Grimmy in our Moonlit Garden
The scariest dream I ever had? Or was it REAL?
There was a time when Halloween at our house was quite an event.
We had a big backyard, and my husband, Doug, and I loved decorating it for Halloween. We didn't just put out a few pumpkins and call it a day. We created entire scenes, complete with graveyards, spooky figures, and all sorts of things designed to give our visitors a good scare.
We were also resourceful. We saved costumes from previous Halloweens, taking them apart and finding new ways to use the pieces.
And that's how Grimmy came into our lives.
Meet Grimmy
Grimmy was our homemade Grim Reaper.
His skeleton was constructed from connected PVC pipes, which gave him a tall, humanlike frame. We attached a skull for his head and used a pair of frightening costume gloves for his hands. Then we dressed him in a long, flowing black gown and cape.
He carried a scythe, too, which gave him an even more authentic look.
What I do remember is how frighteningly real he could look.
During the day, Grimmy was obviously just a Halloween decoration. We knew every pipe, every piece of fabric, every little trick that had gone into making him.
But at night?
That was another story.
Sometimes I would look out into the backyard when the moon was shining overhead and the wind was blowing through the trees.
Because the PVC pipes could swivel at the base, Grimmy moved with the wind. His black gown and cape would billow around him, and his entire figure would seem to shift ever so slightly.
And for a moment, he looked alive.
I knew perfectly well that Doug and I had made him.
I knew he was nothing more than plastic pipes, a skull, and an old costume.
But there were nights when looking at him standing out there in the moonlight gave me the creeps.
He looked that real.
Eventually, Halloween would come and go, the decorations would be packed away, and life would return to normal.
But Grimmy had left quite an impression on me.
The Night of the Mirror
I can't tell you exactly how much time passed between those Halloweens and the night I'm about to describe.
What I do know is that Doug and I were still living in our home, and he had not yet become seriously ill.
At the time, I had concerns about his health. He drank and smoked heavily, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that couldn't continue forever without consequences.
But that particular night began like any other.
We went to bed together.
In our bedroom, we had a full-length mirror attached to the wall.
Sometime during the night, I woke up.
Or at least, I believed I was awake.
I looked toward the mirror.
And then I saw something I have never forgotten.
The surface of the mirror began to ripple.
Not like a reflection shifting in the darkness.
It rippled like water.
Imagine dropping a pebble into a perfectly still pond and watching the little waves spread outward.
That's what the mirror looked like.
And then, out of that rippling surface, a figure emerged.
A tall, black-hooded figure.
The Grim Reaper.
But this wasn't our Grimmy.
There was no familiar skull from our Halloween decorations. No recognizable face beneath the hood.
There was only darkness.
A shadowy figure dressed in black, carrying what I remember as a scythe.
And he was coming out of our bedroom mirror.
He Went to Doug
I watched in absolute terror as the figure moved across the bedroom.
He didn't come toward me.
He went to my husband's side of the bed.
And then he leaned over my husband.
I cannot adequately describe the fear I felt in that moment.
I was certain that something terrible was about to happen.
I KNEW he was there to take my husband that night.
I thought my Husband was going to die. Right there. That night.
I turned toward him, desperate to wake him up.
But when I tried to reach out and touch him, something stopped me.
It wasn't a hand.
It wasn't anything I could see.
It felt like a low-voltage electrical vibration surrounding him.
A strange, buzzing energy that seemed to prevent me from touching my own husband.
I tried to reach him, but I couldn't.
And I was terrified.
The Prayer
I have always been a spiritual person, and prayer has been part of my life in different ways.
But this was not one of my ordinary prayers for guidance, protection, or help with life's challenges.
This was something entirely different.
I closed my eyes and began to pray the Lord's Prayer... (It was the only religious prayer I knew)
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from EVIL.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.
Desperately.
Instinctively.
All I remember is that the prayer seemed to come from somewhere deep inside me.
I was frightened beyond anything I had ever experienced in a dream.
And I wanted that thing away from my husband.
When I finally opened my eyes again, the figure was gone.
The mirror was just a mirror.
And the nightmare was over.
Was It Only a Dream?
I told Doug what had happened.
I don't remember exactly what he said. Knowing him, I imagine he probably reassured me that everything was fine and that I'd only had a bad dream.
But I have never forgotten that night.
I've had plenty of nightmares in my lifetime. Some have been frightening, some bizarre, and some so vivid that I've awakened with my heart pounding.
But nothing has ever compared to this one.
It was the scariest dream I have ever had.
The rippling mirror. The hooded figure. The darkness beneath its hood. The strange electrical sensation that kept me from reaching Doug.
And above all, the overwhelming certainty that my husband was going to die.
What I didn't know then was that my husband would soon become seriously ill.
Two years later, he died.
I have wondered about that night ever since.
Was it simply an extraordinarily vivid nightmare, shaped by my fears about his health?
Was it my subconscious giving form to something I already knew, but didn't want to face?
Or was it some kind of warning?
Sometimes I have even wondered whether my prayers that night somehow gave us more time together.
I can't know that, of course.
And I can't tell you that the Grim Reaper actually came through our bedroom mirror.
What I can tell you is what I experienced, what I remember, and how utterly real it felt.
The strange thing is, I have never really believed in the Grim Reaper as an actual being.
To me, he was always a symbol. A character. Something from folklore and Halloween decorations.
Something like the Grimmy we built in our backyard.
And yet, all these years later, I can still picture that dark figure emerging from the rippling mirror and moving toward my sleeping husband.
I've never kept a full-length mirror in my bedroom ever since.
And sometimes I still wonder...
Was it only a dream?
From Ghosts of Halloween Past — Scheerwonder Living
Some stories are imagined. Others are remembered. This one is a memory of a dream so terrifyingly real that it has stayed with me for years.
