I was in prison for 15 years. I saw some strange things.

I just got out after 15 years. Today is the first day I have access to a computer, so I'm going to write down some of the weird shit that happened to me while I was in there. I'm not - I was not a good kid, I made a lot of mistakes. I was young, stupid, and angry about a lot of things that hadn't happened yet, and I made choices that I can't take back. <br><br>I was sent to a maximum security prison, a real hell hole. Stuff just keeps happening, one thing after another. I'm a fighter, I kept my head down and my ears open, tried to stay away from trouble. Eventually, I became a tutor for one of the other inmates, and that helped me feel like I was still a person. I still had some human dignity, some feeling that I was here for a reason.<br><br>One day I was walking down the corridor, headed to my cell, when I heard a strange noise. I stopped and listened, trying to figure out what it was. <br><br>The noise sounded like... a dog. No, *a wolf.* I had lived in the north for a while, when I was a kid, and you could hear them in the forest at night. This sounded like a wolf - very close. I knew that was impossible. We were deep inside a prison - there was no way an animal was living in here, let alone a wolf. I still listened, wondering if - maybe - there was some dog living in one of the cells? I didn't hear anything else. I figured it was just my imagination and kept moving. <br><br>I heard the noise a few more times. It sounded like it was coming from my left, in the direction of the blocks. I didn't hear any other noise, just the howling. No one else seemed to notice, so I didn't talk about it. I figured it was some kind of auditory delusion. <br><br>One night, I woke up and heard footsteps outside my cell. The lights still go on at night, it's still light enough to see. I looked - expecting to see some COs doing rounds - but it wasn't COs. <br><br>A figure was walking down the corridor, stopping in front of all the cells. They *looked* like they were stopping in front of the cells, anyway - I don't know what they were actually doing. I couldn't see their face, they were - way out there, all the way down the corridor. I don't know how - but *I knew* it was a woman. I knew - I can't explain. I just knew. <br><br>I watched her way down the corridor, pausing periodically to stop at a random cell, looking inside. She did this all the way down the corridor, then turned a corner at the end. -Then I heard a wolf howl, on the other side of the wall. I knew this was the same person - the same woman - who had been *howling* all those other times. <br><br>I heard her howl a few more times. Every time, - I swear - she was right next to me. I would hear her footsteps, pausing in front of my cell, then the wolf would howl and the footsteps would continue. <br><br>I finally asked one of the other inmates about the howling, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I asked if he ever heard the footsteps, and he told me that we weren't allowed to leave our cells after dark. I asked him about the woman on the corridors, and he said that it wasn't possible. <br><br>He warned me not to talk about it to anyone else. He told me that I might end up in a padded cell if I kept talking about it. <br><br>I didn't mention it to anyone else, but I kept hearing the footsteps. <br><br>I kept hearing the howling. <br><br>I knew it was a woman. I knew she was *in front of my cell* every time I heard it. <br><br>Eventually, I was moved to a different cell. It was a small cell, with very thick walls and a - very narrow - window. I was glad to get out of my old cell. The previous occupant had - done something - that required a lot of cleaning up. <br><br>I would look out the window occasionally, just to make sure I still knew how to look out a window. I was still getting used to it. I still wasn't used to being able to *walk down a corridor*, or go outside. It was all so new. <br><br>One night, I woke up to hear my cell door open. I looked, dazed, and saw a pair of pants walk in. I rubbed my eyes, feeling stupid. There was *obviously* someone attached to those pants. <br><br>I looked again, and there was no one attached to those pants. -There was no one visible. It was just a pair of pant legs, walking around on their own, into my cell. <br><br>I had heard other inmates complaining about pants. <br><br>I had heard about "ghost pants" for a long time. <br><br>I had just never seen them before, and had started to think that it was just a joke, or a rumor. <br><br>I rubbed my eyes again. <br><br>The ghost pants were walking around my cell, slowly, stopping occasionally. It would pause, like it was looking at something, then move on. <br><br>They walked up to where I was lying. <br><br>They looked up at my bunk, pausing for a moment. <br><br>I heard a very quiet growl. <br><br>Then the pants ran out of my cell, and my cell door slammed shut. <br><br>I heard footsteps running down the corridor. <br><br>I heard a wolf howl, from the other side of the wall. <br><br>I heard the woman howl, from the other side of the wall. <br><br>I know that it was the same person. I know that it was the same woman, the one who had been walking up and down the corridors, - stopping in front of the cells. <br><br>I know that she was howling. <br><br>I knew that she was the wolf, somehow.