My Experiences with the Supernatural / Unexplained:

Recently I have been watching numerous shows on television such as "Paranormal State", "Most Haunted" and "Psychic Kids" in which I believe to be very lackluster and unbelievable at most times. First and foremost, I believe in God, yet at the same time I also believe in paranormal activity. I know if you worship God you are not supposed to believe in false idols etc, but I have in fact experienced both paranormal experiences (quite a few I might add) and the miracles of God. As I watch these television shows, I feel the producers try to create a certain atmosphere and often are even forced to generate disturbances in order to keep their audience occupied and glued to the boob-tube. I understand the reason but some of the over-the-top acting and false reactions just make me laugh. I firmly believe that these shows may indeed be in a house that has actual paranormal activity, but when they bring in a weird psychic who is more dramatic than the entire cast of Rent, I have a hard time buying into the haunting / disturbance. I am not here to bash these shows however, but to share some real and personal experiences I have had with the paranormal and in my belief of the supernatural and poltergeists.

My first encounter with the paranormal was when I was in my pre-teen years. My mother had divorced her second husband and moved us to an apartment building in the town of Ottawa, IL. After moving into the apartment and placing the furniture in their appropriate places, we started hearing a rattling noise coming from the living room at night. It took us a few days to realize the heavy wood hutch was shaking. The hutch was well over two hundred pounds and was completely shaking from front to back. It wasn't a shaking in an overly obvious fashion like the bed of Regan in the Exorcist, but if you looked closely, you could see it tremble as if it were a freezing child in the winter cold. We removed all the items in which was sitting on the hutch and moved it out from the wall yet it still shook. We also tried moving the hutch to different locations in the apartment but we could not get it to stop shaking. Finally we gave in to the realization that it was something that could not be explained and moved on with our lives. The funny thing was that it was not scary, it was not threatening and it was treated as a sort of novelty to our friends and family who came over.

I believe this was a very good beginning for me experiencing paranormal activity because it was a non-threatening situation that eased my mind into the possibility of the unexplained and paranormal. If I would have encountered something terrifying and or threatening, I may have been unable to deal with my future experience in the way I was able to deal with them.

After living with my mother for a short while, we continued our dysfunctional and emotionally damaging relationship until I eventually moved in with my grandparents in the country. My grandparents had been building a new home on a lot they had purchased years before backing up to the forest in the rural country area of Ottawa, IL. Expecting me to eventually move in with them as a teen, they planned a room for me which was located in the south-west corner of the house. The day the carpet was to be installed; the company made a mistake and accidentally put the carpet for my room in the northwest room rather than the one intended for me. The northwest room was much bigger, had three huge casement windows and a large walk-in closet. When that mishap occurred, my grandparents just decided I would have the big room and didn't bother with making the company change the carpet.

The mistaken installation of the carpet may seem like a random accident, but it catapulted me into the world of the supernatural and paranormal. When the house was complete, I moved into the room and set up my television, stereo system (I had a big one) and had a ceiling fan installed. Everything was great and there were no problems until one night as I lye in bed I got tired and turned the television off in order to go to bed. Just about fall asleep, the television turns back on. Startled, I fumbled for my glasses and grabbed the remote control in which I turned it off again. A few minutes that same thing happened. I again turned the television off and lye in bed waiting for the T.V to come back on. I was not disappointed, it turned back on again, but this time the volume was at its highest level and the channels were changing very quickly. Annoyed and tired, I jump out of bed and reach behind the television and unplugged the chord from the wall. I stood there waiting for the television to turn back on for at least ten minutes before finally deciding I must have a faulty television and returned to bed.

I dealt with that damn TV for months until I finally saved up enough money to buy a new TV. I had to mow a lot of yards for that TV and do a lot of housework to get the money I needed to get the exact one I wanted. A few days after installing my new television, I was again dealing with the TV turning on and off throughout the night until I made it a ritual to unplug the TV every night before I went to bed. I knew there was something making the TV turn itself on and off, play with the volume and change channels, and I was sure it was something of the paranormal.

I brought my problem to the attention of my grandparents who didn't take me seriously at all. To this day, they still don't believe me. I would complain about the TV turning on and off and how I thought there was a poltergeist in my room, but they would just laugh and say maybe there was an electrical problem. Nothing was ever done to see if it was electrical however. Throughout the year I soldiered on and dealt with my television problem until more occurrences started to happen. Since I would unplug the television, I must have been irritating the spirit / poltergeist halting it's fun time playing with me. Not giving up, it moved on to the stereo and did the exact same thing as it was doing with the TV. Again, I dealt with the problem by unplugging everything and accepting the ghost/spirit/poltergeist. Once the stereo and TV were unplugged it moved to my ceiling fan. My ceiling fan would turn on and go so fast the whole fixture would be swinging out of control. I had to continually turn the fan down and turn it off on a constant irritating basis. I couldn't unplug the fan and if I turn it off, it would just come back on again. Quite annoying I must say.

So obviously as a teenager in high school, I would tell my friends about the disturbances and my experiences and they would make fun of me and not believe what I was saying was actually happening. I would try to convince them of my nightly routine in which I had to endure, yet no efforts were made to believe me. I then had to punch them in he face.

One night I convinced my friend Ryan to sleep over at my house. I didn't mention anything about my disturbances and decided I would let him see for himself. That night was a very scary night for us. There were no disturbances or strange occurrences throughout the night until around one in the morning. We were watching a movie and suddenly the television went off. We tried over and over to turn it back on but it would not power up. I explained that I dealt with crap like this all the time and told him that it would eventually come back on and how I thought there was a ghost or poltergeist living in my room. Again he laughed at me and started making fun of my belief until the stereo switched on and started blasting music. We both were pressing numerous buttons on the receiver to stop the music but it kept getting louder and louder and would not turn off. I immediately unplugged the Stereo, but it was still on, I could not stop it! I swear this is true and that I am not making this up. The television then began turning on and off with a snowy screen and adjusting the volume up and down. The fan began to spin out of control while the volume in the room heightened. I started yelling at the ghost to stop it and leave when suddenly the shades on my three large casement windows all jumped up scaring the shit out of the both of us.

We both ran out of the room and set up sleeping bags in my grandparent's room and eventually went to sleep. Ryan never stayed over at my house again but at least he believed me. We both explained to my grandparents what had happened and they both thought I we were crazy and didn't believe us, why would they?

Being the trooper I am, I decided I wouldn't let whatever was in my room effect me, that is unless it was to physically harm me or something of that nature. I was never hurt, assaulted or anything like that in the years I lived in that house, but other strange things happened I think are worth noting. One thing was whenever there was an occurrence in my room, the bathroom sharing a wall with my bedroom, would always smell of a foul odor, even when no one had been in there all day or night. I can't quite explain the smell, but it was slightly similar to the odor of sulfur with dead animal mixed in; if you can imagine that. Also the temperature in my room and the adjacent room would always be opposite when a paranormal event took place. It took me a while to discover, but when my room would suddenly become swelteringly hot, the adjacent room would be so cold you could sometimes see your breath and visa-versa when my room was cold.

Ottawa was known for its Indian heritage and has many historical landmarks dedicated to the Ottawa Indians and their enemies in which many died. I researched what I could to see if we possibly built on an Indian burial ground, but was unable to find any evidence. I thought possibly an Indian or person may have been buried or died on the land in which my room was located. I still wonder about why that particular room was the only one in which the occurrences happened.

During the same time I was living at my grandparent's house, I would routinely spend the night at my friend Joe's house in Marseilles, IL. He had a house in the country backing up to a creek and a large cliff in which a cemetery was built on top. Everyone in the area had talked about this being a haunted cemetery, but us being young and dumb; we often hiked to the top of the cliff and played in the cemetery. We would occasionally see someone in the cemetery at night, yet was never sure if it was actually a person or a spirit because we were too afraid to get near it. No one we ever saw said anything to us, nor did we ever see them come or go; they just appeared. I cannot contribute any of this to a paranormal experience because the people looked normal and could have very well been there to visit a grave or visit the cemetery on a teen dare. We didn't look into it enough and didn't care either way.

Anyway one night while Joe's mother was out drinking, we both felt an imminent presence. I had a terrible feeling of doom in our body yet since there was no actual reason to feel that way I just tried to ignore it. We struggled to finally go to sleep and when we woke up the next morning, all the pictures on the wall were turned upside down, yet the most terrifying item turned upside down was a cross on the entrance wall. We placed everything back to the original position before Joe's mom came home and both sort of kept this to ourselves. Nothing ever happened there again.

My senior year of high school lead me on a series of road trips, one being a weekend in Indian Beach. Indian Beach is located in Monticello Indian which is probably the armpit of America and has more white trash rednecks there than you can shake a stick at. Believe me; I was shaking a stick all around to keep those inbred bastards away! Not making any plans ahead of time by booking a room at a decent hotel, me and my two friends accompanying me to this tourist trap found a run-down shack of a motel in which the swimming pool in the front parking lot was green and full of algae and the sign for the establishment was half falling down. I actually thought we checked into the Bates Motel, only the Bates Motel would have been nicer. One very strange thing in the room was a small door which was about three foot by three foot located in the center of the room next to the beds. It was a startling reality that we would have to take shifts staying awake ensuring no one came through that door to rape us ala deliverance.

No paranormal activity took place in that hole of an establishment; I don't think that building could ever meet the standards of any self respecting ghost or spirit. The next day we made our way to the Beach and spent the day successfully picking up girls to join us at the amusement park that night. We went back to the retched motel and got ready for the night then all packed into my grandmother's Ford Taurus station wagon (sexy) to pick up the girls and assume our adventure. Side note: This hotel was so dirty I had to wipe my feet when I left the room.

When we arrived at the amusement park I immediately noticed a large amount of spiders inhabiting the ticket / entrance area. I am admittedly afraid of spiders, have been since a childhood and avoid them at all costs. As we entered the amusement park I started noticing more and more spiders. Everywhere I looked I saw spider after spider and began feeling anxiety and stress. I pointed out all the spiders I was seeing and although they agreed there were an extraordinary amount at the park, they simply told me to ignore them and focus on the girls and having a good time. Although I tried, I felt the spiders were watching me, they were peering into my soul and I was getting fidgety and anxious. I was able to stay away from the spiders by staying in areas where there was no roof or awning remaining out in the open. When walking to the rollercoaster, I was forced to walk through a large tunnel in order to reach the entrance.

I resisted going through the tunnel while my friends were all trying to get me to suck-it up and "face my fears". There were thousands of spiders in that tunnel, everywhere you looked, you could see them scurrying about. The girl I was with grabbed my hand and told me to go with her and she would walk me through the tunnel. I agreed to go through the tunnel and as we walked, my heart rate began to race, I was sweating, my mind was frantic and I felt fear in which I had never felt before. I watched the spiders as they watched me, seemingly waiting for them to attack. Almost half way through the tunnel something terrible happened. As if something told the spiders to react, all the spiders in the tunnel began to descend upon us. Thousands of spiders where spinning their web down at the same time landing all over our bodies. I completely lost all control and ran as fast as I could back through the tunnel and into the water of the nearby beach. I completely lost all sanity and began scratching all over my body as if the spiders were in my skin. Right now as I am writing this, I am feeling the sensations of the spiders crawling on me.

My friends were all shocked by the occurrence and were freaked out by what had happened. I feel this was one more experience in which something happened that is indescribable and categorized as paranormal. I mean, there is no way all the spiders could have decided to descend on us at the same time, there is no way that this was a coincidence. There had to be something else working against me that day which is unexplainable as far as I am concerned. Needless to say, I ran out of the park, got in the car and locked the doors. I let my friends stay with the girls while I hyperventilated in the privacy of my own sanctuary. I will never go to Indiana Beach every again!

A few years later I had become a real estate agent, bought my own town house while making a decent living for myself. I initially had a friend move in with me and rented out a room to him but things didn't work out and I eventually kicked him to the curb. I have always been a big movie fan, well actually I am a fanatic and recently I had a discussion with a friend of mine in which he called me "Master Movie Man" so, there is a good chance I will be watching a flick in my free time. On Valentines' Day I received some red silk boxers with hearts and other fruity images on them and decided to try them out a few days later. I had recently bought the movie "Sleepy Hollow" starring Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken, popped it into the DVD player and embarked on a quaint night of enjoying a cinematic adventure. Nothing out of ordinary happened during the movie, which by the way is a very underappreciated performance by Chris Walken (he looks very cool and evil as the horseman). I retired to my bedroom with only my boxers on and lye down for a nice winter's nap.

The next morning I wake up to go to work and walk into the bathroom. As I reach the bathroom I glance in the mirror and notice something very strange. I look down at my boxers and they are completely shredded. There were slices in my boxers in every direction as if someone had taken a knife and cut them. The lacerations were not from being ripped or torn, they were completely perfect cuts. I cannot explain how this could have happened. I do not sleepwalk and even taking that into consideration, I had nothing other than scissors in the house in which that wouldn't have even worked to create the cuts in my boxers. I had no scratches or wounds on my body, just strange slits in my boxers. I bought another pair of silk boxers (of the same brand) and actually tried to cut and slice them to duplicate what I had awoken with on that morning. I used scissors, an Exacto Knife, a regular steak knife etc, nothing came close to the results of my previous pair of boxers. Oh, I am a cotton boxer brief guy since then.

My last major supernatural occurrence happened about 5 years ago when my wife and I first moved into a Naperville apartment. We had rented a remodeled second floor apartment in the older section of Naperville, IL which was very nice with a fireplace, one bedroom and one bath. We have a huge metal and glass sliding glass door that took all your energy to open and close which lead to our balcony. Each apartment had its own wall air conditioning unit which always worked and produced extremely cold air.

I can still remember the night in which my last disturbance happened. My wife and I (girlfriend at the time) made sure all the doors were locked, as usual, turned the air conditioner down a bit and went to bed. We were sleeping when suddenly we heard a thunderous slam which we immediately recognized as our sliding glass door being slammed shut. Startled we both jumped up and looked at each-other assuming there was someone who had broken into the apartment. This would be hard to do being that we were on the second floor, had made sure our doors were locked plus the sliding glass door weighted a ton.

We sat in silence listening for anyone who could have been outside our room. We both heard faint whispers and movement in the Living Room and I formulated a plan to run out of the bedroom and catch them off guard. I had a knife under the bed (don't ask why) so I grabbed the knife and quietly made my way to the door leading to the Living Room. I cracked the door open, took a deep breath and jumped out into the Living Room with the knife yelling at the top of my lungs planning on startling the intruders. I flipped the lights on to reveal...no one. I searched the apartment to find all the doors closed and locked and nothing disturbed. I looked through closets, under tables, behind the shower curtain, and still found nothing.

I turned the lights off and went back into the bedroom where I told my wife that there was no one out there. We were positive we had heard voices and whispering and it was not coming from another apartment. I put the knife away and lye in bed with my woman when minutes later we both started hearing the voices again. We could hear movement, walking and rustling in the Living Room and Kitchen yet we knew there was no one there. The voices and whispering continued and I again investigated the apartment revealing no answers to what was going on. Finally I walked back to our bedroom, locked the door behind me, and held my wife until we finally went to sleep. We never had any other problem in that apartment from then on.

Throughout my childhood and adult life I have also noticed street lights turn off randomly when I am near. In Ottawa every time I either drive or rode in a car down a particular street, the street light at a certain busy corner would turn off. The same thing happens at numerous other locations in which I have lived and/or currently live. Right now the street light continually goes on and off outside my bedroom window. I notice it everywhere I go. It's a strange phenomenon that cannot explain be explained.