I recently received the following account:
Dear Mr Strickler. I have been following your website for many years and I commend your commitment to share your knowledge and expertise in all that is paranormal and unusual. But I do wish to remain anonymous as I wish to protect my children. I have had many strange encounters of the paranormal sort over the years of which they are things I will disclose another time. But I have had an encounter with what I believe is a spirit or something, that not only I have seen but my son has seen over the years and recently now my daughter. I wouldn't normally ask for assistance but this being has for the first time made physical contact with my 14 year old daughter. I shall start at the beginning.
My husband and I and my son moved out of our old cottage because we basically outgrew it (it was also haunted by an angry old man who didn't like us interfering with his house, but we didn't mind, he just threw, a wobbly every now and again when we decorated). We moved into an old 3 bedroom 1958 council house in Nov' 1999. From the first moment I walked into the house I loved it, the energy was amazing, there was a lot of love in this house. After investigation we discovered that the house was owned by a lovely couple who used to foster children. As the couple got older and retired the wife eventually died of cancer (in hospital) I believe and the old fella wanted to sell and move into a retirement home (Sadly he had a heart attack and died about a month after settling into his new home).
I would often hear movement downstairs late at night when everyone was in bed, and the food cupboard in the kitchen would open (it makes a distinctive squeak when opened, I would often call out and ask who's scrumping in the cupboard for snacks, but when I looked there's no one there). After about a year or so I was walking across the hallway upstairs going into the spare room, when out of the corner of my eye I saw something by the wall in my bedroom, so I took a step back and there was a man about my height 5' 8". He was wearing a black dinner suit, his hair was dark, short back and sides with the top of his head slicked back with a wax or pomade. He reminded me of a type of James Bond. He wasn't menacing, and I didn't have a bad feeling, I was just startled he was just standing there with his back to the wall staring at me like it was perfectly normal to be there in my bedroom. I thought he was smoking a cigarette too as he had something in his right hand. I blinked and probably swore and he was gone. This has happened before with other spirits so I guessed if he wanted something he'd be back.
A couple of years went by and I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, so we made the spare room our nursery, and moved our son from the back bedroom into our bedroom and we moved into his room. It wasn't long before my son who at this time was nearly 7 said he woke up and saw a man standing in his room. So I asked him what he looked like and he described the man as wearing a black coat and trousers and that he just stood and looked at him. My son said he wasn't scared and went off to sleep. About 2 years later he said he saw the man again, dressed the same but this time at the end of his bed and it looked like he was trying to say something to him but when my son turned away he vanished.
Several years later now and my son is in his teens, he said he saw him again and this time he was sat on the end of the bed, and again it looked like he was trying to say something to him then he vanished. Each time my son said he wasn't frightened at all, he was just surprised he was there. I just kept telling him it was his guardian angel or probably a deceased family member looking after him (I discussed this with my mother who said she knew of no one that fit the description in the family).
Now my son is 20 and he has left home. We have NEVER discussed this with my daughter. My 14 year old daughter has now moved into my son's room and even though it's only been a couple of months now she has already seen this man 3 times in her room and she's scared. She keeps hiding a knife under her pillow to protect her. And I have to confiscate it. With her active imagination she believes it to be this 'Slender Man' character. I have explained that this 'Slender Man' is a made up internet phenomena and not real, and that this man she sees, has been in this house since we moved in, way way before this internet creation. I also told her not to be frightened and that she is to ask him to leave if she sees him again.
Well last night she was so frightened she actually text me at 2.40am from her mobile under her covers to tell me he was in her room she had told him to leave but he had touched her foot. She said it felt icy cold and she hid under her duvet and eventually fell asleep (I didn't see the message until the morning as my phone is on silent at night). So tonight she is tucked up in bed with an assortment of quartz crystals dotted around her room which I convinced her would keep him away. I hope for her sake it works even if it's a placebo effect. I just wondered if you could shed any light on this situation?
P.S. we have a cat and a dog, the dog stays downstairs and is never bothered by anything strange and the cat sleeps in all the bedrooms, and spend nearly all of her time upstairs away from the dog, she has always favoured the kids room, so I guess the cat wouldn't stay in the room if there was a bad entity in it would it? With regards VN
NOTE: this is most likely an Earthbound energy, strong enough to manifest and able to touch. I'd be interested to know if any items have been moved. I believe this may be the spirit of the old man that the writer mentioned...showing himself as a younger man. He may be seeking his wife or someone else. I don't sense any malevolent resolve. He may wander about the house occasionally, but usually remains in the one room. If the Earthbound energy is intent on staying, then other non-invasive means of spirit rescue can be employed. I'll leave that option to the writer. Lon
Toward the Light: Rescuing Spirits, Trapped Souls, and Earthbound Ghosts - Amy Major's book is one of the best I've read on the subject of spirit rescue. Lon
Light the Way: A Guide to Becoming a Rescue Medium - Pre-order Amy Major's next book
Death Walkers: Shamanic Psychopomps, Earthbound Ghosts, and Helping Spirits in the Afterlife Realm
When Ghosts Speak: Understanding the World of Earthbound Spirits