Jane's Mum

This is my friend's story. She has given me permission to share it with you, but I have changed everyone's names.

Going back about 8 years to when we were 15, my friend Ellie used to hang around with a girl from her school named Jane. Jane's mother was very sensitive to spirits, she would often see "people who shouldn't be there". Jane's house was a hive of spiritual activity: often Jane's mother would be sitting watching the telly in the evenings, and different spirits would come to her and sit with her. Some of them were silent, some of them looked for comfort, and some would say things like "I'm just so lonely, please can I sit with you for a while?". Jane's mum is a very warm and kind individual, so of course she would sit and chat to them for as long as they needed.

Jane had always been open about her belief in ghosts and the paranormal, she used to say she had been tortured for years as a child by a massively tall African man, with broad shoulders and a Zimbabwean accent. He would stand at the end of her bed and tell her that he was going to kill her parents, and rape her and her sister. Jane would pull the covers over her ears, but he would just shout louder and louder, until she would scream for her mother. She didn't tell anyone why she was screaming until she turned 10, when she finally confessed to her mum about the scary man at the end of her bed. Jane slept in her mother's room that night, and when she came home from school the next day, her mother told her there would be no more problems with the scary man, and there weren't.

So back to the story: one night, Ellie and Jane were sat up in Jane's room. They were listening to music and had been smoking a sneaky cigarette out of Jane's window. They were sat on the floor facing each other, when Jane suddenly sat up straight and switched off the CD player, her eyes were wide with fear, and she was breathing heavily.

Ellie started to ask what was wrong, but Jane shook her head and said "Shhhh! Don't look, but there's something in the corner behind me. I don't think it wants us here." Well of course Ellie was terrified, she tried to ask what Jane was talking about, but Jane grabbed her wrist and said "There's a dark shadow in the corner behind me. We need to leave the room. DON'T stare at it."

Ellie couldn't help herself, as Jane was tugging her to her feet, she risked a glance into the corner of the room, and what she described to me was a black shape. She said it was like a shadow, but with no clearly defined edges, but it was also too dense to be described as mist. She felt her legs go numb and her stomach drop with fear, and she started screaming and got out of Jane's room as fast as she could. The girls ran downstairs, Ellie was in tears and asking Jane's mum to take her home. Jane seemed calmer, but was still breathing heavily and was clearly shaken up. She explained to her mum what had happened.

Jane's mother gave Ellie a big cuddle, and said "I will take you home sweetheart, but first let's deal with this nasty problem." She took both the girls by the hand and led them back upstairs. Ellie didn't want to go back in the bedroom, she was scared and crying, but Jane's mother said they all had to be strong and confident. She pulled the girls into Jane's bedroom, put her arms tight around them, and yelled at the corner of the room.

"How DARE you come into MY home and scare MY girls?! You don't BELONG here, you are NEVER welcome in my home or near ANY of my children or their friends! You will get OUT of my house, and NEVER come back, you hear me?! GET OUT!"

Ellie said she felt less frightened as Jane's mother took control, Jane's mother asked the girls to tell the shadow to leave too. Jane immediately shouted "GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY BEDROOM!" and Ellie managed to tell it to leave too, though not as forcefully as she was still crying.

Jane's mum said "Ok, so now we leave the room." and took the girls downstairs and made them a hot chocolate. After about 15 minutes, she went back upstairs and checked Jane's bedroom, the shadow was gone. Ellie said she didn't feel afraid any more after seeing how brave Jane's mum was, and she always felt safe in their house after that.

I have another story about Jane's mum that Ellie told me, but this one has been quite long, so I'll post it as a separate article. Thanks for taking the time to read Ellie's story, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed hearing it.