|
|
As a child, my first
experience with a spirit took place in a home that we later
learned was built on land that was once involved in a Civil
War battle. This home was a 3 bedroom ranch and was only
10 years old when we moved in.
My family lived in this home
for about 6–7 years, but the experiences that happened there
occurred almost from the day we moved in. My mother,
father, and oldest brother never experienced things, or never
said anything if they did. The spirit seemed to be
active for only me and my youngest older brother whenever he
was home on military leave. The spirit would enjoy
visiting my brother in his room and making its presence known
by either sitting on the bed with him at night or rocking in a
rocking chair that sat in a corner of the room. Needless
to say, my brother didn’t get much rest when he was home.
As a child of about 5 years
old I wasn’t too fond of the dark, so a night light in my room
helped with my fears. However, I would sometimes lay
awake at night and hear the footsteps of someone walking on
the tile floor of our den, knowing that everyone else in my
family was sound asleep in their own bed. Sometimes I
felt my mattress sink in at the foot of my bed as if someone
had just sat down there. At times like this I eagerly
pulled the covers up and crawled under them to feel safe from
whatever was on the other side.
One night, while my youngest
older brother was home on leave, a terrible thunderstorm
passed through and took out our electricity. My mother
knew I feared the dark and since my night light didn’t work,
she calmed me by lighting a candle on top of the chest near my
bedroom door to give light until the electricity came back
on. As I lay there in bed trying to go to sleep, I
started to hear a blowing sound. The sound was a bit
muffled but it still seemed like the sound made while trying
to blow out birthday candles. I sat up in bed and looked
toward the doorway where the sound appeared to be coming
from. I noticed that the candle flame leaned to the side
every time I heard the blowing sound. The flame would
straighten up and then as the blowing sound came the flame
would lean to its side. It was on this night I learned
that something I couldn’t see was actually doing that to get
my attention.
After laying there for
awhile and watching this, I finally decided to go to my
brother’s room and tell him about it. I woke him up and
told him what had been happening, and he sat me down on his
bed to explain what was going on. My brother didn’t want
me to fear the unusual events in the house. He calmly
explained what he, too, had been experiencing in his
room. Then he explained that spirits can sometimes be
here on earth with us and will do things to get our attention
to make themselves known to us. He assured me that the
spirit in our house wasn’t there to hurt us; it just wanted us
to know it was there.
As the next few years
passed, I got used to the unusual sounds I heard at
night. After my brother explained what was truly
happening there I no longer feared them. Little did I
know that a new experience would happen that would be etched
in my mind for the rest of my life.
As we prepared to move out
of this house, I was lying in bed one night when I was
suddenly awakened by a knocking sound outside my bedroom
window. Still being quite young, I hesitated for a
minute and just listened. Remembering what my brother
had told me about not fearing anything, I made my way to the
window that was beside my bed. I slowly lifted one of
the blind slats and peered out. The full moon lit the
backyard much like daylight.
As I peered out, I saw a
figure moving out and away from my window. As I watched,
the figure of a young man appeared. This young man was
dressed in military fatigues and the moonlight cast a shine
off his black boots. He slowly turned toward me, and as
our eyes met he smiled at me. He then turned his face
away from me, took one more step, and disappeared. I
knew that this young man, obviously a soldier, was the spirit
that had been making himself known to my brother and me.
After this memorable
encounter, I never saw the soldier again and had no other
events in this house.
–Deborah Durr |
