My Horror Story

I found this little two-bedroom fixer-upper house.

I knew it would be perfect for me and tanya and the kids.

It was like it was meant to be. It was home.

I lived in a very normal house, built in the 1920s.

I seen this cross fly off the wall.

I saw a hand.

The hand reached out.

I was petrified.

There was something in the house,

and apparently it did not want me there.

It was a very nasty spirit.

it pushed her down the stairs.

What else could it do?

I opened the door, and I saw the most god awful thing

I've ever seen.

Whatever was here was definitely evil.

He's saying that he can possess me, and I have no power.

something else is just moving me like a puppet.

That's when I knew it's demonic.

We walk into the house. It felt like home.

I met this really lovely girl.

My daughter was going to share her birthday.

And there were a billion stars out, just gorgeous.

- The room got cold. - Something's not right.

I know what waits for me in the dark.

We weren't alone in this house.

I saw somebody staring right at me.

Blood coming out of his eyes.

We're under the control of something.

I felt like I was dying.

she wouldn't wake up,

and she wouldn't respond to me, and her little body was cold.

It was pure evil.

people need to know that they're never really alone in the dark.

I come from a long line of military people.

My grandfather, he was an airborne ranger.

He had a lot to do with my bringing up.

He taught me to be self-sufficient.

To be prepared.

When I was 19 I decided to join the u.S. Army.

I spent a little bit of time in college

until I had to go to my first deployment

and my criminal justice class is when I met tanya.

It was just love at first sight. I just knew.

She had two children previously. They're great kids.

I fell in love with them as soon as I met them.

She's a great mother. She's always family first,

and she's hardworking, she's stubborn,

but she's wonderful.

Tanya and I had been dating for four years

when I got my orders to go to iraq,

and I was gone for about a year.

I saw some terrible things over there.

Any little noise, any little thing that was not normal,

would spook me.

I'm sure every veteran can understand that.

You get triggered somehow and you just...

Back into or flight.

I wanted to do normal things again,

state-side, when I was home.

So when I got back I found this little two-bedroom

fixer-upper house in cullman, alabama.

Cullman's a great little town.

You move back 50 or 60 years to a simpler time.

It's just a wonderful place to live.

When I first went to the house, it felt warm and loving.

I knew it would be perfect for me,

and tanya and the kids.

It was an older home.

Needed a little work, of course,

but I loved the house immediately when I seen it,

it was like it was meant to be.

I moved into the house alone to fix it up

and make the house a home for me and tanya and the kids.

I started the renovations

and that's when strange things started happening.

about 2:00 in the morning, I started hearing knocking.

I thought either there's a limb hitting my roof

or maybe it's an animal.

I am getting mad because it's continually knocking.

I go outside, nothing.

I thought I would just be second guessing myself

because I was paranoid when I came home from overseas.

then I started noticing something would move,

or something breaking.

as I started progressing with the renovations,

that's when everything really got bad.

I had a cross above my door...

...And it would get knocked off every night.

I nailed the cross to the door so it would have to be lifted

directly up to be taken off the nail.

I turn around...

...And I seen this cross fly off the wall.

what in the world, you know?

I am from west haven, connecticut.

It's a quaint little town.

I lived in a very normal house, built in the 1920s.

My parents worked hard. They worked 14 hours a day.

They were pickers for airplane parts,

shipped all over states, on to different countries.

My sister christine is 15 years older than I am.

We each had our own rooms. My room was pretty tiny.

one night when I was about five years old,

I was in my room.

my parents were fast asleep and I was still up.

I was always the problem child.

when I hear the knocking on the closet door,

I didn't know what to think.

I just thought maybe it's just my imagination

and that it was just the draft or something.

But then I heard it for a second time and the door opened.

I was scared.

Then I saw a hand.

I was just petrified.

I ran into my parents' room.

and I kept banging on the door.

And I said "please let me in, please let me in,

there's something in my closet."

my mom said, "aren't you a little old for this now?

Come on."

so she goes in to my bedroom, she looks in the closet.

She goes, "see, there's nothing there."

after that night, the closet always scared me.

every night I would see the figure.

it wanted to talk to me.

I said, "I don't want to talk to you."

it says, "you need to talk to me."

it kept on getting closer and closer to me.

he had a deep, raspy voice.

I called him the shadow man.

sometimes there was a child with him.

he would whisper.

I want you.

I can hear him. It really disturbed me.

when I was about 10 years old, he was still there.

I told my mom, "I don't want to talk to him anymore,"

and she said, "well, what is he saying to you?"

I said to her, "he's saying that he can possess me.

He can take over my will and I have no power."

that was very upsetting for my mom.

She didn't believe in possession.

I was angry all the time because she didn't believe me.

She said, "I'm going to take you to a child psychologist."

it was difficult for a 10 year old

to talk about what was going on at home to a stranger.

The psychologist asked me to draw what I saw.

I drew the closet and I drew the shadow man with the little boy.

After that, the sightings did diminish

and things started to get better...

...Until I was 16.

and that's when I saw the boy again.

he was alone this time.

His face was sunken in, his eyes were black.

He wanted me to help him.

I said, "I'm just 16.

I'm just a kid. I can't help you."

after all that time, the shadow man was back.

I'd been in the house maybe three months

and I started noticing strange occurrences.

but as I started progressing with renovations,

that's when everything really got bad.

there's one section of my floor in my bedroom

to where if you're heavy enough and you step there, it'll creak.

one night about 3:30 in the morning,

I heard the creak of my floor.

it was something big to make the floor creak...

...And it was right here, not two, three feet from my head.

but whatever this was, I couldn't see it.

and at that point, I got up...

...And I turned the lights on.

as soon as I did, my radio turned on

and it went full blast and then it quit.

All these things were happening and I couldn't explain it.

I knew I couldn't stay here, so I left.

I got my stuff for the next day and I left.

when I returned home, I was pissed off

because I didn't know what I was going to do.

I just bought a new home.

I was trying to fix it up as nice as I could,

but there was something in the house

and apparently it did not want me there.

But I just didn't have the money to run out on it or sell it,

I just couldn't.

I had to stay there. I had no other choice.

and then a few days later, tanya had come over

and we were in my bedroom asleep.

I was out cold.

I sleep hard, I snore.

something grabbed tanya's leg...

...And jerked her so hard

that it left an imprint on her leg

that was in the shape of a thumb and two fingers.

She was scared to death.

She said, "I love you,

but I'm not sleeping over anymore."

and that's the last time she spent the night there.

That's when I knew that whatever was here was definitely evil.

well, I was 16, and that's when I saw the boy again.

He wanted me to help him.

I said, "I'm just a kid. I can't help you."