The Dead Are Watching (The Llewellyn Journal)
One thing I have found to be a constant among most paranormal writers, enthusiasts, and investigators I've met is an experience with a haunting. Most of us have had something happen to us as children or adults, and the shock of that led us into wanting—or in my case, needing—to know more.
My obsession with the paranormal began early. I'd been born into a religious but psychic family, and had dealt with clairvoyance in the form of prophetic dreams and other things of that nature since childhood. But these experiences brought a sense of wonderment; they were nonthreatening. When we moved into a haunted house in my preteen years, true fear suddenly entered my life. It was like living in a bad horror movie twenty-four hours a day.
Back then, I had no idea I could take back my power, set boundaries, and do a cleansing (or any of the other current widely known ways of dealing with spirits). I was a frightened child and could barely admit our house was haunted, let alone do anything about it. For three years I lived in mortal terror. Finally, my mother was awakened several times by an old man bending over her face in the wee hours of the morning. Up until then, she hadn't believed us, but after that, we moved!
http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article.php?id=2479