Scary Story for Halloween

Happy Halloween! As promised, I’m delivering a spooky, true story to celebrate! NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow, and my blogs for November will mainly focus on my progress with that. They will also return to the usual Friday release dates.
That’s the only news for today, so let’s get right into the story!

This story takes place in March of 2016. MY wife and I had just moved from Northern Illinois to Southern Wisconsin (about 40 miles), and this was our first night in our new apartment. Needless to say, I was exhausted, having spent the whole day hauling our heavy belongings out of one place and into another. So, as soon as my head hit the pillow that night, I was OUT. 

I was woken up around 3:00 AM by a strange shuffling, scratching noise in the apartment. Unfortunately for me, this would also turn out to be a case of sleep paralysis. If you aren’t familiar with this, the best way I can describe this is to think of your mind being awake, but your body still being fast asleep. My eyes were open, and I could move them. The rest of my body would not respond at all. I couldn’t move my arms or my legs. I couldn’t stand up, sit up, or even turn my head. I couldn’t even move my mouth to say anything.

Fortunately, this was not the first time this happened to me, so I wasn’t too worried at first. From past experience, I knew I would fall back asleep and wake up perfectly normal in the morning. The scratching, shuffling sounds were most likely the dog exploring the new apartment. Until I felt something shift next to my legs and realized the dog was asleep by my feet. Our cat Miss Pickles was sleeping on top of my stomach (she loves to make herself at home there after I fall asleep). My wife was next to me. Every living thing in the apartment was right there in the bed, yet I could clearly still hear someone or something moving around out in the hallway. No matter how hard I try, I can’t stand up.

Even now, I’m not too worried. I figure it’s just the sleep paralysis and my exhausted mind playing tricks on me. I’m hearing things that aren’t there, right? It’s the only logical explanation. Then, the source of the noise decided to walk into our bedroom. There was very little light in the room; the only source was a streetlight out on the street. If we hadn’t been too lazy to hang our curtains that day, there wouldn’t have even been that. So, I obviously couldn’t get a good look. But it was immediately apparent that this was not a human being that just walked in. 

Whatever it was, it was short, just barely tall enough for me to see the top of it walking back and forth at the foot of the bed. It’s footsteps were scratchy, like an animal with clawed feet. Remember, I initially had mistakenly thought it was the dog. Oddly enough, this actually made me feel even better for a moment. Now I could see it wasn’t a burglar or anything, and I knew this was obviously a case of my sleep-deprived mind playing games with me. After all, when we are so tired, we can get loopy, right? This sense of relief was doomed to be short-lived.

A few seconds after this thing walked into the room, and I had assured myself it wasn’t real, Miss Pickles raised her head. I can clearly see her laying right there on my stomach. I can clearly see her head turn right, and then I see her head turn left. Instantly, my mind was from Oh, it’s nothing, to Oh shit, what is going on? Because her head is turning, following the movements of whatever this thing at the foot of the bed is. A few seconds later, she starts to growl. Whatever this thing is, the cat can see it too, and that is downright terrifying. 

The thing walks back and forth a few times and then heads back out into the hallway. Amazingly, Miss Pickles jumps up and follows it. I hear her hiss out on the hall, followed by the scratchy footstep moving further away from the bedroom. A few seconds later, the footsteps stop altogether. There was no sound of a door or window opening or closing; the noise just stopped. In my previous sleep paralysis experiences, I had fallen back asleep, but I could feel my heart racing in my chest, and I knew that was not going to happen this time. 

I don’t know exactly how long it took before I could move again, but I would estimate it at five to ten minutes. Once I can, what do I do? I do what the idiots in horror movies do and go to have a look. I step out into the hall. It was a short hallway, only a few feet between the two bedrooms and the living room. Miss Pickles is sitting right at the entrance to the living room. She isn’t growling or hissing anymore, but her tail was incredibly poofy, which only happens when she is on edge. 

I walk through the entire apartment, turning on every light except the bedroom, half-expecting some demonic garden gnome to jump out of nowhere and murder me. There was nothing to be found. All the doors and windows were locked from the inside. I didn’t sleep again that night, and it was an hour before Miss Pickles finally calmed down completely. My wife and dog slept through the entire thing (how nice for them).

The hero of our story, in the apartment where the story took place. She doesn't seem too worried.

​Nothing like this ever happened again in this apartment, and I’m happy to say I have not had sleep paralysis again since. We did have some really weird, Children of the Corn-like neighbors in this building, but no odd paranormal experiences at least. But the image of the cat following this things movements and chasing it out into the hallway has stuck with me ever since. What was it? I don’t know and probably never will. But I probably would have written this thing off as a waking nightmare if not for the actions of Miss Pickles. Who knows? Maybe she scared this thing off and saved us from being the subjects of a horror movie in ten years. 

I hope you enjoyed the story. I promise it is 100% true and did happen to me personally. Have you have had an experience that you can’t explain? Anything that sent a chill up your spine? I would love to hear about it!

​Good luck with Week One of NaNo!

~Pete

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