Paranormal Story Archives
November 2002 –
Page 25
The
Poltergeist
by Ben A.
My first experience with the unknown was when I was living in my apartment building in Bloomington, MN. This was a bad place. The complex was full of broken drunks and or junkies, but even they weren’t the main problem with the place. The apartments were built next to the Bloomington Cemetery. The cemetery has been there since the 1880s. This fact, coupled with the very violent murder and a few non-violent passings on the complex is what I suspect to be the cause of my family and mines torment.
From as far back as I can remember being there (I lived there from 1984 to 1992), I usually had the feeling that somebody was watching me, as did the rest of my family. Strange occurrences would become the norm. For instance, shadows moving very quickly in the corner of our eyes, strange sounds of feet rubbing against carpet, and waking up in total and instant fear of danger for no reason were just some that we dealt with.
The stranger instances were hard to forget, like the time we (family) returned home one night to find the house messed up. Not quite ransacked, but things were out of place. A blanket was taken out of the bedroom and thrown on the floor in the living room, chairs were tipped over, lights were on that we knew we turned off (to save on the electric bill, we were very careful about wasting power). At first we suspected a robbery, but we found no signs of forced entry. All the windows were closed and locked and the only door into the apartment was deadbolted. Nothing was missing either.
The unusual happenings that occurred while I was there were interesting in a different way. At least a second or two before a frightening occurrence, and intense rush of cold fear and helplessness would overcome me. I recall one instance when I was home alone with my brother and my parents, friends, daughter while the parents went out. All three of us were sitting in the living room when we all got quiet and scared simultaneously for seemingly no reason. About three seconds later, something in the bedroom was knocked over. I jumped up and ran to the phone to call my parents, who then said they would be home soon. I decided to be the brave one, so I made my way to the bedroom where the noise occurred. Upon entering the room, I saw the window closed and locked, and a camera that was sitting on a chair knocked to the floor. The feeling of a presence was gone at this point, so I calmly walked back to the living room. For the rest of the time we sat quiet, cognizant of our surroundings and paranoid about our safety, but playing it cool like we were just watching TV until the parents got back. These things occurred so much at the apartment that it’s hard to recall all of them.
In 1992, my family finally had the good sense to move out of the apartments and into a new apartment in Apple Valley, MN. Though we shed the daily, stressful criminal element, the move did hardly enough to quench my thirst for peace from the torment of paranormal occurrences. The move to Apple Valley was what I was looking for... so I thought. A break from the constant fear of attack by a junkie on my family and I was relieving, but the strange unexplainable instances continued.
One night, I was talking with my friend from the same apartments I used to live in who was staying over for the weekend. Just as before, suddenly we both became quiet and crippled with fear and something in my closet fell to the ground. Having gained some bravery and from previous experience with this, I calmly walked to the closet and carefully opened it to and found a box of baseball cards, that was stably placed on a shelf, on the ground with no explanation. I showed my friend what happened. He too has stories of his own from those apartments, and was unimpressed by the mischievous gesture.
Apple Valley wasn’t as constant with the events, but they did turn more serious. One night, I awoke from my sleep to find a white apparition just inches away from my face. As it rose from my body I felt something around my neck. I couldn’t breath for about two seconds. After the roughly two seconds were over, I managed to force out a loud scream. My brother woke up, my parents ran in the room, and none of us slept soundly (especially me) for a week after that. This all happened in a span of around 8 –10 seconds.
Nothing happened after that for about two years, until one day the little things started to happen again. Classic occurrences - shadows, lights turned on, things moved around - and now I was sick of it. I was so sick and tired of being scared I convinced myself that there was no way around the fact that these were restless spirits. Why they tortured me, I didn’t (and still don’t) know. But I did figure out that what ever they were, they thrived off fear. The more you fear them, the stronger they get.
I decided to take a stand. One day after school (9th grade), I got home and started playing a video game. I started to get the feeling that somebody was watching me again, and I said "F___ YOU!" as loudly, passionately and confidently as I could. I still felt the presence. I then said, "DO SOMETHING, YOU ___________." Just after I said that, a cool breeze from out of no where shook the leaves on the plant in front of me, even though all the windows were closed. I said, "IS THAT ALL YOU F___ING GOT?"
Nothing has happened to me since that day. I was 15 when that occurred. There has been seven years of peace since. Needless to say, I don't tell many people about this. After all, sometimes EVEN I find it hard to believe, and I WENT through it. I am completely open to rational suggestion as to what happened all those years, and sometimes wonder if completely stressful, dangerous, and neglectful younger years had most if not everything to do with the apparitions. Maybe, when I took a stand against the apparition in Apple Valley, It triggered a release of fear for me that relieved me of imagined sightings.
But I struggle to find a scientifically based explanation for the physical occurrences. Things falling off shelves, blankets being moved, lights being turned on without explanation, and the fact that other people in my family saw the same things. Also, if this could all be written off as stress induced illusion, than why did it start so early in life. I would like answers, but I know I will probably never have them. It does feel good to finally write this down and get it off my chest though.
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