~Clancy~

This experience did not happen to me, but it is an experience my mom had.

My mom and dad owned a beautiful dog when I was younger.  She was a very loving dog and very gentle.  She was a Golden Retriever.  She truly was part of our family. We all loved her and spoiled her, and we were all extremely heartbroken when she died.

She was a great dog, but she had a really bad habit of eating toilet paper.  She would go upstairs to the bathroom and rummage through the garbage and eat any toilet paper she could find.  You would hear her paws and nails tap up the hardwood stairs, and you knew where she was headed.

About a week after she had died, my mom was in the kitchen doing dishes.  She heard that familiar tapping up the stairs and said, "Clancy, what do you think you're doing?"
My mom put down the dish rag and was heading to the stairs when she realized that Clancy was gone.

Yet the sound was so distinct.

My mom said she definitely heard that familiar sound of her going up the stairs, yet she couldn't have because Clancy had recently died.

My mom got all choked up and teary-eyed,  for she said she knew that Clancy was still with us.

Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

 

 

~The Nice Man~

When my oldest daughter was almost 3, she would talk about a man that she said would come and sit on her bed and talk with her. She also said he'd play with her, and that he was "really, really nice".

It all started one afternoon while she was playing in her room.  

Her room was a bit of a distance down a very long hallway from our living room, so I would keep the baby monitor on so I could listen for her.  

I was sitting on our couch, feeding my younger daughter who was not quite one year of age at the time.  

I could hear my older daughter singing and playing while in her bedroom. All of a sudden, I heard her say, "Hi." Then her baby monitor went completely static. Then I heard my daughter say her name, then again, static from the monitor.  

I then heard what sounded like my daughter having a conversation with someone. Yet whenever the break came in the conversation when the other person would be responding, I only heard static through the baby monitor. Then the baby monitor would return to normal, and I'd hear my daughter talking.

It was scaring me. I wrapped my youngest daughter up and placed her in her little infant seat. I got up and quietly headed down the hall to my daughter's bedroom.  

I slowly turned the corner and entered her room. I seriously half expected to see someone in the room with her. She immediately looked up and said, "Mommy. Why'd you do that for? He was gonna’ play with me."  

I looked around her room and of course she was the only one I saw in there. So I said, "Who was going to play with you?" She said, "The man." I said, "What man?" She shrugged her shoulders and said, "The nice man."  

Again, I looked around her room, even checked the closets. Then she told me that I didn't need to look for him because he left. She told me that I scared him away.

Assuming she was just playing and using her imagination I said, "Oh, well, tell your friend I'm sorry." And I turned and left the room.

As I arrived in the living room, I picked up my infant daughter who was now asleep. I sat down in the rocking chair with her and again I heard my daughter's baby monitor go static.   

Again, I heard her carrying on a conversation that sounded too much like a real conversation to simply be a child pretending.

Again, I heard static, then my daughter asked, "Where is that?" Static again. My daughter; "Is it far?" Static. My daughter; "You miss them?" Static.  My daughter; "Okay, if you want to." Static.

Again, I got up and headed to my daughter’s room. As I walked into her room, she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, why you keep making my friend leave?"  

I placed my youngest daughter into her crib. I sat down on my daughter’s bed and said, "Who is this friend? Can you tell mommy what he looks like?"  

My daughter told me that I couldn't see him. She said that only she could see him. She then said that he told her that he was gonna’ be born and wanted to know if he could play with her while he waited.  

It was really frightening me. I then told my daughter that I didn't think it was such a good idea that she play with him. I was fearing some malevolent entity. She looked at me and said, "Why mommy? He's really nice. He looks just like papa." She was referring to my dad, he's the one she called papa. I then wondered if she was being visited by some long deceased family member that resembled my father.

I didn't know what to make of it, so I told my daughter, "Well, as long as he's nice." She said, "He is mommy, he’s really nice."

Hearing her talk to this "friend" and have conversations with him went on for a few more weeks. The talking through the monitor with alternate bouts of static continued as well.  

Whenever I asked my daughter about him, she'd just say that he was really nice. Apparently, he'd play with her Barbies with her, even combing their hair. He also played with her other toys with her as well. She said she liked having him at our house, and she really liked playing with him.  

One night she came running out of the bedroom looking for him. She insisted that he had popped his head around the corner and was playing hide and seek with her. At first, she thought it was her dad. Then she realized it was her "friend" and she went looking for him. It really scared me, I thought perhaps someone had broken into our home and that was what she saw.  

She insisted it was her "friend" playing hide and seek. She looked every where for him; under her bed, under her sister's crib. She looked behind the shower curtain in the bathtub. She checked every closet and could not find him. She was laughing, amused by the entire thing. I was not so amused. I called my parents, totally creeped out and since my husband was working late that night, I took my daughters with me, and we went and spent the night at their house.  

A few weeks after first seeing him, my daughter told me one day that her friend had told her that he wouldn't be around much longer because he was going to have to leave.  He told her that he was going to miss her very much.  She said that she had told him that she would miss him too. She told me that she was going to be sad and miss him very much. As she was telling me, tears were welling up in her eyes.

It was a short time after her informing me that he would be leaving soon, when at the urging of a friend of mine, I had a psychic reading done. And I have to say, I'm not a big fan of psychics or handing my money over to them, but this guy that I had the psychic reading with truly floored me.

He started the reading off by giving me some very specific information that he honestly could not have simply guessed about. Then he paused and said, "Can I tell you something without you totally freaking out?" I simply laughed and said, "It would take a lot to freak me out." He laughed and said, "Okay good, cuz you have a spirit in your home, and he's drawn to your daughter." My mouth dropped open. I couldn't believe he said that.

He said, "He's a family member of yours. He died many years ago. They couldn't find him, but they tried." He then told me, "I'm seeing a very old car, early 1900s perhaps. There's a lot of trees, narrow roads. It was an accident."

He then told me that the only reason this "spirit" was around my daughter was because he was drawn to her energy. He was currently waiting for his next incarnation. Someone in my family was going to conceive soon, and he was going to be the spirit of that child and he would be reincarnated again as a boy.  

I was truly shocked by what I was hearing. I then went on to tell him all about the things my daughter had been saying about her new "friend". I also told him about the weird baby monitor static whenever she was speaking to her "friend".  

The psychic just laughed and said that there truly are some things we can not explain, and yet to children it is no big deal, they are innocent to all of it.

A month or so after that we held a birthday party for my daughter.  Every single photo I took of her that day had a black type of mist around her. The pictures that she was not in, turned out just fine. Was the black mist we managed to capture in the photos her ghost "friend"?

Shortly after my daughter’s birthday party we were informed that my cousin and his wife had been trying to conceive for quite some time and were very excited that she was now pregnant. My cousin’s wife eventually gave birth to a baby boy. 

I discovered from my dad shortly after my psychic reading that my grandma's older brother (his uncle, my great-uncle) went out west regarding a job. This was during the early to mid 1900s, and he was in his early 20s at the time.  

According to my grandma, he went missing. The family did not hear from him again. And according to my grandma, her mother, (my great-grandmother) even hired investigators to search for him, but he was never found.  

He was driving out west, and it was speculated that his car likely veered off of one of the narrow mountain roads and crashed, and he was killed. Due to the overgrown trees and bush, as well as the treacherous hills, it would have been impossible to locate his vehicle.

And oddly enough, it is evident from the one photo that our family has, he does look a lot like my dad. My daughter's "papa".

A couple of years after all of this occurred, my daughter came across the picture of this family member in one of my parent’s photo albums and commented, "Hey, isn't that the guy that played hide and seek with me that time? I remember him coming to our house and he would play with me."

She had never seen a photo of him before and had no way of knowing who the man in the photo was. 

A few photos from my daughter's birthday party.  Not sure what this blackness is, that is around her in every picture.  Was it our "ghost", her "friend", his energy perhaps?

I spliced the photo of my great-uncle along side a photo of my dad, and it's easy to see how much my dad does in fact resemble him.  

I can see why my daughter told me "the nice man" looked like her papa (my dad).

Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

~The Dark Shadow People~

When my oldest son was all of 2 or 3 years of age, he woke up one day and began talking about "the dark shadow people" that came into his room the night before and kept waking him up.

He said that he didn't like them because they were bad.  He also said that they wouldn't stop talking and wouldn't leave him alone.

My mom asked him what they said to him, and all of a sudden in a really creepy deep voice my son said, "Open the door." His response really creeped my mom out, it made the skin on the back of her neck crawl.

There were a few more mornings where he woke up tired and due to lack of sleep was easily agitated. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me he was tired and couldn't sleep because the dark shadow people were in his room again. Again he talked about how the shadow people were all talking and when he told them to leave they wouldn't go, and they wouldn't shut up.

During this time, I used to frequent a metaphysical shop that was not far from my home. I loved going into that store, so did my kids. The energy in that place was just so calming, and the people that owned and ran the store were really nice. I, like many other customers felt like we could just hang out there and talk to them for hours. And the best part was that they never pushed you into buying anything. They were completely fine with people simply browsing and not purchasing anything.

So, after my son's claims about these dark shadow people, I headed down to that shop. I was browsing their many books when the owner approached me, and after exchanging hello's, asked me if there was anything in-particular I was looking for. I began telling him about my son and his annoying "visitors" at night.

The owner began telling me about his own son that was now grown, but how he had experienced something similar when he was younger. He then began talking to me about how he believed that because children are so young and innocent, that they can easily see spirits. He said that in his experiences, he has found that sometimes the not-so-nice spirits will come through to children as well, especially if they're receptive to it.

He then talked to me about energy and portals etc., and told me that I should do a "cleansing" to rid the house of these energies and stop them from coming through. I have to admit, I wasn't totally buying everything he was saying but I figured, what the heck, what have I got to lose?

I purchased some sage, as well as a couple of candles.

A couple of days later, when no one was in the house I performed my little "ritual" of cleansing the house with sage. I lit the candles and said my little prayers etc., as instructed.

I had to admit, afterwards I did feel a change in the energy in the house. It felt much more calmer and relaxed.

The very next morning, my son woke up, came out to the living room and was in a fantastic mood. I asked him if he slept okay. He said he slept great, he then said, "The shadow people are gone. We closed the door."

My mom was sitting in the living room with me. Her and I exchanged glances. My mom knew all about the sage "cleansing" I did, but my children knew nothing about it. Yet from my son's comment, it was as if he knew all about it.

So I asked him, "What do you mean buddy?" My son said, "You closed the door, they can't bother me no more."



The burning of sage leaves

Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

~A Little Guardian Angel~

After each of my children were born, they slept beside my bed in a bassinet for the first few months.

When they outgrew the bassinet, the went into their crib that was kept right beside my bed.  

Although, for the most part, they all pretty much slept in my bed every night, right beside me.

I am one of those mom's that slept more soundly if my baby was right next to me, in bed with me.  It also made breastfeeding through the night much easier.

As I've stated in my other posts on here, I moved back into my parents home when my daughter's were only 2 and 4 years of age.  I was attending college full-time and my mom baby-sat for me.  

Just before graduating from college, I became pregnant with my son while still living in my parent's home with my husband.

One night, when my son was only a few months old, he began to stir.  I woke up knowing that he was probably hungry, and was waking to feed.  I kept a small night lite on in the bedroom, so that when I did get up through the night I could see easily in the dark room.

I sat up after hearing my son begin to stir, and when I looked to his bassinet, I saw the dark shape and outline of a child hunched over his bassinet looking down at him.  I heard my son coo.  I then heard the child softly say to my son, "Shh."  I noticed too that this child was rocking his bassinet.  

The child looked to be anywhere from 5 to 7 years of age.

I blinked, not believing I was really seeing what I was seeing.

I poked my husband who said, "What?"  I didn't say a word, I only pointed to our son's bassinet.  My husband immediately saw what I saw, so he sat up and said, "What the...?"  He and I both sat there for a few seconds watching this child rock our son's bassinet.  We both heard her humming softly to him.  

All of a sudden, she looked up at my husband and I and then simply disappeared.  My husband and I just both sat there still staring at the bassinet, in shock at what we had just seen.  

My husband was the first to speak and said, "What the fuck was that, no, better yet, who the hell was that?"

Our son began to stir again so I got up out of bed to pick him up.  As I sat down in the bed with my son in my arm's I said, "I have no idea."

Then, given another experience that our younger daughter had while living back at my parent's home, my husband asked me, "Do you think it's little Ruth?"  I told my husband that I was just about to say the very same thing.

Ruth is an older cousin of mine that was killed in a car accident at the age of  7.  My younger daughter had reported seeing her in her bedroom at night.  

Was it her?  I really don't know.  My husband and I talked a lot about what we saw that night, and we both saw the same thing.

I have to admit, we both found it comforting to know that there was someone obviously concerned about our baby boy and who was quite possibly watching over him.

Neither one of us ever did see her again.



Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

~A Most Memorable Visit~

Many years ago, I was going through a very harrowing time. Emotionally I was drained. I had nothing left to give. I was very close to simply giving up.  

It is truly amazing how far down the depths of depression can go. I don't think anyone can even begin to imagine any of it, until you have actually experienced it for yourself.

For far too long I was being pulled in too many directions. I felt as though I was struggling to barely keep my head above water and I was getting extremely close to being pulled under.  

One night, feeling so worn down and broken, I began to cry. I prayed to God to let me know that He had my back, that I wasn't going it alone. And alone is exactly how I felt. I felt like I was trudging my way through complete and utter darkness and I could not see, no matter what direction I looked in.  

I had no idea where I was going. I couldn't help but wonder why things had to be so tough. I couldn't help but wonder why life doesn't give us clues. Where are the road maps to help us get to where we should be? How do we get there?  

I then spoke out into the darkness and asked my grandparents if they were still with me. I told them that I felt all alone, and I could really use some help, that I didn't know what to do anymore. I asked them for some much needed guidance. I also prayed to God for guidance.

I eventually fell asleep.  

I began to dream the most amazing, realistic dream. It was as if I truly was there and experiencing it.

It was all white and blurry in the dream, and then it started to clear and things began to clearly come into focus. I found myself standing on my grandparent's old street. It was winter time and there were Christmas lights strung on all of the houses on the street. Just up ahead I saw their old familiar house. The same house that held most of my childhood memories. And what wonderful memories they were. 

I began walking and took note of how real it all felt. I could smell the cold, crispness of the air. It was so cold that my nose began to feel cold. I could hear the crunching of the snow under my feet as I walked. Then I smelt that old familiar smell that I absolutely love. Whenever I smell it, it takes me right back to my childhood. It was the smell of my grandparents fireplace burning.

I reached their driveway and headed down the long familiar trek to the back door. As I rounded the corner and entered the back yard, I saw their old dog. She came running over to greet me and seemed very happy to see me. I was so happy to see her that I began to cry. She was not the slow, old dog I remembered, but was so energetic, happy and playful, just like a puppy.

With the dog at my heels, following me, I walked up the back steps and opened the back door. As soon as I walked in, from the back porch I could smell that old familiar smell of my grandparents baking something yummy.

I opened up the kitchen door and walked into the kitchen. The old familiarity of their kitchen brought back a flood of memories. I began to get tears in my eyes. I could not wait to see my grandparents.

Just as I always did, I took off my coat and hung it on the hook in the kitchen. I then took of my boots and placed them neatly beneath my coat, on the mat that my grandma always had for everyone to place their wet boots on.  

I headed down the hallway. As I entered the living room, everything was just as it was when I was a kid. I noticed however that there were some open boxes in the living room that contained Christmas decorations in them. It appeared that they were going to be doing some decorating around the house for Christmas.  

The living room was so cozy. The fireplace was going and smelt wonderful. My grandma was sitting in her rocking chair knitting and my grandpa was sitting in his rocking chair reading a magazine. Their television was on but very low. 

As I walked into the living room my grandma put down her knitting, smiled and said, "Well look who's finally here."  

She stood up and gave me a big kiss on the cheek and hugged me so tightly, just as she always would.  

My grandpa stood up and said, "Well hey you." He too gave me a big kiss on the cheek and one of his old familiar loving, tight hugs. I immediately smelled that old familiar smell of his cologne.  

I was so happy to see them both that I was crying. They both had tears in their eyes and I could tell that they were just as happy to see me as I was to see them. They both sat back down in their chairs, and told me to have a seat, that we had much to talk about.  

I could not believe it was really them.  They both looked so healthy and vibrant.  I was so happy to see them.

I told them how much I had missed them. I then began to tell them how things had changed with our family, how no one in our extended family really got together anymore (my aunts, uncles, cousins etc.) since their *my grandparent's) passing.  

I then began telling them about how I had gone back to school to become a nurse. I went on to tell them about my children and what they were all like. I shared many funny and cute stories about my children with them. And of course, my grandparents got a kick out of the things I told them.

I talked to them about all the things they'd missed out on since they had passed away. I then went on to tell them about all of the recent difficulties I had been going through.

Both of my grandparents began explaining to me that we all have a purpose in our life. That purpose is decided long before we enter our lifetime on earth. They explained that the trials and tribulations are all part of why we choose to be on earth, even if none of it makes sense to us at the time.  

They told me that the experiences we have can and will change us, but it is up to us how our experiences change us. We can choose to learn from our experiences and allow our experiences to better us, or we can choose to not learn and continue making the same mistakes over again, never bettering ourselves.  

We can choose to strive to become a better person, more caring, more kind, more compassionate. Or, we can become cold, mean and bitter. It is our choice. We can also choose to touch others lives in a positive way, or we can choose to interact with those around us in a negative and destructive way.  

They explained to me how energy is all around us, in us, and every single thought, decision and word we speak has a tremendous effect on it all. Our thoughts even affect us on a higher sub-conscious level. Our thoughts and words affect our energy, our spiritual self, and that is directly related to our physical self.  

I know it all sounds crazy, but it made complete sense to me.  

As they continued explaining all of this to me, they also told me that we are never alone. They talked about God and his/her infinite love for each and every one of us. They talked to me about angels and how they really do help us in our time of need. They aren't always the typical winged creatures we think of, but may come simply as a kind stranger right at the exact time we needed them to be there.  

They explained to me how God, our Creator is always communicating to us but many of us fail to listen or heed the advice given. Quieting ourselves and listening to that true inner part of us is our higher spirit communicating with God.  

Everything they told me brought me such immense comfort. I no longer felt alone. As well, the unbelievable love that I could feel emanating from them was so intense. It brought me to tears.

After talking some more to me, they eventually told me that I needed to get back, that I had little ones to take care of. I thought of my children and smiled.  

I then asked about all of the boxes of Christmas decorations and why they had them out since it wasn't Christmastime. My grandma explained that they had been very busy getting everything ready for when we all come home.  

I wasn't quite sure what that meant, and I honestly didn't care. I knew that eventually we'd all be together again one day, and I was looking forward to it. I was excited about seeing everyone again. The thought of all of my family together again at my grandparents house visiting, playing games, sitting around talking, telling jokes, just like when I was growing up, warmed my heart.  

The one thing I remember clearly growing up was the constant sound of laughter that always filled my grandparent's home.

I thought back to my childhood, about my various family members writing songs and recording their music in the basement studio. Listening to them playing their guitars, etc., and singing, all brought back such wonderful memories.  

My grandma told me, "Hurry back, and go do all that you need to do and do not waste one single day because it will all go by in a flash. And before you know it, we'll all be together again."

She told me to live my life to the fullest and to never waste my time looking back, to always look forward.  She stressed to me my significance in this lifetime, and how every single one of us is significant.  

While we may not realize our importance, or even feel all that important at times, or that we're even making much of a difference; she explained how every single person we ever interact with, we are touching their life in a profound way, more than we could even begin to imagine.  

Then she mentioned my children and my tremendous impact in their lives. She reminded me that it was up to me to ensure that they fulfill their purpose in their lives, by carrying out my purpose.  

It all made perfect sense to me.

I then began to wonder about how I was going to get back home. My grandpa told me to relax and told me that I'd be back in no time.  

I hugged them both so tightly and said good-bye. Everything began to fade away.  

The next thing I knew, I was laying on my bed again. I opened my eyes and realized it had all simply been a dream. Yet the realness of it was unimaginable. I could still feel the way they felt in my arms. It was truly as if I had just hugged them. The smell of their baked goods, the fireplace and my grandpa's cologne was still so fresh and vivid in my mind.

I laid in my bed for the longest time thinking about the entire dream and how real it all seemed. I closed my eyes and began to cry. It was such a wonderful dream.  

That dream gave me an immense amount of inner strength. I found a strength in me that I did not know existed. I thought I had nothing left, yet that experience gave me the courage and determination to make some very big, significant changes in my life, and all for the better.  


~My Papa~
 

~My Nana~

Did I really visit with my grandparents in my dream?  I honestly have no idea.  I have no way to prove whether I truly did or not, but I very much believe that I did, and I'm not the only one that believes it is possible. Many people from all walks of life, all over the world report encounters with deceased loved ones in their dreams. Many people report that during these encounters, their loved ones impart wisdom or words of encouragement. And, many people insist these "dreams" are more than simply a dream, that it all felt far too real to simply be dismissed as "just a dream". 

 

I don't believe for one moment that death is the end, it is simply a transition.

"...there is a vast amount of information about the phenomena of death, transition and "otherworlds" available to us that is much more sophisticated than most people realize."

~Beyond Death: Transition and the Afterlife~
Roger J. Woogler


Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

~A Past-Life Memory~

For most of my life I have had a recurrent nightmare.  

In this dream I am standing on a beach.  

The sky is getting very dark and I am very scared.  

I am scrambling amongst a crowd of people who are also scared, and are in chaos.  

Everyone is running around and panicking.  People are screaming, they are truly panicked.

I am very upset because I can not find someone that I have been separated from.  I realize that it is my child I am looking for.  I am calling out her name and terrified because I can't find her.

There is a break in the crowd of people and I see my child simply standing amongst the crowd of people that are running all around her, and she is crying.  I immediately run to her.  I pick her up in my arms and attempt to calm her down.  She is so upset, she had been looking for me as well.

Off to our left in the distance, I see what I can only describe as these oddly shaped, ornately designed doorways.  They remind me of an opening to a parking garage.  I am unsure as to whether to run and stay in there or to venture into the water.  I'm trying to figure out where we might be safest.

I decide to head into the water.  Many others have decided to go into the water as well.  This water is a vast body of water, a lake or an ocean.

The sky continues to darken and it is becoming hard to breathe.  I am overcome with exhaustion, and begin sinking down into the water.  My child is as well.  I am calm and tell my child it is okay that we will be together in a beautiful place.  I am still holding my child very tightly.  I then begin to see an incredibly bright light.  It is here that I have always woke up.

I have always woke up from this dream completely drenched in sweat and panicked.  My heart is usually pounding so hard it feels like it is going to break through my chest wall.

As a child when I would wake up from this horrible dream, I would feel really sad.  I very much missed my child from the dream.  Strange I know, but it is truly how I felt.   

My mom knew all about this dream, since I had always talked to her about it whenever I had the dream.


When my eldest daughter was all of 4 or 5 years of age, I was attending college full-time.  My mom babysat both my eldest daughter and my youngest daughter who was 2 or 3 years of age.

Every single day I would call my mom to see how my daughter's were, and how their day was going.

One day when I called home, my mom sounded really eager to talk to me.  She began to tell me that when my oldest daughter woke up that morning, she told my mom that she had a really bad dream.  

My mom reassured her that everything was okay now, that it was only a dream.

My daughter told her that it felt real.  She then told my mom, "I was lost and couldn't find mommy.  The sky was going black, and people were running around.  I was really scared."

She then told my mom, "I finally found mommy and we went in the water.  We started to die.  Mommy told me not to be scared."

She then told my mom, "everything went black and then there was a really bright light. Mommy told me that we were dead but everything was okay, and not to be scared."

My mom was obviously freaked out about what my daughter had told her.  It was exactly like the dreams I had been having for years.  I couldn't believe it either.

My daughter had no knowledge whatsoever of the dreams I had.  I had never discussed them with her, and she had never heard me discuss this dream with my mom.  In fact, it had been many years since I had the dream.  She was probably only a baby the last time I had the dream.

After my daughter shared this dream with my mom, I decided to look up past events in history and see if I could find anything even vaguely similar to what we experienced.  I couldn't help but wonder if we were re-calling some type past life experience or something.

I eventually came across a web-site about the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Herculaneum on August 24th, 79 A.D.  

From what I read, I discovered that the pyroclastic surge that occurred when Mount Vesuvius erupted, formed a mixture of ash and hot gases, and it billowed through Herculaneum at 100 mph (160 km/h).  It turned the sky black.  

The volcanic ash that fell reached the beach and the boat houses where many were waiting for rescue. It also reached the many people that had waded into the ocean believing they would be safe.  All of them were killed instantly by the intense heat.

While looking through the site, I saw a picture of the boat houses of Herculaneum.  I could not believe it!  These "boathouses" were the things I had always remembered and recalled from my dream, but did not have a clue what they could have been.  To me, they had resembled parking garages.  

I also saw buildings and artifacts from that time that were very familiar to me, yet I had no idea why.

While viewing the web-site, and reading all about Herculaneum and this volcanic eruption that occurred, my daughter came into the room where I was, and approached the computer.

While staring at the computer monitor she said, "Mommy, I've seen those before."  She then pointed to the picture of the boathouses from Herculaneum.  

She then said, "Did we visit there on vacation?"  I told her no.  She then began pointing to some other pictures of various sites and artifacts around Herculaneum and said, "I remember that too.  We have been there."  

I told her we had not.  She said, "Well then why does it look like I remember?  Did we used to live there?"

I didn't know what to say to her. I was speechless. I simply told her no, we never lived there and I did not know why it was so familiar to her.

In my quest to learn more about ancient Herculaneum and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, I found out that in 1980 archaeologists discovered over 300 skeletons along the shoreline in Herculaneum. They were the remains of a crowd of people that had fled to the beach in hopes of escaping.  Unfortunately they were overcome by the heat clouds surging down from Mt. Vesuvius and were killed instantly.


The boat houses from Herculaneum

So, did my daughter and I actually recall a past life memory in our dreams?  

How could we have both had the same nightmare?  

Since discovering the information about Herculaneum and seeing the many photos, I have not had the dream since.  Which I am rather happy about.

Now that my daughter is 18, we have discussed this dream that her and I shared.  My daughter wonders as I do, if perhaps we really were re-calling a past-life together.  I guess we'll never know for sure.  But it is rather interesting to her and I, to say the very least.



Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

~The blonde haired little girl~

One night while laying in my bed with my bedroom door wide open, my son who was all of two or three at the time, wandered into my room and asked if he could lay with me. I said, "Of course."

So, he crawled up into my bed with me and layed down. I covered him up with my blankets, wrapped my arms around him, and cuddled into him.

He began talking to me about his day and while talking to me, I saw what I believed to be my youngest daughter dart very quickly by my bedroom doorway. I even saw her blonde hair and curls.

Assuming my daughter was not settled down in to bed, and was up horsing around, I told my son to hold on. I stood up and turned the lamp on beside my bed for him, and then headed out of my room and down the hall. I headed in the same direction I saw who I believed was my daughter, run.

I checked the living room, the kitchen and the dining room. My daughter was nowhere to be found. If she had in fact headed the way I saw her go, she would have had to pass me to get back to her room.  But I saw no one. The house was in complete darkness and was quiet.

I headed to my daughter's room and found both of my daughter's in their beds, sound asleep. I placed my hand on my youngest daughter's abdomen. I knew that if she had recently ran to her room, she would be breathing quickly, but she was breathing very deeply and slowly. I then checked my oldest daughter, and both of them were definitely sound asleep.

It weirded me out a bit, but I didn't worry too much about it. I headed back to my room.

I walked into my room and found my son still awake, laying in my bed waiting for me. I apologized and told him to continue telling me about his day. My son said, "Okay."

But then he said, "Mommy, who was her?"

I asked him, "Who honey?"

He said, "The girl that ran by your room."

I said, "Oh, I think it was your sister."

He looked over at me and said, "No, it wasn't my sister, it was a different girl."

I said, "You saw her too?" He nodded.

I told him not to worry about it and to settle down. He continued with his story about his days adventures, and then fell asleep.

A few nights later he was laying with me in my bed again. Both of my daughter's were sleeping at my parents house that night, and were not at home.

I was laying in my bed, reading my son a story. All of a sudden I heard the sound of movement and rustling. I looked up, and right then I saw a girl that looked just like my youngest daughter dart by my bedroom doorway again. I couldn't believe what I saw. Just then my son said, "There's that girl mommy. Who is her?"

I looked at my son and asked him, "Did you see a little girl too?" He nodded his head yes. I asked him what she looked like. He said, "She was wearing white and has yellow curly hair." That was exactly what I saw too.

I saw the same thing a few more times after that, and it was never my daughter. I could not explain, nor could I make any sense of what it was I saw.

We moved out of that home a short time later. I have not seen anything even similar since moving into our new home.


Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

~A Guardian Angel~

I have carried this memory with me my entire life.  It is extremely vivid and I can recall it so clearly, it is as if it only happened just a few years ago.  

Back when I was all of two or three years of age, my parents worked as Superintendents of a very small apartment complex.

It was winter time and one of my dad's jobs at the time was to paint over the numbers inside the parking garages since the current numbers were all faded and not very legible.  

Being a kid and the fact that there was snow on the ground, I wanted to go with my dad so I could play out side.  My mom didn't think it was such a good idea since she didn't believe my dad would be able to keep a very good watch on me.  She told him that it would be difficult for him to keep an eye on me if his back was going to be turned to me while painting.  But of course, being daddy's little girl, I got my way, and my dad assured my mom he would keep a good watch on me.  Yet, mom's always know best don't they?

My dad and I headed outside and my dad told me how important it was that I stay right with him inside the garage while he painted.  He promised that when he was done, he would take me outside and let me play in the snow.

My dad had only begun to paint, yet the freshly fallen snow in the driveway just outside the garages was much more appealing to me than standing in the boring garage watching my dad paint.  So, I wandered into the driveway.  

Within seconds my dad turned around and said, "What did I just tell you?  Get back in here with me and stay out of the driveway.  If a car came pulling into the driveway, you could get hit."  He then told me that if I didn't listen, he was taking me back upstairs to wait inside with my mom until he was done.

I begrudgingly stepped back into the garage. But, as soon as my dad turned around to begin painting again, I watched to see if he'd notice and I slowly stepped backwards into the driveway again.  

I was looking down at my boots, stepping on the snow and making patterns in the snow with my boots, when I heard the crunching of snow from behind me.  I turned around just in time to see the front of a car.  The car ran right into me, smacking me in the face with the bumper, and knocking me backwards onto the ground.  

I was underneath the car, scared and crying.  I was being dragged by the car, and all of a sudden, I heard a woman tell me it was okay and that I needed to calm down.  I remember the woman asking me if I could hear her and I said yes.  She told me again to calm down and told me that I needed to listen to her, that it was really important.  I said, "Okay."  I then tried to calm down.  I remember at that point looking up at the car that was over top of me, and being rather amazed at all the intricacies up underneath the car. 

I then heard that same lady speak to me in a very firm voice, not a yell, but I knew from her voice it was very important.  She told me to begin to roll.  She called my name and said, "Roll now!"  I didn't hesitate for one second, I crossed my arms across my chest and I began rolling back and forth from one side to the other.  I heard something rip.  I knew that I must have been caught underneath the car.  I tore free when I began to roll, however, I was being banged off the tires and didn't like it, it hurt.  I was crying but I heard the woman say, "It's alright, you'll be okay just keep rolling."  I continued to roll and the next thing I knew the car was no longer on top of me.  I was laying on the ground and crying.  My dad came running over to me and scooped me up in his arms.

With me in his arms, my dad ran and whipped open the door to the apartment building that was just steps from where I was laying.  He then ran with me in his arms up the stairs, to the second floor where our apartment was.  He barged through the door, layed me down on the kitchen table and ran to the phone to call for an ambulance.  

I was crying and scared.  My mom was panicked and immediately began undressing me to check for injuries.  I remember feeling like my nose was running a lot and so I wiped it with the back of my hand.  I looked down and saw a lot of blood all over the back of my hand and on the sleeve of my winter coat.  My nose was bleeding very heavily, and I was scared at the site of the blood.  

I remember very distinctly my mom standing to my left and trying to calm me down while my dad called the ambulance.  I looked down towards my feet and saw my brother and our older cousin just standing there.  They looked scared, I knew they were worried for me but the looks on their faces panicked me.  And to my right, was who I had always believed to be, was my Nana, my dad's mom. I remember her telling me it was alright, and that everything would be okay.  It calmed me down so much having her there.  She was the only one that was remaining calm.

Apparently the ambulance was taking forever (back in those days they didn't come very quickly), and so my dad simply scooped me up and rushed me to the hospital in our car. I still remember that too.

Once at the hospital, the doctors and nurses immediately rushed me in to an examining room. I was then rushed to x-ray.  I remember crying as they took a bunch of x-rays.  I was scared of the big scary looking x-ray machine and I kept saying that I wanted my mom.

I remember being wheeled out of x-ray and there were a bunch of police officers in the hallway.  They had been called to investigate what happened and to see whether the driver had been drinking or was at fault.

As I stated, all of my life I have remembered the accident, the memory of it has always remained very clear and vivid in my mind. And like I said, the memory is so fresh, it is as if it only happened a few short years ago, yet it has actually been 37 or 38 years since it happened.



One night when I was in my early 20s, my mom and brother and I were sitting around talking, and we got around to discussing the accident.  My mom asked me if I still remembered the accident.  I told her I remembered it as though it had just happened.  
My mom didn't really believe me and assumed that I only remembered the accident because of what people had told me or from what I had heard.  

So, I began telling my mom all that I remembered and in great detail.  I described the memory of pressing my winter boots down into the snow to make patterns in the snow, and went on to describe my winter boots to my mom, in great detail.  My mom couldn't believe I remembered.  

She then asked me about my snowsuit, so I described that in detail as well.  I also described the car in detail, including the colour, and what the front of it looked like.  I also described what the driver looked like.  My mom couldn't believe I actually remembered all of that.  My mom was also surprised that I remembered all of the police at the hospital standing in the hallway outside of the x-ray room.

My mom then told me that I was banged up really badly.  She said that you could see the imprints of the tire tread patterns all over my body.  My face had been hit and I had a big gash across my nose and my nose had been bleeding, there was blood everywhere.  I also had two horrific looking black eyes.  Apparently I looked so bad that one of the police officers that was at the hospital that had a child about my age, broke down and cried when he saw me.  Even the older police officers broke down and cried.  I looked bad.

I brought up the fact that I remembered laying on the kitchen table and seeing her there looking all worried as well as my brother and cousin.  I told her that the only one that stayed calm which helped me to calm down was my Nana.  My mom then said, "Nana wasn't there. She was at work."  I told my mom that was wrong because I remembered my grandma being there.  My mom told me she wasn't.  My grandmother was at work and had to be called when they got to the hospital to let her and my grandpa know what had happened.  My grandparents rushed to the hospital after my grandma was called.

My mom then went on to tell me what a miracle it was.  As terrible as I looked, I suffered no real injuries.  I had no broken bones, not one.  The only cut I sustained was across my nose.  I did not need stitches either.  The doctors at the hospital told my parents that they could not believe that I had no injuries at all.  Especially given the fact that the tire tread marks were imprinted all over my body, yet somehow had not crushed me.  They said that I was extremely lucky to have not sustained any head injuries or internal injuries.

I was kept in the hospital for a week, which I still have distinct memories of.  

According to my mom, once I was out of the hospital and at home; her and my dad were talking one night about what a miracle it was that I was okay.  I do not remember any of this conversation.  But, according to my mom, after hearing my parents comment about what a mircale it was that I wasn't hurt and sustained no real injuries, I very matter-of-factly told them "Grandma Hopkin's was there, and she saved me."  

My mom said that both her and my dad felt the hair on the back of their necks stand up.  My grandma Hopkin's was my Nana's mom, my dad's grandma.  She died when I was only an infant.  My parents took me to meet her when I was only a few days old.  She died shortly after.  

I did not know what she looked like, and up until that point in my life, no one had ever told me about her or discussed her with me.  So, my parents were surprised that I would even mention her name.

My mom said that her and my dad asked me how she saved me, and apparently I told them that she had told me to roll. I then told them, "if I had not rolled like she told me, I would have been crushed and I would have died".

My mom said that her and my dad were really creeped out to say the very least.  But, they were also kind of comforted in knowing that someone was obviously watching over me.


It kind of all makes sense to me now.  I have always remembered my Nana being there with me, yet my parents say she wasn't.

So, was the woman I remember seeing in the kitchen my grandma Hopkin's?  My great-grandma?  It's weird considering the fact it would have been easy for me to believe it was my Nana.  My Nana looked exactly like her mom, my grandma Hopkin's.  

Was it the voice of my great-grandma that had told me to roll?  I have no idea.  But I remember very vividly, hearing a woman's voice talking to me and telling me to pay attention to her and roll.  Yet my dad said he was the only one there at the time of the accident.  And as for the driver, it was a male, and he was inside the vehicle, obviously.  He didn't get out of his vehicle until after he had already driven over me.  It turned out that he hadn't seen me.

To this day, I very much believe, as do my parents and my brother, that my great-grandma was watching over me that day.  Is she my guardian angel?  I have no idea.  But I think about it often, and every single time I go to her grave to place flowers there, I always thank her for keeping me safe that day. 



After the accident, the only visible injury I still had was the slight cuts on either side of my nose, and bruising on my bottom lip.

Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

~A Vision - An Unborn Child~

This experience happened to me well over ten years ago.  At the time I was trying to conceive.  

I was trying to sleep one night, but was continually tossing and turning and was having a very hard time falling asleep.  

I turned onto my right side, and just as I did I heard a whole bunch of muffled talking.  It was the kind of muffled talking you hear when you're standing in a room with a bunch of people that are all talking.  

I opened my eyes and saw what appeared to be a small group of people standing near the wall in my bedroom, probably ten to fifteen people, just standing there. 

I couldn't make out what they looked like, they appeared as dark shadowy shapes.  It was also very dark in my bedroom.  

In front of this group of people I saw the vague outline of a little girl all of six or seven years of age.  I could slightly make out that she had short, shoulder length curly blonde hair, and the dress she was wearing was from long ago, probably the 1700s or 1800s.  

There appeared to be a light radiating from behind her, and behind the group of people, so I couldn't really make out the little girls face.

I immediately knew instinctively that the group of people surrounding her were her loved ones from the "other side".  They had gathered around to say their good-bye's and wish her well.  She had just been conceived and was going to be born soon, into this earthly lifetime.  

I sat up,  and immediately the group of people, including the little girl simply faded and then disappeared completely.  I woke my husband up and told him of my experience.  

For a moment I believed I had just seen my own un-born child,  but that didn't feel right.  I then knew without a doubt that someone in my family had just conceived and would eventually go on to have a baby girl with blonde hair.  

A few days later, I was driving my cousin's husband to pick up their vehicle.  Their vehicle had recently just had some work done on it and was still at the mechanic's garage.  

He began telling me how he and my cousin were trying for another baby.  I was completely shocked.  I then told him of the weird vision I had only a few nights prior.  He simply laughed and said that he'd have to tell my cousin about it.

As it turned out, she was pregnant, and had quite possibly conceived right around the time I had the vision.  

She eventually gave birth to a little girl, which after having two boys she was quite happy about.  At first their daughter had dark hair.  In time however, her hair turned a very light blonde, just like in my vision.


Copyright © 2013 A Haunted Life