THE STRANGEST CASE I'VE EVER ENCOUNTERED
My friend Steve and I have known each other for almost 40 years. A few days ago he told me for the first time of an incident that happened to him when he was a child. Steve agreed to let me share his account providing that I did not give his last name.
In 1969, Steve was eleven years old. His brother, Bobby, was thirteen. They were paid to clean the apartment of a family of four adult brothers who lived in the units across the ally from their house (taking out the trash, dusting, doing the dishes, etc.).
Steve clearly remembers going to sleep one night in the upstairs bedroom that he and his brother shared in their family's house. His next recollection was that of waking up to the voices of two of the brothers from the apartment as they were preparing to go to work the next day, engaged in an argument over a shirt that one had worn without permission.
Steve suddenly realized that he was in the apartment that he and Bobby cleaned for hire. Where Steve found himself was very tightly wedged between the furnace and the back wall of the unit's utility closet.
The door of the closet was closed, and there were stacks of items - chairs, cases of bottled cola, cleaning equipment and other items - between the furnace and the door; so much so that it would have been impossible to maneuver in or out from the position where Steve was without clearing some sort of path.
One of the brothers slept on a cot within eight feet of the closet, another slept on the couch a few feet farther away.
Any movement in or out of the closet on Steve's part could not have gone unnoticed accounting for all of the displacement of the items that were stored there. Further, it would have been impossible for Steve to have replaced the items and position himself behind the furnace.
When the last of the brothers left for his job, Steve began the difficult task of trying to free himself from his confinement. He told me that he was so tightly pressed that it took "a good five to ten minutes" just to get himself into a position where he could begin to clear away the objects that stood between him and the closet door, which was the only possible way in or out of the closet.
This was finally accomplished but only after much loud banging against the metal walls of the furnace. Steve replaced the stored items that he had moved to enable his escape and closed the closet door. In order to leave the apartment, Steve had to undo the bolted locks of the apartment door It was then about 7:30 in the morning. He walked the short distance to his house where he was greeted by his mother as she looked out from the kitchen window while she was washing dishes. She asked where he had been, not realizing that Steve had been absent from the house for most of the night. Not knowing how else to respond, Steve told her only that he had gone for a walk.
Steve has never had any occasions of sleep walking He can recall experiencing astral projection, but only while asleep. He has no recollection of alien abductions.
In order for Steve to have gotten to the position in the closet where he found himself that morning, at some point the night before, he would have had to:
1. pass through the locked door of the apartment and past the sleeping man on the cot.
2. removed nearly all of the items from the closet and (only then) tightly wedge himself between the furnace and the wall, requiring at east five to ten minutes of loud banging sounds.
3. replaced all of the items while still in the immobile confines behind the furnace.
By what means was Steve physically transported from his upstairs bedroom to the impossible position between the furnace and the closet wall of the neighboring apartment without being detected???
Steve has been quietly wrestling with that question for several decades. Neither of us can figure it out.
If you have heard of any similar incidents, we would love to hear from you.
Thank you,
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