Here's another one I first posted in the newsgroup alt.folklore.ghost-stories back in 1996.

Those of you who read my last post will remember that I grew up in an old stone house (built in 1872) with a creekbed behind it (usually dry), out in the wilds (well, almost) of Colorado. If any house ever LOOKED like it should be haunted, it was this one.

I mention this because I think this may have added to the impact of [insert spooky music score] "The Glowing Red Demon Eyes".

The event occured sometime in the mid-70's when I was in my mid teens. One balmy night my little brother, who is about 6 years younger than me, came flying in off the back porch in total terror. When we finally got him calmed down enough to talk, he reported that he had seen a pair of glowing red eyes staring in at him through the porch windows. He claimed the eyes had suddenly appeared at the window, stared at him a minute while he was too paralyzed with fear to move, and then swooped backward away from the window and out over the creekbed, where they hung for a moment and then disappeared. At which point he suddenly remembered he had lungs and legs, and ran screaming in terror for the kitchen door.

Naturally, we didn't believe him. After all, the little brat always did have a hyper-active imagination. We didn't believe him for the next three weeks, either, when he came in screaming "I saw them again!" about every 2-3 days. And naturally, we never saw anything when he kept dragging us out on the porch to watch for the "demon" every night. Meanwhile, he became more and more reluctant to venture onto the porch after dark. But Mom would insist he go out to bring the dog pans in or dig something out of the freezer or something.

After we had pretty much gotten to the point where we refused to go out on the porch and freeze any more, he managed to drag me out one last time. The poor kid was probably begining to doubt his sanity by that point (and I know I was), but he insisted, almost in tears, that he was neither imagining this or making it up. So I reluctantly went out on the porch, and stared out the window. To be met seconds later with [insert spooky music score hear] a pair of big GLOWING RED DEMON EYES! As I stood paralyzed with fear, they watched me for a second, then swooped off over the creekbed where they stopped and hovered about 15 feet off the ground, watched me for a moment, then vanished. Contrary to what my little brother will tell you, I did not then go flying through the kitchen door screaming like a banshee. But I will admit that I am rather glad I already emptied my bladder before this encounter...

Some time a little later (well ok. a LOT later) after I had regained my composure, I started thinking "there has to be a rational explanation. besides, Colin has been seeing this thing for weeks, and it hasn't eaten him yet...". So I screwed up my courage, and forced myself back outside. And yes, the fact that Dad came along this time did help...

We waited, and waited, and then suddenly THERE WERE THE EYES! The shivers again raced down our spins to explode in our shoes. And then Dad started laughing. of course we wondered what he could find so funny about a demon staring at us through the window. SO naturally we asked "what's so darn funny?" He replied "Take a closer look at those eyes. So we did, only to notice they were composed of elliptical lens lines, just like you might find in a pair of... brakelights. It seems that through a rather miraculous set of refractions and reflections, the people stopping at the collection of mailboxes out front had their brakelights reflected in the porch windows out back...

Which just goes to show, all that haunts is not a spook. Or something like that.