A little over six years ago, I was invited to have a meet and greet at the Barnes and Noble at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. I met some wonderful people there, including a paranormal investigative group who shared their amazing EVPs with me. We had a great time and, even though we’d been talking about ghosts, I wasn’t spooked and certainly wasn’t expecting to have a paranormal experience of my own. Boy, was I mistaken.
The Gateway Mall is an open-air mall that features the historic Union Pacific Depot as the entrance to the mall. So, you walk into the cool, old depot with its black and white tiled floor and then walk out the other side to enter the mall.
Once we walked out of the depot, Barnes and Noble was about twenty yards away and down one level. We entered right at the coffee shop entrance and set up the meet and greet at a table in the corner. We chatted with various people for about three hours and, when we were done, my first question to the helpful staff was, “Where’s the nearest ladies’ room?”
They directed me back to the depot.
So, we thanked them for their hospitality and headed back to the depot. It was still light outside and we were all laughing and having a great time. When we got into the depot, we discovered that it was completely empty. But, that didn’t bother us, because it was empty when we came through on our way to the meet and greet.
My husband and my son-in-law held our stuff, while my daughter, Sarah, and I went into the ladies’ room. As soon as we walked through that door, I was hit was an inexplicable feeling of complete terror. My fight or flight reaction was in full force. My daughter looked at me, her eyes wide with fear, and started to speak. But I quickly shook my head to stop her.
“Don’t say anything,” I whispered, not wanting to give whatever it was any more power over us.
We hurried to the stalls and used the facilities as quickly as we could. (Fear kind of intensifies that whole bodily function urge.) And we met up at the sinks. I shook my head again, to remind her not to speak. Then we hurried out of the room.
As soon as the door closed behind us, the feeling was gone.
“Someone died in that room,” were the first words out of my mouth.
My daughter shook her head. “That was the worst feeling I have ever had in my life.”
We explained to the men what had happened, and I could tell they were slightly skeptical. And, really, who could blame them? It happened so fast and it was so sudden. But I will never forget the feeling of terror I experienced in those few moments.
When we got to the hotel room, I started searching the Internet for corroboration of what happened to us. I found a local paranormal group had also studied the depot and had both EVP and EMF readings. But the evidence that shook me to my core was a photo they had taken during a night session.
The photo showed a shadow figure leaning out from inside one of the bathroom stalls. That picture was imprinted in my brain, and I had to find it for this week’s Freaky Friday and use it for the blog.
I hadn’t heard of shadow people prior to that. Now, as I watch episodes of Dead Files, I see that Amy does not like to encounter them and has a healthy fear of what they are and what they can do. If she feels anything close to what I felt that evening, I don’t blame her at all.
This encounter really opened my eyes to the risks we all take when we investigate the paranormal. We don’t know if we’re going to find sweet Aunt Edna who died ten years ago or one of these creatures who exude terror and could possibly harm us.
As we get into this season of haunting and ghosts, may I suggest that if you decide to go on an investigation you take precautions, you prepare yourself, and you leave if your intuition tells you that you’re not in a good place.
If you’re not sure what to do, I’ll do some research and go over some of those things in my next Freaky Friday!
Until then…Happy Friday!!!