One night, several years ago, as I lay awake in my bed telling myself to go fall asleep, something odd happened. I felt pressure on the bed behind me. It felt like someone – an adult – had just sat on the edge of the bed. I could feel the dip in the mattress behind me, I couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t smell anything, but I could feel that someone was there. I didn’t feel frightened, well, I was slightly spooked – you know, because something that didn’t come in through the door was sitting on the bed next to me. But I wasn’t terrified. I didn’t feel threatened.
Of course, I did NOT turn around to see who it was – that would be too much information. So, I just lay there, quietly, until I finally fell asleep.
I woke up a couple of hours later, didn’t feel anyone behind me and so I got up and went to the bathroom. Brodie (my Bernese Mountain Dog) and I have a deal. If I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he gets to go too. So, I have to traipse downstairs to the first floor, let him out the back door, and then go to the bathroom. After I let him in and we went back up to my bedroom, Brodie decided to not go back into the bedroom with me. (Which is INCREDIBLY odd. He’ll whine at the door if I accidentally shut him out of the room.) I asked him if he wanted to come, but he looked me in the eyes and laid down on the staircase landing right below my room.
Yes, I was a little more than slightly freaked.
So, I turned the television set on low, set the timer for an hour, and then went to sleep with the news droning on behind me. And I didn’t get visited again.
So, for this Freaky Friday, I decided to do a little research on ghosts or spirits who sit on your bed with you. I’ve heard about pets – I’ve had a ghost pet – climb up at the end of the bed and settle down as they’d always done. But never people.
In her blog, The Spiritual Living Blog, Amanda Linette Meder, wrote a blog called, “A Spirit At The Foot Of Your Bed, Who Is It?” She feels that when you feel a spirit on your bed, whether it’s a person or pet, it can be a reassuring message that signifies support and the continual presence of the non-physical in our lives. She feels that those spirits want to connect with us personally. She also believes that they come at night because it’s one of the easiest times to get our attention because we’re alone, distraction-free, and it’s quiet.
Kimberly at the website, The Channelling feels that night-time visits from a loved one are quite common to experience and that it’s completely normal. She has a wonderful explanation for why they visit after the lights go out: “To understand why spirits visit at nighttime you first need to understand vibrational frequencies. The spirit realm has a higher vibrational frequency since they are so close to the source or pure white light, whereas we poor people on the physical plane tend to have a lower vibrational frequency. Mediums and physics naturally have higher vibrational energy, and this is how they are able to communicate with passed over loved ones. I’ve heard this vibrational energy difference being likened to that of a radio frequency- if you’re on the same frequency you’ll hear the message clearly, if it’s slightly off, you’ll get static but still get some of the message, and if you’re on a completely different wavelength you won’t receive any messages at all.
So, what it comes down to is our energy vibrations at nighttime. Because spirit’s energy resonates at a higher frequency than most humans the only way they can communicate is if we are at the same, or at least a close, frequency to theirs. At nighttime, our vibrational frequency naturally changes. Relaxation, meditation and rest all change our vibrational level to a higher frequency which is why nighttime is the perfect time for a spirit to communicate.”
That’s also why loved ones who have passed away communicate with us in our dreams because that vibrational level is the perfect frequency for them.
On the website “Your Ghost Stories” someone shared their own experiences of ghosts and pressure on the bed: “Almost every night when I try to fall asleep, I tend to feel some pressure on my bed like someone is sitting next to me. Or sometimes I get the feeling someone is touching me even though no one is there. It hasn’t happened for quite some time and all of a sudden, it’s happening again.
My guess is that maybe it could be my grandfather who passed away 13 years ago trying to contact me for more prayers for him or someone else. I’ve told my family that it’s happening again, and they don’t seem to believe me. They think I’m having an over-active imagination and that I’m asleep when truthfully, I’m wide awake. When I know 100% that the problem is happening again. I have no idea what to do about it.
It’s been very hard for me to sleep at night because of it. I’ve also tried to drop some holy water on my bed and it’s not working. What I’ve heard from people is that ghosts like to feed off of people’s stress. I don’t know if it’s true or not. I don’t think I have a lot of stress going on in my life that it can happen again.
And it’s annoying me like crazy and all I just want is to sleep well at night and not be afraid to go to sleep.
The second one is another event happening at night. About a year ago when watching TV, trying to sleep yet again. I heard this very loud pound on the side of my mattress. It would only happen a couple of times and then it stopped. I don’t know why this happened.”
I haven’t been to the Trip Advisor site for a while and I thought it would be fun to see reviews that included the words “haunted” and “bed.” It was fun:
This was for the Congress Plaza Hotel (you remember that Mary O’Reilly stayed there in “Good Tidings.”) “Hauntings- Upon our return home I did some further research on this hotel. I found out that it is one of the top ten haunted hotels in America. Before knowing of this, however, the first night while in the shower my wife and daughter heard a strange sound from under the bed. I checked, saw nothing and laughed it off. The last night of our stay there we were in bed and it was very quiet. All of a sudden’ we heard a knocking sound on our headboard of our bed. To this day cannot explain what happened. I had the feeling the whole time we were there that someone would pop out of the walls, it was that eerie! The one elevator had the 13th floor, and the other elevator was numbered 22,33,44,66. Made no sense. After getting home and reading about the hotel there were other strange events as well. I’m glad we didn’t know about them ahead of time.”
This is from the Dauphine Orleans Hotel: “Room 111 is indeed haunted This hotel is very nice, and the staff is also great. I didn’t want to believe it was haunted, but after our bed shook repeatedly throughout our stay (anytime one of us were alone in the bed during the morning hours), I can’t deny it. I also probably woke up about 10-12 times per night and felt someone was watching me from across the room, near the closets. Also felt horrible anytime I got near that area…. just negative energy. I would probably stay here again, just not in this particular room.”
This one is from the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, Massachusetts: “Last but not least the GHOST. YES, THIS HOTEL IS HAUNTED. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. We had the presence of man and woman in our room. We could hear music playing and faint talking. I walked downstairs and back up to the second-floor area to see if there was a party going on. The party left around midnight I was told. Each night a woman dressed in early turn-of-the-century clothing, not 1920s, would sit in the chair and look out to the Commons. I would turn on the light and she was gone. Something sat on the end of my bed each night and on two nights this presence grabbed my finger really hard. Call me crazy…my 24-year-old daughter saw all of this as well. The minute you walk into the Hotel you are taken back in time. Maybe the Grand Dames of the past are still lingering…. dare you to stay in room 526 and say you’re alone. I don’t think you get your money’s worth, especially in October. But for some strange reason, I found myself drawn to this Hotel and I would stay there again in the winter.”
So, all I can add to this is…pleasant dreams!
Happy Friday!