Hello believers, non-believers, and everyone in between.

You're listening to Stories with Sapphire.

I am Sapphire Sandalo.

Now get cozy and open your mind because it's story time.

Back in 2013, I moved into a new apartment.

In classic messy 20-something-year-old fashion, I did not have a bed frame at the time,

and slept on a twin-sized Ikea mattress on the floor.

The rest of my room was an explosion of dirty clothes, books, and bags.

So I was used to going to bed, seeing various shapes and silhouettes in the dark.

Well, one night, I remember opening my eyes and seeing a new shape right next to my backpack on the ground.

It was moving, ever so slightly, back and forth, more like shaking.

I strained my eyes in the moonlit room, and realized it was a woman with long, scraggly hair and a dirty white nightgown.

She was squatting on the ground, staring at me with her bulbous eyes.

I guess I was able to fall back asleep after that because I don't remember anything else about that night.

Now this happened during the time period when my views on spirituality and the paranormal were greatly different from what they are today.

I wouldn't say I was a hardcore non-believer, though, because I was absolutely terrified.

So for the last decade, I had filed that image away into the weird dreams folder because that was much less horrifying.

There was no woman in my room. It was a nightmare, brought upon the changes happening in my life at the time.

Fast forward to 2023.

I had gathered all the stories for this episode, and was thinking about what I would like to share for the introduction.

What was a moment that made me stop and think, what the hell was that?

I've shared a lot of them already on the show.

...