How is it for a child who experiences something not quite right. Something simple but still an experience that even in his small, unexperienced mind can't comprehend and he tries to forget his whole life long...

My father had a weak heart. In the 70's they tried to correct it with pacemakers which inevitably quit. They were the new gadgets on the market and had a lot of querks. Most of the time, they just quit working. But what do you do when you have children to take care of, while you go to the hospital and your partner goes as well out of sheer love for you? Someone has to take care of the kids.

And so it was. We, the children, had to stay with friends of my parents. They had a house in West Virginia built shortly before the civil war and it was quite a plantation in its time. They had talked about how lights would turn themselves on, strange noises and the old paintings that watched you. There is is certain way that a painter can do the eyes so that they appear to follow you. The eyelids are done at half mast, you might say, and the pupils are somewhat covered by them but not totally. And it was here that I spent the most horrifying night of my life as a child that has followed me my whole life.

I slept on a mattress on the floor with my sister, who was 4 years older than me. One nightmare after another plagued me the whole night until I awoke.... with eyes still shut. I knew something wasn't right. Gently a hand laid itself on the side of my head and pushed gently. It wasn't a warm sensation. It was the imprint of a hand that... pushed. It gently pushed. And I resisted.

I finally quit and let my head roll to the other side. Peace. Quiet. I can sleep again. Then it started on the other side.

Ok. Go with the flow. Let it push you over. Bamm! It started on the other side! I let it keep pushing, back and forth. I went with it. Eventually it was enough! My sister was playing with me! I opened my eyes... and she lay beside me, deep in sleep. Then the hand closed over my eyes and my head was violently tossed from side to side. Suddenly it stopped and the hand was pulloed away.

Then I saw him. Him! People, never wish anything on yourselves, no matter how strong your curiosity is. In his white suit with a single black necktie, tanned skin and black, unruly, shoulder-length hair, he grinned at me. It was a sinister grin. "I got you", he seemed to say.He looked right at me with eyes blacker than I'd ever seen. I remember the darkened bags under them. He stood with his 5' 10" hefty frame in the doorway directly at the bottom of my feet. He glared at me and I couldn't break my eyes from him. I felt such an... evil.

Then everything went black. I didn't sleep. I was simply gone I have no idea what happened to me. But it was not sleep. The fear and anxiety just shut my body down. I passed out, I imagine.

I awoke the next morning and ran downstairs to yell at my sister. She was never a "morning person" and promptly told me not to be stupid. But the wife of the hosehold looked at the shocked expression on the grandmother's face with an expression of "Oh God". I saw that. It was a dream, they explained. But for me, it was too real. I knew and know what I had experienced.

Years later my father told me how he had once found me in one of the rooms holding a one sided conversation with one of the paintings in the house. He had also had numerous experiences in that mansion and even an evp ( a tape recording of spirits) accidently recorded there.

You ask why I'm chickensh%t? If I have a gift, why don't I use it? I was 8 years old. And it scarred me. I will never, ever let someone stand across from me in that form and know he has a power over me. I'd rather run.

So it is for a child. And so it remains in his memory after over 30 years later. A bad dream? I don't think so.

Be careful

tla

ps. I still can't sleep without a light on.

"I do not claim to be an expert.  If I say anything intelligent, it was by pure luck."  thelostamerican@helloghost.com