Night Of The Old Hag

Way back in 1984, I was engaged to a young lady by the name of Sandra. She lived a couple of miles away from me in the small town of Pemberton on the outskirts of Wigan. Sandra lived with her parents, Annie and Jim, in an unremarkable terraced house that dated back to the early 1930's. So far as I know, there had never been a history of anything paranormal at the property. If there had, neither Sandra, Annie or Jim ever mentioned it to me in the three years Sandra and I were together.

One night in June of that year, Sandra and I had spent the evening at a local restaurant before going to see a movie. By the time I got her home, the heavens had opened and, because in those days I traveled everywhere on Shanks' Pony or public transport, Sandra persuaded me to spend the night there. The house was a two up, two down affair and so, I settled down on the couch.

For the first couple of hours I slept soundly, lulled to sleep by the ticking of the clock on the mantlepiece. Suddenly, for some reason, I was wide awake and fully alert. To this very day I have no idea what disturbed me. As I lay there in the darkness, collecting my thoughts, I heard footsteps coming slowly down the stairs. The stairway terminated in the living room and I could see the foot of the stairs from where I lay. The foot steps reached the bottom and then stopped abruptly. I can't say why but, I expected to see Annie, thinking maybe, that she had come down for a glass of water or something. No one appeared and the house was blanketed in silence.

I closed my eyes, ready to settle again when I was suddenly gripped with the most intense feeling of fear I had ever experienced up to that point in my life. My body was immediately coated in cold sweat and every muscle and joint became totally paralyzed. The only part of my body I could move was my eyes and they were firmly fixed on the clock on the fire place, whose dial I could read by the orange glow of the street lamp outside that streamed through the living room window. Annie and Jim rarely closed the curtains at night. It was just before three twenty five in the morning...

I seemed to lay there for an eternity, in a blanket of ice but worse was to come. Although I could see nothing in the semi darkness, I felt the edge of the couch sink as though someone were sitting on it. Then I felt a weight on my lower legs. Whatever was pressing on my legs, began to make its way up my body. It is impossible to put into words the terror that swept through me in waves that night and try as I might, I could not move a single muscle. Even my vocal chords were paralyzed so I couldn't make even the slightest utterance. I closed my eyes and prayed but my mind was fogged and I found it almost impossible to concentrate. I couldn't even remember the words to the Lord's prayer. If I thought I had experienced fear thus far, I was sorely mistaken. Through the intense cold and paralysis I was under, in the darkness of that room, something pressed its lips against my ear and sighed.

This seemed to be the trigger I needed. In my head I cried out to Jesus to save me and I immediately found my voice. My eyes flew open and I cried out. Instantly the paralysis left me and I leaped from the couch like a cork from a champagne bottle. I spent the rest of the night wide awake and eagerly awaiting the dawn. I didn't mention any of this to Sandra or her parents as they had to live in that house. However, had I known then, what I know now, through my research, I might well have done, for this entity is not a fixed haunting occurrence, tied to one place, and it wasn't the last time I would encounter it. It followed me and the second encounter was the worst.