EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part one of two. Read part two of this story in Friday’s edition of the Valley Morning Star.
SAN BENITO – Don’t believe in ghosts? Well, Corina Acosta’s chilling account might make you think twice.
Acosta’s own experience with the supernatural goes beyond the traditional ghost stories and inches further out into the realm of impossibility.
Her frightening recollection of the occurrences that transpired in and around her two-bedroom San Benito home has left many speechless and has even led to an episode on Destination America’s Haunted Case Files, which is set to air in early November.
Yet, despite her terrifying and otherworldly encounters, she knows many will not believe her stories, but that’s OK with her. As Acosta says, “I’m the one that had to deal with it. I know it was true.”
THE FIRST SIGHTING
The year was 1986 and Acosta had just purchased her first home near the town’s old high school football stadium.
However, the house and its property weren’t all that she inherited with the purchase.
“It wasn’t till about a year and a half after I bought the house that I began to actually start seeing strange things go on,” said Acosta. “The first place I saw something was in my bedroom. I was pregnant at the time with my daughter and I was lying on my bed that was against the wall and in the room, I also had a dresser and a TV on top of it.
“I was watching TV when out of my peripheral vision I could see the silhouette of a person leaning against the doorway that led to the hallway. At first I thought it was my daughter’s father because the figure stood in the exact same manner he would stand. So I thought to myself, ‘why isn’t he just coming into the room’. So I looked over in that direction and saw nothing. I called out his name twice but he didn’t respond. I turned back to watch the TV and again the silhouette reappeared in my peripheral vision. I looked again and nothing was there. I thought to myself, ‘am I going crazy?’”
But little did she know that the experience was only the beginning. After Acosta had her daughter, activity in the home began to ramp up.
HEAVY PRESENCE
“One day I was at home and cleaning the kitchen when my mom came over to visit, said Acosta. “I had jut finished mopping and I told her ‘if you’re tired, go lie down next to the baby. She’s in the room.’ So she went to the room to do so. A few minutes later I noticed that everything in the house had gone quite. My mom was always very talkative so it was very unusual for it to be quiet. She loved telling stories to my daughter. So it was strange that it was quiet. I called out for my mom and nothing. I did it again and nothing again.”
In her daughter’s bedroom Acosta had a twin bed where she would lay the baby down. However, after her mom doesn’t respond, Acosta immediately goes to check if everything is OK.
“So after she didn’t respond I decided to go and check up on them,” Acosta said. “I walked down the hallway and when I go into the room I could see my mom sitting on the twin bed and she looked as if she was asleep in an upright position. But as I got closer I noticed that her eyes were wide open and this look on her face. So I quickly shook her and was screaming, ‘MOM, MOM, MOM!’”
“She looked like if she was paralyzed in a trance or something and when she finally snapped out of it she let out a loud gasp for air.”
Acosta’s mother told her to grab the baby and get out of the room. And as they do so Acosta’s mother says, “don’t ever leave the baby alone in the room.”
“I asked her ‘mom what happened in there?’ explained Acosta. “She told me, ‘there is something evil in that room’”.
“She said ‘you’re not going to believe me but there was something very heavy and evil was on top of me, please don’t ever leave the baby in the room alone.’”
