“He was sound asleep when in his dream he heard the voice of a spirit who told him to wake up and get out of the house at once.”

I stop at my favorite coffee shop each morning and even though I don’t drink the stuff, I nurse my bottle of water, read the paper, and occasionally strike up a conversation with a nearby patron.

On this day I was talking to a nice Asian lady. She was young and pretty, about twenty-five or so, and dressed beautifully. She told me a fascinating story about her family.

Her father is Cambodian and knew dozens of people who had lost their lives during the terrible purge there. He apparently barely escaped with his life on several occasions and attributed it to a spirit that took him under its wing.

He had been targeted by the Kamir Rouge who were determined to exterminate the educated and professionals, along with anyone who had worked for the previous government. He was sound asleep when in his dream he heard the voice of a spirit who told him to wake up and get out of the house at once.

He did so and as he turned the corner, he looked back and saw several men with weapons storm into his home. Fortunately, two weeks earlier he had already sent his wife and two children to a safer haven.

Hiding in the fields for days, then weeks, he had several more visions that kept him just out of the reach of the invading forces. It seemed that every time he was in trouble, his “spirit guide” would lead him to safety.

He reported that prior to that first incident he had never had a vision like this before. And upon leaving Cambodia, his spirit guide must have stayed behind to help others because he never heard his voice again.

G. Morales
St. Louis, Missouri

“Is there, indeed, a battle going on within each of us between good and bad spirits?”

I believe in physical fitness and have been active almost every day of my life. It makes me feel good, both mentally and physically.

I jogged for many years but had to give it up when I felt I was doing too much damage to my knees and hips. These days I walk in the morning in a nearby park, and I swim in the afternoon, but it was the former activity that brought me in contact with Byron.

Byron is a seventy-six year old retired salesman. These days he dabbles in the stock market, but most of the time he hangs out in the park talking to anybody willing to listen to one of his many stories. In my opinion, Byron is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met in my life although one of the curious things about him is he was never willing to talk about his past or his personal life.

Recently, however, Byron opened up a bit and told me that ever since he was a child he had an ongoing battle with his inner demons. He said there are spirits that lurk within us all, and it is a matter of how we deal with them that determines our success in life and our happiness.

At first I thought he was using the term inner demons in a general way to describe our own flaws and anxieties, but he made it clear he believed that actual spirits inhabit us all. And some are good spirits with good intentions, and some are bad spirits with evil intentions.

I was surprised that such an intelligent and educated man could have such beliefs, but what was about to occur to Byron eventually made me rethink the issue.

He said unfortunately his evil spirits were overwhelming the good ones, and his life was in danger. I asked him what he meant, and he said, young man, I may not be around much longer. I looked at him and told him he looked fine, and he agreed but he said he could feel his resistance depleting. And he made it very clear that if the evil spirits succeed in pushing out the good spirits, the body cannot survive.

He could see the skeptical look on my face and wrote down his home address and handed it to me. He asked me to stop by his place the following Saturday.

Over the next several days, I noticed that Byron hadn’t been in his usual spot in the park, and I became concerned about him. When Saturday came, I couldn’t wait to drop by and see how he was doing. When I arrived, a woman answered the door and introduced herself as Byron’s sister. I asked if he was OK and if I could see him.

She said Byron had taken ill and almost died a couple of days earlier. She added that although the doctors weren’t able to isolate the exact cause, Byron had taken a turn for the better and was recuperating very nicely. They were releasing him from the hospital that afternoon.

Two weeks later, Byron was back to his old spot. He said, dear friend, the demons almost got me, but I fought them off and I will live to fight them another day.

Well, what am I to make of this? Was it all in his imagination, or was it for real? After all, he did battle for his life right after telling me his life was in danger. And is there, indeed, a battle going on within each of us between good and bad spirits?

R. Morse
Derby, England

“My first thought was that she had hurt herself, but when I looked through the hatch and went below deck, she had this frightened look on her face.”

My story has a nautical twist to it.

I have been sailing since childhood, having been born and raised in Seattle. I love the sea, and I do believe it holds many mysteries. Here is one of them.

I was celebrating my twenty-second birthday with my girlfriend Tania when we decided to rent a boat and take it out for a midnight cruise around the harbor. It was an old wooden sloop, thirty-four feet long with an inboard engine, and she was a beauty. I love spending time on boats, even when they’re just sitting in the slip.

Tania went below into the cabin while I got the boat ready topside. Then I heard her yell out my name. My first thought was that she had hurt herself, but when I looked through the hatch and went below deck, she had this frightened look on her face.

She said a face had appeared in one of the portholes. I said it was impossible because I was on deck and no one else was on the boat, or anywhere near us on the dock. She looked at me and I could see the fear in her eyes. I had never seen her like this.

Now, Tania is a very down-to-earth person and not one to get excited or to get carried away or to make up things. But she repeated to me that she saw a face staring at her through the porthole and she hadn’t imagined it.

Suddenly, she went white as a ghost as she was staring over my shoulder. I whirled around and there it was. A man’s face staring inside, not exactly at us, but definitely peering in from the porthole. At first I was startled, then I raced up the steps to the cockpit.

But no one was there. And no one was on the dock. It was impossible for anyone to get away that quickly because from the time I saw the face until the time I ran up on deck was maybe two or three seconds.

What was going on?

Fortunately, that was the last time we saw the face that night, probably because we never did take the boat out. I was as scared as Tania was, and there was no way we were going to cruise around that harbor in the dark that night. We didn’t want to be stuck out on the water in the middle of nowhere with strange faces staring through the windows at us.

We learned later on that a few years earlier someone had committed suicide on a boat in the slip next to ours, and similar sightings of the man had been reported from time to time. We were shown a photo of the man, and that was him.

E. Noscati
Chicago, Illinois

“We were to learn that the nightly sounds first started immediately after the murder occurred. And, worse yet, the killer had never been found.”

My buddies and I were just out of college and looking for a place to stay. We thought it’d be fun to live together in a big house, and we were excited to get a lead on an available place on the outskirts of town.

When we first got a glimpse of it, I can’t begin to say how disappointed we were. Big, sprawling, not well kept, and in need of a paint job – long, long overdue for a paint job.

The interior wasn’t much better. We all stood there and shook our heads and joked about what a dump it was. When the real estate agent said OK, I understand your disappointment, let’s go, we just looked at him. In unison, we said we’d take it.

Hey, we were just out of college. This was perfect for us.

Of course, what the agent neglected to tell us were the unearthly sounds we were to hear at all hours of the night. And we weren’t exactly delighted to hear that a murder had taken place there several years earlier. We were to learn that the nightly sounds first started immediately after the murder occurred. And, worse yet, the killer had never been found.

We were freaked, to say the least.

I was up late one evening in my room when so help me, I saw my top desk drawer open and close, open and close, open and close. It scared the hell out of me and I was too frightened to make a sound. I wanted to yell out for help, but I was tongue tied. I had seen this kind of thing in movies, and I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. It was surreal.

Weird things like that continued to happen during the year and actually we began to have fun with it. The ladies who we’d bring over would often cuddle closer to us as we explained the strange goings on. And they were always impressed that we were brave enough to live there. Hey, we’ll take all the flattery they’ll throw at us.

And one more thing: we asked the landlord if we could split the rent with the ghost(s) that shared the place with us. He said sure if we could collect it from them.

S. Ryser
Cleveland, Ohio

“After a while, they sat down on a bench, and the dog sat down in front of them, unmoving, staring quietly all the time.”

I’ve traveled all over the world, and recently I discovered a new wonderland, New Zealand. What a wonderful place. What wonderful people.

But, boy did I have a most unusual experience there. I can certainly say that. It was early Sunday morning, and I was taking my usual morning walk when I passed a young couple pushing a stroller.

I stopped and chatted for a while, and I noticed that their dog, which was a little ragged-looking and an obvious mixture of several breeds, kept staring at me. After a few minutes, without it ever taking its eyes off me, I became a bit unsettled. I asked them if their dog looked everyone in the eye, and did so without ever looking away.

What they told me gave me the chills.

He was apparently lost or homeless when he literally walked up to them in the park and started following them. There was no one else in sight, and he didn’t have any dog tags. And just like he was doing to me, he kept staring at them. After a while, they sat down on a bench, and the dog sat down in front of them, unmoving, staring quietly all the time.

They felt they had no choice but to take him home which was several blocks away and not in a straight line. What they couldn’t understand and still can’t explain to this day is that when they got up, the dog rose too and walked in front of them, leading the way.

The mutt had no idea where they lived but somehow, instinctively, he led them right to their front door where he sat down and looked at them as they walked up the walkway to the door.

No one in the neighborhood had ever seen the dog before so there was no way he could have known where they lived. The couple relayed one more thing. This wasn’t the only time the dog led them somewhere. He often leads the way, rarely making a mistake as to where they are going. It’s as if this stray dog is a mind reader.

And he never makes a wrong turn. Not even on the day they first found him and took him home, or rather he led them home.

V. Penner
Skokie, Illinois

“He had the feeling we were on the same wavelength. I think he may be right. It’s now happened several times that we have come online at the exact moment.”

It was bedtime and as usual it was pandemonium in the house.

The kids were in various stages of turning in for the night. Little Jeffrey was crying because his sister took something from him. Of course, Julie denied it saying the book was hers. And their older brother Keith was busy at his computer doing God knows what.

I’m a single mom, and I lead a good life, but I yearn for a good man and to be married again. When the kids were finally in bed and the noise disappeared for another day, I sat down at the computer and was eager to see if I had another email from a newfound friend down in Texas.

His name is Cal. I guess it’s short for Calvin and we truly met by happenstance. Well, maybe there was a little more to it. That’s why I’m telling you about it.

About a week ago, I awoke in the middle of the night with the unusual feeling that something was amiss. I felt a little odd, and I couldn’t fall back asleep. After tossing and turning, I decided to get up and with nothing else to do, turned on the computer.

The moment I got on AOL, there was this IM that immediately came on the screen. It was from Çal, and he said he just woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep, and I was on his mind. He said he just went over to the computer and as he came on AOL, my name appeared on his buddy list.

We had met online a few days before and he had the feeling we were on the same wavelength. I think he may be right. It’s now happened several times that we have come online at the exact moment. Since this happens at different times of the day or night, I think we have connected with one another, at least telepathically.

W. Steiner
Juneau, Alaska