LISA'S STORY
Tie A Black Ribbon (Continued)



Part II -- The Rats & the Telephone

by Lisa Wilson
E-mail: lisa@foxinternet.net
Hailing From: Redmonds, Wa.
Where the Weird Story Occurred: My Home
(Continued from the
"Terrified" Library )


This is the second part of my story regarding the haunting of my daughters and myself. The accounts written in this series are true . . . unbelievable to myself . . . but true.

After that Christmas Eve encounter with Michael, small but unusual events began to take place in our household. I began to keep a diary of the happenings for my own documentation and sanity.

Many of the occurrences taking place were easy to justify as either coicidence, forgetfulness, or total unawareness, but when you are being persisted by a lost spirit, you can feel the difference between reality and spirit-uality.

At first, small items would be misplaced. My daughters (age 7 & 8 at the time) had a Garfield light plug-in in their bathroom. It was constantly missing from their bathroom, and then resurfacing in my master bathroom. At first I thought the girls were tricking me, but why? They seemed just as confused as I.

My daughter's also has two pet rats in a cage. They were locked in their cage with small padlocks, as they were smart rats and could open the unlocked cage. Next to the rat cage, was a different wall light plug-in. It was becomming common place for the rats to be out of their cages when I came home from work. It was very frustrating for me to understand this, as both doors to their cages were padlocked, and the rats obviously did not have keys under the mats.

I also found it very strange that when the rats were loose, the light plug-in next to their cage was also pulled out of the wall. Was this Michael's mark to let me know he was there? Nothing to worry about .... right?

On the phone one day, Dan was talking about his boyhood, and how Michael used to love to play with their pet rats. He said that Michael was constantly taking them out of their cages and letting them roam free in the bedroom.

My heart skipped a beat. Was it really Michael who was reliving his childhood memories in our home?

Another discomforting thing happened. When I would talk on the phone, it was as if someone would tap into the line and listen to my conversations. It seemed to happen only when I would speak to Dan or my sister, Cari. I was having relationship troubles with Dan, and I would discuss those issues with Cari. Each time I was about to bring up the subject of Dan, it was like someone tapped onto my phone line to listen. When it happened, my sister would comment that someone just picked up your line...but no one was at my home to do such a thing. Dan would also comment about the line tapping sound when I spoke with him. I was beginning to think it was Michael doing the snooping. I mentioned this to my sister, and told her about the prior events. My sister's response was concern, because she knew what I spoke was the truth.

I told my mother of these occurrences. She was also concerned and told me to get a cross for around my neck for protection. Sensibly I rationalized, here I am an adult with very explainable events happening, and my family wants me to hire an exorcist and move from my apartment. How strange. Was there something to be concerned about?

The most unsettling event with the phone was that one weekend, my mother, children and myself went to the beach. Upon my return home, I discovered that the ringers on all three of my telephones had been turned off. The strange thing about that was I didn't have a clue as to how to turn them off or on. I also listened to my voice machine. The first and only message on the machine was from Dan, wishing me a fun trip.

I went cold. When I put the machine message and the silent ringers together, I knew the connection was Michael. He had turned off the ringers on the phones with his angry energy. He knew Dan and I were having problems via his phone tapping, and I felt his anger at Dan and also a growing possessivness with me.

It was time that I took Michael's picture down, and put it in the garage. But a few days later, at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, here I was retrieving the picture and rehanging it on the same wall. What was my obsession for this picture, and was my obsession growing deeper for the ghost, Michael?

These events appear small when compared to my entries in Part III, Michael's First Appearance.

I can't wait for Part III! Anyone got popcorn? Oh, wait, let me first straighten that picture on the wall . . .


Part III - Enemy Territory

With all the strange, and unusual happenings occurring around my house, I was beginning to doubt my own sense of reality as to what was real and what was make believe. I was not sure if I was psyching myself into causing these happenings with my own mind, or if in fact, it was Michael causing the mischief.

My emotions began to alter dramatically. I thought about Michael all the time. I wondered if he was sitting in the same room as I. I anticipated his presence when coming home from work or school. (I attended school on a full time basis.) I continuously looked at his picture, trying to see through those black holes which shaded his eyes. All I sensed was anger, sorrow, and confusion.

My personality was changing from a care free, responsible adult to that of a sad, confused woman. I would, for no reason at all, be sitting on my bed and break down crying. I was constantly feeling a deep sense of sadness. A sadness so dark, I couldn't explain it. I was not longer the same person that I had been prior to Dan's birthday. Although Dan and I were having relationship troubles, it did not matter. I felt a sense of sad comfort thinking about Michael and looking at his picture.

One night while I came home from school, I told my friend and classmate that I had an eerie feeling that Michael was waiting for me at my home. She was concerned because of the things I had told her, and wanted to know if I wanted her to go home with me. I said no, my daughters were spending the night at my mothers, and I was just being silly.

As my hand touched the door knob to my house, this thought flashed through my mind, "Michael is here." I entered my dark home with my heart beating loud enough to feel its pulse in my ears.

As I walked into the kitchen, flipping on lights as I went, I stood silently in front the counter. The only sound was the beat of my heart. I set my keys on the counter when I smelled this strange odor. At first I was unaware of the scent. Was it something burning? Was it the smell of fire? As I used all my senses, it felt like for an instant, something strange had become a part of me, and the strange scent was familiar. I said out loud, "Michael, quit haunting me." As I spoke, the plant sitting before me on the counter's leaves began to move as if a gust of wind had contacted them. Then the burning smell got stronger and I recognized a sulphur type odor. I saw the room begin to filter with smoke and the smell of sulfur and cigarettes were burning my nose.

I screamed, "MICHAEL LEAVE ME ALONE." The film and smell in the air dissipated, and I sensed an energy brush past me, and walk into the wall.

Boy, was I scared. I called my mother and talked with her until my nerves had calmed down. What was I going to do? There was no way he was going to scare me out of my home. But then, his presence also comforted me. It was like his lost soul was filling a space in my empty soul.

Did I really go to a part of Michael's hell in Vietnam, or did Michael bring a part of it to me. Maybe I got my message through to Michael, and he was gone forever . . . but the visits had just begun . . .


PART IV: MICHAEL AND THE NEW ENTITY

My cry to be left alone, did not deter Michael's visits. As I reviewed my log accounts of Michael, it was apparent that he was becomming an unwanted, or maybe even wanted part of the family. It was like his presence unsettled me, but I yearned for his existence.

Michael's entity seemed to form in the hallway, outside my bedroom door. Cold drafts were commonly present in front of the doorway. I would experience a sense of voidness and sorrow when I walked into the hall area. His picture was hanging just on the other sidewall in my bedroom, but I just couldn't get myself to remove it from the house.

On one occasion just before bedtime, my daughters were adamant that I leave the hall light on. (I had never mentioned the fact of Michael's existence to my daughters.) I asked them, "Why? You never ever have the hall light on." They couldn't explain their reasoning, but they were adamant that the hall be lighted.

That night, I heard my younger daughter, Laura, calling me from her bedroom. She sleepily told me she had a bad dream. I told her to go back to sleep, everything was safe.

The next morning as I entered the girls bedroom, I asked Laura what her bad dream was about. She said that she dreamt that a strange man had walked into the center of their bedroom, smoking a cigarette, and was watching over her. I asked her if she recognized the man. Her reply was no. Then my oldest daughter, Sarah said, "Yeah Mom, he was standing right there in the middle of our bedroom, looking at us!" I said, "Did you dream the same dream also?" She confusely thought about her statement and replied, "I must have, cause I saw him too!

I was very disturbed. Was Michael now gravitating towards my daughters?

As I walked back into my bedroom, I noticed that a picture of his mother any my daughters, standing on my night stand, had been moved. It was as if Michael had entered into my bedroom, picked up the picture, viewed it, and set it back down at an opposite 185 degree angle placing their faces towards the wall . . .

Terror began to fill my veins. I knew Michael's energy was gaining strength, and my daughters and I were becoming the source for this power. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was beginning to feel like a prisoner in my home. It was as if Michael was becomming possessive, and wanting to make us a part of his ghostly family.

I did not actively seek assistance to rid Michael from my home, until the incident of April 14, 1994. A few hours after I had been asleep, I was awakened by a slight breeze caressing my cheek. As I lay on my left side, I saw this black semi-formed figure bending over the side of my bed, with branch-like arms groping towards my face.

I bolted upright to focus better on the figure, whose cold darkness seemed endless. As my eyes fixed onto the dark form, a sudden cold surge of terror entered through my upper chest, paralyzing me for what seemed like hours. This terror was so profound that mentally it took my soul to an unimaginable, lifeless, hellish region.

As terror lifted the breath from my body, the black unformed figure began to dissolve into the dark night air. The terror disappeared. I instantly knew that the terror that I felt was not my own terror, nor was it Michael's. It was the terror of a different, perhaps evil, lost soul which had found my "spiritual light", and had crossed over the paranormal boundaries with Michael . . . (to continue -- Part V coming soon)


PART V: THE EXORCIST

Michael and his friend were beginning to control all events in my home. Objects would appear then dissappeaar within a blink of an eye. The electricity in the house was becoming a living force in itself. Televisions would turn on an off, as well as the refrigerator. Areas in the home, mainly the hallway, would not heat. Walking into the hallway was like walking into a refrigerated cooler.

While I cooked in the kitchen, I would see shadow figures in my perpherial vision. As I would turn to catch a glimpse of my watchers, they would vanish like bolts of lightening. I began to doubt my senses, sights, and myself.

One evening, I was so distraught about what was going on around me that I sat in my living room in the dark, contemplating what my course of action would be. As I sat there, I began to admire a 4x5 wall hanging that I had purchased on a trip to the beach with my mother. I took in the peaceful pastels that framed the cobble stoned streets. I thought how wonderful it would be, right at that moment, to be strolling down the peaceful lane, away from the turnoil and confusion I was experiencing in my own home.

The peacefulness portrayed in the painting helped me to adjust my inner conflicts. I knew that things would look brighter in the morning.

Upon my daughters and my return from work the following afternoon, I sensed something wrong prior to opening the front door. As the door opened, I was struck with the shock of my life. I felt as if I had come upon a dead person in my path. Laying there face down, inside the entry way was the 4x5 painting I was admiring the previous evening. The first sentence my daugher Sarah uttered was, "Mom, look what Michael did!"

I was at a loss for words. "No", I said, "The wind must have blew the picture."

"Right Mom." scoffed Sarah. "Like the wind blew that huge picture off the wall, down the hall, past the kitchen, and into the entry."

I knew Sarah's words were the truth. Something had to be done about this . . . and why and how could an unseen entity move such a large picture. There was no damage to the picture. I just could not and still cannot imagine a picture that large floating from the wall in my living room, and laying down in my entry way, three rooms to the east.

And, how did Sarah and Laura know it was Michael? I didn't even think they knew about the him. Although I was experiencing many unusual events over the past, never did I once let on to what I suspected for fear of scaring my own two children.

I felt I was at the point of calling Ghostbusters, but who would bust these invaders? I called the Health Sciences Center to see if they could refer me. They had no referrals, but were facinated with my story.

I decided to call a palm reader. Maybe if she read my palm, she would sense the two ghostly strangers and help me rid them from my home. I called on palmist. I began to set up an appointment, but I am not a person to lie, so I told her of my predicament.

She referred me to a woman named Kate. She told me Kate could take care of my ghosts.

My appointment with Kate was very unusual. I was not sure of her credibility, so I did not tell her anything personal about myself, other than my name, and that I had an entitiy haunting me. On the first meeting, she asked me if I knew the entity who was haunting me. I replied that I did in a strange way. Before I could say anything else, she said, "Yes I see you have a problem. Michael came with you on this visit." I was flabbergasted. How did she know Michael? And how could Michael follow me? He was a ghost. Aren't they housebound. or at least area bound?

What do you mean?, I urged? "He is attached to you, Lisa, and he is interested in what you are proposing, and angry that you are contemplating getting rid of him."

I almost fell out of my chair, never to breath again. This was too bizzare. I am not in the movies. I am a normal human being, with a normal life, job, kids. This cannot be happening to me.

Kate advised that my next step was to rid myself of Michael by showing him his light and allowing him to the cross the plane. Basically, she told me Michael was a lost soul, held here by earthly anger and unfinished business. He attached himself to my shinning inner light and the fact that I sensed him. Michael had been trying to reach out to his own family, but couldn't cross into their spiritual senses.

Kate also told me that Michael had brought another lost soul into his newfound plane. Just like in the movie, "Ghost," Michael needed help in communicating with me. Kate advised that the depression and loneliness I was experiencing was not my own, but was Michael's feelings. As a lost soul, Michael no longer had human form to emit feelings, so he was using me for his expressions. But expressing feelings was not enough for Michael. That is why he called this other entity to show him how to manipulate objects.

Instead of helping Michael, the evil entity began to enjoy the fun of using his selective powers in terrorizing my daughters and myself.

This information was overwhelming to hear. It was unbelieveable. I asked Kate, "Where is Michael now." She looked to the left of me and said, "He is standing in that corner." All of a sudden I felt this fear enter into my chest. The fear made me shiver. As fast as the fear came, it went.

I asked Kate, "Did Michael leave? "

"Yes", she replied.

"Where did he go?, I asked.

"Michael got scared, and ran back home."

"Back to his light", I asled.

"No, Lisa, he ran back home....to your home. We need to get him to his light soon before it is too late."



PART VI - THE FINALE:
THE ENTITY CHANNELERS

Endings to a story are sometimes a disapointment. That is what I felt at contemplating the loss of Michael. Although he was a terror to my girls and myself, this strange need to have him infiltrate my life was almost overpowering.

When I returned to my home from Kates, the rats were out of their cages, pictures were turned askew, the refrigerator door was wide open, and most disturbing of all was that the picture of Michael, which still hung on my wall, was laying on my pillow. Okay, I knew I needed to get rid of him, not only for my sake, but for his.

I scheduled a time to meet with Kate wherein she preformed a sort of a channeling session. This session required three persons and myself. Two of the individuals would be the channelers in allowing the spirit being contacted to communicate through. The third person was the medium who would address the spriit. As for me, I was unsure if this was a joke, farce or what. But I did know that what my family and I were experiencing was reality.

As they had me place my hands over a glass of water (this is to allow the spirit to pass from his connection with me to the channelers), the medium asked who the entity connected to me was. Channeler #1's face turned into an evil smirk. "It is me, Stephen." I felt this terrible evil surround me. The entity continued, "I knew Lisa in a past life. She was my male friend and I shot her in the back at a bar. Now, I am here to have some fun with her."

The Medium asked, "Are you here alone?" This so called Stephen replied, "No, I was invited." "By who?" questioned the Medium.

This entity laughed. He laughed in such an evil way, the dog locked in the back room barked frenzily.

"Who invited you?" repeated the Medium.

"Ask him," sneered entity #1.

Channeler #2 then began to speak. "I mean't no harm."

"Who are you?" asked the Medium. "Are you Michael?"

Entity #2 began to whimper, "She felt me, she saw me, she knows who I am."

The eyes of channeler #2 had a dead painful look emiting from them. It was as if Michael were reaching out for help.

"Are you Michael?" demanded the Medium. "Answer me!"

Entity #2 said nothing.

"Do you see the light above you Michael?" questioned the Medium. Entity #2 nodded. "This is where you need to be Michael. You must go to the light. Lisa is not the light."

"But," replied entity #2, Lisa is the light . . . she has so much light."

"No, no Michael," stated the Medium. "You need to go to the light above."

A smile came over entity #2. "Okay," he replied.

"I,m sorry Lisa."

And then he was gone.

~ ~ ~

Relief, sadness, doubt passed my thoughts. I was again alone. I went home, but still left Michael's picture on my wall.

For the next 9 months, there was no sign of Michael. My sadness had gone, but the void in my soul still lingered.

One day, I was promoted to a new position and moving out of the city. When I move, the first thing I do when packing is remove all the pictures from the wall. I placed all the pictures on the living room floor. I even put Michael's picture there, however, I was not planning on bringing that picture with me to my new home for fear of bringing the ghost with me.

Three nights before the move, I had my daughters' Godfather (Jim) over for dinner. We were sitting in the living room. We had not talked for a while, and he asked me about my ghost stories with Michael. I told him what happened. I also told him that was the reason that Michael's picture was sitting in the living room with the rest of the pictures. I didn't want Michael to know he was not going with us.

"Oh no," exclaimed Jim, "Now he knows. You should not have told him."

I laughted, "Come on Jim, he is gone now."

How wrong I was. Michael had only been lying dormant for the past 9 months. Once I made this proclamation to Jim, it began to start again, but with more rage. For the next 3 days, black balls of smoke would shoot across rooms in my house knocking down items. I would hear moaning and gnarling in the fireplace at night (Michael's picture was laying against the fireplace mantel.) The 3 days to the move did not come soon enough.

Friends came to help me move out of my apartment. I had cleaned out my bedroom closet and placed Michael's picture in the back dark nook of the closet where no one would find it. I still could not muster the courage to throw the picture away.

As everything was out and I was stepping into the moving van, my girlfriend came running out. "Lisa, Lisa, you forgot this cool picture." There she stood with Michael and his dark angry eyes penetrating into me.

"No," I stated. "He is not going with me." With that, I took Michael back to the dark closet and closed the door forever.

To this day, I do think of Michael. My new home is peaceful and serene. No hauntings have taken place. But I have come to a couple of conclusions. I have experienced Michael's presence since I closed those doors. But those experiences have been from a soul who has found his place in the light, not bound on this earth. Also, my void is no longer there. My earthly soul has healed and my life is full and free.

As for what was left behind in the picture at the apartment was not Michael, but Entity #1. Remember, Michael was the one who went to his light, Entity #1 still remained impostering a ghost I had grown to love. Is Entity #1 still walking the halls of apartment #206?

I do not know and do not wish to find out.

Many, many thanks Lisa for your wonderful addition to Ghostories. Your story was beyond anyones expectations. Over the months I have had dozens of readers write in and ask about how you are doing, how things are going, and when the final chapter would arrive. You came through for us and we salute you (no pun intended!). Thank you, thank you, thank you. Three cheers. I loved your story and I want to let you know that you are welcome to visit Ghostories anytime, and if you ever wish to, send in more stories if you like -- they will be posted immediately!

Lisa, when we reach our goal of 30 orders for GhostTee-Shirts, we'll be sure to send you a free one for your contributions. I really appreciate your work here and encourage everyone to tell as many people as possible about Lisa's story.

All the Very Best,

--- Ken, Your Ever Humble Ghostories WebMaster



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