Spooktastic

Anyone who knows me can attest to my love of all things spooky.

I have a story to tell about a real-life ghostly encounter that took place about a year ago.

Before I begin, I'd like to emphasize that what I'm about to write is true. I'm not making anything up. I don't wish for spooky things to happen to me. I really only like to watch them portrayed in movies. I rarely watch Ghosthunters, 'cause that stuff is just TOO damn scary.

Here goes...

I was living in a loft, a very old building on the north/west edge of downtown St. Louis. Word is, it used to be an artist colony back in the 80's, before that it was offices, and before that it was a factory.

I lived on the 5th floor, in a spacious two-bedroom, two-bath unit. A wall of windows lined the living room/kitchen, but no natural light made it's way back into the master bedroom. When my mom came to visit, she called it "the cave". I slept really well there, probably because it was so dark and cozy. Until the following happened.

One night in the middle of November, I woke up to my bed shaking. It was really shaking, like moving back and forth, sort of a rocking, not a trembling. My dog was sitting on the bed with me, and he was having a freakout, barking and panting. I immediately thought it was an earthquake, jumped out of bed and ran to the front door, which is just outside my bedroom door. On my way, I happened to look back at my bed, and it was still shaking.

But nothing else inside the house was shaking.

??

I opened the front door and stood in the doorway to be safe, like I was taught. I noticed that no one else was up and about. And I noticed that the floor wasn't moving.

And I could still hear the bed shaking. For about 10 more seconds.

10 seconds last a lifetime when you are spooked.

Finally, the sound of the bed shaking stopped.

I went back inside, let the door shut behind me, and decided to go watch TV to see if there was indeed an earthquake.

I sat there and flipped back and forth between news stations for an hour. Nothing. No earthquake.

So what in the hell shook my bed?

I slept on the couch the next couple nights, too scared to spend the night in my bedroom, and nothing else happened. Eventually I was less spooked, so decided to move back to the bed.

For the next three nights, I woke up in the middle of the night, about the same time my bed had been shaking.

But no shaking woke me up. I'm not sure what woke me up, but each time I did, my right arm was straight up in the air. Like I was reaching for the ceiling.

???

After three nights of this, it stopped. It hasn't happened again, ever. I eventually moved out of the haunted loft, and haven't had anything spooky happen to me since.

I do believe there was something shaking my bed. And I believe that something raised my arm in the middle of the night.

Not sure if it was evil, mischievous, or a little bit of both.

But that was enough of an encounter to last me a lifetime.