An Old Presence

by Annalee Blysse.

A few years ago strange things started happening in my apartment. At first I tried to rationalize things away. But it scared me that my bed was a hot spot of activity. Scared was the operative word. Unfortunately nothing happened that can lend itself to the sensual side of my writing career.

One night I was lying on my back trying to go to sleep and the top blanket on my bed slid down my body, up and over my feet, and onto the floor at the foot of my bed. The rest of the bedding was undisturbed. I was wide awake, watching this happen. It was spooky to say the least.

Another night, I was sound asleep and at some point my hand was off the edge of my bed dangling. I woke up when someone grabbed my hand. Of course, there was no one there.

Within a few months is when it turned into terrifying. I had what I thought was a nightmare that someone was suffocating me. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t breathe, and I felt the hand pressing me down. It hurt. I couldn’t move. I was greying out, losing consciousness. I told the presence to go away, she wasn’t welcome -- by then, I really felt it was a woman. I began to pray, and as soon as I asked Jesus to protect me, the presence was gone.

That spot on my shoulder blade was numb and stayed that way until I moved. I even went to the doctors trying to figure out why. You might wonder why I didn’t move after that night. I did too, actually. Since I was still at the stage I worried that I was imagining things, I was really freaked out that I was having a physical reaction. I decided I had to either move, or stop being afraid. I chose the later.

It helped me that other people started witnessing the events. I had friends who spent the night at my apartment who had nightmares. One woke up screaming, and wouldn’t stay. It was twenty below and he hiked over to his relatives at 4:00 in the morning. So I started telling the presence to go away. I started praying more.

 

 

Text Box: An Old Presence by Annalee Blysse. A few years ago strange things started happening in my apartment. At first I tried to rationalize things away. But it scared me that my bed was a hot spot of activity. Scared was the operative word. Unfortunately nothing happened that can lend itself to the sensual side of my writing career. One night I was lying on my back trying to go to sleep and the top blanket on my bed slid down my body, up and over my feet, and onto the floor at the foot of my bed. The rest of the bedding was undisturbed. I was wide awake, watching this happen. It was spooky to say the least. Another night, I was sound asleep and at some point my hand was off the edge of my bed dangling. I woke up when someone grabbed my hand. Of course, there was no one there. Within a few months is when it turned into terrifying. I had what I thought was a nightmare that someone was suffocating me. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t breathe, and I felt the hand pressing me down. It hurt. I couldn’t move. I was greying out, losing consciousness. I told the presence to go away, she wasn’t welcome -- by then, I really felt it was a woman. I began to pray, and as soon as I asked Jesus to protect me, the presence was gone. That spot on my shoulder blade was numb and stayed that way until I moved. I even went to the doctors trying to figure out why. You might wonder why I didn’t move after that night. I did too, actually. Since I was still at the stage I worried that I was imagining things, I was really freaked out that I was having a physical reaction. I decided I had to either move, or stop being afraid. I chose the later. It helped me that other people started witnessing the events. I had friends who spent the night at my apartment who had nightmares. One woke up screaming, and wouldn’t stay. It was twenty below and he hiked over to his relatives at 4:00 in the morning. So I started telling the presence to go away. I started praying more.    

Text Box: I also talked about it with my neighbors. Another couple in the other duplex witnessed strange events. One lady saw a woman and two children. Another friend moved in next door and told me about her lights acting up, and music playing. After she’d moved in next door, one night I came home from work and fell asleep for a nap on my couch listening to the stereo very low. After about a half-hour of dozing the volume slowly went from low to blaring. Another evening she wasn’t home, and when I walked into the building her radio was blaring. She called for a ride home. I went to get her. By the time we got back her radio was off. She didn’t witness that one, but believed it because her radio had been turning on and off at night. When that hit the gossip trail in our small town, her mother was bugged. But, we weren’t lying. I heard things a lot. Scratching at my door, scratching at the crawlspace beneath the house (houses in the arctic are often built 3 feet off the ground and that space is skirted). I felt pressure change a lot. Sometimes my door would pop open on it’s own for no reason. It was more a pressure change than someone twisting the door and opening it. But things did move without my help. The screws on every doorknob in the building would loosen themselves and need tightening every month or so. Sometimes lights burned out, but just as often they unscrewed themselves in the socket. I only saw the presence twice. One night I was up late and I saw a dark face with red eyes looking in my window. Another night the lights were off in my house and I was leaving. The only light was the moon behind clouds. I saw a snake-like shadow rippling across the snow toward my house. I told her to go away. She did. After I decided not to be afraid, I told her to go away, she let me know she was around, but never touched me again. But, like I said, the numb feeling in my shoulder lasted nearly one year, then when I moved, it went away almost immediately. Interestingly enough, about a hundred years ago in this area of Alaska nearly half the native population died off from disease brought by the white man. The building was new and no one had ever died in it. So whoever was stuck in that realm had been on that land for a while I decided. I wonder what happens now. If it’s still going on. ( It’s one of the reasons I write paranormal... strange things have happened to me.) — Annalee Blysse.