This is my one and only paranormal experience, thankfully, because I don't know if I could survive another! I was about 14 years old at the time (25 now) and was spending winter vacation at my grandparents house. Now, my grandparents house wasn't old, it wasn't reportedly haunted or even built on an indian burial ground - nothing dramatic, just a newer house built in the forest.
I was sleeping in the spare bedroom with my cousin and was slowly awakened, by what I don't remember, but suddenly I was WIDE AWAKE. There in the glow from the fire place lighting the room, there was a black figure walking from just outside the doorway to beside the bed - right beside me. This figure had no discernable features, but it was as big as the door frame and was just walking out to the hallway and back to the bedside. I was paralyzed with fear. My stomach would clench as the figure drew nearer and nearer, terrified that it would reach out and touch me. It would get close and then turn around again. I was scared, but not so much that I couldn't elbow my cousin and ask her to switch places with me! She just groaned and never woke up.
I don't know what or who it could have been but I couldn't have felt too threatened because I fell back asleep eventually. That's it, no big ending and I never encountered it again. As I get older I wonder could it have been someone in my family or even someone in my cousin's family (her other side) protecting us during the night? Something to discuss at holidays with the family!