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Death Warning

Cheryl, NC, USA
July 2006

This story takes place several years ago, as was told to me by my grandmother.
The town is located in Elkins, WV, the region at that time was known as Valley Bend. My grandmother had nine children all of whom were living in the same house.
It was close to Easter, so my grandfather bought all the children baby chickens. The weather in WV, if no one is familiar with the area, can still be very frigid even in the spring. All of the children, my mother being one of them, were worried about the baby chickens, and asked if they could be kept inside at night.

One particular night, after all had gone to bed, my grandmother was awakened by the sound of something she described as the sound of an accident. My grandparents lived several miles from any paved roads, farm land surrounded them on all sides.
As my grandmother got up and walked to the top of the stairs, she said she heard the baby chickens making a noise, as if something had tried to harm them. On hearing this, she tried to make her way down the stairs. After taking a few steps, my grandmother was stopped by something that was trying to make its way up the stairs. The only memory I have of her description of this thing, was it was very large in size, too big to enter through any doorway, and its eyes appeared to be glowing, as if on fire. My grandmother said when she tried to move to one side of the stairs, this thing seemed to move to the same side, as it would take a step closer to her. Out of complete fear, my grandmother said she let out a terrifying scream, that then woke the whole house. My grandfather gathered all the children, including my grandmother, in one bedroom of the house, and told them not to move. He then started to search the whole house, but nothing showed signs of anything that had entered. He checked all the doors, they were still locked, and all the windows were left undisturbed. They all decided to wait until morning to search outside, but no one slept a wink after that.
Morning came, and still no signs of anything being inside or outside that could have caused such a disturbance. My grandmother was so bothered by the events that had taken place, that she wouldn't let any of the children leave the house that morning, not even to go to school.
Later in the day, my grandmother got word that her brother, John, had been killed in a terrible train accident. Late in the night, his vehicle had been crossing the tracks and was struck by a train. The train dragged his body several miles, eventually decapitating him. This took place several miles away from where my grandparents lived, so there was no way my grandmother could have heard it in her sleep.
My grandmother believed that whatever the thing was that met her at the top of the stairs, was some kind of omen warning her that there had been a death in the family.
There have been several other strange events in my family, but nothing that tied directly to something such as this did.
I hope you enjoyed my story, and thank you for taking time to read it.

Cheryl, NC, USA
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