How to be Courageous

Even when your face doesn't work

I once had to walk through a pitch-black forest around midnight immediately after experiencing what was almost certainly a paranormal, and likely malevolent, event.

I was in high school. This girl-space-friend (Cheri) and I were talking in her room after a night hike up the mountain behind her family’s home. It wasn’t a romantic moment - we had tried that and it had just been weird. However, she did light a single candle and put on some music while we chatted.

This is not the house mentioned in the story. It’s my workplace. The thought of remaining there for another year is terrifying. Please consider supporting this newsletter with a paid subscription.

On our hike, she had pointed out an abandoned house nestled just off the trail. Its broken windows and crooked porch slats looked exactly like a giant, hulking skull in the bright starlight. I don’t remember the details of her story, probably because what happened next fairly scrubbed my memory for three decades, but the gist of it involved murder, suicide, and alleged spectral sightings for years afterward.

Right at the denouement of her story, (“You can still hear screams from up there…”) three things happened simultaneously:

We heard a loud CLAP in the hallway outside of her room.

The candle blew out even though there was no breeze in the room.

The stereo shut off. It wasn’t a power outage - her alarm clock still glowed in the dark.