A SITE FOR UNKNOWN AUTHORS OF FICTION AND HORROR
HAVING AN UNKNOWN ENTITY SITTING ON YOUR CHEST

I have told it many times over the years, at parties, to friends, online and to any one else who would listen. It is a true story....every word of it... I swear.

Back many years ago my brother and I found ourselves living in the same city and decided to be roomies to save on costs. Neither of us having much money we were looking for a cheap 2 bedroom apartment to rent. After scouring the listings in the local newspaper we came across a place that was too cheap to be believed. Two bedroom apartments started at around $ 350.00 per month back then ( ya it was a long, long time ago ), this place was going for $ 225.00. We couldn't believe our luck and then we saw the place. What a dump, it was the top floor of a converted ancient and very dilapidated house. Still, it offered the chance to save a few bucks so we spoke with the landlord about taking it.

I didn't pick up on the fact that he had been having a lot of trouble keeping tenants in this unit, I guess I was only looking at the savings. So we moved in. After a long day of hauling our junk furniture up a flght of stairs we were both exhausted and slept like babies the first night in our new digs. Little did I know it would be the last decent night's sleep I would have in this place. The trouble started the second night. The place was haunted I tell ya.

Very early in the morning I felt strangely uncomfortable, something had disturbed my sleep but I knew not what. Glancing at the alarm clock it read 3:43 AM. I struggled to fall back to sleep. Thinking nothing of it, I got up rather early the next morning, a Sunday and helped my brother finish all of the things that need finishing when you have just moved in. That day, though another long and tiring one was uneventful.

I had to be at work for 7:30AM the next day and a good night's sleep was important. In the wee hours of the morning I was awoken again, glancing at the clock one more time it read 3:43AM. This time the place was freezing, unusual as it was mid summer and a foul odour pervaded the air. I was having trouble breathing as if there was a weight on my chest. It was a very uncomfortable feeling. Again no sleep was forthcoming the last few hours I lay in bed. Pulling myself out of bed I dragged my sorry body to work that day.

The next night again I was awoken but this time by footsteps coming down the hallway. Looking at the clock it was 3:43AM. I thought my brother was walking around in the dark but as I became more aware of my surroundings I could hear him snoring in the next room. Suddenly I felt an enormous weight on my chest as if someone had jumped on me. I tried to scream but felt a cold, clammy hand covering my mouth. The air was frigid and as foul as it was the night before. Just as suddenly as the weight had come onto my chest it dissapeared, footsteps quickly retreating down the hallway and then a door slamming at the end of the hall.

I jumped out of bed and ran into the next room to wake my brother up. He suggested I was crazy as he had not experienced anything of what I had. Going back to my bed sleep was impossible, if you can imagine. I dragged myself out of bed a few hours later, on to work, I made it through another very tired day.

The next night, as tired as I was sleep was out of the question. In speaking with my brother about it he had agreed to keep a lookout for the " entity " as we had begun calling it. I could hear him snoring in the next room. Great lookout bros.... I feel better now. About 3:00AM I walked into his room and woke him up. It was warm and humid in the apartment, no sign of the entity. He told me to get lost, still after being awoken he was struggling with a restless sleep. I went back to my bed and waited. Deciding I didn't want to experience the weight on my chest again I laid on my side with my eyes riveted to the clock. I watched it as the numbers flipped 3:41AM.....3:42AM.....3:43AM and then a rush of freezing cold air, the footsteps coming down the hall, the foul odour, then something pushed me onto my back. I managed to let out a scream just as the cold, clammy hand covered my mouth.

My scream was enough to roust my brother out of bed. He ran into my room and turned on the light. At the same instant the hand was removed from my mouth as the weight left my chest. The entity pushed my brother up against the wall, knocking over a lamp and retreated down the hall. We could hear the footsteps and then the door at the end of the hall slammed ....but there was nothing there. Nothing at all. At least nothing we could see but both of us had just experienced something. Of that we were certain. I phoned my girlfriend and told her that she was going to have two guests sleeping on her floor. Hurriedly we dressed and ran out of the apartment. It was still extremely cold inside. Once outside it was alarmingly different than the coolness of the apartment. It was hot and humid. One of those warm sticky nights but why so cold in our old, rundown apartment, which did not have air conditioning?

We never slept there again. A few days later I approached the landlord and informed him that we were leaving. His look of resignation made me suspicious so I asked him what was up. It seems this was not a new occurance. Other tenants had left inexplicably as well. Hence the bargain on the rent. We found another place a few days later and slugged all of our stuff out of that apartment.

Now I was a believer in ghosts. I had witnessed it with my own eyes, ears and sense of smell. No one could tell me that ghosts didn't exist. My brother as well. He had been pushed against a wall by an invisible force. Over the next few months in telling people about it I realized that everyone thought I was crazy. I tempered the telling of the story a bit so as not to sound so unbelievable.

Less than a year later and completely by chance I was at a house party telling my story to a few friends and new aquaintances.

A gentleman I had just met asked me " What time did you say that was ? "

" 3:43AM " I replied.

" And where did you say that house was located ?"

I expected him to tell me about some grizzly murders committed on that street so many years ago or something of that nature. We all have the stereotypes in our minds. Instead he informed me that he was a city engineer.

" At 3:40 AM every day an effluent flow is released from one of the sewage reservoirs to the main treatment facility. It is an automated, timed release so it happens precisely at that time every morning. I asked you where the house was located because some of those old houses do not have proper flow back check valves in their drainage. Or the state of the decrepit house you describe could suggest the check valve is rotted away. The effluent flow is released at 3:40AM but would take a few minutes to work it's way to that neighborhood. It is like a sludge. It forms a huge vacuum suction as it moves along through the drainage system. That vacuum would form enough pressure to drive the cold and extremely foul sewage air and gasses from deep underground. If there is no check valve in place, that cold air would drive up through the old house displacing the much lighter warm air. Doors slamming, floorboards creaking and things getting knocked around would all be the natural result of that massive air displacement. "

" What about the cold, clammy hand on my face? "

" I can't answer that one other than to say who knows what is in that contaminated sewage air ? It could be something as simple as an alergic reaction, or the debilitating effects of poisonous gasses, who knows ? "

Well I knew. I knew I had just made a fool of myself with these ghost stories for the past several months. Not to mention the crucifix, wooden stake, holy water, silver bullets and the bible I had been carrying around with me since then.