As a novelist, researcher and lover of all things supernatural, I've always enjoyed hearing other people's experiences.

Earlier this year, I started a podcast entitled Real Ghost Chatter where others could join me and discuss their encounters. I never realized how many great stories I would hear.

I received one unique narrative. I found it both exciting and a bit scary.  

This account is from Graham. Graham is a regular guy. He has always been a hobby artist but he says, sadly, he has never made a career from it. He now works for a small company that catches wildlife and repairs damage they cause to homes.

Graham spends most of his free time crafting antler and Beachwood carvings. He is married to Joy and, I quote, "Is reaching my amazing 1st anniversary with her."

Now you know a little about who Graham is, the following is the account of what has happened to him:

Graham writes:

Late in 1996/early 1997, I was in my last year of high school. We lived in a newer subdivision, built in the desert. Luke Air force base, and its shooting range, were very close to my neighborhood. The desert land next to our subdivision had "Federal Land -no trespassing" signs in large letters.

Well, as with any teenager, that didn't stop me. I used to explore the desert quite a bit. In my explorations, I had found a rock alcove. It wasn't a full cave, but more of a rounded area recessed in a cliffside.  

 I thought the area was fascinating. I even had my friend come along a few times and hang out in the alcove with me. We'd use my slingshot and ricochet rocks off of bigger rocks and roll large stones down the peaks. Typical teenage boy stupidity. 

One day everything changed. I went by myself and dug up a couple of small ears of jumping cactus to plant in our yard. About 20 minutes later, I heard a voice in my head say," Get out of here now!" Right then, I could see a black helicopter in the distance.

I had a strange feeling, and I booked it home on my bike. I was about 2-4 miles away from my house. I got home and went to the back to flush my face with water because I was heat exhausted from peddling so fast.

Seconds later, the helicopter was only a few hundred feet away from our roof and just hovered above our pool. I felt like it was watching me for a couple of minutes.

Again, a voice in my head said, "Do not look up at them!" So, I petted our dog and wholly ignored the helicopter.  It finally flew away.

I was just confused, but I didn't think much more of it.

Shortly after this event, I started having extraordinary things happen in my sleep. I would keep waking up and found myself attacking something above me with my pillow. When this happened, I would always see some kind of small human-shaped figure/mist, and it would dematerialize after I noticed it. This happened every few months.

I laughed it off. I decided it was sleepwalking or a waking dream. This happened every few months from 1997-2004.

After I graduated high school, I would travel to Tempe for a trade school. I left really early in the morning to avoid Phoenix traffic and when I arrived, I would sleep in my car until school opened.

One morning about 4 am I woke up and saw a small shadow figure staring in on me. I thought it was a vagabond. I tried to grab a knife I kept in my door slot for protection.  As soon as I reached for it, I discovered I was paralyzed. I was fully awake, yet my eyes would not open. After a couple of minutes, I could finally move. My first thought was, "I am having some major sleep issues."

After that, things were relatively quiet. Time moved on, and I got married. My now ex witnessed the same ghostly cloud I talked about earlier. She saw it at the same time I did. Things got worse.

I started sitting up in my sleep and staring at my ex with eyes wide open, talking an odd or ancient-sounding language. This happened quite a bit around 2001-2003. We both laughed it all off.

As you can imagine, by this time, I am entirely convinced I had a sleeping disorder, and I am sure most people would think the same. Until 2004 came when my thinking and my life changed forever. 

 One August night, I went to sleep at 9. My ex-wife worked late shifts at an airline. She probably got home around 2:30, or 3 am. She told me dogs were growling and barking all around our cabin, but she couldn't see them. She had such an ominous feeling; she quickly got into the house.  As she got inside, she heard an even louder growl.

She came into our bedroom. In the dark, she saw me standing on the bed. She said my stance looked a bit contorted, and my eyes were black. She came close, thinking I was sleepwalking.  She said I jumped on her like an animal and began choking her. She described slapping and punching me as hard as she could to getaway. Her cries for help let my consciousness break free, and as I was breaking free, I could hear this demonic whaling or shrieking sound. It terrified me. There is no way I could imitate that noise. My heart sank. I realized something terrible happened. I tried to comfort her and noticed my voice sounded completely different. If you've seen Mothman, with Richard Gere, the voice was similar to the Indred Cold phone call voice. It was really creepy.

I kept telling my ex-wife it was ok. I remember her saying, "No! It's not. It's not you!" We both sat there crying and confused and scared.

Somehow the door shut itself while all this was going on. My cat, who adored and trusted me like a best friend, was circling the room in terror and trying to get out.

I had to work in the morning and needed to get ready. I was distracted because I felt a frighteningly sinister presence still watching me, waiting to attack. 

My ex and I said prayers. We got loads of holy water and blessed the house. Things quieted down.

Two weeks later, I was again asleep but by myself this time. I awoke to see a statue of Apollo's, which I bought from Wal-Mart, eyes where glowing bright blue. I moved it into the shadow of the room to see if it was moonlight. The eyes still glowed in the dark. And, no, this wasn't a glow in the dark statue. I guess after what I'd been through, I wasn't scared by this new incident. Instead of being scared, I put the figure on the floor, tossed a blanket over it and went back to sleep.

 After this last incident, I haven't had any further sleeping issues. No clouds or figures, no talking in my sleep or sitting up with eyes open. Nothing! That was in 2004. Now it's 2020. 

 I did, however, make a very mysterious friend a few years ago that claimed to be angelic and described destroying the thing that apparently possessed me.  I know this seems pretty silly, and I would have thought so, too, except this person literally knew everything about me and predicted several things that came true.

Many thanks to Graham and all those who trust me enough to share their supernatural stories.

I hope you enjoyed reading Graham's story as much as I did.

Until next time,