He's Still With Us (Spring 2022)

In 2015, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3-4 ovarian cancer (her different doctors gave different stages). She went into remission after the initial diagnosis and was about to meet her five year clear when the cancer made a return visit on her heart. This time it was no longer a case of fighting to be rid of the cancer because of the type that it is, and instead it was about keeping it at bay and staving off the unfortunate inevitable. As of the writing of this entry, she is still with us, struggling to maintain her preferred quality of life, but fighting like a champ. 

During a visit a few months ago, my mom gave me a new set of divining rods, because one rod from my original pair had been missing for some time. Upon delivering this new gift to me, she presented a personal request. She asked me to perform a question session with any spirits that may be in the house. Not only ask the questions, but she told me to stand in the spot where my father passed away. She said that spot felt like it had energy in it and I would be more likely to get answers. 

So I stood in the spot and started asking questions and I immediately got responses. It was my Grandpa Fritz again. I knew it immediately, just as surely as I knew I was wearing glasses. 

I told my mom that Grandpa Fritz was here answering her questions. She asked if he would be there for her when the time comes and he said he would be. She asked about my dad-- if he was there. Grandpa Fritz said he was near, but that he wasn't directly with us. I asked a few more smaller questions that I can't seem to remember, but I was becoming so overwhelmed with the energy exchange with this encounter and the fluctuating goosebumps that I had to say I needed to stop and step away. During the conversation I was using my mental connection to allow Grandpa Fritz to share with me more thorough answers so that I could explain his simple answers better to my mom. Doing that, though, was draining me, especially since my personal energy stores were low.

What I didn't share at the time, but did later on, was that I saw my dad in my mind. A large white tunnel, like at the beginning of a Bond movie, had my dad's outline standing at the end of it and he was trying to walk down it. He was trying to come to be here for my mom. That is what all the feels gave me while I was trying to commune with the other side.

This realization, that my dad was accessible, would lead to something I haven't had happen in over a decade, but that is another entry for later on, as it really shook me something fierce.

Another visit, but more recently (June 2-3, 2022), I intentionally went down to my mom's place to talk to the spirits in her house. I had just gotten a REM-Pod for Mother's Day and I was really excited to use it in a location where I knew there were spirits. My daughter also was interested in spirits and ghost hunting, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for her to see what we do and I knew the spirits in the house were friendly.

That evening, while the dying light of the day still filtered into the basement from outside, we took my daughter down to talk to her Grandpa Fritz. I went down before everyone so that I could get a feel for the place. I got a brief chill up my spine and knew he was there. Then I went about setting up the REM-Pod in the sitting area by the fireplace (the space where he has passed away). 

I started out with casual conversation with my daughter. My husband and I taught her how to introduce herself to any spirits that might be present. We talked about some of the items in the basement that were collectibles from my Grandpa Fritz, like the bottle of salt from the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I felt him with us, but the REM-Pod wasn't going off. My daughter said she saw something block out the light on the VCR (yes... it's an actual VCR still in our basement). 

We sat there for a while, but nothing happened. I didn't want to break out other equipment at the time. So we took the REM-Pod to the bathroom, which had been remodeled recently, and I thought for sure that we would get some action. We stood in the large bathroom, with the door closed, and started asking questions. Instead of the REM-Pod sounding at all, I felt someone behind me, almost touching my spine and my daughter swears she was getting the creeps from behind her. Something was with us in the dark, but it wasn't interacting with the REM-Pod.

Our little crew left the bathroom and we went into the bar area where there are also glass patio doors leading to the outside. The outside light was still there and it would make it easier for my daughter to see the divining rods once I broke them out. But we started with the REM-Pod on the bar. And I'm sure you guessed it, we got nothing from the REM-Pod. 

On the REM-Pod is a temperature gauge and I decided to turn it on. Slowly the temperature started to crawl up, meaning it was getting warmer. I got out my rods and was getting ready to ask questions as the temperature continued to climb. I had a moment where I thought "he's making the temperature climb, because he doesn't like cold spaces." When I asked the question aloud, I got a positive response. He also confirmed that he didn't want to use the REM-Pod and it was him in the bathroom behind us. 

The group of us exchanged some pleasant queries with Grandpa Fritz and then it was time to move on to our other locations. I wasn't sure how the other two locations would pan out, so I didn't want to exhaust Grandpa Fritz in case he wanted to talk to my mom. I felt, though, that his energy was a bit lower than during our previous encounter. This was just a feeling or a guess... or a thought that was marching through my mind. But it also felt right.

After the basement, we then moved to the living room and put up the REM-Pod to see if someone else would participate and this way my mom could participate as well. She was sitting in the living room with her heating pads and reclining chair. I let her lead the investigation with the REM-Pod, but we received no responses.

I went upstairs alone and put the REM-Pod in my mom's bedroom on the spot where my father passed away and started asking questions. Again there was nothing happening and I left the room, probably more quickly than I should have, but I was somewhat frustrated with the events of the evening. I had really wanted my REM-Pod to work and, upon further reflection, I wasn't being sensitive to the needs of the spirits in the house. This thought was punctuated by a large bang in my bedroom as I was watching some TV and settling in for bed. I'll return to this situation in a future entry, as I believe I've come to understand the root of that matter.

The next morning, my daughter and I went back into the basement and I gave her the divining rods to try to use. I called out to my Grandpa Fritz, "Hi. We're back down here, because my daughter wants to learn to use these rods and I thought you'd be able to help her learn how they work." He crossed the rods. Then I asked, "Have you met her?" (She spent her first two years living in the house and visiting often since then). The rods crossed again. Right after they crossed my daughter started to try to debunk her own experience, even though we both watched it happen and her hands did not make it move. She struggles with experiences, because she is too quick to say it was something else. She self-doubts a lot. My husband and I believe her debunking might also be related to how we helped her deal with strange things she saw when she was little --to look for a logical reason why something might have happened. She's 11 --almost-12-years-old, so I can understand the self-doubt she feels about things. I'm trying to build her confidence, because I've noticed she may possess a special gift, too.

So my daughter gave me the divining rods and I decided to ask just some general questions that my mom had asked the night before and didn't get a response for.

"My mom wanted to know some things from you last night. Did you see the spirit of Jonesy (our cat) when he passed?" - No cross.

"Have you seen Grandma Clara since she passed over? Anywhere on the other side?" - The rods started to cross and stopped right after the very tips crossed. I had a feeling of "I don't know" pass through my mind and I said it aloud so that he could hear.

"Do you mostly stay down here?" - Cross/Yes.

"Are you here to help take care of mom?" - Cross/Yes.

"Is dad here?" -Cross/Yes.

"Does he mostly stay upstairs?" - Cross/Yes.

"Thank you, Grandpa Fritz. We'll be back to visit and I'm glad to know you got to meet your great granddaughter. Thank you for being here for mom."

My daughter and I gathered up our things and went back upstairs. I shared with my mom what happened.

Grandpa Fritz is still with us. His energy isn't as strong as it used to be, but I can still feel him around and I hope he's doing what feels right for him on the other side. 

Next Up on My Ghost Stories: A Spooky Trip to Savannah, Georgia.