I was born and raised in the South, so I grew up hearing all kinds of ghost stories. Ghost stories have always been part of Southern culture. I never gave much thought to the validity of these stories. I just remember how much I enjoyed hearing them. That is, until I had an encounter that would remain vivid in my mind from that night forward.

The year was 1977. I was seven years old and lived in a city just north of Birmingham, Alabama.

The house was fairly small, but comfortable. I lived there with my parents and my sister, who was one year old than me. Because of the size of the house, my sister and I shared a room. Her bed was against the rear wall and mine was against the wall next to the door, leading into the hallway.

One night, I awoke from a deep sleep to a state of complete awareness. It was as if I had been awake for hours even though I had just opened my eyes. What's weird to me is that from the moment I opened my eyes that night, I remember every single detail perfectly.

When I opened my eyes, I was looking directly at a figure standing at the foot of my bed. The door to my bedroom was open and a faint light from the hallway seemed to make her illuminate. Although it was dark in my room, I could see that her hair was long and curly.

The figure was wearing what appeared to be a white gown or dress (this part may seem stereotypical, but it's true). I can remember distinctly that I could not see her face. I remember sensing some confusion because nearly every part of the figure was vivid and clear, except her face.

She was just standing there, watching me. She made no movement nor did she make any attempt to communicate with me. She just stood there. Like I said before, this happened when I was seven. I am now 40. But I clearly remember every single movement I made and thought I had.

As I stood there staring at the figure, I remember I began thinking how I would wake my sister so that she could see what I was seeing. I wanted a witness.

After what seemed like hours, I decided to do about the only thing I could do: start calling my sister's name until she awoke. Keeping my eyes fixed on the figure just a few feet away, I began to call my sister's name. I called her name several times without success so I started calling louder and louder. Finally, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my sister rise up in bed. "WHAT??" she yelled.

Without diverting my eyes from the figure, I replied in a slow, stern voice, "Look at the foot of my bed! Look at the foot of my bed!" "Do you see her?"

"WHO?" my sister replied.

"The girl. Do you see the girl?"

My sister replied that she did NOT see a girl and to go back to sleep. However, I didn't let up and suggested we make a run for our parent's room. For some reason, my sister agreed so on the count of three we sprang from our beds and took off down the hall.

As I approached the door leading to my parents room, I turned to look behind me to make sure my sister was coming. As I looked back down the hall, there in the doorway of my bedroom was the figure, just standing there, watching me.

I busted into my parent's bedroom and hit the bed in a dead sprint. This, of course, woke my parents. I remember my mother asking me, while half asleep, "Kyle, what are you doing?"

"I saw a ghost, Mom!" I replied.

Needless to say, I stayed awake the remainder of the night but the girl figure never entered my parent's room. In fact, I've never seen her since. We lived in that house for several more years.

When we moved, we kept the house and rented it out. Many years later, my wife and I, and kids moved back into the house temporarily while our house was being built.

I never saw the figure again nor has anyone ever mentioned seeing anything abnormal in the house. Looking back now, I realize even as a child of seven I wasn't exactly "terrified" when I saw her. In fact, for the first few minutes I wasn't scared at all.

However, when the reality of the situation hit me, I got scared and bailed. My mother, to this day, believes it was my guardian angel just letting me know she was there. I tend to agree, for the mere fact that if she was a ghost, I would have more than likely seen her again, or at least someone else would have seen her over the years.

One more thing... it is important to me to stress to you that what I just wrote is 100% true. Until now, NO ONE outside my immediate family ever knew this occurred. The reason for this is because I didn't want to be labled a weirdo or liar. For some unknown reason, I felt the need to write about it here and now. Maybe my guardian angel is trying to tell me something?

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