I moved to California, to live with my dad and step mom in
1989. My dad had rented a one bedroom apartment in Point
Loma overlooking Ocean Beach. This was a small apartment to
say the least, but my dad did the best he could. I had a
bed set up in the living room, which had a big bay window.
The view was amazing, you could see anything that
approached by sea (important later).
There were four apartments in this building, two upstairs and two
downstairs, all of which were unoccupied, except for ours.
There was a wooden deck that wrapped around the side of the
building and you could hear the footsteps of anybody
approaching.
I had been here approximately six or eight
months, when my dad told me that he had to go back East for
a re-union. Of course, being the father figure, he laid
down some rules. Just the standard No parties, alcohol,
make sure I feed the cat and all that stuff. He was going
to be gone for a week and had left some money for me in
case anything happened.
I went to school and work as usual. One night, I was watching TV and the cat was sitting on the
futon, in front of the window. It looked like the cat was
tracking something. His head just kept going back and
forth, back and forth, but always stopped at the end of the
deck. I looked out of the window to get a better look at
whatever he was watching. I couldn't see anything. I was
startled by the phone ringing and muted the TV to answer
it. It was my dad checking on me. I told him that
everything was cool and he didn't need to worry. As soon as
I got off of the phone, I heard these footsteps on the
deck. So I figured it was one of my friends coming by to
hang out. I went to the door and opened it. The footsteps
stopped. I looked out and found no one there. I thought
someone was upstairs and figured I would investigate. I
climbed the stairs (the only way to get up there) and found
no one up there. I heard the footsteps again and realized
that I had left the door unlocked. I raced down the stairs
and no one was there. If anyone tried to leave, they would
have to have gone directly past me. I went back in the
apartment and locked the door. I sat down to watch TV and
when I grabbed the remote, I heard the footsteps again. I
turned the TV off and sat there in the dark, waiting to see
if someone was going to try and break into the place.
Meanwhile, the cat was sitting at the window, still
tracking something. I sat there listening to the footsteps
for a couple of minutes. At this point I was scared out of
my mind and I just sat there looking out the window. I
looked over to my right to see if there was anything to
grab and use as a weapon. As I turned my head I saw
movement out of the corner of my eye to the left and the
footsteps stopped. I looked over and saw a semi transparent
figure, standing there, looking out towards the water, its
back towards me. It was dressed in all green, with a brown
belt, a rifle slung over his shoulder and had one of those
WWII type helmets on. I couldn't believe my eyes. The cat
appeared to be staring at it too. The figure completed a
left face maneuver and started marching away. The footsteps
were in synch with his movements. The cat started to track
him again. The footsteps moved back and forth for quite
some time and every once in awhile I would catch a glimpse
of him.
I never felt that he was malicious or posed a
threat to me, just doing his duty. I stood up and walked to
the window and peered out. I heard the footsteps coming
back towards me and I just stood there. The figure walked
directly in front of me, stopped and performed another left
face. It looked to me that he was searching the shoreline.
He then abruptly did an about face (now I was looking
straight at him) and saluted. I saw his lips move, but did
not hear anything. He saluted again and did a right face.
Then he marched away and was not heard of again that night.
Needless to say, I was in awe at the whole experience. My
father came home a few days later and asked if anything had
happened. Reluctantly, I told him of my encounter with "the
soldier". My dad smiled and said "I wondered how long it
would take for you to see him?". I was shocked as my dad
explained that he and my step mom had both seen him a few
times, but only fleeting glimpses.
I did some research at the local library and found that the area that we lived in
used to be a lookout post during WWII. Soldiers would stand
lookout for any ships approaching and acted as an early
warning system for the fleet stationed in San Diego Bay.
A
few years later I joined the military and after standing my
first "watch" I understood what was happening when he
saluted me. I had just relieved him from his "watch"!
Contact me here: nocturnalwolf76@yahoo.com
Submitted From: