The Darkside

So, Delise,

thank you for telling us your story.

This is perfect for us. This is exactly what we need.

You know, we're looking for connection that Indigenous people have

to the other side, you know, to family that have passed on.

So, please, can you tell me about your brother?

Yeah. Yeah.

He was born after I had my two kids to Mum's third marriage.

I didn't know him as a person,

sort of concentrated on my own two sons

and I never had much to do with him.

Mum's 80th birthday was going to be held at my place

and he was in a panic because he hadn't bought Mum a present.

So we agreed to meet and I took him to the shopping centre.

He chose a nice diamond chain pendant.

I would have liked to have time to sit and talk,

but the party was happening that night,

so it was rush, rush, get home and prepare.

He told Mum that he enjoyed our time together

and that he wanted to get to know his big sister,

but it wasn't to be.

Well, I didn't know him that well.

That day that we went shopping was the first time in 39 years

that we actually... were alone together.

We just never crossed paths that much.

I'd worked up in the Northern Territory for 12 years

and life just rolled along.

Anyway, he called to visit that day

and Mum was there visiting from the country.

She was staying with me.

Little did we know that would be the last time we'd see him.

Two days after that, he took his own life.

Mum was devastated.

The funeral was conducted in the afternoon.

The lady celebrant, it was done with compassion - a lovely lady.

I had chosen He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

to be played as he was taken out of the chapel.

His brothers, his male cousins and close mates filled in the grave.

Everyone was invited back for afternoon tea

and a slideshow of Geoff in his younger days as a teenager.

It was probably a week later when I was back in the city,

I was about to go to bed.

Mum was ringing a lot. She was still distraught.

And I was trying to help her in any way I could.

One night, I was so exhausted and emotionally drained,

I went to bed.

I turned the light off, I heard this distinct sob.

I just froze - 'Oh, my God. It's Geoff.'

He's sorry that this thing has happened.

I decided I wouldn't tell Mum 'cause she was still too upset.

This went on for some weeks.

Not consistently - it was every couple of nights.

Sometimes I wouldn't hear it for four or five nights.

Then I'd hear it again.

I wasn't afraid, but I found it so distressing

to hear the sadness - the sadness of his sob.

I hopped into bed and turned the light off.

And I heard the sob again.

I laid there and I shed a few tears

and I said, 'Geoff.

It's OK, matey.

It's OK.

Grandmother and Grandfather will be there with you.

They'll look after you.

And it's OK, Geoff.

It's OK to move on.'

I turned the radio on.

I heard this music,

and I thought, 'I know this music.'

And I heard it.

It was He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother.

I knew then that that was him.

I just thought, 'Be free, Geoff.

Whatever happened, be free.'

I've never heard it since then.

(Continues singing in Indigenous language)

About my experience -

it was '96, '96 -

and I was on... Thursday Island at the time.

I was eight months pregnant.

I was staying at my cousin sister's house

on TI - on Thursday Island

and, um... it was night-time in the room.

Now, I'd made my bed on the floor.

I'd taken the mattress, placed it on the floor

and, I was sleeping on the floor.

It was comfortable for me to sleep on the floor at the time,

but my husband was sleeping on the bed.

So just as I was falling asleep, as I was dozing off,

I, uh... I could feel a hand on my face,

on the side of my face.

It was pushing me down into the pillow.

You know? It was just pushing me down.

And I, uh... I couldn't move.

You know, I... I... I was struggling. I couldn't move at all.

I was just stiff, you know? I was stiff.

And I tried to move my fingers, but I couldn't move.

I was completely stiff.

It was like all the energy had come out of you?

Yeah. It was like I was paralysed and I couldn't move, you know.

And this thing was just pushing my head

deeper and deeper into the pillow.

And I felt like I was getting pushed into this big hole, you know.

And it kept pushing.

But, you know... and I'm a Christian, you know.

I believe in God.

And I just... I said to this thing, you know,

'I rebuke you in Jesus' name.'

And it came off me.

And I sat up and my heart was beating so fast,

like, I was so scared.

And I was just sitting there trying to catch my breath

and I turned and I said to my husband who was sleeping on the bed,

you know, 'Come down here and sleep with me on the mattress.

Like, something was... it was trying to suffocate me.'

Into the pillow, eh?

Well, I told him, 'Come down and sleep on the mattress with me.

Something was trying to suffocate me, like, spiritually.' You know?

- Mm-hm. - It was trying to suffocate me.

And he came down off the bed

and he made his bed, he slept next to me on the mattress.

And, you know, he had dozed off, he went to sleep.

But I couldn't go to sleep because I was still afraid, I was still scared.

So I just laid there, you know, for a while,

and then I could feel myself, like, dozing off.

I could feel myself, like, starting to fall asleep again, you know?

And then it happened again.

You know, this hand on the side of my face, pushing me.

And it all happened so quickly, like, just pushing me into my pillow.

And I... it felt like I was going into this deep, dark hole.

You know, this hand was pushing me into this deep, dark hole.

And then I woke up and I was floating above myself, you know.

I looked down, there was my husband and there was I -

we were both sleeping on the mattress, but here I was.

- So I was out of my body. - Mm-hm.

I was floating above the bed.

And I looked around the room

and I looked into the corner

and there was this black woman - a woman was crouching in the corner.

And, you know, she had... her skin was all folded over,

you know, like, folded and wrinkly, like, um...

- You know those dogs? - Yeah, the...

You know, dogs with the folded skin?

Oh, what's the...? I can't remember.

You know what dog I'm talking about, eh.

I don't know the name of that particular dog,

but you know what dog I'm talking about.

Well, that dog, the one with the folded skin,

that's what her skin looked like, you know?

You know, and getting back to that woman,

she had folded skin and she was just sitting there, staring at me.

And as soon as I saw her,

I was afraid, but I knew that God was on my side,

you know, 'cause I'm a Christian.

And I said to that woman, or that thing, in the corner, you know,

'I rebuke you in Jesus' name!'

You know?

And that... that woman, it stood up,

but it had no legs.

It stood up on its arms, like this.

You know?

And I said to it again, you know, 'I rebuke you in Jesus' name!'

And it started crawling along the walls. You know?

Crawling along the walls, like this.

And it was crawling, and I was floating and I was looking

and I was saying, 'I see you and I rebuke you in Jesus' name.

I rebuke you in Jesus' name.'

You know?

And it... it was crawling along and it was, like, looking at me,

and looking like this and crawling along the wall.

Moving with its hands?

Moving with its hands. You know, it didn't have any legs, this thing.

Just moving across the wall.

It had red eyes glaring at me, you know.

And when I said 'I rebuke you in Jesus' name',

you know, 'cause God has more power over the creature,

and this thing, it just basmout.

Like, it turned to ash.

- Ash? - To Ash.

You know, turned to ash and, like smoke, it just went underneath the door,

underneath the door.

It went underneath and it went outside.

Because I worship the Creator, not the creature.

My God is more powerful.

Well, thank you. Thank you for telling your story.

It's beautiful.

Au eswou.

This story I'm gonna tell happened about 11 and a half years ago.

We were travelling... travelling from Alice to Adelaide.

We got about 100k's out of Coober Pedy and it was very late.

And we're travelling and I was looking forward to getting to Coober Pedy

to have a stretch and a drink.

And so we got about... probably about 80k's out of Coober Pedy,

and we're driving along and I'm just looking to the side of the road -

Mark's driving, all the kids are in the back -

and I spotted this young girl.

I reckon she would've been about 11 years old.

So from where the road is,

she would've been probably about 100m along the fence line.

And this young girl was, sort of, she was walking along the fence line.