When you hear someone talk about the paranormal, or anything to do with ghosts or spirits, a lot of people are quick to dismiss these stories and encounters. Personally, I'm more of a skeptic in the paranormal than a believer. I'm about 95% to 98% a skeptic, with just about 2% to 5% left for me to believe in the paranormal.
My background, both in work experience and education, is very analytical, clinical, and based in research and evidence. I am not one to claim that something is "paranormal", or blame the door opening on a ghost. I usually look for a more rational explanation with real world evidence to back that explanation up.
But there's a lot of things in this world that we still cannot explain and don't know much about. Just because we haven't exactly proven the existence of the paranormal through conventional, scientific means, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. So, on a rare occasion, if I cannot find a reasonable explanation, then is it possible that there's a paranormal element to it?
One experience, which occurred last year in 2021, is such a case that I still don't have an explanation for to this day.
The Setting
I'm going to set the picture: this occurred in my apartment (which is on the top floor), in the middle of the night, during the fall. I don't remember the time of night, maybe 2-3am, but I'm not entirely sure. It was probably September or October when this occurred as well.
My boyfriend was working in Connecticut at the time, so he wasn't home. Our next door neighbor was asleep, since this was in the middle of the night. And our downstairs neighbor works at night, so she wasn't home. Trust me, these aspects are key to this experience and why I can't explain it to this day.
Essentially, no one was home and no other neighbor close to me was home or up at this time of night. It was just me.
The Experience
One night, I was rolling over in bed. I tend to sleep on my stomach and roll around. This one time, I rolled over onto my stomach, making myself face away from my bedroom door and towards my dresser. For some reason, I immediately woke up and felt so scared when I finally rolled onto my stomach.
I was paralyzed with fear. As I rolled over, I woke up and sensed this presence at the entrance to my bedroom. I heard a creak on the floor, like someone was walking through the bedroom door. That creak sound only happens when someone, or something heavy, is walking in that area. Otherwise, it doesn't make a sound on its own.
Instantly, I thought that an intruder had broken into my apartment and was walking through the bedroom door to my bed. I figured, I have my Apple watch, I can silently set off the emergency button and get help. Only, my Apple watch was on the charger in the corner of the room. I then figured, I'd silently trigger that same alarm on my phone, which I normally keep under my pillow. But that night, it was also charging near my Apple watch. What are the odds that both of them were charging when I desperately needed them?
Realizing that I had no silent way of reaching out for help, I laid in bed, just frozen and without the slightest clue of what to do. I was facing my dresser, not the door. I was too scared to turn over to see who was at the door. A thousands thoughts and emotions flowed through my mind, I started to feel tears swell up in my eyes because I was alone with no immediate neighbor up or around to call for help.
It must've seemed like 30 minutes, in reality it was probably only 5 minutes at most. I finally plucked up the courage to flip myself over to see the intruder in my bedroom. I thought, if something was going to happen, I want to look at this intruder and see who I'm up against. I wasn't going down without a fight.
So, I started my countdown. 3...2...1...I immediately flip over and face the door of my bedroom. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I soon realized that no one was there. But how can that be? I felt the presence of someone in the doorway of the room, I even heard the creaking sound from that area, which only happens when someone walks through the doorway. Yet, no one was there? Had they left the room or gone to the opposite side of the bedroom?
I switch on every light in the apartment. I check the bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, everywhere! No one else but me was in this apartment. I check the apartment door, it's all locked up. No one broke in or unlocked it. I had such a headache by this point and was so confused as to what happened.
Explanation?
The analytical, clinical, and rational half in me went through the scenario and some explanations. Maybe it was someone walking through the hall of the building? Maybe it was just creaks from an older building? Possibly my downstairs neighbor returning home from work? My next door neighbor walking about? The refrigerator making noises? What other explanation could explain what happened, what I heard, and what I felt?
As I tried to rationalize what happened, I slowly began to answer my own questions:
I've lived in my apartment building for 5 years, I know the sound of people or a person walking through the hallway. The sound would've come from the opposite side of my bedroom door and I know what that sounds like at night. It wouldn't sound like someone was RIGHT INSIDE MY APARTMENT.
overall, the building is older but the top floor I live on is modern. It's the newest addition to the building and I've never heard a random creak like that. If it was the building, why did it occur in that particular spot? Especially since the whole apartment floor is lined with carpet and you just don't hear creaks from the floor, unless someone is walking.
this happened around 2-3am, my downstairs neighbor usually works until 7-8am. So, she wasn't home yet.
I've heard my next door neighbor walk around at night and the sound comes from next door, it even sounds like it's coming from next door and not INSIDE my apartment. This creak I heard came from inside my own bedroom.
our refrigerator makes weird noises but I think it's mechanical in nature and the sounds are just that. I've heard it for the 5 years I've lived here. I know what it sounds like, even at night, and the creak I heard was not the fridge.
I quickly realized that I couldn't explain this away. That feeling I had, similar to that sense you get when someone is behind you, is not something I would just get out of nowhere. I had that feeling, because it genuinely felt like someone was in the doorway of my bedroom. The creak I heard, was the sound the floor makes when someone walks in that particular spot. No one else was in my apartment but me, so why did I hear a creak from my bedroom doorway?
I don't have any mental health issues which cause visual or auditory hallucinations. Someone, or something at this point, caused me to awake out of my sleep and paralyze me with such fear. Something was in my apartment that night and its presence made me scared to death!
Lasting Impact
From time to time, I still think about that experience. In the moment, it scared me so badly that I truly thought I was in grave danger. Now, when I'm sleeping alone in my apartment, I tend to get a bit anxious. I leave the blinds in my bedroom open and I close my bedroom door now. I always have my cell phone underneath my pillow and I make sure to have it fully charged before taking it to bed with me.
The incident is so strange. I told my boyfriend and friend about it. Mind you, my boyfriend is a huge skeptic and even he couldn't explain what happened and empathized with my emotions. My friend is more of a believer than I am, she believes an entity or spirit of some description was there that night. What for, we don't know.
Thankfully, nothing happened to me. However, I have this slight caution to me when I'm alone, sleeping in my bed at night. I just hope whatever it was that I felt that night doesn't return anytime soon.
It irks me, because I don't get scared that easily and I can distinguish and rationalize things pretty well. Because of the field I work in as well, I've been exposed to a multitude of scary scenarios and rarely do I ever feel so scared or threatened to the point where I think my life is in danger. Even when I was living in NYC, walking around at 2am, I didn't feel the way I felt that night in my bedroom.
To this day, it still terrifies me that something (spirit or whatever else) was present in the doorway of my bedroom. It terrifies me, because it felt as if another human being was right there. What's even worse, is that the creak sound only happened once. Like, someone started to walk through the doorway of the bedroom but stopped shortly after, just standing there over my bed.
If you have any thoughts or explanations, I'd love to hear them!