True Ghost Tales

Strange Party

The "Cult House" thread put me in the mind of the following story which I received recently via The Paranormal Project web site. I suppose parts of it could be considered "ghostly", however the whole story is so weird that it is difficult to pigeon-hole into one category. I have been searching for an explanation in "rational" terms (the reason "Cult House" made me think of this story is because I'm wondering if the sender of this story didn't perhaps have some kind of traumatic experience at the hands of some cult in the house he describes); perhaps you guys can help me. Regardless, I thought you might enjoy it. Here goes:

Our correspondent was an undergraduate at the University of Maryland in the late 1960s. One Friday afternoon, as he was leaving the campus and heading for his car, his attention was diverted by one of the many young women dispensing flyers along the path. Not only did he feel unusually compelled to take a flyer from this particular girl, he also felt that "there was a sort of telepathic connection" between them. He says that he knew what the flyer concerned (directions to a party taking place that evening) as soon as his eyes met the girl's. (This may sound a bit flaky, but I can assure you that judging from the content of his correspondences this person gives all appearances of being a level-headed and rational individual and he is perfectly willing to accept a "non-supernatural" explanation for the following incidents.) He describes the girl as "short with very fair skin, crystal blue eyes, a buster brown type haircut of straight blonde hair...very angelic looking..."

As the day wore on, our correspondent felt more and more compelled to go to the party and to go alone which, he says, was extremely unusual for him. At this point, however, he attributed the source of all such feelings to an attraction to the girl.

That night he drove out to the then rural Largo (MD) area indicated on the map and eventually located a large "country/farm type house" which, he was certain upon sighting, was the place he was seeking. Pulling up to the house he noticed two young people on the porch, but no overt signs of a party. He parked his car next to several others that were lined up perpendicular to the side of the house.

As he made his way up to the house he noted that the two people previously on the porch were no longer there. Assuming that they had gone inside, he climbed the steps and peeked in the framed glass door but saw no one, let alone any indication of a party in progress. He knocked on the door and then let himself in. At this point he became aware that someone was approaching him, but his "consciousness began to fade or shift and [he] could not 'see' them." From this point on he experienced extreme difficulty in perceiving his surroundings, as though he was in a sort of "mental fog" (although he assures us that alcohol/drugs played absolutely no part in this episode), however he could make out a pair of staircases that bordered the back of the entrance hall on each side and led to a second floor mezzanine. On the left staircase he discerned a small figure in black moving up the stairs and on the right several identical figures moving down. The scene was accompanied by an "eerie silence." Our friend experienced extreme confusion giving way suddenly to abject terror and an urgent need to leave, which was easier acknowledged than achieved. He compares this stage of his experience to a nightmare in which one is trying earnestly to escape something, yet is barely able to attain movement. He insists, however, that this experience was not a dream.

The next thing he remembers is driving home in his car and feeling "numb." The details (such that they are) of the story did not come to him until several days later.

Three years later found our correspondent living in Seattle and hunting down a job. One day, on his way to an interview, he was stopped at an intersection where several streets merged into a main artery. While waiting for the light, he "became aware (sensed)" that the person in the lane to his left was "staring at [him] intently." He turned to see an "old junker type" car in which sat "a woman with an exceptionally large round head (sort of obese looking). She stared at [him] and then fixed a very broad Cheshire cat like grin showing very square yellow brown teeth that looked like they were made of wood. Her eyes were wide open and very blue and her skin was pale with very red lipstick and straight short blonde hair. Her general appearance was grotesque and menacing"; so menacing, in fact, that our correspondent accelerated through the intersection against the light, remarkably without detriment to life or limb.

He says that it was not until several years later, "in a sort of flash of insight" that he realized that the woman at the intersection was probably "a darker image" of the one handing out flyers on the University of Maryland campus back in the late '60s.