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.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:45 PM

    yikes! i'd have left the lights on too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have experienced a moving
    force like a small animal on
    my legs at night. She was not
    falling asleep but alert so
    hearing her daughter's voice
    so clearly was not a hypnogogic
    hallucination.

    The type of strange experience
    that happens in the border region
    of consciousness, between being
    awake and being asleep.

    There are billions of anecdotes
    from everyone based on mental
    conditioning about experiences
    just before sleep happens.

    Sounds like a Strieberian,
    "visitor", experience.

    P.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nope. The dog wasn't scared. If it had been, there would have been barking and whining or hiding. Not simply laying in another room. You mention you tripped over the dog as you rushed to your children's room. That indicates to me the animal was either asleep, or otherwise unconcerned. Since animals can sense things before people usually can, your dog's lack of attention would lead me to believe that it is used to whatever the entity is and considers it a non-threat.

    Whatever the entity was, it meant you no harm. Or it would have hurt you. It was trying to get your attention for some reason. After the touching did not seem to work, it mimicked your eldest's voice. THAT got your attention. But you jumped and ran.

    If it occurs again, try and remain calm, and ask what it needs. It may be something simple. It may just want to communicate.

    All paranormal experiences are not necessarily evil. Because they are out of our "comfort" zone, we tend to initially make them so, though no evil may have ever been intended by the entity. We share existence with a myriad host of things we can neither see, nor hear. Unless THEY really try to make themselves know, and WE really wish to interact.

    ReplyDelete