A Familiar Neighbor
I used to live in a mobile home trailer park growing up. There was a hallway that went from one end of the trailer to the other, with the bedrooms coming off it on one side. My bed was on the wall opposite the hallway, so I could see into the hallway but not down either side. This happened when I was about 6-8 years old.
If I stayed awake after my dad went to sleep and stared at the doorway, I would see something that absolutely terrified me. I would start to be able to make out a hand stretching from beyond the doorway in the hall, from the right side of the door to the left. The longer I looked the more of the hand would appear until eventually, over the course of a few minutes, I could see a red and white striped shirt/sweater sleeve.
If I continued to stare, after a longer period, the body of a boy would appear in the doorway. I specifically remember hiding under the covers most nights when this would happen, mostly at the first sight of him. I was never antagonized further than him slowly moving—facing my bed—from the right side of the door to the left.
If I continued to stare, he would eventually disappear beyond the left threshold. We moved out of that trailer into a home when I had just turned nine, and that was the end of it. I never really thought about it. About 15-20 years later, my dad and I were talking about his best friend that had lived next door but sadly was no more.
We started talking about our trailer and the older lady that had moved in after us. My dad said something that made me blood run cold. He told me, “Funny enough. My friend told me a few years ago that that woman used to see a little boy in a red and white shirt, like a ghost or something.” I was obviously taken aback and told him about what I had seen almost every night for a few years and we were both just a bit shocked at what that might mean.