Winding Stream Trail PT4: An Old Friend From Way Back When

After nearly three year's of living at Winding Stream Trail and over time, becoming more of a stranger in my own life, I decided it was time to make a change. A drastic and life changing one. I figured if I was going to endure everything alone then I might as well be alone. I left the life I had been building for the last decade behind. I divorced my first husband, I left him the house and most of the contents within it. I really didn't care that I would have to start over and rebuild my life from scratch. In a way, that is what I wanted. When I left Winding Stream Trail the activity seemed to die down a lot around me. After a little while I boiled it down to something to do with the house itself. For the first month or so, after I left, my life was a bit hectic. I wound up moving in with my God-Sister (we will call her L.F.) for a short time. Her Mother (we will call her R.H.) basically had a big helping hand in raising me since I was born, her and my Mother were very close friend's, and I looked at R.H. very much like a second Mother growing up until her passing when I was thirteen. So in turn, I looked at L.F. like a sister. It felt strange being back in that house again after fifteen years. The whole house had been gutted and sat mostly barren apart from what furniture and belonging's L.F. had in her bedroom. It was an empty shell of what it once was and it didn't feel like the warm and welcoming home it once did so long ago. 

It was an old shotgun house and it had two bedrooms and two bathroom's, a kitchen and a living room. When I moved in with L.F. I moved into R.H.'s old bedroom. I could still remember how the bedroom used to be set up all those year's ago as a little girl, when she was still alive. There were so many good memories tied to that house for me, it made me really sad to see the life and warth had all but completely drained from it. L.F. had fallen on really hard times after R.H. passed away and over time had to sell her and her Mother's possession's both to keep herself and the house afloat. At the time I could tell L.F. was really happy I was there, right away she started referring to it as our home. It made me feel really welcomed and comforted me to know that I could breathe and relax for a little while. The stress from the drastic and unplanned big life change was definitely taking it's toll on me. I was dropping in weight drastically and was suffering from really bad migraines as well as body aches and sometimes, severe pain. To which at times could be really debilitating. 

After at least a dozen or so doctor visit's and countless prescription medication's being prescribed to help manage pain, I still had no answer's as to what was really going on with me. I felt that because I was so young (26 at the time) doctor's weren't taking me nowhere near seriously enough. I didn't have medical insurance, so every visit and every prescription was paid for in it's entirety directly out of my own pocket. A few times, medication they prescribed to me would be way too expensive for me to afford (Upward's of $250 a bottle). I couldn't keep doing this so I eventually just accepted that whatever was going on, I was going to have to deal with on my own and do my best to help myself manage. 

One night, not long after I moved in with L.F., I was invited out to a house party by a friend of mine at the time (K.F.). It was just going to be a small gathering of people nothing too wild and crazy. I usually wasn't one to indulge in social gathering's but I felt like it might do me some good to get out and have a little bit of fun for a change. Give myself a break from the stresses of every day life. I rode in his car with K.F. to the party that night, his friend's house (Z.A.) was located in a very posh looking neighborhood. The houses were absolutely massive, mansion's by my own personal standard's. When we arrived and pulled into Z.A.'s driveway his house was no different, it was also massively gorgeous. K.F. and I got out of his car, grabbing bags of food and alcohol we had brought along for the party and made our way up the steps to the front door and gave it a knock. You could hear music blaring on a stereo from inside of the house as you approached the front door. At first K.F. and I just looked at each other and wondered if they would be able to hear us knocking over the loud music playing but after a few second's Z.A. opened the front door to let us in. 

As we entered the smell of marijuana smoke was heavy in the air and though the dowstairs area was pretty much void of anyone, you could hear people walking and talking upstairs. That was obviously where the party was taking place. We took a few minutes to unpack our bags of food and stuff we had brought with us and spent a few minutes socializing with Z.A. before he decided to lead us upstairs with the rest of the crew. As he lead us through his minuature maze of a mansion, we came to a big bedroom with only a few pieces of furniture in it and connected was a bathroom that was about the size of the bedroom itself. When we entered the bathroom we were greeted by Z.A's wife and about 4 or 5 more of their friend's, all gathered around talking and passing joint's around to each other. This was obviously where the extremely dank smell of marijuana smoke was coming from. We found our spots amongst the circle and joined in to partake. Up until this point I had smoked marijuana maybe twice in my whole life so even though I wasn't particularly new to the experience, I was definitely a light weight. Especially when there was multiple joint's being passed around the room at once. We all sat in there for about half an hour to forty-five minutes just chilling out conversating and smoking before we decided to go outside to catch some fresh air. 

Since we had been drinking and smoking Z.A and his wife offered for us both to spend the night at their house. It's better to be safe than sorry so we both decided to take them up on their offer and stay the night. Neither one of us had work or any real plans the next day. After about another hour or so I was extremely baked and more than a bit tipsy from drinking on top of it. It's not something I did often so I wasn't really aware of my own limitations. I eventually excused myself from the rest of the group and went downstairs to lay down on their couch in the living room. It was warm and cozy and dimly lit. Next to the couch was a fireplace which was lit and above it was a TV that was switched on but was muted, so there was no noise in the room. It didn't take long before I eventually drifted off to sleep, I was beyond exhausted and my body felt heavy. I had definitely overdone it a bit but thankfully not to the point to where I made myself sick. 

I am not sure how long I had been asleep for before I woke up again not able to move. I instantly thought to myself "Oh no. Please, tell me this is not happening. Not again." I laid there unable to move but with a little effort and determination I was able to squint my eyes open enough to see the room around me. I could still hear the crackling from the fireplace, though the TV no longer appeared to be on, I could see on the couch across from me that K.F. was fast asleep. To my knowledge everyone now appeared to be asleep in bed. The house was quiet and pretty dark. Then instantly, my attention went to the window next to the couch I was sleeping on, which was directly next to my head. Standing in front of the window next to the fireplace stood a shadow figure. My heart sank and started to pound "You have to be fucking kidding me?" It was just standing there, still as ever, appearing to just observe me. As I stared at it for a moment it looked oddly familiar to me as if I had seen it before. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It looked like the same exact shadow spirit that I saw through the mirror of my bathroom back in 2011. The same one I saw while I was wide awake five year's prior. It's as if it realized I had made this connection somehow and then something that has never happened before, happened. This shadow figure that was now standing before me observing me went a step further. It literally spoke to me and said "You are going to regret what you did." This memory has stuck with me for a long time and I didn't know wether to take it as a threat or as a warning to be careful. At this point I knew for sure that it wasn't just the house at Winding Stream Trail. Whatever or whoever this was has been following me for much longer and by the look's of it, had no intention's of leaving. No matter where I went. It would surely follow.

Winding Stream Trail PT3 - The Experiment

I believe there is some truth to the saying: "If you seek it out, it will find you." My curiosity only grew as more time passed. I began taking pictures more often around the house when I was alone. Back then I had a nice Nikon digital camera that I used for my photo session's. I don't know the real science behind it but something to do with the flash of the camera allows us to see thing's that we usually can't with the naked eye. Being in my mid 20's, among spending a lot of time alone, I found solace in music. Over the year's without realising it, I built emotional connection's to song's from various music artist's of various genre's. A big one for me was "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. For year's I couldn't listen to that song without breaking down into tear's. I silently deemed it my Mother's song after she passed away. 

I began to notice that when I was home alone and playing certain song's through Spotify or Youtube that one of two thing's would start to happen. I would either start to get this tingling sensation that would start at the top of my skull and work it's way down my body leaving me covered in goose-bumps OR I would start to get weird feeling's and start hearing thing's around the house. One day I am not sure what possessed me to (possibly my cat's acting strange) but instead of taking pictures I decided to try to film a video instead to see if I could capture anything. Ironically, I was listening to "If you have ghosts" by Ghost when I started filming in the computer room which was very much audible in the video afterwards. At first I felt really silly, I didn't really think I was going to capture anything on video but after a few minutes and a bit of patience, I started to see several bright balls of light start to appear on the screen. They were hovering around the computer desk next to mine, which belonged to my husband at the time. 

I sat for a few second's observing them, darting my eyes from the screen of the camera to where they were supposed to be flying around. At first I thought that it could all simply just be dust particles in the air but the way they moved so fast and with purpose seemed to greatly suggest otherwise. I moved and positioned the camera to film the doorway which lead out into the the hallway and kitchen area. Directly outside the computer room, across the little hallway, was a small closet door we used for storage. It wasn't long before I saw these same balls of light flying out of the closet, through the closed door, coming directly into the computer room where I was sat. I even captured some orbs coming up through the floor from where the basement and two-car garage was located on the level below. (Where I had previously captured the ghost hooks in a photo after our basement flooded) I was intrigued and somewhat relieved to have caught these light anomalies on video. It somewhat was a small step towards validating I wasn't entirely losing my mind. After a few minutes of filming I decided that for the hell of it I was going to take a few pictures too.

I snapped a few random photo's and looked toward's the doorway which lead into the room to take another. I had a habit of glancing at the screen of the camera each time I took a photo, as it gave you a few second's to see a photo after it was taken before it was stored. As I glanced at the photo of the doorway, I noticed right away that something had been captured. Right away I went into my photo library to bring up the picture to have a better look. At the top of the door frame, hovering in the doorway was a big bright florescent green colored orb. As soon as I realised what I was seeing, this insane energy burst just comes rushing in at me, engulfing me. It's the weirdest overwhelming and intense sensation to try to explain, it's like a violation of space by a force of energy that you can't even see but only feel. Almost instantly that fight or flight adrenaline came over me, kicked into overdrive by the energy I was feeling but I didn't run, I stood my ground. I just simply said "I can feel you, I know you are here, can you please stop?!" and just like that it began to ease off and go completely. For a few minutes I just sat there in silence in complete disbelief at everything that I had just experienced. All of my energy felt like it had just been sucked right out of me, I was completely drained. I was so tired that it felt like I had not slept in days. I had, had enough and after some time spent calming myself down I decided to go lay down and try to get some sleep. 

Later that night after I woke back up, B.B. and a mutual friend of ours (We will call him Yogi) who lived with us at the time, were both back home from work. I felt like even though it was nothing ground-breaking at least the video I had captured of the balls of light flying through the room, through the floors, and through closed doors would be enough to kind of show them I really was experiencing thing's when no one else was around. I remember playing the video for B.B. and watching his reaction to it. Afterward's he just looked at me and said something along the lines of "What is it supposed to mean and what am I supposed to do about it?" he had mentioned to me in the past (a few times) that the paranormal and anything to do with it basically scared him so he didn't mess with it or indulge in it. So after his response I didn't even bother mentioning the green florescent orb experience. From that point on I was pretty much done trying to prove anything to anyone except myself. The more attention and time I invested into this, the more often thing's seemed to happen. 

It was time, to instead of just observing silently and documenting, to change the way I had been going about thing's. This time I was going to do a little experiment, I was going to actively try to engage and interact and communicate, directly, with whatever this entity(s) was that was around me. My thought process was that the theory behind spirits is they need energy in order to manifest. The idea of using our rechargable lithium battery-powered flashlight instantly came to mind. It was heavy-duty and descently newish but most of all, reliable. I went to collect the flashlight and it's charger from the basement and brought them upstairs to plug in until fully charged. Once everything was in order I closed the door to the computer room to keep my three cat's out of the room, I turned everything off in the room so there was only complete silence. It was broad daylight outside so the room was lit up naturally from the sunlight shining through all the pine tree's surrounding the house in our yard. I sat in my computer chair at my desk and swiveled to face out into the room. 

I held the flashlight out in front of me in my right hand and turned the switch to where it powered on. I took a deep breath in and asked "If there is someone here with me, will you please turn the flashlight off?" I sat for a few seconds in complete silence, looking casually around the room waiting to see if I get a response. Next thing I know I feel the area around my right hand start to get very cool in temperature, like significantly cooler. I begin to feel tiny vibrations in my hand from the inner-working's of the flashlight being messed with, I could hear the inside of the flashlight making a clicking sound. Then within an instant, the flashlight turned off and that same exact intense energy that I described earlier, came flooding in even more intense than before.  That was it, I completely lost it. I grabbed my purse and car keys (I had a car by this point in time again, thankfully) and left immediately. I was scared sh*tless. This time I ran, I was not sticking around after that. As soon as I got into my car to drive off, I felt like it was still following me. I felt like the damn thing was sitting in the passenger seat directly next to me. (Also, to point out I drove a little two-seater smartcar) So it was close and I refused to look into any mirror's as I drove. It wasn't until I was almost well into town that I felt it finally leave. To say I was shook would be an extreme understatement. This experienced changed me and my mindset about everything up until that point. I was living and existing in a f*cking nightmare...both awake and asleep. 

I was no longer curious, I wasn't interested in trying to understand or communicate. I just wanted it to be over.  

 

 

Winding Stream Trail PT2 - Down The Rabbit Hole

After my experience with the Lady in Black, I really started researching the matter a lot more. I had reached the point to where I knew it wasn't all just in my head, it wasn't all just one big elaborate coincidence. What ever was going on and what ever was happening to me, even though it hadn't been consistent over the year's, was definitely happening. It was 100% real to me and I felt the only way I was going to find any answer's was going to be by learning as much as I could about the paranormal, sleep paralysis, astral projection, spirits/shadow spirits, spirituality, astrology, numerology, reincarnation, the list really does go on. For the better part of almost two weeks all I did in my free time was research, watch video's on Youtube, watch documentaries, watch paranormal tv shows, and do more research in between. I became borderline obsessed and even took it upon myself to rearrange the bedroom in a way that was supposed to improve Feng Shui and moved the bed away from the window (where it was positioned previously). 

Toward's the end of this two week period I had another episode of sleep paralysis (So much for Feng Shui). This was the first time I had experienced episodes so closely together. There was at least a year or two that seperated my first two episodes. This one also happened as I was falling to sleep and not waking up. I remember on this particular night I was having a really hard time getting comfortable and falling to sleep. I am not certain how long I was tossing and turning for but it had to of been for at least a few hours. I just remember at one point being aware that I felt like I was floating down, what I can only describe as a stream of soft silk. It flowed like water in a stream but was so soft and didn't have a cool or warm sensation to it. I distinctly remember thinking to myself "This feels really nice, I am just going to relax and see where this goes." because I had been struggling to fall asleep for so long. I was extremely naive to think this way after what I had went through previously. This relaxing and somewhat soothing experience quickly turned into something much more disturbing. 

As I began to indulge in the silky river and allow myself to drift off , I was met with the most evil and sinister sounding laugh you could possibly imagine coming from outside around me. Not in my head but right next to me at my bedside in my bedroom. Though my body was paralyzed there wasn't a sensation of heaviness on my body like there had been before in previous episodes, and even though it was a struggle I was able to fight to open my eyes enough to see around me. That usual intense fight or flight emotional response was more than apparent and once again, I was all fight. I felt like whatever this thing was, was intentionally trying to scare me. Like, it was getting some kind of sick twisted enjoyment out of tormenting me. I mustered all the strength I could in my neck to turn my head to the side of the bed where this laughter was coming from. The challenge of struggling to open my eyes was just as diffcult but I was eventually able to get my sight positioned exactly where it would of been standing but there was nothing there. I couldn't see anything at all. I'm not quite sure if most people would have the same responses to these thing's as I do but I instantly got pissed off. 

I began to order my brain to snap out of it and every muscle in my body to start moving. I wasn't about to try to force myself to go to sleep after this. After some time writhing I was able to finally force myself up and awake. I sat up straight in bed, right away looking around the room, my eye's darting to every nook, cranny, and crevice. The room was dimly lit by a silent TV screen, the only noise coming from the ceiling fan above. My husband at the time was once again asleep soundly next to me, nonethewiser to anything that had just happened. I didn't understand what was going on and I had no one to talk to about it. The few people I did decide to share it with, usually didn't even know how to respond. Thing's only continued to ramp up after this.

My energy levels started to greatly decrease. I was sleeping 12 to 16 hours a day and sometimes more. No matter how much or how little sleep I got, I would feel completely exhausted. Forcing myself up and scraping myself out of bed to even go to work was misery. At this particular point in time I was going through a lot in my private life and I was extremely unhappy in a lot of area's. Depression from private life combined with confusion and frustration about all the thing's going on with me and around me that didn't make sense, depleted my energy entirely. I can't recall how much time exactly had passed in between but eventually I began to get woken up while sleeping, very regularly, to my name being called. Sometimes it would sound male, other times like a female. There were times it sounded demonic or even robotic but the voice never sounded the same each time it would happen. 

In the coming weeks that turned into months, I was spending a lot of time alone by myself. I would spend a lot of my time sitting at my PC in the computer room, usually playing video games and listening to music. On this particular day I was sitting at my computer desk playing World of Warcraft with a friend of mine who lived in Texas, we will call him C.N. We were on voice chat through Discord and we had just entered into a battle ground (PVP arena). All of a sudden my entire computer just shuts off completely and so does the light in the room. I look over at my husband at the time's computer desk (as it was close by to mine) and his computer was still on and running like normal. At first I thought it was a simple power surge or a blip since the house was quite old but then I started to feel that weird type of energy start to build up in the room around me. That same kind of energy I felt all those years ago when I was 14 in Panama City Beach, Fla. The room started to feel really heavy, like there were too many people crowded into one room, even though I was home completely alone. I don't know why but I began to feel extremely unsafe and I told myself to just leave. I low key started to panic and decided to call my friend back on mobile. I explained to him what was happening and asked him to stay on the phone with me while I got dressed to leave the house. 

My bedroom was located right next door to the computer room. As I walked out of the computer room and into my bedroom it was like whatever it was, I could feel it following me. I grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans from my closet and I tell C.N. to hold on for a few seconds while I get dressed. I sat the phone on the bed and rushed as fast as I could to get dressed. As I am almost finished and pulling my t-shirt over my head, I am instantly frozen in fear. I hear someone standing next to me whispering something incomprehensible into my ear. It was so low, I couldn't even make out if it was supposed to be a male or female voice. I paused for just a few seconds (still hiding within the safety of my cotton threaded t-shirt) to see if it says something else and it DID. I pull my shirt over my head and look next to me revealing nothing is there. I grab my phone and my purse and tell C.N. I am calling my Grandfather to come pick me up. Unfortunately, my car had recently broken down so I was unable to drive. My Grandfather only lived about a 10 minute drive away from me so thankfully it wouldn't take him long to get there. I sat on the steps of my front porch until my Grandfather arrived. 

Even though it was about a 10 minute journey his arrival seemed to take ages. As soon as his car came to a stop in the driveway, I jumped into the passenger side seat. I must have appeared a bit visably shaken because the first thing he asked me was if I was alright? I honestly didn't know what to say or how to begin to explain what was going with me without sounding completely bat-shit crazy. For years I had been experiencing odd things here and there, since being a little girl BUT nothing ever like this. Other than my sister and a few friends here and there over the years, I never spoke to anyone about these types of things. Most of the time it was because I didn't know how to and honestly I didn't want other's to start judging me or thinking that I am crazy because it's the easiest thing to do in these kind's of circumstance's, to just assume someone is crazy or mentally ill over these sort's of topics. Especially, when you come from and live in the bible belt. 

When we arrived at my Grandparent's house my Grandfather and I sat on his porch smoking a cigarette. We sat in silence for a few minutes, I was inwardly trying to decide if I was going to try to open up to him about some of the thing's going on with me or not. I thought to myself the worst that could come of it, was he would think I was a complete fruit loop who's cheese had slid all the way off it's cracker. Instead of laying it all out I just asked him a few question's on the subject matter. I asked him if he ever experienced something he couldn't explain, something that seemed odd and maybe even supernatural? My Grandfather was a man's man, very old school. When and if something upset him emotionally you wouldn't know it, he never cried in front of anyone except maybe my Grandmother, and he wasn't easy to have emotional or even spiritual conversations with. I asked him if he had ever felt thing's or saw thing's he couldn't explain? He looked out into his front yard and took a long drag off of his cigarette. Surprisingly, he nods his head and said "Yes." I am not sure if the shock was apparent on my face but so many questions came flooding into my head, I was extremely curious. He continued on to say that there have been a few times in his life that he has seen or felt something strange but would deal with it by ignoring it. Unfortunately, my curiosity was short lived and I decided to leave it there. 

I was at a crossroads and I knew I had two options. I could either choose to embrace what was going on with me and open myself up to it and possibly find some answers OR I could choose to keep trying to ignore it. 

Well...since trying to ignore it for so many years didn't seem to be working, I took it upon myself to open myself up to the possibility of something that seemed impossible. It was time to travel willingly down that rabbit hole...

Winding Stream Trail PT1 - The Lady In Black

This is going to be the first out of several entries to do with Winding Stream Trail:

When I was twenty-three my first husband and I purchased our very first home together, the year was 2013. We were newly married and decided it was time for a home of our own. By the time we had settled on this one particular house we had been on the market for a few months, most places we had looked at were either located too far from work or family so this house was centered close by to everyone and the commute to work was short enough, so it was perfect. It was definitely a fixer-upper, it was built in the 60's, so because of it's age and the amount of work it needed done to it, we got it for a really cheap price (around 60k) if I remember correctly. It was a two-story house with 2 bedrooms and bathrooms with a full basement, two car garage, and a beautiful sunroom. In the backyard was an under-ground pool with water so green it looked black, the whole yard was fenced in and extremely over-grown. The house sat on a very wooded and secluded plot of land. So wooded, that even from the street you would have a hard time spotting the house unless you were really looking for it. 

The first six months went off without a hitch, I acclimated to the house and my new surroundings pretty well. I can't remember exactly what started it but after a while when I was home alone thing's started happening, small thing's. I would get this strange and overwhelming feeling of being watched by someone or something. I would hear strange noises around the house as if someone were walking around when I was the only one home. At first I just chose to ignore it (if you have read any of my past posts you will see this is one of my coping mechanisms, ignore it and it will go away) though most of the time, unfortunately for me, isn't the case. 

It was close to Christmas and I remember my husband at the time (we will call him B.B.) and myself were out visiting with his family who had come into town for the Holidays. That particular year we had a terrible rain storm, so bad it was like a monsoon. Because the weather was so bad we decided to stay overnight with his family members at his aunts house and make the journey back home the following day. When we arrived home the following day we were grateful we didn't have any downed trees or damage to the house (huge pine trees spanned the entire yard, front and back). Or so we thought. Our washing machine and dryer were located in the basement. I have never been a fan of basements ever since I was a little girl. So I usually had to haul the clothes hamper from our room upstairs down into the basment to do laundry. When I got down into our basement it had completely flooded out from the rainstorm the night prior. Everything that was down there was completely destroyed. We instantly felt the pains of being first time home-buyers. 

In the following days we contacted the home insurance company to make a claim. After work one afternoon B.B. asked me to take photos of all the damage in the basement to send off to the insurance company. I was home alone and loathed going into that basement especially when I was home alone but I knew it needed to be done so I grabbed my digital camera put my big girl pants on and made my descent down into the basement. When I reached the door I expected to be met by water but since a few days had passed most of the water had been absorbed by the walls and excess had leaked out through the garage door and into the yard. There wasn't much light down there due to the basement not being wired correctly and the drop ceiling made it impossible to install any lights. So I opened up the door that lead into the garage, used the only source of light from the basement bathroom and began snapping pictures of the basement. At first everything was fine but then I snapped a picture and what I saw absolutely baffled me entirely. In this particular photo there appeared to be what looked liked long white ghost hooks falling from the ceiling. The kind of hooks they use in slaughter houses to hang meat onto. I snapped a few more pictures to see if more would show up but they didn't but I was able to catch a few more light anomalies (like orbs) flying around in the photos but nothing like the hooks from the first photo I took. (I wish I still had these photos to show as proof but unfortunately so much time has passed they have been lost over the years). 

After a few more minutes of snapping photos that same overwhelming feeling I mentioned before came rushing in on me. Except this time it wasn't just a feeling. Standing there alone in the basement in this big house with no one else around, I heard the distinct sound of a voice standing right next to me. I couldn't make out what it said or if it was male or female but I knew I heard it. My eyes widened with fear as I scanned the basement, I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks as my heart started to pound out of my chest. Something was down in that basement with me and I was wanting no part of it. I instantly ran through the door that lead into the two car garage and called B.B. frantically trying to tell him what had just happend and what I had just captured on camera. Naturally, he played it down and shrugged it off. To him it was all in my head and nothing more. Admittedly, I was frustrated and annoyed and felt dismissed entirely. 

Fast-forward about a week or two, by this time I had all but forgotten about the basement incident. Life was back to normal and continued as usual and I was getting ready for bed on this particular night. I was usually in bed way before B.B. I would lay in bed watching TV as I fell to sleep with the volume turned down really low because I am a light sleeper. The only real noise in the bedroom was from the fan blowing on me to keep me cool. If you have ever been to GA then you know how hot it can get in the summer months. Eventually I fell to sleep but my peaceful slumber wouldn't last. I woke to that old familiar feeling of being paralyzed and unable to move or speak. Except this time I was seeing everything around me. My eyes scanned the room and at first I didn't see anything until  my eyes shot to the foot of the bed where my feet were. 

Sitting there at the foot of my bed was a woman. I was instantly scared and didn't know what to do so I just kept staring at her. She had long black hair that spanned down the length of her back. She was wearing what looked like a solid black kimono or dark monk robes. I couldn't see her face at first because of the way she was seated and positioned. Then after a moment or two she began to move. She turned her head to look at me and when she did I noticed she had white bandages wrapped around where her eyes should be. The wraps appeared to be covered in a dark substance almost like dried blood. She began crawling towards me (grudge style) and when she began doing this, for some reason, my reaction was to look away. She didn't like this it all and it did nothing to deter her, not even a moment later I was face to face with this thing. When she reached my face (I could feel her hair on my skin) her mouth opened, it was circular and black and when I say she started trying to suck my soul out like a dementor from Harry Potter, I literally mean I could feel this as it was happening. At first I was just letting it happen it felt weirdly peaceful. I remember thinking to myself briefly if this is what dying feels like then it is actually pretty peaceful. A few more seconds pass and it's like I snap out of whatever daze I am in and realize I need to fight back or I may die. 

When I say I was instantly filled with rage and void of fear I mean it was like a switch flipped. I was no longer scared of this thing and in fact I was extremely pissed off. I literally heard myself cussing this thing out and telling it to get off of me. I was all fight and no flight. A few moments later I was able to get myself out of it, my brain and body were once again on the same track. I sat up out of bed, my heart racing and B.B. was sound asleep next to me. My eyes darted and scanned the room to make sure nothing was there and that it was safe and of course I didn't see anything there. This would be my second run-in with sleep paralysis and my first experience with the lady in black. 

Sleep Paralysis

 After my Mom passed away when I was twenty-one and I started having paranormal experiences more frequently, I also began to have episodes known as sleep paralysis. I would say it wasn't longer than a month or two after she passed away that these episodes began to happen but what's really strange is HOW they started happening. 

One afternoon in the summer months (August - September time, my Mom passed in July) my sister and I decided to go out and have some lunch together at the local Zaxby's in town. My sister and I were pretty close and we felt comfortable enough to talk to each other about the strange thing's that had been happening to us both without fear of judgement. Before this lunch date with my sister, I had never before heard of the term sleep paralysis and honestly had no idea what it was. My sister asked me if I had ever had sleep paralysis before, my answer was obviously no but with my curious brain I asked her what it was? She explained to me that basically when you are falling asleep or waking up that your mind wakes before your body does. 

She went on to describe to me that when she has an episode she can't move her body because it feels heavy as if someone is laying on top of her. She goes on to say she is also unable to speak but usually is able to open her eyes if she so chooses. Sometimes she would even see shadow figures around her. She shared that on top of having these bouts of sleep paralysis she was also having instances where her name was being called out by a disembodied voice while she was awake. To be honest I didn't know what to think about everything we shared with one another, I chalked it up to stress and still being in the mourning stages of loss on both of our parts. 

This is where sh*t get's REALLY interesting. A few short days had passed and by a few, I literally mean a day or two. Keep in mind, after the conversation I had with my sister, I was still skeptical about the thing's happening to us. One night I woke up hungry in the middle of the AM's, I had gone to work earlier that night and brought home some ice cream. Everyone else in the house was asleep so I decided to get up out of bed and grogilly make my way to the fridge where I indulged in my DQ blizzard (probably Butterfinger knowing me) and went straight back to bed afterwards. 

I don't know how much time passed from the time I layed back down until I woke up unable to move. I remember the sounds of 100+ voices talking all around me in a whisper but I couldn't make out a single word any one of them were saying. I couldn't move my body and even though I felt like I could, I didn't open my eyes. My body felt so heavy like there was this invisible force holding me down, I couldn't move at all. I remember thinking to myself "What the f*ck is going on?" I layed there for a few seconds even though I was scared sh*tless, I was trying to see if I could make out what these voices around me were saying but honestly it was impossible. I refused to open my eyes, I consider myself brave and logical, but in that moment all logic went out the window. 

I did the only thing I could think to do, after a few seconds of listening to these voices talking all around me, I just told myself to go back to sleep over and over again in my own head. Eventually after saying that a few times, I did. I fell to sleep with no problems. When I woke up the next day it all came rushing back to me, I remembered everything, the heaviness, the voices. In a twisted fate of irony I just simply said to myself "So, that was Sleep Paralysis." I know this is going to sound crazy but I feel like something had overheard my sister and I talking that day at lunch. I don't know if it is a spirit, ghost, demon, interdimensional being, I can only speculate. But something intelligent, something able to observe and interact made contact with me that night. If you haven't already read my blog entry titled "I could see it through the mirror" I would suggest giving it a read. Eventually, after some time, what I believe to be this same being, made contact with me in a visable and conscious manner. 

I could see it through the mirror...

I'd like to start off by saying that I've had loads of experiences throughout my lifetime but the one I am about to share with you is THE ONE that stands out above all the rest.

The year was 2011 and it was my twenty-first birthday. I don't remember much from earlier in the day, all I can remember is my boyfriend (at the time) and myself went to my parents house to see them and spend time with them for my birthday. During my visit with my parents I noticed that my Mother seemed really off. The facial expression she carried seemed far away, like her mind was elsewhere but her body was there. I do need to point out that my Mother and I were extremely close, she was literally my rock, THE most important person to me in my life.

I remember being there for a few hours, we had cake and ice cream and took a few pictures. I didn't know it then but eventually I'd come to the realization that, that would be the last picture I would ever get to take with her. I remember getting ready to leave and kissing her and hugging her goodbye, the last words she ever spoke to me was: "I love you and I will see you tomorrow." But sadly, before tomorrow came she passed away in the middle of the night due to a brain aneurysm. I would later discover (a year or so later) that she was aware that she was terminally ill and fought her battle in, mostly, silence and alone. Only choosing to tell her Mother (who has also passed in recent years, since.)

Fast forward about 3 months after she passed, up until this point I have had a few bizarre and otherworldly experiences but this one takes the cake.

My partner and my roommates all worked at the same place, so they worked the same hours and I was the oddball out. I worked second shift for a local restaurant and wasn't expected to be at work until 4:00pm on this particular day.

I am asleep in bed when I am woken up by my alarm clock, the time is around 2:00pm. I wake up and roll over to hit the snooze button and turn back over to fall back to sleep. When I turn over and close my eyes to drift back off to sleep I am startled by the feeling of someone's hand nudging me softly on my arm through my blankets. Naturally, I was instantly terrified. I knew I was home alone and what was happening to me right then should not be happening, it wasn't logical. I remember feeling the heat from fear rise in my cheeks. I couldn't move, I thought that if I just laid there and ignored it, it would go away, but oh, how wrong I was...it just kept nudging me. So I gathered the strength and willpower to sit up in my bed and see what it was but when I did, nothing was there. I don't know what possessed me to look but my eyes shot directly to the mirror in the bathroom. My partner and I stayed in the master bedroom of the house which means we also have a bathroom attached to our bedroom. The way my room was set up you could easily see into the bathroom.

As my eyes locked onto the bathroom mirror, I could see perfectly, a dark shadow figure slowing (what looked like levitating) make its way across my mirror. As if it knew the only way I could see it was by looking through the mirror. When I saw it, it's as if all time stopped. I couldn't believe what was happening to me, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And most of all I couldn't believe I was deliberately being made contact with my something I didn't understand at all. Whoever or whatever this was wanted my attention, and it wanted me to know it was there.