Prepare for PRESENCE With These 10 Unconventional Ghost Stories

Before horrifying film fans with Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe-starring horror Longlegs, Osgood Perkins chilled us to the bone with I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House. The haunted horror trope is a staple in the genre, but what makes this chilling 2016 gothic tale stand out is the sense of dread that runs through the narrative, heightened by Ruth Wilson's ominous narration and the switching between the past and present to unravel the mystery of the secluded house in which the tale is set that blurs the lines between reality and surreality. 

It centers on Lily Saylor (Wilson) after she is hired to care for retired author Iris Blum (Paula Prentiss), who suffers from dementia. As increasingly unusual phenomena take place in the house, Lily begins to suspect it is haunted, and Iris' most popular book is not a work of fiction but rather details a murder that happened within the home's walls.

Japanese horror maestro Kiyoshi Kurosawa has brought us numerous specters to haunt our nightmares and make us question every bump in the night or unusual noise once darkness has fallen. But arguably, one of his most distinctive ghost tales takes an entirely different approach.

Journey to the Stone, released in 2015, follows Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu), whose husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano) has been missing for three years. Her life is turned upside down when he returns home, but not as she had hoped. He reveals to Mizuki he died from drowning at sea and has come back as a ghost. He invites Mizuki on a journey to meet the people who have been kind to him in the last few years and discover the new places he has visited.

The horror of 1982's The Entity works on two levels, channeling traditional supernatural frights with the harrowing real-life trauma of sexual violence. It garnered controversy from women's rights and feminist organizations that criticized its graphic scenes of sexual assault but has been appraised by critics over the decades for its nuanced approach to themes of sexual liberation, repression, victimhood, and single parenthood.

The film begins with single mother Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) being attacked and raped in her home by an invisible assailant. Following the event, she begins therapy with Dr. Phil Sneiderman (Ron Silver), who does not believe her claims of a supernatural attack, instead insisting her traumatic past forced her to injure herself. The assaults persist, and a desperate Carla invites two college students with an interest in the paranormal to witness the ghost in action.

Haunted house flicks often follow a terrified protagonist repeatedly scared senseless by the ethereal presence roaming the halls. But in Guillermo del Toro's FANGORIA Chainsaw Award-winning Crimson Peak, the leading lady uses her connection to the dead to her advantage.

Mia Wasikowska stars as Edith Cushing, the daughter of a wealthy businessman and new wife to English baronet Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). She moves to his remote gothic mansion, which Thomas shares with his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain). While settling into the dilapidated home, Edith is plagued by nightmares and ghastly red ghosts that show her the way to mysterious items which soon uncover a horrible Sharpe family secret.

Despite receiving overwhelming negative criticism at the time of its release, Steve Beck's Thirteen Ghosts has gone on to find a cult audience, with many begging for sequels or even a TV adaptation to explore the tales of the titular ghouls.

Starring Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, and Tony Shalhoub, Thirteen Ghosts begins with psychic Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham) and his psychic assistant Dennis Rafkin (Lillard) leading a team on a mission to capture a spirit called the Juggernaut.

While the task is underway, Cyrus' nephew Arthur (Shalhoub) is informed he has inherited Cyrus' mansion and moves there with his children Kathy (Elizabeth) and Bobby (Alec Roberts), as well as their nanny, Maggie (Rah Digga). They arrive at the imposing home made entirely of glass sheets inscribed with Latin phrases. He soon discovers that the home harbors 12 angry ghosts imprisoned by Cyrus, which are then accidentally released. 

When we think of ghost films, our minds are often cast to haunting specters terrorizing us mere mortals with floating objects, a chilling breeze, and the inevitable jump scare reveal. But I don't think any horror fans would mind sharing a home with this adorable phantom.

Casper the Friendly Ghost first appeared in The Friendly Ghost theatrical cartoons before starring in five TV series and, eventually, his big-screen debut. Released in 1995 and featuring a star-studded cast of Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Devon Sawa, Cathy Moriarty, and Eric Idle, Casper follows the titular ghost who haunts Whipstaff Manor.

He meets and befriends Kat Harvey (Ricci), the teenage daughter of Dr. James Harvey (Pullman), a paranormal therapist who, unbeknownst to Casper and his fellow ghosts, has moved into the mansion to rid it of spirits

We weren't kidding when we said Kurosawa has given horror a wealth of ghosts that have haunted horror fans throughout the decades. With the rapid rise of technology in modern times, Techno-horror has turned its focus onto computers and mobile phones, channeling dangers of the physical and spectral variety. But before Unfriended, Cam, and Host, came Pulse.

Released in 2001 and followed by an American sequel in 2006, Pulse sees various ghosts invade the real world via the internet as two seemingly unconnected stories begin to converge. In the first, Michi Kudo (Kumiko Asō) has moved to Tokyo and started working at a plant shop with Junko Sasano (Kurume Arisaka), Toshio Yabe (Masatoshi Matsuo), and Taguchi (Kenji Mizuhashi), who has gone missing. Michi goes to Taguchi's apartment and discovers his decaying body as well as a mysterious disk.

In the second, a university economics student, Ryosuke Kawashima (Haruhiko Kato), discovers an unusual website that shows images of people alone in dark rooms. He meets Harue Karasawa (Koyuki) who, after the pair investigate the website, comes up with a chilling theory about the nature of the internet phenomena.

More often than not, humans and ghosts face off against each other in traditional horror films. But what if we joined forces with the world of the supernatural to tackle the real evils in our lives? This is something Damian McCarthy's masterful Oddity explores.

While renovating her remote country home, Dani Odello-Timmis (Carolyn Bracken) is brutally murdered while her psychiatrist husband Ted Timmis (Gwilym Lee) is out. She is reportedly killed by one of his former patients, Olin Boole (Tadhg Murphy), who is also later found murdered.

A year later, Ted visits Dani's blind clairvoyant twin sister Darcy Odello (Also Bracken) and suggests she come to see the home. She takes him up on the offer immediately (and unexpectedly) as Ted and his new girlfriend, Yana (Caroline Menton), are going about their evening. Darcy is determined to get to the bottom of Dani's death as she does not believe Olin is behind the murder, using her otherworldly abilities to uncover the truth.

Kwaidan, a transliteration of the term Kaidan meaning' ghost story', is a 1964 Japanese horror film from the mind of Masaki Kobayashi. But rather than just one tale, we are treated to four unconnected ghost stories deeply entrenched in Japanese folklore and history. It received an Academy Award nomination at the time of its release and also won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Kwaidan begins with Black Hair, telling the story of a samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money, but soon comes to suspect something is amiss with the woman. The Woman In The Snow sees a woodcutter stranded in a snowstorm. He meets a woman who chooses to spare his life if he never tells another soul about her existence, a promise he breaks a decade later.

In Hoichi the Earless, Hoichi is a blind musician living in a monastery, commanded by a group of ghosts to perform an epic ballad about their battle to death. Lastly, In a Cup of Tea follows a writer as they tell the story of a man haunted by a mysterious face in his cup of tea.

The Others saw lead star Nicole Kidman nominated for a Golden Globe. She also received three Saturn Awards and eight Goya Awards for the role. When it comes to ghostly twists, many of us cast our minds to Bruce Willis' thriller The Sixth Sense, but this 2001 classic could easily stand toe-to-toe with the iconic paranormal film, with its stellar performances and shocking reveals throughout.

Kidman stars as Grace, the devoutly religious woman who moved to the English coast with her children Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley) during World War II. While protecting her children from a rare disease that causes photosensitivity, she is awaiting news about her missing husband. Their lives become more fraught when Anna claims she can see ghosts, and Grace begins experiencing visions and paranormal events.