The Haunted Bed

Today’s tale is from Quora user, Icon Boys, who responded when I asked the question, “Does anyone have any good ghost stories?”

He qualified their account with the assurance that it is not fake and did indeed take place in real life. However, as of writing this, the user did not specify what country or year this occurred, but it appears to have unfolded when Icon was in standard eight and attending a government school.

On one particular day as Icon was returning home from school, a journey of about 3 and a half miles, he spotted a house which had been abandoned for over 30 years. He knew this to be true because the house had belonged to his great grandfather, so he was no stranger to this creepy abode and its history.

The story of his great grandfather’s death had been told to Icon many times. The ancient relative had passed away in his sleep.

As a Quora User, Icon bares the credential of “insert” and true to his title he recounted how in many cultures it is believe that when a person passes away in their sleep they will inevitably become a ghost. Perhaps because the event of death passes by unnoticed while they are asleep, so their spirit just gets up and keeps going about its normal routine? Who can tell!

Up until that point in his young life Icon had not been particularly interested in such nonsense, referring to them as myths… but on that day, for some reason, the compulsion came over him to go into the house for the purpose of proving wrong his friends who did believe in such things as ghost.

He was not alone when he doubled down on his personal quest of debunking this old haunt, but took two friends with him at around 7pm. Being winter it was already dark. His friends shivered either from cold or fright and suggested they turn back. But icon would not relent and marched his determined self through the house, finding nothing there and declaring it to his friends.

The interesting thing about that night, and a reflection of the relaxed attitudes of parents in the decade of this occurrence, is that Icon’s parents were away that evening attending a marriage ceremony, and considering that they would be home late, he decided to spend the night there! And in his words, “This is where the real scary things begin…”

His two friends were not game enough to pass the night away in this apparently empty house; even less were they willing to suffer their parent’s anger were they to participate in such a reckless adventure. So they left Icon to face whatever that night might bring alone.

Finding the bed, which was still there, upon which his great grandfather had passed away, icon removed a blanket from his bag. It would seem a certain amount of premeditation had gone into the macabre endeavor. Satisfied that he had brushed enough dust from the bed, laid down and went to sleep.

I have to admit, this is the kind of activity, for me at least, the blurs the lines between bravery and foolishness. But Icon’s cast iron constitution actually allowed him the ability to sleep, that is until a mysterious force pushed him out of the bed.

Undeterred he lay down once again on the bed, this time covering his face with the blanket, remaining awake for some time, convincing himself that all was well. He opened the blanket, the darkness sharpening his ears to the sound of strange footsteps coming from around the house and the kitchen.

He was terrified.

Getting out of bed he packed his things and prepared himself for his quick get away, probably around 10 am. And as he left, whether quickly or gingerly, he did not say. But as he turned to look back at the bed he was leaving behind, there, in the bed, was the eerie figure of an old man, asleep in the bed.

Needless to say, his jaw dropped. Only moments before there had been no one else lying in that bed except for Icon. This terrifying image was then accompanied by a pair of strange voices, taunting him with the statement, “You cannot escape”

But the threat seems to have had even less substance than their disembodied origin, because Icon got out of that house as fast as he could, making it home to the safety of his own unhaunted bed, where he quickly fell asleep to dream of an old man with cracked skin, coming towards him and shouting strangely.

He got up to relieved his thirst with a glass of water, and went back to an otherwise uneventful night of sleep…

The next day he awoke ill with a high fever. His worried mother questioned him about his previous activities and he told her everything, a confession met with both anger and a strange appreciation for his bravery.  The fever however lasted a week before leaving him a new believer that ghosts really do exist

But what about you? Can you relate to this bizarre experience? Can you honestly say that you were once so brave that you willingly spent a night, or at least part of a night in a place where wisdom might fear to tread? Please share your tale with me on tellyourtalehere@gmail.com, and until next time, never lay down alive in a dead man’s bed.