Uninvited

by Dean
(Apple Valley California)

I stumbled upon your website this morning entirely by accident, and found the section about the black-eyed people that raised the hackles on the back of my neck.

One night, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. around 1979 or 1980, I awoke in the very small hours of the morning, with a feeling of absolute dread, and in the dark room, I could see nothing except a darker shadow standing not 3 feet away from the side of my bed. I could not see any definition to the shape; it was just a blacker shape of what I have always remembered as a human, perhaps in a black robe. No bare skin was visible, indeed, it was just darkness, nothing more, but in human shape.

I lay there absolutely terrified, and filled with absolute certainty that if I moved or even breathed, something horrible would instantly happen to me. I have no recollection of how long I lay there, taking shallow breaths in the hope it wouldn't notice, but it seemed like several minutes. It never moved nor made any sound , but it radiated malevolent intent. Then, it slowly moved out of my room. (and here is a radical departure from the recurring theme of needing to be invited- it left through the bedroom doorway, which I left open only a few inches ajar each night).

I lay there for a few minutes, straining to hear the sound of someone exiting the apartment (ground floor), but I heard nothing. When the feeling of dread lifted a moment or so later, I quietly got out of bed, took a long-bladed hunting knife, and scoured my apartment. Nothing and no one was there except my sleeping roommate in his room.

I slept with that knife under my pillow, unsheathed (!) for more than a month afterwards because of the terror I felt that night, but nothing similar has ever repeated in all these years, and I earnestly hope it never will revisit me.

Never before or since in my life have I ever been so certain I was face to face with pure evil; however, I cannot explain why I felt this in the core of my being.

Just 3 years ago, for the first time in my life I got on the subject of the paranormal with a friend, a San Diego native who never moved from her hometown- i.e., an entire continent away from my experience, and she recounted a similar tale, although she awoke, could see a person who had black eyes and emanated evil. However, she did not sense a horrible death, just the presence of evil. She, too, was recounting her story for the first time in her life.

In her story, the being also left through a doorway, although neither of us placed any significance that detail in our re-telling to one another. I can say that I knew for certain if I acknowledged the presence by the slightest overt movement, I was certain I would be attacked. I guess that could be construed as a form of invitation, though to be honest, to me, it was an act of self-defense.

Until now, I had no idea any other people had ever experienced anything similar. Until she and I shared our experience, I thought it was just something unexplained in my life. Now I am not sure if I should take comfort in my sanity, or worry a LOT about this being or beings.