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My name is Kate and I'm twenty-two years old. I still live at home with my parents, which turned out to be a good thing because now I don't think I'm completely crazy. My mom has had some experiences as well. These are just my experiences for now, and I tried to be as detailed as possible, so it's a bit long. Apologies for that...but here goes:
Now, I'm a full believer in the paranormal, but I won't be naive enough to just believe everything strange is ghost-related. I have come up with logical explanations for my experiences and have resulted in insuffient answers.
Throughout my life, I've felt and heard strange things. There's no history to my house that I'm aware of. The land we're on was undeveloped when my parents bought it. My dad worked with a team of contractors and built the house himself. There were no strange finds on the land such as bones or whatnot. The only things that have died here are our pet dogs as life went on. Three are buried in the yard, two were cremated and the ashes were not reclaimed. We have always owned large breed dogs. Currently I have a yellow lab named Beau, a cat named Lilly, and we've recently accquired a stray cat we've dubbed SpitSpot. But SpitSpot is strictly an outside cat.
Usually I feel and hear things as I'm getting ready to go to sleep. When I was younger, I'd say about thirteen years old, I wasn't in bed longer than maybe ten minutes before I felt my bed depress down as if someone sat down by my feet. I chanced a peek over my blankets and didn't see anything there. But I felt it. My legs actually slid over toward the area -- just like they would if someone sat down too close to you. Back then I had the mentality of 'Don't acknowlege it and it's not really there.' So I just ignored the feeling and went to sleep. I have never experienced something as big as a person like that ever again.
For the past several years, I have felt what seems to be a cat jumping up on my bed and walking on me. At first I thought it was Lilly, a cat I had come to own through my sister. She had moved away to a different state and couldn't afford to fly the cat with her, so we took her in. Lilly had the horrible habit of walking between peoples legs while they were walking, and was constantly getting tripped over. So we got her a collar with a bell on it. Every movement that cat makes, she jingles.
As my nighttime experiences went on, I realized that I never heard a bell jingle when I felt something jump up on my bed. Anyone who's ever owned a cat knows what I mean when you can feel distinct pressure points of four paws when a cat is walking on you. I feel that mainly walking down my legs, from my ankles to my thighs, at night and then it's gone.
One time I actually felt the 'cat' sit on my thigh -- two points where the front paws were and a larger point where the back haunches were resting. Again, if you have a cat, you know what this feels like. And I've felt it plain as day.
I used to think that maybe I was dreaming, so I started to pay closer attention when this would happen to me. And I remember thinking as I felt this 'cat' walk on me, "Nope, I'm definitely awake right now." I've even felt it walk across my back as I tried to sleep on my stomach.
I thought that maybe the bell on Lilly's collar had somehow fallen off, but when I checked it the next morning, it was still there.
Now, I have not felt this 'cat' for a few weeks. Sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't. Sometimes it would be an every night situation, and then I'd have periods -- be it a day, week, or month -- where I've felt nothing. During these periods, I experience something else. I hear what almost sounds like a talk radio station playing very, very quietly in my room. It's quiet, but loud enough to where it's bothersome when you're trying to sleep. I checked all my electronics for interference from radio waves; computer speakers, clock radio, even my cell phone. But all were silent. As soon as I sat up to investigate these voices, they would go silent. When I would lay down to go to sleep, there they were again. It's hard to explain, really. I know the sounds are voices, but the way that I hear them almost sounds like a radio. Like a constant stream of chatter at a very low, indiscernible volume.
My most terrifying experience happened while I was watching a movie or TV show or something on my computer in my room. Now, I have a very simple sound system for my computer: two speakers on either side of my screen. My bed is maybe six feet away from my speakers. I was laying on my bed, chin propped up on my pillows when I heard a distinct growling noise in my ear.
When I say in my ear, I mean it sounded like whatever was making that noise was no less than four inches away from me. Mouth to ear. My computer wasn't very loud as my door was open and people in the house were trying to sleep. My dog was in the living room on the couch -- and he's not much of a growler anyway -- and my cat was on a chair in the dining room. Those are the only two animals in my house.
Wide-eyed and somewhat fearful, I slowly turned my head in the direction of where the noise came from. The only thing on that side of my room is my closet and it's a good eight or nine feet away. I didn't see anything. What's more is that after I heard this growl, it sounded as if someone had cupped a hand over my ear to muffle my hearing.
I listen to loud music. I've been to concerts. And yes, my hearing does go out sometimes and all I can hear is a persistant ring or beep. But I know what it feels like when the hearing goes out of one of my ears and this was no where close to that. This was a growl. A flat out growl. Like from a dog. But again, I've had my dog for all twelve years of his life and I've never heard him growl at anything. Not like what I heard, at least.
Sometimes when I'm home alone it will feel like I'm being watched. Sometimes when my animals stare at me, it doesn't feel like it's them looking at me. As strange as that sounds. Lilly won't stay in my room for long periods of time, and often runs out as if she's being chased. She'll also sit at the threshhold and stare into my room either at me or at something above me that I can't see. And she'll do this for minutes on end. Beau, well...he's old. And he's lazy. He's never been a good guard dog and has a really laid back disposition. He's not interested in much, but sometimes he'll be laying on his bed and watch the area of the house where my room is for a few minutes before putting his head down and going right back to sleep. Today I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye and thought it was Lilly sitting on a window ledge, but when I looked, nothing was there. And I remembered that I had locked Lilly in the spare room because I was getting ready to clean the house and didn't want the vacuum to scare her.
So now I keep a shaker of salt next to my bed. And though I'm not Catholic, nor do I have any set religious beliefs, I pray to the Archangel Michael for protection on nights that I'm really nervous. If any of you can think of logical explanations to any of this, I would really appreciate the feedback. Because quite frankly, I'm tired of having friends over and them asking me why I have salt next to my bed.
