The Spookiest, Scariest Moment Of My Life

This is an absolutely true story, based on real life events, with just a little bit of exaggeration here and there.

Once upon a time, our family lived in a large, rambling house in Canada. The building was a bit run down, with very poor lighting, but we didnt really care. We were only renting it for a short while until we could buy our own home.

Most of the living space was at the upstairs level. There  was also a finished basement with a large bathroom. The lighting was poor in the basement but we didn’t bother doing anything about this as we didn’t plan to live there for very long.

We had a full house with my wife, my two children, my daughter-in-law-law and a nephew from India. It got very busy at the upstairs level in the morning, when everyone wanted to use the bathrooms at roughly the same time.

One morning, I decided to use the downstairs bathroom, in the poorly lit, under-ventilated basement area. I did my morning business and took a leisurely shower. The bathroom was equipped with a bathtub and a shower curtain. 

I like to take my time in the shower  as this is my “me time”. I reflect on things and plan my day; sometimes, I mentally write a blog, staying in a dream-like state. That fateful morning, I was  in this dream-like state when I stepped out of the shower and pulled the shower curtain open.

Then I got the biggest shock of my entire life. 

I saw a man standing inside the bathroom who looked very much like me. Even worse, he was wearing absolutely no clothing at all. I let out a loud scream, and some of my family members rushed down to the basement. When they saw me, they also started screaming and started running away in fright.  I hastily put on a towel, and ran out of the bathroom. However, in this confusion of screams, the man had vanished completely.

Then we started The  Search. We looked in every nook and cranny of the basement but we could not see this man. We checked all the doors and windows of the house; there were no signs of any forced entry.  We did not call the police but did just about everything else. We could not find the intruder.

After much discussion, my family realized I was the only one who had seen the intruder. My son is an engineer and a logical thinker. He concluded that there were only two possibilities:

1. The man was a figment of my imagination.
2. I had seen a ghost. 

I was very sure of what I had seen, it was a real person who looked very much like a real human being. Hence, I quickly dismissed the first notion and convinced myself that I had seen a ghost.

After a few days, I decided to confront whatever was there in the basement, if it was still there.  After all, at some point in life, we have to confront our fears, otherwise they will overpower us. It’s the same with ghosts; we have to let them know who is in charge.

Mustering all my courage, I went to  the downstairs bathroom again.  I did my morning business, took a bath and then stepped out of the shower. 

The same thing happened  as before. As soon as I stepped out of the shower, this man was there to taunt me.  This time I decided to be a little bolder. I chanted God’s name and took a step forward. This impudent fellow also took a step forward. I raised my fist at him and this person also raised his fist at me.

I made a snarling face and shouted at him to make him go away.

This man snarled right back at me. I picked up a towel and this person did exactly the same thing. It seemed as though this man was mirroring all my moves.

Then the penny dropped.

I was  indeed looking at a mirror. On closer observation, I found that there was a full-length mirror installed on the inner side of the bathroom door. The mystery was solved and the scare was over; my family could get back to their normal busy routine.

However, it took me a while to get rid of the trauma. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror for many months. Even a reflection of myself seen in a distant window was enough to scare me, even in broad daylight. 

On a philosophical level, it was a great learning experience. How often in this lifetime do we get a chance to see ourselves as really are? We can attend meditation camps, we can go to silence  retreats, there are so many things we can try. However, it is so hard to look beyond the layers with which we cover ourselves and even then we can only  see a fuzzy outline of what we really are.

I attained this highest state in just a moment. I saw myself exactly as I was and, trust me, it was not a pretty sight.