Short Ghost Stories

#24 The Second Haunting

Just to preface this, I consider myself a highly logical person. I am neither religious nor spiritual, but I'm finding myself at the end of my rope and need help.

I grew up in an old southern town that was notorious for its Civil War and Native American history. The house I grew up in was on land that was owned by the same family for generations and had several deaths (including some during Sherman's March to the Sea), and also still had slave quarters on it when we moved in (which we burned down).

Growing up, our home had an insane number of strange experiences. These occurrences happened most nights around 3 AM and during broad daylight as well. Experiences included:

Shadow figure that appeared on basement stairs to 3 skeptical adults during full daylight. Appeared after a 10 minute round of loud stomping, door slamming, faucets turning on and off upstairs in a completely empty house. Rushed down the stairs into one of the adults before disappearing.

1 of 3 phones (all with the same number, only the old rotary phone) ringing in the dead of night with no one on the other end (not even a dial tone).

Radios turning off and on. Voice coming over the radio.

Child toys with no batteries turning off and on, moving across the home.

What sounded like children's voices coming up through old floor vents (not the same sound as that high pitched sort of whine you hear from drafts, or even from gas heaters).

Extreme mood changes in one of the adult members of the household (attempted to strangle his wife while in his sleep. No such behavior before or since).

Pictures removed from boxes, faces ripped out. No sign of forced entry anywhere in the home. No alarms tripped. No cameras triggered.

Collectibles slung from mantles, shelves, etc. Shattered.

Young children in the home waking up frequently in the middle of the night to stare up and talk to the same corner of the room.

Sleep paralysis in several family members that ceased upon leaving the home.

On multiple occasions growing up in this house, there were people who could not spend an entire night there. The greatest example being my sister-n-law's mother (a die-hard atheist and skeptic) who had the police called at 3AM and left not only the house, but the state THAT NIGHT after experiencing extreme poltergeist-type activity (she had flown in to watch the house during a wedding). The list of occurrences in that house goes on and on.

Fast forward to 2015.

I have long since moved on with not a single instance of anything creepy or weird. I move to Edinburgh, Scotland. Get my own flat.

A month or two after moving in, I begin waking up at 3AM (+/- 30 mins) every single night. Some nights it's with sleep paralysis. Never saw anything weird, but plenty of uncomfortable feelings, and always, always, always the feeling of being watched or "dirty".

Fast forward to now.

I am living with my fiancee and the night stuff is starting up again. Not only am I waking up every night around 3 AM, but I am also filled with absolute horror and dread to the point that I have to get up and turn the lights on. After I've been woken up, I can't go back to sleep and can't beat the feeling that something is either right behind me or watching me from this specific place in the flat.

Things have started disappearing and reappearing. I constantly feel like I am being watched, I have no energy and I've suddenly started to be plagued by nausea and headaches (which never happened before). I have been checked for any medical causes of these symptoms, to no avail.

There's an overwhelming feeling of dread and no matter what I do, I can't sleep through the night. For the few hours that I am asleep each night, I'm having the most horrendous nightmares imaginable. No rhyme or reason to the nightmares. No reoccurring themes other than terror and death.

I'm seeing a shrink who says there's nothing wrong with me. I've asked for every test, given every piece of medical history. I've put extra CO2 detectors in the flat too. The psych has put me on non-habit forming sleep aids, I also take all natural sleep aids, exercise, make sure there is adequate ventilation (it is an old building), etc. Nothing seems to be helping.

I'm constantly uncomfortable in my own flat, in a constant state of fear (that doesn't seem to exist outside of the building) and can't sleep through the night no matter what I try. The times are getting desperate, folks. Help me.