Shadows in the Room

When I was young, around five years old, we moved into a new house in a new housing development. It was a two-story home located at the back of the neighborhood. We were all excited about living in our new house and didn’t suspect that anything unusual would occur.

We slept well the first night because we were exhausted from the move, but a few weeks after settling in we started to notice strange occurrences. Whenever we ate dinner we would hear noises coming from the second floor and it sounded as though someone was walking up and down the stairs. At first, we were scared that someone had broken into our home. My mom decided to check while my sisters and I stayed near the door ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. She came back to us with a puzzled look on her face. She didn’t see anyone and there was no sign that anyone had broken into our home. The noises continued, but we started to get used to it. My mother explained it away as the house settling and just making noises, so we ignored it, at least we tried to.

The noises were benign compared to what my mother and sister experienced. One night, my sister awoke to feel something tugging on her ankle. She didn’t think anything of it at first and she assumed that it was me playing a prank on her. However, she had locked her door before she went to bed, so it couldn’t have been me. The force became stronger and she felt herself being pulled off of her bed. As she held onto the bed she saw a tall, dark figure in the corner of her room. Demon? She didn’t know but she knew she couldn’t let herself be pulled under the bed. She tried to scream but nothing came out of her mouth. The force was becoming stronger, but she held onto the bed with all of her strength. Her body was nearly off of the bed and that was when she was finally able to whisper the word, Jesus. She kept repeating it and she felt the grip around her foot loosen and the dark presence that was in the room began to dissipate. When she was able to catch her breath she ran into our mother’s room and slept there for several nights. When she was finally able to sleep in her room again she slept with a nightlight and continued to do so for years after her experience.

My mother’s encounter with a shadow figure happened not long after my sister’s experience. She awoke in the middle of the night and her room was darker than usual. As she looked up towards the ceiling she saw a black mass hanging over her body. Its face looked demonic and full of malice and evil. She tried to move but she felt pressure on her body. She tried to scream, but she had no voice. The shadow figure kept looking at her and started laughing. She said it sounded haughty and mocking, as though it were laughing at how much weaker she was than it. When she was able to regain her voice she kept calling on god and Jesus and the figure faded away. She didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

While I never saw anything in that house, I never felt comfortable there and I always felt as though there was something evil and dark residing there with us. I avoided my mom’s walk-in closet in particular because I thought something dark and hooded lived in there. I never saw it physically, but I saw it in my mind’s eye, so I never stayed in her bedroom alone. Years later, after we had moved away from that home, my mother finally told us about a hooded figure she saw in her bedroom one day. She was resting and reading in bed when she looked up and saw a dark, hooded figure running across her room and through the wall. I was speechless and couldn’t believe that one of my childhood fears was a reality.

There are many unexplained things in our world and the paranormal is the most inexplicable. We can’t say definitively what it is, but we also can’t discount what anyone experiences. These experiences can be terrifying and they definitely leave a lasting impression on our minds.

*This is a true story and has been written down to the best of my recollection and based on what I have discussed with my family about their experiences.*