It occurred in the year 1989 in Crockett, California. Just like most homes in the town, we lived in a very old house, over 80 years old. I was 11 years old in 1989. My older sister frequently had stories of scary paranormal incidents in the house, but I honestly never believed her.

So one night in 1989, I was trying to go to sleep in my room. I was having trouble falling asleep. I really didn't feel tired at all. I was semi-unconsciously tapping a rhythmic beat on the side of my metal bed frame. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I could hear the same beat in the wall on the opposite side of the bed. Not thinking anything weird yet, I stopped my tapping and the same rhythmic tapping continued from the wall. I still wasn't scared. Honestly, the tapping incident all happened so fast, I didn't have time to process it. It is what happened next that terrified me.

As soon as I realized the tapping was continuing in the wall and it wasn't from me, I turned my head and inadvertently was faced toward my deep walk-in closet. In the back of the closet was a small man-like creature. He had beady black eyes and a beard. He was probably two feet tall. I didn't stick around to take a closer look. I ran as fast as I could screaming from my room. I was never a kid who had nightmares or needed to sleep with my mommy. It wasn't like I was a little kid anymore; I was 11 years old when this happened.

I have honestly never been so terrified in my life. That man was there! I saw him. After calming me down, my mom went into my bedroom, checked out the closet, said nothing was there, and closed and locked the door. My mom convinced me that I saw an illusion and that was the end of it.

About 4 years later, I was writing an essay about the experience for my high school English class. As we were driving in the car, I reminded my mother of that night in 1989. My mom just looked over at me and told me that she had seen the man too. She saw what I saw. She said she just couldn't believe that it was true and thought it had to be something else, so she just closed and locked the door. It was a relief to know that I wasn't crazy that night, because I knew I wasn't half asleep or just seeing things. But then again, I had tried to convince myself that I had been wrong about the man. It was quite scary all over again to realize that in the bedroom that I still slept in every night had once upon a time had a paranormal creature watching me and trying to communicate with me.

As an adult I started reading a book about demonic possession. On page 8 of the book it discussed how demons frequently engage children in communicating with them through knocking on walls. I literally threw the book and never picked it up again. I'm not a big paranormal buff. Was there a demon in my closet? Gnome? Elf? Just an illusion? I don't know, but that's my story.