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Two Marines Vs. The Grim Reaper

 

Listen up butter cups and let me share with you my paranormal experience, an experience which has stuck with me for the past 20 years like it happened just yesterday. I will start by describing my living conditions at the time, which may better give you a feel for the surroundings during these events.

The year was 1990, I was a lance corporal in the US Marine Corps stationed at Camp Lejeune North Carolina, I was living in the barracks on base and contrary to many depictions seen in the movies our rooms were not open squad bays with 30 Marines each to a cot but rather decent three man rooms with their own bathrooms and actual single sized beds that we referred to as a rack.

Now that I have set the stage for my story let me begin.

I shared a barracks room with one other Marine, at that time no other Marine was yet assigned to our 3 man room so it was myself and a fellow Marine named Lance Corporal Grey. Our racks (Beds) were on opposites sides of the room with about 12 feet between us, headboards or where a headboard would be if our racks had them were facing the outside wall with the exit door to the outside between the two racks.

It was sometime during the peak winter months at Camp Lejeune, snow covered and very cold outside, the time was approximately 02:00 in the morning when I awoke from a very odd dream, I can't recall anything about that dream but I awoke lying on my side to find my arm stretched upward as if I was reaching for the heavens, I know what you're thinking, weird right? Not so much, since there were times in my life at a young age when I have slept walked and talked in my sleep, I think most people would admit to much stranger things.

So there I was, lying on my side with one arm stretched out to the heavens, I then rolled over to my stomach to get back to the job of a good night's rest but as I rolled over my mind quickly became aware that something was standing right next to me, something so dark that it was very visible in our darkened room, since the room only had the benefit of a single window which provided no more than a faint moonlit glow, further subdued by heavy curtains making it barely possible to identify objects in the room all except for this obvious presence standing next to me, this entity can only be described as a Grim Reaper minus the bladed staff, so black I cannot fully emphasize the unnatural darkness it possessed complete with hooded cloak standing at what may have been just over 6 feet in height and eerily thin in stature.

I quickly flipped to my back and yelled "What the Frig!" or a similar version of that phrase, it was there standing right beside me. I attempted to sit up and the Reaper reached out to me, reaching out as if to motion me to go back to sleep, keep in mind, at this point I can see and feel the very thin arms of this entity touching me and giving way as I was trying to force myself to sit up against its wishes, it was at that instance I was hit with what I can only describe as electricity, not like being shocked but more like hit with a hard jolt of electricity that continued to disrupt my senses but the affects fades after about 30 or 40 seconds. The first jolt I was able to shake off quickly and yell to my roommate... Grey! Grey! I could hear that my yells to my fellow Marine woke him quickly since he started yelling WHAT? HEY!...HEY! I was then given another jolt which set me back a few inches to what had to be the most difficult sit-up of my life; I didn't hear Grey for about 30 seconds but was again fighting to get myself to a sitting position, I was able to force my body up and at this point was sitting on the side of my rack but soon rewarded with a third jolted, this time jolted stronger than the previous times, so I am now sitting upright on the side of my rack in a heavy daze which I am fighting to clear, my head is leaning down staring at the dark cloaked entity at would be around its knees, it is now standing inches in front of me with its hand on my back between my shoulders.

A few more seconds go by until Grey went for the light switch, that effort was certainly past due and since the switch was only three feet away only requiring him to stand up and reach out for the switch. Finally! Grey hit the light switch but in my dazed state it appeared to me as if the light travelled through the room not like your normal turn on the lights but as if it took a second or two to fill the room with the light, the entity had to get out and get out fast before being exposed to the light and that it did, by jumping over me into the wall behind me, knocking me back down on the rack scrapping its body over my face in doing so.

At this point my senses were clearing up and I looked to see Lance Corporal Grey standing at the light switch staring at me, then in a panic he ran over to the heaving wall lockers which we kept our gear in, throwing them open as if he expected something to jump out, then he ran into the bathroom, I simply sat there processing what had just happened. Grey slowly walks out of the bathroom and sits down at the end of his rack, for a moment we just looked at each other, I then said to Grey... What did you see? To that he responded, I seen something with two limbs stretched out at you. He also told me that when he tried to jump for the lights he was jolted just as I had been three times during the entire ordeal; this slowed his ability to make that desperate lunge for the light switch.

There are a few thoughts I want to share.

The entity did not seem to be aggressive; I got the feeling it was simply watching my odd behaviour during my sleep but when I awoke so quickly it was caught up in a situation it had to react to. I can tell you that I felt no evil here; I would even go as far as saying it seemed gentle in its movements with no apparent negative vibe, if it wasn't for the mind scrambling jolts which left me no worst for the wear I may have considered this a positive experience.

There was also something strange with the air in the room I noticed immediately after this incident, the air seemed to be extremely dry, like the moisture in the air was somehow sucked out, I felt like if I didn't open the door and let some fresh air in my nose was going to start to bleed.

A few months later I was deployed to Desert Storm and never experienced any further activity, though I was hoping to catch another glimpse of this mysterious entity I expect it has moved on to the nearest Navy base where it no longer has to worry about light sleeping Marines not to mention it would only take a fraction of its energy to knock those squids to the ground. Sorry! I couldn't resist taking a shot at my Navy brothers.

This entity had two abilities worth making note of:

1) The ability to Shock or Jolt you with energy and completely disrupts your senses for a limited amount of time and can do so from at least a distance of 10 feet away, this we know since Lance Corporal Grey was jolted from that distance.

2) The ability to fly and travel through walls, when the entity jumped through the wall I was hit with substantial force, as if it had a running start but in reality it jumped over me from a standing position which knocked me back down on the rack, this leads me to believe flight is certainly an ability it has.

Now you can go ahead and say it, two Marines got their asses kicked by the Grim Reaper.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I have shared this story of my paranormal experience over the years with many of my friends and to this day I am asked to tell it time and time again just to see if they get the same amount of goose bumps each time and to those sceptics out there I can only say, I hope that if you are ever awakened to the reality that there are things out there which cannot be explained I truly hope your introduction does not leave you feeling like you have experienced something you need to keep hidden for fear of being seen as a kook as you may currently view those of us who have had such experiences.

Semper Fi

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Tonto, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

RLA15 (3 stories) (19 posts)
 
12 years ago (2012-05-24)
Tonto, upon reading your story, I won't longer feel safe sleeping with a marine.
troyarn (5 stories) (479 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-04-09)
Were you Echo Battery, 10th Marines? That's what I was when in the Corps.
troyarn (5 stories) (479 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-04-09)
Great story, Tonto! I too am a Marine and was just leaving the service around the time you experienced this. As for me, well, I did live in the old style open barracks with well over 50 men to a cot.

I did a stint in asia from 1989-1990 and when we got back they were doing construction everywhere putting in the new three man to two man rooms around the area where our old barracks used to be. I have to say, I still believe in the old style structure. Marines having rooms? It never sat well with me. Too much like the army or something. When we had open barracks (or squad bays) we knew eachother deeply. How can anyone really get to know anyone when they have their own private space? Sorry...I'm sounding like the old Jarhead, but who the hell decided on making the Marine Corps nice and cozy?

But I do remember construction going on all over the base and was wondering where this incident took place. I was in artillery and we were usually centered around "N" Street, I believe, but when I got back from asia we were stuck in another old (and condemned) building along Lejeune Blvd., the "main street" of the base.

Anyway, you know how the Marine Corps is, always moving around. I've been in a few of the old barracks around that area and have to say that I've heard a few stories. Perhaps this thing was something from the past checking up on things. They can take away the old buildings but they can't take away what was there before.

Just to let you know, I did live in a two man room for a time when in Okinawa since I was an NCO and loved it, but it didn't feel right (I have my own story of that place).

Thanks very much for this story and I'm glad you two got out ok. And you didn't get your asses kicked... You two are still around and the spirit ran.
SmokeyKnight (3 stories) (193 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-03-02)
If you're still around, you might try hand drawing a picture of the room and submitting it to the site if you can scan it in.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-17)
Well, that didn't work, I tried to do an ASCII depiction of locations for you. 😊
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-17)
Moongrim,

The end result would be the room next to us but it knocked me back on the bed and since I didn't hit my head that tells me their may have been an angle enough to go through the outside wall, I have never thought about that. But the closest wall was directly outside or a path that put it in the next room. Maybe this will help you understand the room layout and it's position which is never moved from until it jumped over me, and don't forget it didn't have the courtesy to jump completely over me it raked it's body over my face and it was moving fast. Not here to convince you, just enjoy trying to help anyone interested to understand it better.

The Room's side walls connect rooms, only one exit.

The Back room's wall I can't recall what that separated.

window EXIT
WALLWALL | | | |WALLWALL
! ! ! !
| | X | |
! ! Entity ! !
L L L L
RACK RACK
SmokeyKnight (3 stories) (193 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-17)
I'm ghost hunters would have a blast on military installations. Especially the ones like Lejeune and Ft. Knox. And I can almost guarantee there have been other sightings at places like Lejeune (ie, my friend from the Marines).
Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-16)
[at] Tonto,
Maybe you could get this person to check out the stories and articles here at YGS (Your Ghost Stories) and they could maybe get a feel of what we're about here. It might help them open up with the problems that are occuring. We do have demonologists that are regular posters, excorcists too. Just something to keep in mind. I pray for their safety and hope things can be brought to a positive resolution as soon as possible.
Moongrim (2 stories) (871 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-02-16)
Interesting, very interesting.

It could walk through walls, but it chose to jump over you to get away. I wonder what kind of results you'd get if you started some kind of forum concerning the Grim Reaper/Shadowman encounters other folks may have had at Camp Lejeune and nearby.

If anything else- one can infer that even the Grim Reaper was intimidated by a pair of Marines.
Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
+3
13 years ago (2011-02-16)
"Listen up buttercups". Anyone starts a story like that has my attention right now, they've got to have some grande heuvos with that kind of introduction. Thank you for matching that with a story like this. I have no doubts what so ever that you're telling the truth, that never even occured to me. I'm still catching my breath! Thanks for sharing this experience with the rest of us, I know it made my day.
~~~Welcome Home Tonto~~~ 😊
Clover_Evers (4 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
This is an amazing story, thank you for sharing it. Scary stuff going on with your in laws, how frustrated and frightend they must be.
cosmogal926 (9 stories) (1223 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
Wow Tonto great story, very well written. This is definitely going in my fav's. 😁 I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Makes me wonder what in the world that thing was doing there just standing over you like that. Creeeeepy 😨
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
txlady,

Thank you so much for your comment and I am so sorry to hear that you lost your husband.

He sounded much like how I was when it came to thing unnatural, not putting much stock an any of the stories until I was confronted with my own encounter.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
dreamergal72,

If I simply would have laid back down and closed my eyes I know this entity would have simply moved on, so this would have been the same story, but It would have left me wondering if it really happened I guess, the reason I waited for Grey to settle down before I asked him what he seem is because I needed to hear from him what just happened first. When he said he seen something with two limbs stretched out at me, I knew then we both knew it was unnatural, now if he would have used the word arms I would have had to ask him further about the arms, they were just so very thin and if I would have been the one on Grey's side I would have described it as limbs reaching out as well. My point is that it surprised me when he used the word Limbs.

I have never done any research on the entity and to hear others have seen this type really interests me, I will certainly be reading up on everyone's stories.

Aussiedaz,

You make some good points, I have also thought of those possibilities.

Also, I was only stationed in NC during the time of my story, I am from Ohio and currently live in that state.
aussiedaz (19 stories) (1565 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
Tonto, great story mate and well written, as I try to read between the lines of your account and offer you an explanation to your experience, there are a few things mentioned of worthy note... Even though this Dark presence is best described as the Grim ripper, you felt as if though its intention was not one of aggression, but more of an observation... And its electrical aura was enough to disturb your own senses, but in no means intended to harm you in anyway... Well heres what I think is possible... Everything happens for a reason, considering both you and your friend are marines, this experience may have been intended just to change the smallest detail of your life from that point on... Like in that movie sliding doors where she missed the train by a second... It is possible considering also you were heading to desert storm, that things may have been different for not having this experience like a domino affect from not being exactly where you may have been or indirectly someone else... I would say for this presence to have so much electrical energy, would suggest it was a spiritual being sent from the highest order... Just a theory? Thanks again for your story.

Daz
dreamergal72 (6 stories) (793 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
werid I had the samething with this thing you tell us about it only it just stare at me that all of course I was afraid of it like a kid I just gone under the cover but peek out still there don't know and don't know what it want but that was like 20 something years ago I was very young at 18 in my own place to live of course next to my mother. You can read the story call my daddy's death and the hooded figure so Whatever that you seen may had something to do with might happen to future or death Not sure though.
huendchen (49 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
Great story. Very well-told and believable. I wonder what the entity wanted...
txlady (1 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
Tonto, I find your story very similar to something that happened to my late husband many years ago before we were married. It was the summer of 1969 and he had just returned home from a hard nights work. He went immediately to bed and after an hour or so after falling asleep he awoke to a tall, dark hooded figure standing at the end of his bed! The figure was touching his foot and although he was not shocked in any way by the figure, he felt his body turn ice cold. He began yelling at the figure thinking for a moment that there was an intruder in his room. The tall figure did not move but slowly began to fade away. Thinking that maybe this was just a nightmare he fell back to sleep only to be awakened again by the same dark, hooded figure. He jumped out of bed, grabbed his clothes, shoes and car keys and fled his house, driving like a bat out of hell to my house to tell me the tale. Now, my husband was raised on a farm, hard working, down to earth, strong spiritual beliefs and NOT easily shaken or quick to believe in ghosts, evil spirits, paranormal, etc but I have never seen him so rattled as he was that night, not in the 10 years we were married! He told me he believed it to be the grim reaper...death. He was 29 when he passed from cancer... Too young, but I have never forgotten the visit he had from the reaper and have often wondered if this dark being really was warning him.
SmokeyKnight (3 stories) (193 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
Is what's happening with your in-laws happening on/near a military installation? Generally speaking, there is a reason a spirit would decide to manifest itself. I don't know if you've read my comments to any other posters, so I'll explain.

A spirit chooses (usually) to manifest due to something like unfinished business. There is usually SOMETHING to keep them around. Most will also "attatch" themselves to something like land or an object. In some cases they will attatch to someone who recognizes their existance. Mind you, this is in the ghost side of the house (so to speak).

Demons and such usually don't attatch to anything in particular, they stay around those they enjoy the reactions from. Or there is another reason for them to be there (a sort of paranormal manifestation of one's guilt, etc.). There really isn't a way I can pinpoint exactly what the situation is, but I can give my unbiased opinions and advice on the matters. Many of the members here are far more knowledgeable than I am in the paranormal, but we all have our strengths.

Sadly, we can't deal with spirits/demons/ifrits/spectres/phantoms/etc the way we would a real person. M-4s and Kabars are less convincing to a spirit than it is to a person.

Without digging deep into your faith, as well as those affected by these occurances I can't provide anything better than a suggestion here or there. Different faiths have different ways of handling these kinds of things. Anything at the point that all hell breaks loose is worth a shot, but I can tell you the ouija board is NOT (I SAY AGAIN, NOT!) an option to find out what "it" wants.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
SmokeyKnight,

Good to hear, I am a realist and will always lean toward logic but in these matters logic doesn't always apply.

See my past comment about my in-law, there are some evil things going on there, I will look you up if this issue unfolds like I think it might, I may seek your thoughts and opinions in the future if you don't mind.
SmokeyKnight (3 stories) (193 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
Again, I'm no professional but I'm available for more discussion whenever. My beliefs are a little unorthodox, but I'm always open to discuss.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-15)
SmokeyKnight,

That makes good sense... Thanks for that great insight my friend...
SmokeyKnight (3 stories) (193 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
A spirit should be able to speak in whatever dialect they know. If they only spoke German, that's all it would know.

As for the water, I can disagree. Spirits won't be affected by water any more than anyone else would be. Water is an element for cleansing in my religion. If it was something like a "demon" and the water was blessed by whatever faith I could see a demon not being able to cross it, but otherwise I have to say your Chaplain is a little misguided. Most Chaplains have only studied a single religion, so anything outside of that scope they are ignorant.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
Sorry for all my typos, I am too lazy tonight to go get my reading glasses, I actually can spell correctly. 😜
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
SmokeyKnight,

I agree completely, those facts were discussed at the time of my experience. What do you make of this? When my roommate Grey in the story and I sat down with the Chaplin he started talking about Spirits, it said that these beings could not travel over bodies of water.

What do you make of that? I guess it makes sense, I have never heard of anyone running into a Germany speaking ghost.
SmokeyKnight (3 stories) (193 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
Tonto, I served some time in the Army. I can tell you military installations are the worst places for the paranormal due to high suicide and death rates from training accidents. Lejeune was where I friend of mine was in the 2nd Mar Div and he said he saw things that made me glad I was never there. He was in a MEUSOC unit afterwords and said he didn't sleep well because of what he would deal with on the paranormal side. Sadly I lost contact with him a couple years ago. I'm not a professional on the paranormal, but I've seen my fair share of stuff.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
I can tell you all, You all have an interest here or you wouldn't be reading my story, so I am drawn to post messages to you.

I consider myself a pretty tough skinned old Marine, this issue with my in-law scares me.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
I wanted to explain what prompted me to tell my story.

I have an in-law who is going through some ongoing activity that makes my story look like child's play, it's not my place to attempt to tell her story but my wife just got home from her house after being asked to be there as the PARALLEL PARANORMAL TRUTH INVESTIGATORS www.paralleltruth.com started an investigation on some really bad things following her from house to house. I will say this... A very christian neighbor women visits with her 10 year old daughter, the 10 year old screams... "IT'S BEHIND YOU!" The woman is thrown to the ground. This poor neighbor won't talk about it and only said "I am a christian woman and I can't even talk about what happened.

I don't even feel comfortable saying that much about this.

I know there are many of you that don't believe in such things but I would love for someone to interview this poor lady that is having some real issues now over this, she and her young daughter simply visited the wrong house. I know much more disturbing details and this little bit doesn't scratch the surface, there will be a day I ask this in-law to post her story but at this point in time I would never suggest it.
Tonto (1 stories) (14 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
SmokeyKnight,

I was with 10th Marines Artillery.

I knew a couple Marines who lived off base who moved out of an apartment because they said they ran into all kinds of things. One of the Marines girl friends was taking a shower when a voice asked her "how's the water?" this was after some other odd activity had occurred, I guess she turned to find nobody there and ran out screaming butt naked with soap in her hair and all. That was the final straw for them, they moved back to the Barracks.

I was also told that area had a high level of satanic rituals being done by some strange people but those were just stories I heard.
applerose (13 stories) (139 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2011-02-14)
Ok - I got to read the rest of your amazing story - and I gotta say that would have totally freaked me out. If it were me -I would have hidden under the blanket at first sight - LOL.

My son (22) was telling me of a dream he had the other day - and it was the Grim Reaper - he said that he and a friend was on certain local road and the car that they were in just stopped and then started to shake - as my son looked out the window - he saw a cloaked figure that stood anywhere from 9 to 10 ft tall - and it was trying to get in the car - he then woke up. What are your thoughts on this - and if anyone who is into interpreting dreams -please comment.
Wanted to ask you - since this has happen have you had any type of other paranormal experience?
Thank you for sharing this very spooky story - this is going down into my faves. 😊

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