Lights in the Woods: Part 2

Author’s note: This is the second part of a two-part series on Missouri deer hunter Chris Black's encounter with an unseen force
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Chris Black was camping on his property last deer season when he invited something unseen to share his campfire. It did. And, after a night of terror, Chris thinks it followed him home.

“I have some unreal activity going on around me,” Chris said. “Doors move when I walk past. Not just at home, but everywhere; at work, home, Wal-Mart. I see it everywhere. I almost feel like something is following me.”

Chris said his invitation, “if anyone wants to come join me by the fire, you’re more than welcome,” seemed to bring something to him as if he had used a Ouija board – something Chris has always been too cautious to use.

“I’ve seen them (Ouija) but I’ve never touched them. I’ve never messed with them,” he said. “I’m scared to death to touch one. I didn’t want to invite something in my house you can’t get rid of.”

Chris’s campsite visitor is just that – something he can’t get rid of.

He first felt the visitor in November 2006 and doors around him began moving on their own soon after.

“It’s kind of like (the door) follows me when the door’s already open,” he said. “It doesn’t just move one way; it’ll move about four inches when I walk by it either way. It’s almost like something’s pulling it to me when I walk to it and pushes it away when I go past.”

Chris first started noticing this phenomenon at his home in February or March.

“When you first go in the house there’s a metal door, and the next door is a wooden door. It moves every time I walk past it,” he said. “My bedroom door is a wooden door. It’s never done it before but it moves now every time I go past it.”

At first, Chris tried to find a terrestrial explanation for the moving doors ¬– movement of air, the doors weren’t level, even the building shifting.

“I’ve even thought the weight of my body might shift it a little bit, but it happens to doors set on concrete floors,” he said. “I’m trying to debunk this thing anyway I can but I don’t understand. Do I have something following me around that I can’t see and nobody else can see? This is really, really weird crap.”

And it’s not just Chris who sees the doors move. Family members and coworkers have all seen it occur.

“I’ve even had my dad watch and witness it and a guy at work,” Chris said. “There’s a door to the break room going to the outside area where we smoke. He was right behind me. We walked by the entry door and I heard a creak and the door moved six inches.”

Chris asked his coworker if he’d seen the door move; he hadn’t.

“Then I backed up and went through it again and he said, ‘that’s some weird (stuff),’” Chris said. “There’s weird crap that happens to me all the time it’s almost like things happen so often that I don’t pay attention to it anymore.”

So far, Chris hasn’t experienced anything negative from his visitor, but is worried the occurrences will escalate to something unpleasant.

“I really haven’t noticed anything angry or malevolent,” Chris said. “It hasn’t caused any harm like that to me. It’s just something weird that happens and it’s happening more and more.”

Copyright 2008 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. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason's book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri's Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.