by Tonya Barton

Created on: January 30, 2008

The day was overcast and exceedingly humid. Sticky sweat blanketed my skin and my mouth was as parched as the Mojave Desert. Putting the remote control to rest on the coffee table, I raced to the kitchen to refill my iced tea. I was watching "Who Saved Private Ryan" for the first time on HBO, and didn't want to miss out on the action scene I knew was fast approaching.

Confusion slightly accented by fear, struck a deep-seated cord within my being as I returned. I stood frozen in my foot-steps, staring at the snowy screen now manifested on my television. I shook my head as if to shake off the bewilderment and approached the coffee table to retrieve the remote.

Near panic came over me at that point. The remote wasn't there. It wasn't where I had left it, and I was the only one home.

"What in the world?" I thought silently.

I looked up scanning the room in frustration, knowing good well I had probably missed that action scene and could basically consider it AWOL.

"There you are." I said aloud as I plucked the remote off the top of the entertainment center. "How'd you get there?" I found myself asking, like the gadget would answer me.

That was the first of many disturbing oddities that took place in my Massachusetts home. I suspected something supernatural with the remote incident and time would confirm those suspicions.

Over a short period of time, the odd events became more and more disturbing. More frightening. More aggressive. Friends and family stopped coming over and my children barely slept.

After a month of residing in our nineteenth century habitat, fear had overtaken us all. Especially my two year old son.

"Mommmmyyy!" His voice shrieked almost nightly, as I ran up the stairs overcome by my own fear.

I'd get to his crib only to witness the pale look on his innocent face and the angst in his eyes. His body language spelling "get me out of here" as I reached to pick him up. He sobbed breathlessly, obviously frightened. One night however, would be the last that either of us would go upstairs.

"Hhhhhuuuuuuuu." I felt the long hot whispering breath in my ear as I reached down once again, to console my son. Then again on the back of my neck. "Hhhhhuuuuuuuu."

No one was there. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could, but half-way down something pulled my hair causing me and my son to fall backwards. We slid the rest of the way down. The two of us finally came to rest on the sofa, with a blanket pulled over our heads.

You'd think that would be enough to make anybody

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