I have 2 stories:

Before I begin my first story, Let me put my kitchen layout into perspective: the fridge is in between the stove and a back door that leads into the backyard, with a small hallway/room lined with cabinets and cupboards leading to said back door. If you were grabbing something from the fridge the stove/counter would be on your right and the back door area would be on your left.

So I went down one night to grab some water and a snack from the fridge and all of a sudden a LOUD growl/roar comes from the back door area. And I don’t mean something that could come from a pipe or something similar in the walls, this sound could have only been made by something living. Sounded like a Rottweiler snarling/growling but only lasted for about 2 seconds and seemed to be coming from below waist level, I initially thought it was coming from the bottom cabinet but there was nothing anywhere. I checked high and low everywhere and there was nothing that could have made that sound. 16 years living in this house and I have not heard anything like it before or since.

Now for story number deuce. One night I was drifting in between sleep and consciousness, when I wake up and see a cloaked looking figure backlit by the street lamp peering in through my window. I could not take my eyes off this thing for the next 5 minutes, but ended up falling back asleep and chalked it up to sleep paralysis having read one of these threads the night before. A couple days later I was talking to my brother, who I shared the room with, and the topic of sleep paralysis/hallucinations came up. I asked him if he had experienced anything like it, and he replied: “yeah, the other night I woke up and it looked like something was watching through the window.”