Ghost ~ Old MSN Clipart Image © 2008
In 2008, I wrote a story on my old blogger site about some true, personal ghostly adventures I had, when I was a child. I thought it would be fun to revisit it again and share it with you, especially with Halloween just around the corner. So, here goes . . . hope you enjoy:
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Friday, January 25, 2008:
My timing is off. I probably should be writing this in October at Halloween time. But I wanted to share some personal stories from spending time at my grandmother’s.
We just watched a movie tonight on the Hallmark channel called, “The Good Witch” starring Catherine Bell and it reminded me of the magic and mystery of things unseen. I believe there’s energy in everything and we’re connected to it. Sometimes, we can’t explain it in logical terms but it happens nonetheless.
I grew up having a grandmother that had that type of mystery about her. She intuitively knew things other people didn’t pick up on but it was no big deal to her. But my sister and I, and 5 cousins, grew familiar with the unusual happenings that would occur now and then, as we all spent each summer together with my grandmother and grandfather in a small town in Virginia.
My mother, the eldest of my grandmother’s children, told us of spooky things that happened in that same house when she was a child. So, it’s no wonder the same things would continue for the next generation to take claim of and pass along.
My Grandparents’ House – Many Years Later – Photo © 2012 Courtesy of My Cousin
I don’t think the house was haunted. It was mostly its geographical setting enhanced by the fact that Grandma was psychic.
Their backyard was connected to a funeral home and Grandpa’s tool shed and a small storage building that belonged to the funeral home separated the yards.
From our side, it looked like the small storage building was built with clapboard wood and had a window with drawn blinds. There was also some sort of door with an ivory door handle and a key hole.
We always tried to peek inside to see if we could see anything. This was mostly where they stored caskets but I think, at one time, it also was where they used to prepare the bodies. Given all that drama and children’s imaginations you can believe we scared ourselves to death.
On top of that, Grandma had her stories about people she loved who had died and we saw how comfortable she was in being in tune with them from the other side.
There were times we’d hear a loud noise or, out-of-the-blue, something would drop and that’s when Grandma would make her declaration: “There’s going to be a death in the family.” You never knew what would trigger it. To her, it was second nature – peaceful and surreal – not creepy, like it felt to us. It added more fuel to an already over-worked imagination.
Sure enough, we would always get that phone call in the wee hours of the morning about a distant aunt or uncle that had died. (For another story that I wrote about my grandmother that includes more ghostly adventures see, That Special Someone.)
I remember one night. Everyone was out in the living room watching TV and I went into the kitchen to get something from the refrigerator and I heard the back screen door slam. I called for Grandma (because I wasn’t going out there alone). She and I went out, through a porch-type addition, to the back door with me stuck close by her side. She unlocked the heavy door and checked the screen door and it was hooked. Ugh (I thought) – here it comes. She made her declaration and we got another phone call that night.
Because we couldn’t sleep most nights, we would stay up and sit on the floor under the front bedroom window, where the street light would shine, and play cards. After Grandma and Grandpa went to sleep, we would sneak downstairs in the dark to the kitchen to get something to eat.
My grandmother had a large oval picture, with a gilded frame, hanging on the front wall in the living room, as you came down the stairs. It was a sepia picture of her 2-year old son, Billy Bob, who had died of pneumonia and appeared to just be lying sound asleep.
Actually, in that picture, he was dead but as a child he looked peaceful and sweet. You never noticed the picture, at other times, until you came down the stairs in the dark and then it seemed to illuminate. That was enough to move us swiftly right along to the kitchen.
Night after night, throughout the whole summer you would find us sitting up whispering and playing cards until daybreak. One night, as usual, we were down in the kitchen. I guess we were talking a little loud, telling each other spooky stories and giving gory descriptions of the food as we ate it. All of a sudden, the lights went out and we took off running in different directions. Then, we heard Grandma, as she flipped the breaker switch and the lights came back on. She had her ways to get us all back upstairs and in bed.
I miss her dearly and feel her spirit with me every day. She talked of loved ones and spirits and of a world that was not foreign to her. Because of her and these experiences, it opened the spiritual world up to me, early on, and influenced a strong faith in a higher power that I carry with me today.
Are there ghosts? I believe there are souls, who for some reason, at their death are unable to cross over and are caught between worlds. I also believe our loved ones and animals that have died come to visit. Some people are open to see them but most are not. We’re now living in an age where more of us are exploring this phenomenon. We’re no longer burning these gifted souls to the stake instead we’re intrigued and asking questions.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever had a strange experience you couldn’t explain? Given the saturation of the teachings of spirituality and energy, it would be interesting to hear more discussion on this as people become more free to accept our connection to everything.
Pat from the ol’ kitchen table
It is a lovely ghost story and a great time of year my friend. 🙂
Thank you, Susan, for the second time around. Thank you for also reading it on LinkedIn. Happy Halloween. 🙂
Yes, all the time. I am the one who has the psychic abilities in my family the strongest although my grandmother had a touch herself. We hid and didn’t talk about what we knew because our family was devout Catholics and as a result my grandfather believed we were witches and to hide our abilities so as not to get in trouble with the church, although I doubt while I was growing up they would have made much of a fuss.
That said,I don’t think I would want to live that close to a funeral home just visiting is hard enough.
That’s interesting, Lois. I didn’t know you were the one in the family with psychic abilities. Have you ever written about some of your experiences?
I think I inherited some of it from my grandmother and passed it along to our girls. I’ve blocked it most of my life because of a fear of seeing something — guess it comes from some of those things I’ve written about. I’m just now beginning to be free of that and embrace it. I think things are beginning to change and there’s more acceptance.
I can definitely understand hiding those abilities with the strong doctrines of religion. I don’t know how my grandmother did it as she was a faithful Southern Baptist and Pentecostal. I never heard of any criticism or ostracism from the churches.
And, the funeral home. Yes, that was a bit spooky to us as kids, even for my mother and her siblings. When there was a light shining in the backyard at night from the shed, we knew someone had died and their body was being worked on. It was on for my grandmother when she died.
What a great story, only the other night while my brother was putting Landon to bed he told Dave that the ghost would be visiting there tonight which made both Dave and Leigh thought was bloody great
Hi Joanne — I’m glad you enjoyed the story and that you would be having a ghost visit. Children, especially, are so open to these types of things. They haven’t yet learned to block them out. Thank You!
Good stories are worth retelling. I love the fact that the house was in close proximity to the funeral home. A great setting for ghost stories!
Hi Bev — thank you — I’m so glad you stopped by and enjoyed reading the story again. It was a unique setting and I’m not sure if that has changed or not, as I didn’t hear whether the funeral home was still there when my cousin took that picture in 2012.
The funeral home was an old converted Victorian house on the block behind my grandparents’ house right along with other homes up and down the street. So, it wasn’t like today where it’s a separate business establishment off by itself. Truly different than what’s seen today. 🙂
Great story Pat. I remember you sharing about your grandmother and her psychic abilities and also the funeral home. You had a rich upbringing filled with adventures, and it’s great that you can share them here. There are some things we’ll never know the answer to…but what stories! God bless you Pat, and a Happy Halloween to you 🙂
Thank you, Sherri — so glad you enjoyed it, again, maybe in a different version. I never thought of my childhood as a rich upbringing as it had a lot of challenges. But, there definitely were the adventures. I’m beginning to see how rich it was and your kind words go a long way in helping me see that. Happy Halloween to you, too, my friend. 🙂
I am the one in my family with that gift. Yes I call it a gift, but at times a not so good one. Here is one story for you.
One night I woke up from a bad dream, It was one of those dreams when you wake up shaking. I looked at the clock on my nightstand, it was 2:30am. I was sitting up and apparently woke my husband, he asked.
“What’s the matter Patti.”
“I think my sister’s father-in-law died, and I think he went to hell.”
“What?” was his reply.
“I saw everyone screaming at him. His wife, my mother and dad, aunt Mina and a bunch of other people. I think they were his relatives. In the dream I knew it was hell.”
“It’s just a dream, go back to sleep.” he said.
I tried, but was restless and I kept waking up. I finally gave up on sleeping and went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. It was 5:30am and I knew my sister would be up so I dialed her number. She picked up the phone and we started chatting.
“How’s your father-in-law?” I asked.
“He’s fine as far as I know, why?”
“Well, I had a dream that he died and it woke me up at 2:30 this morning, and I think he went to hell.”
“No, as far as I know he’s fine. He will probably out live all of us.” and she laughed.
Her father-in-law was not a nice man, always grumpy and mean. He never even gave his grandchildren gifts, and was always mean to his son’s.
We chatted for a while and I had to get ready for work so we said our goodbye’s and I said.
“Tell Tony to call his father, he might not be feeling well.” She laughed and said.
“Well according to your dream he probably isn’t.” and we laughed.
When I arrived home after work there was a message on my voice mail from my sister.
“Patti, call me, you are a witch.”
It turns out that later that morning her daughter said she had something to tell her. My sister said she looked at her daughter and said. “Your grandfather died, didn’t he.”
“Yes! How did you know?”
“Was it at 2:30 this morning?”
“Yes, Mom, how did you know this?
“Aunt Patti told me.”
Her daughter was floored. My sister asked me to dream of the Lottery numbers. :o)
I often have dreams or get certain feelings and know things, it is hard to explain, but it’s there. Woooooooooooo, Happy Halloween all.
Oh man, Patricia, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. You almost have to experience it to believe it. You do have a gift, though it may not seem that way at times, but I can definitely relate to your story and what you shared. I grew up with a lot of those types of things happening but it put a childhood fear in me; yet, in my innocence, I knew it was true and held onto the supernatural/paranormal throughout my life. I’m just now beginning to shed the fear of the unknown and embrace whatever comes from it.
Thank you, thank you for sharing your story. I feel like we’re kindred spirits, my friend. Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween. 🙂
I have a friend who is like your grandma. She predicts things that happen in the world but i had a couple of strange things happening to me years ago. I was once driving to work on a small motor bike when I heard a voice tell me to pull over. i was just in time to miss a van flying round a blind bend on the wrong side of the road. I reasoned that it wasn’t yet my time, Pat. Lovely to hear your stories again Pat.x
Hi Diana — sounds like your friend is interesting to be around. I like that you’re still with us and had that experience on your motor bike. Even better, I like that you heard the voice and heeded the message.
I don’t think those things happen very often in our lives but I do think there are other things just as worthy of noting but go unnoticed because our attention is somewhere else. This situation needed your immediate attention and you were saved. You also got to see the potential circumstances had you made a different decision. Good stuff — I love it and it’s happening around us all the time. Thank you, my friend, for sharing. 🙂