Image courtesy of Victor Habbick at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
When I was young and heard the word paranormal, the first image that came to mind was a ghost or someone dressed in white sheets trying to scare their parents. Or maybe that was just me. 🙂 Now-a-days it has a whole other meaning. There are werewolves, vampires, swamp monsters, and things I’d never heard of. Today is Paranormal Day, so I thought I’d share my paranormal encounter.
I bought my first apartment when I was 26. It was a single story 1 bedroom apartment in a small complex. The neighbors were nice, and with a little work, it became home. About six month after I moved in, I was sleeping when something woke me. When I opened my eyes I saw a dark shadow rummaging through my night stand. My heart raced with fear not at the figure but that I couldn’t move anything but my eyes.
As if reading my mind, the figure looked over at me. Surprise sparkled in the black pits that were its eyes. It moved towards me in slow motion, and as it did its face transformed into the face of the new hot guy at work. It hovered before me and then leaned in with the intention to kiss me. At last my head moved and I shook it, telling it, “There’s no way a fake face is going to make me kiss you, buddy!” It must have gotten the point because it dissolved before me. I startled awake, sitting upright, although slowly. My muscles were sore, as if I’d just run a mile. I looked around quickly but everything was normal again.
I knew I’d been in what I call a lucid dream state where I could see and hear everything around me, but couldn’t move my physical body. I’d done it before, but nothing quite like that. I spent nearly five years in that apartment and had several experiences similar to that one, some even scarier. I didn’t see floating spirits or chain rattling ghosts, but compared to what I did see those would’ve been a nice welcome.
When I submitted my debut novel, For the Love of Jazz for reviews, I was surprised that people considered it a paranormal (or had paranormal elements). It never dawned on my since it didn’t have vampires or the like in it. It was a nice surprise, one I’m sure William and Lola (the ghosts in the story) appreciated. Unlike the scary figures in my encounters, they’re trying to help my heroine solve a murder. They don’t jump out and scare anyone (that much) although they do try to take over the h/h’s bodies…oh wait, I’m starting to make them sound scary. I’ll stop there.
What about you? Have you had a paranormal encounter? How did it make you feel?
You’re a braver woman than I, Elke! I think I would have had to move houses if something like happened to me. My own paranormal experiences haven’t been scary, for which I’m grateful. The most vivid involve the ghost of a man named Ted. He was the original owner of one of the radio stations I worked for. In fact, I worked for this particular station three different times, and every time I worked there I encountered Ted in some form or fashion. The first time was in the early 80s. I mostly worked at night, and was often in the station alone. Though the control rooms were carpeted, the rest of the station was floored in terrazzo tiles, and there were quite a few times I heard footsteps on the tiles. It sounded like a man wearing dress shoes was walking down the hall, but when I checked, no one was ever there. It was freaky, but since nothing else ever happened, I kind of dismissed it. The next time I worked there my airshift was during middays, but one night I had to fill in for a deejay who was ill and was once again alone in the station. The FM control room was surrounded on all four sides by enormous windows, and several times that night I caught a glimpse of a short man wearing a white, short-sleeved dress shirt and narrow tie. I saw him in the lobby, the AM control room, and in what had once been the news room. The next day I asked the morning drive jock if the station was haunted and told him what I’d seen. He told me he’d seen the man, too, and that it was Mr. Ted, the man who had started the station in the 40s. Several weeks later I was at the station on a Sunday night catching up on my production when I heard the footsteps in the hall again. I took a deep breath and said, “Ted, you’re distracting me so I can’t do my job correctly. Please leave me alone.” That was the last I saw or heard of Ted during that time. The last time I worked there, Ted’s family no longer owned the station. I was doing the morning drive airshift then, and got to work about 5:30 each day. One morning I stumbled into the break room for a cup of coffee, and there stood Ted. He wasn’t fuzzy or indistinct, or anything you might think a ghost would be, but just as real and solid as I was. I stood there and stared at him for a minute, then said, “You’re distracting me from my job again. Please go away now.” I made myself turn away and walk to the coffee machine, and when I turned back, he was gone. My last encounter with Ted was when I got angry. I was Operations Manager of the station, and my teenage daughter had been hired to run broadcasts of St. Louis Cardinals baseball games on our AM station. One night she called me, panicked and in tears. She was running the game and doing her homework when she noticed the lights of the phone, like someone was picking up different lines. I told her to get out of the station immediately, and jumped in my car to head down there. I called the police on the way and explained what was going on. When I got there, there were cops swarming the place, and my daughter was freaking out. After a thorough sweep of the station, the police said it must have just been a glitch in the phone lines, but I knew better. I got my daughter calmed down enough to go back to work, and I went into my office and shut the door. Then I yelled at Ted for ten minutes, absolutely livid. The game had continued to run on the feed from St. Louis during the brou-ha-ha, but our local sponsors didn’t get their ad played, and we’d missed several FCC-mandated station IDs. All that would fall on my head as Operations Manager, and I let Ted have it. Nothing like that ever happened again while I was there. I don’t know if Ted still haunts the station or if that little stunt was his last hurrah.
I’d hate the thought of anyone frightening my daughter. That would have made me mad too! Wonder if Ted is still there? What an interesting story, talk about fact being stranger than Fiction.
WOW! Sounds like Ted didn’t want to let go of the station and was making you pay for it. At least he didn’t try to kiss you. 🙂
No, I was like the people in Poltergeist who wouldn’t leave. LOL! Only one incident at our new house, but I think that’s cause my mom prays everytime she visits. They don’t stand a chance again her.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story, Juli!
Ooh, Elke I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about what you experienced. I have a Mom who prays too and I would have called her, the Church Prayer band and all the … what do they call em? Yeah, exorcists, lol. What an experience!
As for Paranormal experiences, I’ve had brushes and stuff, but nothing as vivid as what you went through. And it tried to kiss you? Eeew. My husband has some experiences like that (not the kissing part, I’d kick butt). 🙂 They once lived in a real haunted house when they were growing up – banging doors, footsteps, things being moved arbitrarily – and yeah, they refused to move also. The neighbors kept waiting for something terrible to happen (it happened to past tenants), but nothing ever did.
I know what you mean, Sharon! The most I prayed in my life was when I lived in that apartment. Which was not a bad thing.
Stuff moving around and banging doors would’ve freaked me out more! You can’t wake up from that. 🙂