Haunted Houses or Haunted People?

I have long been a believer in Ghosts. Some good, some not so good, and I would assume, some downright evil, though thankfully I have never encountered the latter.

The house I grew up in was haunted. No if's, and's, or but's about it. As a young teenager I would wake up several nights a week to a large man standing at the foot of my bed watching me. At first it terrified me, but as I got older and braver, it didn't scare me as bad because he never made an effort to harm me in any way, he just liked to look at me I suppose. My family eventually dubbed him Jake, and he became an honourary member of the family. I have, however, wondered recently if it's me in general that is "haunted" instead of the houses that I have lived in. It seems no matter where I go, there is always something.

The apartment that my husband and I moved into when we married, scared me. No particular reason, it just felt strange. There was always some noise in the night. Of course since it was an apartment I chalked it up to other tenants. And twice when my husband worked the night shift I woke to the police pounding on the door saying someone from my apartment dialled 911. We did not have a phone at the time.

The house that we moved into when my kids were young was bad. I would have very vivid dreams of people walking around in the house and me not being able to wake up to see what was going on. I still have bad dreams about it. In that house also, I have awakened to "someone" standing in my room. The presence in that house did not seem as friendly as in my childhood house, but never really did any harm, however several things disappeared while living there, and still to this day, I have no explanation as to where they went.

The house we live in now is new. We built it 5 years ago, and moved into it. For a while nothing much happened. I had never lived in a brand new house before, so I was actually elated, thinking that there couldn't possibly be spirits in a new home. I was wrong. At first it was just waking up to unexplained noises. Then the "dreams" where something is hovering above my bed, moving down on top of me causing that paralysing fear, and smothering sensation. In these dreams my throat is always constricting like something is either choking me around the neck, or something is being forced down my throat. Either way, the next morning I wake up with the worst taste in my mouth and a terribly sore throat, and the feeling that I didn't get any sleep.

In the last year my 10 year old son has been experiencing horrendous night terrors. I have cried and prayed and done almost everything imaginable to stop this. One night I was at my wits end, my son had already awakened screaming, seeing a creature in his room, 3 times. The thing he described was "like our dog, only bigger, and darker, and not at all friendly." Now our dog weighs 110lbs, so to be bigger than him, it had to be pretty darn big. I finally got him back to sleep for the third time and was exhausted and very angry. I sat down in his bedroom floor and started talking. I said "I have had enough of this. It is one thing for you to pick on me, I'm an adult. DO NOT bother my child again! If you must show yourself, show yourself to me. I am not afraid of you, because God protects this house and everyone here." My son slept peacefully through the night, but I did not. The overwhelming feeling of being scowled at from the corner of my room, kept me from relaxing too much. I just kept repeating to myself. "I am not afraid, I am not afraid." I can talk big while the lights are on, but when they are off, I have to convince myself.

One last note, my son still wakes up seeing things. Not always the same things. When it gets to be too much I tell whatever it is to come bother me, not him. Last night this happened. I was very tired, and getting angry at not being able to sleep. My son was finally sleeping well but sure enough I was being harassed. After waking up several times with a menacing, shadowy face peering at me from the side of the bed I had had enough. The last time I woke up, it was right next to my bed and I just raise my head up and leaned toward it and growled at it. Yes, I growled. A very menacing growl I must say, :o) and told whatever it was to leave my house at once!! I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until my alarm went off this morning. Not that I suggest confronting all unknown entities, but I sensed that this one was not harmful, just a pest. Thank you for listening to my long drawn out story. I hope it wasn't too boring.