Supernatural, Part Five: The Heralding

If, like me, you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember the TV cartoon Casper the Friendly Ghost. Looking it up, I discovered that the series was based on a late 1930s creation by author Seymour Reit and illustrator/animator Joe Oriolo for a 1939 children's storybook. Famous Studios — an incarnation of Paramount — bought the rights to Oriolo’s illustration to make a short film in 1945. The character’s history is extensive; the image and concept are still being used as I write this.

And, one night, I discovered the origin of Oriolo’s image of Caspar … or, perhaps, it was how my own mind interpreted things using concepts familiar to me. Either way, the dream I had was riveting, to say the least.

When I lived in the homeless facility, there were rooms set aside for veterans and I lived in one of them. I had been there alone for about a week when I got a roommate. Small black lady -- an Army veteran -- who seemed normal enough when we were making our get-to-know-you small talk on that first day. She had a Caribbean accent, which I found out was Haitian.

That night, I had a dream about God and Satan talking to each other. Both appeared as white, faceless apparitions against a black background. They appeared very much like this.

Many will recognize this as the cropped LMAO image, but, since the dream, I cannot look at it — or Casper — in the same way.

In the beginning of the dream, I heard murmuring voices, but then they became distinct. The two were speaking in a language I had never heard before, but I could sense the nature of the conversation: point and counterpoint.

At some point, God stopped talking and just looked at Satan because the latter was saying one word over and over again in the unknown language. Then the word became English.

“Felon! Felon! Felon!”

Initially, I thought that Satan was saying that God was a felon; but when I looked up the word ‘felon’ later that day, I realized that Satan was talking about humanity.

One of the definitions of ‘felon’ is a criminal worthy of death.

Then Satan noticed me, turned to a vapor, came at me incredibly fast, and enveloped me.

I was paralyzed and could feel that “vapor” on my skin -- a tingling on every inch of my body. I specifically remember feeling the entity’s pressure on the bottom of my right foot. Allegedly, the soles of our feet are porous absorption points.

The entity tightened against the rest of my skin; it was trying to enter my being, but could not. When, I called out to God, Satan gave up. I woke up after that.

My roommate would not speak to me for days and, afterward, began a months-long reign of terror against me.

NEXT: The Terrorist (For paid subscribers only)

Remember, I have much work to do on that very long story, so be patient!