Shadowy Figure (1)

This is an experience that happened not only to me, but to my sister and my mother as well.

I moved out of my Dad's house when I was 17. I was determined to be out from under my father's rules. I moved in with my boyfriend and his friend, of whom he roommated with.

One night, I noticed, as I was falling asleep, a shadow of what appeared to be a man, standing in the corner of the room, near the open closet door. He was very tall. His head reached the top of the ceiling. Although I could not make out any facial features, I knew this being was staring at me. I was very afraid of it, but at the same time, I felt as though it was there to protect me. I saw it every night after that.

One night, I had awoken to the urge to go to the bathroom. Half- asleep, I arose from the bed. As I stood up, I opened my eyes only to see a void of black nothingness in front of me. It startled me at first, as I was expecting to see my room ahead of me when I opened my eyes. I was suddenly overwhelmed with fear, as I quickly figured out that it was the shadow standing in front of me. I screamed, and jumped back into bed, not realizing I had landed on top of my boyfriend. Of course, he woke up startled at the sound of my screams, and the impact of my body to his, but did his best to console me. I still had to go to the bathroom, so I made him turn on the light before I would budge from the bed. As he got up to turn the light switch, I scanned the room for the shadow. It was no where to be seen.

On another occasion, I had gone to bed alone, because my boyfriend and his friend were in his friends room playing video games. I awoke, for no apparent reason, and felt a sudden unbelievable feeling of fear and dread come over me. I tried to move to turn on the lights but I was paralyzed. I quickly realized I was also mute. My screams were inaudible. It was then I realized I was dreaming. So, consciously, in my dream, I closed my eyes and attempted to wake my self up. Again, I awoke, and found myself in the same scenario. I was still dreaming. Once again, I closed my eyes and forced myself awake. (Which I have repeatedly done before. I have the ability to wake myself from dreams if I realize that I am dreaming. It's pretty wild. I can also force my self to talk in my sleep, which I have done on occasion to get my boyfriends attention, to wake me up, if for some reason, I cannot wake my self from a dream.) Somehow I knew that shadow was responsible for the incident.

Finally, my boyfriend and I were making enough money to live in our own apartment by ourselves. I hoped that maybe moving to a new place would rid me of the shadow that plagued my life. I was wrong.

It got worse in the new place. I constantly felt as though I was being watched. Even when I was alone in the house, I felt as though something were there with me. I still saw that shadow, near the open closet door, every night. It got so bad that I refused to sleep in the bedroom by myself, when my boyfriend started working grave-shift. I slept on the couch with all the lights on and the TV on.

One night I had mistakenly fallen asleep in my bedroom. I awoke to the sounds of feet padding across the carpet. As I listened I realized they were getting closer to the bed, and I jolted upright, and scanned the room for the intruder. Then, my boyfriend started telling me things. He said there was a corner in the room that made him extremely uneasy. Now my boyfriend is a very skeptical man. For him to say this to me was more proof that something was bothering me from beyond.

One day, as I walked into the bedroom to join my boyfriend on the bed, I noticed a look of horror on his face. Frightened at his expression, I bolted towards him and begged him for an explanation for his facial expression. He refused to tell me at first, contesting that he didn't want to scare me. But I didn't let up, and finally he confessed, that as I walked into the room he saw a black shadow hovering above my head. It followed at the same pace as I was walking. He said he distinctly remembered noticing that it had eyes. He blinked and it disappeared.

After that, I was so fed up with being tortured in my own home by this thing, I decided to buy some sage and burn it throughout my house to cleanse it of this bothersome apparition. By this time we had plans to move out within days, so I waited until the minute we moved out, and my boyfriend and I smoked the house with the sage, and then covered each other in the smoke and left.

I have not seen nor been bothered by that shadow since. Upon telling my mother and my sister about it, they preceded to account of stories they had with the same shadowy figure. My mom had come in contact with it right after she had left my father. (My parents are divorced) My sister had experience with it after she had moved out of my fathers house into my mom's house. And I had come in contact with it after I moved out into my boyfriends house. We all believed it was an extension of my father, keeping an eye on us at some point in time. Yes, my dad was still alive. I never did tell him of my belief. But it was a being that was very negative and very sad and lonely. I could feel it every time it was around me.

Once the figure was gone, the feelings of depression stopped. My father has passed away, and I now think he himself has become my guardian. Although, his presence is much more positive and loving, and for that matter.... welcome.

Thanks for your time,

Christina