Episode Details

This is one of the original Tell Me A Ghost Story calls from the early days of the show. Short, raw, and exactly where it all started. This call was later incorporated into a longer compilation episode with full host commentary, if you want the complete experience.

Hey, it's Michelle, and this early episode belongs entirely to Jasmine from New Zealand, who called in with a true ghost story that is unlike almost anything else in the early archive. Most of the callers in this show's history encountered something and then had to figure out how to live with it or leave. Jasmine decided to evict hers.

The ghost in question was an elderly figure who had taken up residence in Jasmine's closet. Not a threatening presence in the traditional sense. Not something that chased her or touched her or appeared at her bedside in the middle of the night. Just an elderly phantom, stubbornly occupying a closet in an otherwise ordinary home in New Zealand, with the specific immovable quality of someone who had been there longer than Jasmine had and saw no particular reason to acknowledge that the living arrangements had changed.

What Jasmine did about it is the heart of this episode, and it is one of the more proactive responses to a haunting that Tell Me A Ghost Story has ever aired. Most callers are on the receiving end of whatever their ghost decides to do. Jasmine took a different approach. She decided the closet was hers, and the elderly phantom was going to have to find somewhere else to be.

New Zealand has a rich and distinctive supernatural tradition rooted in Māori spiritual belief, a living Indigenous culture that understands the relationship between the living and the dead with a depth and specificity that shapes how New Zealanders across all backgrounds tend to interpret and respond to paranormal encounters. The approach Jasmine took to her closet ghost reflects a pragmatism about the supernatural that feels distinctly New Zealand in its directness and its lack of drama. There was a ghost in her closet. She dealt with it. She called in to tell us how.

One caller. One true ghost story about an elderly phantom in a closet in New Zealand and the woman who decided enough was enough. This is where Tell Me A Ghost Story began.

If you have a real ghost story of your own, a haunting experience, something you heard, something you cannot explain, I want to hear it. Call 1 (701) 484-2666 or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tellmeaghoststory.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to share your story.

You might end up on the show.

Support us with official merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠newmanmedia.shop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, catch us on YouTube at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @tellmeaghoststory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and follow along on Instagram at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tellmeaghoststorypodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Theme music is Sexy Sax by Cool Cascade.

Production by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newman Media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.