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Unexplained Phenomenons

 

My husband and I moved into the apartment we currently reside in a little over two years ago. It's quite spacious and has updated amenities. There is a master bedroom with a full bath attached and a guest bedroom with a restroom just outside of it. We live on the top floor of a 3-story apartment building and have only one neighbor with whom we share a wall with that is seldom noisy. With that being said, there have been a few instances where I've questioned what I saw and heard.

The first few months that we lived here, I'd notice that the hall light outside of the both the bedrooms would be on in the morning two to three times a week. At first, I thought surely it was one of us leaving it on at night and forgetting that we had. Then, after several occurrences and both my husband and I denying they we left it on to each other, I decided to verbally acknowledge that I was turning it off. I looked at my husband before we went into the master bedroom that night and said, "Ok, this is me turning off the light, so we know for certain that it should be off in the morning." I said it jokingly but part of me was serious and needed an explanation.

There would be no reason for him and or I to venture out at night because there's a bathroom in the master bedroom and we always came to bed with full bottles of water. You can imagine my surprise in the morning when I came out (while my husband still slept) and found the light on yet again, the switch turned up and all. This made my hair stand on end. However, as time went on, the light being on in the hallway lessened and has finally stopped about six months ago.

I've tried to come up with an explanation for it, and the only thing I can think of is that I may be sleep walking, which is something I used to do up until about five years ago. I don't think this is as likely though because my husband says he hasn't seen me do it since then, and he always used to catch me doing it (from what he tells me as I of course have no memory of it, haha!)

The next instance happened about a year ago in the master bedroom. I was asleep and was woken abruptly by a soft sound (a thud or a pop). The south side of the bedroom has a door that leads to the balcony and always has a bit of light shining through its blind due to the street lights in the parking lot below. As I woke, I turned my head towards the door and saw what looked to be the silhouette of a person standing about a foot in front of it. There were no features, but I could tell by its shoulders and torso that the figure was male (perhaps about 5'7") and it was wearing a hat. Our bed sits opposite the door, so the figure was turned directly towards us about seven feet from the end of the bed. I was so startled that I jolted out of bed and turned on the light for the entire room (my husband was confused and I didn't explain until morning to him what I had seen). Of course, there was nothing there.

My heart would not stop pounding for about 30 minutes after the incident. I tried rationalizing what I saw as a dream leaked over into reality (if you know what I mean). I had a similar instance happen to me when I was about 14 and saw a figure directly next to my bed standing and looking down. It was so close to my bedside lamp that I thought my eyes had plaid a trick on me, but at the time, it felt so real. That figure also vanished as soon as I turned on the light.

The final and most significant thing happened to me last night, leading to me writing down all of these occurrences. I was laying on my side of the bed (right side) which has a nightstand and a lamp directly next to it. If you were to lay on your side facing out, you'd be facing a window that let\'s a little light in much like the patio door. I fell asleep at about 11:30 PM and woke facing the outside exactly 45 minutes later (I checked the clock). I don't know why I woke up, but I immediately noticed something on my nightstand. It was roughly the size of a bird, and that was what my brain made it to be. It was completely black and sitting about a foot from my face. I then saw it move to the left, much like a movement of a bird walking (with a little sway). I was so frightened I yet again jumped out of bed and turned on the light fully expecting there to be a creature on my nightstand. As you can guess, there was nothing when I looked.

I checked high and low (no sign of anything, and there had been no noise) and told my husband what I saw. He thought it might have been the dream leaking into reality again, but to me it was so vivid that I was nearly positive there was an animal in the room. I was so exhausted that I wasn't even afraid to turn the light off and attempt to go back to sleep.

Here is the odd part. Almost instantly after turning off the light, a memory of my grandfather came into my mind. I could see and hear him so clearly as I lay there trying to fall back asleep, and the thought of him and his voice eventually led me to drift off. He passed away a little over four years ago. There was no reason for me to be thinking of him and I did not even question it until the morning. Was it him that I saw, a ghost, a dream, or something else?

Side notes: I sometimes find our closet light on and hear thuds in the space above our apartment (all minor things).

With all these stories being shared, I'd love to hear your opinions on them. I'm not the type of person to say paranormal experiences are untrue, but I also try to be rational and come up with explanations for the unexplained. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for reading, and I'll update if anything else happens!

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, reneemarie29, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-06-18)
Greetings, again, reneemarie:

Did you follow up with RSAChick's suggestion of cleansing your home? If so, how did the cleansing work out for you?

Have the closet light and the attic noises escalated, or have they remained at approximately the same level?

Have you seen the bird-like entity (or any other entity) again? I was concerned that this entity may have been monitoring you, or spying on you, because it had been commanded to do so by someone/something else. Do you know anyone who is involved in (or obsessed with) ideas of the occult & paranormal? I don't mean wiccans, witches, or tarot-card readers; I mean someone who seems to be drawn toward the creepier side of power & manipulation. Such a person may not be immediately obvious to you as "sinister," but would probably be a person whose behavior makes you consistently uncomfortable whenever you interact with him or her.

Spirits, such as the bird-like entity, would normally be called "fae," "fairy," or "elemental" in nature; usually they observe the balance of nature in a specific area of wildlife and work to protect it. *Presuming* that my initial guess was correct, then the power-seeking person in question has essentially "kidnapped" a minor spirit of some kind and is making it watch you. I do KNOW how damned odd this sounds, which is why I gave it a week or two before returning to give you my suspicion.

When they're alone in nature, these innocent supernatural entities can also occur around sites of great power or significance, such as a spiritual portal --an idea that I still have some lingering doubts about, I admit--or a holy site. Presuming that there is no such portal in your apartment (nothing in your narrative suggests that), then I suspect you may have upset a person who fits the description above.

I do hope that my ideas were clear, here, and that I didn't type something that upset you or caused you any grief.

Please let us know how you are getting along.

Best,
Biblio.
RSAChick (115 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-05-27)
Here is member rookdygin's profile page: https://www.yourghoststories.com/user-profile.php?user=8155.

Look for his home cleansing / shielding on his bio.
RSAChick (115 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-05-27)
Hi reneemarie, I don't think the entities you saw were your grandfather. I think he came to your thoughts at a time when you were exhausted and vulnerable, to comfort and protect you.
What do you think?

Perhaps it's time to do a cleansing of your room and apartment?
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-05-24)
Idea: could the infamous hat man be the same one you saw as a teenager? Perhaps he's been there all along just waiting and watching?

I agree the bird is very new to me in a sighting. I find it really interesting. Was it a crow? Or just a small black sparrow?
reneemarie29 (4 stories) (3 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-05-24)
Thank you all for your comments! I have responded individually by putting your username next to the response as I can't seem to find a way to comment on each of your posts one at a time.

Silverthane61: I've considered purchasing a camera and placing it in the bedroom to capture things over night. I've also thought about downloading a sleep recording app to see if there are any noises I may be able to capture, though most of the things that have happened have been visual. I'll try to update when anything arises.

Filmbuff1234: That is an interesting question that I hadn't considered. I don't believe it was, however, because the figure was a few inches shorter than my grandfather and to me didn't feel like him (if that makes sense?). The only thing I happened to correlate with him was the bird because he came to mind out of nowhere after seeing it. It's not that I don't think about him, but I don't very often. I wonder if birds have any significance with loved ones lost.

Bibliothecarius: Now that I think about it, I don't recall hearing the thuds from above and the light being on in the closet until after the light in the hallway stopped turning on. This is an interesting thought. As for the size of the bird, I wouldn't put it at much larger than a blue jay, thought it didn't have a long tail. I hope this was helpful.

Robmkivseries70: I may invest in a camera. As silly as it sounds, I'm almost afraid at what I might find. My home is my sanctuary and part of me would like to ignore the sightings and noises so I don't disturb the peace I feel when I'm here; however, I would like to get some clarity on the happenings and what they might mean or find out what has been lingering.

Thanks!
😊
robmkivseries70 (1 stories) (39 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-05-24)
Good Day,
I'd like to recommend a camera, a baby monitor for example. It would be interesting to see what's going on while you sleep.
Best,
Rob
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+1
5 years ago (2019-05-23)
Greetings, reneemarie.

While you've clearly thought through the potential for sleepwalking & removed that as a potential cause, I'm not entirely comfortable with dismissing the manifestations as simple hypnopompic hallucinations. The key issue about hallucinations is that they often have details that appeal to a range of senses, seldom sight alone; you had been asleep, you were "woken abruptly by a soft sound," **then** you located the potential spirit/intruder/whatever visually, and it vanished when you turned on the lights. People are more likely to incorporate external sound stimuli into their dreams, with peculiar dream-logic justify them, than they are to wake from their dreams because of a dream-based sound.

Looking at the broad view of your experiences, did the "thuds in the (attic) space" and finding your "closet light on" randomly begin/increase as the light switch phenomenon in the hallway diminished? When a specifically repeated behavior doesn't elicit the desired response, people and spirits alike have a habit of trying a new tactic to get someone to react.

I'm most curious about the "bird" entity. I do have a theory or two knocking about in my brain, but I need to ask, first: what size was it? (a sparrow, a blue jay, a chicken?) I don't imagine it was a phantom ostrich or anything, but I'd like to have a firm sense of scale before going off in potentially-wrong directions.

Best,
Biblio.
Filmbuff1234 (13 stories) (33 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-05-23)
Interesting experience. The silhouette of the man you saw - did he look like your grandfather?
silverthane61 (4 stories) (344 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-05-23)
Well written, Reneemarie. Your logical attempt to debunk the minor incidents with your sleepwalking episodes does not explain your visual sightings. I do think that the figure with a hat might have been a residual waking dream-hallucination. The bird entity is unique, however. Separately, each incident is explainable, taken together, it does seem to paint a minor paranormal event. You seem to be the only one experiencing these events. Maybe you should invest in a camera to record your apartment while you sleep to see if you can capture more evidence on tape.

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