Monday, August 30, 2010

Something in the Basement

Tommie Martin’s family moved into a green house with a big yard in Taylorsville, Utah, when he was five years old.

“My parents were really excited because this was the first house that they actually owned,” Martin, now 20, said. “When we moved in, there were five of us. I was the oldest, my sister was three, and my brother was one. A year later my youngest sister was born.”

The upstairs held the kitchen, living room and his parent’s bedroom. The children slept downstairs in the basement – and none of them liked being there.

“There was something very, very evil about that basement and all of us kids could feel it,” Martin said. “None of us knew what is was that made it feel that way, but we did not like to be downstairs at any time, but especially at night.”

Martin and his siblings felt so uncomfortable in their rooms, they slept upstairs whenever their parents would let them.

“We would sleep in the living room instead of our own rooms,” Martin said. “That is how much we hated it down there.”

It took a few years, but Martin finally discovered why he and his siblings were scared.

“One night, I found myself awaking on the floor of my room,” he said. “I don’t know how I got there, but that was the least of my concerns. As I focused on the room around me I found a dark figure in front of me.”

Martin couldn’t make out the features of this figure; it was simply the black shadow of a man looming in front of him.

“I have never felt such an evil feeling before in my life, or after for that matter,” Martin said. “I was unable to move, to speak, or do anything, but cry in my head for my parents to come save me, which didn’t happen.”

Martin switched his inward cries for his parents into prayers to God, then he blacked out.

“I don’t know what happened after that,” he said. “I just woke up the next morning not even sure that it really happened.”

Martin found in the ever-darkening nights while his family lived there, that this shadow man left its mark on his room.

“The evil feeling the spirit released in my room never went away,” Martin said.

Martin’s family stayed in that house five more years before moving to a house in South Jordan, Utah. After the move, Martin and his sibling’s fear of the dark faded away.

“One thing I always wondered was why I had that experience at that house and nobody else had,” he said. “I shared a room with my little brother, and he never knew anything happened.”

But sometime after Martin turned 18 and started talking with his siblings, he found just how much that house terrified them.

“I talked to my brother and sisters and about that house,” he said. “Even my little sister, who was only three or so when we moved, said that she had not liked being in that basement."

His oldest sister later told him she hated the entire house – especially the downstairs bathroom.

“She was so scared at night to leave her room, that she wet her pants for years instead of using the bathroom,” he said. “She told me that of all the places in the downstairs of that house, that bathroom had always scared her the most.”

Although that house is long gone from Martin’s life, its mark will never leave.

“Looking back, my mind felt clouded, almost like it wasn’t functioning right, for the time that I lived at that house, when I moved, that clouded sensation in my mind went away,” he said. “This was my first encounter with a spirit of some kind, and to be honest, I really wish it hadn’t happened. I hope I never see another spirit for as long as I live, but I have a feeling that isn’t going to happen.”

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 newest book on the paranormal, “What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard,” is available at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Black-Eyed Kids in Ohio

Author’s note: This is a story about a man’s encounter with Black-Eyed Kids. “Noetic” is not his name; he asked for anonymity.

Although Noetic saw the teens as he stepped outside the Ohio data center where he worked, he wasn’t ready for what happened.

“It freaked me out,” Noetic said.

Noetic works as the weekend computer engineer from 11:30 p.m. to noon. While he works, he’s in the building alone, but has never felt uncomfortable until the weekend of July 31, 2010.

“Our building is pretty secure,” he said. “I have a camera display of our parking lot, both front and back, as well as the front doors and back which is all displayed on one of my monitors.”

However, he was outside when he saw the teens.

“There is a bar and a small plaza directly to the right of our building, and a small apartment complex across the street,” he said. “So it is not out of character to see someone walking through our lot going to the bar, or crossing the street to get to the apartments.”

But it was 5 a.m. As he stood outside the building and lit a cigarette, the smoke curling into the morning sky, he saw two teens around 14 to 16 years old standing in the parking lot of the plaza; the boys immediately frightened him.

“I had a bit of a unnerving feeling from them because from the moment I walked out from of the building all they appeared to do was stare me down,” he said. “I am sure this is a bit normal, five in the morning and a guy suddenly coming out of a quiet, empty building, perhaps I scared them a bit.”

Noetic stood at the door, smoking his cigarette, birds beginning to sing as the light of dawn grew around him.

“I smoked my cigarette while keeping a eye on them,” Noetic said. “I finished up and went back into the (building).”

Ten minutes later the intercom buzzed.

“I look over to the monitor and it's these two kids,” he said.

Noetic hit the intercom button and asked them what they wanted. One of the boys looked into the camera and beaconed Noetic to come to the front door.

“I hit the talk button and tell them I am busy I don't have time for games, they need to leave the property,” Noetic said. “Instead they just sort of hang on right in front of the door.”

Noetic tries to ignore the boys staring at him from the TV monitor, but he can’t. He goes to the lobby and looked at the boys through the front glass; the type of glass where people in the lobby can see out, but people outside can’t see in.

The boys were dressed like normal teens; shorts, dark hoodies, and tennis shoes.

“The one thing that set these kids apart from other kids, they had deep, completely black eyes,” he said. “This really set me back. I felt like as if they actually were able to see me.”

Noetic pushed open the lobby door, ready to tell the boys to leave or he would call the police. He never got the chance.

“One kid looked at me and said almost instantly, ‘That will not be necessary sir, we simply need to use your phone, can you let us in?’” Noetic said. “I do not let anyone in.”

When Noetic told the black-eyed teens to leave, they didn’t behave like normal teens.

“The one talking to me didn't like that one bit and went on to tell me, ‘No, you’re going to invite us in,’” Noetic said. “By this time, the other kid is just giving me this weird twisted little grin. Something was off. I almost instantly felt this. ‘Threatened’ is the best word I can use.”

The black-eyed teens stood their ground, waiting for Noetic to invite them in.

“I have never been at a loss for words, but at this point I actually was maybe even a bit taken by the kid’s bluntness,” he said.

Noetic again tells the boys he will call the police, pulls his cell phone from his pocket and closes the lobby door. He walks back to his desk and watches them on the monitors.

“The one ended up going to the back door and just stood there staring at the camera in the back while the other, who was talking to me, stared at the camera in the front,” Noetic said.

By this time it’s near 6 a.m. Noetic hit the intercom button and told them the police are on their way.

“He just smiles and tells me, ‘I need to use the phone, let us in,’” Noetic said.

Then the boys moved. They met behind the building and stepped into a blind spot in the security system, a spot from which there is no exit. They had disappeared from Noetic’s monitor.

“If you go in this blind spot, there is nowhere to go. You have to end up back on camera again,” Noetic said. “If they would have jumped the fence, I would have seen them on camera. I saw nothing.”

Noetic didn’t move from that spot until the police arrived. He sent the officers around to the blind spot, but the boys were gone.

“The few things that still stand out in my mind is those freaking eyes, how he talked and carried himself as well as just that weird, weird feeling,” Noetic said. “I best quoted from the movie The Crow, at the time talking to that kid, ‘I felt like a little worm on a big (expletive) hook.’”

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 newest book on the paranormal, “What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard,” is available at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

A Voice in the Night

Donna Letzig walked through her house, a house her family had lived in for 17 years, and checked on her daughters before she retired for the night.

Her daughters, who shared a room, lie in their beds watching television, both ready to drop into sleep. Satisfied her family was safe for the evening, Letzig went to bed herself and cuddled next to her husband preparing for the 30 minutes to a hour it took her to fall into sleep.

But a few minutes after she rested her head on the pillow, Letzig noticed something was wrong.

“I was lying next to my husband on my side with my back to him. Our legs were touching,” she said. “I was still wide awake, but getting comfortable and relaxed. After about 10 minutes I felt a strange sensation by my legs.”

Startled, Letzig tried to pass off the feeling as her husband moving his legs.

“I laid there and as the shock of that started to wear off it happened again,” she said. “This time, I realized (my husband’s) legs are touching me, and they are not moving.”

Letzig felt something like a cat walking on top of the blankets. The Letzigs had a dog, but they didn’t have a cat. And whatever walked on the blankets wasn’t a dog.

“At this point I am terrified,” Letzig said. “I have my eyes squeezed shut as tight as possible. There was no way I wanted to look and see what was touching me. I was frozen in that position.”

Then came the call for help.

“Suddenly the movement stopped and directly in my ear I heard my older daughter’s voice shout, ‘Mom,’” Letzig said.

Despite the movement of something unseen on her bed, at the sound of her daughter’s voice Letzig bolted from bed and ran out of her bedroom door, through the dining room and almost tripped over their dog.

“He never lays in (the dining room),” Letzig said. “He sleeps in a dog bed in our room.”

Avoiding the dog and running down the hall, Letzig reached her daughters’ room. Her youngest daughter was asleep and her oldest daughter lay in bed watching TV, barely awake.

Everything looked fine.

“She (her oldest daughter) looked at me and muttered, ‘what’s up?’” Letzig said. “I said, ‘Did you call me just now?’”

Her oldest daughter looked at her in a sleep-induced haze.

“No,” she said grumpily. “I was almost asleep.”

Letzig went back to her bedroom, but she didn’t fall asleep for quite a while. She was so frightened by her daughter’s disembodied voice she left the bedroom light on.

“The thing that scared me the most was that whatever it was, it mimicked my daughter’s voice so well,” Letzig said. “Why? I have no idea. It wanted me out of bed, that was for certain, but for what reason, I will never know. It also scared my dog, which is another odd thing.”

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 newest book on the paranormal, “What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard,” is available at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.

Monday, August 09, 2010

The Terror of Black-Eyed People

The killer stared down nine-year-old Jordan Williams seconds after he shot his 10th victim. It’s something that’s been burned into the young Williams memory forever.

Cabbie Derrick Bird, who’d terrorized Cumbria, UK, drove by Williams and his mother in the small resort town of Seascale, when Bird pulled alongside 64-year-old cyclist Michael Pike, leveled a hunting rifle out the window of his cab and fired. Bird was less than six feet away from Williams as the shot tore through Pike.

“There was blood everywhere,” Williams told the UK’s Daily Record on June 4, 2010. “It was horrible.”

As the cabbie drove slowly by, staring at Williams, the boy noticed something odd about the man – something unnatural.

“The crazy driver stared me in the eyes, and my mum,” Williams said. “He looked a bit mad. He had his eyes like a hawk staring at something. His eyes were black.”

Dead black.

“We were like that for seven seconds but it felt a lot longer,” Williams said. “I didn’t run. I don’t know why.”

Bird killed two more people before turning the gun on himself.

Stories of Black-Eyed People – whose eyes are voids with no iris, no whites – are always threatening and always terrifying. However, these stories are usually not reported in the mainstream press, unlike this story of the cabbie in the Daily Record.

What are these human-like beings whose eye sockets reflect nothing but darkness? Monsters? Extraterrestrials? Something more sinister? Most people who see them don’t want to find out. Susan from New Orleans is one of these people.

As Susan stepped through the doorway of a grocery store in 2004, a man in his late 20s or early 30s dressed in an old-fashioned black suit stepped past her. She immediately knew something was wrong.

“This all happened in a second’s time,” Susan said. “As my head raised up my eyes made a direct contact with a man coming out of the store going the opposite way. There were no eyes, just deep black holes of space. A total void where sockets and eyes should be.”

The man was not blind. He walked confidently and directly.

“Oh man, did my radar go off,” Susan said. “My inner voice told me to get the hell away so I hurried my steps into the grocery store.”

Inside the store she looked to see if anyone else reacted to the black-eyed man, but everyone seemed normal.

“For many years now I have tried to put this behind me, only discussing this with my husband,” Susan said. “I didn’t want to give much credence to this being because this was the most profound evilness I have ever experienced. It was too terrifying for me to think about.”

That terror has also visited Stephen Dawson of Manchester, UK.

Dawson moved from his mother’s place into his own flat in the mid-1990s. The flat was the bottom floor of a converted house owned by his mother’s boyfriend.

“Which meant no deposit, which was a bonus,” Dawson said. “I have always been very independent and finally having the opportunity to have my own space and freedom kind of went to my head as I settled in for the first night there.”

Dawson sat reading in bed, the doors to the front room closed and the sound of urban traffic playing in the background, when he felt something wrong.

“Without warning, I began sensing someone at the bottom of my bed,” he said. “I gently placed my book down and looked directly in front of me. I could see nothing and the more I looked at the emptiness the more intense the feeling got.”

As Dawson turned back to his book, he realized all he could hear was his heartbeat. No horns, no music from passing cars, nothing.

“I was no more then a couple of sentences into (the book) when the temperature dropped considerably followed by a feeling of dread and almost terror,” Dawson said. “I was frozen with fear for what seemed like hours but in reality was probably only seconds.”

When Dawson dragged his eyes from the book and focused on the end of his bed, he saw the bedroom doors slowly open.

“I don’t mind saying it was squeaky bum time for me, but try as I did I couldn’t help but look,” Dawson said. “The doors continued to slowly open, but instead of seeing my front room all I could see was total darkness.”

Then he saw the girl. A pale girl dressed in black stood at the end of his bed.

“I was transfixed on her face watching as her mouth opened and shut but with no sound coming from it,” Dawson said. “It was then I was drawn upwards to what was by far the most terrifying part of the night.”

He looked into her eyes and saw nothing but darkness.

“It wasn’t an impression of darkness, but was literally darkness,” Dawson said. “No pupils, no whites of the eyes, nothing just a blackness.”

As Dawson looked into that blackness, he felt those dark voids pull him toward sleep.

“It took one hell of an effort to break myself away from it,” he said. “As I did I shut my eyes and kept it that way till I felt (the entity) dissipate and then go.”

When the feeling of oppression left his bedroom and the noise of urban life began seeping back into the night, Dawson opened his eyes and the black-eyed girl was gone.

“I didn’t get any sleep on that first night,” he said. “I stayed there for just over a year and in all that time I never saw the girl again but was aware of the same presence. Years later I went back to show a new tenant around (which) was followed by the return of the same feeling of dread and heaviness of the atmosphere. I decided to bravely wait outside.”

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 newest book on the paranormal, “What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard,” is available at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.