the black door tried to drag me in. three times.

i'm 21 now and this happened like 3 years ago. honestly changed my whole view on ghosts existing because i was a full skeptic before this.

so it started with my dad having these NASTY nightmares. like every single night he'd be sleep talking and thrashing around, waking himself up screaming. i was studying late for exams at the time and his sleep screaming was so fucked up i literally couldn't focus on work.

after like two weeks of this i asked him what was going on. he said he kept having these dreams where he's fighting some weird creature, except the creature changes every time but there's always this massive BLACK DOOR in the same place trying to drag him through it. weird flex but my dad used to box so apparently he kept winning the fights in these dreams. i was like okay that's just a weird dream, whatever.

BUT THEN. my dad's got this friend who's a monk. except not really a monk? like he's got a wife, kids, drinks beer, eats meat. sometimes he goes to the mountains for like a month to pray. very unhinged honestly.

so one day monk guy comes over to have drinks with my dad at our place. our house is tiny so i share a room with my parents. monk walks in, looks around, and just goes "uh doesn't this room have bad energy? don't you guys get bad dreams here?" my dad got embarrassed and was like "what bad dreams? i don't have that problem!" but the monk wasn't letting it go.

after they finished drinking, monk writes something on a talisman, burns it, mixes the ash in water, and tells my dad to drink it. my dad actually does it.

and it WORKS. dad stops having nightmares immediately.

so guess who starts having them instead. me.

the first dream: i'm in Joseon era and i'm literally a kidnapper selling babies to cannibals. i break into a house, steal a newborn, but the mother wakes up so i KILL HER. then i panic and throw the baby in a river. somehow i become a woodcutter to repent for like years.

one day i'm in these mountains and i recognize where i am. that river. that place. i start running but no matter how far i go i keep circling back to that same creek. then i see the baby's bloated corpse floating and i freeze.

the mother climbs out of the water, grabs my wrist, and goes "come with me... i'm so lonely..." i'm getting dragged in and i physically FLAIL my whole body and wake up soaked in cold sweat.

i'm thinking okay just a nightmare, whatever. go back to sleep.

SECOND DREAM: same Joseon era setting but now i'm looking for a shaman to help me. there's this insanely beautiful shaman with perfect white skin and she's smiling at me all seductive. i tell her everything and she offers me food. i start eating and suddenly this scholar in blue robes grabs my arm and is like "STOP. don't eat that!" but i ignore him and keep eating.

everything goes into slow motion. my eyes are moving fast but i can't hear anything. the scholar's panicking but the shaman just has her eyes BULGING out of her head grinning ear to ear with her mouth stretched open like a monster. and then. the BLACK DOOR opens behind her.

she grabs my wrist and starts dragging me through it. i remember the river dream so i THRASH again and barely wake up. drenched in sweat, can't breathe.

but i'm so exhausted i pass out anyway.

THIRD DREAM: modern day now. i'm coming home from evening self-study. suddenly in the alley RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME this massive black door just SLAMS open and starts sucking me in like a vacuum cleaner. except this time i can't fight it. there's no physical force to resist. i'm just getting pulled into nothing.

then my DAD WAKES ME UP. he's like "what the hell were you dreaming? you were laughing in this CREEPY voice saying 'come with me... come with me...' and it freaked me out so bad i had to wake you up."

i couldn't sleep after that. kept having variations of the same nightmare. my dad called the monk again. monk came over, literally sketched a Dharma painting in like 30 seconds, told us to hang it on the wall.

and that was IT. no more nightmares. ever. for either of us.

i still don't know what that was. my dad fought and won. i just barely resisted. if that door had actually pulled me through...

i'm not a believer anymore. i KNOW ghosts exist now and honestly that's worse.