I had a dream around November 2006 that got me sleeping with a light on for a few nights.

In this dream, I am in a modernish home, not my own, not recognizable as anyone's I have seen. A male friend of mine, not a close friend, was paralyzed with fear. He was knelt in horror, staring at a corner of the room. I thought he was dead. The lighting was very dim and appeared to be spilling from an adjacent room. I followed his eyes to the corner and all of a sudden I am on my own back patio. My best friend asks me what happened, what I saw. Her eyes got wide, and as I tried to explain, I turned around and I shouted that it looked like THAT!!

What happened next happened very quickly, but the details are still embedded in my memory.

Before me, floating near the porch light, was a spirit. It was dark outside, but the black emanating from this spirit was blacker than anything. Its eyes were empty, and the expression on its 'face' was malicious. It was not human. It appeared to be only a few feet tall, floating about 4 1/2 feet from the ground. The blackness was dripping down the face like a rapidly decaying skull. It opened its empty mouth and its jaw dropped halfway down its body. It let out this very loud, shrill shriek, and I screamed in unison. I woke myself and my younger sister with my own screaming.

That was the first time I had ever woken up screaming.