The events
Time: Two events, both in the early morning
Date: December 1976
Place: My private two-room suite on the 5th floor of the Bourne & Hollingsworth staff hostel, “Warwickshire House”, 60 Gower Street, London
First time: I was 20 years old. I was sleeping lightly, almost awake. In the next moment I felt a hand resting on my chest, palm downwards, fingers pointing toward my throat. It moved a little further up toward my throat but still stayed on my chest. A voice said to me, “I can kill you anytime I want to.” I woke up gasping for air. (The hand wasn’t choking me, but I anticipated it would reach my throat in the next moment and started gasping out of anticipation.)
Second time: It was about one week later, close to Christmas. I was visited by the same entity. Again it was the early morning and I was nearly awake. I started to dream that I was lying under a tree. A twig fell down and hit me on the right side of my neck. The twig fell with force and with intent. I woke up traumatised.
Awake, I realised immediately that it was no dream, no twig. It was the same entity visiting me again. The impact of the twig hitting my neck — this impact was the entity flicking the right side of my neck savagely with his thumb and forefinger.
This time, he hadn’t spoken.
The takeaways
We’re at our most vulnerable when asleep. If an entity is present, we’re aware of it, not consciously but subconsciously, and our awareness can give rise to a momentary dream.
It isn’t the physical body that gets attacked, but the spiritual body.
Background
I was about to visit Vienna for the first time. My flight and hotel were booked. These hauntings occurred a few days before I flew. Visiting Vienna was a significant moment in my life, a very positive thing, but notably it was preceded by these two related negative events.
Thoughts and theories
I think the entity was a human soul, a man who had died but who stayed on the spiritual plane very close to our physical plane. His voice was neutral, without an accent. I heard him with my spiritual ear, of course, not with my physical ear.
I think the timing was significant. Did this man have a grudge? Was he aware (because in the spirit world we can see further) that I was soon to receive a privilege, firstly by visiting Vienna and later by moving to live here? Could he see my favourable destiny and, although it had nothing to do with him, did he feel angered by it?
Another theory would be that I was a random victim, that it had nothing to do with my destiny, and the man’s visit was unprovoked.
Does he haunt other people? If so, does he target women?
Afterword
A few days later I flew to Vienna. I was still frightened. I felt sure that the two hauntings were connected to my coming to Vienna. I stayed in the Pension Schneider on the Getreidemarkt. I went to bed in fear every night and had to sleep with the light on.
The hauntings were never repeated.
Later afterword — in the UK
This kind of haunting has happened to other people. It’s not unique. I read a near identical account in a book many years ago. I’m no longer sure, but I think the book was True Ghost Stories of our Own Time, compiled and edited by Vivienne Rae-Ellis.
In this real event, which also took place in the UK, a man and woman were in bed at night. The man was sitting up reading, with the reading light on. His partner was sleeping. Suddenly the man saw the shadow of a hand on the wall. The shadow started to move down the wall. The man stared at it, transfixed. The shadowy hand descended onto the woman’s throat. She woke up gagging and gasping for air. And then it was over.
I don’t think the spirit spoke to the woman. In my own case, he spoke to me.
I don’t know if the woman ever figured out why she was targeted. Was she about to receive a blessing in her life that provoked the anger of this human soul? Or was she a random victim? Was it the same human soul who targeted me?
Later afterword — in the USA
And then there’s the case of Eric Madison in the USA, who was killed by his wife in 1934. He was abusive toward her, and twice she woke up in the night to find his hand around her throat. He laughed at her both times, saying that it was just her dream.
She told her lawyer that he was evil, and that he thought everyone was against him, in particular women. If his wife got it right, then he departed this world suddenly and unprepared, taking all his negativity with him — and in addition to that, taking his fresh anger at having been killed. Where did he go in the spirit world? Did he move properly away, or did he remain on the spiritual plane very close to our physical plane? Is he still here, putting his hand around women’s throats when they’re sleeping?
