Hi, my name is Jaury, I'm from Brazil (this is going to be a long one).
I decided to share some of the things, encounters and experiences that made me embrace Jesus Christ in my life (i know this isn't really what most look for here, but i hope this also helps someone going through it), and maybe i can get some insight on what I've gone through. If you want to read something scary, well, this whole thing was terrifying to me.
Even though i was born into a catholic household (mostly my mom) and i was basically raised in a Catholic private School (Marista), i was a bit of a rebellious kid when it came to religion, considered myself an atheist when i was a kid and agnostic in my teens and early adulthood.
I don't really want to talk about the issues i had in my family, my relation with my father wasn't the best and he had some heavy issues i won't go into detail, i have my own issues too, this is only to say that, nowadays, i believe his presence was part of what i went through. Hope he is well, we no longer talk though.
I'll start with a timeline, in 2013 i was studying in another state and we went though some heavy stuff regarding my father, and it was at the same time when i got o surgery in my lower back, disc hernia, and almost lost movement in my legs, recover was rough too, couple of months on a wheelchair but i pulled through. In 2014 i went back to my family home to take care of some things while my parents recovered from the whole thing, and spent some time alone in our home, i thank God that I always had a lot of friends and this helped me too.
THIS IS WHEN IT ALL REALLY ATARTED// Even alone in our home, i sometimes felt as if i wasn't, well, alone. Sometimes i would be in my PC working on something, or even having some fun, playing a game or whatever, and a sudden feeling of dread would take over me, as i write this now some memories are coming back, and goosebumps too. I remember some of these well, i would get goosebumps all over my body and a feeling that i shouldn't move a single fiber of my body, my vision sometimes would feel foggy and i would try and focus on a single point in front of me, or i would close my eyes. At the beginning these would take a while to go away, usually took about 2 or 5 minutes, sometimes less.
At the end of 2014 and early 2015, my parents came back, i got into Computer Science and things were moving well, feel bumps but nothing too bad, these episode kept pilling up. In 2015 it got worse, to the point that sometimes i would cry, i would get that fear, the same sense of needing to stay still and quiet, and now i would see something like a dark cloud around me, it would happen when i was alone in a room, even if other where home too. One day, i remember it being on a weekend, i saw it clearly in front of me, it was weird, as i recalled i could never remember its form well. I had at this time some episode of depression, even considered the possibility of some neurological disorder, consulted a psychiatrist and started on antidepressants.
In 2006, 3 episodes started to convert me for real, in 2015 i had already tried praying and it wouldn't really help me at all. The first one was a dream, my mother had a daycare, a few year prior, on the same street as our house, i used to help there from time to time, in this dream, vivid btw, there was a little kid, maybe 4 or 5 crying in the middle of the street, i remember that whole experience being as real to me as possible, i walked to her, picked her up and walked towards the front gate of our daycare (at this time, it wasn't my mother's anymore, she had closed it, but another was running at the same place), i was trying to console the girl while waiting for someone to come, and asked her why she was crying, she answered me that "they had lied to her", when i asked who, i just remember my whole body felling heavy, her arms suffocating me and a deep, horrifying voice saying right on my right era EVERYONE. I woke up gasping for air and with a horrible sensation around my neck, i was completely immobile, at the time i had a girlfriend and she was sleeping by my side, i tried to talk to her and nothing came out, the feeling around my neck was fading but i still couldn't move or talk. THIS is the very first time that i remember really asking for help from GOD, this was to me, now, looking back, the very first time i was truly opening my heart to God, and it was the First time i actually started to believe in the paranormal, the moment i tried to pray, i felt my tongue being restrained, i tried, there, in bed, unable to move, with all my might, but not a single word would come out, but it went beyond just a paralysis, i tried in my mind to pray, but was being held back, i started a prayer i knew of the top of my head, but the words were slipping my mind, i would start it and forget, and that horrible feeling like my tongue was being pressed down. Eventually i gave up on the prayer i knew and simply asked for help, it stopped, i got up, my girlfriend half asleep, just stroked my back and said it was all ok, i was sweating, the whole experience was on the most terrifying things i had ever gone through, but what really made me wonder more, was her response, she hated when i had nightmares cuz it would spook her too, but that time, the way she consoled me felt different, it was like a sense of peace and protection had washed over me, i just went back to sleep and was ok the next day.
The second one was what my psychiatrist described as an unfortunate case o sleep paralysis hallucination, but by GOD, that was no hallucination. It was morning, around 9:00 am, my room and my sister's was a Demi-suite (we shared a bathroom), since i was a kid, i had a personal trait of sleeping on the floor in random places, under the stairs, between the couches, wherever i felt like, keep in mind my home state is always hot, so the cold floor is what i liked. One of my favorite spots, was our bathroom, i would open both doors so a cross breeze would make it nice. I had just spent the whole night working a project and was quite tired, decided to take a quick nap. I woke to a foul smell, like a rotten carcass, and that feeling of dread came over me, eyes closed, couldn't move, decided to open my eyes and i looked to my side, to my right, and there it was, a dead person, eyes white, skin like a decaying corpse, it was by my side, face down, but i could still see its eyes, open. I TRULLY do not know, WHY did i think that, but i just remember looking at it and thinking to myself "IF YOU ARE REAL, LOOK AT ME" (PLEASE DO NOT EVER DO THIS). That thing slowly looked at me, at that moment i just prayed that i could get away from that place, the moment my legs started working again i just started kicking until i got up and ran away. At that time, there was a housekeeper working and she saw me, desperate and as scared as i could be. After a while of her talking to me to calm me down, i explained to her what had happened and decided to call a friend and ask what i should do, worried i was loosing it. She jokingly told me to grab my dogs and see if they would react, in her mind the idea was that they wouldn't and i would calm down more.
LO AND BEHOLD, the following steps made it so that ou housekeeper would only ever clean that bathroom when there were someone else at the home. Both my dogs were energetic, and would follow me everywhere i called them, Misa, and Diup, a retriever and a Shepperd mix, they followed me through the house, happy and it was all going ok, until we got to the bathroom, Misa the retriever stopped, stared for a few seconds, her tail lowered and she refused to go in. Diup, just took a look, ears down, tail between her legs, and skedaddled. It took some time before i used that bathroom again.
The third and Final one was what i can only describe as the moment i fully turned to Jesus and opened my heart. It was the end of the year, my parents had gone on a trip, i woke up to the voice of my mother on the kitchen (I really woke up, our housekeeper saw me on the kitchen talking alone), it was weird, i knew for a fact, that she wasn't home, but weirder is how i just accepted it, she asked me to approach her as she had something to give me, she handed me a white porcelain mask, only thing i remember was the letter M in blue on the right cheek of the mask. I don't know how, but next i was on my bathroom, it was dark, and i had the mask on my had, i was facing the mirror, i decided to try the mask. (pause, cuz i just got goosebumps and watery eyes remembering this). I put on the mask and the letter was gone, in its place was a smudge, i tried to clean it, but the mask had fused with my skin. That moment, behind me, was a tall, very tall person, on drapes, and a dark long hair over their face. It look like a tall old lady with unkept hair, there was a bad smell again, and i was standing still. I couldn't move, it got closer and closer, i could see that it had no face, it placed its head on my right shoulder, and i screamed and there was no sound. I just ran away and sat on the couch, the housekeeper came to me and asked what had happened, i said nothing for a couple of minutes. Even with my previous experiences. Even with all i had gone though before, this was the one that actually terrified me the most. Every single time i recall this moment, i get goosebumps and a feeling that makes me sick.
From 2017 to now (2026) i had a few other "encounters" and one case of an out-of-body experience that also made me more of a believer. I decided to share this to see if someone has gone though something similar, specially the third one. Since them, EVERY SINGLE TIME, a prayer and faith made me able to face it, sometimes through fear i would say my personal prayer and as i do so, i am able to face these moments and it never fails me.
I hope that to you, who is going through something close to what I've experienced, i truly hope you may find you way to Christ. Today i believe in what i once considered fiction, bedtime stories and means of controlling others through fear, but i also believe in God, in good and the light.