By Jodi Smith | Think Pieces | October 8, 2018 |
By Jodi Smith | Think Pieces | October 8, 2018 |
I’m the kind of person that completely believes I’ve interacted with and seen ghosts, but I hesitate to believe anyone else. You know, a hypocrite. In this, the month of October — filled with Halloween, scary movies, and an increase in Christmas decorations in the stores — I would like to share some of my paranormal experiences with you in hopes that you will share your own possible brushes with the demons or spirits that may possibly walk among us.
As a child, I was terrified of Halloween and begged my parents not to open the door whenever a costumed child knocked for candy. Luckily I learned to love being frightened in a controlled manner. None of the following stories are made up or happened in one of those nice, controlled areas like a Halloween maze or slumber party viewing of The Exorcist. Well, one happened at a sleepover.
Prior to having a drivers license or a car, I spent many nights at my friend Angie’s house. Her mother didn’t drive and her father worked nights, so once you were at her house you were there until your parents came to get you. The house was smallish, with a huge basement and attic easily accessible from the main floor of the home. It was also on a dead end street in the country with few neighbors and no traffic. I experienced multiple strange phenomena while at Angie’s house. Humanoid figures could be seen reflected in the bathroom mirror in the periphery of your vision when no one else was in the house. A presence could be felt when you were alone in rooms and it would touch you, pull your hair, or shove you if you spoke to it.
I was once in Angie’s room alone when I felt a presence in there with me. When I gathered the courage to ask what the entity wanted, it grabbed my hair and pulled hard. Another time, Angie, her mother, and I were the only people in the house. Angie and I had to go into the attic for something, but when we climbed the last step and entered the stuffy room we immediately felt we were not alone. We located what we needed and turned to head back down the stairs. Before we could take more than two steps, something began to stomp across the attic floor towards us. We careened down the stairs, screaming the whole time and annoying Angie’s mother. That night, the footsteps continued to pace from one end of the attic to the other, eventually prompting Angie’s mother to sleep on the living room couch with a gun in case someone had broken into the home and planning to head into the living areas.
Other incidents I attempted to explain away peppered my childhood as well. Whenever I babysat my cousins at my grandparents’ home, I ended up hiding behind the kitchen bar/counter because of the undeniable feeling of being watched. My Aunt Kathy’s old room upstairs held a claustrophobic sense of fullness that weighed me down as soon as I crossed the doorway. The chairs in the kitchen spun when no one was near them and the laundry room felt like something lived in the corner, pushing itself against you for daring to use the washer.
How about you? What strange, unsettling experiences have you had that possibly involved ethereal beings from another plane of existence?