***

“When I was 12 I spent the night at a friends house. We were up late chatting, falling asleep, listening to some music (Hotel California), and suddenly the music stopped. A bright blue light shined into the bedroom window, lit the room up, then dissipated. Hotel California resumed like nothing happened. We were frozen, dumbfounded, and freaked out, getting lots of chills and feeling weird. “…Did you see that?” I reluctantly got out of bed to peek outside: nothing there but an empty parking lot by a wooded area. I looked at the clock. It said 2:14.

For the next couple years it became somewhat of an urban legend among my friends. We’d stay up until 2:14 at each other’s house and dare something to happen like that again. Lots of fun, scaring ourselves, but nothing happened. It just became known as “214” and we’d joke about it whenever we saw that it was 2:14.

Two years later I was at a different friend’s house, up late, watching movies in the living room (Hot Dog the Movie). It was over, and we shut off the TV and were just chatting like normal, falling asleep. Suddenly, a bright white light shined into the living room window, lighting up the place, then dissipating, just like the blue light from two years before. I immediately was struck with fear. “…Did you see that?” My friend replied, “…Yeah.” I was filled with dread as I turned over to get a view of the VCR to see what time it was, my body covered in chills with anticipation. It was 2:14. My whole body was covered with shivers, my eyes watering, just freaking out. I already knew I didn’t need to get up to look out the window – my friend’s backyard is just all woods! Nothing could be back there.

Suffice to say, with two different witnesses to go along with myself, 2:14 was a confirmed real thing in my life and I’ve been haunted by it ever since. Nothing like it has happened since, but it sure did color my adolescence and make me intrigued and fascinated by all things paranormal, unexplainable, weird, fantastic, etc. It was no surprise I became a huge X Files fan.”