38 Comments
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Hanna Delaney's avatar

Jesus. I was reading this, and I thought "Sean's mind, man." THEN, when you said you and your sister saw them, the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. Still creepy but you shocked me with the "oh this is a true story BTW" 😂

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

I didn't find out that she saw them too until we were both adults. We never spoke about them as kids. 😱

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Nick Winney's avatar

help me!

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Hanna Delaney's avatar

That's so weird! 😄 But also cool.

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brenna McNamara's avatar

It's not a sleep disorder, I am special! - Great writing. I love the line about eyelashes kissing. Perfect description of peering through closed eyes.

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

Thanks you! I know you're special. :)

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C.S. Mee's avatar

Haunted houses are real! Love the nonfiction, Sean (:

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

Thank you! 🖤👻

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Jon T's avatar

YES Sean! This story is like just eating the orange crystals without adding water.

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

Gritty on my teethies. Thanks, Jon!

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Jon T's avatar

high concentration gives me good mouthfeels. Seriously, though, nice condensed, every sentence counts, stuff going on here.

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

That means a lot to me, bud. ❤️

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James Finch's avatar

Loved this

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Stephanie Sweeney's avatar

Whaaaat. Going to try not to think about this line when I go to sleep tonight: "A Negative slides out from behind the door, shuffling toward the foot of my bed."

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

I try not to think of any of this at night. haha

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Stephanie Sweeney's avatar

I bet!!

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Jean McKinney's avatar

This is wonderful. I'm always fascinated by these snapshots of strangeness, things that defy explanation, lurking just on the edge of sight.

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

Thanks, Jean! Me too! I’m trying to work these into some of my upcoming tales. The unknown really is the most frightening thing.

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molly's avatar

when I was seven I swear I remember waking up in bed to see a glowing dollgirl by my door in a mint green dress, throwing a red ball up and catching it in her hand over and over. Probably a dream. Probably..

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

Yikes! How am I going to sleep tonight now?

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Shawn Brooks's avatar

At first, hey a fun lil' horror story. Then you said it happened to you. Now a new fear has been planted in my soul... thank you lol.

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

It's extra weird that it only ever happened in one house! Creepy!

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Jennifer James's avatar

Excellent work. The writing is crisp and spare in the best way.

And as to the question of spiritual disturbance or sleep disorder: porque no los dos? The world is more than we know.

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

Thank you! Yes, indeed! Why not both. :)

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Nick Winney's avatar

horrific. the evil eye did this to me as a kid. i still sleep with pillows over my head 50 years later.

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Parker McCoy's avatar

Nice little tale. I like the idea of shadow people but I'm glad I never saw any.

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

I haven’t seen any since I was five, and I hope it stays that way. 😅

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Shaina Read's avatar

I did see shadow people as a kid, the most terrifying being the shadow of a man that followed me into my mom’s room after I jumped into her bed, terrified to go to sleep for some reason or other. I watched it walk up the stairs and turn to look into my mom’s bedroom. Then it went back down. I got up and went to see if anyone was awake. No one was. All were fast asleep in their beds. Horrifying

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

YIKES. Wild. Do you think it was a ghost or in your mind? I've seen some other weird stuff, but I've come to believe all of these things I've seen stem from a sleeping disorder.

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Shaina Read's avatar

I have read a lot about kids hallucinating when they wake up so I think it could be developmental? And I also have waking nightmares as an adult with shadow spiders and such. Just had one last night so maybe it’s a sleep disorder I don’t know about 😆 but I will say…I wasn’t the only one to experience things in that house. I’m just not sure if that really was something or not.

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EJ Trask's avatar

was this the house by the cemetery?

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

Nope! The places that should be haunted never are. haha

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EJ Trask's avatar

“the haunted place” might be you

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Sean Thomas McDonnell's avatar

💀

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Jon T's avatar

so many good lines here, but that last one gives me the bumps

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Lyndsey Resnick's avatar

This is so much. You reminded me of something that happened when I was a kid and now I'm not going to think about it all day. At all. Not once. ;)

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