Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

This story is rather long, but please read it through, because it comes with a warning that hopefully can spare you and your loved ones from the scary things I now encounter.

I was in my late 20s and was a member of the United States Air Force (I’m retired now). I was a single mom of a 4 year old daughter. I had been suffering from chronic insomnia for several years since Desert Storm. It was about 11pm and I was drinking some herbal tea hoping it would help me sleep. It was almost midnight and sadly I was realizing that the herbal tea was another failed attempt to conquer my sleeplessness.

I walked toward my bedroom to lay there until I had to be at work bright and early at 7am. I peeked in to check on my daughter who was sound asleep with her favorite stuffed animal hugged up next to her and her right thumb securely in her mouth. I walked over to my room, closed the door behind me and lay on the bed expecting to toss and turn yet another night.

There was a bathroom across the hall and I always kept a nightlight burning. As I laid there thinking about what I was going to do about my insomnia, I heard something that sounded like running across the roof of the house. I lived in a nice little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house on base. There were several really nice, old trees shading base housing. So of course, we had families of squirrels that used the roofs of the houses as their track courses. However, the running I heard sounded like large dogs as opposed to the tiny scampers of squirrels. I sat up trying to figure out what in the world it could possibly be.

Suddenly, the light from the bathroom across the hall seemed much brighter, like the bathroom light was turned on. I was terrified. I knew that my little girl wasn’t tall enough to reach the light switch. And due to the tight security on base,and I always double checked the locks, I seriously doubted that anyone had broken into the house. But I had no idea what it could be. The light went back to the dim it was from just the night light. Then my bedroom door opened and I saw the large silhouette of a man standing in the doorway of my bedroom. My heart sank and I was frozen in fear. The “man” walked over to my bed and I actually felt the bed sink down. I was paralyzed with fear. As I lay there, I recited the Lord’s Prayer over and over. After, what I later learned had been 15 minutes, I got up the courage to put my hand on the left side of the bed. It was freezing cold, but there was nothing or no one there.

I bolted up and turned on every light in the house, except the one in my daughter’s room, where she was still sleeping soundly. Of course I got no sleep at all for the rest of the night.

It was hard for me to concentrate on my work the next day. I was very tired from not sleeping for the last few nights, but the fear of the night before was enough to keep me wide awake.

I had almost convinced myself that maybe it was some lack of sleep induced hallucination when I got a big shock from my 4 year old. While I was giving her a bath she began to tell me about the “angel” she had visit her the night before. I had always talked to my little one about God’s angels that were always watching over her. So it didn’t surprise me at all until I asked her what the angel looked like. She described to me a very tall man that had sat on her bed, took her hand and told her how pretty and sweet she is. I knew then that the man I seen was the same man or entity that had visited my little girl!!

We stayed with a friend that night. My friend was very much into the paranormal. She talked me into using a Ouija board to contact whatever was in the house. So the next day, her and I went back to the house and tried our luck. I don’t know if I believe it or not, but we did “contact” someone, I think. Supposedly, a man from the mid-1800s had mistaken me and my daughter, as his wife and daughter who had both died of some illness. He had been a farmer that had lived where base housing now is.His spirit was unable to rest in peace because he had taken his own life due to his extreme grief. He believed he was doomed to spend eternity in hell. As I said,I’m not sure if I believe it or not. All I know is the I didn’t move the planchette at all. When my friend began asking questions, nothing happened for almost 3 minutes. Then the planchette slowly slid across the board. First, it was slow then it sped up. I guess it’s up to you to decide what you believe.

Since I still had my doubts about the Ouija board, I decided to talk with a minister on base.The next day I talked with one of the ministers on the base. Luckily, he didn’t think I was crazy or making it up. In fact, he had dealt with various paranormal events particularly in England where he had been stationed for a number of years. He was eager to come to the house as soon as I got off work that day.

At 5pm, I had 2 of my closest friends and the nice minister at my home. He spent the next 2 hours telling me how very dangerous it was to dabble in the occult. Of course, I had confessed about the Ouija board incident.It had not been my first time with the Ouija board. And I had also gone to a tarot card reader several times, as well as a palm reader and psychics. The minister told me that I had unknowingly opened a door to the other side and some very unwelcome spirits or other entities had possibly invaded my life. He proceeded to read several scriptures to support this. He also explained that once that door was open, it is almost impossible to ever close it. He said it can be closed for a time, but not indefinitely, something would come back or come through again. And then he went through the house praying, at times in Latin. He told me he sensed some very negative, evil presences in the house. After about 3 1/2 hours he left. But he stopped by everyday until I moved out of the house about 3 months later.

I never saw the “shadow man” again. I guess I would like to believe that it was simply some sad, lonely man from the 1800s who simply was grieving over a wife and little girl. I would much rather believe that then think some evil entity was trying to harm my young daughter or me. All I know is that I stay away from all things dealing with the occult.

Hopefully, this warning will prevent all who read this from making the same mistakes I did. Even though I don’t dabble in the occult anymore, I am still plagued with paranormal incidents. The worse thing is that it not only is me, but my children as well. I now have 2 daughters. The 4 year old in this story is now 16 and I have a 9 year old daughter as well. I’m still a single mom. And everywhere we’ve lived, we have had some very scary, supernatural events. Some of which I will write about here. I just hope my stories will help others to stay safe and don’t open their lives to the unknown. Because once that door is open, it can never be closed.

Sent in by Rachel Andre, Copyright 2010