Nightmares and Dread
Joe had about all he could take of the ghost when something else began to occur. Joe would awaken scared to death. He did not know why, just that he was afraid, as if he was having nightmares but could never recall them. Each time he would awaken he would feel someone sit next to him on the bed. Mike had since moved out and Joe was at his wits end with all the haunting activity. The restaurant was holding its own, but our partners and us were not getting along,so we all decided to sell the restaurant. Joe ended up going to the doctor because he thought he was going crazy. He told the doctor about the issueswith the house and he prescribed Joe some Valium to help him sleep. The doctor chalked it all up to the selling of the restaurant and with that he told Joe that he was having a nervous breakdown.
It was obvious Joe had seen and heard enough, and he moved to South Carolina while it was arranged that I would stay in Virginia about two weeks longer until the new owners of the restaurant were trained. Three days after Joe moved out, all hell broke loose in the house. The walls did not knock nor did Joe's friend sit on the bed, but there was a heck of a party going on upstairs. I awoke not from sound, but from sheer terror like Joe had experienced several times before. I was scared. I decided I would run to the back door and jump in my car and get the heck out of there.
The Apparition
Then a thought came to me: What if they followed me? I would be alone on a dark country road. So I lay there in my bed too scared to scream, too scared to cry, too scared to run. Yes, I would be the stupid lady in the horror films who just stands there and lets the monster get her while everyone else in the movie theater is yelling, "Run, you idiot! Run!" I wanted to call someone to be with me, but that thought was interrupted...
The apparition ofwoman materialized before me, standing at the end of my bed. She spoke to me without ever saying a word. She told me it would all be okay. I felt a peaceful calm come over me like I had never felt before or since. I was not sure what I was seeing, so I looked closer. I could not see her face. I wanted to keep my eyes on her. I did not want to let her out of my sight because she was all that brought me comfort and sanity to what was chaotic and frightful. Yet I felt she would not be there long and I could only hope that that peaceful feeling was not temporary.
Though she reassured me several times things would be okay, I wanted to see for myself that what I was seeing was not a dream. I turned on the bedside lamp to see her better... and she disappeared.
I remained in the house for the rest of the two weeks without another incident. And as I left, I prayed that I did not bring any ghosts with me to my new home.
Poll: Should the couple have fled the farmhouse... or stuck it out?
