The Shadow Man's Hand

Witness: Mick
Location: Verden, Germany
Date of Encounter: August 17, 2004

This morning, after my husband, Felix, left for work I went back to bed. (I had gotten up for some tea, to help my throat and stomach ache.) I went back to bed and went to sleep. I had a dream that I was at my grandmother's house (present time) and my grandfather came home from the hospital. (The thing is he died several years ago, but I never actually saw his body.) Anyway, he came home, and I was told he still had cancer and had been expected to die years ago, but he just went on living. My grandmother explained that they had only told us he was dead because they didn't want us children to see him suffering for so long. (I was like 11 or 12 when he died, and the oldest of my siblings.) So, I wanted to find my grandfather to talk to him. I asked where he was and was told that he was outside working in the garden. I was like, 'What is he doing? He's ill! He shouldn't be doing that!' So, I went out to help him. And then I talked to him. I asked him why he let me believe he was dead for all these years and then come back home. He said that he missed us or something — I can't remember exactly. But that he wanted to be there for me. I said to him something like, 'How can you expect everything to just go back to the way things were, when I barely remember you? I only remember little pieces of life when you were here before.' (I don't really know exactly what we talked about, but it was along those lines.) Then, he felt bad, and came over to me and put his hands on my face. At this point I woke up. (I'm about to start crying again and I don't know why. I'm not even sad.)

So, I woke up. I was still half asleep, just starting to wake up, my eyes were still closed and I felt a hand on the left side of my face, stroking the side of my face and head. I thought for a very brief moment that Felix was home from work. At this point I was awake completely and I could also lightly feel a hand on the other side of my face, too. I opened my eyes. when I did, I saw for the briefest moment the outline or shadow of a person standing over me, the person's arm reaching over so the hand could be on the left side of my face. I only saw the person's form for a short moment, but in that time, I could tell the person was tall. (Both my husband and my grandfather are very tall) I also know it was a man because I could feel that the hand (I felt the hand on my left side most) was a man's hand, larger, the finger's not as thin as a woman's. Anyway, I was so afraid. All of this happened in less than a minute. For a moment I was unable to move. Then, still terrified, I turned away, to the left. (I sleep on the right side of the bed, and the person was standing on the right side of the bed.) As I turned, I felt the man's hand move down to my neck. I had a sudden, faint fluttering or spasm type feeling where the hand had come to my neck (I'm not sure if I imagined it or not), and I felt like the man was trying to choke me, however, I was sleeping with a scarf around my neck, so I think the pressure that felt like strangling was from my scarf, but at that moment when it happened, I hadn't realized I was wearing the scarf, and I just thought the man was trying to choke me. As my fear increased, suddenly, the man vanished completely.

He was gone, but I was still so afraid. I wanted to get up and call Felix, but I was too afraid to move. Then I started thinking about what happened. Remembering the dream, I thought, maybe it was my grandfather, or maybe it was a totally different person, and rather than the dream being related to what happened when I awoke. Maybe my dream was influenced by what began to happen just before or as I awoke, because in the dream when my grandfather put his hands on my face, and when I awoke to feel a man's hand stroking my face, these two things happened simultaneously. The other possibility that I thought of, was that something bad had happened to Felix and it was him, in spirit. 

After some time, I fell back asleep. Later, when I awoke, I called Felix. He's fine, so it wasn't him. It was either my grandfather (most likely), or someone entirely different.

When I called Felix, I told him what had happened. I had been thinking about it for some time, and then when I told him, I got all emotional, like speaking it aloud made it more real or depressing or something, and after I finished telling him, I just started crying, and the thing is, I don't even know why I was crying!

This is the first time, that I know of, that something like this has ever happened to me! It was such a shock. When it happened, I had been thinking it was maybe my grandfather, and in a way, I was glad if it was him, but because I hadn't been expecting it. I freaked out, panicked. It scared me so much. I could feel this man's hand on my face! I could feel it as if it were real, but different, and I knew it was a man's hand!