The Men in White Robes [Paranormal Experience]
I woke up with the white moonlight streaming in my window. The air around me was chilly, but not too cold. Steeling myself for the cold tile floor I climbed out of bed and tip-toed down the stairs.
I hated these middle-of-the-night runs to the bathroom! But, at least Dad was sleeping, so I wouldn't have to tell him why I was up.
Walking across the house I noticed how pretty the grey swirls on the dining room floor looked in the moonlight. It made me want to get out my toys and play awhile. Dancing on into the living room, I looked up at the etched ship in the large picture window, to see what it looked like in the lovely moonlight. What met my eyes terrified me.
Outside the living room window was a group of men dressed in long white robes, and pointy hoods that even covered their faces. They were holding scythes, rakes, pitchforks and axes, while dancing around a crude wooden structure. The structure was shaped like an upside-down U. It was about as tall as the men who were dancing around it. To it was tied another man. He was wearing jeans and a torn shirt. His pale face was damp, his shoulder length brown hair wet, and he looked as though he were very ill. A bonfire blazed under the structure.
I watched the men in white dance around and around, cheering for themselves. I wondered how my parents could sleep through such a racket, and why they were letting this go on. I watched as the leader raised his hands, and the dancing stopped. Facing me, he began to speak, and all of the men cheered, raising their tools high in the air.
The man who was tied down struggled and this seemed to encourage them. They cheered more. Then the leader raised his hands again, and everyone was quiet.
Suddenly, I became aware that if I could see them, they could see me, standing there in my nightgown.
I turned and raced up the stairs, diving into bed. The bathroom would have to wait for morning!
As I lay in bed, unable to sleep, I strained to hear what was going on out side the house. The sound of the wind in the elm trees and my sisters heavy breathing were the only sounds I could make out.
Then my brother got up. I could hear him sleepily stumbling down the stairs. Then the house was silent for a time. Suddenly I heard him running. Running for all he was worth. Up the stairs and into his bed.
He had seen them, too.
In the morning, I was afraid to go downstairs, but staying in bed all was not alowed. Besides, there was still that pesky bathroom issue.
With the sun shining, everything seemed normal. Looking out the window, I could see the structure was gone and the grass was green.
There was no sign anywhere of what I had seen the night before.
Several years went by. My brother and I had many adventures and shared many secrets. Eventually, the subject of that night came up.
He told me that when he had gone downstairs, he had seen the the U-shaped structure with tools piled around it. The man on top was dead. The fire had burnt low, and he had the sense that the killers had just left the scene. He felt they were still close by, and if they saw him, would come back and kill him, too.
Back Story:
When I was three years old, my family moved from Lewistown, Montana to the family farm in north-eastern Colorado. The lovely Victorian farmhouse had been built by my great-grandfather in the early 1900's. He had raised his brood there, as had my grandpa. My dad was to do likewise.
There were many stories and memories attached to the farm. My grandpa had been born in one of the bedrooms. He and his siblings had attended a one-room school house that stood a mile and a half up the road. The large red Iwoa style barn was the third one to be built on the place, as the others had burned down -- oil lamp accidents. At one time, twelve teams of horses had been used to farm the land, and hired-hands had been a mainstay. The only signs left of them were names and dates written on the walls of the barn. For a short time, in the 1930's, the farm had been rented out.
Years later, when I was a young teen, we were watching Quantum Leap, and he jumped into the area of the civil rights movement. He was in the south, and the KKK was prevalent. It was the first time I had seen men dressed in white robes, since that night so long ago.
My brother looked at me, and I looked at him. It was time to talk to Mom and Dad!
We told them all that had happened when we were little. Neither had an explanation, except some marks left by a hired-hand, on a barn wall, in the 1920's.
On the wall by the hay-mow ladder, along with many penciled signatures, were the letters KKK and a skull, all drawn in white. They were hard to see, as my dad and his brother had done their best to eradicate the marks when they were young, by shooting them with their BB guns.
Know activity, in the area, by the Ku Klux Klan, was limited to one cross burning in the 1930's. It had taken place in a town 12 miles from my home.
Ivorwen, 2009.
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