From the author: This is the first of two-parts about Linda Jessogne, who discovered that once the doorway to the other side is opened, it won’t shut.
Footsteps thumped slowly up the stairs as Linda, then five years old, lie in bed. She knew the sound was her father coming home, so she slid from under her covers and walked into the hallway to see Daddy.
But Daddy had died that night.
“I could hear what I thought were his footsteps on the stairs, and when I went to greet him, he wasn't there,” she said. “I could feel him there, smell him, but couldn't see him.”
Linda, now Linda Jessogne, of Sleepy Hollow, Ill., told her family about her encounter and immediately regretted it.
“They all told me it was my imagination,” Linda said. “After that, I vowed never to tell anyone, including my family, about this. I kept feeling my father, along with others, and never said anything to anyone.”
Feeling the presence of her father was Linda’s first paranormal experience, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last time she felt someone – or some thing – she couldn’t see. While in junior high school, Linda discovered the entities she was sensing could be dangerous.
“I had spent the night at my best friend's house where I played the Ouija board for the first time,” she said. “It scared me – a lot.”
Linda and her friend sat on the girl’s bedroom floor, laughing as they moved the plastic, triangle planchette across the board. Then things changed – spirits were answering the girls’ call.
“Suddenly, I felt all these spirits crowding into the room wanting to talk and becoming very annoyed when they had to wait their turn,” she said. “My friend took her hands off of the triangle and mine were almost glued to it.”
The planchette began to move faster and faster, Linda’s arms thrashing as she tried to pull her hands from the plastic triangle. Then everything stopped.
“My friend jumped up and turned on the lights, and just like it never happened, it all stopped,” she said. “It freaked us out and we hid it under her bed.”
But later that night, as the girls were playing a game, something slammed into the bedroom door from the hallway.
“We both thought it was her little sister trying to scare us, but when we went to the door, there was no one there and her sister was fast asleep and snoring in the next room,” Linda said. “I had a really bad feeling, like whatever did this was not a good spirit, and we went back into the room and locked the door.”
The girls eventually fell asleep, but whatever slammed into the door wasn’t finished with them.
“The next morning when we woke up, the door was wide open,” Linda said. “I didn't tell her, but I had marks all over my arms, almost like claw marks, yet I don't remember a thing. They weren’t very deep, but they were there.”
Linda never used a Ouija board again, but she found that when the gateway from the spirit world into her life was opened, it is difficult to shut.
“I've been visited by several of those bad spirits, yet none had ever bothered me quite like that,” she said. “I've always thought of myself as being weird, not as a medium or anything. I feel them, I can't hear them or see them, however I can tell what kind of spirit they are, and what kind of mood they are in.”
And the mood is usually bad.
Next week: Linda discovers who’s been haunting her house.
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. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Shadow Man Attacks in Australia
Anne Williams of Sydney, Australia, was roused at about 3 a.m. in 2005 by something in her room. It was not friendly.
“One early morning I felt so strongly that there was a presence standing next to my left as my bed was right in the corner of the wall,” Anne said. “I felt as though I was blocked, like something was standing over me or wanted to scare me.”
She didn’t understand what she saw.
“As I opened my eyes to see what the hell it was, there stood on my left side of the bed a black cloaked hooded figure,” she said.
The thing leaned over Anne, it’s face gray and snowy “like a TV screen when it’s all fuzzy,” Ann said. Its eyes were black and sunken in the snowy face.
“I screamed and instantly I was pinned to the bed, the only body part I could move was my neck area, everything else was locked to the bed,” she said.
Anne lie on her back, trying to scream as the figure leaned into her.
“I felt that it shoved its arm down my neck and was choking me as nothing came out of my mouth,” she said. “Like no noise. I could not even hear myself scream, but I was.”
Tears ran down her face, soaking into her pillow as she tried to scream … but couldn’t.
“I was trying to get up which I could not,” she said. “I felt that it was trying to scare me to death.”
Then the black, cloaked figure increased the terror.
“After a while all of these horrible things are happening, I got more strength in myself,” she said. “The figure decided to scare me more. It half went inside me and was cold like ice. As it went in me I felt so sick.”
Anger began to rage through Anne as the shadow figure pushed itself into her.
“I started to get pissed off as this piece of shit was trying to hurt me,” she said. “So I thought, that’s it I’m going to pray to God.”
She lie there, still pinned to the bed, choking, crying and trying to scream.
“I really felt that I was going to have a heart attack as this thing was so powerful,” she said. “I had the strength in my soul to pray to God and ask for it to leave me alone.”
Then she opened her eyes to look into the snowy, cloaked face of her attacker.
“I said angrily in my soul, ‘leave me alone, whatever you are … Leave me alone, you are not welcome to be in my body,’” Anne said. “It’s mine … you don’t belong here.”
She lie still, locked to the bed, face awash with tears. And, eventually, the cloaked shadow man just let her go.
“I got up all in a sweat and … I was like, ‘I saw a ghost.’ I felt victimized, and felt like no one could help me,” she said. “Well, I know that God helped me.”
Anne still can’t figure what happened. Her mother told her it was the spirit of a rapist.
“I don’t know what it was but I feel that it was evil and wanted to kill me,” Anne said. “I wonder why this happened to me? It’s all a mystery.”
The shadow being returned the next day, but Anne said prayer drove the black, cloaked thing from her.
“I flew out of bed and prayed to God to take it away,” she said. “I opened my eyes and it was gone. Thank God for his help.”
But the thing wasn’t gone forever. A year later, Anne was living in another house when the thing came back.
“Again, it was early in the morning,” she said. “I was sleeping on my right side and in my ear someone whispered in a male voice ‘I’m here.’ I was so tired I just said in a mumble, ‘Go away, I want to sleep.’
“I felt a chill when it was next to me,” she continued. “And I felt sick when it spoke to me.”
Anne doesn’t know if her attacker was a demon, or a ghost, but as of January 2008, she hasn’t been visited again.
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. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
“One early morning I felt so strongly that there was a presence standing next to my left as my bed was right in the corner of the wall,” Anne said. “I felt as though I was blocked, like something was standing over me or wanted to scare me.”
She didn’t understand what she saw.
“As I opened my eyes to see what the hell it was, there stood on my left side of the bed a black cloaked hooded figure,” she said.
The thing leaned over Anne, it’s face gray and snowy “like a TV screen when it’s all fuzzy,” Ann said. Its eyes were black and sunken in the snowy face.
“I screamed and instantly I was pinned to the bed, the only body part I could move was my neck area, everything else was locked to the bed,” she said.
Anne lie on her back, trying to scream as the figure leaned into her.
“I felt that it shoved its arm down my neck and was choking me as nothing came out of my mouth,” she said. “Like no noise. I could not even hear myself scream, but I was.”
Tears ran down her face, soaking into her pillow as she tried to scream … but couldn’t.
“I was trying to get up which I could not,” she said. “I felt that it was trying to scare me to death.”
Then the black, cloaked figure increased the terror.
“After a while all of these horrible things are happening, I got more strength in myself,” she said. “The figure decided to scare me more. It half went inside me and was cold like ice. As it went in me I felt so sick.”
Anger began to rage through Anne as the shadow figure pushed itself into her.
“I started to get pissed off as this piece of shit was trying to hurt me,” she said. “So I thought, that’s it I’m going to pray to God.”
She lie there, still pinned to the bed, choking, crying and trying to scream.
“I really felt that I was going to have a heart attack as this thing was so powerful,” she said. “I had the strength in my soul to pray to God and ask for it to leave me alone.”
Then she opened her eyes to look into the snowy, cloaked face of her attacker.
“I said angrily in my soul, ‘leave me alone, whatever you are … Leave me alone, you are not welcome to be in my body,’” Anne said. “It’s mine … you don’t belong here.”
She lie still, locked to the bed, face awash with tears. And, eventually, the cloaked shadow man just let her go.
“I got up all in a sweat and … I was like, ‘I saw a ghost.’ I felt victimized, and felt like no one could help me,” she said. “Well, I know that God helped me.”
Anne still can’t figure what happened. Her mother told her it was the spirit of a rapist.
“I don’t know what it was but I feel that it was evil and wanted to kill me,” Anne said. “I wonder why this happened to me? It’s all a mystery.”
The shadow being returned the next day, but Anne said prayer drove the black, cloaked thing from her.
“I flew out of bed and prayed to God to take it away,” she said. “I opened my eyes and it was gone. Thank God for his help.”
But the thing wasn’t gone forever. A year later, Anne was living in another house when the thing came back.
“Again, it was early in the morning,” she said. “I was sleeping on my right side and in my ear someone whispered in a male voice ‘I’m here.’ I was so tired I just said in a mumble, ‘Go away, I want to sleep.’
“I felt a chill when it was next to me,” she continued. “And I felt sick when it spoke to me.”
Anne doesn’t know if her attacker was a demon, or a ghost, but as of January 2008, she hasn’t been visited again.
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. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
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