My First Experience

I grew up in the country just outside of a small village (population 334) in southeastern Nebraska. We lived in a large white farmhouse which previously had belonged to my great-grandfather. There were five bedrooms - my parent's bedroom was downstairs as well as one of the rooms we used as an office. My three brothers all shared the largest bedroom upstairs and my sister and I each had our own room right across the hall from one another. At the end of the hall right between our rooms was a large walk-in closet. I believe this closet had at one time been just another room as there was a door clear in the back of the closet that looked like it had once led to a balcony which no longer existed.

The walls in my bedroom were covered in greenish-gray colored wallpaper with beautiful large white and pink flowers, perhaps carnations. I had two very large windows that overlooked our huge back yard surrounded by a thick, spooky forest.
I eventually came to learn that this had been the room my great- grandmother once used as her bedroom as well. I remember the overhead lighting in the room was just a single light bulb and a long cord hung down from the outlet which had to be pulled in order to turn it on and off. Most often than not, the light bulb was burned out. I always had an eerie, uneasy feeling when entering my room and that feeling only became worse when unexplainable things began to happen.

It was late one night and I had been sleeping for several hours, when all of a sudden I just woke up for no reason whatsoever. I was about 5 years old at the time, but I remember this night like it just happened, one of my most vivid childhood memories. I opened my eyes and saw this glowing ball of light, about the size of a basketball, coming from the wall that my room shared with the large walk-in closet in the hall. I noticed it was slowly coming closer and closer to me. I really wasn't that frightened at first. I looked at it for a few seconds and then quickly covered up my head with my thin, pink bedspread. I lay there still for a few minutes and then slowly peeked out from underneath my blankets to see if it was still there.

It was, and it was closer and still making its way towards me. Once again, I covered my head hoping it would just go away. After another minute or two, I pulled the cover slowly off my head and it was still there. I screamed, "Mom! Dad!" And as soon as I screamed for my parents, the ball of light disappeared into the wall. My parents came running upstairs. I told them what had happened. They, of course, tried to convince me it was headlights from a passing car, but I knew that was impossible, as there was only one light and my room was surrounded by a forest. They sat by my side until I fell back to sleep and nothing more was ever said of it until just a few years ago when my mom had disclosed to me that she had seen the exact same thing in her room. She saw it by her window and thought it was the moon, but quickly realized that it couldn't have been since her room was downstairs. I also came to know that my great-grandmother had told stories of seeing "things" in her older age, but no one ever believed her.

Who or what was it? What would have happened if I had let it continue to come closer and not have woken up in time to scare it away. I have no idea! And it really frightens me to think about it.