Apalachia Demon

by Jeb
(Clinchmore, Tn)

This is a recount of my one experience of a supernatural experience. It may seem a bit dull compared to other tellings of this type, but what happened to me is all truth.

In 1983, I was eleven years old and went to spend a week with my first cousins. It was really hot that summer and the coolest place in the house was down stairs in the semi-finished basement, where we also slept.

Everything was just great until one day, my aunt went to grocery shop and we, (the boys, three in all) stayed home and played in the basement. About a couple of hours later, we heard the heavy front door open and my aunt and cousin, Jen, walking in the upstairs. Well, boys being boys, we were excited to see what my aunt had brought back for us and we ran up the stairs all excited. When we entered the living room, the front door was wide open and the back door was open, but no aunt Joy or Jen. I thought it was weird but nothing really scary.

My cousins were very concerned and started whispering back and forth and seemed scared. Tad and Jim both decided that we should play outside until my aunt returned home. A little later, when she came home, Tad and Jim ran in the house before me to tell my aunt what had happened. Tad, the oldest told her, "It happened again, mom." to which she replied, "Oh lord, son, we don't need this now", then she looked over at me and then back to Tad and shook her head as if to mean for him to stay mum about it. This got me curious and the more I asked what what this was all about, the more annoyed and angry he became. He or Jim would tell me nothing.

The next day or so went along normally and we were having a great time, enjoying summer and playing and then one night I saw it. Jim and I were sleeping on a mattress on the floor, when something made me jerk awake. I looked over by the corner of the room and saw (I thought) was Jen, just standing and being silent. I asked her what she was doing there and got no answer from her. Being tired, I paid no mind and quickly fell back asleep.

In the morning at the breakfast table I asked Jen why she was downstairs last night and she gave me a puzzled expression and said that she never got out of bed (upstairs). My aunt questioned me and wanted to know if "it" said anything or touched me. I told her no and asked why. She said "well you must have had a bad dream" and I told her that no I wasn't dreaming and she got kind of short and said my imagination was playing with me.

Now, to me she was making a big deal of nothing, but I realized that something was very wrong and I was getting a little worried. My cousins acted very strange about the whole thing, which worried me even more. The day went on as normal and that evening, my aunt decided that we would sleep on a foam mattress in the living room. Again, I woke up in the middle of the night, and I sensed something was wrong... bad wrong. I looked up at the head of the mattress and saw what looked like my aunt laying with her head propped up by her arm. I spoke to her, asking if everything was okay and she said nothing back. I sat up and started asking what was wrong and still nothing. I noticed that her eyes were blacked out and that it wasn't really my aunt at all.

I shook Jim, trying to wake him, but he wouldn't get up or even look, then I remember I really started crying and shouting for Jim to wake up. Then this demonic thing screamed LOUDLY and got up and ran or flew into the hallway.

My aunt and everyone came in screaming and asking what happened and I told her that it ran right past you! Jim jumped up and ran to my aunt bawling and crying. My aunt loaded us up and drove me home. I don't remember much after mom and dad hugging me and making me feel better. I seemed to just not want to talk about it in the days following and put it in the back of my mind.

About a month later, I woke up late at night and my aunt and my cousins were in the kitchen, all were upset. It happened again only it got worse this time. My aunt was bleeding from her nose and her face was all red and swollen and my cousins wouldn't even speak. They stayed the rest of the night and moved in with Grandma and Grandpa the next day.

Years later my cousin Jim and I reunited and after a while I asked about what really happened and all he would say was, "It was bad, I really don't want to talk about that". So I let it be. My dad and I still talk about it and he, being a tough war vet, says, "there are a lot of bad things in this world and we probably don't want to know what a lot of them are". I think this was good advice.

My aunt and cousins never went back, even hired someone to retrieve their belongings. The house changed hands four times in two years, no one living there more than three months. It still stands in a state of disrepair, empty since 1985. This really happened.