Your
True Tales
June 2006 – Page
27
A
Dark, Foreboding Presence
by Chris
I was lying in bed, reading a book about religious experiences when it all began. I had become intensely interested in all things spiritual, especially the nature of spirit, what it was, what it meant, where it was – was it real or was it just fantasy? I, desperate for something more, wished with all of being that it was not just fantasy. I’m telling you, the reader, this because of the validity of the old aphorism, “Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.” I, in a haggard state of spiritual lassitude, was desperate for meaning in my life, something to elevate me out of a muck-filled world of spiritual apathy and emptiness. And though I always despaired over the future, of what I was convinced was the inevitable annihilation of my life, my identity, something in me hoped for a continuation of life. As it was, something extraordinary happened to me (is happening to me) to make me reevaluate everything I believe. I've stated to consider that there just might be a soul; that there might be another way of existing; that there might be something called spirit.
It started when I came upon a section in the book where an anonymous professor from Oxford narrated in a letter an experience he had with what he called a dark, foreboding presence hovering over him as he lay in bed. He claimed that it terrified him, an understandable response. As I read this, I heard a sound of metal bending and snapping back. It was a loud, vibrating sound. The first thing I thought of was that I had left the front door to my apartment unlocked and a burglar had entered and possible hit something accidentally to cause the sound. I was cursing myself for letting something like this happen and prepared to burst through my bedroom door and tackle anyone who had entered. Although I didn’t care for the plan, it was better than lying vulnerable in bed and waiting to be murdered.
I sprung from my bedroom into the living room but I didn’t see anyone. Indeed, the front door was locked and appeared to never have been opened. I checked my sliding glass door to the patio, but that was locked, too. After surveying the area, I decided it must have been the water heater or a household appliance. What ever it was, it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t a burglar.
I climbed into bed and began reading the book, again. I had just finished the professor’s narration when I heard the door to my bedroom smash into the door frame. Shocked, I just stared at the door, and as I stared, the door began to smash into the door frame as though someone was trying to push my door in. It did it over and over again, sometimes pausing for several seconds only to begin again with increased fervor. I had always told myself that if I ever encountered anything supernatural, like a ghost or spirit, I would stand my ground and not treat it differently than I would a spider or a bee. What bravado for I pulled the covers over my head and cowered like a baby in his blanky. After fifteen minutes of banging, it stopped. Nevertheless, my heart was thumping painfully against my chest and didn’t slow for hours. That night I didn’t get any sleep.
Other things have happened since then, but not with nearly the same terrifying effect as the night when an unknown force was pushing in my door. Usually I hear scratching coming from my closet and tapping: one, one two, one two three, one, one two, one two three. These unexplainable occurrences happen almost nightly. Recently, however, in my opinion, something has occurred that is even more sensational than the other phenomena: a visual manifestation of something unknown. A series of lights, like stars in the night sky winking in and out of existence, have been occupying the upper regions of my apartment, particularly my bedroom and always at night, although twice I did witness such activity in the day. I’m not afraid of it; rather, I’m enthralled by it. Actually, the phenomenon stopped approximately two weeks ago, but I wouldn’t mind if it began again.
For the last week and a half, occurring almost nightly, my bed has been shaking. Not violently like one sees in movies but enough to cause me to awake from my sleep. The shaking usually occurs at around midnight or 1 a.m. and continues sporadically from that point on, usually stopping around 4 a.m. Most of the time, however, it lasts only no more than 10 minutes or so. I don’t live next to any major roads. There really is no plausible explanation for any of my experiences. I don’t know what to make of it, and I would love to hear if anyone else has experienced such unexplainable phenomena in his or her life. Have I encountered a spirit? Or, as someone suggested, am I myself responsible the poltergeist activity? Am I unconsciously using telekinesis? All answers sound ludicrous; nonetheless, the situation itself is somewhat ludicrous.
Today, while walking to one of my classes, I smelled the most powerful aroma of perfume. It happened at about 11 a.m. At first I thought it was some woman who had doused herself with perfume to the point of putridness because the smell made me flinch. When I spun around to find who was responsible for the overpowering scent, I could find no one around to lay blame to. The area was bare of people except for a girl who was walking more than 100 feet away from me. And I knew it to have been impossible, even if she had bathed in perfume for hours, to exhibit an odor potent enough to have rode the wind all the way to me and smell as strongly as it did. What’s going on?
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