Rate this encounter: Ed - Trenton, New Jersey - Fall 2002 to Spring 2003

Let me start off by saying that before the following experiences occurred I was not the least bit interested in the paranormal. It's not that I didn't believe in ghosts/spirits, I just never thought about it, and if someone told me a story I usually just blew them off and had the attitude of, "I'll believe it when I see."

My experiences began in the Fall of 2002 (I believe it was the beginning of October), and at the time I was working the second shift at my job, so I would get home around 1:30 AM. The first time something odd happened was around 2:00 AM. I was sitting up in bed and watching TV when all of a sudden I heard a sound that startled me. The only way to describe it is the sound a mop makes when you take it out of a bucket of water and it slaps against the floor. After I heard it, I went out to the living room to investigate, however I saw nothing. Thinking it was all in my mind, I went back into the bedroom and sat down in bed. After a few minutes I heard the sound again -- it sounded closer than before, so I quickly turned to my left (I was facing the right in order to watch the TV) and I was astonished at what I saw. At the foot of my bed was this dark figure, about 7 feet-tall. I could not make out any specific features, however I could tell it was wearing a fedora hat (similar to the ones that you would see a private investigator wear), and it was wearing a cloak over its body. Its eyes were yellowish orange, and they were staring right at me. After looking at this thing staring at me for about 30 seconds, I turned on the light that was on my nightstand and closed my eyes thinking I was just "seeing things," however when I looked back up, it was still standing there staring at me. At this point I tried to wake up my wife, but she wouldn't budge. Then all of a sudden I felt this anger come over me that I have never felt before. I went from sitting up in bed to going forward on my knees toward this thing. I was shouting at it, telling it to leave, that it is not welcomed in my home. Then as I was still yelling at it, I reached my right arm into it and felt this ice-cold shot of electricity go up my arm. Then it took a few steps back and it dissipated slowly into nothing, almost like smoke does.

That night I stayed awake until the sun started to come up. Still being scared out of my mind, I eventually fell asleep from being so tired. Later that day, I told my wife about what had happened, but she told me that I was just imagining things, or that I really did fall asleep and had a nightmare. But I knew otherwise.

The next few months were pretty quiet and I stared to forget about my experience, thinking it was a one-time deal. Then over that winter I would hear my name being called when I was home alone, and it sounded as if it was coming from all directions at once. At night when I was trying to fall asleep I would see this being out of the corner of my eye standing on my wife's side of the bed or in the doorway to my bedroom. Being so scared I would just close my eyes, and pull the covers over my head until I fell asleep. This continued through the winter and into the early spring. Then one night as I was sitting in bed watching TV, I heard the same strange sounds that I had heard so many months before. I had also heard my dog walking around in his cage (we had recently bought a puppy). I first thought he was doing his business in his cage, so I went into the kitchen to check, and as I walked into the kitchen I looked up and couldn't believe my eyes. This 7-foot shadow being was about 10 feet away from me staring at me with those yellowish-orange eyes. All of a sudden I felt this overbearing sense of sadness, and I felt like I was going to drop to my knees and start crying, but I stopped myself from doing so. I quickly drummed up all of the courage in me, pulled my crucifix from under my tee shirt, and held it straight out and walked quickly at this thing shouting at the top of my lungs that it needs to leave and it does not belong here. It backed away from me and vanished. That was the last time anything happened, and we moved out a few months later (not because of my experiences) I asked my landlord who lived in the house for the 20 years prior to me if he had ever experienced anything and he said he did not. From time-to-time I feel like something is watching me when I go to sleep, however I have not seen anything since that last encounter.