When I was a little girl, my mom and I loved watching scary movies during Halloween. During the day I would dress up as a princess, a witch, or a genie and ask my neighbors for candy before walking with my mom back home. My favorite scary movie was ‘Halloween: H20’, the most interesting one since Jamie Lee Curtis beat Michael Myers in an epic showdown. A couple of Halloweens after, I got to see all of the slasher movies, Pan’s Labyrinth, and my first demonic movie, Ring. I couldn’t watch another until I turned ten after that, and moved into my first house. That Halloween was the scariest because it was my first time in sleep paralysis. I would be haunted by this until my sophomore year of college.
I would also be visited by spirits, even during daytime. One time, on my way home from school, I was waiting for the bus. It was a rainy day, the type where it was pouring from the sky like buckets, and it was extremely cold. Standing under the shade, I had looked out to see if the bus was coming when I saw an elderly lady walking out. We were right near a hospital so it wasn’t that surprising. What did surprise me was seeing her in a blue slip, socks, and her fuzzy slippers. She was very old and walked with a limp, and my concern was that she shouldn’t be outside, as it was very cold and raining extremely hard. She didn’t seem to mind, in fact she raised her head so that her grey, thin hair moved out of her face. I turned to see if anybody else could see her, since I wasn’t the only one waiting, no one seemed to be bothered. This was crazy! When I turned back to watch her she was staring right at me. I remembered being frightened. The way she looked at me, was as if she was calling me out and no one else. It was an intensity I had never before experienced, and I dropped my umbrella because of it. When I picked it up and stood up, she was gone, and the bus was here.
In 2011, I had another occurrence that I would never forget. It was a Saturday, and I spent with my mom in the city. It was the best time. We went to UNO’s and having my favorite pasta while she had deep dish vegetable pizza. Spending the day with her was awesome since we don’t do it as often. We were walking down 92nd Avenue afterward, early so there weren’t that many people. There were lines of people selling stuff, like purses, books, etc., and I was reminded of when my parents and I were stopped by an artist, who painted my name. I kept that treasure with me always and hoped I could find him. Suddenly we passed a man dressed in black, black coat, hoodie, hat, and jeans. We stopped when he called us out. ‘’Gina!’’ My mother’s first name. How did he know?! Turns out he knew everything, including my mother’s birthday, her mother’s birthday, and her grandmother’s birthday, including when they both died. Then he turned to me, telling me to work hard in school. We never saw him again after that.
I’ve had many more experiences after that of course, so you could say I’m a firm believer in the paranormal. Others would want me to stay skeptical of what and encourage me to be skeptical. That I would be better off approaching the ‘other world’ with an invalid eye. The saying goes though: The scariest things in the world are the things we can’t see.
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