A number of years ago, when I was about 9 years old, we rented out a particular house. It was a somewhat run-down single-story house with two bedrooms. There was moisture damage in the roof and attic (which eventually caused a small cave-in of the ceiling tiles in our living room), and there was a cockroach infestation that I'm sure was related. Apparently this area was a little prone to flooding from a nearby creek. When we moved in, we moved many of our boxes into the largest room of the house, which had windows on three sides if I recall rightly. So, we called it the "storage room". The boxes contained things from when we had lived in a larger house, and things we had carried with us over the years. The laundry room was an offshoot of this room, and led to the back door.
So, with context in place, when I was about that age, I started to see "shades", or "damned things" as I first heard them called years after I had stopped seeing them. Shadowy human-sized apparitions that would dart across (or out of) doorways with extreme speed. Quick dark blurs always seen with my peripheral vision as if they avoided being looked at directly. I don't remember seeing these things until we moved into that house. If I had seen them before then, it definitely became very frequent there. In addition to this, for some reason I was always uncomfortable about that "storage room". For some reason I was afraid of that room, and usually tried to avoid going in there when it was nighttime or sunset. I occasionally went in there at night, usually because laundry needed to be finished, but felt like my life was somehow threatened by being there at night. I do remember at one point being worried that a robber might enter in one of the windows in the room while I was in there and snatch me away, but there also seemed to be a "threatening presence" there. At one time, I "challenged my fear" by going in there and just sitting there, alone, and nothing happened, but the 'aura' of the place never really went away.
One night in that house, I had a strange and threatening dream. I was in the living room (its doors lead to the kitchen, hallway connecting bedrooms and bathroom, and the storage room), and it was daytime, with few or no clouds in the sky. I could see the front yard out the windows through the open blinds. My mom was bustling about, seemingly getting ready to go somewhere, and most of her time was spent in other rooms, out of sight. The door to the storage room was open. At a time when my mom was out of the room, my feet were suddenly swept out from under me by an invisible force, and I began to be pulled across the carpet by my feet, towards the open door to the storage room. I "felt" or "knew" that this force was alive and demonic, and I felt that if I was pulled through that doorway I would die or something. There was nothing for me to grab, and I think I was so shocked that I didn't even cry out. Then my mom walked around the corner from the hallway, and the moment she became visible, I stopped sliding toward the door. She was unaware that anything was strange, and I stood back up without saying anything, maybe because I was so shocked. She grabbed something like her keys or purse and went back around the corner toward her room. When she was out of sight, I was swept off my feet again and began being pulled toward the doorway. This time I tried to yell, but no sound came out, as if my throat was constricted so all I could make was this hissing noise. I got around this by "cracking" my voice to turn the hiss into a high-pitched squeal. My mom immediately cam around the corner, although she still seemed unaware that anything was wrong (I think; that detail is a little fuzzy). So, the pulling stopped. I stood up, walked over to the window, and looked across the lawn. My dad was out there doing something, and I saw our pet cat wandering out near the end of our driveway (which was strange because ). Suddenly, out of a blue sky with only the slightest of wispy clouds, a lightning bolt struck our cat, burning her to a crisp, obviously killing her. And somehow I knew that this was the doing of whatever force had tried to pull me into the other room. Because it had failed, it was getting revenge in this way, threatening me. Then the dream ended. It was very surreal and vivid. Added detail: I just remembered that during the dream, I was convinced that this "entity" was Satan himself! :( ;)
This is the only dream I've ever had that I would strictly classify as a "nightmare". I've always wondered whether that dream meant anything. An attempted possession? Of course it could be nothing, but I've always wondered why all of these feelings centered around that house. Another piece of data; Right next door to us was a "Masonic Lodge", as in freemasonry, and the closest room to the Lodge was the storage room. So, who knows? When we moved to our next house, I continued to see the "shades", but I think my sightings of them became less frequent. I was still scared of the "storage room" in the new house. Naturally, I was always creeped out by them and would try to pray to God for protection from demons and such. Gradually I stopped seeing them. I learned a couple years ago that seeing these shades isn't terribly uncommon, but I haven't read much about them. I don't know to what extent my fear of demons/Satan influenced these experiences. Did the fear create the experiences, or did the experiences create the fear.
Learning continues... Sorry for the length or this post.
So, with context in place, when I was about that age, I started to see "shades", or "damned things" as I first heard them called years after I had stopped seeing them. Shadowy human-sized apparitions that would dart across (or out of) doorways with extreme speed. Quick dark blurs always seen with my peripheral vision as if they avoided being looked at directly. I don't remember seeing these things until we moved into that house. If I had seen them before then, it definitely became very frequent there. In addition to this, for some reason I was always uncomfortable about that "storage room". For some reason I was afraid of that room, and usually tried to avoid going in there when it was nighttime or sunset. I occasionally went in there at night, usually because laundry needed to be finished, but felt like my life was somehow threatened by being there at night. I do remember at one point being worried that a robber might enter in one of the windows in the room while I was in there and snatch me away, but there also seemed to be a "threatening presence" there. At one time, I "challenged my fear" by going in there and just sitting there, alone, and nothing happened, but the 'aura' of the place never really went away.
One night in that house, I had a strange and threatening dream. I was in the living room (its doors lead to the kitchen, hallway connecting bedrooms and bathroom, and the storage room), and it was daytime, with few or no clouds in the sky. I could see the front yard out the windows through the open blinds. My mom was bustling about, seemingly getting ready to go somewhere, and most of her time was spent in other rooms, out of sight. The door to the storage room was open. At a time when my mom was out of the room, my feet were suddenly swept out from under me by an invisible force, and I began to be pulled across the carpet by my feet, towards the open door to the storage room. I "felt" or "knew" that this force was alive and demonic, and I felt that if I was pulled through that doorway I would die or something. There was nothing for me to grab, and I think I was so shocked that I didn't even cry out. Then my mom walked around the corner from the hallway, and the moment she became visible, I stopped sliding toward the door. She was unaware that anything was strange, and I stood back up without saying anything, maybe because I was so shocked. She grabbed something like her keys or purse and went back around the corner toward her room. When she was out of sight, I was swept off my feet again and began being pulled toward the doorway. This time I tried to yell, but no sound came out, as if my throat was constricted so all I could make was this hissing noise. I got around this by "cracking" my voice to turn the hiss into a high-pitched squeal. My mom immediately cam around the corner, although she still seemed unaware that anything was wrong (I think; that detail is a little fuzzy). So, the pulling stopped. I stood up, walked over to the window, and looked across the lawn. My dad was out there doing something, and I saw our pet cat wandering out near the end of our driveway (which was strange because ). Suddenly, out of a blue sky with only the slightest of wispy clouds, a lightning bolt struck our cat, burning her to a crisp, obviously killing her. And somehow I knew that this was the doing of whatever force had tried to pull me into the other room. Because it had failed, it was getting revenge in this way, threatening me. Then the dream ended. It was very surreal and vivid. Added detail: I just remembered that during the dream, I was convinced that this "entity" was Satan himself! :( ;)
This is the only dream I've ever had that I would strictly classify as a "nightmare". I've always wondered whether that dream meant anything. An attempted possession? Of course it could be nothing, but I've always wondered why all of these feelings centered around that house. Another piece of data; Right next door to us was a "Masonic Lodge", as in freemasonry, and the closest room to the Lodge was the storage room. So, who knows? When we moved to our next house, I continued to see the "shades", but I think my sightings of them became less frequent. I was still scared of the "storage room" in the new house. Naturally, I was always creeped out by them and would try to pray to God for protection from demons and such. Gradually I stopped seeing them. I learned a couple years ago that seeing these shades isn't terribly uncommon, but I haven't read much about them. I don't know to what extent my fear of demons/Satan influenced these experiences. Did the fear create the experiences, or did the experiences create the fear.
Learning continues... Sorry for the length or this post.