The late night visitor (SWC)

This is my entry to the @jerrybanfield supernatural writing contest. I was born in Nigeria and its quite common to hear tales of witchcraft, people waking up to cane marks like they where thrashed by witches at night, mothers confessing on killing their kids, people waking up to see old women on live electricity poles who later confess to being witches who flew into the poles during their journeys at night and other supernatural events occurring but this event was new to my ears. It is also important to know that in Nigeria we practice 3 main religions; Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion (Ancestral worship) and I hail from a strong christian home. By strong I mean having devoted parents and going to church regularly and the part where I was born are strongly rooted in ancestral worshiping and voodoo. We do not believe so much in Ghost although they are stories of encounters with people who had just died.

The events I am going to describe occurred to me around mid 2008. I can clearly remember this and at that time i was home alone for 2 years as I used to stay with my mum but she had traveled abroad to the US on visit to my elder brother who was serving in the army and had been away for over a year. So there I was in this 3 bedroom apartment all by myself which was every young mans dream. I had just graduated and was waiting to be called up for National service so i barely left the house and I am not used to sleeping outside. I had a girlfriend who only visited during the day as she was not allowed to spend the night out and so I was always alone at night and I was quite used to this solitude or maybe I just like staying alone.

The day of the first visit I had I woken up that night at about 2.45 am to a strange feeling. I was awake but still in bed and had this feeling like something was wrong when I had the knocks. 3 knocks at very short intervals which made it sound like it was rather a tap on the door in 3 short intervals. I continued to lie down and kept listening but had no further sound coming so I crept out of bed and went to the living room where I managed to peep out through the windows and saw nothing. I checked the locks and they where intact and still locked. I was so scared and couldn't sleep for hours but after a while I managed to summoned some courage and said some prayers as we are taught to do as Christians after having bad dreams and nightmares and went back to bed. I remember sleeping soundly after that till the next day.

The next day all I did was pondered what had happened. Now, let me describe where I live. My house was a 4 bedroom apartment built by my mum. The house is built inside a fenced perimeter of land and has a big gate leading into the main compound. The main building again has some protective iron (we call it protectors) that covers the balcony area and this has a gate with a padlock before you get to the main door which is made of wood (The door being Knocked on). So an intruder would have to either go through 2 gates before getting to this door or one gate if he had jumped in through the fence and in either way whoever can get to the main door should have the keys which just gave no sense to how someone had managed to knock on my door at such hour without opening the gates..

I had pondered all the options all through that day and even discoursed with some friends who just laughed it off that I was dreaming or maybe I had taken too much alcohol the previous night but I was convinced deep down that something was wrong somewhere and this was not just an ordinary knock. I went as far as googling the phenomenon but all response and stories I saw pointed out to it being an unfriendly spirit or demon and threats of ill fortune befalling the house where it occurs but I had rejected that option and had decided within myself that whatever made those knocks was asking permission to come in. I assumed and accepted with myself that an evil or demonic spirit wont go knocking around doors for permissions but should rather break in or just teleport their way in. The option of it being someone is completely ruled out as I am the only one with the keys.

The second visit occurred at about exactly the same time the next night. This time I had woken with the same feeling and then the knocks. clearly audible knocks in short intervals. I lay on the bed lying face up and listened as the previous night and this time was really scared as hell that I didn't even think to stand up when I felt a strange presence come into my room, it was dark so i saw nothing and I was too scared to move and kept staring at the ceiling then I felt it get into the bed where I lay and lay beside me. Surprisingly I felt a sudden peace and relaxation come over me and there was this aura or calmness that seemed to engulf me and I drifted into one of the sweetest sleep I had ever had. I still don't have an explanation for this feeling but it seemed to affirm my belief that this was a friendly spiritual visitor.

I can never forget this experience and whenever I think of it I still get this feeling that comes over me. I have no explanation of what it might have been but I still conclude that it was a spirit sent to protect me. I don't think evil can radiate such serenity I felt that night and I have long concluded within myself that it was a good spirit that had come visiting. I had no misfortunes coming from my family around that time so I had inwardly debunked the stories I had read about demons knocking on doors and bringing misfortune to people who answers. Since then I haven't had this night visitor and I have been living alone for the past 5 years now. I am still searching for answers to this occurrence and would be glad too if anyone has some Ideas.

I have posted this story on steemit before but I think this version is better and more precise https://steemit.com/paranormal/@uyiedos/strange-knocks.