Generally, I have always had the feeling that I was being followed, or someone was watching me from out of the shadows. I get it from my Mum. I have always been open to the likelihood of an otherworldly presence. Usually it never bothered me, and I learnt to accept that others existed where we could not see them.

I have lived in many occupied houses throughout my life. The place I live now with my father is full of spirits trying to find their way to another place. They don't play up much like they did when I first moved in though.

The worst experience I have ever had with a ghost was when I was 21 and shared a house with my boyfriend at the time.

I would often be home alone as he was always off "playing with his friends". One particular night I was snuggled on the couch with popcorn and a movie. I heard a banging on the door. I got up to answer, but (typically in a ghost story), there was no one but the cold night air to greet me. Shuddering I closed the door and went back to the couch. As soon as I sat down, the banging started again. This time much louder and quite obnoxious, like someone thought they had a right to enter. I did not move, but sat there staring at the door. Then a window not far to the left flew open and a gust of icy wind followed. I had a cat, who until now had not seemed to notice these odd occurrences. However tonight he would not rest. He was prowling around the loungeroom hissing at every shadow. That was enough for me. I left the window as it was and flew to my room. It was quiet in there, so I turned on the TV and climbed into bed.
Nothing more happened and I began to feel at ease once more. Flicking off the light I settled in to get some sleep, with my cat tucked down at me feet. At approximately 1am, I woke for no apparent reason. At the foot of my bed under a single ray of moonlight I saw my cat. standing hunched with all his fur on end. He was staring at something in the corner of the room. Unable to take his eyes off it he began to hiss, and screech at the invisible entity. I crawled forward to look at him. His eyes were like perfectly round glass buttons and he would not remove his stare. Then as if by sudden force, he swung around at me and lunged for my face. He swiped and clawed at me with everything he had. Each sting of his tiny claws burying into my skin. Then as if satisfied with his own performance, he jumped back and pranced out of the room.

I had managed to block my face from most of the attack, but my arms where cut up quite badly, and the quilt on the bed was spattered with my blood. As I climbed out of bed to clean myself up, I heard footsteps coming towards the bedroom door. The door opened and my boyfriend came in. He grabbed me and fired into a panic. When I asked why he had come home, he told me it was because I had called him and begged him to return and that I was scared of something outside the house. The call was at 12:55pm, 5 minutes before I had woken up. He told me that when he had opened the door to the house, my cat had run by his feet at top speed and disappeared into the paddocks beyond our fence. To this day I never knew what became of him. He never returned.

A month later I left my boyfriend and the house. I never had to go back there again. Nothing like that has ever happened to me since. I have never encountered such a monstrous spirit. I still bare the scars from the attack that night down my arms and on my face. I tell people it happened in a riding accident when my horse threw me into a blackberry bush.
Some people believe that story, but there are others who look at me like they know it was something else. But it doesn't matter any more.

Occasionally, like today, I will share my story with anyone who cares enough to believe it, or just enjoys a good story.