Oh crap. You had to ask, didn't you?
Well, I hate recanting this story and, the last time I did so verbally, myself and a friend were almost killed on a highway while driving through Abilene, Texas. You see, at the exact moment of my story's conclusion, a huge, 18-wheeled truck took that instance to pass us. It was about 3:00 a.m. We were the only two vehicles on the road, it seemed. Anyway, at the precise moment of my story's end, this truck passes us and has one of it's tires explode which proceeded to impact heavily upon the hood of my friend's vehicle. Needless to say, we both lived, but could have easily veered off the road and rolled endlessly into the forlorn desert. Really freaky. So, I'll just give you folks the abridged version with a warning: Don't speak the story out loud!
Exactly 10 years and three weeks ago, myself, two of my brothers, and about a half dozen others decided it would be really cool to hold an out-door, impromtu seance. The events that followed could easily fill a hundred or so pages, so I'll just summarize what happened/what I learned:
What happened:
1. This was done over a two-night span. It was felt that what we started on the first night had to be finished on the second.
2. On the first night, there was a glowing, floating head in the tree behind me. Though I didn't turn around to see it, events that followed later in the first night and in the second would all but assure it's validity.
3. On the first night, one of us became possessed. I mean, the guy was seated crossed-legged on the ground and all of a sudden felt tremendously cold. Then, without warning, he leapt up into the air and fell about ten feet from where he previously was and started violently whirling around in the dirt making noises akin to that of a mad dog fighting with itself. Think the opening bits to "The Excorsist" regarding the dogs. This went on for about 20 seconds. Afterwards, the guy wanted to know how he had got to where he was, why he was all covered in dirt and bleeding, and why his watch was hopelessly broken.
4. On the 2nd night, five of us saw what at the time were described as "demons", yet I truly believe now that they were troubled (though not necessarily evil) spirits tied to the Earth, refusing to move on after death. There were two of them, only recently explained to me as a "host pair". What was really strange was how they arrived and how they vacated. You see, unlike the 1st night, the five of us weren't positioned in a cirlce, but in a line with our collective backs up against this old bit of wall at the end of a cul-de-sac. In front of us was a set of disused train tracks and the dim glow from a random streetlight, positioned primarily for the lighting of said cul-de-sac. So we're there. All of a sudden, the wall begins to shake. I, seated on the extreme right end, notice something out of the corner of my left eye and behind us. I look up, only to see a quickly receding (think the water thing in "The Abyss") glowing head return to behind the wall. A few moments later, this "thing" just nonchalantly saunters into the dim light about 20-or-so feet in front of us. It came from the left. It entered our view much like an actor takes the stage. It sort of sideways shambled. It looked to be stooping and (here's where our stories will differ, depending upon who you ask!) wearing a shaggy kind of cloak with a hood. Eerily, we could tell that, although obviously very near the ground as yourself or myself when you or I saunter/shuffle, this thing wasn't making contact with the ground! No contact, yet the noise of shuffling! Figure that one out! Anyway, it wasn't more than 4 1/2 feet high, yet it was very broad, as a stooped figure might be. Aside from it's face, it was shrouded in darkness. It's face was plain and whitish. I say "ish" for it was also vaguely insubstantial, the thing as a whole. The face was neither malevolent, nor happy, but there, searching us, waiting. Oh yes, it looked as though it had it's arms folded together, like a monk or such. And there it stood. Or squatted. Or crouched. Or whatever. I sensed no evil from it, but I did sense pain and confusion/curiousity.
I need a new paragraph for the next bit!
After about a minute of this thing parking 20 feet-or-so away from us and just, well, "being", the other one showed up, this time from the right (my side......yikes!). Unlike the first, this one did no sauntering. In fact, it didn't walk at all. How did it make itself apparent, you ask? Well, it came up from the ground, naturally! Very bizzare, indeed. At first, I took it to be an oil slick and pointed and was like "what's that coming out of the ground?!" It's point of origin was also 20 feet in front of us, and about 10 feet to the right of the first entity. And slowly, it took form. After "oil slick" form, it gradually shifted into thick, "black worm" form (which started to emit gasping, breathing noises!!!). Then this "black worm" stood upright. It was a trifle taller than the first, and a whole lot thinner. Black body, glowing white head, slightly insubstantial (oh, but only slightly! Think 90% material/10% insubstantial....like the other). If you could image a Pez dispenser, this was the shape of it, though the head wasn't as large as most "Pez heads", in that it was more proportioned with it's body. But the point is, no real discernable arms or legs.....not at that moment, anyway.
Ready for the frightening part, yet?
This thing (we'll call it Thing 2, shall we?) was not like it's docile friend in the least. It was very very ANGRY!!! In fact, it had not a neutral face for us but an over-accentuated fierce face. And then.......it started to scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now folks, up until that point in my life, I'd never thought that any sound would be more terrifying than that heard on the previous night when our comrade was possessed for 20 seconds. THIS NOISE, OTOH, EASILY topped it. This is a gruesome description, but I'll do the best I can. Imagine what the sound would be like if an old lady was being punched in the stomach over and over and over again (1 second intervals), yet with the sound getting progressively louder and more violent. It's as if the shrieking was half-gasping. This, coupled with the fact that it wasn't just making these noises for fun, but they were specifically directed at us.
I'm surprised I stuck around. Heck, the only reason I did was because our fearless "leader" (for lack of a more appropriate word........long story) told us before hand that if we left before everything was finished we'd be "ripped to pieces" by the supernatural forces invoked. Nice.
Anyway, this thing is standing there, making the world's scariest noises, and we're




ting our pants. Well, not literally, but you know. IIRC, our leader attempted to command it to return to its place of origin. It only shrieked with improved vehemence. I gathered the sense that this vocal/angry one was actually somehow the master of the docile one. No sooner had I arrived at this conclusion when the docile one suddenly began moving towards us. First, it started to shamble at a leisurely pace, then run! The leader leapt up quickly and put out the lone candle that we were collectively using as our focus point. Just like that, both entities vanished.
A bit later, they apparently appeared behind the wall. I didn't look though. None of us did, save the leader. The two things returned with five or so really small ones that the leader would refer to as "imps". He then proceeded to "fight" them by reciting the Our Father (the only spell he knew? lol). IIRC, his recollection held that, upon his initial utterances of the prayer, the five 1 1/2-foot tall ones just "ran away". Later on, the docile one ran. The hardest to "banish" was the shrieking one. Here's some more scary bits. As he was reciting the prayer, we could all tell that he was becoming physically exhausted, we heard it in his voice. During this time, we also heard repeated pounding. Apparently, the cylindrical being had arms afterall! Indeed, the pounding was this thing pounding the pavement (for, remember, the wall was segmenting dirt and train tracks on one side, and a cul-de-sac's edge on the other) with all it's might in an effort to hang on. The thing was enraged and refused to be driven away. It was sucking all the energy out of our leader. Eventually, the thing "faded away" into nothingness.
What I learned:
1. There's no such thing as an "impromtu" seance. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Granted, none of us knew what we were doing, but we believed our leader knew. In truth, he was just a moron, but we all trusted him due to a high Charisma score!
2. NEVER TAKE PART IN A SEANCE INVOLVING A BOOK OF BLACK MAGIC!!! I didn't know it at the time, but the book was "black" in nature. Again, this was all down to blind faith in our "leader". PLEASE do not ask me the name of the book. I'll just say that it can be obtained from any metaphyical bookshop.
3. Don't tell this story @ 3 a.m. while driving through Abilene, Texas!
PS: Last I heard, this "leader" still sees incarnations of what he called up on those two consecutive nights a decade ago. He sees two different things where ever he goes. The first is a guy who looks like he's from the mid 1800's. Stovepipe hat and all, an "Abraham Lincoln-looking" guy. That's probably what the docile one looked like in life, though I'm guessing. The second if disturbing. It's been described as "the man made of rubber" as when it walks it bounces such that it's arms actually almost hit the ground with every stride. He's seen these two in random places and cannot escape from them. Where ever he goes, they follow. He's seen the Abraham Lincoln guy looking down at him atop a balcony in Hollywood, and the rubber-man alongside the road while just driving with friends, for example. And they're always staring at him expectantly, waiting for something. I'm glad it's him and not me!
Another PS: By shear coincidence, it turns out that the two nights of our seance coincided EXACTLY with the 25th Anniversery of the Manson murders! Pleasant dreams, everyone!