A Haunted Man -- Part 1

Author’s note: This is the first of a three-part story. Lari Bollinger believes he is a haunted man. Throughout Bollinger’s life he has experienced shadow people, disembodied voices and demonic visitors in the night … he may have a point.

The terror started with black, moving shapes in Lari Bollinger’s house 40 years ago – his encounters with the paranormal only got worse.

“When I was young, it was more of a peripheral vision type of thing,” Bollinger said. “I would glimpse a darting dark mass out of the corner of my eye. This happened most in the house where my haunting started.”

Bollinger’s family lived in Fremont, Calif., in the early- to mid -1960s, and although he could see these black blobs, he soon found others around him couldn’t.

“I had always been a little different with what I was able to see, but I didn’t think much of it,” he said. “When I compared these things with my brother David, he would shrug it off or tell me I was loony, so I began to keep these happenings to myself.”

Shadows, some in the form of humans, started appearing more and more in Bollinger’s direct line of sight. And he began to see what they could do.

“They would be moving quite quickly from one side of the room to another,” he said. “Walls were not obstacles to these beings and they would dart through one wall across the room and out the other wall with a considerable rate of speed.”

As Bollinger saw more of these things move through his house, he talked about them again.

“I would tell my mother about these things I saw and she would dismiss them to me,” he said. “However, the look on her face did indeed tell me there was something more to this.”

Lari’s brother and mother telling him he wasn’t seeing thee things only caused him to work harder to see the entities, but then he realized they could see him, too.

“I started to try to see these things … not hunting them or anything like that, just living in a heightened awareness,” he said. “I found I could feel when they were there. It is like knowing you are not alone.”

When Bollinger started to focus on the entities, he would see them standing in the room, looking at him.

“I believe at this point that I had been noticed while noticing them,” he said. “I believe I became ‘in tune’ with the paranormal at this time. I firmly believe that a person can choose to be receptive to it or simply turn it off as they wish.”

After a while, Bollinger decided to “turn it off” and no longer saw the entities. Then tragedy struck his family and things changed.

“Only since my son has passed have I chosen to become ‘aware’ again,” he said. “We all have this ability and only some embrace it.”

But Bollinger’s story only began when he realized the entities could see him, too. It’s never ended.

“After I had to begun to be noticed by these shadow people,” he said, “I became a haunted person.”

Next week: That’s not my brother.


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.”

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