Please Don't Think I'm Crazy

My name is Jennifer Spektor, please don't think I'm crazy.

September last year, my job promotion finally payed off financially as I went from renting a 1 bedroom apartment to buying a (at most) 3 star house. All the hard work, unpaid late nights, ass kissing, TV dinners and isolating myself from friends and boyfriend to do extra work at home meant that this lady was moving up in the world, otherwise known as the city of Boston.

September 27th, the cooler weather had just returned and it was the day I moved my boxes, technology and furniture to what I could now call home, with the help of my friend Laura and devilishly handsome BF Jake of course. After a quick lunch we moved on to getting my bed set up, but as we entered the bedroom something was off, or rather the atmosphere and smell were off, I'm not too sure how to describe it. We could see clouds coming out of our mouths when we spoke, that's how freezing it was, and the stench, as Laura put it, was like "rotten fish and body odor," we inspected the room but all we found was an odorless patch of moisture on the wall. Now I'm sure anyone else (possibly someone more in tune with supernatural shit or really anyone with more intelect) would have suspected that something wasn't right, but for whatever reason we didn't think much of it and went on with our day, throwing a little house warming party later in the evening. And thus my fate had been sealed.

Now to be completely honest nothing was noticeable at first, aside from stuff that I wouldn't have thought about like a pan being left on the counter or the TV remote being on the floor. Then I made the mistake of taking note of these things happening, and it seemed like once I started paying attention, that's when events got even creepier. Chairs knocked down, the sound of walking up and down the stairs and in the hallways, computer glitching, lights flickering and some bulbs even blowing up on 2 occasions, TV turning on at like 1 or 2am when I had turned it off (even when I would unplug it), trash on the floor every time I woke up, the smell starting to get much more vomit inducing and scent the other rooms.

But I'm afraid those weren't the worst of the activities, as one night when I was eating dinner, I saw a figure in a hooded black and purple robe standing by the refrigerator, just watching me. Turning my head back round to the fridge it seemed like they had just vanished. Same night that happened, just as I was about to fall asleep, a group chanting in tongues could be heard, almost as if it was coming from the attic, naturally I got out of bed to inspect but as soon as I exited my bedroom, it stopped. The cherry to finish off this real life nightmare is my alarm going off, and despite the time reading 6am, I checked my watch and it was actually 4:15am, what was more frightening however was when I looked round the room, my vision came in contact with the hooded figure again, this time being a reflection in the mirror. There was a slight difference as they appeared shorter, with long hair being more visible.

If you think these visions weren't a one off occurrence, you'd be correct as I kept on seeing them everywhere, whether it was at home, at work, at the gym, going on walks, hanging out with friends or my boyfriend, it didn't matter if I was having fun or not, seeing a robed figure appear for a good second always made everything worse. What was scarier was despite the same cloaks, they always appeared to be a different height, different gender, have different hair styles, there was no consistency other than the robe connection, as if I was being haunted by some sort of collective.

January 3rd this year, I had returned to my home city of Salem for Christmas and the New Year. With the 3rd being my last day before I returned to Boston, me and the family decided to spend my final day with a walk in the woods. Before departing to Salem, the thought of the haunting following me and effecting my family had crossed my mind, but thankfully up to that point the horror had subsided, I thought to myself "perhaps the activity has finally come to an end?" Yes I was a tool.

Despite the temperature being in the negatives, the woods only had a few patches of snow, although it definitely wasn't shorts and tank top weather. As we were walking further, my adorable nephew uttered "You ever wonder if someone is watching us?" Everyone chuckled, including me for a little while, but then (possibly out of a combination of curiosity and fear) I turned around and 5 characters were standing in the distance, this time though, ominous whispers entered my ears, they were also holding some sort of dark brown staff encrusted with gold nuggets and a purple gem.

Anyone else would've started running away but for some reason, my legs became frozen with fear. My eyes stayed glued to them, an attempt to turn back or blink being impossible, chances are that any frozen sweat on my forehead had likely defrosted. And then, as if those whispers were some sort of hypnotic spell, my legs started moving towards them, stopping proved futile as my shaking body moved inches closer to them. Suddenly, I blacked out.

Demonic shrieking pierced my eardrums like some sort of disturbing alarm going off, a burst of adrenaline kicked in. Sadly the hooded jacket and flannel shirt that kept me warm had been stolen, but that wasn't the most concerning part of this scenario. The horrifying part was what my vision had to take in. The four walls of a dinghy, mud covered, claustrophobic cabin. A stench similar to home perfumed (or rather radiated) the room, only this time it was much more sickly. Thankfully it was still somewhat light outside, but it was clear that the night sky was only minutes away. Faint growling could be heard and as soon as that sent my blood into icy depths, finding a way out seemed like the only logical option. Pushing the rusted door handle didn't work, neither did screaming like someone who's losing their sanity (which in all fairness, that might be becoming reality for me). Scoping the room, I noticed a window on the verge of breaking, no lock, no sensible way of getting out, no item to destroy it with... You don't need me to say how I escaped. If you're curious about the aftermath, once reuniting with my family, they rightfully asked where I had been for the past 5 hours and why cuts and dirt graced my body, the only real excuse on the top of my head was "I got distracted and couldn't find my way back." I left Salem with stitches on my left arm, tiny cuts under my eye, and now a new spirit stalking me, only difference is this one has a red stripe on their robe and wears a grey, mangled and dirty mask.

If you want to know what paranormal activity has been happening since January 3rd, some writing on the walls caught my eyes many times, but it seems untranslatable, almost as if it's an ancient language lost to time or some sort of made up code. Everyday the figures get closer to me, and a few times they appear in groups, I could've swarn that one night a bunch of them surrounded my bed and chanted something (in what language I don't know), their masked leader sat on my bed, crawling to me until my eyes could see the dirt on their mask. I woke up in a cold sweat when the leader whispered "You're almost ready Jennifer." You know what, as I'm writing this account, there's shrieking coming from the attic, but I suppose I've become numb to this garbage because honestly, I don't care.

Life's also getting worse one day after another, with all these things affecting my social and work life. The job that practically payed for this whole nightmare, guess what? I got fired cuz apparently my "workrate slipped and wasn't up to our quality," although I think what they wanted to say was "you're fucking crazy, quit going on about this shit." Aside from the occasional messages, my friend group has ditched me, and my sweet Jake, the one person who I thought I could tell all my problems to, well after a heated argument, I broke up with him. I tried texting him saying I'm sorry but so far, zero responses. Speaking to a therapist didn't help, I kept on snapping which ultimately culminated in me punching one of them. Trying to get the house back on the market was unsuccessful, the lady I bought it from has been M.I.A, and calling the real estate company she worked for is off the table, every call I've made going straight to voicemail. Looking them up practically gives you nothing.

One bright spot however, those therapy sessions introduced me to a kind soul named Tyler. He was the first to spark the conversation, and from the get go he seemed to subtly hint he knew something. Tyler's been around my house many times since, but 2 visits stand out the most, 1 where he was not only able to hear the noises, but also saw someone (or possibly something), but that pales in comparison to the second.

For context, I was looking for some files to put together a new résumé and upon finding a folder, a photograph I had no knowledge of graced the front page, and all I'll say is that if you've got brains then I don't need to tell you what hooded group graced the picture. Since Tyler is my only confidant and seemed more knowledgeable, I invited him over. To say Tyler dropped a bomb would be an understatement, his soft tones delivering the revelation that the people in the picture (and therefore the people that have been haunting me) were a group of occultists that would summon spirits, he also knew that one of the original tenants of this house was a member. While disturbingly satisfyed to see the full circle, one question couldn't escape my mind, how the hell did Tyler know more about the houses past than I did? I'm the owner yet it took almost a year to finally solve the mystery of these apparitions, and the only way I found the answer was from a man I had only known for 2 months. Tyler's actually supposed to be coming over tonight, apparently with quote "Someone important," who this mystery person is and how important they are I have no clue, an exorcist maybe?

When I first bought this house my life seemed to be on the right track, I had a job that payed well, amazing friends, a boyfriend too wonderful for words. But after a year, I feel drained, I feel chained to this property, whenever I've left or tried to sell it, it seems like it knows and gets more and more angry at me, sometimes it feels like the spirits of these occultists are a punishment. In the end, I guess I really am crazy. The door bell's just rang, I'm taking a wild guess that it's Tyler and his mystery friend.