Spooks From My Childhood – Miss Helen

Jennifer and I were playing on the living room floor. As I was pushing a shoe with a perfume bottle in it, which to me was car and its driver, I heard a knock at the front door.

I felt our guest’s presence, even though I had no idea who was on the other side of the door.

“Come in, Helen. How are you?” Mother said nervously as she opened the door.

There she stood inside the doorway. She was a tall, stocky woman with hair the color of red Louisiana clay. Her skin was as white as the ivory keys of a piano. Her chin and jawbone tapered underneath her rouged full cheeks. She had fierce green eyes which were outline with a heavy coat of maschera on the lashes.
She walked slowly across the threshold of the door. Her fat red lips moved as she bellowed in her deep voice, “I’ve never been better.”

“Have a seat,” Mother said as she gestured to the couch.

It wasn’t her voice that frightened me, but her presence. Although I can’t remember much of the conversation that day, I do remember how she seemed to fill up and dominate any room she entered. She had this magnetic personality, though she wasn’t friendly. When I was around her, I could feel a negative energy. Even though I didn’t want to I was drawn to look at her.

A few minutes after Miss Helen’s arrival, there was another knock at the front door. It was the minister. While Mother greeted him, Dad ushered us to our room.

“Be quiet and play. And don’t come out for anything!” he ordered as he shut the bedroom door.
Jennifer and I tried to listen through the door, but we could only hear muffled voices. At the time, I didn’t know why the minister and Miss Helen were here.

Later I found out Miss Helen had stirred up trouble in our church, and the minister wanted to talk to her about it. Because they both lived far away from each other, our house was a central meeting place.

Miss Helen was a trouble maker. She told one person on thing, then turned it around and twisted it to accommodate another. She created strife between a few of the members in our church. The minister and my parents were very religious. They concluded that Miss Helen was possessed by a demon. The real reason for the meeting was to try to cast the demon out.

After both the minister and Miss Helen left that night, weird things began to happen. Jennifer started having nightmares, and Krista started sleep walking. My parents believed that a demonic spirit was present in our home after Miss Helen’s visit.

About a month later, Miss Helen was put out of our church because she continued to cause problems.
Ever since that night I’ve had this image of Miss Helen’s face in my mind as pure evil. If I had to describe what I think the devil looks like, I would say he looks just like her, red hair and all.

Now, I’m still unsure whether she was possessed by a demon or she was mentally ill. I’m sure it’s not fair for her to be branded as the fallen angel. But to a little five-year old girl the experience made a lasting impression. Even now, when I hear someone mention the devil, I get the image of Miss Helen.