A bit of a backstory. I was born in 1967. We lived in rent houses up until I was 6 when we bought a brand new house in a good blue collar neighborhood that had schools within walking distance.
I was always a scared child. Scared of the dark, scared of my own shadow. Scared to the point I didn't even like being alone during the daylight hours. When it got dark, forget it. I was a big ol' chicken.
So we moved into a new house. It was 1973 and I started first grade. My parents did the best we could to scrape by. We had a brand new three bedroom ranch house but were lacking in furniture. So, my mom's aunt had recently passed away and the bedroom suite was offered to her and she took it. I never liked the old lady. She always scared me in a way that old people often scare children. She looked dead long before she was I guess. And her bedroom furniture went into the bedroom right off the living room as you first started down the hall.
The room always looked dark and felt cold when I passed by it. It was mortified. I can still feel the cold air escaping from the room. I would run past the door opening even in the middle of the day. Luckily the door stayed closed and that was okay with me. I hated this room in our new house.
Well one night during the summer we had that typical North Carolina high humidity which lead to a very boisterous thunderstorm in the middle of the night. I awoke to bright lightening flashes and the roar of thunder. I was laying there in the pitch dark. I realized the power was out and it made me uneasy. But I was going to lay there and be strong and not call out for my mom and dad. But as I lay there......... and this is a bit hard to explain......... I had the distinct feeling I wasn't;t laying in my bed at all. It was if I had convinced myself I was laying in the bedroom next-door of my dead great aunt. I couldn't see but somehow I was very sure. Very very sure. That through some twisted events I had ended up not in my bed but in the bed of that old lady that horrified me in life and terrified me in death. I grew uneasy and a cry was starting to grow inside me when in my field of vision, from left to right......... came a small flickering light. It was the disembodied flickering candle flame of a candle. But no candle was attached to it. A whispy flame flickered inched in front of my face passing by and I let put a scream.
I cried out in sheer terror for my parents. They came rushing in with a flashlight. I was inconsolably screaming about the flickering haunted candle flame. And............. they were still in the room. My parents witnessed first hand what I had seen. Rolling across the sheets. Going up the walls............. small fireballs. I don't remember the sounds or smells I've read about attributed to ball lightening. These were just small almost playful fireballs that raced around the room. They obeyed no laws of physics. They might fly through the air or roll cross the bed or just go up a wall. But for a good two minutes these things were manifest and my folks saw them.
My mom looked very concerned. My dad didn't know what to make of them and said nothing.
I remained a scared child for many years. Even in my teen years in college I'd still have debilitating bouts of night terrors.
Me and my parents never did talk about that night. Lucky for me the old great aunt's bedroom furniture was moved out shortly thereafter and we converted that room into the den. It took a long time for that room to ever warm up............
I was always a scared child. Scared of the dark, scared of my own shadow. Scared to the point I didn't even like being alone during the daylight hours. When it got dark, forget it. I was a big ol' chicken.
So we moved into a new house. It was 1973 and I started first grade. My parents did the best we could to scrape by. We had a brand new three bedroom ranch house but were lacking in furniture. So, my mom's aunt had recently passed away and the bedroom suite was offered to her and she took it. I never liked the old lady. She always scared me in a way that old people often scare children. She looked dead long before she was I guess. And her bedroom furniture went into the bedroom right off the living room as you first started down the hall.
The room always looked dark and felt cold when I passed by it. It was mortified. I can still feel the cold air escaping from the room. I would run past the door opening even in the middle of the day. Luckily the door stayed closed and that was okay with me. I hated this room in our new house.
Well one night during the summer we had that typical North Carolina high humidity which lead to a very boisterous thunderstorm in the middle of the night. I awoke to bright lightening flashes and the roar of thunder. I was laying there in the pitch dark. I realized the power was out and it made me uneasy. But I was going to lay there and be strong and not call out for my mom and dad. But as I lay there......... and this is a bit hard to explain......... I had the distinct feeling I wasn't;t laying in my bed at all. It was if I had convinced myself I was laying in the bedroom next-door of my dead great aunt. I couldn't see but somehow I was very sure. Very very sure. That through some twisted events I had ended up not in my bed but in the bed of that old lady that horrified me in life and terrified me in death. I grew uneasy and a cry was starting to grow inside me when in my field of vision, from left to right......... came a small flickering light. It was the disembodied flickering candle flame of a candle. But no candle was attached to it. A whispy flame flickered inched in front of my face passing by and I let put a scream.
I cried out in sheer terror for my parents. They came rushing in with a flashlight. I was inconsolably screaming about the flickering haunted candle flame. And............. they were still in the room. My parents witnessed first hand what I had seen. Rolling across the sheets. Going up the walls............. small fireballs. I don't remember the sounds or smells I've read about attributed to ball lightening. These were just small almost playful fireballs that raced around the room. They obeyed no laws of physics. They might fly through the air or roll cross the bed or just go up a wall. But for a good two minutes these things were manifest and my folks saw them.
My mom looked very concerned. My dad didn't know what to make of them and said nothing.
I remained a scared child for many years. Even in my teen years in college I'd still have debilitating bouts of night terrors.
Me and my parents never did talk about that night. Lucky for me the old great aunt's bedroom furniture was moved out shortly thereafter and we converted that room into the den. It took a long time for that room to ever warm up............