This true story was published in the June 2011 edition of Chat It's Fate magazine.

WHEN DEATH COMES CALLING

The day began just as any other day. With a two year old and a newborn, I was always extremely busy. By mid-afternoon, Sally, the eldest child, began to complain of feeling unwell. I checked her over and apart from being a little warmer than usual, she seemed fine. At 7pm, their dad kissed them goodbye and set off to work the night shift, unconcerned about Sally, as she had perked up and was as chatty and lively as ever.

Within an hour of her dad leaving, Sally again began to feel unwell. Her temperature shot up and she became quite poorly. I decided to phone for the doctor, but discovered that the phone was not working. I was debating which child to leave in the house while I ran to a neighbour to ask to use the phone, when all the lights went out, and refused to come back on, no matter what I did. I tried changing the bulb. No good. I checked the fuses. Nope. Checked everything I could think of. No joy.      

I tried not to panic, even though I knew that I could not possibly carry both babies, or leave one of them in the dark house alone. I knew I had to make a decision, and with hindsight, knowing all the things that happened that night, I’m glad I followed my instincts and simply took both girls into my bed. I knew I was in for a long night, but just how long I could never have imagined.

I was sitting up in bed listening to the baby breathing in peaceful sleep, when Sally began to mutter in her fevered state. I bathed her face with a tepid cloth, crooning soothing words to her, when the room began to feel different. Not cold, but strangely ‘thick’. I knew immediately that there was a spirit in the room, as I had felt this thickness before. I slowly scanned the room, and that’s when I saw him.

There was an old man wearing a dark suit standing next to the window watching us. He was wearing a dark hat and resting both hands on a cane in front of him. His hair was grey and scruffy, and he was calm and simply watching. I turned away from him to check on Sally, and reeled back in shock as I saw another spirit, younger, stood next to the bed. This spirit person looked to be around 8 years old, had curly red hair flopping down over his forehead, and he was gesturing and talking to my child. I distinctly heard him say “Come on, we are all waiting for you, take my hand”. I screamed “No! You can’t have her! Go away!” As I turned to grab my sleeping child, she suddenly sat straight up and stretched out her hand, saying, “I’m coming”. This really scared me, it was like watching a horror movie.

I snatched her hand back, somehow knowing that if she managed to touch this boy, then she would die. Repeatedly, she stretched out her hand, saying “I’m coming” until I was forced to wrap my arms and legs around her to stop her attempts to reach the boy, who was still gesturing and talking to her. I watched the spirit boy as he looked over at the old man. The man nodded towards us, but said nothing. This nod seemed to spur the boy on and he again began trying to get my baby to go with him.

It was now around 4am and I was terrified, hoarse from all my shouting, and exhausted from holding my child, when her fever broke. She suddenly fell into a deep, relaxed sleep, and the old man and the boy faded away. With relief, I lay Sally down, checked her, and found she was indeed sleeping peacefully; her temperature was almost back to normal. I felt able to doze a little, half-sleeping and half listening, in case they came back.

My little girl survived that night with no recollection whatsoever of the things that happened. I am convinced that she would have died that night if I had managed to phone a doctor or taken her to a hospital. Instead, I followed my instincts and refused to let her go.

One strange consequence of that night is that, from the next day, a spirit installed itself outside her bedroom, and has never left. We call him Lurch, because he looks exactly like Lurch from the TV programme ‘The Addams Family’. As they were growing up, both girls used to tell me that they saw a horrible man looking into their bedroom, from the doorway, at night. Sometimes they would see someone moving around the bedroom, or they would wake up and see him standing at the end of their beds. They always described the same man, Lurch. He made us feel uneasy, but as he never did anything, over time we became used to it. We didn’t like it, and he occasionally gave us the creeps, but we lived with it.

My girls are now aged 19 and 22. Sally moved out to live with her fiancée a couple of years ago, but Lurch never followed her. He is still here though, outside the bedroom as always. We see him sometimes but are now more curious about him than scared. We still have no idea who he is or why he is here. We have asked a few local mediums their opinions on Lurch, but their answers were quite scary. One said that under no circumstances should that spirit be allowed to stay, but gave no answers regarding what we are supposed to do about it.

The saying goes that curiosity killed the cat though, so it might be best all round just leaving him alone and not knowing. After the things I saw that night, I am in no hurry to repeat the experience.