According to my mom this isn't the first spirit I've seen but it is the first one I can remember.
I was about 4-5 years old and I wanted to tell my mom something that I felt was important so I went looking for her. I didn't see her in the office so I went up the stairs to go to her bed room. When I got there I didn't see anyone, but my parents walk in closet door was open. To me this was unusual because they never leave the closet door open. Suddenly I saw someone walk out of the closet. They were really tall and all black like a shadow. It all happened so quickly I didn't have much time to react. The shadow person took long strides in my direction and then instead of passing through me the shadow engulfed me in to total pitch blackness. I couldn't see anything, I thought I went blind. I experienced strong emotions that I wasn't sure we're entirely my own. I had never experienced this emotion before and wasn't sure how to describe it until I was older. The feeling was pure dread, like everything was hopeless and the world felt like it was crushing me. There was one emotion that I knew was my own and that was fear. These intense emotions pushed me down to my knees and I assumed the fetal position. My face was kissing the floor but even though I was terrified I was still able to muster up the strength to say, "Please God," before I could finish my sentence the shadow disolved and everything felt normal.
For a moment I stayed on the floor wondering if it really was safe to get up but after a minute of nothing else happening I decided that the coast was clear. I stood up looked around and saw nothing except that the closet door was closed. I don't remember hearing it close and I know I didn't close the door. I proceeded to go downstairs in a stunned daze then I heard typing coming from the office. I looked and saw my mom. I asked her we're she went, that I was looking for her. She told me that she's been in the office the whole time. That's when I realized one of two things. I was either crazy and dreamed this whole thing which I now I couldn't have done or the shadow person masked my mom from my sight so that way I would go upstairs directly to them. For what purpose I'm not sure but all I know is that God really pulled through for me when I asked for help and I will never forget this.
Moral of the story if you need help just ask for it and it shall be given.

The first human spirit I experienced was my father. He had died a week earlier. He drowned while attempting to rescue a boy in the river who go too close to the dam. Hi captain (they were firefighters) also died during the attempted rescue.

I was only 7 years old and really didn't understand what was going on. I barely knew my dad because he was out of the house 4 days week on shifts.

I was laying down to bed, I hadn't even turned the light out yet. And I felt somebody sit down on the edge of my bed. I opened my eyes and there he was, in his full uniform. He took off his hat and set down on the bed next to him.

He looked at me and asked "Do you have any questions?". Being 7 years old, I just asked if it hurt. He shook his head, stood up and then he was gone. I yelled out for my mom and she came running in to the room and asked what was wrong. I just pointed to the hat on the bed and the impression in the covers where he sat down.

At first she was angry, because she had packed away his uniform the day before and stuck it up on the shelf in my closet that I couldn't reach. But when she went to put the hat back, she gasped a little because the box was unopened and still taped shut. But when she opened it.. there was no hat in the box.

That was my first experience with a human spirit. I've had many more over the decades since then.