Saturday, October 11, 2014

What is the most ghostly experience you ever had?

One summer we stayed in my boyfriend's aunt's mansion in Stockholm. It was scary, and there were random giant mirrors in hallways, and sides of balconies to give it a grand perception.

One night, at about 2 AM, I decided to bring some cherries from cherry basket in the central hall. (Do not ask why.) It involves going from bedroom to one floor down via a dimly lit corridor, then terrace followed by spiral red carpet staircase. My heart was pounding even before I started to make my move. I decided not to look into the mirrors or the paintings, and the plan was just to keep my focus on my feet as I go down and bring the stuffs back. I asked my boyfriend to keep talking to me while I go and come back. Sound like a good plan?

When I started, he started to tell me the Red Riding Hood story. Bad choice. I was laughing when I left the bedroom. I realized the lights were bright enough to see everything as clearly as day. The creepy thing was it was too damn silent and cold. And, the plan was flawed. As I was walking through the corridor, I realized the destination is far enough that his voice would eventually fade away. The second problem was, I could still see the mirror from corner of my eyes. So, I was looking at my feet and I could see them in the mirrors, though I wanted to avoid them.

As I was moving forward, the story voice was fading away, and noise from my footstep was becoming more intense. My heart started racing. I lost my friends voice when the wolf attacks the girl in the story or may be I panicked and stopped hearing his words, and instead my ears became super sensitive for whispering and hushy sounds made by my clothes, slipper, and creaks of the wooden floor. Just before I reached to the open area on terrace which was not scary, I do not know what hit me, I decided to see my face in the mirror. Oh, it was not so scary, I thought. Until I notices the parallel mirrors were creating infinite reflection of mine and I could see my face was distorted more in every subsequent one or so I felt. I ran about 10 feet, to turn to left to the balcony, I thought heard someone whispered, "Sherry...". I screamed. I ran to a corner and sat down with my back tightly touching the walls because I am always scared of something coming from behind.

I rested a good three to five seconds to realize that I was just being stupid. I rationalized the situation. I could hear aunt Becky's daughter talking over the phone. I also realized that the place was modern and very well lit. I thought I was too scared that viewed the mirror for too short time to come to any conclusion about distortion. I also decided to not have parallel mirrors in my house if I own one. Stood up. Tighten my clothes for minimum obstruction. Took my slippers in my hand. Slowly, I reached to the mouth of the corridor. Gulped my saliva. I did say something which was like a prayer for my life. And I broke into a sprint till I hit the room door flung open to find out that my boyfriend was was about to finish "The Miller, his son and their donkey" story.

I was surprised that I took so long that he finished two stories. He said that he realized that the Red Riding Hood was a bit grim story, so he changed it as soon as I left the room. It surprised me because I was hearing him tell the Red Riding Hood tale till the fox attacked. When I told me what happened to me, he took me through the corridor to show me that the mirrors were just one side of the wall, denying any possibility of seeing infinite reflection.

PS: I originally told it to my friend who was reluctantly answering a Quora request.