When this tweet asking people to share their experiences with ghosts, spirits and strange presences went viral, I made a mental note to only read people’s responses during the day — I didn’t want nightmares. But when I read Kayode’s* experience in a closed group, I knew I had to get details.

This is Kayode’s story, as told to Boluwatife

Image: Team Maestroo via Pexels

I’ve never seen a spirit or visual apparition in real life, but I’ve understood and felt strange presences and spirits since I was five or six years old.

Even at that age, I remember having nightmares where I’d fight my way through to the land of the living. I made the mistake of telling my very spiritual mother, who took me to countless religious leaders for prayers. To make matters worse, I used to sleep with my face down and legs up — which was easier for me — but my mum took it as a sign I was in some sort of spiritual gang and would always hit my legs with a broom whenever I did that.

The nightmares progressed to life-threatening illnesses. On one such occasion, I was half-dead, and admitted at the hospital, but there was no medical diagnosis. Somehow I survived, no doubt due to my mother’s prayers and determination not to lose her first child.

I also had regular premonitions of accidents and death which usually came as dreams or just feelings. I used to be afraid of the events that I dreamt about because they’d happen in real life. I once dreamt that my cousin died at work, and I prayed against it. Months later, I heard that the reason he had not been to our house for a while was because his hand was caught in some machine at work, and he was lucky to be alive.

Another time, I was travelling and suddenly saw an accident and the victims in my mind. A while later, I saw the accident happen in real life. I only started to understand the gravity of these premonitions when I was 12 years old and experienced another clairvoyance situation at my aunt’s house.

I was seated in front of her house that day when I suddenly had a feeling of dread. I felt like I’d been right there in that particular moment before, where someone had lost a body part due to an accident. A few seconds later, a motorcycle passed in front of the house and tripped on a stone I was staring at. I was there, unable to move and talk, as people gathered to support the women who had fallen from the motorcycle.

It was then I started to understand that I could feel things others couldn’t. Usually, it’s me feeling or hearing something and immediately associating it with something else. When my mother passed from cancer in 2020, I knew it would happen since the day before. When her sister called to inform me, I was already on my way home. Most times, I like to think of it as an undiagnosed mental illness. It’s easier than thinking I can see accidents or people’s death before it happens.

The thing about being aware of strange presences is that it gets to a point where you’re no longer scared of them. So, when I moved into a house in (February) 2021 that had a strange presence, I already had several years of “experience” with them, so I wasn’t particularly spooked.

The house was provided by a job I’d just started at the time, and though I was alone, I knew there was something else there. Sometimes, I’d hear whispers or notice moisture around a mirror. Several times, I randomly asked out loud if there was someone with me and told “it” we could be friends if it showed itself. I was really curious to see a spirit. It’d make a lot of things easier for me. At least I’d stop feeling like a crazy person when I feel things.

The presence didn’t show itself, or at least not to me. I got a cat soon after, in early 2022, and she was very aggressive. I’d had cats before, so I understand how they settle into a territory, but this was different. The cat was always growling. She’d hide — as cats often do — and not come out for food until she was really hungry. She would freak out if you tried touching her and just usually acted crazy.

One day in April (2022), I returned from work to meet at least twenty dead houseflies on the floor. There was nowhere they could’ve come from because it was a neat, serviced apartment, and my windows were locked. The cat had one swollen eye, as if she’d been hit, and she was no longer in a territorial aggressive mode, she was more subservient aggressive. I took her to the clinic and cared for her after, but it took about a week after the incident for her to get comfortable in the apartment.

The cat after the incident

I’m not sure what happened, but in Yoruba lore, it’s believed that cats see things and try to protect their owners. Based on that belief, it could be that the spirit and my cat had a “fight”. Maybe my cat won because though I still felt the strange presence from time to time, I never felt it as much while I was with the cat. I told someone parts of the story, and they hinted at a guardian angel situation. I eventually left the apartment in December 2022 when I changed jobs. The cat still lives with me.

I still want to physically see spirits, so I can confirm that it’s not just in my head, but I guess it’s also good I can’t. Based on how strong my hearing and feeling already are, seeing things might’ve killed me a long time ago.

*Subject’s name has been changed for the sake of anonymity.

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