I never thought I’d be the kind of person posting on NoSleep, but here I am.

I need to get this off my chest, and maybe someone out there has dealt with something similar.

God, I hope not, but I’m desperate for answers.

First, let me introduce myself.

I’m Jake, a 19-year-old college student living with my parents in a small town just outside of Portland, Oregon.

We’ve got a cozy two-story house on a quiet street, surrounded by towering pine trees.

It’s usually peaceful here, but for the past week, our nights have been anything but.

My mom, Sarah, is a high school English teacher. She’s always been the rational one in the family, with a no-nonsense attitude that usually keeps us grounded.

Dad, on the other hand, is Mike, a former Marine turned construction foreman.

He’s got that tough-guy exterior, but I’ve always known he’s a softie at heart, especially when it comes to me and Mom.

It all started last Tuesday. I was up late studying for a biology exam, my eyes burning from staring at my textbook for hours.

I glanced at my phone – 4:30 AM. “Shit,” I muttered, realizing I’d have to be up for class in just a few hours.

That’s when I heard it – the distinct sound of our doorbell.

Who the hell would be ringing our doorbell at this hour?

I crept downstairs, my heart pounding. Our chihuahua, Scooby, was already at the door, growling softly.

I peeked through the peephole and felt my blood run cold.

There, illuminated by our porch light, stood an old woman.

She was thin, almost skeletal, with wispy white hair that seemed to float around her head like a halo.

Her skin was pale and wrinkled, hanging loosely on her face.

But it was her eyes that really freaked me out – they were completely black, like two empty voids staring straight at me.

“Jake? What’s going on?” Mom’s voice made me jump. She’d come downstairs, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“There’s… there’s an old woman outside,” I stammered.

Mom frowned and gently nudged me aside to look for herself. Her sharp intake of breath told me she saw her too. Dad appeared moments later, his Marine training evident in his alert stance despite being woken up.

“Should we… should we open the door?” I asked hesitantly.

Mom shook her head. “No, absolutely not. We don’t know who she is or what she wants at this hour.” Her teacher instincts kicked in immediately. “We need to document this,” she said, grabbing a notebook to jot down every detail.

Dad, meanwhile, went into full protection mode, checking every window and door lock twice. “I’m calling the police,” he said, his voice gruff with concern.

While Mom dialed, I kept watch through the peephole. The old woman remained motionless, her arms hanging limply at her sides. It was like she was a statue, except for those eyes. They seemed to follow my every movement, even though I knew she couldn’t see me.

The police arrived about 15 minutes later. As soon as their car pulled up, the old woman turned and walked away, disappearing into the shadows of our street.

The officers took our statement, but there wasn’t much they could do. No laws had been broken, and the woman was gone. They promised to keep an eye out during their patrols and left.

We all went back to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that old woman’s face, those black, empty eyes.

The next night, I made sure to be in bed early. But at exactly 4:31 AM, I woke up to Scooby’s frantic barking. My stomach dropped as I realized what it must mean.

Sure enough, there she was again. This time, she was a few steps closer to our front door.

We called the police again, but by the time they arrived, she was gone. This pattern repeated for the next five nights. Each time, the old woman appeared at exactly 4:31 AM. And each time, she was a little bit closer to our house.

As the nightly visits continued, I watched my parents struggling to cope. Mom threw herself into research, spending hours online looking for similar cases or local legends. “There has to be a logical explanation,” she’d mutter, surrounded by stacks of printouts. Dad, true to form, focused on fortifying the house. He installed new locks, motion-sensor lights, and even talked about getting a security system.

I could hear them arguing in hushed tones late at night. Mom wanted to go to the media, thinking publicity might help. “Someone out there must know something,” she insisted. But Dad was dead set against it. “You want us to be the crazy family on the evening news?” he’d retort. The tension between them was palpable, and it scared me almost as much as the old woman.

Last night was the worst so far. She was right at the bottom of our porch steps, her face turned up towards my bedroom window. I swear, even though it was dark and she was far away, I could see a faint smile on her lips.

I don’t know what to do. The police have stopped responding to our calls – they think we’re pulling some kind of prank. My parents are at their wits’ end, torn between their fear and their need to protect me.

Part of me hopes this is all just some weird, prolonged dream. That I’ll wake up and everything will be normal again. But deep down, I know that’s not the case.

If anyone has experienced anything like this, please, please let me know. I don’t know how much longer we can take this nightly visitor.

I’ll update if anything changes. For now, I’m just praying she doesn’t get any closer tonight.

Thanks for all the responses to my last post. I wish I had better news, but things have only gotten worse. Much worse.

It’s been three more nights since I last updated, and each one has been more terrifying than the last. The old woman is getting closer, and I’m starting to lose my mind. My parents aren’t faring much better.

On the eighth night, she was halfway up our porch steps. I remember pressing my face against the cool glass of my bedroom window, my breath fogging up the pane as I stared down at her. She stood there, motionless, those black eyes fixed on our front door.

Dad, thinking he could scare her off, flicked on the porch light and yelled through the door, “We see you! Get off our property or we’re calling the cops!” His voice cracked slightly, betraying the fear behind his tough facade.

The moment the words left his mouth, the old woman’s head snapped up, her eyes locking onto my window. A chill ran down my spine as a grin spread across her face, revealing rows of yellowed, pointed teeth.

“Oh god,” I whispered, stumbling back from the window.

When I worked up the courage to look again, she was gone. But the porch light was off, even though Dad swore he never touched the switch.

The next night, she made it to the top of the porch. This time, Mom lost it.

“That’s it!” she screamed, stomping down the stairs. “I’m going out there and giving this old bat a piece of my mind!” Her usually calm demeanor had cracked, replaced by a frantic desperation.

“Sarah, no!” Dad yelled, but she was already yanking the door open.

The old woman stood there, her face inches from my mom’s. For a moment, they just stared at each other. Then my mom let out a blood-curdling scream and slammed the door shut.

She collapsed against it, sobbing. “Her eyes,” she kept saying. “Oh god, her eyes.” Dad wrapped his arms around her, his own eyes wide with shock. I’d never seen my mother so shaken, and it terrified me more than anything else had so far.

We spent the rest of the night huddled in the living room, jumping at every creak and groan of our old house. When morning came, we found deep scratch marks on the outside of our front door.

Last night was the worst yet. At 4:31 AM, like clockwork, Scooby started barking. But this time, it wasn’t his usual aggressive bark. It was high-pitched, terrified.

I ran downstairs to find him cowering in the corner of the living room, whimpering. And there, pressed against our front window, was the old woman’s face.

Her skin looked even more deteriorated up close, hanging off her cheekbones in gray, rotting strips. Her mouth was open in a silent scream, revealing a black void where her tongue should have been. But her eyes… God, her eyes. They were like bottomless pits, and as I stared into them, I felt like I was falling.

I don’t know how long I stood there, transfixed. It could have been seconds or hours. I was only snapped out of it when I heard my dad’s voice.

“Jake? Jake! Snap out of it, son!” He shook me roughly, his face pale with worry.

I blinked, coming back to reality. The old woman was gone, but a foul, rotting smell lingered in the air.

We’re at our wits’ end. My parents are barely holding it together. Mom’s stopped trying to find logical explanations and has started leaving salt lines at all the doors and windows. Dad’s talking about calling in favors from his old Marine buddies, convinced that we’re under some kind of attack.

I’ve been researching non-stop, trying to find any similar cases or local legends that might explain what’s happening. So far, I’ve come up empty.

The only lead I have is an old newspaper article I found from the 1950s. It mentioned a “Widow Carver” who lived in a cabin in the woods near our neighborhood. Apparently, she was accused of witchcraft and driven out of town. The article said she vowed revenge on the townspeople and their descendants before disappearing into the forest.

It’s probably nothing, just my desperate mind grasping at straws. But at this point, I’ll take any explanation, no matter how far-fetched.

I don’t know what tonight will bring, but I’m dreading 4:31 AM. The old woman has made it to our window. The next step is inside our house.

I’ll update again tomorrow if I can. If you don’t hear from me… well, I don’t want to think about that. Wish us luck, NoSleep. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.

I’m writing this with shaking hands, trying to make sense of what happened last night. I don’t know if I’m going crazy or if something truly evil has invaded our lives. Either way, I’m terrified.

Yesterday evening, my parents and I tried to prepare for the old woman’s nightly visit. We double-checked all the locks, closed all the curtains, and even pushed furniture against the doors. Dad got his old baseball bat from the garage, and Mom clutched a can of pepper spray. We were determined to confront whatever came at 4:31 AM.

As the hour approached, we huddled together in the living room. Scooby was unnaturally quiet, curled up in a tight ball under the coffee table. The air felt heavy, like the moment before a thunderstorm.

4:30 AM. One minute to go.

“Maybe she won’t come,” Mom whispered, her knuckles white around the pepper spray. Her usual composure was gone, replaced by raw fear.

4:31 AM.

For a moment, nothing happened. We held our breath, ears straining for any sound. Then, we heard it – a soft scraping noise coming from the front door.

Dad gripped his bat tighter. “I’m going to check,” he said, moving towards the door. His Marine training was kicking in, but I could see the tremor in his hands.

“No!” Mom and I hissed in unison, but he was already at the peephole.

He looked through, then stumbled back, his face pale. “She’s… she’s gone,” he stammered.

Relief washed over us, but it was short-lived. Because at that moment, we heard Scooby let out a pitiful whine. We turned to see him staring, trembling, at something behind us.

Slowly, dreading what I’d see, I turned around.

There she was. Inside our house.

The old woman stood in the doorway to the kitchen, her emaciated frame silhouetted against the darkness. Her black eyes seemed to suck in all the light in the room.

Mom screamed. Dad swung his bat, but it passed right through her as if she was made of smoke. I saw a side of my parents I’d never seen before. Mom, usually so composed, was shaking like a leaf, tears streaming down her face. But her voice was steady as she recited what sounded like a protection prayer. Dad, who I’d always seen as unshakeable, looked utterly lost. But when the old woman took a step forward, he positioned himself in front of us without hesitation, his body a shield.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. Those eyes held me paralyzed.

She took another step forward. Her mouth opened, wider than any human mouth should, revealing that terrible black void.

Just as she reached out a skeletal hand towards me, Scooby burst from under the table. He launched himself at the old woman, barking furiously.

The moment he touched her, there was a blinding flash of light and a sound like a thunderclap. When my vision cleared, both Scooby and the old woman were gone.

We spent the rest of the night searching the house, calling for Scooby, but found nothing. No sign of the old woman, no sign of our dog. It was as if they’d never existed.

When dawn finally broke, we were exhausted and confused. Had it all been some sort of shared hallucination? But the scratch marks on the door were still there, and Scooby was still missing.

Mom’s rational facade finally cracked. She spent hours calling animal shelters and tacking up ‘Missing Dog’ posters, her voice breaking every time she had to describe Scooby. Dad, who had always rolled his eyes at Scooby’s yapping, now wandered the house at night, whistling for him and leaving his favorite treats in every room.

I tried to sleep, but when I did, the nightmares came. In my dreams, I was in a dark, misty forest. I could hear Scooby barking in the distance, but every time I moved towards the sound, it got further away. And always, just at the edge of my vision, I could see the old woman. Watching. Waiting.

I woke up gasping for air, my face wet with tears. That’s when I noticed it – a faint whispering in the room. Words in a language I didn’t understand, barely audible but definitely there. And something else… a light touch on my face, like fingers gently caressing my cheek.

I scrambled out of bed and ran downstairs. The living room looked like a scene from a horror movie. Every single flower in the vases, the ones Mom had put out to “brighten the mood,” was rotting. Not just wilted, but actually decomposing, giving off a sickly sweet smell that made my stomach churn.

Mom and Dad were in the kitchen, both looking as shell-shocked as I felt. “Did you hear…?” I began, but they just nodded silently. The tension that had been building between them seemed to have evaporated, replaced by a shared sense of dread.

We’re at a loss. The old woman didn’t appear at 4:31 AM like she had been, but somehow this feels worse. It’s like she’s everywhere now, invisible but present. Waiting.

Scooby is still missing. The police have been no help – they think he just ran away in the night. They don’t believe our story about the old woman. To be honest, I’m starting to doubt it myself. But then I look at the rotting flowers, I remember the whispering, the phantom touch on my face, and I know it was real.

I found something else too, something that chills me to the bone. Remember that old newspaper article I mentioned, about Widow Carver? I dug deeper and found her full name: Eliza Carver. I also found her death certificate.

She died on May 17th, 1954. At 4:31 AM.

Today is May 17th.

I showed the death certificate to my parents. Mom’s face went ashen, while Dad’s jaw clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grinding.

“This can’t be a coincidence,” Mom whispered, her voice trembling. She’d abandoned all pretense of rational explanations now. “What if… what if she’s come back for revenge?”

Dad shook his head, but I could see the doubt in his eyes. “That’s impossible,” he muttered, but there was no conviction in his voice.

As night fell, the atmosphere in the house became suffocating. We tried to go about our normal routines, but every creak, every shadow, sent us into a panic. Mom kept checking and rechecking the salt lines she’d laid down, muttering protection prayers under her breath. Dad paced restlessly, his old service pistol now holstered at his hip.

I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight. Part of me wants to run, to get as far away from this house as possible. But another part of me knows it won’t make a difference. Whatever this is, wherever it came from, it’s attached to us now.

As I write this, it’s 11:45 PM. Less than five hours until 4:31 AM. Mom and Dad are in the living room, holding hands and talking in low voices. I can see the love between them, strengthened by this shared ordeal. Whatever happens tonight, we’ll face it as a family.

If you’re reading this, please, be careful of who – or what – you let into your life. Some doors, once opened, can never be closed again.

I’ll update if I can, but if you don’t hear from me again… well, at least you’ll know why.

[UPDATE – 3:17 AM]

Something’s wrong. Very wrong. The house has gone completely silent. Not just quiet – silent. I can’t hear the hum of the refrigerator, or the ticking of the clock in the hallway. It’s like all sound has been sucked out of the world.

I tried to go downstairs to check on my parents, but my bedroom door won’t open. It’s not locked – the handle turns, but it’s like there’s a solid wall on the other side.

The air feels thick, almost syrupy. It’s hard to breathe. And it’s cold. So cold.

I can hear whispers now. They’re coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. I can’t make out the words, but they sound… angry.

There’s something moving in the shadows of my room. I can’t quite see it, but I know it’s there. Watching. Waiting.

Goodbye, NoSleep.