Sorry this is long. I thought I would share this here because I don’t think anyone would believe me if I talked to them about it IRL. I also need to get this out, and I figured this platform would be ideal since people would actually be willing to hear me out if they believed it was entertaining or paranormal. I hope this is a good way to ground myself before I do anything crazy.
Two weeks ago, I took the opportunity to travel to another state for a series of tech conferences hosted by a sister company. My trip is entirely reimbursed by my company, including airline ticket costs, hotel costs, and we even get rental cars for the time that we will be staying here.
The hotel that our company gave us is extremely fancy, and has a five star rating on Google reviews. There have been no complaints about the hotel or about the rooms that they have, and I didn’t either, at first. I have an entire suite to myself, with a TV, kitchen, and personal bathroom. The first few nights here were pretty normal, and I was feeling great, except that I found the bed to be slightly uncomfortable, especially since I suffer with lower back pain. However, about a couple days into my trip, I started getting night terrors.
The first night I got these “night terrors”, I brushed it off as paranoia. However, the second night, I recorded my feelings in my phone’s note app so that I would remember how I felt in the morning. Essentially, right when I am about to fall asleep, or maybe in the first few stages of my REM cycle, I would feel the following, taken straight from my notes app:
Woke up and felt a presence in the room. Felt absolutely terrified. Tried to move but was physically incapable. Tried to scream but wasn’t allowed to breathe. After a lot of struggle, was able to lift an arm. It felt like terror, the most scared I’ve ever felt.
This same feeling continued. Every. Night. For the past week. I have been feeling so much terror, and I don’t know how long it goes on for. Over and over again. Every night. Usually, I am too afraid to stand up and investigate after the feeling of terror passes, but when I am lucky, I can turn the lights on and calm myself down before going back to sleep.
I really thought that the source of these night terrors were stress related. I thought I had been hallucinating the whole few events, especially since I’m not in a good place right now mentally. However, something happened a few days ago that completely changed my mind on this.
I don’t know if I didn’t notice it before, or if it’s something that I’ve become more aware of after the night terrors, but I have been seeing scratches on my walls. They are long streaks of black (which is weird, because when paint comes off, isn’t it supposed to be white?) and they seem like they could be caused by nails. However, the weirdest part is, they only appear one at a time, and at different areas of my hotel room.
The first scratch I noticed was on my bathroom door, on the side facing the bathroom itself. The second one was near the head of my bed, underneath the painting behind it. I don’t know which one of these scratches came first, however, for the next couple scratches, I noticed them right away, and there is always one scratch after EACH NIGHT TERROR I have.
We can brush these scratches aside, maybe it has nothing to do with my night terrors, but the next fact makes me want to puke. I feel nauseous even thinking about it. I feel like crying and it’s hard to talk about. Last night, I was able to open my eyes during one of my night terrors. It took so much motivation, so much perseverance, and I wish that I hadn’t. I’m requesting a room change right after I finish writing this, because it’s night again, and I am scared again, and I can’t handle this again. If I can’t get a room change, I will sleep outside, or I will go to a coworker’s room. I absolutely hate it here and I cannot handle it anymore.
I opened my eyes last night and I saw something SITTING. AT MY KITCHEN TABLE. It was dark, and I couldn’t make out what it was, but it seemed like it was a person’s silhouette. It was long, tall, from what I could tell, but it was hunched over. I didn’t call out to it, because I’ve seen enough horror movies to know what happens if you do. Instead, I just stayed in my bed, eyes open, not moving. I was hoping it wouldn’t notice any movement I made, and I tried my best to make my breathing look natural.
It was at my dining table, and it was hunched over. It’s hands were clasped together and it was just sitting there. I couldn’t close my eyes, even after what seemed like minutes passed, and my eyes better adjusted to the dark, but I still, for gods sake, could not tell what it was. From what I could tell, it was just sitting there, watching it’s own hands on the table.
That’s all I remember from last night. I don’t remember if I fell asleep after that (because who could fall asleep after that???) but I genuinely cannot remember what happened. Now that it’s night again, I’m leaving this place. I can’t stay in this room, and even staying in this hotel seems like a bad idea. I will NEVER be coming back here again.