The Paranormal Digest for Dec 20, 2025

Black dogs, haunted hotels, and more

It may seem hard to believe, but this will be the final digest before Christmas. While some of you will be staying home and enjoying a few days off, others will almost certainly be traveling for the holiday season, but where will you stay? Will it be with family or will it be in a hotel with a troubled past, a place where former guests failed to check out? The core them for this week is haunted hotels, but there are other creepy little segments, too, so let’s get right to it.

Haunted Location - The Crescent Hotel

Sitting atop Crescent Mountain in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the iconic Crescent Hotel has served many functions since its construction in 1886. Besides being a hotel, it also served as a boarding school for girls, a shady cancer center, and a resort spa. It is now considered one of the most haunted places in the United States and serves as a destination spot for ghost hunters, all of whom hope to get into room 218 to see the ghost of Michael. He is just one of many rumored spirits still taking up residence in the building.

Urban Legend - The Black Shuck

Many cultures have a black dog urban legend contained within their spooky history, but I would think that the Black Shuck might be the oldest. This spectral dog is said to visit lonely roads and coastal paths in East Anglia, England, with eyewitnesses claiming the shaggy black beast to be as big as a horse. This legend dates back to the 12th century, but the story that most people quote is from 1577, when the Black Shuck entered a church during a storm and killed a man and boy, while also collapsing part of the roof. Nowadays, seeing the dog is considered a sign of impending doom.

Creepy Cryptid - The Fresno Nightcrawler

If you have not seen the video of these creatures, I suggest you search it out, as it is genuinely creepy. The first sighting of the nightcrawlers came back in 2007, when a security camera captured strange creatures walking across a front yard in Fresno. The beings looked almost like white pants walking on their own, with some suggesting that they were alien in origin. Future videos showed them again, with one in Yosemite being the most famous after the Fresno incident. There is a strong belief that the entire thing is a hoax, but you do have to wonder if the nightcrawlers are visitors from another planet or realm.

Video of the Week -Haunted Hotels

I almost went with the nightcrawlers as the video, but since I wanted to stick to a bit of a hotel theme this week, I chose something else entirely. The Top Fives channel has put together a very good video showing of the most haunted hotels in the world. The question now is whether you would be brave enough to stay in any of them. I might, as long as my wife came with me for moral support.

Horror Book of the Week - The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika K. Wurth

Again, I could have gone the easy route here and simply chosen The Shining by Stephen King given that it is easily the most famous haunted hotel book. I assume that many of you have already read this one, so I did a quick search for something a little more obscure, and I think I might have tracked down a good one. Check out The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth.

Random Weirdness - Username 666

Many of us enjoy going down rabbit holes on YouTube, just to see where it takes us. Things tend to get weirder and creepier the deeper you go, but have any of you come across the Username 666 channel? The story goes that if you stumble upon this channel, it comes to life, with images twisting and distorting. There is supposedly a trick you can use to access the channel, but rather than sharing it, I will leave it up to you guys to find, as I am not about to test that theory when I am home alone.

That is all I have for this week. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and receive all the presents you wished for. If you are staying at a haunted location, my wish is that the spirits allow you to enjoy your holiday in peace.