Man In My Brother's Closet

Note: This experience is not directly based around me but my brother when he was around three to four years old.

As a big sister I always wanted to protect my brother even when we fought like normal siblings do, but when strange things started to happen I felt helpless. Not only because I was nine years old, it was the fact I couldn't see what was causing it.

It started slowly when we moved to a new home in a complex. My little brother was still at the stage where on odd occasions he would climb into our parents' bed and sleep there, but the majority of the time he would sleep in his own room.

After about two months being there my brother's behavior changed. He would leave his light on when sleeping or when going up the stairs and if we tried turning them off, he would start crying and screaming for them to be turned back on. Our parents just narrowed it down to him being scared of the dark, but before this he never had a problem with the lights being off.

It was not long before he started sleeping with our parents more frequently and when they tried to get him to sleep in his own bed, he put up a big fuss. They ended up moving his mattress to their room when his sleepovers seemed to be permanent. I was young so I ignored his antics as being the baby of the family.

I ended up believing something else was going on after that one single day. We were playing together in his room with his Hot Wheel cars in front of his closet where his toys are kept. I noticed he always kept the closet door shut even when getting toys from it, so thinking it was just him being a good little boy I suggested we keep it open while we played with the toys and once the toys are all cleaned up we close it. He simply said no and when I asked why he continued to say no. Not getting any real answer, I decided to do it myself, not really seeing any point on keeping something closed when there are things in it we want. And in that split second my little brother slammed the closet door before I could open it even a crack yelling at me, "Stop, he's in there!"

I remember my brother's face on that day being on the verge of tears with the most scared expression because of a door being open. I didn't try opening that door after that but I did ask him about who this "He" was and every time he got this look on his face like he was remembering a bad memory and said it was the man who stood in his closet. I never got a name, just that he was a man who always stood there and watched him if the door was left open.

It never escalated to a dangerous point other than noises upstairs when no one was up there, our cat staring at something when there is nothing there and follow with her eyes as if she were watching something move. During the night I would often hear her running around the house and meowing as if she was playing with someone but I can't say this is paranormal, just odd behavior since she usually sleeps through the night.

I have always had a thing for the paranormal so I considered that someone died in or near the house; however, the complex was fairly new and if any death happened I would have heard of it sooner or later. I also considered it to just be my little brother's imagination getting the best of him but I can't see imagination making someone that scared and he reacted just as scared of a single empty room in our aunt's new house.

All I know is at the age of 11 he started sleeping in his own room and never mentioned the man so is he gone? Perhaps it is true about children being more sensitive to the paranormal and that we eventually lose this sensitivity. I just wish I knew if the man was still there or not but if my brother is no longer affected by it, I am content with not knowing.