There is an  apartment block on a tree-lined suburban street
          which once harboured  a very strange ghost within its walls.
          You won't find  this  particular member of the restless dead
          listed in any  catalogue  of ghosts, even though its psychic
          influence  was felt  by  several  people  during  the  early
          Eighties. There were  never  any  reports of hauntings there
          until  after  a  young  man  moved  into  the  apartment  in
          question.  For many  years  he  spent  all  his  spare  time
          studying books of  arcane  lore,  all of them centred around
          the ability to tune in to the invisible world of spirits and
          psychic phenomena, and  many of those books were read in the
          apartment in suburbia.   Which  brings us to the question of
          why a phantom  would  suddenly appear in a modern apartment?
          Could it have  been some kind of reaction to the young man's
          presence, and to the nature of his studies? I was that young
          man, and for  me it began with an unwelcome visitor from the
          beyond.

          I was relaxing in the living room watching television before
          going to bed  when a gnawing sense of evil suddenly overcame
          me. A sensation  that something unseen had entered the room.
          I tried to  banish  it  from  my mind and concentrate on the
          program (House of  1,000  Dolls  starring  Vincent Price and
          Ralph Nader), a  movie  about white-slavery in Tangiers, but
          the chill malevolence remained.

          I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm, I had crossed
          the  invisible  line  between  order  and  chaos  where  the
          occultist can lose  control of the unseen forces round about
          him. The realization sent an icy shiver down my spine.

          The seconds seemed  like  hours  as  I  sat  waiting for the
          unearthly presence to  manifest  itself,  unable  to move or
          think. Then, without  warning,  the  air  seemed  to  become
          charged with electricity. A weird prickling sensation spread
          over my body.  This  is  it,  I  thought. But the disturbing
          manifestation ceased as abruptly as it had began.

          I was both  perplexed  and  relieved. My uninvited guest had
          slipped silently away  into  the  night. A transient phantom
          that had vanished  before  I could understand it.  There was
          no point in  worrying  about  it now, it was nearly midnight
          and  the evening's  events  had  left  me  feeling  weak.  I
          resolved to get  a good night's sleep and tackle the problem
          of what it had all meant in the morning.

          The night was  silent,  and  sleep quickly enveloped me. And
          then, the nightmare began. I gently drifted up and out of my
          sleeping body. Before  I  had  a  chance to realize what was
          happening, I saw  it. In the darkness, at the far end of the
          hallway, something was  taking form. Silhouetted against the
          moonlit living room  beyond,  a  macabre  event  was  taking
          place.

          There it was,  as  clear as crystal, out of the nowhere, the
          ghost of a  little girl had come to visit. She stared at me.
          Her eyes dark  pits of implacable hatred. The image of those
          evil eyes burned deep into my memory, never to be forgotten.
          The spirit began  to  move  silently  towards  me.  My chest
          tightened and my  heart  began  to  pound as a primeval fear
          from deep within the human mind overwhelmed me. I watched as
          the spirit moved  ever  closer.  I tried to scream but could
          not. I felt the i icy touch of pure evil upon me.

          I awoke bathed in sweat.

          The next day  I  telephoned a friend of mine called Ralph. I
          had met him  during  my time at the Psychic Research Society
          of Australia, and he was there the day the Gray Man had come
          to  visit.  I  described  what  had  happened  the  previous
          evening, omitting nothing.

          "Are you sure there was something there?" he asked.

          "Absolutely. I'm positive  that  I saw something, there's no
          doubt in my mind about that. It scared me half to death. And
          you know I'm not easily scared."

          "Good God!" he  exclaimed.  "What do you think it could have
          been?"

          "I have no  idea.  Something  evil  and powerful, that's for
          sure. I felt  that  it knew my innermost fears and could use
          them against me. It was unnerving, believe me."

          "Okay, I'll be  over  this  Sunday.  Maybe  we  can find out
          what's actually going on."

          "Thanks," I said and hung up.

          I smiled.

          Sunday. Ralph arrived  early,  full of expectancy as to what
          might be in  store. I had that week, received a short letter
          from a friend  in  South Australia and I asked Ralph if he'd
          like to read the letter.

          "I'll try to  read  it without opening it," he joked holding
          the unopened letter up to his forehead.

          As he held  the letter to his forehead he happened to glance
          over towards the  television  in the corner, and saw a young
          girl standing there.

          Ralph was amazed to see her there, and asked me to get a pen
          and paper to write down her description as he gave it to me.

          "She is quite  young  and  has  long hair," he said. "She is
          wearing a very  colorful  skirt.  She  has  a large sheet of
          paper in her hands. She wants you to read it."

          "Do you know what it says?" I asked.

          Ralph shook his  head  slowly.  "It's  in some kind of code.
          Whoever she is,  she  apparently  thinks you can help her to
          understand what's written on the paper."

          "I'm afraid not."

          I was about  to ask Ralph to describe what was on the paper,
          when he made a quite unexpected announcement.

          "She is now  standing directly in front of you. She has gone
          down on her  knees,  and  is pleading with you to see if you
          can tell her what the paper contains."

          Shortly after this  the little girl disappeared, and we were
          left bewildered. Who  was  the girl? And what secret did her
          message hold?