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Let me start with a little proviso to this true story. I am a Born-Again Believer, a Christian and I do not believe in ghosts or that they inhabit homes or people. I do however, believe that demons (fallen angels) exist--also that they inhabit homes and sometimes people. My husband still finds it hard to believe that I grew up in a "haunted" house. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe, but it's true. At the time, my family and I were unaware of the danger. And that's when our troubles began. . .
Growing Up Haunted
(Part 4 of 5)
New Orleans, LA
1965
My mother continued to pray and read scripture and light candles, continuing these tacts until the voice dwindled and seemed to disappear into the thin air it had emerged from.
But the spirit did not flee, nor go far from its new habitation.
I was eight years old. Sound asleep in my bed when I woke up to a strange and utterly terrifying situation. My bed was jumping up and down.
At first I thought my sister was pulling a prank. Our beds were in an "L" shape--mine vertical to her, horizontal. But such a prank would be uncharacteristic of my sister. Once she fell asleep, she slept like a log. Nothing stirred her. Still--what else could it be?
I reached for the desk light on my headboard and pressed the switch. Smile on my face, I was all ready to to yell "Cut it out!" until I saw with my own eyes what was happening. The right side of my mattress was bowing down and then up again, as if someone of substantial weight were bouncing or jumping on the edge of it. And I could hear the squeak of the mattress as the invisible weight of something bounced off it. I looked beyond my mattress and noticed my sister sound asleep in her bed. Sound asleep!
Sound caught in my throat. I could not scream. I could not breathe. I could not move.
All the while, the mattress scrunched and squeaked as an unseen weight bore down upon it. And that's not all. I was acutely aware of the presence of a being. There was something or some invisible someone on the end of my bed. Jumping or hopping, bouncing perhaps from a seated position or standing for all I could tell. On my bed.
I tried again to shout, to yell, to scream. And though it began with a mere squeak, I let out a scream.
My mother ran into the room and asked what was wrong.
Between the hysterical tears that came with her comforting presence, I told her what happened. She sat on the edge of my bed and soothed my fears, but told me it was probably a bad dream. Just a nightmare. She sat with me a while longer to calm me down. But when she left me to go back to bed, I was unconvinced. The rest of the night, I stayed awake with the light on--afraid whatever it was would come back--fearful it might happen again.
The next morning I asked my sister if she'd heard anything. But she didn't. I already knew the answer. She was sound asleep--didn't hear a thing. I'd seen her with my own eyes. But I'd also seen my mattress going up and down with my own eyes.
To my relief, my bed never jumped up and down again, but I spent many a night terrified it would, and worried what else might happen. I had the feeling of being watched and often hid under my sheets. If I had known about my mother's experience, I might have understood there was reason to be afraid. I wondered if it was all in my mind, if maybe I was going crazy.
The demonic spirit stayed in the background for a while. We don't know why. Perhaps the arrival of a hurricane and the destructive impact on the house. Perhaps my mother reciting scripture daily? Whatever the reason, my mother was fully convinced that whatever had tormented her was now gone for good. But it had moved from her to torment me.
And a few years later, the spirit would move on to torment another family member.
Next week (Saturday, October 29th) . . .the room at the end of the hall.
Wow, Linda! What a story. Living in Galveston gave me more exposure to this than I ever wanted. As you know, everyone thinks that just about every nook and cranny of Galveston is haunted--from the Karankawa Indians on the West End (Jamaica Beach is built on a Karankawa burial ground) to the 1900 hurricane on the East End and everywhere in between. We had friends who got so caught up in all this as a past-time and would buy trinkets and "house decor" that reflected it or spend time with ghost hunters, etc. I usually wanted to go "Do you know what you are opening up the door for in your life?" We had two separate incidents ourselves. I watched a green shape walk across our bedroom one night in Jamaica Beach and my husband had something open a locked door in our store when he was there by himself one night. Luckily, we both have the same belief on what "ghost activity" is that you do and we both refused to give it any corner in our lives, and we never had anything happen outside of those two individual incidents. So strange. I honestly don't get why people play with fire, but largely I guess it's because they don't know. Kristine McGuire is a great resource for people struggling with this. She was very involved in ghost hunting, etc. and now has a ministry trying to help people out of it. She's written a book called "Escaping the Cauldron."
ReplyDeleteKristen--Thanks so much for posting your experience with this sort of thing. We need to understand the work of the enemy is deception in any way, shape or form he can produce it. The supernatural world is as real as the natural--and just as dangerous. We must meet these encounters with prayer and spiritual warfare. The name of Jesus is above all names--His name, His word is the sword we need to defeat the works of the enemy.
ReplyDeleteWow, I am amazed with this series. I have never had anything dramatic happen to me...but my mom grew up in a house that was "haunted" and they had soooo many things like this happen.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth--I keep hearing that from so many other people! You feel like you're in this alone when you're going through it and then--wow--you find out it happens to other people more often than you think. Thanks for sharing that:)
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