Your True Tales
April 2006 – Page 13

Troll on the Steps
by Jim Q.

Once, when I was about 14 years old, I was staying overnight at my aunt's house – and saw a troll! It was about 1 a.m. when I got up to go to the can, and as I was not terribly sleepy, I went to the kitchen to find something on which to munch. As I walked through the living room, I happened to pass the spiral staircase leading to the loft above the room. I saw sitting on the steps what I can only describe as a troll.

It was a stocky, little person about a foot tall, (I estimated) with short, thick limbs and a pocked face with heavy, drooping jowls. It made not the slightest sound or movement, but simply grinned and, after about a second, disappeared. I would have assumed that I'd imagined the whole thing. However, two of my cousins, both of whom have used the loft as their bedroom off and on, later told me of waking up several times to the apparition of a dead relative.

The association of "little people" with ghosts in various folk traditions of western Europe, along with the creature's striking resemblance to the stereotypical fairytale denizen has, I think, helped to reinforce my assumption that it was a troll, although I do not suppose I can rightly claim to know for sure.

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