That's It. I Was Getting An Exorcism.

Living with my best friend Lennon in sunny beach town of Uluwatu, life couldn't be better. Mornings meant brunch at Artisan and pilates at Reform. Afternoons were reserved for lounging at my favorite spa, bodysurfing at Dreamland, and Alchemy hangouts. But Thursday nights were my favorite nights. Movie nights. That's how this all started.

I had seen trailers for A24's latest documentary about psychics in New York City, Look Into My Eyes, and being the self-proclaimed woo-woo girlie that I am, begged Lennon to watch. It was settled. We stacked about 100 pillows on the couch and nestled in for the film.

We hadn't even made it half way through the movie when a sheet of paper fell to the floor from across the room. Let me be specific--a piece of paper that was firmly on our coffee table, and had no real reason to move, had now floated to the floor.

For some important context, Lennon is, how one might say...spiritually inclined, psychically disposed, tapped in? And she was now telling me she felt a presence. On movie night??? Chills ran down my spine, maybe because I was frightened, maybe because I sensed it too.

Cue an impromptu séance. Lennon waved sage like her life depended on it, and I clutched her arm, whisper-yelling affirmations at the walls. We flung open every door and window, politely but firmly requesting whatever spirit it was to kindly get out.

We finished our ceremony and the movie before heading off to bed believing it was over.

That is, until the next night. Our villa was unique in that my room was disconnected from the main house, and we also had a rooftop patio. So on this night, we said our goodnights and headed to our separate rooms on the property.

Just as I had finally decided to stop scrolling and turn off the lights, they began to flicker. The air conditioning joined in, singing an obnoxious beeping tune until suddenly all power was gone. It was just me and the silent darkness. It's fine, I thought, I was going to go to sleep anyway, so I made sure all the light switches were turned off and slipped my eye mask over my eyes.

The flickering of the air conditioning's beep started again. I lifted my mask to see the lights flickering once more. Alright, now I'm scared. I curled up in a ball and reached for my phone. Lennon was experiencing the same thing. Being the braver one, Lennon came out to my room. Trying to calm each other down, we threw up our hands and came to the conclusion that (despite never having experienced one on the island) it was Bali, and power outages were supposedly common. To confirm our theory, we marched up the rooftop patio where we were dissappointed to find all of the surrounding villas had stable power. We sent a message to the property owner explaining the situation, but weren't able to get someone out until the next day.

No biggie. Sleepover! We camped out in Lennon's room that night, ending with some girlish giggles and sage (couldn't hurt) to lighten the mood. The power came back on overnight, before the electrician arrived, and we never had any issues with the power again.

All was well in the world again. Especially because my friend Elle, who was living in Fiji for the Peace Corps was going to be visiting me in a couple days and I was going to be staying with her at the Ritz in Ubud. What I didn't know was that Elle had booked the most insane hotel villa I had ever stayed at--there was the main house, a private pool, patio and poolhouse just outside. After such a crazy week, this felt like good karma--I felt safe and slept like a rock that first night. The next morning, she went to the spa and I stayed back at the villa. Sprawled out in bed under the comfort of a feather duvet and raging AC, I heard the doorbell ring. Being such a luxurious villa, there was a small screen inside the main house where you could see who was ringing the bell, but when I looked, nobody was there.

Great. Now, not only am I being haunted, but I've just pulled Elle into it. Pull it together, I thought, there is nothing happening. I sat back on the bed in willful ignorance until I heard the front gate open. Thank god, Elle was back! I leaped off the bed, taking one final step onto the patio (from where you can see the front gate) to welcome her, but again, nobody was there. I called out her name. Nothing. I shouted a general "hello". Nothing. The chills ran down my back again, as if in warning.

I decided to stay outside, on the patio, eyes on the gate until she came back. I told her what I was experiencing, and she validated both my feelings and Lennon's initial advice to firmly tell the spirit to fuck off.

When I told Lennon what had happened in Ubud, she responded promptly with some additional affirmations to repeat to myself and aloud to disconnect any entities or energies that did not belong to me or were not there for my highest good. That should have helped but really it just made me more nervous.

In the lobby before my exorcism

The next morning, Elle and I woke up and began our morning yap session before we heard my computer turn on from across the room. Elle looked at me with curled lips and a scrunched face that read: that can't be good. Worse yet, my phone had now refused to recognize my face when I tried to unlock it.

That's it. I was getting an exorcism. I spoke to a local energy worker in Ubud who was recommended by a friend for his work in reiki healing. He confirmed that he could help me and I was there within the hour. At least this way Elle could get a little healing done too.

Honestly, I don't remember feeling any major emotions or release like I normally do during reiki, but there was an unusual amount of heat and bodily twitching throughout my session.

Elle had left the next day and I headed to Canggu to meet Lennon for a ceremony before we both made the trek back to Uluwatu. It was in this ceremony that I learned who was haunting me (spoiler alert: it was me), and I never experienced any paranormal activity again.