Ghost Stories

A few days before my Quineceñera, I was in my house with my mom. It was only the two of us. I was in my room watching T.V. and my mom was in the kitchen washing dishes and listening to the novela on T.V. When she was going to sleep, she told me to go outside, so I did. At the time, we had a dog named Tyson; he was about ten years old and he always went along with me everywhere I went, so when I went outside, Tyson got up and followed me.

Looking back, the setting of the night could be predictable enough to let me know that something was about to happen, but I didn't pay attention—all I wanted to do was lock the gate and go back inside and watch T.V. The night was windy, dark, and the wind was picking up dirt that made it almost impossible to see beyond ten feet.

When I got to the gate, Tyson started behaving stubbornly, pulling my shorts as if he didn't want me to get near the gate, but I pushed him away and told him to stop. When I went to close the first half of the gate, I saw out of the corner of my eye something black flying on top of the light pole down to the street, but I ignored it and closed the first half of the gate, thinking it was only a black trash bag being carried by the wind.

When I got to the other half of the gate, Tyson was even worse, pulling my shorts even harder and whining like I’ll never forget, yet again I was being ignorant and I pushed him away. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a huge black horse and a man trotted in front of me. I was amazed by the beauty of the horse and the elegance of the horse rider. The horse was black and looked in its best shape, better than a Friesian horse—it was a black beauty! I have never in my life seen such a horse and until this day, I still haven't. The horse rider was all in black, with black boots with silver spurs, black pants, a black, long-sleeved coat, black gloves, and a black hat that was held on by the windstring. On his chest he had a silver circle that looked like a necklace.

His face was what still has me doubting what he really was; it was half-covered by a black bandana, but his eyes were so blue I got lost in them. It was a blue that I can't describe, a color unknown to the art world as if from somewhere else, a color that I’m still trying to figure out. His complexion, from what I could see, was white.

At this time, Tyson was pulling my shorts back, growling and whining. He wanted to run away, but he stayed by my side just like a loyal friend. Well, when the horse rider passed in front of me, he looked right into me. We made eye contact, and I felt like I was being sucked in by his eyes, but Tyson's whining made me snap out of it; I was still making eye contact until his neck could no longer let him look back. When he turned away from me, he poked the horse in his ribs with the spurs, grabbed the reins as if he was ready to race, and disappeared up into the air, leaving a very dreadful smell behind.

I was too amazed or shocked to analyze what had just happened. I locked the gate and kept on walking towards my house with Tyson by my side; he was still whining, and when I got halfway to the front door, I realized that what I had just seen was not normal (I know it’s dumb to say that now, but when it happened, I couldn't believe it—I’m being honest when I say that when I saw this horse rider, I was not even scared, I was amazed).

When I got my senses back halfway to the door, I ran as fast as I could to my mom's room. I told her what had happened as if I was being chased, and she got up, went to the bookshelf, and grabbed her prayer book and some holy water. She made me go back outside with her and pray around the front yard while she threw holy water around. It took us a while; I wanted to go inside the house, but I didn’t want my mom to be alone, so I stayed with her while she prayed. Tyson was again by my side, but this time he was so alert he kept on turning around like something was there.

After that night, I had dreams of this horse rider, but I have never seen him again, although when I was hospitalized, while I was in pain in bed, I don't know if it was a dream or if it really happened, but I saw him at the edge of my bed right in front of my tired mother while she was sleeping. He was looking at me just like he did when I saw him. He was looking straight into my eyes and he was wearing the same clothes; the only thing missing was the black horse. I fell asleep in that dream and when I woke up or when I blinked he was gone, and my mom was still asleep.

I guess I will never really find out what he wanted or why he appeared. It’s been three years since that happened and when someone asks me if I have ever seen something out of the ordinary, I tell them my story and most believe me, some doubt me, but I know what I saw and I know it did happen. Thus, this is my story; I lived it and my dog lived it as well. I used to be the kind of person that would always say seeing is believing, well, I'm no longer that person because I saw it and I believe it now. So, the reason I decided to write about my story is to let people out there know that we are not alone and that the paranormal does exist and if you want to see it to believe it, then when you least expect it, you'll live it!