The waterbed had huge corner posts, at least five inches in diameter. The overall color was dark mahogany. Part of the wood on the side boards and foot board was stained brownish, not quite matching the rest. The top of the side and foot boards were covered with dark, padded Naugahyde. The head board was semi-paneled, like a door, only fancier. Squatting in that bedroom in the otherwise empty house, the bed seemed to be, well, brooding.

I tell Sondra the bedroom in our house she wanted to put the waterbed frame in is too small. It measures approximately ten feet by twelve feet. She wasn't impressed. So, feeling a faint touch of foreboding, and with the help of our son Bruce, I proceed to dismantle it. We drain and remove the mattress, disassemble the side boards and supports, and load the pieces in his pickup. We offload the pieces at our house and carry them out on the screened porch. There they will stay until I find a decent king-size mattress and box spring set.

In a week or so, Sondra and I find a suitable mattress set at a local sharing center. Dutifully I pay for it and tape a "sold" sign on it. We then go to find a vehicle to haul it home with. We are back within two hours. The mattress set we had bought and paid for was gone! I go up to the cashier to raise hell about what I considered a theft of our property. The clerk was apologetic but could offer no explanation why it was gone. The manager smoothed things over, promising to call us the instant another decent set came in.

Next day, the manager did call. He would watch it personally, he said, if we came right over. Sondra and I were concerned about what kind of mattress set he had for us,
knowing some mattresses are only fit for the dump. Our concern was allayed when we saw the set. Both pieces looked brand new. There wasn't a spot or blemish on either piece. I consider us fortunate to get such quality for less than a hundred dollars.

That afternoon, I get my Makita drill-driver and put the waterbed frame together in her bedroom. With a dresser in the bedroom, there wasn't much space left. Still, Sondra was happy. She could hardly wait until our grandson, Shannon, who was staying with us, came home from work. I need him to help me carry the mattress set into the bedroom and put it on the bed frame. Sondra and I put on the sheets, blanket and bed spread.

That night, I go to bed before Sondra and Shannon. In a short time I am sound asleep. Shannon burst into my bedroom, jolting me out of my slumber, yelling there's something the matter with Grandma!

I hit the floor, not bothering with my pants and tore out of the bedroom into the living room.

Sondra was sitting on the couch, eyes wide with terror, gasping for breath. Her face said it all -- as if she had looked death in the face. After a few minutes I calmed her down enough to talk.

She gasped that in less than twenty minutes after lying down, something bumped her bed.

Then, wham!

Something hit her in the arm hard enough to bring tears. She struggled up out of bed and started toward the door.

But something held her back. She yelled for Shanon who came on the run.

He grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the bedroom. He saw nothing behind her, but could see she was terrified, so he ran to get me.

Later Sondra tells me she believes that whatever it was that had punched her, if it had got her back in the bedroom, it would have killed her. Sondra has a big red spot on her left arm just below the shoulder.

I shut and lock the bedroom door.

None of us get much sleep the rest of the night. When the sun came up, I get my 35mm camera and cautiously open the bedroom door. The bed looked like any normal bed, except the cover and spread were on the floor. I snapped the photo anyway.

It is Saturday. Shannon helps me move the mattress and box springs into the den where we lean it against the wall. I snap another photo of the mattress, in case the camera sees something I can't. Such as a ghostly entity of some kind. After developing, the photos show no signs of any anomaly that I can detect.

I call the Thrifty Nickel shopping guide and place an ad for the set, noting the excellent condition of the mattress. Almost the instant the guide hit the news stands we get a phone call. Within thirty minutes, a couple came over. The lady looks the set over and buys it on the spot for $75.

Funny thing though, a week later an ad identical to mine appears in the Thrifty Nickel. The only difference is the phone number and price. They were asking $150. We hope the couple didn't have the same kind of bad experience with the set that we did.

We speculate among ourselves that someone had died on the mattress, someone who may have loved it so much they didn't want anyone else sleeping on it. Or the entity was just plain mean in life -- and death. Or someone had died on it as a result of some traumatic event and wasn't ready to go on to their afterlife.

Still, the waterbed frame wasn't above suspicion. I get my Makita and disassemble the bed frame. I carry the pieces out on the screened porch. Some of the 1" X 10" X 84" boards I save for future use. The rest of it I put out for the refuse collectors. I see no reason to take any more chances with anything related to the previous night's terror.

I phone my friend, Tony and tell him about the previous night's happenings. After a long silence, he says he is going to New Orleans soon and will get me some St. Benedict medallions for me.. He will get them at a church down there, after they have been blessed with holy water.

Not being a Catholic, I ask who is St. Benedict?

He is the original exorcist, Tony tells me. A week or so later, true to his word, Tony brings me eight of the medallions. Most are oval shaped with the Saint on one side and a cross on the other. One is round. It has the same features, and some Latin inscriptions. The Latin raised letters on the Saint side read -EIVS-IN-OBITV-NRO-PRA- and -SENTIA-MVNIAMVR-. There are smaller inscriptions on either side of the Saint, but I cannot see that good. On the obverse, vertically on the cross are the letters C S S M L, horizontally N D S M D. Above and below the cross arms and vertical post encircled are the letters C S B P. Around the perimeter are -S-M-Q-L-I-V-B- and -V-R-S-N-S-M-V-. Above the cross is the word PAX. The dashes I use are actually centered dots on the medallions.

Glue them above each bedroom door and the exterior doors, Tony tells me. I use epoxy, and make the sign of the cross at each one. I don't know if a non-Catholic making the sign will impart the desired protection, but I do my best.

Have we learned a lesson? You bet we have. It seems the episode with the ghost entity and the desk did not make a lasting impression on Sondra. But this one did. Our new agreed upon rule is that never, ever will another stick of used furniture or shred of bedding be brought into our house.