Supernatural Writing Contest- The Hauntings

Today it seems like a lifetime ago as the passage of time makes our memories fade but certain moments of my life seem to stick around like gum on the sidewalk. I’ve always been a spiritual person, even as a child but many a time this spirituality has been perceived by others to be a strangeness or even that I was just outright weird.

There is one person in particular however who seemed to understand. She didn’t seem to think it was strange at all but just an accepted part of life and of who I am. She was quite spiritual herself back then but nowadays the distractions of life seems to have dampened that spirituality as life sometimes does. That person was my mother.

Back when I was a child, my mother was very aware of the supernatural and it was not treated as a joke in our household. It wasn’t something she discussed with my sister and I unless there were strange occurrences happening in the house and those strange occurrences seemed to be an accepted part of life amongst my mother and I. My sister didn’t seem to be as connected. It was like there was an emptiness within her. She never saw the things that my mother and I did but because of the way my mother spoke about it she seemed to take it seriously.

Whenever one of these events happened, sometimes my mother was intrigued, at other times accepting, but in some instances she almost seemed scared.

I’ve always been someone who has vivid memories of my childhood, even back to when my mother and father were still together and that was before the age of 2. They are not false memories made up from a vivid imagination as my mother will confirm but actual occurrences with much detail.

I remember the first time a supernatural event happened, I was asleep in bed. I must have been about 4 years old at the time. I don’t remember dreaming that night but what I do remember still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck when I recall what happened.

I suddenly awoke, I could hear that my mother was still up watching TV but as I looked towards the door from the relative safety of my bed, I saw the silhouette of a girl standing in the doorway. It wasn’t my sister, my sister was shorter than this apparition in the doorway. She had long hair and stood about 4 1/2 foot tall. Now that may not sound that scary so far but what was terrifying was that she was holding up a knife. I tried to yell out to my mother but my screams were stuck in my chest. I couldn’t move, not even to pull the covers over my head. I was paralysed with fear and the anticipation of what was to happen next was too much to bare. The lump in my throat was growing by the second and I was certain that this was the end. I prayed to be rescued from this terrifying situation but as I lay there, heart beating through my chest with eyes glued on the knife she was holding, the apparition floated forward through the doorway, into my room and faced towards me.

The light was now on her and I could see more detail. She had blonde hair, was wearing an old fashioned nightgown and her feet were bare. I expected to see light glinting off the knife but to my surprise, it wasn’t a knife at all. The object in her hand which had made it all the more frightening was in fact a carrot. Now I’m not sure if it really was a carrot in her hand or if my mind had just adjusted the situation to make it more bearable. Whatever the reason it did make it easier to deal with and the fear slowly subsided and I was able to move again. And as she silently moved ever so closer to my bed she simply vanished into thin air and I ran out to my mother for comfort.

This however wasn’t the end of my brush with the supernatural. A few months later a more sinister event unfolded.

Again I suddenly awoke from my slumber. The hallway light was always left on for me so a stream of light always made its way into my room. As I awoke, a feeling of dread washed over me. The wall opposite my bed was very dimly lit, almost dark. But as I was looking in that direction, a dark shadow slowly appeared on the wall. It was invisible in the light from the hallway but came from that direction. When it at first appeared on the wall, all I could see was the nose but as it slowly walked forward, more of this beast appeared until it’s entire head and body could be seen. I couldn’t understand how a shadow could be on that wall when there was no source of light on the opposite side of the room. It was the shadow of a fully grown mans body with the head of either a dog or a wolf and it was the scariest night of my life.

It slowly but surely made its way across the wall towards my bed and it felt like pure evil. Although this was the single most fearful event in my life, I wasn’t paralysed with fear this time. I could hear that my mother and stepfather were in the lounge watching TV so I threw back the covers and ran as fast as I could to the safety of my mother. The beast watched as I leapt from the bed and as I ran into the hallway the beast gave chase. As we were now in the light of the hallway, the beast could no longer be seen. It was a beast that lived in the shadows but was even more scary in the light. It was invisible in the light but I could feel it’s breath close behind so I knew I had to escape.

As I reached the lounge where my parents were, I thought I was safe as they would be able to protect me. As I screamed out to them for help they continued watching TV and didn’t respond. It was the point in my life where I first understood what the meaning of surreal was. They couldn’t see me or hear me. It was like a horror movie where someone has just realised they have died and have become a ghost.

With no way of getting any protection and with the beast in pursuit, my only option left was to hide. I scanned the room for a good hiding place but the lounge was sparse. The only place to hide was behind my mothers chair.

With my heart pounding through my chest and with no reaction from my parents, I silently waited for the beast to give up. Although I could not see it, I could feel it searching the room. The only place left for the beast to look was behind the chair where I was hiding.

As I prayed for salvation I could feel it as it moved closer and closer. The beating of my heart was so loud it had defied me and had given me up. With my eyes tightly shut I could feel the beasts breath as it looked behind the chair and I was sure my time was up when suddenly, I had the sensation of being sucked into some kind of spinning vortex. I was sure this meant it was the end and that the wolf headed beast had got me when all of a sudden the fear in me subsided.

I was back in my bed and the beast was gone. With my heart still pounding from the terrifying experience I again ran out to the lounge to my parents with a feeling of déjà vu. I was beside myself with fear that they wouldn’t be able to see or hear me again but to my relief I was back in the land of normality and was able to tell my mother what happened. My stepfather just laughed but strangely my mother seemed to take it seriously but that’s what I meant when I earlier remarked that my mother was also a very spiritual person.

That wasn’t the end of my encounters with the supernatural. They carried on throughout my childhood and into my 20s. Since my early twenties however as my life turned into a never ending party these occurrences subsided.

They still do happen occasionally and usually when at my mothers house. The kitchen window at her place is the normal place for these to occur. When standing at the kitchen bench sometimes while washing the dishes or making a sandwich I will see someone out of the corner of my eye walking in the backyard past the window but when I take a closer look there is no one there. My mother also has these experiences at the kitchen window and has always told me that it is just my great grandmother. And there lies a story for another day.

THE END