Let me first state that I don't believe in the "supernatural". I attribute any such experience to a combination of the subconscious and chance. I didn't always think this way. I've had a lot of subconscious/chance encounters. One of the last encounters went something like this. New Orleans, Fall of 2012. I lived in a poor neighborhood, in an old shotgun home.

I was dreaming. As in a black and white movie. I hovered over a sea of ice. Bellow, a wood sailing ship with two masts. The boat was surrounded by a small patch of water with encroaching ice on all sides. My body floated down, past the boat and into the black water. In the water, a pale white dot stood out. As I got closer, to the water, the pale object floated to the surface. It was a dead man. His face, blotted, eyes devoid of color. I awoke, to find the image of the man lying next to me. I rubbed my eyes but the image persisted. Chills overcame my body. I laughed, "it is just a dream". Or was it. A cabinet door in the kitchen slammed shut. I lay motionless for hours. I fell back asleep once my physiologic needs overcame my fears. I felt an instant pull on my legs and dragged out of bed. A dream. I floated in my room. Unable to move. I felt a pull once more. This time towards my living room. (But the house was different, the long end of the home had a porch and it faced the street). A force pressed my dream state body and face to the floor and a subconscious voice said, “I died here”.

A week or so passed. I received a call from a friend. It was 8 p.m. We talked for a few minutes about our night plans. The call cut off, I could hear static on the other side; then mumbled voices. Silence. In the silence a voice grew. The voice screamed; in silence. It was intense, but muffled. The voice repeated over and over again, thirty seconds or so, “Why! Why! Why! WHY! WHY” each time with greater intensity. Drained and in shock, I stood motionless next to the living room mantel. The call scrambled again, then muffled voices, and then a dial tone. I looked down. I was standing over where the subconscious voice had acquainted me with death two weeks prior. My mind connected both events immediately. I called my friend to see if she had heard the voices. She said she heard the static but the phone disconnected. In pure fright. I took the car keys and ran to the door leaving an empty inhabited home, all lights on. I opened the front door. I remember the dim streetlight, almost surreal. It occurred to me that I would be sleeping there that night. I needed to deal with this now. I closed the door, turned around, and began speaking out loud. I spoke as if speaking to a male spirit. I said that I did not mind him contacting me. But that he should do it during the day because I needed rest. I said that I was only there for a short period of time and that I meant no harm. The pulsating chills stopped and I was never bothered again. In retrospect I have many explanations for what happened.