Something to Watch Over Me

From: Raven (Raven@jgrantkennedy.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: California and New Jersey
Source: Form Submission

Okay, here goes. Yes I've had some pretty unusual things happen to me. I guess we all have and that is why these sites draw us. It validates us and makes us feel that we are not alone in our experiences. I believe my family, on my mother's side, has something that protects them. Strange, I know.

One day when I was about 12 I was home alone in our house in California. My parents and brother were out. Our house was a typical California ranch home--bright and airy. It was a weekend morning/afternoon and I was laying on my bed reading. Up until about a month before this we had had my father's best friend living with us in our den. He was dying of cancer and had no where to go or no one to take care of him. He was with us up until the day before he died. He was on some pretty strong drugs for the pain but you would still hear him crying out or talking to himself because of the pain and/or drugs. It was an oppressive atmosphere and I think I was just glad to be home alone in my house--it felt sunny and bright and comfortable.

Now my parents are completely avid animal lovers. Growing up we never had fewer than five dogs and always a handful of cats. We lived kind of close to a large park area where not very nice people would "dump" their animals when they didn't want them anymore and miraculously the animals would find their way to our house. My dog at this time was a very large shepherd/collie mix named Rex.

Anyway, as I was laying there reading I heard Rex run across the living room, comE into my room and jump on my bed. As I mentioned, Rex was a large dog and when he jumped on the bed it bounced. We had a wood floor so the clicking of dog's nails as they walked was a common sound as was the dog getting on my bed--that's where he slept. So, without looking up from my book I reached over to give him a pet and my hand felt nothing. It was at this point that I looked up from my book and saw that there was nothing on my bed.

I screamed and bolted out of the house. I was waiting on the front porch when my parents got home. People have tried to tell me that I was daydreaming but no, it was real.

Now I will say that since my dad's friend passed away weird things were going on in the house--sounds, things moving, etc. Nothing too weird, just uncommon. I do remember one night watching television with my parents, and the dogs, when there was a draft in the room. The dogs popped their heads up and all of them tracked something walk through the middle of the room right in front of the television. There was nothing visible but the dogs sure saw it. My mom said, "There goes *** (my dad's friend)."

About 20 years after that I was at a family reunion in Oregon at my grandmother's resort and I was talking to my Aunt who grew up at the resort. There were a couple of main houses and then guest cottages. No one liked to stay in the two small rooms in the top level of the main house. My aunt said she would not even go up there now. I asked her what happened and she said that the same thing I had experienced happened to her. She was in her 30s visiting with her little dog and thought he had jumped up on the bed only to find nothing there.

So, what is it? I have an idea that it is an animal protector based on my last experience. My other grandmother lived in New Jersey in a very old house that was once the guard house for soldiers patrolling the road. My father has heard taps being played in the middle of the night, things are moved and the vibes can be downright creepy. If you walk back far enough in the back yard you start coming across tombstones as it backs up to the cemetery with no fences to separate. Anyway about 9 years ago I was visiting my grandmother with my mother. We were upstairs sleeping in my grandmother's room when I was awakened in the middle of the night. I was facing out toward the edge of the bed and I felt something right up against my face staring at me from the edge of the bed. This is what woke me up, it was intense and had a very malevolent feel to it. I was frozen and could not move and then I heard a very low growl come from behind me--where my mother was sleeping. The thing that was in my face went away and the bad feeling disappeared. Oddly I felt comforted and went right back to sleep. Needless to say my grandmother has no pets so that option is out and while my mother might snore it was nothing like this deep in the throat growl I heard.

That is why I think it is protecting us. My other grandmother's house in Oregon is also reputed to be haunted as well although I have never seen anything. So maybe this thing was protecting my aunt from something. And, when my dad's friend died and weird things started happening maybe there was something else that he brought back with him that was not so nice and that is why it was protecting me. Strange.