Inhuman Haunting

I am a 29 year old female, born and raised in New Jersey. When I was 14 I moved to Florida to live with my grandparents. I have experienced paranormal things ever since I was a child, but I'm only going to talk about the most powerful here. At some point, I may submit other stories; but I feel I need to get the weight of this particular account off my soul more than anything else.

When I was 18, my grandfather purchased a house in central Florida, Leesburg. It was big enough for me, my grandfather, my mother and stepfather to live in comfortably. I had felt a presence in my room from the first night. I knew it was an elderly man and I would often see a shadow standing over my bed. I would get the feeling he didn't really like me being there, but I was never fearful or felt threatened. I found out later that the previous owner's husband was very ill for a long time and passed away in that room.

At 21, I had a falling out with my stepfather and left the house. Five years later, after leaving a bad relationship, I came home to my parents open arms. My parents set me up in my old room. I was super happy at first. Something was different about the house though. The feeling was... Dark.

Strange things started happening at night. The instances started off small and escalated over time. The first thing I remember is lying in bed trying to sleep and I felt something pull a few strands of hair out of my ponytail and lay them over my face. It startled me and I brushed my hair back and looked for something it might have gotten caught on. When I lay back down, it happened again and again until I firmly said, "STOP IT."

A couple weeks go by and again, I'm in bed, trying to get to sleep and I felt something grab my left foot. It was a hard clutch on my foot, like someone trying to yank you out of bed. It freaked me out enough to send me to sleep on the family room couch. After the grab, I would often feel something sit on the edge of the bed or even crawl into bed with me. Not too long after that, I would also wake up with unexplained scratches and bruises on my legs and torso.

Around this time, I noticed something I'd never felt before in any house I'd ever lived in... Unexplainable dread. I would feel sick coming home from a friend's house, just upon seeing the house. I started having a lot of trouble sleeping, especially at night, in that room. I continuously had nightmares, usually about killing myself and among the grabbing; I would hear whispers that I could never understand.

Another instance was in broad daylight, I was working on a project for a graphic design class. The house was quiet and I was the only one home. I walked out of my room to get supplies and when I came back in, I was stopped dead in the middle of my room. Something screamed in my ear. It was an angry wordless scream. I freaked and left to stay at my boyfriend's house. I never finished that particular project.

As time went on, things seemed to get more vicious. If I could get to sleep at night, I would often wake up at around 3am just filled with dread. On one occasion, I felt so scared and so full of dread that I resorted to my Catholic upbringing and started to recite the Lord's Prayer. Before I got to "amen," I was punched in the guts by an invisible force. It knocked the wind out of me and put me in the foetal position. I remember crying and being so scared I couldn't move. I laid there as motionless as possible and waited for the sun to come up.

After being back for almost a year, my best girlfriend was noticing I was not well and would often come visit. She would spend the night, but she would always get sick for no reason and be throwing up so bad she'd have to leave early. My boyfriend at the time had similar experiences. One night his right eye went blood red and he complained of a constant pressure headache. He decided to go home and left. He called me literally two minutes later while driving home to tell me his eye cleared up and his headache was gone and that there was something wrong with my parents' house.

A couple months later, I had the most terrifying experience to date. It was very late and I was in my room watching TV. I decided to try to go to sleep, so I turned the TV off and was about to reach over and turn off my lamp, but I couldn't move. I was completely paralyzed from the neck down. There was a pressure shift in my ears and I tried to call out for my mom (because I knew she was still up, watching TV in the family room, which was right outside my door) but barely a sound came out. Now very panicked, I was trying to scream for my mom; still, barely a scratch of voice came out. Then, my bathroom door began to slowly slide open. What came out was and still is unfathomable to me. It looked like an alien, crossed with a lizard. Its skin was scaly, grey and dead, almost mouldy looking. Its eyes were burning red coals. It had no nose or ears to speak of. It had long claws on the hands and feet and it had a very hunched over posture. It came out of the bathroom and looked right at me. It hissed at me, revealing these long needle sharp teeth. Then it turned and walked out of my room. It just opened the door and walked out. I remember the sound of its claws on the wood floor. I seriously questioned my sanity. When I could move again, I dashed out of my room and went to my mother. She immediately noticed I was shaken and asked if I was feeling sick. She then asked me what I went into the kitchen for. I'd never gone into the kitchen. I sat and began crying and telling her what just happened. I guess I'm lucky in a way to have a mother who has also experienced paranormal things.

I don't know if it was a demon. I still replay it in my head over and over. I'm always searching for an answer. Searching for someone who might have seen something similar.

Not long after that, terrible life events unfolded: my grandfather passed away suddenly in the house, the house went into foreclosure, I found out the love of my life had been cheating on me, then I was in a terrible car accident (not my fault), then the loony-bin for a short stay (because I basically lost my mind for a minute with all that had been going on.) When I got back, my parents were in the process of packing and moving to a new house. I refused to go into my room alone or at night at all while packing. I left a lot of things behind out of fear of whatever was there following me.

Since then, I've been a much happier, healthier, more stable person. I have never again experienced such fear and dread and harm in that magnitude. As far as I know, no other family has stayed in that house more than a few months. I still have paranormal experiences, but nothing like that. These days, I feel like I know what true evil energy feels like. Whatever it was, it left its mark.