Preface. The weekend of September 22-25, 2006, I stayed in Newton, NC, with Lindsay Carpenter visiting her Uncle Greg. I escorted Lindsay on the trip to NC because the vehicle she drove was registered in her uncle’s name, in NC, and she needed to return there to renew the registration. Included on this trip were Lindsay, her son Kyler, and me. Lindsay informed me before the trip that the house we were going to be staying in had a history of spiritual activity. I thought little of it.
Prelude. The Saturday night of September 23, 2006, I went to bed around midnight. I fell asleep quickly, for I was quite tired. I kept waking up abruptly. The third time I awoke, I stayed awake. I knew it was three o’ clock in the morning, now Sunday, September 24, because I heard three gongs chime from the grandfather clock downstairs. Lying on my left side, in the bed, I heard footsteps on the old hardwood floor at the foot of the bed. I kept my eyes closed while my heart felt like it was coming through my chest. I knew no one had come into my room because the door was closed and when opened it makes a loud squeaking noise. I laid there and listened intently, while praying, as the footsteps went from the end of the bed to around behind me. The footsteps stopped and the rocking chair began to rock back and forth. Then the chair stopped and the footsteps started again. The footsteps retraced around to the end of my bed and back to the rocking chair and rocked again. This happened three times in a course of about twenty minutes; all the while a thunderstorm was happening outside. After the third time in the rocking chair, it all stopped. I laid there for about an hour until I calmed down enough to fall asleep again.
The first dream. After falling back asleep, my dream continued from reality. In my dream I was lying on my left side, when I heard a voice call my name from the rocking chair. I recognized the voice, so without fear, I asked, “Is that you papaw?” The voice returned, “Yes. Nic, I love you, and tell everyone else that I love them too.” Then I awoke. I never saw his image, I just heard his voice. I laid there for a few minutes thinking about the dream I just had, and then I fell back asleep. (Papaw was the name for Lindsay’s grandfather who had passed away about 5 years previous. I had briefly known him when he was alive. In that same room I was sleeping, was his old robe, dresser, and personal items box. He was a wonderfully faithful follower of Jesus Christ).
The second dream. After falling back asleep, again my dream continued from reality. In my dream I was lying on my left side. Except the lamp next to the bed was on and shining in my face. So rather than bothering to turn it off, I turned over to my right side. As I turned over, I discover a woman lying next to me. She was wearing some sort of long night robe with her arms promptly at her side. She had red wavy hair down to her shoulders, bright blue eyes, and porcelain skin on her face. I stared at her while propped up on my right elbow. She intently looked at me and said, “So you are going to be a minister?” I replied, “Yes I am.” Then she said, “Well not if I have anything to do with it.” Then all the sudden she jumps to her feet and points down at me and says, “I have money and power, and I am going to get you kicked out of Southeastern.” I pointed back at her and said, “Dr. Mark Rutland is a spiritual man and he won’t allow that to happen.” Then I jumped to my feet, while saying, “I have taken off the clothes of the world and put on the clothes of Christ.” She then started to curse me in a language I didn’t understand. So I grabbed her head and she grabbed my shoulders. We began to wrestle. I wrestled her down to the bed. I was on my knees and she was on her back. When I got to the bed, she became the image of my sister. So I said to her, “Tell me you love me, tell me you love me.” (I knew love is what breaks curses and can only come from God). But the woman kept cursing me. The wrestling got more intense and she got my left side down to the bed. That’s when two arms of a black man came through the bed next to her and grabbed my lower back with a tight grip. Then a bald black man’s head popped up through the bed and started biting me on my left backside ribs; the same area of my bullet entry scar. The pain was so intense that I immediately awoke from my sleep. As I awoke from my dream, I was on my hands and knees. I sat back against the headboard of the bed. I looked around and I was alone and the sun was shining through the window. I looked at my cell phone and the time was exactly nine o’ clock in the morning. So I got dressed and went downstairs. I walked into the kitchen, where Lindsay and Peggy (Greg’s wife) were sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. I poured some coffee for myself and proceeded to tell them about my experience with the footsteps and the dreams that followed. They were amazed. After sharing my experiences, Peggy said that they hadn’t had any spiritual activity in years, and the room I was staying in was the most spiritual room in the house. (The room used to be the maid’s quarters and separate from the house and the house used to be part of a plantation). Then Lindsay suggested that she and Peggy take a look at my back. To their amazement, as they lifted up my shirt, they found red scratch marks on both sides of my lower back, and a red bite mark on my upper left ribs. Everything had really happened. I had been attacked in my dream.
Details. The voice in the first dream was true and concise. I knew the voice, so fear never overcame me. The appearance of the woman was very vivid. I can still see her now in my mind.
The struggling felt real, and the black arms with clawing hands and the black head that bit my back, were both real.
