Grinning Entity And Random Spooks

A little background info, I am an only child and generally have the entire house to myself. My parents both work a lot and they are frequently out of town. Our house is fairly large, and it feels even bigger when I'm home alone. Luckily, I have 2 cats that keep me company.

My family is not religious either and we're basically agnostic. I have always been very fascinated by the paranormal, occult, and unknown ever since I was mature enough to grasp the concept, but I was also a major skeptic because I've never experienced anything myself. While I secretly wish for a paranormal experience just to prove me wrong, I also have this paranoia and fear that something random will pop out at me and scare the living daylights out of me.

Anyways, this event happened to me when I was about 16 years old, maybe 4 months after I had moved into this house. This house is fairly new, and there has only been one family living here before us. I am currently 23 and still live at the same house as this experience. Before this, I had never had anything too unusual happen to me.

Several years ago, I was sleeping in my room at night. I was in high school and had class the next day, so I had went to bed pretty early.

I remember suddenly waking up in the middle of the night. I instinctively looked at the clock. It was 2:10 AM. Normally, I have problems falling asleep and staying asleep, but this time was different. It felt like 'something' beckoned me awake.

Anyways, I tried to get out of bed, assuming I just had to go to the bathroom and get some water. As I tried to sit up, I realized I couldn't move. I felt completely awake, but my body felt like it was paralyzed or something. I was a little confused, but this didn't freak me out for some reason. But what did freak me out was the sudden distinct feeling of a presence in the room. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it was a very clear, vivid feeling that something wanted me to know that it was in the room, or that I could "sense" it.

I was able to look around and I could see my room very clearly. The moon was shining through my window blinds, so there was a little bit of light illuminating the room. I started to get really scared, because I still couldn't move any part of my body except my eyes. How long was this going to last?

The next thing I felt was my vision getting kind of hazy. I realized after a few moments it wasn't my vision that was becoming hazy... There was a light smoky mist forming in front of my face. I watched, in a state of confusion and fear.

The ball of smoke started to get thicker and thicker, until it took on the appearance of a "face". Of course, this was scaring the living daylights out of me. I remember trying to scream or move, but I couldn't do anything. I was so terrified.

This entity seemed to know I was freaking out or something... It suddenly got this huge wicked grin on its face. All you can see is these huge hollow eye sockets and this scary, menacing grin. A moment later, I felt heavy pressure on my chest. It felt like something was pushing down on my chest or making it difficult for me to breathe.

I tried with all my will to scream or move or call for help or ANYTHING. It was such an unnatural feeling of terror. I thought for sure that something was trying to possess me. If possession really exists, I figured that was what I was experiencing. I felt the pressure on my chest continuing and pushing down harder. I didn't know what to do. I was scared for my life... I was convinced if this "spirit" had its way with me, I would lose a very vital part of my being.

The last thing I did was just praying for someone to help me. I don't know who or what's out there, but I whimpered inside my mind "If there's anything out there, watching or listening, please save me..." and just kept repeating it to myself.

And a moment later, I felt this presence disappear. It was incredible. And it wasn't even like "and THEN I woke up", it felt like it had really just happened a moment ago.

I couldn't go back to sleep the rest of the night, and I didn't want to wake my mom up to tell what had happened because she would just tell me it was a nightmare or she would think I was crazy. I just stayed up thinking about what had happened to me.

Was it real, or did I imagine it? Previously, I had not been a believer of "superstitious" or paranormal stuff, but this experienced changed all of that. The whole experience felt so real and was unlike anything I had ever experienced in my entire life. I wonder if it went away because I prayed or because it was just messing with me.

After that occurrence, there were 2 minor occasions where something odd has happened. One time, about 5 months later, I was in the kitchen cooking something. I was home alone at the time, and my cat was sitting on the window sill nearby. I had just turned the stove off and was about to sit down at the table to eat my food when one of my cats (not the one near me) suddenly darts from the living room into the basement. Something must have scared her because she ran so fast she knocked over a plant near the staircase.

I got up and walked towards the staircase (which is next to the living room) to place the plant back. Just as I get near the staircase, I hear this high pitched screeching sound. It didn't even sound human. It was very loud, almost like a scream, with an echoey, vibrating sound. The cat near me jumped off the sill and ran into the backyard. I was so scared at what the noise could be that I didn't even go into the living room, so I just left my house through the back yard and went to a friends place down the street until my parents came back from work. My parents called me later and asked me what happened to the plant, and when I told them what I thought happened, my parents just laughed it off.

The second time was when I was home alone as well, and I was doing homework on my laptop. I was in the basement and the door to the garage is pretty close, down the hallway. I was listening to some soft music, when I suddenly hear someone jiggle the doorknob in the garage. This immediately scares me, because the only way you can get in the garage is by going through the way where your car goes (I knew it was closed because our garage is extremely loud and shakes the house when it opens or closes) or obviously, from inside the house.

I muted my music on the laptop, put it down and turned on all the lights in my basement. It didn't happen, again, so I decided to calm down and try to go back to work. I turned off a couple of the lights, and then I heard the doorknob jiggle again. I assumed it could have been an intruder, rather than a ghost, so I decided to grab a kitchen knife (I wasn't really thinking), but after going to the kitchen, I decided to just go to my friends house again since I was too afraid of what I may encounter.

Other than that, everything is peachy keen here. Haven't had strange experiences for 5 years now. All of this happened in the span of probably 9 months.