The Light Under The Stairs – three true stories from my childhood

I remember those nights like few others in my life. All my life I have been a bit afraid of the dark – except for those nights.



The first was when I was quite young, maybe 6 or 7, I was asleep in my room and awoke to a noise in the room and looked over towards my brothers bunk bed across the room and I know I saw something run across his bedrail and then disappear. At the time all I could think about was what was a squirrel doing in the room, I watched for a while and it never appeared again. Instead of being afraid I just rolled over and went back to sleep. Over the years I looked for my squirrel friend again but he never came back.



The second was when I was 8 or 10 and sharing a room with my brothers. In the middle of the night I heard someone call my name and for some reason I knew that it was ok, even though I didn’t recognize the voice it seemed to call me to it. “Rodney” it called and I found myself irresistibly drawn to it. I remember getting out of bed and heading down the hall – the voice was sooooo quiet I had to stop and hold still to hear it. But, then it would be there again. “Rodney.” I followed it threw the living room and out into the dining room where I could still hear it calling me. It lead me to the corner of the dining room next to my dad’s chair and facing Mom’s china cabinet, I heard it one last time. I finally answered the voice by saying “what.” I never heard the voice again. I should have been terrified but instead I was completely calm and just went back to bed. Over the next years I would often think about the voice and would listen in the night for the voice. I even went so far as going back out by the cabinet to listen more than a few times.



The last time was the light. I was about 12 and was sleeping in my big brother’s room in the basement, a special treat, In the night I awoke and had to go to the bathroom. There was no light in the room and try as I could I couldn’t find the door. I was getting scared but I had to pee. After a bit I found the closet and realizing that it connected to the closet in the other room I crawled threw it into the family room. There were no lights and the room was completely dark except for the light under the stairs. Under the stairs a soft light glowed giving me just enough light to see my way up stairs and back down and into the room. There was only one problem – there was no light under the stairs. Over the next years I looked countless times for the source of the light. I turned on different lights and crawled around under the stairs and there was simply no light – no electricity and no hole threw which light could have come from another room. There is absolutely no question in my mind that the light was there and gave comfort to a scared little boy.



These stories are all true and happened to me.