So this is a story about an experience I had during 2020. It was the year of the pandemic, so I was watching a lot of horror films to pass the time.
For some context, I was living with my family at the time, and I had the smallest room in the house. My room was a perfect square, and I had a queen sized bed in the middle with two doors on each corner of the room. The left door led to the main hallway, and the right door led to the garage. Creepy, right? Opening that door led to a big black void of darkness, but strangely enough… it was the door to the hallway that always made me feel strange. Well, not necessarily the door itself, but.. that corner of the room.
On a summer night, I decided to watch a movie called “Antrum”. It was gaining a lot of traction on Tik Tok and the whole selling point was that you would be cursed or die after watching it. The film is supposedly drenched in satanic ritualism. Me, curious about all the buzz ,watched it, even though my mother, who is a devout Christian, told me not to.
The film was fine.
The night I watched it, nothing happened. The morning after though I felt abnormally tired, and incredibly heavy. It felt like my energy was being leeched off of me. I didn’t think too much of it though. I plopped into bed at a very early 8am and collapsed into sleep.
I woke up at my door around 1am, with my hand already on the knob.
Now keep in mind, I never slept walked in my life, but I truly don’t remember walking to my door.
For a brief moment I was confused, and then it hit me. There was something behind me. I couldn’t move, and I felt the purest form of dread I have ever felt.
“Move.” I told myself. “Fucking move.”
I couldn’t. It felt like I was stuck there forever. I couldn’t turn around, but what I felt behind me felt…. huge. Like it was hunching over me. It felt evil.
I finally, out of nowhere, had the will to fling my door open and stumble out into the hallway. I sat in the darkness, with my door open, trying to catch my breath.
I decided to walk down the hallway to get a drink of water only to be greeted by a face in the darkness, illuminated by a glow coming from underneath them.
I fell to the floor in terror, and then realised it was just my mother on her iPad, sitting on our living room couch.
“JESUS!” I exclaimed.
She chuckled, “What? What did I do?”
“What are you doing out here this late?! You’re never up this late!”
She shrugged, “I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep so I decided to come out here and read my Bible on my iPad.”
“Well you scared the hell out of me.”
I was physically shaking, still trying to process the events that happened in my room moments ago.
“Are you ok?” my mom asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a bad dream.”
I didn’t want to explain to her what happened, and then get met with a lecture about how I need Jesus or some bullshit like that, considering that despite being raised Christian, overtime I came to the conclusion that that religion just wasn’t for me.
I walked back into my room, and was immediately met with that same unwelcome energy. I couldn’t take another step forward. Defeated, I go back to my mom and confess what I was going through.
“Ok, so… do you want to hear something that would either comfort you or freak you out even more?” she asked.
“Sure.” I replied. It’s not like things could get any creepier.
“I was very restless tonight. So like I said, I came out here to read my Bible. I came across the passage where Jesus stumbles upon a demon possessed man. The demon’s name was Legion, as there were one of many inside him. Jesus then exorcises the man and commands Legion to instead possess a heard of pigs by the cliff side. They obey, and then run the pigs off the cliff and kill them.”
There was a brief pause. I definitely remembered this passage.
“After I finished reading that passage, I was overcome with a sense of urgency to pray for protection over… you.”
Another brief pause.
“And I kid you not, the moment I started praying for you, is the moment I heard you fling open the door and stumble out into the hallway.”
Chills ran down my spine.
Embarrassingly enough, I slept on the couch that night. The next day, I deep cleaned my room as a symbol of cleansing any unwanted energy or visitors. Nothing really happened after that that.
Now don’t get it twisted, this isn’t a story that’s rooted in Christian propaganda. I left the faith years ago, and despite this experience, I still have not returned.
I still don’t really know what to make of that night though, as I don’t think it was sleep paralysis or anything along the lines of that, because I know for a FACT that both my mind and body were awake. I just… try not to question that night and just move forward.
I will say this though: I am grateful for my mom that night, and her projection of good energy and protection over me, because I wonder… what would have happened if she wasn’t awake that night?