Lurking In The Shadows

I decided to share my story here, as I hope recounting it might offer me some clarity.

I have been, ever since a young age, rather empathic in regard to my surroundings. I feel that all natural places have a definite energy about them, which always affects my state of mind as well. This also relates to something I can only describe as a feeling I get whenever spirits are close by. The atmosphere always seems to change, making my hair stand on end. I start glancing over my shoulders, catching glimpses of movement and figures in the shadows. The effects become more pronounced the more I pay attention to them.

These experiences might be one of the reasons I have been lead to learn a form of shamanism, which has been helpful in maintaining control of the situation and myself. Energy practices and songs have helped me calm myself and my surroundings in the lesser cases. I'll tell some of the more significant cases here.

My brother is an atheist through and through, he is very secular and believes in absolutely nothing supernatural, yet he shares some of my observations about an old house we used to live in as children. It was a large, old house that most definitely had a history. I always found it and some of the surrounding barn-buildings very unnerving. The grounds themselves (with all the fields and forests) always felt rather tranquil and positive, but the buildings had this threatening air about them. There were some rooms in particular that my brother and I still remember as having been extremely frightening.

I remember hating the place at night, and whenever I had to walk through the dark house I would flick on light switches as I went, just to make sure I was never caught in the dark there. All the strange things happened during the night, for example my constant feeling of being followed by something. The figure that followed me was the worst, as it would shadow me through the house then remains a constant presence at my bedroom door. Another ghost I witnessed was when I looked through my window one night, and saw a dark figure cross the backyard, disappearing into the orchard.

I even witnessed some physical phenomena there, which included rocking chairs rocking by themselves, door handles turning (I always left the room before the doors would open) and toys suddenly scattering. I'm not including any noises, since it was the old kind of house that always has a life of its own, creaking and groaning constantly. The stranger happenings taught me not to fear the autumn storms or branches knocking on the walls and windows.

I'd better cut this story here, as I have enough stories from there to write a book about. I'll continue this with a second part later, where I'll recount some more recent things that have happened. I hope you enjoyed reading and please drop comments, since I love reading them.