I am glad you are discussing this, because I know people think I am crazy on this subject. My Mom died about 6 years ago. She died in March and we were heartbroken. She was the most special person I have ever known. I talked to her every single day and had the most special relationship.

In May the day before school was to be out I was on my way home. I approached a canal that has a road that enters from the right. The problem is that the bridge is made so that you cannot see the people who will be entering the highway until you are right on the bridge. Right as I crossed the bridge a car pulled out in front of me. I was going 55 mph and had nowhere to go, somehow I just knew there were children in that car and I could not hit them head on. So, I crossed the center line and hit my brakes as hard as I could. The man hit the right corner of my car and I flew through the air and hit the embankment that leads up to railroad tracks. I don't know how far it was. The airbag blew and broke my wrist in three places, making it impossible for me to get out of the car because I had to push the door upwards and it was just too heavy. The man in the car that hit me had to come up and help me out.
I should have been scared, but my parents were both in the car with me. I didn't see them because it all happened so fast, but I felt them and I know they both came from heaven to be with me in that instance. I didn't panic like I would have if I had been alone. I just kept telling everyone I had a broken arm and needed my husband to take me to the doctor. A very kind man went into the next town which was about 3 miles and brought an icebag to me from the grocery store. Right when I called my husband he had just heard the accident on the scanner and the police cars going through town. He was relieved that I had called when I did.

It was just one of the strangest experiences of my life. I am just so thankful that those two little boys only had minor cuts and bruises.

When I was 13 my dad passed away after being in terrible pain for a few years from experimental surgeries. Mom came in early the next morning to tell me that he was gone. I told her that she didn't need to give me the news because I already knew. At first she thought that I was crazy, but I explained to her that Dad had come to me in a dream and told me he loved me and that he would see me again one day. I don't if anyone ever understood, but I know he came to try to make it easier for me.

Vicky

WOW What an interesting thread. I don't talk about these ghostly things much due to the fact that most people sort of step back like you're going to infect them with some weird disease.

Anyway, my DH and I bought an 1860's farmhouse with about 160 acres of land back about 30 years ago. We did some research on the house and loved it but the man that had grown up in the house and died in the house still seemed to be around. We would find things happening that were quite strange. My DH and I decided that he was checking us out to see if we were going to love his farm like he had.

Once, I was taking laundry upstairs to the bedroom and the door just opened.... the rocking chair was rocking and it felt like 'he' saw I had my arms full and decided to help me out.

Another time, I went upstairs and the TV was on and I couldn't turn it off. I punched buttons but nothing worked.

The most comforting thing was when my DH was gone on a road trip and I was down at the barn milking the goats. I thought I heard something and looked at the open barn door. There he stood, in his overalls, white beard and all. He had a smile on his face like he wanted to know I wasn't alone. It startled me at first but it was a sight I'll never forget. Sometimes he would be inside the house looking out.... I would look across the road from the barn or chicken coop and see him watching me.

He finally stopped doing his little pranks and I stopped seeing him.... I think he realized that we really loved the farm and didn't plan to do anything awful to it. We have since sold the place. I wonder if "Marvin" visits the new owners like he did us.

Vicky, your story brought tears to my eyes. Thank goodness your Mom and Dad were there to watch over you that day.


Jean, we onced rented a house that was for sale (and which they had been having trouble selling) for a short time when we were newlyweds and relocating to a new place. The house had been an old family house and a brother and sister lived out their entire lives there. The brother was the last one die. After we had been there a month we were sure we had a ghostly roomie. He never quite "materialized" but we knew when and where he was by the the "coldness" his presence brought. He did not want strangers in his house and played a few pranks, but he left us pretty much alone if we stayed out of his "rooms." There were two rooms we just did not use ... (Since we only had furniture for two people and needed only a few rooms there were some we just never furnished. We had an lease to buy option in our paperwork, but we told the realtor that we were not going to want to buy the house.) ... Both of these rooms were just too "cold" One was upstairs and we later learned from neighbors that this had been his boyhood room. The other was a very small rooms downstairs where which he had used as his bedroom when he was elderly and where he died. He also had kept a workshop or something in the basement and did not want us there, either. I think the neighbors on one side had "seen" him or something because we had a very starnge conversation with them once after we had been there about a month. One time when we had gone to visit family for a weekend, we came back to find our things very re-arranged.
After we had been in the house a couple of more months, they found buyers who loved the house because of how "warm and comfortable" we had made the rooms look that we had furnished. There were very old gardens planted around the house that had overgrown, and as it was spring, I had started to weed and clean it out. My DH's aunt who had lived in a nearby town had been helping me by telling me what to remove and what to keep. She was very knowledgeble about what the old flowers and shurbs were and how to prune and such. Whenever I was outside working in the garden, "he" would sit on the steps and watch me. It got so I could tell what he did not want me to cut back too much or pull out. He was very territorial about the garden. The people who bought the house had two young sons. For some reason they let them sign papers, although our lease had not run out yet, so techinically they owned the house the last two weeks when we were moving out. They were at the house on the day we were loading our stuff to leave and they let their sons jump off the steps into the garden and break everything. I must have cringed, because the woman said she was ripping all that old stuff out anyway because their son had allergies and they were going to put in a pool or something. I just looked at her. I knew she was not making friends here with the resident ghost, but what could I say? My DH and I ran into them once a couple of months later in a store and they told us how they were repacing all the windows to cut down on the "drafts." It was then high summer and the heat was intense. After she had continued on her way, my DH looked at me and he said something like, "So do you think she is just sealing the cold in?"

I just can't stay quiet any longer! Vicky, my mother had a very similar experience. My brother did his graduate work at Virginia Tech. My mother planned to drive down when he was done and bring him back to Michigan and drive from Northern Michigan to Virginia by herself. (She was in her seventies when she did this- she is fearless. Once, when she was younger, she drove from Florida to Indiana with little kids! But I digress!)

Anyway, to make a long story short, the brakes failed as she was descending the mountains. Almost immediately she distinctly heard my dad's voice, "Downshift, dummy!" And that's exactly what he would have said! He came by his sarcasm honestly, but never used it in a mean way, only to make a point in a humorous way.

Pat, that house sounds a lot like mine. I don't remember the cold but I did see the ol' gent many times.

Meg, what a fortunate thing that Dad spoke up!!

I totally love how so many families share this ability to make contact with the other world. I think there are lots of people that don't let themselves experience these events..... sad.

Jean

What an interesting thread.

My mother passed away several years ago. When my siblings and I were in the house we started looking for her pearls. She had made it known to everyone that I was to get the pearls as the oldest. My sister and I always joked about how we were going to fight over the pearls. When we went through her things we could not find the pearls anywhere. We searched and searched and could not find them. Later that night after everyone else left and I was alone in the house I thought I would go look one more time. There in the drawer where she kept her jewelery, front and center, were the pearls. I guess she wanted to give them to me when I was alone!

Deb-

Reading that gave me shivers!

Meg - I dreamt about you and a few others from Block Central last night.

Now I know what you look like!