True Ghost Tales

Shaking Bed

Though I do have an interest in supernatural fiction, I can't claim to be a hard-core believer in the supernatural. I am inclined to view most of the shows and reports about the supernatural with some skepticism. Being a sensible person, I tend to believe that there is a rational explanation for most things. However, I have known people and have experienced firsthand some things that defy rational explanation so I do know not all things are in our physical domain. The story I am about to relate is one of my personal experiences into this realm.

This particular incident happened in the spring of 1993 not long after I purchased a bed from a local antique dealer in Fullerton, CA. I live alone so it could not have been a roommate or family member playing a joke.

One day driving home from work, I passed an antique store on Harbor Boulevard in the business section of Fullerton. I saw a bed and matching chest of drawers that just looked perfect. The design is late '30s early '40s style of Matchstick veneer with some craved accents and brass and Bakelite pulls on the drawers. It struck me as so appropriate to my personal taste that I parked the car so I could get a better look in the display window. The price tag was visible and it looked like a fair price for two pieces of nice furniture of any era. After getting a second opinion on the deal, I purchased the bed and chest.

I owned the furniture for about two months when the first event occurred. I was shaken awake one morning at about 5:15 am. Being in California, I thought it was an earthquake until I noticed a pressure holding down my arms and legs and that noticed nothing else in the room was moving. Also, I could not speak. My thoughts were, "What the hell is going on!" then "Oh, God make it stop!" It scared me but the experience only lasted about two or three minutes. I passed it off as one of those weird things that happen in life and forgot about it in a couple of days.

About two months later, I was awakened by the feeling of someone sitting on the bed, again at about 5:15 am. I tried to see if one of my cats had gotten into the bedroom but found that I could not move. I noticed a very distinct pressure holding me down. This time it was not just my arms and legs, but it felt like another body on top of me holding me down. That was enough to unnerve me, but then the bed began to shake violently. Had something not had me pinned in place, I definitely would have been shaken out of the bed. Again, I could not find my voice to say anything but in my mind I kept thinking, "Oh God, what is happening! Oh God, please make it stop!" After a few minutes, it did.

The noise was so loud, I was sure my next door neighbor heard the ruckus through the wall since on a couple of occasions she had called to ask me to turn down the volume on my television. When I saw her that evening, she never mentioned any loud thumping. This left me very frightened. I was reluctant to talk to anyone because, as many of you know, you get "the look" and the patronizing attitude.

In September, I moved and thought the incidents would stop once I was in a new place. In November, I was awakened again at about 5:15 am by the pressure holding me down only this time it was pressing so hard I could barely breathe. I was terrified because I thought it would stop with the move. The bed began its familiar shaking. I began panicking and thinking, "What is this? What can I do? God, please help me." The shaking showed no signs of stopping when I was finally able to get out, in a hushed voice, the words, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I order you to stop!" The shaking stopped immediately and the pressure on my body ceased.

I was so distraught, I finally told the story to a friend and she suggested the obvious earthquake theory. I said that no quakes had been reported on any of the occasions and that nothing else in the room was shaking. She then suggested that it might be the house coming off the foundation since it was an older house. I said that might explain one house but not both and pointed out that at the duplex my neighbor had not experienced this phenomenon. I also said that nothing else in the room moved which would have happened just as it would in a ‘quake. She summed it up with, "There must be a rational explanation for this, we just haven't found it yet."

This has not occurred since that morning I invoked Jesus' name but I cannot explain what happened or why. It still gives me goosebumps when I think about it and I have not been comfortable or slept well in the bed since.