Wednesday, October 31, 2007

We Are Spirits In The Material World


Do you remember the song "Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer"? There is a line in there at the end that says after the whole ordeal "... as for me and Grandpa, we believe." I had my believer's moment in 2001 when it comes to the supernatural.

My grandmother was in town during a rare visit. You see, this trip would be on of the first where she was able to meet up with her brother-in-laws. Father Frank and Father Jack worked in the Catholic church back home in Vancouver. They were all getting up in age but it was a time for me to get to see all of them in the same setting for the first time. My brother arranged a tour of the strip in a limo and we had a dinner at the Palace Station. It was during dinner that I thought to ask something that had been in the back of my mind for some time.

Dinner was already served and I turned to one of the fathers (my great uncles) and mentioned the recent re-release of the film The Exorcist. I asked him how he felt about the film. He said, "They usually aren't that violent. But you might want to ask my brother as that's his job." My jaw dropped. Sure, if I went to church and heard that, I'd expect it of someone that wasn't family... but not this. Especially with an answer with the calm demeanor of someone not phased by the question. I also didn't think the church would want him to be that open about it.

So, I talked to him for a little bit. He mentioned that he was being called out to a lot of nearby Canadian Indian reservations to help these spirits make their transition. When many of these cultures pray and praise the spirit of the wolf, eagle, dog, horse, snake, bull and all manner of beast, some get lost on the way. Anyhow, that is when he told me this story.

A man leaves work early and comes home to find his wife in bed with his best friend. The husband was shot in the process and died. The widow and former-best friend are now living together. It was after a few he moved in that things started happening around the house. The gate leading to the house would open and close (with no wind in the area.) The doors in the house would not stay shut. This would happen every time the new man of the house would come home. The wife was in a panic and it wasn't helping their relationship any. The father resolved this one rather easily but told me that sometimes a spirit stays in a place it held most dear and only wants to not be forgotten. Of course, my interpretation was that he was asserting his ownership of the home by reminding the 'man of the house' that it wasn't his upon his arriving there.

There are a lot of ghost stories out there and I've written a few myself. But, having confirmation from someone that works in that area for a living... helped me accept it more. Of course, I find many people have personal experiences with the supernatural. Usually, I just listen, smile and think back to talking with Father Jack and Father Frank Hennessy on a random topic and getting an answer that I didn't expect. I guess as for myself, the fathers and a few others out there, "we believe."

7 comments:

Jenn Doll said...

Grrreat. Now I'm gonna be freaking out all night. Thank you.

Me and ghost stories = not good.

Ken said...

When Keds and I got married, a bunch of folks told us that at least one, possibly two, birds landed on top of the gazebo as we were getting ready to say our vows and chirped the whole way through, but that didn't come through on the video.

My boss said he took a photo of us dancing our first dance, and there a bunch of "orbs" around us - I don't recall the number, but it worked out to the exact number of relatives/near-relatives that we had lost.

LoraLoo said...

Fascinating. I'm such a believer, thanks for sharing a story! I'll bet they have a quite a few of those.

David Amulet said...

Ahh, I thought it was a Police post. I'm getting to see them Monday night, so they are on my brain.

Ghosts are real. I have one that urges me do bad, bad things to rude people.

-- david

Teri said...

After my grandma passed away we had a really strange thing happen. It is kinda a long story ,but I really think she was visiting us.

New White Keds said...

My mom used to tell me and my sister of the "old Indian" aparition that lived in our house. She loved to tell us about him and how he would close doors and such. It was especially fun when she told a bunch of my friends about him during my slumber party. I am not kidding, everyone went home in tears that night -- not a single one stayed the night.

But there were a couple of times where I think he really did hang out helped us from time to time. Weird, I know.

I waffle in my beliefe of it all. I think I want to believe, but the whole idea of it weirds me out. Hmmm...

BeckEye said...

I love ghost stories!

I remember seeing something on that show "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction" (which I miss dreadfully) that was supposedly based on a true story, about an affair gone wrong. Not really a "ghost" story, but a weird one nonetheless.

A cop was cheating on his wife and she came home and caught the two lovers in bed. She grabbed his gun, they struggled and the wife was shot and killed. The husband's mistress moved in with him and no charges were filed. The wife's best friend was so angry, that she came to the husband's house, intending to kill him. He was out working in the yard and she took a shot at him. She missed and the bullet lodged in a tree. The friend came to her senses and fled the scene. The husband was running the lawnmower and didn't even hear the gunshot. So, about a year later the husband decided to chop down the tree. If I remember correctly, the wife loved the tree. He was cutting into it with a chainsaw and the blade hit the bullet, forcing it to shoot out right into the guy's heart, killing him.