Has it all happened before?

The apartment in Leighton Buzzard, a town 40 miles north of London, was only two years old when Adam Patterson moved in. It was typical; bedroom, bathroom, kitchen/dining area and a living room spilling inside the front door.

But, as normal as it looks, there is something strange about the apartment.

“Upon my first day there, I noticed the carpet was all worn out in front of where the TV goes, but I didn't think too much of it, only that it was a little bit odd,” Adam said. “I also saw that a plug socket above the sink was hanging off. Again, I didn't think too much of it, but at first glance, I did question the reasons for this.”

Adam’s life in the apartment was “fine for the first few months.” But that has changed.

“Despite being very low about certain aspects of my life, in regards to the actual flat, I was pleased,” he said. “However, the past two months have been increasingly strange.”

Like the feeling of being watched every night. Then there are the lights and shadows.

“Strange lights appear whilst sitting on my couch in front of the TV, when I only had two small wall lights on, which are placed behind me at the kitchen area,” he said. “A couple of strange shadows would regularly appear and they would react to my movements when I decided to 'test' them.”

And, by testing, Adam meant touching.

For the past two months, Adam has kept the same schedule. He’s spent every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, sitting in front of the TV waiting for the lights and shadows to appear.

“(I turn) the TV off with the remote control, and look in the TV's reflection if I can find the source of these shadows and lights,” he said. “I have always been convinced that what I am searching for is behind me at the kitchen area.”

For these two months, Adam has obsessively moved from the couch to the TV to gain a better view of the light and shadow reflections on the screen.

“Last week, I had an extremely interesting consideration dawn on me,” he said. “I suddenly realized that for two months now – several times each week – I have been in the middle of experiencing these strange lights and shadows, and ended up moving from my couch to sit in front of the TV in order to give a closer inspection to the screen's reflections.”

He thought, ‘I am probably going to start wearing out the carpet at this rate,’ when he realized the carpet between the couch and the television was already worn – probably by the previous occupant.

“This same night, I worked out that from the direction of light, together with the placement of each shadow, the source of the disturbance was most definitely coming from the kitchen wall,” he said. “‘Next door have found a way to look at me through the wall,’ I thought.”

He walked into the kitchen to try and find a gap where his next-door neighbor might be playing jokes on him, when he thought if he were doing the peeping, he’d unscrew the wall socket.

“Wow, another coincidence,” he said, the wall socket in the kitchen already hanging loose. “This has perhaps already been done by someone else.”

Was the apartment’s former tenet, he wondered, thinking and doing exactly what he was … and if so, why?

“Saturday night I stayed in to watch TV and during the entire night I was experiencing a very strong feeling of being watched,” he said. “The shadows on the wall were looking more and more like human heads, and they were once again reacting to my movements.”

Adam turned off the television and he saw a reflection on the television screen.

“Two slightly distorted human silhouettes were sitting on either side of me,” he said. “I also noticed my own silhouette was very unlike me; my head seemed a little larger than usual, and the reflection of my movements was often delayed or ahead of me.”

He started playing games with the reflections, watching them move as he motioned toward them. Then he noticed something even more unnerving – one of the shadows was nudging him closer to the other.

“For the entire evening, one of them was attempting to lure me into the other one,” he said. “I think it wanted to consume me somehow. I know this all sounds crazy, but ... I was in direct contact with two very real 'shadow people.’

Although Adam speculates the shadow people are from a different dimension, he doesn’t know this. He only knows what he feels.

“I don't think they are necessarily evil. I describe them as curious,” he said. “But it's absolutely horrible for me.”

Copyright 2007 by Jason Offutt

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

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