Privacy Policy

Last updated: 19 July 2026

The EERIE Files (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates eeriefiles.com and its associated wiki, The Vault. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, and what rights you have over it.

Who we are

The EERIE Files is a community project for paranormal encounters, enigmas, rumours, ideas and experiences. If you have questions about this policy or your data, contact us at hello@eeriefiles.com.

What we collect

Story submissions. When you submit a story through the site, we collect your email address along with the content of your submission. Email addresses are used to follow up on submissions where necessary (for example, to ask a clarifying question or let you know your story has been published) and are not published alongside your story unless you specifically ask us to credit you by name or contact detail.

Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site — pages visited, time on site, general location and device type. This is collected in aggregate and isn’t used to identify you personally. Analytics relies on cookies; see the Cookies section below.

Wiki activity. The Vault wiki is currently admin-edited only — the public cannot create accounts or edit pages directly. If this changes in future and open registration is introduced, this policy will be updated to reflect what account data is collected at that point.

Cookies

The site uses cookies for analytics purposes, as described above. You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings; doing so may affect how some parts of the site function, but won’t prevent you from reading content or submitting a story.

Legal basis for processing

Where we process your email address for a story submission, we do so on the basis of your consent, given by submitting the form. Where we use analytics cookies, we rely on consent, gathered via a cookie banner or equivalent mechanism on the site. You can withdraw consent at any time.

How long we keep data

We keep submission emails for up to 6 months after submission, after which they are deleted unless we need to retain them for an ongoing conversation with you. Analytics data is retained according to Google Analytics’ own default retention settings unless we configure this differently.

Sharing your data

We don’t sell or rent your personal data. We may share data with third-party service providers who help us run the site (for example, Google Analytics, our hosting provider, or email service), each of whom processes data on our behalf under their own privacy terms. We don’t share your data with any other third party without your consent, unless required by law.

Facebook Group and Instagram

Our Facebook Group and Instagram account are hosted on third-party platforms, and any information you share there (posts, comments, messages) is governed by Facebook’s and Instagram’s own privacy policies, not this one. We don’t have visibility into or control over how those platforms handle your data.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@eeriefiles.com. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe we’ve mishandled your data.

Children’s privacy

The site is not directed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has submitted personal data to us, contact us and we’ll remove it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The “last updated” date at the top will reflect the most recent revision.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: hello@eeriefiles.com