phantom footsteps
Imagined approaching sounds
Phantom footsteps are sounds of walking heard when no one is there—a staple of ghost stories and haunted house accounts.
The phrase also describes the uncanny sense of being followed: She kept hearing phantom footsteps behind her on the empty street.
More broadly, phantom footsteps can suggest traces of absent predecessors: The phantom footsteps of former leaders echo through these halls.
- ghostlyResembling a specter
- hauntingDisturbingly unforgettable
- creakingHarsh, strained noise
- floorboardsHorizontal room planking
- echoingReflecting sound repeatedly
shadow · specter · apparition · invisible · stalking · unseen · hallway · darkness · dead of night · eerie · whisper · midnight · presence · lurking · following · attic · stairs · paranormal
- hauntingsghosts, apparition, apparitions, ghost sighting, ghostly apparition
- Gothic castledungeons, towers, turrets, battlements, drawbridges
- phantom soundshearing voices, voices, whispers, ringing, buzzing