~A Leprechaun~

This experience bothered me for a very long time.

I was all of 6 years old when I experienced this, and it terrified me.

I don't share my "odd", "ghostly" experiences with many people, and this is an experience I have only ever shared with only a small handful of people.  The reason is because it sounds absolutely crazy.  It also still creeps me out quite a bit.

But, here it goes...

I was laying in bed one night, after being tucked in by my parents.  My dad had just finished reading me my bedtime story and had left my room.  I wasn't feeling all that sleepy and decided to draw.  I reached under my bed, and pulled out the small suitcase that I kept all of my crayons, markers and paper in.  I then sat up and began to draw.

All of a sudden I heard something from within my closet.  I immediately glanced up and looked at the double doors to my closet.  The rustling or whatever it was stopped, so I went back to concentrating on my drawing.

After a short while my dad opened up my bedroom door and popped his head in.  He told me that it was getting rather late and asked me to put all of my stuff away and get to sleep.  So, I put everything back into my suitcase, stuck it back under my bed and layed down.  I then said goodnight to my dad.  My dad then came over to my bed, covered me up, gave me a kiss and said goodnight to me again.

While laying there in my bed simply staring up at my ceiling, I heard rustling from within my closet, just as I had earlier.  I looked towards my closet and saw one of the closet doors slowly opening.  I was really scared, literally frozen with fear.  I wanted to yell out to my parents, but I was too scared.  I could see clearly because I had two bedside lamps on.  I kept those on every night when I went to bed.

While I stared at the door, it continued to slowly creep open, and what I can only describe as a leprechaun with an ugly, creepy looking face stepped out of the closet. He was all of one and a half to two feet tall.  He just stood there looking at me.

I was completely mortified.  He was hideous looking.  He looked to be wearing what resembled something a leprechaun would wear, but all of his clothes were tattered and dirty.  He even had on the same type of hat, and that too was tattered and dirty.

His face was so ugly.  His flesh looked rotten.  He then smiled and his teeth were horrible.  They were greyish black in colour and looked decayed. They were also pointed and sharp looking.

He began to slowly walk toward me while grinning at me.  I finally found the courage to yell, and I yelled out for my dad.

When I did, the ugly little thing laughed out loud.  He had a raspy voice.

I screamed, and when I did, he bolted toward me but dove under my bed.

Just then my bedroom door opened.  It was my dad.  I dove off my bed and ran towards my dad.  I told him what I had just seen and experienced.

I was talking very fast and my dad told me to calm down.  I was on the verge of tears because I was so scared by what I had just seen.

My dad told me to slowly repeat what I had just said to him, so I did.  My dad just looked at me.  He then looked towards my closet where one of the doors was still wide open.

My dad walked over and closed the door.  He then went over to my bed, knelt down and looked underneath it.  He stood up and told me there was nothing under my bed except the suitcase I kept under there, a pair of my shoes, some crumpled up paper, and my slippers.

I told him that I did not care if he saw that ugly little man or not.  I knew what I saw and I saw it dive under my bed.

My dad sat down on my bed and just looked at me.  He then asked me if I wanted to sleep in his bed with my mom.  I told him yes, because there was no way I was sleeping alone in my bedroom.

I ended up sleeping in my parents bed with my mom for almost two weeks.  The first night back in my own bed I was really scared.

I sensed that my parents believed me, and were creeped out by the entire thing.  But, they naturally tried reassuring me that I had probably only dreamt it, and it was just my imagination.

I insisted however, that was not the case because I was wide awake when it happened. Part of me wondered if their attempt to chalk it up to nothing more than a bad dream or something I imagined was not to simply try and make me feel better, but to more or less make them feel better.

I had a desk in my room, with a very heavy chair.  My dad decided to place the heavy chair in front of my closet doors.  My dad insisted that there was no way anything or anyone would be able to push open the doors with the chair there.

I wasn't completely convinced so I told my parents to keep my bedroom door open.  I asked that they keep their bedroom door open too so that if I called out for them, they would hear me and could come immediately.

Surprisingly, after being tucked into bed, and kissed good night, I fell asleep fairly quickly.

A short time later I was awakened by a screeching sound.  I opened my eyes and saw that my closet doors were slowly opening.  The screeching sound was the sound of the legs of the chair dragging on the hardwood floor as it was being pushed with the doors.

I immediately screamed for my mom and dad.  They both came in to my room immediately.  I was sitting up in my bed when they both entered my room.  As soon as they came into my room, I immediately pointed to my closet and told them what I saw.

I could tell that my parents seemed rather creeped out when they saw that my closet doors were slightly ajar, and the chair in front of the doors had been pushed slightly forward.

There was no way I was going to sleep in that room and I told my parents that.  Again, I slept in my parents bed.

It was summer break and I decided I did not want to sleep in my room whatsoever.  I ended up asking to go stay at my grandparents house.

After staying with my grandparents for two weeks, my dad called to say that my brother (who is four years older than me), was going to switch rooms with me.  I was more than happy to hear that.  My dad told me that he and my mom would move all of our bedroom furniture and switch our rooms around on the weekend.  I was extremely happy.

That Sunday night I returned home.  I was very happy to no longer have to sleep in my previous bedroom.  I remember going into my former bedroom, which was now my brother's bedroom, and I asked him what he was going to do if the closet doors opened and something came into his room during the night.  I could tell that my brother was slightly creeped out at that idea, but he then brushed it off and said, "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Thankfully I never had that experience again.  And my brother has stated many times while we were growing up that he is grateful that he never experienced anything out of the ordinary while sleeping in that bedroom.

For years I wondered what it was that I saw.  I read book after book, yet could find nothing.  My dad is an avid reader and loves visiting the library to borrow books.  I remember going with him many times and scouring every single book I could get my hands on, yet I could never find any information or anything vaguely familiar about what it was I saw.

I had an older relative, a great-uncle that was very knowledgeable about our family history, and he loved sharing stories. He especially loved telling stories involving Irish Tales and Folklore.

I remember him telling me how he very much believed that our world was but one realm of many that existed.  He believed that in each realm there existed other world's, and in these other world's there existed different beings.

It wasn't until I was all of 9 or 10 years of age when I learned that I was not alone with my experience.

My uncle told me that while leprechauns are synonymous with Ireland, they are actually known by other names as well such as, a gnome, a goblin, and an imp. I also learned that while people associate leprechauns as being child-like with their mischevious, playful manner, they are actually thought to be demons.  He shared the fact that he very much believed that they existed.

I remember being so enthralled by everything my great-uncle was telling me that I decided to share my experience with him.  Since I was only a kid, I expected him not to believe me.  However, after I shared my experience with him, he told me that he most definitely believed me.

He went on to tell me of other family members of ours that had seen and interacted with the exact same thing that I saw.  He called them "evil little bastards".

He also went on to tell me that it appeared that I had the "gift" that some of my other family members had, many of whom were now deceased.

He told me about family members that could easily sense, as well as see and communicate with loved ones that were no longer with us, but that had passed on.

I have to admit that I felt somewhat relived.  I then wondered, either I really did share this "gift", and like other family members, truly saw an imp (or whatever you wish to call it).  Either that, or we were simply all crazy.

I remember when I told my uncle that he just laughed and laughed.  He then reassurred me that I was not crazy.

Many years later, my brother and I decided to have a movie night since our parents weren't going to be home for most of the evening.  My brother headed over to the movie store, picked out a movie and rented it.  It was a horror movie.

While watching the movie, I was in complete shock.  The evil leprechaun in the movie looked exactly like the thing that I saw in my room as a child.  The only thing different was that the thing I saw was wearing all dark green.  Also, the thing I saw did not have such long nails.

I couldn't help but wonder if one of the writers was basing the character on something he had dreamt about, or saw as a child.  Did he perhaps have an encounter with this thing too?


I have not been able to discover where or how the writers came up with the premise and character for that movie.  All I have been able to discover is that one of the writers released an eight page comic book prequel to the movie prior to the movie's release.


The character from a movie that looks almost exactly like the thing I saw as a child

Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life