I'll be the first to admit, when you look at the church out
in Fauquier County, it looks like a quaint country church.
Built back before the civil war, Grace Episcopal Church is a
stone and stucco structure out in the middle of nowhere
surrounded by forest and fields. It has two graveyards with
it, one to the side and one around back butting up to the
forest. The only way to it is down a dusty, windy dirt
road. At night, it is dark. And when I say dark, I mean
darker than a well-digger's behind. Pitch black comes to mind.
During the Civil War, Grace Episcopal, since it stood (at
the time) on a major thoroughfare, was used as a military
hospital/surgical area. People died there naturally. It
was gruesome, from what I understand.
My story actually concerns my fifth visit to the Church (and
my next-to-last, I might add). My boyfriend, Shawn, (now
husband) and I had decided to go out there after I had told
him about it and how it was supposedly haunted. I had told
him that some odd things had happened to me there before,
but nothing really all that creepy. He was curious and so
we went with his stepfather, Walt, joining us.
I drove up to the church and parked in the front between two
large oak trees. We walked through the gate of the picket
fence and proceeded to look around. I had never had a
creepy feeling there before, but tonight just 'felt'
different, for some reason.
We had been there about 10 minutes, looking through the
windows of the church, exploring the side graveyard and
generally just goofing off when I decided to go around to
the back of the church. Shawn and Walt were around the
front of the church looking at the bell tower while I was
exploring the back area. I heard a sound and started to
turn towards it, swinging around in a way that I was facing
the forest as I did so. As I swung around, I froze. There,
in the forest, was... I can only describe it as 'something'.
Here's the weird part: I couldn't actually see it. I had
what could only be explained as a 'mental' picture of it. I
knew something was there, looking at me, where I SHOULD be
able to see it, but there wasn't anything physically there!
I wanted to leave, I wanted to run, but I was completely
frozen. I couldn't even really breathe. It was like it
held me in place.
Finally, when Shawn and Walt called my name, I was able to
shake it off. I was so freaked out at that point, that I
just continued turning and marched right on past them. They
asked what was wrong and I just said, without looking at
them, "We are LEAVING. Let's go!" Again, they asked me
what was wrong, as I rounded the side of the building and I
said again "Let's GO! I'm LEAVING!"
I walked on around to the car and was standing outside of
the driver's side waiting for them. It had been a calm,
cool night in November (night before Thanksgiving, actually)
and no wind. Suddenly, I felt a breeze come up and as I
looked up at the trees above me, it was like there was
thousands of fireflies in the branches. They lit up like a
Christmas tree!
About that time, I heard Walt yell to Shawn, "RUN!" and I
could hear them running, feet pounding, towards the car. I
jumped in the driver side and started the car. As I did so,
I looked and saw Shawn coming through the gate of the fence.
As I sat there and looked, he appeared to trip or something
had shoved him. He went flying through the dirt and gravel,
landing on his hands and knees. He got up, continued on
around the car and jumped in the front passenger seat. Walt
then ran around and got in. (Note: keep in mind, Shawn was
so far ahead of Walt, he was able to fall, get up and get in
the car before Walt had even cleared the gate area.)
Once Walt was in the car, I took off. We went up about 5
miles to a 7-11, the whole time, Shawn complaining about his
shoulder bothering him. We all thought it was from jarring
it when he landed on his hands. We got to the 7-11 and he
went inside. He came back out about a minute later with a
weird look on his face. I asked him what was wrong, and he
told me this:
"When you took off, Walt and I went and looked around to see
what freaked you out. *I* didn't see anything, but Walt
did. When he yelled 'run', I did. But when I got to the
gate area, it felt like something shoved me, that's why I
fell. I figured I had just lost my balance and being so
freaked, just imagined the feeling... Until I got into the
bathroom and saw this:"
He then pulled his shirt off and there, on his shoulder, was
a perfect, red handprint. In a position that could only be
put there if someone behind him had shoved him. And no one
had appeared to be near him when he had fallen.
Explain THAT one to me!
Needless to say, we went home after that!
contact me here: emily_joyner@ureach.com
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