Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side by Barbara Parks (bill gates best books TXT) 📕

viction that I was supposed to meet them all along. It seemed

I had been privy to yet another random yet pivotal reminder

of how closely bound the spirit world is with our own. And

how sometimes (quite often when we least expect it) the spirit world takes charge and overshadows our own. Perhaps it is

238Out of Body

the spirit realm which best knows our true selves, stepping in when we most need it and guiding us through our trials.

Despite the harrowing story I’d just heard, I couldn’t help

smiling. Or perhaps it was because of the story that I felt so inspired. As I walked into the hotel lobby, I couldn’t have felt more bolstered. I was alone in a strange city, two thousand

miles from home, yet I couldn’t have felt more safe. I knew

without a doubt that the spirits were looking out for me.

chapter twenty-eight

T h e M i c h e l i n M a n

When Jodie and I met just over two years ago, we discovered

a mutual interest in the paranormal. Jodie has as sensitivity

which seems to attract ghostly visitations, some of which have left her utterly terrified. None more so than her encounters

with the ghoul she likened to a cartoon character composed

entirely of tyres.

“I know it sounds ridiculous but it’s the best way to describe him. This thing looked exactly like the Michelin Man …”

Jodie’s story stretches back to the early nineties; when she

was a twenty-something newly-wed. As excited as Jodie and

her husband were to move into their new home, it didn’t take

long before the gloss began to wear off. Something about it

just didn’t feel right. Jodie was especially sensitive to her new home’s feeling of heaviness; and its oppressive atmosphere

seemed to intensify as time went on.

Any suspicions that their home was haunted were con-

firmed in the early hours of a cold, winter’s morning. Jodie

239

240The Michelin Man

was awoken by a gushing sound coming from the corner of

the room.

“It was pretty loud,” she told me. “Loud enough to wake

me from a deep sleep.”

As soon as she opened her eyes, Jodie saw the globular fig-

ure standing just beyond the foot of the bed; its body shape

defined by a mass of undulating blobs. It looked as revolting as the feeling it seemed to emanate; unadulterated evil.

Jodie was transfixed by the disturbing vision before her, it

seemed as though it was challenging her and had no intention

of backing away. Although its body was a huge spongy mass,

its features was surprisingly small. A pinched and thin-lipped face leered at her from the darkness; she was terrified.

“The worst thing was I couldn’t move,” she told me. “I was

completely paralysed. I couldn’t even make a sound to wake

my husband. All I could do was look.”

All the while the gushing sound seemed to be getting

louder, until the room was engulfed in vibration and noise.

And when Jodie realised where the sound was coming from,

the whole situation suddenly felt infinitely worse.

The Michelin Man was urinating against the bedroom

wall, his amorphous head turned towards Jodie. He was obvi-

ously intent on causing maximum distress, a look of evil satisfaction on his face.

“I suppose that’s when my anger overtook everything else,”

said Jodie. “I was disgusted.”

Her voice suddenly restored, Jodie began screaming. She

unleashed a torrent of expletives that would under normal cir-

cumstances have made her blush. Her husband was of course

woken by the commotion, and leapt up in a panic. He was

convinced that his wife was being attacked.

The Michelin Man 241

By now the Michelin Man had vanished, leaving Jodie

unable to prove that he had been there at all. Her husband

tried to convince her that she’d been dreaming.

Jodie however had no doubts as to the reality of her vis-

itation. And although further proof was unwarranted, the

Michelin Man saw fit to show himself once again.

The perfect opportunity to terrorise his target presented

itself a few weeks later. Jodie’s husband was away on business, leaving an anxious Jodie alone in the house.

It wasn’t long after settling into bed that the Michelin Man

made himself known to her, announcing his presence with a

sudden whoosh of air. A moment later he was at the end of

Jodie’s waterbed, which began to undulate as he moved towards

her.

“Get out!” Jodie screamed. “Just fuck off!”

She snapped on the light and bolted out of the bedroom,

as she continued shouting profanities. She was determined to

make him go away.

Peace was restored for at least a little while, until another

vulnerable woman moved into the master bedroom. By now

Jodie’s marriage was over and she had moved out. Her ex-hus-

band was working away, so his sister decided to move in to

take care of the house.

“She copped it worse than me,” said Jodie. “She still cries

about it to this day.”

Jodie told me that not long after moving out of her mari-

tal home, she called in to drop off some paperwork. Despite

the break-up of her marriage, she and her sister-in-law had

remained good friends. It wasn’t uncommon for Jodie to call

by for a drink and a chat. This time however, the women’s con-

versation felt strained and somehow different.

242The Michelin Man

It didn’t take much encouragement for her sister-in-law to

reveal what was wrong; she had been subjected to the atten-

tions of the Michelin Man.

Jodie’s heart sank. She hadn’t wanted to frighten her so had

kept the details of the frightening visitations to herself. She had hoped that after her abusive tirade the ghost had finally gone.

Jodie couldn’t have been more wrong, the Michelin Man

was obviously staying put.

“It’s hard to even describe him” said her sister-in-law. “It

was really weird, his body shape just kept changing.”

“He looks like the Michelin Man, doesn’t he?”

Her sister-in-law nodded in agreement as the tears began

to fall. Apparently the entity had violated her, lying on top

of her as his globular hands trailed her paralysed body. She

couldn’t even scream.

A cold uneasiness had settled on the house, the two women

knew they could never feel safe there again.

Jodie told me that her sister-in-law dealt with her trauma

by launching herself into researching the