Dark Silhouette Of A Man

I am 50 years old now and live in Tennessee, but when I was a young man living in Michigan with my 2 brothers and 3 sisters in about 1971, I had a very real ghost experience. The farm where the occurrence happened was built in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The front steps of the farm had a tombstone turned upside down at the bottom of the front porch buried in the ground level (we discovered this later after the ghost or dark silhouette experience). The tombstone (marble) read Eliza Cole with a from date but no to date from what I remember.

I was laying in bed one night and for some reason I woke in the middle of the night and standing next to my bed was the dark silhouette of a man standing right next to my bed. I remember being so scared that I closed my eyes and opened them to see if it was gone, (it wasn't!) I closed my eyes and remember thinking I knew I was not dreaming and kept them closed, would wait a while and then I would open them to find it was still there. I was so scared that I refused to allow myself to look up at his face, and this went on for several attempts at closing my eyes, realizing I wasn't asleep, and opening them to see if he was gone. I can not describe the fear I felt and how terrifying this experience was. Finally, after I could not seem to shake this thing by waiting for it to leave, I screamed to the top of my lungs, DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! My two brothers who were in separate beds in the same room immediately turned on the lights and my dad came running up the stairs. I told my dad about the experience and nothing else ever happened to me but he assured me I would be ok.

My brother Tom was two years older then me and I believe it was a few years after this happened to me, he had a similar experience with this BLACK SILHOUETTE of a man, only downstairs in the room opposite the stairs. My brother saw him at least twice and he would stand at the door of his room. Tom told me he was wearing a hat and he did look at his face and it was just dark. I went to visit my brother a few years ago at that same farm (he acquired it from my parents) and asked him if he ever sees the man anymore. He told me he did not, but my brother that I remembered to be so stable and down to earth seemed a little distant and weird compared to the solid personality I used to know as a kid. Don't know if it has any significance, or any relation to the black ghost, but honestly, the whole thing's just weird!