The Forsythia Bushes

It was Easter Sunday, 1992. I was seven years old. All of my mom's brothers and sisters and their children had gathered at my maternal grandmother's house like usual. After lunch, the adults had an egg hunt for all the kids. Anyway, the egg hunt was over, and all my cousins and I were headed to the back yard to collect our "prizes". For some reason, I stopped about 20 yards short of the group and stared at the hillside.

The back of my grandmother's back yard was (and still is) lined with forsythia bushes. The bushes were not in full bloom, but were starting to bloom. From what I remember about the sun, it had to have been around 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

Anyway, as I stared into the bush, this white shape, neither solid nor transparent, started forming out of nowhere. It seemed to be spinning, while it expanded and contracted. At this time, I became aware that there was a very tall presence behind me (almost touching me, I could almost feel body heat). I thought the presence was my older cousin, who was a teenager, and twice my height. So I spun around and said, "Lee, look at that!" and spun back around. Instantaneously, I realized that Lee was not behind me and never had been and the white "blob" was gone. I felt alone again. I looked over and realized my family was some distance off and had not seen or noticed a single thing.

I think it needs to be said now, that I am very skittish. I'm terrified of the dark and always have been. Just the thought of possibly seeing a ghost or demon or presence scares me. I've always been like that. However, in this situation, I was calm, more than calm, I was serene.

I know at some point in time, I told my mother, grandmother, aunt, and father about this. For a long time they tried to convince me that I was saw a cat or a grocery bag in the wind. I always maintained that it was an unknown form. Years past and my mother would occasionally bring this topic up with me (she's had a lot of supernatural experiences herself) to see if I remembered anything else. My story has always been the same. However, she pointed out something about 6 months ago that I had never realized. For years, I had put emphasis on the blob. It had never occurred to me that I had not been mistaken about my cousin's presence behind me. Perhaps I just couldn't see the presence. Then she suggested that the presence could have been her father.

He had died when my mother was 5 or 6. My mother and I are practically identical. So much so, that (in my adult life) I've seen pictures of her and thought they were me. My mother suggests that the presence was her father just checking up on his little girl. For some reason, this helped put the mystery of why I saw the blob to bed. Now I feel like I understand, or at least have a more complete understanding.