Military Brat's Boogeyman

I was and still am a military brat. My first paranormal encounters began with my earliest memories of my life at Quonset Point Naval Base. My father was a computer analyst/programmer and as such we got to live on base in a mobile home park. Since my earliest memories were of mobile home parks, I always enjoyed sleeping with the sound of rain pitter pattering upon a metal roof. Now, I remember several odd things happening to me during the few years we lived in the mobile home park. So I think my memories were along about the 1969 to 1973 years. As I remember kindergarten, along up to third grades there.

I remember one time seeing an orange tabby cat sleeping curled up upon the couch in the living room. I approached it to take a closer look. I was curious about this cat because we didn't have an orange cat living with us. My memories are odd at this point because I recall that the cat seemed strange in that it had neither a head nor a tail, just a body. It struck me as being rather odd at the time. I could look at the cat with my eyes and yet not just with my eyes alone as I felt my eyes almost go cross eyed looking down at it. After a couple of blinks my mom asked me what I was doing (she was in the kitchen area), and when I answered her I turned away and told her about the cat. When I turned back it wasn't there anymore.

Later on, I'd managed to capture a pet turtle. I really should've left it alone. But my dad indulged me and allowed me to bring it home. One time, one evening, I heard it scraping along the hallway from the living room to the bedrooms (two, one master and the kids room (with bunk beds)) and the one bathroom. Dad told me to attend to the turtle before he got lost. I ignored it because I was at an interesting point in a comic book I was reading. The sound of the turtle scraping along stopped at that point. I thought at the time that it was due to the fact that all of the doors were closed and he had no where to go. I was wrong somehow. As soon as I got done with the comic book, I went to look for him. I couldn't find him anywhere. I searched several places over and over. I never did find him. All of the doors to the hallway were closed. I did not hear him scraping back down the hallway.

Years later, my Dad told me that when he moved the mobile home around '74 or '75, he found the turtle's shell underneath the house. No other bones other than its shell and it were lying in the crawlspace underneath that was completely inaccessible. No one was allowed to go in there. And I wouldn't due to all of the cobwebs. In short there were no holes or such that would've allowed the turtle to crawl directly into the crawlspace.

The most significant event was the late night one. I remember it fairly well even though it was nearly forty years ago. I was in the top bunk, sis was in the bottom. Mom and dad were in the master bedroom, and I had just woken up for no apparent reason. Something wasn't right about the house.

Why I couldn't tell at the time. Then I heard footsteps near the front door. But it was more than just footsteps, I could sense it. I was lying on my right side and I could feel that my pajama tops were pushed up near my diaphragm (again, I was always a restless sleeper).

Lying there I could here Dad snoring in his bedroom and sis was just snuffling a bit in her sleep. And there was someone in the living room slowly walking towards the bedrooms as if trying to keep from making any noises. But it couldn't prevent the slight depression its weight made upon the floor when it passed the wall between it and me, at which point I was definitely very nervous. I thought about yelling, but I just couldn't for some reason. Then the door to my bedroom opened. I could tell because I could feel the slight breeze generated by the door as it swung open, upon my half bare back. At this point I had my eyes firmly shut, due to the notion that whatever it was, I simply MUST NOT look at it which would have been difficult since I was lying and facing the wall, and not towards the door. Now at this point I could sense it. It was and still is difficult to describe. It was there and it had mass. I could feel it nearby only a foot or two away from me, yet I also felt that it was WRONG.

Some un-nameable part of my senses told me that it was somehow less than it should be. Now as I lay there experiencing all of this, it moved. It put something upon my back. It felt like a wiener, but cold and it stayed attached to my back. It had a sort of a sticky feel to it. I was a bit incensed at this so I decided I was going to shift over to my left side and open my eyes and then confront it which I proceeded to do, with my back touching the sheets along the way, and definitely feeling something between me and the sheets, right along my spine.

I was nerving myself up to flinch open my eyes and see it when I felt a tickling along my right side belly (still exposed). I soon realized what it was: a hand trying to reach over and get whatever it was attached to my back. The hand felt feathery light as if it was trying very hard to not let it touch my skin. The number of fingers felt different too. Like it did not have enough fingers, or no thumb attached to its hand. I quickly lost my resolve to confront it at that point.

After feeling it fumble after the attachment, I turned back onto my right side to give it ready access. At this point, my fear increased dramatically for some reason. I could almost feel its skeptical attitude about my being fully asleep. Finally, after what seemed too long, it reached out and took the thing from my back. I could feel some of my skin pulled out for a bit when it pulled it off. It pinched a bit. I was even more scared at that point as I suddenly realized I couldn't hear it breathing. There seemed to be some kind of residue that still clung to my back. It was placed along what would've been the bottom of my thoracic vertebra to near the top of my pelvis. Finally after a while I heard it stomp back the way it came in and exit the house. At that point I was so exhausted that I fell asleep again.

Naturally I was met with complete and utter skepticism from Mom and Dad. I persisted with the notion that it was for real. At which point my dad decided that I was no longer going to be allowed to watch some of my favorite T.V. Shows, (The Night Stalker, Outer Limits, and the Twilight Zone), which angered me to no end. That also taught me the importance of keeping my mouth shut amongst non-believers concerning my experiences of which I've had many more.

I've had a lot of predictive dreams since then. I've had the occasional vision, a couple of UFO sightings, eerie feelings, and some truly incredible hunches. For the longest time in high school I annoyed my family and friends by saying "Hello XXX" whenever they called, and invariably I was right. This was long before Caller I.D.

Now I've been in the military since then, (Air Force for me!), and I got to enjoy survival training for Combat Communications school. Therein I got to enjoy sleep deprivation to the point of hallucinating.

In retrospect, my childhood "night terror" was NOT a hallucination