some attention.

Here is yet another explanation:
This guy claims he's fought a "lifetime battle" with an entity that attacks and scratches him.
On his YT comments, he says it's not a spiritual problem, it's a quantum one. (Whatever that means) Maybe he read William Bray's book
on Quantum Physics and the human soul.


This one is scary:
It supposedly took place in a small Mexican villiage in the 1960s. A girl was being attacked by an invisible entity which was savagely biting her. The logical explanation was that she was mentally ill, but when multiple witnesses saw bite marks appear on her arms, a Christian minister was contacted. By this time, the entity had possessed the girl. The minister commanded the entity to reveal its name. It was a demon named Verono. (There have been suggestions that the demon was "invited in" when the girl was playing with a ouija board)
The minister successfully drove the demon out of the girl, but it immediately found a new victim to possess, a local man who was said to be wicked. Quite a story!

A popular Bible-study booklet series featured the story :
"The Thing"

a reply to: ColeYounger

I've lived in a haunted hause (more like a doorway to different dimension-both good and bad energies) and often had scratches(light only).It was more like a confirmation than an attack.
The deep ones you have posted look like an attack.

a reply to: MimiSia

My nephew said his scratches were so light he didn't notice them till he was putting his shirt on.

I read some more on the subject, and many people have said that the scratches were so light, they didn't notice till they got in the shower, changed clothes, etc....
They felt the same way you did, like it was a message of sorts, rather than attempt to do harm.

Interesting!

My youngest son has been scratched while waking up, and also in the bath. And he senses stuff.

Oooooh, this looks like a fascinating thread!!! Have to leave for a while, but I will read it when I get back!!!

a reply to: ColeYounger

When we did our ghost hunt at the Palmer House, 3 out of 4 of the males got scratched while we were there.
Right before we left we all noticed a burning feeling and when we all checked,
each one of us had a long double scratch.
It wasn't anything painful, but it was strange.

It was probably a goodbye.

I have no idea why some spirits do that, maybe it is all they can do to say that they are there.
Kind of like leaving their mark on someone.

Some of the scratches you have there though I would think are attacks.
They look painful.

a reply to: DPrice

As for "you people... are ... stupid."

Most statements like that are made by people really speaking to themselves... and in that respect, it's true... we're all a tad stupid.

If you're referring to people experiencing ghosts and paranormal phenomena and believing there is some reality to it being stupid, though, then stupidity has nothing to do with the experiences... in many cases, that is.

I do agree that some of the theories and dogma is, indeed, stupid... but that something we cannot see, called ghosts, etc., sometimes interacts with our physical and mental environments isn't debatable when one is aware of the data... what IS debatable is what causes this phenomena (or ANY phenomena, for that matter).

It does suggest we know far less than we pretend to, though... and that may be frightening.

So you are not alone in that assessment regarding stupidity... and are very correct in that many to most people are pretty darned stupid.

For proof, read something on the internet... and even on this very page... in yours AND my responses.

a reply to: ColeYounger

I'd recommend him not staying in that house again, or at least not alone. For the title, you could replace the "or" with a / and be just as accurate, in my opinion. I consider that sort of thing demonic, not some stuck spirit of a dead person. All that said, did anyone check his nails the next morning? If he did do it, there would likely be traces. If no one checked, no way to know. Sometimes, something can be around and not affect everyone, so they might not have known they had a problem, or it cold be a new one.

originally posted by: DPrice
a reply to: tony9802

Because anybody with half a brain knows that ghosts and demons don't exist. What do they put in the American water supply?

Generally I don't like using the word "stupid" terribly frequently.. one word I do enjoy utilizing however is the word "foolish..." See how much more tasteful that word there sounds? Now, do you believe that someone who does not believe in ghosts or demons should browse around the Paranormal Studies Forum section..? Hmm..



It seems quite foolish that you would care to join this forum and thread given that you do not believe in their existence..Perhaps you were unaware, but people who entertain this forum topic enjoy exploring these types of issues and questions and enjoy sharing their experiences concerning them as well..


But, oh no, oh how the fools do come rushing in from afar though..

1 word...hangnail

originally posted by: DPrice
a reply to: tony9802

All the new threads show up on my RSS, I don't browse these boards looking for nutjobs.

You sound like you might be scared of the paranormal, the supernatural, and the preternatural..You might be right to be frightened though given that the unseen and the inexpicable leaves us all dumbfounded in many instances..

In your case then, I would say that you might need someone who is close to you, someone that you trust, to have one of these experiences so that you might have the opportunity to gain exposure to and understanding of the world of the occult, supernatural, the paranormal..

sorry for the blurry photo :/ taken with that 2mp camera that comes with laptop.. took much maneuvering of the arms ha..
anyway ive been scratched.
i remember feeling a slight burning itchy sensations i brushed it off as being a mosquito or some bug bite... until i had a shower and looked in the mirror on my back.
3 lines running down like a scratch.. im a nail biter so therefore my nails arent long enough to do that and i cant think of anything else that would scratch me like that.

3 line scratches might mean it's demonic in nature. If this person keeps getting attacked especially while asleep, take some rock salt and sprinkle it on the box spring of the mattress they are sleeping on, the rock salt needs to be changed out every week or two weeks. This will hopefully stop with the night attacks. Someone once posted that rock salt is like walking on glass shards for negative energy. If this is a demonic attack, the demon will attack the the mind body and spirit. Did your nephew have a change in behavior? Experience other paranormal experiences besides the scratches? Smell anything out of place? experience any weird visions or nightmares? Hear any disembodied voices?

I had a few unexplained things happen in my apartment, bangs , knocks , things moving etc. One particular day l was using my vacuum, and suddenly felt a burning sensation down my side. I discovered 3 long deep scratches, of about 12 inches in length. I had not come against anything, was in the middle of my room, wearing two layers of clothing. Clearly whatever it was that caused it was upset by the noise l was making.