well...
I consider myself a sceptic, but happily believe the evidence of my own experiences. I've had the usual semi-wierd experiences that are common to most people- strange cold areas in rooms, slightly inexplicable but not actually that interesting happenings, the odd future dream as a child. Some people accept then as wierd shit, some find slightly more logical explanations.

This one sticks in my mind though as a particularly unpleasant night.

I used to regularly stay at my friends house in Brighton whilst working in London. One particular night they went off to bed as usual and I bedded down in their front room. I felt very awake and couldn't get to sleep. Grudaully (and apologies for the 3rd-rate horror story language here) a feeling of unease started to come over me- has anyone else ever had that 'terror in the woods for no apparent reason' feeling? I became more and more scared. Then disorientated. I felt like the bed I was lying on was going up and down,in waves, as if in a boat- like by about a foot. I could feel my feet raising this distance off the bed. I'd turn the light on- it's stop. I turned the light off- it'd start. Very un-nerving. When I turned the light on my attention was drawn to a particular corner of the room- which I wanted to stare at to keep an eye on it, but also not look at at all for fear of what I might see. I turned the light off, gave myself a stern talking to for being such a pussy. And tried to go to sleep. Didn't work. I looked over towards the kitchen door, and saw (again, apologies for unbelievableness) an arm waving at me from the door frame! A really cheeky- i-know-I'm-freaking-you-out wave! At this point the light went on and stayed firmly on until dawn. Of course I was far too British to even consider waking up my friends for comfort/mockery.

They confirmed their perception of a presence, particularly in the corner I described the next day (they'd not spoken of it before). They found him completely benign, and he's moved from their bedroom. He did freak out one of the cats though the other was OK. Said friends are no strangers to both the real and the bollocks of the occult, and I would trust them (though I don't expect you to). I did a sanity check for influence of spooky stories, alchol (a glass of wine), drugs (none apart from fags and a small cup of coffee), wierd food, etc. All negative. And no, I was not asleep.

The worst thing about this is that although it was to me almost unique in genuine terrifying-ness, it's unbelievably sad and crap! I am quite embarrassed by it. A waving, ethereal, Mr Tickle-esque arm coming out of a kitchen door in Brighton just for me? Get to fuck!
(clapper, Fri 21 Apr 2006, 13:38, Reply)