Sunday, December 13, 2009

A Dark, Angry Presence

The run-down apartment in Brisbane, Australia, always felt wrong to Kayla Griffiths.

“Numerous friends who would visit would sometimes have to leave certain rooms or sometimes the entire apartment because of these energies,” Griffiths said.

Strangeness began the first week she lived there – the apartment spoke to her and her flatmate. The voice told Griffiths to get out of bed.

“Me and my original flatmate experienced a voice speaking to each of us,” Griffiths said. “To me it sounded like her, to her it sounded like me.”

Griffiths walked into her flatmate’s room and found her still in bed. Neither of them had spoken.

“Her face dropped,” Griffiths said. “We both knew something weird had happened but had brushed it off.”

The strangeness continued, slowly at first.

“Things began disappearing then showing up in places we would clearly see it,” she said. “Once I walked past the fridge and a bottle off the top of the fridge flung to the ground and smashed on the floor in front of my legs; enough to have little cuts on my legs, but nothing serous.”

The negative feeling increased slowly, too. The feeling grew stronger the longer Griffiths lived in the apartment. Hatred, anger, self-loathing.

“The rage and anger we felt started off with little arguments and annoyance over small things, which we palmed off as stress,” Griffiths said. “And slowly things started getting more angry. It felt like there were constant tensions in the house.”

Griffiths’ flatmate – also her best friend – became so angry she moved out.

“We ended up not speaking anymore,” Griffiths said. “I had thoughts that were completely paranoid about her, thinking she was doing things to hurt me.”

Then Griffiths’ boyfriend, a devout Roman Catholic, moved in, and the negative feeling in the apartment grew worse.

“The anger then seemed to heighten between me and my boyfriend, starting off with big yelling matches, then throwing things, then pushing,” she said. “It became more and more violent where I would feel as if I had lost control of my mind.”

The anger would completly take her over. At one point she hit her boyfriend over the head, knocking him to the ground.

“It’s hard to explain, but it was like my eyes glazed over and I blacked out while this force of just anger and hate took over,” she said.

Then the anger and negativity became solid.

“I was in a pretty deep sleep when I woke suddenly, automatically looking at a corner of the room,” Griffiths said. “My eyes shot open and I was staring at this figure about seven foot tall, with some sort of robe or cloak-looking outline.”

The entity had no face; it was just a massive black mass.

“The even scarier thing is that it was pitch black in our room, and this figure was so black it was like I was seeing it in the sunlight,” Griffiths said. “I feel as if my soul or subconscious knew it was there before I even woke up, that’s why I was staring straight at it.”

Fear and panic racked Griffiths.

“I instantly knew it was evil,” she said. “I needed it gone; there was a sense of urgency to make it go away. I don’t know what this thing was, all I know is I have never felt so terrified in my whole, entire life.”

Griffiths lay there, the breath knocked from her lungs, trying to scream, but nothing would come out.

“All I managed to do was call my partner’s name out,” she said. “The way in which I did, he woke straight away and saw it. The figure was still just standing in the corner of our room.”

Griffiths buried her head under the covers, clinging to her boyfriend. He prayed until the entity went away.

“I am now convinced there is a God, because if there is something that evil out there, there’s got to be something that saved me from it that night,” she said.

However, Griffiths is concerned she was the cause of the negativity in the apartment. She and her former flatmate had often used a Ouija board before they moved into the apartment.

“I believe something followed us,” Griffiths said. “I honestly think my soul was somewhat in trouble until I met my boyfriend. I believe his religion and knowledge has saved me from whatever wanted my soul.”

Griffiths and her boyfriend moved out of that apartment and haven’t seen the entity nor felt the negativity since.

“Thankfully nothing has really happened here,” she said. “We actually left because it got to the point we were scared of killing each other. Since we’ve been in our new home we haven’t had one fight. I’m pretty certain it’s leaving me alone because my partner protects me.”

Copyright 2009 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, P.O. Box 501, Maryville, Mo., 64468, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s books on the paranormal, “Darkness Walks: The Shadow People Among Us,” and “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.

12 comments:

richard said...

Howdy,Jason,

I am not religious in the traditional sense. Do folks who admit to being 'devout' report incidents like this to you more often? Are non-believers less apt to experience incidents like you describe? What I'm trying to ask is this - is religious belief the cause of such events?

Jason Offutt said...

Richard,

Great question. I've interviewed people who are devoutly religious and refuse to believe what they're experiencing is paranormal; devoutly religious and completely believe what they're experiencing is paranormal; agnostics who become religious after such an experience, and people who don't know what to think. But, is religious belief the cause of such events? I think it can be in two ways: 1) since religion deals with the supernatural, it is easy to stick a supernatural tag on something you don't understand (a lot like amateur ghost hunters believing every strange noise in an old house is a ghost), and 2) according to a couple of Catholic exorcists I've spoken with, "dark forces" are attracted to religious people, which is analogous to (my analogy, not the exorcists) a lot like a guy chasing after a girl who's way out of his league - it's a challenge.

Kayla Griffiths, the woman I wrote about in this post, wasn’t a religious person when these paranormal events began happening to her, but is now BECAUSE of the paranormal events.

Jason

richard said...

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Jason. If the Catholic exorcists you cite are correct in that 'dark forces' are attracted to religiously-minded people, Kayla Griffiths can now expect MORE of these events to occur to her in her life. Not much of a bargain, imo.

W.M. Mott said...

...And of course there are always the cynically lost who are no challenge whatsoever--why expend limited, if invisible, resources on someone who is no threat to whatever your ultimate agenda is, and is already in your pocket in the eventual sense?

It seems that those who are potentially a threat--even if this is unknown to themselves at the time--are often targeted by "dark forces," for lack of a better term. Those who don't have the spiritual potential (or perhaps even the spiritual destiny) to make a significant impact are ignored.

W.M. Mott said...

BTW Richard, I'm not saying you are among the cynically lost. I'm just making an observation as to why these things appear to happen to certain people who are either highly religious to begin with, or become so as a result of their experiences and encounters.

After I wrote the first edition of my book Caverns, Cauldrons, and Concealed Creatures, I was contacted by many people who were living in terror. After corresponding with some of them, it became apparent that, like the young lady in the story, many of their problems had started after they "dabbled" in the occult, ranging from ouija and seances, to tarot, "magick," and what can best be described as "recreational amateur necromancy and sorcery."

You would be amazed at how many people, when told that these practices where apparently the catalysts for their troubles, became indignant, outraged, and angry. They want to "play" with such forces, they want to be cool, or they feel "special," (yes, a woman who was allegedly living in terror of physically-manifested attacks, when told her lifestyle choices brought on the experiences, decided that even though she was living in abject terror, she must be "special" rather than change her ways at all, choosing to live like a conditioned pavlovian dog rather than consider that Right and Wrong exist both in the spirit world and in human lives).

There are many so-called paranormal researchers today who have this attitude. They acknowledge that "there is something to it," "something is going on," and blab about this and that ancient tradition, but they shy away in cynical cowardice from what the Judeo-Christian tradition has always taught about such things. Just like those who would willingly live in terror rather than acknowledge that someday we are all going to be held accountable for our choices in life, these "researchers" and such feel that by ignoring this huge truth which has always been a part of this subject, they will somehow avoid an ultimate accountability, the one we must all face one day.

richard said...

Mr. Mott - regarding your use of the word 'cynically', I am reminded of G.B. Shaw's remark that cynicism is simply accurate observation. Tangentially -I wonder if folks like the subject in Jason's article are being targeted by dark forces, NOT because they are a threat, as you imply, but its opposite. They are 'weaker' than most and are being culled via 'psychic attacks.' Perhaps they are simply the easiest to overtake spiritually.

W.M. Mott said...

Richard:

Always possible---it would seem that anyone is potentially a target, if that is the case. So then why are a relatively "few" of the teeming mass of humanity selected for such attention? Again, it would seem to imply that on the other side of things, "resources are limited." Then it would logically follow that an intelligence equal or greater than our own would, at least most of the time, direct such resources in a way which would be fulfilling in some way.

Or you could use the analogy of an immune system response: that which is reponsible for such "attacks" may see something in some people that you and I can not see. If certain gifts, sensibilities, etc., are carefully (or even casually, coincidentally, or accidentally) led in the wrong direction, i.e., into the occult, then "tangentially" pathways of access are opened--pathways that would have better been used for activity on the part of the victim on the opposite side of the paranormal, spiritual, or "religious" spectrum.

Sharon Day said...

My gift to blogs I follow this holiday season is to let them know what I love about their blogs.

Yours is a great idea. I really love being able to escape by reading stories of the paranormal and hear the words of people who've experienced the strange and unnatural. You are filling a much needed spot in the blog world. Keep it up!

jim.carroll said...

One thing that she and her boyfriend seem to have ignored is the role sin has played in her experiences. From the description, they are living together, sharing the same bed, without being married. The sinful behavior there, if not acting as a beacon, would certainly be an invitation to stay.

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krissy said...

We had shadow people in our apartment. Some visitors were creeped out, but we got to know the guy. He was a rather nice fellow and told us one night that a man tried to break into our apartment. So when we found someone trying to break in and went after them with a baseball bat, we realized shadow guy is a nice person. Others have had similar experiences with shadow people.

Anonymous said...

It was rather interesting for me to read the post. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read more soon.

Angie said...

i just read this and i had a similar experience last night. i'm 19, and i starting seeing what others couldn't when i was about 9 after my family and i moved to this hundred year old house in a reported haunted village. i didn't think anybody would ever believe me so i kept to it myself for years. and i finally told my sister and she encouraged me to tell my mom so i did. and my mom being religious believed me and said they were demons and revoked them. i haven't seen a single one since until last night. it was about 2:30am and i was trying to sleep. i suddenly turned my head and looked up and saw a shape moving, hovering over my bed 3 feet above where i was lying. i kept watching it move around trying to figure out what it was and then i looked to the end of my bed and realized there was another one standing there watching me. it was at least 6 and a half feet tall and wearing a cloak. it was more of a shadow then an actual body form. it came closer to me and i could start to make out its face so i pulled my blankets over my head and started praying, trying to revoke them. but it wasn't working because when i pulled my blankets off my head again there were 2 to 3 more standing at the end of my bed. so i jumped out of bed and turned the light on. and slept downstairs. i told my mom this morning and she went around the house to every room to revoke them. my sister is telling me that they were some sort of reaper and that she thinks its a death omen. so now i'm scared and not really sure if they're going to come back or not.