My introduction and experiences
My name is Chris and here's my story. In 2003, I had abdominal surgery as a seventh grader. Little did I know that little two-and-a-half inch scar would cause me severe, unrelenting pain until corrective surgery fixed the problem in August 2012. My sensitivity to the paranormal began in 2003, shortly after my surgery. Whether it was the drugs, Darvocet and Valium, or something else I picked on something in my southern California home that I was not expecting. I have felt it on occasion ever since.
Sensitivity runs in my family. My mother has admittedly had mystical experiences and picked up on the suffering of those long dead while visiting Salem the site of the horrific murders of supposed witches as punishment for their deeds. But I first picked up on something for the first time whatever it was in 2003 while recovering from surgery. While sitting on my bed, I had this overwhelming feeling of someone or something else in the room, but no one else was present. Imagine a towering figure, emanating a feeling of deep seated disappointment. I had this strange feeling of someone or something sighing in disappointment. Years later, I had the same feeling when taking a shower on multiple occasions. I chalked it up to the drugs I was on after surgery and years later, the drugs I was prescribed to deal with a chronic pain condition the surgery ended up causing.
Another strange phenomenon would surface, partly because of my own free will. In high school, I was very interested in out-of-body experiences and sought out to induce the state of lucid dreaming and I succeeded. I practiced almost daily, developing an odd vibration that would flow through me until I imagined myself being rocketed into the atmosphere always the first stage of my lucid dreams.
In 2007, I had an unforgettable dream where my little brother came into my room and was adamant that I must wake up. Chris, you need to wake up, he said. So I did. I usually fell asleep with a pair of earphones in, and when I awoke, the cord from the headphones had wrapped itself around my neck. I was choking. After collecting myself, I went inside my brother's room. He was fast asleep. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to him, his spirit, whatever it was that woke me up.
The OOBEs started out as a fun tool to relax but would later become an involuntary response to stress. It's worth mentioning that at the time of my first involuntary out-of-body experience, I was on fairly heavy painkillers to cope with severe abdominal pain. It's also worth mentioning that I had almost always abused my medication to the point where I would run out early and suffer from withdrawals until I could pick up a refill or see my physician. Truthfully, I am lucky to be alive. During the period of the first involuntary OOBE, I was abusing a cocktail of barbiturates for daily headaches and tramadol an opioid narcotic, all prescribed by a licensed doctor for a verifiable chronic pain condition that I and my doctors never imagined would ever subside.
One night, likely in 2011, I laid down to sleep. In that strange state of semi-consciousness between being awake and being asleep, I felt an intense vibration flowing throughout my body. I had not intended for this to happen, and it frightened me. I squirmed, twisting and turning in resistance in an attempt to fight the feeling. But it was only making things worse. I had to force each breath due to the stress of the situation. Upon awaking, I realized that it was all in my head. I was laying on my back, as usual, and the sheets were where they had been before closing my eyes.
I learned to embrace the feeling, though involuntary, and visualized being blasted into the atmosphere. One night after a full day of work and over-consumption of my addictive drug regimen, I felt the vibration again. This time, I tried to work with it instead of against it. I imagined rocketing through the black void until I was just beneath my ceiling fan. I continued on my journey and flew through the fan, through my attic, and turned around. I was looking down on my body, which was calmly laying just where I had left it. This frightened me.
Fast forward a year to a time of great turmoil in my life. I was in the thralls of addiction to pain medication and I knew I could not continue at this pace. One night, I felt the vibration and continued upwards through the dark sky. In black and white, I saw what I thought was a massive skyscraper. After floating around it, I realized this was no building it was my coffin. I decided to quit my medications and deal with the pain with non-addictive drugs. During withdrawals from tramadol and Oxycontin, I experienced many nights of involuntary OOBEs, and unfortunately I cannot recall the content of my lucid dreams.
I soon moved to Wyoming for work. After five months, I had corrective surgery and quit all drugs, being that the pain had completely disappeared. Within a few weeks of my surgery, I was let go. Within a month, I secured another job in Wyoming. I moved in to an old apartment, built sometime in the 1940s or 1950s. A few weeks after settling in, I felt the same exact sensation in my living room as I did in my bedroom in 2003 after my surgery. The overwhelming feeling of an otherworldly, malevolent presence making its disappointment known. I found out a coworker had lived in my building and that the former tenant, a woman, used to have her daughter stay in the attic of my apartment. After asking around, I learned that this woman and her daughter moved out of the apartment because they heard footsteps and loud banging coming from the attic when no one was there.
I decided to climb up into the attic last week. I removed the metal latch and pulled the chain on the ceiling. There was a ladder attached to the attic, and I pulled it down to fully extend it. I ventured up into the dark attic but I didn't get past the ladder. I saw what is either a bed or a couch facing a small porthole window in the attic, and I had a strange sensation that I should not go up there.
That night, I had an involuntary OOBE, but by this time I was experienced enough to know how to control them. After rocketing into the atmosphere, a black void full of celestial bodies, something in my subconscious mind called out without fear to whatever it was in my attic. After a while, a thick blackness covered up the celestial bodies. My question was answered in its own cryptic way.
I began doing research on these types of experiences, and have come to the conclusion that I need to confront whatever it is that haunts my apartment. Buddhist teaching is that you need to embrace with true love whatever it is that torments you. In an online forum, one person had a similar experience where she confronted a demon that resided in her attic. It charged her, and she had the instinct to embrace it. After it collided with her and ripped up her insides, she told it: I love you. The frightening entity transformed into a naked man, lying in the fetal position on the floor, weeping. I think that is a beautiful story and I only hope I have the courage to do the same when and if I encounter whatever it is in my apartment. Tonight should be the night.
