"Whistling" by Richelle M

 

There’s this one event in my life that I always end up thinking about, be it in the shower, before I go to sleep, or just randomly during the day. I think to myself “What if I did something differently?” “What if I was brave enough?” This event taught me to never let fear stop me, because you’ll end up with regrets and unanswered questions. This event happened late at night, where everyone was asleep and it was all silent. However, I suddenly woke up in a cold sweat, I was frozen in fear. It was weird for me, I was sleeping so soundly and yet I woke up drenched in sweat and scared for my life. I heard someone whistling. The whistle sounded like an echo, it would sound close and then slowly get further away. It was as if someone was walking in an empty hallway and whistling. I couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from, but whenever the whistle got close, it felt like it was whistling straight into my ear. Every time the noise would sound far away, I would brace myself for when it would come close again. I was too scared and shocked to move. I felt that if I made one sudden movement, something bad would happen to me. The whole night, I stayed still. My body was covered in two layers of blankets and I began to sweat even more. I wanted to pull my blankets off and feel the fresh, cool air. However, I endured it because I was scared to death. My phone was laying on my side table and I wanted to grab it so I could take a recording of the noise. Yet, I let fear take over me and I stayed still the whole night. I don’t even remember how I ended up sleeping. I just woke up and hurriedly told my family about what happened last night. No one believed me, they looked at me weird. I felt like a person in a psych ward. No matter how hard I tried to tell them, they just looked confused and smiled uncomfortably. They would say “Are you sure you weren’t just having a nightmare?” “Maybe there really was someone whistling but they were out in the streets, so you probably heard them.” It wasn’t a dream though, I made sure. I checked myself, I tried to wake myself up. Also, there couldn’t have been someone whistling outside my neighborhood, it was so late at night and the whistling noise shouldn't be able to reach that far into the second story, and it shouldn't have sounded like it was whistling right into my ear. The noise was so vivid and clear, it couldn’t have been someone from outside. It felt like they were walking right in the hallway of my house. No one believed me and I was devastated. I began to think I was crazy. I started to doubt myself. “What if it really was a dream.” Then I started to do research, searching up whistling noises and trying to identify the same one. While I was searching, I realized that many people had the same experience, they all heard the same noise. The whistling would go from high to low. I did more research and I read that in many cultures, whistling or making whistling noises at night is thought to attract bad luck or evil spirits. There was also a popular Venezuelan story called “The Whistling Man” or “El Silbon”.There are 3 versions and they all end up with a boy killing his father. One version talks about the boy putting his dead father's bones in a sack and carrying it around. In wikipedia it says, “They say that the whistler can appear by a house on certain nights, drop his sack on the ground and count the bones one by one. If one hears it, nothing will happen, but if someone doesn't hear it before dawn, one member of the family will

never wake up again.” The stories also claim that if you hear the whistling from far away, it means that he is near you, and if you hear the whistling close by, it means that he is far away. I didn’t expect to find people with the same experiences and I would have never expected for there to be scary stories on it. I was terrified but I didn’t want to let fear stop me from getting proof. Ever since that day, I have slept with my phone right next to me. I may sound crazy and most of you might think I was dreaming, and maybe I was, but no matter what, if it happens to me again, I won’t chicken out this time. Anyways, I just wanted to share a scary experience I had, since it’s almost Halloween. Also, If you hear whistling at night, it’s not a good sign.