Giggles of the Ghostly Baby

Sunlight poured into 16-year-old David Emerick III’s room as he lie in bed, a cold fear freezing him motionless as he slowly realized he was not alone.

“I have never felt so helpless,” Emerick said. “I felt afraid for my life.”

And he couldn’t move.

“I had a total paralyzing feeling on my entire body,” he said. “I couldn’t get up or move any part of my body no matter how hard I tried.”

He tried to scream for his mother, but his lips couldn’t move.

“I was aware of my surroundings and it was during the day I could see everything limited from where my head was pointing,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t a dream but it seemed like my hearing was amplified.”

His heart beat in his ears and the sound of a bath running came from somewhere in the room. Then he heard something laugh.

“The noises seemed confusing at first until I was terrified of a clear sound of giggling like a little kid laughing at me in the room,” Emerick said. “I felt very fearful and this is where I began to try and struggle and fight out of the state I was in. I heard the giggles right next to me I knew the direction in which they came.”

Emerick forced his eyes toward a small couch next to his bed and saw his unwelcome visitor.

“It was a ghostly figure of a pale baby and its head was bigger than normal,” Emerick said. “I was able to snap myself out of the state I was in. I got up sweating bad and shook up and confused. I then looked at the couch again; nothing was there and everything was back to normal.”

Although Emerick never saw the giggling, ghostly child again, this wasn’t the last encounter with the unknown in his parent’s house.

“This was the first and only time I could clearly make out the figure in detail and actually hear it,” he said. “I don’t understand why my episodes continued but they did in that house. Just the same paralyzed feeling and unable to get up or call for help plus my hearing would be amplified.”

A few years later, Emerick slept the night in a friend’s guest room, whatever tormented him when he was young came back with fervor.

“It was a violent episode for me where I actually felt the presence angry, or where it actually felt like it was doing something to me,” Emerick said. “One thing that caught my attention during my paralyzed state was my friend’s dogs; they were going crazy scratching on my window very loud with their paws and whimpering.”

From his spot, frozen in bed, Emerick could see the ceiling and details of the room from the light of the moon.

“Then suddenly I felt like my body was floating above the bed slowly, and then it started to get violent. It felt like my body was going in all kinds of directions,” he said. “I could clearly see the ceiling up close, then I would be dragged back down to the bed and I remember [being up to] the ceiling again.”

Emerick was helpless as something shoved his body toward the ceiling then dragged it back to the bed. Then he stopped moving.

“It was a very violent episode,” he said. “I was able to get a view of a dark figure near my bed. I felt the presence was not good and its presence was a feeling of hatred.”

The thing disappeared and so did Emerick’s paralysis.

With the dogs still jumping on the window and barking, Emerick turned on all the lights in the room and looked in the closet and under the bed. No one was there.

“My fear quickly turned to anger,” he said. “I was sick of being harassed and attacked by whatever was causing my episodes.”

Emerick spent the rest of the night on the couch in the living room. That was three years ago, and he hasn’t experienced anything as intense since. He still feels the paralysis, but knows how to combat it. He just wants to know what’s causing it.

Copyright 2010 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.