I grew up in a small village in southern Rhode Island. It was one of those places that if you were driving through and sneezed, you’d miss it. We had one main street through the center, three small side streets, and a long earthern private driveway. There was also a church, a mom and pop small store, a volunteer fire house, and very few street lights.

What we did have in addition to a surrounding forest were lots of trees, plenty of wildlife, and a dark, magnificent night sky. Stars shone like brilliant diamonds and the Milky Way stood out as the special thing it is. When a growing moon slid across the vastness of space above it lit up the earth and you could see the countryside like a Norman Rockwell night scene.

At the time UFO’s were a popular topic of conversation. Roswell had happened a few years before and even though I was very young I had a good understanding of the prevalent skepticism of the government’s flimsy explanation of the event. There were strange things seen in the sky on various occasions and no one doubted there was always the possibility it could be something unknown.

One bright night when I was in bed trying to get to sleep I noticed a movement by the window. As I watched, the sight turned into something that looked like a black-robed hooded figure. While not liking this very much, it became more curious than frightening. The figure walked to the side of the bed and stood there looking at me. I closed my eyes thinking maybe I was dreaming. When I got up enough courage to look again – the figure was still there.  (At this I pulled the covers over my head and probably yelled for my parents……(don’t remember that part).

Now if this was just a one-time deal, the memory of it probably would have gone away a l-o-n-g time ago, but that’s not how it happened. This event occurred many times over the course of several months. On the last time, I had been asleep and felt something touching the inside of my wrist. I opened my eyes to see this same clothed figure standing by the bed with an arm outstretched and the pointer finger touching me. I asked, for the first time, “Where do you come from?”. The being moved closer to the window, raised it’s arm, and pointed to the sky. With that it vanished.

To this day, I cannot sleep with an arm hanging over the side of the bed. I also prefer long sleeves no matter what the weather…..the ones that cover your wrists!

– ashanta