Submitted by Nicole Christianson
For the most part, I like to think I don't believe in ghosts, spirits, etc.
I mean... for the most part.
And I'm just going to say right up front, there is a perfectly reasonable, non-ghostly explanation for what I experienced. But there are other factors that, at the very least, intrigue me. And by the end of the story you'll see why I cannot say with all certainty that the non-ghostly explanation is one I am 100% convinced of. There remains just a shred of mystery.
So, first, let’s go over the reasonable explanation.
For obvious reasons, the lady who hallucinates really shouldn't read much into what she sees! I have multiple sclerosis. For years, I’ve been experiencing nightmare/hallucinations as a side effect of (who knows which) one of my many but mild prescription drugs that I take to treat various symptoms. I wake up screaming, and for a few terrorizing seconds, I see with waking eyes the thing I dreamed of, transposed over my surroundings, until it fades. It’s not as terrible as it sounds though, because it’s brief; and surprisingly I’m able to go right back to sleep. There’ve been literally hundreds of these.
The subject has never deviated from the usual: always some spider or insect. I’ve always had the same reaction post-nightmare – ducking, rolling away, or occasionally jumping out of bed. This time the subject and my reaction were both different, but that’s not the thing that I find peculiar, it’s more about what I discovered later.
I was out of town visiting my sister Jessie, and sleeping alone in a room with a closed door. One night I had one of my nightmare/hallucination combos.
It was dark, but I could clearly make out the shape. As I awoke, I saw a human figure crouched over me, and I was aware that it was watching me. Its stance was what I instantly recognized as one of ill-intent.
This time, I chose fight over flight.
I just started kicking at it furiously, all the while terrified out of my holy, effing, goddamn mind! Eventually it disappeared.
I got up and turned on the lights; no one was there. The door remained closed and the closet was empty, as was every possible hiding place in the room. I saw that I had kicked my blankets all over the place. I caught my breath and tried to calm down, but obviously left the lights on when I went back to sleep!
I stayed a few more days, but each day I forgot to tell Jess about my nightmare. But each night, right before I fell asleep, I remembered (and slept with the lights on).
After I went home, I mostly forgot about it for a while, until Jess and I were talking on the phone late one night. I was like "Oh my gosh, I was meaning to tell you, I had the most unsettling hallucination at your house. It was nothing like my usual ones. Almost made me question whether it was even a hallucination. I mean, of course it was, but..."
It was weird, because she literally got angry with me, and Jessie rarely does. I was like "You’re playing... you’re not really mad at me?"
Nope, she was actually a tiny bit pissed-off that I was telling her this so late at night, when she was awake alone! Poor Jess, the girl was legitimately scared. "Yeah... that room", she said.
I still get chills remembering how she told me that I was not the first person with issues surrounding that bedroom. Turns out nobody likes it. Her kids were always freaked out about it, and didn't like to play in it. Okay… that’s mildly unsettling.
But then she told me her boyfriend had "seen things" in that room. They were things with a certain darkness – things that left him with a distinct sense of disquiet.
She lives elsewhere now, and I’m glad for her and her family. Of course, as the skeptic that I am, I am not saying that I’m certain that this was anything other than an anomalous hallucination. Naw.
I will just leave it at this: If someone theoretically paid me a large sum of cash to go back to that house and spend the night in that ****ing bedroom, I would politely, but very firmly, decline.
Image: "-" by allnightavenue is licensed under CC BY 2.0