I've Been Hearing a Voice

Several nights ago, I was alone in my apartment while preparing for bed. After I turned off the lights and television, I heard a faint crackling sound. I did not know what it was or where it came from, but I figured it must be my neighbors above because they are always making noise.

I went to bed, but the crackling kept on. I could hear it through the dark, as if it were whispering to me. Gradually, after several minutes of trying to ignore it, it grew louder and faster. Since I could not sleep because of this incessant crackling, I decided to get up and look around to see what could be causing the noise.

Eventually, I realized that it was coming from outside. I opened the door to my porch and saw that my rocker was rocking back and forth rapidly. I thought this was curious since there was no wind that night. I did not give it any more attention and went to bed.

The next night the same thing happened. I again heard the crackling sound and found my rocker steadily rocking back and forth without even the slightest bit of wind. This time, however, when I drew closer to the rocker for a better look, I felt a sudden sense of sorrow envelop me. Scared, I ran inside.

In the morning, I called the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, thinking they would know best what could be happening. That night they came to investigate. On cue, just when I would normally go to bed, we heard the same crackling sound I had experienced the previous two nights. Armed with cameras, heat sensing detectors, sound recorders, and other devices, the three of us stepped outside, the rocker swaying faster than ever before.

While setting up their equipment, they told me they'll record all the goingson and then afterwards go back to analyze it. Sometimes, they said, their recorders pick up something that they did not see or hear. After everything was ready, we began. We mostly kept silent as the rocker continued its back and forth on my wooden porch, making a quiet crackling when its pace slowed and a louder crackling when it sped up. Now and again, the paranormal investigators would ask questions like, “If someone is here with us, would you please tell us who you are?” or “Would you tell us why you are moving this rocker?” or “Whoever is out there, are you trying to tell us something?”

After about an hour, we had gotten nothing, but the rocker kept swaying. I was tired, and so I told the paranormal investigators that I was going to bed because I had a meeting with an instructor the next day that I really did not want to go to. Then, immediately there was a raspy voice that said, “Not even you can hide. You see, you're just like me. I hope you're satisfied." Stunned, we froze where we were. I panicked. The voice had not come from the rocker or the sound recorder, but from somewhere in the chilly night air! The investigators asked more questions, but were met with silence.

Before they left, they told me they would analyze the tapes and get back to me in about a week. The next day, all I could think about was what the message I had heard could mean. I had planned on rescheduling the meeting because we recently turned in a major essay in the class, and I figured he was going to tell me how poorly I did. But then I thought that maybe the raspy voice was telling me not to, because if I hid from the meeting I would regret it. It turned out that the instructor really liked my essay and wanted me to publish it in a particular journal, for which the deadline for submission was soon. I was relieved.

That night, there was the same crackling and back and forth swaying of the rocker. I went outside but heard nothing. Finally, I said, “I wish I knew if what I heard last night was real.” Suddenly, I heard the raspy voice. It told me, “I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'. I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest, where the people are a many and their hands are all empty.”

That was last night. Today I have been mulling over just what this latest message could mean. It seems clear to me now that the first message I heard was a warning or suggestion. It would have been a mistake to have not gone to see my instructor. It is obvious the raspy voice was trying to tell me something important there. But what could this new message mean? Nothing happened today that gives me any clue. However, just before I began typing this account of what has been happening to me the last several nights, I Googled the two messages I have received. Both are lines from Bob Dylan songs. The first comes from “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again,” and the second comes from “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”

Could it be that Bob Dylan is somehow communicating with me? Is he giving me some sort of guidance about my life? Or a warning maybe? I do not know. I can only wait and see how this second message plays out, if at all. Maybe tonight, before I go to bed, I will go outside and hear his voice again, and I will ask him what this all means. If I find an answer, I’ll let you know.