Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side Barbara Parks (good e books to read .txt) đź“–
- Author: Barbara Parks
Book online «Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side Barbara Parks (good e books to read .txt) 📖». Author Barbara Parks
viction that I was supposed to meet them all along. It seemed
I had been privy to yet another random yet pivotal reminder
of how closely bound the spirit world is with our own. And
how sometimes (quite often when we least expect it) the spirit world takes charge and overshadows our own. Perhaps it is
238Out of Body
the spirit realm which best knows our true selves, stepping in when we most need it and guiding us through our trials.
Despite the harrowing story I’d just heard, I couldn’t help
smiling. Or perhaps it was because of the story that I felt so inspired. As I walked into the hotel lobby, I couldn’t have felt more bolstered. I was alone in a strange city, two thousand
miles from home, yet I couldn’t have felt more safe. I knew
without a doubt that the spirits were looking out for me.
chapter twenty-eight
T h e M i c h e l i n M a n
When Jodie and I met just over two years ago, we discovered
a mutual interest in the paranormal. Jodie has as sensitivity
which seems to attract ghostly visitations, some of which have left her utterly terrified. None more so than her encounters
with the ghoul she likened to a cartoon character composed
entirely of tyres.
“I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s the best way to describe him. This thing looked exactly like the Michelin Man …”
Jodie’s story stretches back to the early nineties; when she
was a twenty-something newly-wed. As excited as Jodie and
her husband were to move into their new home, it didn’t take
long before the gloss began to wear off. Something about it
just didn’t feel right. Jodie was especially sensitive to her new home’s feeling of heaviness; and its oppressive atmosphere
seemed to intensify as time went on.
Any suspicions that their home was haunted were con-
firmed in the early hours of a cold, winter’s morning. Jodie
239
240The Michelin Man
was awoken by a gushing sound coming from the corner of
the room.
“It was pretty loud,” she told me. “Loud enough to wake
me from a deep sleep.”
As soon as she opened her eyes, Jodie saw the globular fig-
ure standing just beyond the foot of the bed; its body shape
defined by a mass of undulating blobs. It looked as revolting as the feeling it seemed to emanate; unadulterated evil.
Jodie was transfixed by the disturbing vision before her, it
seemed as though it was challenging her and had no intention
of backing away. Although its body was a huge spongy mass,
its features was surprisingly small. A pinched and thin-lipped face leered at her from the darkness; she was terrified.
“The worst thing was I couldn’t move,” she told me. “I was
completely paralysed. I couldn’t even make a sound to wake
my husband. All I could do was look.”
All the while the gushing sound seemed to be getting
louder, until the room was engulfed in vibration and noise.
And when Jodie realised where the sound was coming from,
the whole situation suddenly felt infinitely worse.
The Michelin Man was urinating against the bedroom
wall, his amorphous head turned towards Jodie. He was obvi-
ously intent on causing maximum distress, a look of evil satisfaction on his face.
“I suppose that’s when my anger overtook everything else,”
said Jodie. “I was disgusted.”
Her voice suddenly restored, Jodie began screaming. She
unleashed a torrent of expletives that would under normal cir-
cumstances have made her blush. Her husband was of course
woken by the commotion, and leapt up in a panic. He was
convinced that his wife was being attacked.
The Michelin Man 241
By now the Michelin Man had vanished, leaving Jodie
unable to prove that he had been there at all. Her husband
tried to convince her that she’d been dreaming.
Jodie however had no doubts as to the reality of her vis-
itation. And although further proof was unwarranted, the
Michelin Man saw fit to show himself once again.
The perfect opportunity to terrorise his target presented
itself a few weeks later. Jodie’s husband was away on business, leaving an anxious Jodie alone in the house.
It wasn’t long after settling into bed that the Michelin Man
made himself known to her, announcing his presence with a
sudden whoosh of air. A moment later he was at the end of
Jodie’s waterbed, which began to undulate as he moved towards
her.
“Get out!” Jodie screamed. “Just fuck off!”
She snapped on the light and bolted out of the bedroom,
as she continued shouting profanities. She was determined to
make him go away.
Peace was restored for at least a little while, until another
vulnerable woman moved into the master bedroom. By now
Jodie’s marriage was over and she had moved out. Her ex-hus-
band was working away, so his sister decided to move in to
take care of the house.
“She copped it worse than me,” said Jodie. “She still cries
about it to this day.”
Jodie told me that not long after moving out of her mari-
tal home, she called in to drop off some paperwork. Despite
the break-up of her marriage, she and her sister-in-law had
remained good friends. It wasn’t uncommon for Jodie to call
by for a drink and a chat. This time however, the women’s con-
versation felt strained and somehow different.
242The Michelin Man
It didn’t take much encouragement for her sister-in-law to
reveal what was wrong; she had been subjected to the atten-
tions of the Michelin Man.
Jodie’s heart sank. She hadn’t wanted to frighten her so had
kept the details of the frightening visitations to herself. She had hoped that after her abusive tirade the ghost had finally gone.
Jodie couldn’t have been more wrong, the Michelin Man
was obviously staying put.
“It’s hard to even describe him” said her sister-in-law. “It
was really weird, his body shape just kept changing.”
“He looks like the Michelin Man, doesn’t he?”
Her sister-in-law nodded in agreement as the tears began
to fall. Apparently the entity had violated her, lying on top
of her as his globular hands trailed her paralysed body. She
couldn’t even scream.
A cold uneasiness had settled on the house, the two women
knew they could never feel safe there again.
Jodie told me that her sister-in-law dealt with her trauma
by launching herself into researching the
Comments (0)