Haunting In A Women's Refuge

First of all, let me tell you that before I had this experience, I was VERY sceptical. If someone had told me they'd seen a ghost or experienced paranormal activity, I would have laughed in their face! Until this happened to me.

I had been in a womans refuge for about 6 months with my 7yr old Son after a complicated relationship with a previous partner. During the first 6 months, we slept, ate and lived there with no problems whatsoever. We had our own bathroom and shared a bedroom, me with my single bed and my son with his bunk bed where he always slept on the bottom.

I tucked him into bed about 8:30pm and went into the shared living room to watch a bit of tv with the other residents, as usual, I went to keep checking on him every hour or so until it came to around midnight and I thought it best to go and get some sleep before getting up early the next day for the school run. I went down to my room and got into my night clothes and got into bed like any other night.

No sooner had I got into bed and turned on my right side, I felt something grab my ear quite forcefully, obviously I opened my eyes startled to see a white ball hovering above my bed. I closed my eyes and shook my head and opened them again and it was still there hovering. It was so bright!

Needless to say, after realising that I was not seeing things, I shot out of the bed and ran into the shared living area to inform my friends. No-one believed me and needless to say, I became laughing stock. After some discussion, I sort of got to the point that maybe it was my imagination (Even though I knew deep inside that what had just happened was definately not normal).

So I went back to bed, kept the tv on and wedged my door open so the hallway light shone in and although there was much tossin and turning, I eventually fell asleep. What happened from then on was absolutely terrifying.

Every night I got into my bed and got really relaxed and comfortable, my bed would start shaking! I started hearing something walk up and down my corridor, my wadrobe doors would open and close, if my foot was out of the covers something would touch it, my room would get hot all of a sudden to the point where I'd burn up. I informed the refuge manager of this, to which she would laugh and tell me that maybe it was the pipes making noises and I was imagining all this. I turned to my friends, they didn't believe me. I honestly felt like I was going mad! It was horrible. I was terrifyed and no-one would believe me. I wasn't sleeping because of the obvious and turned into a complete wreck!

One night, as horrible as it sounds, things were going on so I woke my son up and told him to get into the top bunk with me. I don't know why I did this but I just felt at the time, if I was high up and with my son that whatever it wasm wouldn't be able to get to me or him. How wrong was I?

Within the hour, I all of a sudden got uncontrollably hot, my son shot up from his sleep and started to shout 'Go away, please Go away, leave us alone'. I knew then that I had to get out of this room. I had my mobile under my pillow and texted my friend and asked her to come round to my room, she came straight round even though it was 2am.

I picked up my son and carried him round to the living room where he fell asleep and I told my friend what had happened again. After an hour or so, because I had been talking so much, I was really dry, I asked her to go get my bottle of coke which I'd put at the end of the top bunk (I always have a bottle of water/pop to drink in the night). She said yeah of course, nothing scared her or that's what she had said before she left to get it.

I heard the fire doors shut as she walked down to my room to get it. Next thing, I hear her running back down the hall. My friend was half-caste and when I saw her, she was as white as a sheet! She had tears streaming down her face. She couldn't speak to me at first as she was uncontrolable! After I calmed her, she said when she got to the bunk bed, she'd heard a man laughing, as if he was stood right next to her! Again, we stayed up all night, we couldn't sleep. We heard my hairdryer being switched on and off! As bad as it sounds, I was so thankful that someone else had experienced what I had been doing for weeks and thought that the manager would definately believe me now. How wrong were we again?

She said that my stories had rubbed up on my friend and now she had imagined things! I nearly flew for her, honestly. I could not believe that she would find this funny! From then on, I slept in my mates room, me and my son slept in the bottom bunk in her room. Nothing happened and I felt safe there until the Manager got hold of us sleeping there and said it was a fire hazard and that me and my son needed to go and sleep in our room from now on! I wanted to kill her literally. I was horrified! I didn't sleep that night again and went back to the managers office the next morning and refused to leave until she got a priest in.

She agreed to take me to the church and speak to him. He agreed to come to the refuge. He sat me down and I talked him through all the goings on to which he replied that because it was a place where there was a lot off depressed and negative thoughts that this was an easy place for spirits to be. He carried out some sort of 'cleanse'. I wasn't 100% with what he was doing but he lit candles and said prayers and scattered holy water! From the moment he left, it was like I was in a completely different room. It felt safe and the sun was coming in through the windows like it had never done before. It was strange! After a few days I had been rehoused so I was out of there pretty quick and I couldn't wait! Nothing has ever happened like that since!

Might I just add that there was a no alcohol or drugs rule, therefore I was totally and 100% with it in all my time of being in there. I was on no prescription medication or anything that might of caused me to imagine this! I know there is a lot of sceptics that would laugh at this, God knows, I was one myself before I experienced this!

Please, if you want to give an answer that can only be to laugh or be sarcastic at my expense, don't bother. I know what I saw and know that there is such thing as ghosts/spirits. All I ask that if anyone can maybe explain to me why this happened and if it's likely to happen to me again as from what I've read is if you have seen it once, you are more than likely open for them to come to you again. I hope not because this got me to the point of sheer madness!

Thank you.