No Wisconsin Goodbyes

I left my bathroom and entered my bedroom and I felt soft ghost fuzzies around my body. I knew someone was there, but I didn't feel like they were trying to actively get my attention. Regardless, I sat down in my chair and started up a conversation.

I am speaking with a woman? - Yes

And we've spoken before? - No

Are you just passing through my house and my area? - Yes

Did you specifically come here to talk to me? - No

Is there something I can help you with? - No

Was that noise I heard you? - No

Was that noise you? - Yes

Did you just want to say hi? - No

Did you not realize I would pick up on your presence here? - Yes

I started to pick up on some information while I was asking those questions. It crossed my mind, almost a vague picture - too faint to really see her, but enough to give me an age idea.

I get the feeling you're in your.. young... in your forties? 30s... 40s... late 30s... at the age of 38, yes? - Yes

It was short notice. It wasn't like a long thing. It was a short illness or a short... it wasn't a heart attack. Was it a late cancer diagnosis? Like you didn't, like you kinda... - Yes 

I had been trying to think of how to say she didn't go in soon enough for it to be found out, but the rods crossed before I could finish translating my thoughts to my lips. 

And you left a family. - Yes

You had... the number 3. Did you have 3 children? - Yes

A bright flash happened to my right. I wasn't sure if it was my recorded or my lights around my little table. 

Oooo.... did you just make that flash on the right. - Yes

Oooo... and I've got goosebumps. I feel you. Hello! What was that noise? Was that someone hunting outside? Yeah. - Yes

I wish I had thought of a list of things to talk to spirits about. Are you FROM Winneconne? Did you live IN Winneconne? - No

Did you find your way here through that corner over there. Back behind me. Is that how you found your way here? - Yes

There is a corner in my room where I seem to have a great deal of paranormal activity. One of my guide spirits, Becky, informed me that it's some like a "portal." I don't want to use that word, because I think it's a bit tainted by media, but it is a gateway of sorts where spirits hop around to different places. I live on the water and I heard portals or gateways are sometimes connected to the flow of the water. Sadly, duck hunters are also attached to water and were about the interrupt my session.

Is that another hunter? Are those gunshots? - Yes

WHAT THE HECK! IT'S AFTER 9PM!

I ranted a little before I redirected myself to know more about where she is from.

Are you from oshkosh? Is that where your home was... or is? - Yes

Were you on the south side of town? - No

Were you part of the northern area? Where the Wendy's is? Where the Tech School is? - sort of yes

I had another moment of reflection, where I felt her sharing herself with me. It was a feeling of sadness and loss.

I'm really sorry you went through that.

Do you want to tell me your name hun? - Waited for her to share her name.

I got Megan. Is your name Megan? - Yes

Thank you. Thank you for that. Is there anything you want me to know? - No

Anything you want to share with me? That you just want someone else to know? - No

Do you visit your family? - Yes

Good. One of them knows that you watch over them. One of your daughters. - Yes

Is it the youngest one? Does she know that you watch over them? - Yes

Let them know. Do more to let them know. Because they need you and they love you. - Yes

I feel... a little something on my right calf. Is that you? Is that you I feel? - Yes

You're just nearby. I just got the image of a little girl grabbing onto the lower part of your leg. Is that your memory? One that is really precious for you? - Yes

I remember when my daughter used to do that. It was so sweet. 

I have Turkey Trot in my head. Is that. Do you.. did you used to participate in the Turkey Trot in Downtown Oshkosh. - Yes

Did you walk? Did you walk it? - Yes

That's sweet. I do that, too. 

Were you just passing through cause you were - I like to call it sightseeing. Its when you get to walk around and see different places that maybe you normally wouldn't have. Are you just kinda sightseeing a little bit? - Yes

Best way to see the world! - Yes!

Did you enjoy traveling when... you... were on this... side of things? - Yes

What was your favorite place to go? I heard Green Bay. Is that what you... - Yes

(laughing) I don't disagree with you. I had so much fun there. Was is because I GOTTA GO TO LAMBEAU! - Yes

Oh you're a Packer's fan? - Yes

Gotta love the Packers! - Yes

I paused for a moment of reflection. Feeling connected to her again, sharing things with them and the I started to speak out again.

Awe Megan. I do have to thank you for talking to me. I do appreciate it. You didn't have to stay and talk, but I appreciate you staying and talking to me. It is really quite nice. You are helping me grow and helping me be a better person. And I thank you for that. - rods cross

What kind of cancer was it, if you don't mind my asking? Was it? (I started picturing my mom who had ovarian cancer.) Was it really ovarian cancer? - No 

I'm close. It's not quite the ovaries? Was it uterine. Something with the lady bits? - No 

Ooo, I got farther away. Was it a female oriented cancer, like breast cancer? - No

Say it really loud for me hun. Was it? Was it pancreas? Pancreatic cancer? - yes. That came up for me a little bit ago too. I just wasn't sure. OOOOOO (massive goosebumps all over the body). 

I really want to thank you for sharing that with me. Awe, I want to give you a hug so bad. Is that what you're doing right now? (It's just rolling goosebumps and I'm picturing a hug.) Are you like leaning forward and giving me a hug. - Yes

Honey I appreciate it so much. I am going to give it right now. (I lean forward to do an air hug.)

I appreciate you. And I thank you for sharing all of this with me, your family. What's happened to you. The things that make you so happy. Thank you for that. I don't want to keep you much longer. But I do just want to thank you. Is there anything else I can do for you? - No

Thank you for having this conversation with me. I am glad you didn't just run away and that you stayed. I do appreciate it. Do you get to talk to people often? - No 

If you ever do need to talk, Megan, you can always come back to me and I'll be here. Ok? - Yes 

I don't want to make this a Wisconsin goodbye, you know what those are like... they take FOREVER! So I'll say goodbye and thank you and if you ever need anything, I'm here. Thank you. 

This exchange was so meaningful for me. Megan was just a spirit traveling around and I happened to engage with her. Thankfully, she was willing to answer my questions and interact with me in a myriad of ways. She made lights brighten and I experienced strong ghost fuzzies. She even helped me feel the region where her cancer was on her body. When I told her that she truly helped me grow, I wasn't kidding. This particular exchange will last long in my memory and I thank her for sharing so much of herself with me through questions, thoughts, and feelings. 

I have tried to look for more information on Megan, but I wasn't able to locate anything online yet.

"The Last Person I Thought..."

 Last night I was sitting in my living room, cozy in my chair watching reruns of Top Chef on Netflix. I suddenly felt the need to pause the show, because both my dog, Logan, and cat, Katsu, were fixed in on something by the stairs. This was exceptionally unusual for Logan, who had clearly stopped begging for the treats that sit by my chair, to stare in the same direction as the cat. So I turned my attention to that area and I felt like someone was there. I was alone in the house, so I knew it wasn't one of my family members. 

I spoke out into the room saying, "Hello. I can feel you here with me. If you'd like to communicate more, please let me know with a sound or you can come closer. If you're just passing through, that it alright as well."

I gave the space time to absorb the information and for myself to feel deeper for the intentions of the spirit. Then I heard a small knock from the office. I acknowledged the knock: "Thank you for letting me know that you're here. I can't communicate right now, but later I will reach out to you to talk."

Again, I gave that message time to settle and I returned to my show, drawing in peace to settle my heart and mind for what I would be doing later.  I know it might seem weird that I didn't jump to engage, but I am always aware of where my energy levels are at. Sometimes I have so much energy for interaction and communication that I just jump to it. Other times I feel drained from all the energy sapping that life does and I can't just jump to do things. That's when I hope the spirits understand when I have to delay an interaction. There are times, though, when I can feel the immediacy of an interaction and regardless, I try to make contact. I usually rely on equipment then, to take some of the burden off of me - not all the time, mind you.

So my evening went on and, finally, I knew I needed to talk to the spirit that I encountered. I prepared myself upstairs in my room. I opened myself to my spirit team and family and spirits who needed help. I explained how the rods work and that if there is a spirit here who would like to speak to me, they can use the rods to make their answers clear and they could talk to me for more complex answers.

The rods started to move very slow and gave barely-crossed answers, but the answers were so clear in my mind. I immediately knew that this was a male, but not an aggressive male or hostile. A gentleman. I asked if he was family and he affirmed this. I said, "Say your name real loud for me in my ear."

I first heard, Frank and then it was all over my brain: "Bob. Bob. Bob. Bob. Bob." I said aloud, "Uncle Bob! Bob D-------!" And I received a yes on the rods. I think Frank pinged in my head, because Frank is my grandpa on my mother's side and Great-Uncle-Bob is his brother-in-law. So I think my brain was saying "Hey! It's on this side of the family."

I do have to admit, this was not ever someone I thought I would be communicating with from the other side. When I explain why, it is not indicative of any belief I hold, but it just reflects the intensity that religion can present in the Now.

My Great-Uncle-Bob was born in 1933. He was the younger brother to my grandma, Clara, who was born in 1925. Bob, from my perspective as a child growing up in the family, was a quiet and reserved man - a man of few words, some might say. But his presence was always known. He served in the Korean War, and you can tell he was military. Bob exuded an introvertedness that he ardantaly shared with his soulmate, Joanne, who he married in 1957. He was a good craftsman, working as an electrician and a woodsmith. And he was a religious man, at least in his later years that I am aware of. He was a man well respected by his peers and had a beautiful energy to be around. He devoted his life to his wife and his family, but the bond and love he had for Joanne was that of fairytale. One of my favorite stories is that Joanne never got a driver's license, because Bob drove her everywhere. He wanted to take care of her always.

I don't ever remember being yelled at by him or disciplined by him during family events at his lakefront home - or seeing other cousins and family treated in a manner anything less than hospitable. I do remember him greeting the kids every time he came out to the garage fridge for a beer and I remember his laugh. 

So when I talked with him now, I asked the general questions of how is he doing and is there anything I can help him with. Bob said he was doing well and there was nothing I could help him with. This struck me as odd, because why would you have come here if there wasn't something I could do for him. So I stuck at it and asked him if he had a message for anyone: No.

• Is there anything you'd like for me to share with Joanne? - No.
• I can feel how uncomfortable this conversation is making you feel. - Yes.
• I know you were very dedicated to God and the Church. Is that part of why this feels uncomfortable? Because you're speaking with those who haven't passed from where you are? - Yes.
• I sat with that for a little bit, before asking, "Do you visit Joanne often?" - Yes.
• Do you spend most of your time watching over her? - Yes.

Still, in the back of my mind, I was trying to figure out what would have brought him here to me. This person who was so church oriented, coming to a medium. It felt so weird. And it for also to be someone I didn't have a strong relationship with. He was my grandma's brother. I loved him. Cared about him. Attended his funeral. Then it clicked.

• Uncle Bob, are you here to visit someone? - Yes.
• Are you here to visit with grandma? - Yes. (a big swing from the rods)
• Awe! That is so sweet of you to visit her. If I'm sensing correctly, she prefers that chair in that corner. - Yes. (The rods swing to point at the chair.)
• Well thank you for visiting her and thank you for being the wonderful person I've known you to be. It has been so nice to reconnect with you and to know that you are doing well. If you do need anything in the future or help with anything, please know that I am here for you. - The rods swung yes, but I heard "Thank you." 

I closed out with an "I love you" and "Have fun hanging out with your sister." Then a general "All spirits here, please understand I am going to bed now and that I do need space, so there's the rest of the house, just not this room or my daughter's room." And I said good night.

After an interaction like this, I always ask myself, "why did I have this interaction?" What am I supposed to take away from it? What am I supposed to "do" with it? After sitting with this for a little while, the interaction was just showing me that there is more beyond the veil than what we sometimes understand. This man of God is comfortable in the afterlife and is even traveling to visit his sister. It's not "life as usual" but it's a clear connection that on the other side there are opportunities to engage with the ones we loved in life. 

I love my family and I appreciate when I am able to interact with them. They have taught me the most about life on the other side and I feel blessed for having them with me.

Bad Energy and a Warning (March 2025)

 My family is gearing up for an investigation coming up in the next week. We've been talking about it a good deal and we even brought up Becky. We still have Becky's doll and I promised her that we would take it to her at Glenbeulah if she decided to return and not come back. According to my guides, Becky's position as my teacher has come to an end, as she had done what she needed to do for me to learn. Now I will be anticipating another teacher or teachers. We'll see.

Becky has been on my mind a bit and yesterday I started, in the early evening, to get ghost fuzzies on my right side leg and up to my arm and they were intense ghost fuzzies. And while my mind wanted to entertain thoughts of it being Becky, I knew it wasn't. Something was trying to get my attention. I couldn't engage at the moment, as I was busy doing other things, but I knew I needed to address the situation before I went to bed.

Before bed I said my piece and opened myself to my guides and other positive influences in my world, put out some equipment, in case it was Becky, and then used my rods to start questioning. I explained all the equipment, in case it was a new spirit, and offered an opportunity to interact that way. I received no reactions. I then offered communication through the rods, but was strongly met by very intense ghost fuzzies. I think the best description for how intense these were is that they actually took the form of raised goosebumps and made my nipples so hard, it hurt (it is incredibly awkward to write this, but how else do I explain the true experience of what was occuring).  I pushed through the intensity and started asking questions.

This was not Becky, but was a man and after a few introduction questions, I was given an info dump of who it was I was interacting with. It was the tweed man from the cemetery. The friend of the spirit we banished last January. I was getting intense ghost fuzzies and I felt very uncomfortable in my space. I immediately told him that he is not allowed to communicate with me. He is not welcome in my home. He is not to touch me or my family. I then started to focus on my communication with my spirit guide and she told me that it was him and that I just need to stand firm on forcing him to leave.

I called my husband up from downstairs and he then proceeded to firmly tell the spirit that he is not welcome here, he has no power here, he is not allowed to interact with my family or be in this house, and I envisioned myself pushing him out the front door. I kept sending the same images and picturing the same things. My husband came up and also shared in telling him to get out. 

I didn't immediately realize it, but I had grabbed my tiny ghost shaped rose quartz off of my table and had been holding it tightly in my hand. I was seeking peace in my home and I ended up holding onto this little guy until I fell asleep. Also, after realizing who was trying to communicate with me, I put away all the equipment, sending another message that communication is cut off. I fell asleep later than I wanted, but I finally felt like our house was free of a spirit and I was able to sleep and I slept well all night. Before I fell asleep, but after my husband left the room to go downstairs to write, I heard a loud knock on the wall behind me. I could have also sworn I heard a voice say something, deep and mumbled, at the foot of my bed. I could not verify this information, as I didn't have an additional witness and I wasn't sure who would have engaged like that.

The following morning, I took some time to commune with my spirit guides to try to understand what is going on. First they wanted to address an issue going on with our family (a teacher at our daughter's school has been harassing and abusing her, but the administration refuses to see it). After we discussed this issue and my guides called me out for "overthinking," I turned to communing with the rods to try to access the information differently. And someone who had been on my mind made herself known. Becky was here to share a warning about the Old Glenbeulah School that our family planned on visiting during Spring Break. 

Becky, having called the Old Glenbeulah School her primary location, came back to my house (she left back in January, having been a teacher on my Guide Squad) and wanted to let me know that I needed to be very wary of the man from the hallway and to keep Isabelle safe from him. Our daughter had an interaction with this spirit when we investigated Glenbeulah with Adam Berry in December 2022. Becky, in this conversation, sent me some images of what she was talking about. I saw the hallway and the shadow of the man, the water fountain where he reached out and touched me, and a place I haven't been before, but later realized was the boiler room. 

I started to feel a bit fretful over my daughter going there with us, but then I realized that we are together and we'll keep each other safe. So after a little more discussion about safety with Becky, I asked her if she wants me to bring her doll to the school for her. Back when she first started visiting us, I bought her a doll for Christmas and I said if she ever feels that she's going to spend most of her time at the school verses here, I would see if the school would let us donate her doll for the doll room. Becky, though, wanted me to keep it here for when she visits and didn't want to share it with the other spirits at the school. She said it was special to her. 

After some general talk about how Becky was doing and then speaking with my guides about more personal matters, I wrapped up the conversation with the rods. 

Later that day, I was talking to my husband about the strange knock that has started on the wall by our bed. Our neighbors aren't home, so it's not someone in the house bumping into the wall. Then my husband had a moment where he wanted to share something, then held back, and then shared it with me with a caveat about how he chooses to share things that might be odd that happen to him. He said if he debunks it, he usually doesn't mention it or he ignores it and might remember it later. This one, though, he thought was a little different and he opted to share it with me. 

We have a very elderly dog who has bouts of whining during the early hours of the morning. Maybe confusion over wanting food or drink. She's a beagle, so she's crate trained. She also has bathroom problems, so the crate is helpful for her. But on this morning, her whining was particularly intense and had lasted a while. Even I heard it when I got up for the bathroom around 5:30AM. My husband said she had been at it since at least 4AM and would only quite down if he woke up and told her to stop.

This whining, though, made me think of how she whines when we get home from being out for more than an hour. She's eager to be let out of her kennel so that she can say hello and sniff anything and everything. But I didn't make a possible connection until my husband revealed what had happened. After his last time of waking up to tell Lessa to stop, he heard three very loud stomps in front of his office (about 7-8ft away from where my husband was lying down). No one was there. No one responded back. And after that our dog stopped whining.

I agreed that it was an odd event. I knew Becky was still in the house, so I immediately got out my rods and I asked her about the stomping. She said it was her and she was letting my husband know that she was there in the house. Since he was sleeping, she didn't know how to let him know. Making our dog whine wasn't helping anyone make the connection to her. (She had appeared in the hallway to our dog, trying to get her attention, which is why our dog reacted that way.) So to shift stances on getting our attention, opted to stop loud enough for him to hear her next time he woke up. 

Before I stopped our communication for this second time, I asked Becky if she would be at Glenbeulah when we were there and she confirmed that she would be. So I'll see what kind of fun she shares with us when we meet her again on her home turf.

Curious Passerby - Part 2 (3/10/2025)

 Following up on the Curious Passerby, I wasn't expecting to see Marie or at least have her interact with me in the future. Many spirits just pass through and I never see them again. I had gotten the impression Marie was just passing through like so many of the others before her and didn't really want to interact. So you can imagine my surprise when she made herself known to me this morning. 

I was sitting at my desk working. My cat, Katsu, was sitting in front of me watching the ocean life video playing on my computer as I worked on some things and listened to my audiobook. All of a sudden, Katsu's head whipped around looking behind us (towards the front of the house and hallway area). I stopped what I was doing and turned off my book and looked around. I stretched my ears to hear anything I had been ignoring. I didn't sense anything, so I went back to what I was going. Katsu, though, stayed only for a few minutes before getting down and wandering off.

A few minutes after he left, I was hit with ghost fuzzies from my feet to my waist. It was so strong, I actually thought I had stepped on a plug or something around my feet. Or maybe my grounding mat had rebelled. I let the fuzzies wash over me and I sat for a minute, wondering how I wanted to handle the situation. I was working on something and it had taken me forever to get to this point in my day (appointments and things in the morning). Yet, as I sat for a moment, I decided I could pick up where I left off and entertain this interaction for a moment. So I stopped everything and turned off my book. Then I got out my divining rods and settled in to work.

I explained how the rods work and my intention for the interaction and then asked if a spirit was here that would like to communication - yes.

• Are you a spirit I know? - no.
• Are you the spirit that passed through last Wednesday? - yes.
• Is your name Marie? - yes.
• Is your name Marie E*********? - yes.
• Hi honey. It's so nice to meet you again. I didn't think you'd come back this way. Are you doing well? - yes.
• Did you use to live in W*********? - yes.
• Was your husband a man who studied religion in different parts of the country? - yes.
• I saw you were at the California Lutheran University in the 90's. I almost applied to work there about 10 years ago. Did you help set up the school? - yes. [tentative]
• Were you a volunteer nurse there? - yes. [confident again]
• I feel you have a very caring heart. Is there anything I can do to help you? - yes.
• Did you want someone to talk to? - yes.
• Did you want someone to acknowledge you, in a way? - yes.
• I can try to do that for you when I am free. So I saw that you loved having concerts in your home. Do you want to talk a little about music? - yes.
• I got the impression the concerts were beautiful performances of Christian music, like hymns. - yes.
• Did you ever listen to The Singing Nun? - yes.

(I put on the original Singing Nun - Dominique and let it play a little.)

• Do you know this song? - yes.
• Is she singing Italian? - no.
• Is she singing French? - yes.
• Do you like spiritual music like this? (put on chakra meditation music) - no.

I shared with her that I used to study nuns in film and I brought up The Singing Nun (1966) with Debbie Reynolds and I played the English version of the song. She liked that version, too. 

I then explained I had to go, because I had work to do and I had to get my household going. I asked if next time I felt her around, she'd want me to play her some Lutheran hymns and she eagerly answered yes. I ended by expressing how much I appreciate her stopping by and letting me know she was here. And I told her I look forward to next time when I can play some music for her. 

As I brought the rods down into my hands, I was consumed by ghost fuzzies and I said "awe honey. You are welcome and I'm getting the impression this is a church hug." All of a sudden the fuzzies intensified and I leaned in, putting my arms in a closed-hug position and told her she is appreciated.

And then she was gone.

Curious Passerby (3/5-3/7/2025)

I promised myself that I would record my experiences, even if they're small. It not only helps to look back on the experience, but it provides information about what is happening at my home. It also empowers me when trying to best understand how my gifts work.

Wednesday morning I was sitting at the kitchen table and I looked to my right into the living room. I'm not sure why. Maybe I was looking for the cat. But as I moved to turn back to my work, I saw a brief white reflection on the television. I thought it was strange, but I tried to recreate it and couldn't. I figured if it was something trying to get my attention, there would be other experiences to validate this one. I let it go.

About twenty minutes later, my dog, Logan, starts barking down the hallway. He's standing on our runner rug staring down the hallway barking, like someone is coming in through the doors. But I don't see or feel anyone at the time. I encourage him to quiet down and I try to get back to work.

Within 5 minutes I am hit with a large blast of ghost fuzzies from my feet up my legs to my back. And I had this weird sensation of being told off. Like, that dog shouldn't be barking at me. And I feel compelled to reach out. I mean, three things just happened, so I'm going to reach out to learn what is occurring. 

I grounded myself and then used my divining rods to try to communicate with whatever spirit has entered the house. I started by explaining what this equipment does, how to use it, and what my goal is for reaching out to them: Learn who you are, your intentions, and if there is anything I can help you with. 

The spirit crossed the rods to notify me that they were present. I asked if they were a man or a woman - woman. I asked if they were from Winneconne - they were. I asked if I could help her with anything - she said no. I asked if she was just walking around and passing through - she said yes. I asked if she was surprised someone noticed her - she said yes. And this whole conversation was information that was passing through my mind and I was just asking the questions, developing a picture of this woman. It was agreed that she meant no ill-will and was just passing through, didn't need any help. I felt the hesitation in her use of the rods growing more as the conversation went on. So I pulled back and wrapped things up. 

But that didn't help me figure out who she was, so that I could personally honor her in my own way, since I met her. So I checked out the recent passings in our local community and I wasn't finding anyone that felt right. I checked recent burials and the same thing there... nothing was feeling right. I was about to abandon the thought, when I felt compelled to turn to my spirit guides.

I started out by asking my guides if they knew her name and could help me. They confirmed that they could, so I shared, one at a time, the three new names I had pulled from my research. My guides said those were not the person. I asked one of the names one more time, because it was a name that was making itself known to me in different ways, but they said it's not the name of the visitor I had. Then I start having thoughts that I need to ask.

I asked if they were from the area - they are. I asked if they were cremated - they were. Did they pass on this year? - no. 2024? - no. Before 2020? - no. 2023? - no. 2022? - no. 2021? - yes. Is she under 70-years-old? - no. Is she in her 90s? - yes. 

I turned back to my computer to use the information to help narrow down who it might be and I immediately found someone on my local funeral home website who even felt very familiar, like I had met her, but I had never met her. I asked my guides if Marie E. is the woman who visited me and they confirmed it was her. I asked a few other ladies, but those were no. Does she often just wander around through homes? - yes. Is she happy doing this? - yes. Does she have access to her family and friends on the other side? - yes. Was she surprised that someone noticed her in their house? - yes. 

As I read through the entire obituary for Marie E. I saw things like "interment" and that she lived in Winchester, which is in our area, and was active at the one of the local Lutheran churches.  

Her obituary references her desire to travel and see the world and maybe that's what her time now is spent doing. I just know I surprised her when I reached out to her, as she was not anticipating someone here being able to interact with her, so maybe I've been the first and by having this exchange, she'll be able to go forward and maybe reach out to others she wants to communicate with. 

A Very Restless Night (December 2024)

 Last night was an absolute stresser for me. And things only got weirded when I woke up in the morning and realized there was more at play than I had thought.

At around 11:36PM on Sunday, December 29, 2024, I woke up to a horrible dream. Well, my emotions were horrible, but the dream was tepid. My nephew had become a DJ and was abusing me by excessively playing bass heavy music and it was pounding into my head. I burst awake, quickly realizing my left arm is fast asleep. I loosen my FitBit so much, it's barely hanging on my wrist. All of this is done in a daze. And I give a little bit for my arm and hand to wakeup and I try to go back to sleep. But I can't. 

Something feels off. The bass isn't going away. As I lay there, I wondered if maybe I should turn my fan done one. I turned the fans off the other day and I didn't pay attention to what they were set to. I tried this, but it was actually worse, so I turned it back to what it was, as I was starting to feel really hot. I rearranged myself in bed and got comfortable and put in a concerted effort to fall back asleep.

The next hour of events is comprised of experiences while I was falling asleep and waking up.

I couldn't fall back to sleep completely, because I kept feeling the bed vibrating. No, not like the Quarter Machine Beds, but this very faint vibration that you couldn't feel if you stopped to identify it. I've had this feeling in my bed before and I can't ever really figure out what it is. I thought at one point previously that maybe it was the washer or the dryer. Now we don't run washers or dryers at night, because we assumed maybe that was what I was feeling. You know, like when they go into the spin cycle or those damn silicone plastic dryer balls that I loathe using. I knew it wasn't that. A long time ago when I started living here, I thought it was maybe the vibration from the boats on the water. Some of those big boats really pack a punch, but it's 11:30PM in the winter. The river is frozen. You would also hear if it was snowmobiles and it wasn't safe to take anything near the water last night. We've been having warmer temperatures. 

I texted my husband, who I assumed was awake downstairs doing things. I asked him if the dishwasher was running. I got no response, but I swear I felt his heavy footsteps vibrating from downstairs. So I just assumed he was moving around, letting our other dog out, or just doing what he does in the middle of the night. So I once again, tried to get comfortable, but was definitely feeling like the "Princess and the Pea" with this unexplainable movement. And as I snuggled into my pillow, I heard my dog start growling.

Logan, my dog, was right next to me on the bed and I could feel the growl, as well as heard it. I can rule out his growl as the bed vibrations, as they do not have the same vibration frequency. I tried to see if he was facing a certain direction, but he was still facing into the room, so it didn't help me identify anything. I looked around the best I could and then calmed him, once again settling in.

The slight movements of the bed came and went. I even thought I felt something press down on the other side of the bed, just like someone was leaning forward with their hands. It also felt like someone was walking around my bed and I even, at one point, anticipated seeing my husband coming up to check on me. In my state, though, I can't debunk the footsteps or the pressure on the bed. After a little while I finally slipped into unconsciousness.

BARK! Came from right next to my head and Logan was sitting up in his dog bed that he sometimes uses on top of the bed. I looked around for what he might have barked at, again feeling my left arm having fallen asleep, and then I heard a knock from behind me. It sounded like it was from the wall. I turned towards the wall that we share with our neighbor and listened again. I said "hello" into the room, but heard nothing back. I didn't see the flicker of our neighbor's TV and I actually don't even think they were there. Our neighbors are snow birds, so they leave in the winter. Sometimes they come home for Christmas to check on the place and visit family and friends, but they spend most of their time in Florida. I looked around again and checked in with Logan, then attempted to go back to sleep again.

Not long after, I woke up again. This time it was because I was overheating and my arm was asleep again. I couldn't figure why I was overheating. I had a ceiling fan on, a table fan next to my head, thin pajamas, and a heat-sensitive blanket. I heard the click-click of the space heater further away in the bedroom and saw that it was at 77 degrees, which is way hotter than what I put it at. I have it set to 72 degrees. I left it alone and realized my dog's winter blanket had somehow become entangled with my heat sensitive blanket. I'm sure I could give a dozen reasons for it leaving it's place under my dog's bed and my husband's pillow, but it felt wrong to have that blanket so entwined with mine. It is a blanket that really bumps up body heat. I had it for my dog while we traveled and for cold days and I learned quickly that it causes him to overheat and learned I, too, can overheat with it. After untangling it, I discarded it to the other side of the bed and rolled around for several minutes trying to get comfortable and cool down. 

During that time I was getting weird feelings on my legs and my body, like faint wisps of tingles. I ignored it, though, wanting to get back to sleep. And finally I did.

But yet again, at 12:35AM, I was awoken with a start. When my eyes opened, they saw the cat ball on the table at the end of my bed going off. I sat up and quickly texted my husband so I had the information documented. Then I said "Susy is that you?" and the cat ball lit up again and one more time and then I felt consumed with ghost fuzzies and I heard a distressed woman's voice to my left (where the knock came from) saying something like "Go away! Stop!" I actually thought it was my neighbor, like "Oh my goodness! Who is beating Patty! Greg would never do that!" But, again, no light was on in their room. 

And then everything just... stopped. The ball stopped. The noises stopped. I wasn't getting feelings or responses. It was almost calm. I slowly got up to go to the bathroom and walking through the room felt calmer than it had for the last hour. 

I went to sleep one more time and was able to sleep mostly fine for the rest of the night. And when I got up in the morning, I quickly went downstairs to talk to my husband about the whole thing. And while I was retelling things, something clicked in my mind: Two Dark Men.

The men who were harassing my daughter Isabelle. I pulled up my entry on the situation and right there it said everything I was thinking. But this time, Susy Clemens was there and, at the end, tried to make them go away. 

After processing everything, here is my acting theory on these two men:

They are two men who come from the cemetery about a half mile up the way. One of them is taller than the other. They have chosen to behave like boogeymen and get a kick out of "scaring" people. We're not the only people in the area that they've done this to. I feel like they had gone to other houses in our neighborhood as well, especially a certain house on the corner of our neighborhood. When we drove past the house, I felt like they were a prime target for these two men. I also felt that these two men did not know each other in life, but met after death and are from the older part of the cemetery. The other night was not their first time meeting us, but they've been coming to our house for a few years now and we just weren't tuning into what was causing these restless and disturbing nights. The other spirits leave these two spirits alone, because they are so hostile and nasty. They come late in the evening, sometime between 11PM and 4AM, when people are most likely asleep and easily manipulated. My husband has never had any negative encounters, but then he is almost always awake during these hours. I don't feel the taller one always wears a mask, but I feel like he changes up his look to scare different types of people. The shorter one I picture in a tweed jacket and the taller one is in a black suit. 

I tried to communicate with Susy this morning, but we weren't connecting. I have some questions for her later. Maybe she can help me understand what went on. Until then, I worked on a great deal of debunking.

Debunking:

~ My arm was probably related to my own body issues with too much salt and sleeping on it weird. It's not an uncommon thing, but also I don't think it's anything paranormal.

~ The shaking of the bed is not due to anxiety tremors or restless leg syndrome. I also do not have MS and I haven't been tested for Parkinson's. That's what the internet suggested. I'm not going to run out and get tested for these illnesses without other symptoms, but I feel I should at least mention it. 

~ We checked the stability of the bed. It is a giant, heavy wood sleigh bed. It's sturdy. The slats and box springs are also in good order. Our current mattress needs updating, but we recently turned it/flipped it and it's quiet firm. I've been in unstable beds before and, yes, they are a nightmare, but that is not my bed last night.

~ Nothing external from the neighbors contributed to the situation. My one set of neighbors, as mentioned, were not there last night. Our other neighbors do not typically affect our bedroom, aside from the glow of their TV, because they don't shut their blinds.

~ My daughter was in bed and asleep by the time this all started. She does play videos on her laptop on low volume in the room. When I made a bathroom stop after the situation, her videos were not loud enough to hear in my room. Plus the hallway leading to the door to the hallway by her room is on the other side of my bed, a good ways away.

~ The fans could cause matrixing of noise, but not a loud knock or a specific female voice in distress. The most it would matrix is a conversation or maybe what sounds like music 

~ The vibrations are not from the dishwasher (which was run at 5AM and I didn't feel it). It was not the laundry, as it was not run at all that evening. It was not the furnace, which is on the other side of the house and doesn't cause vibrations anywhere in the house. And it's not the sliding glass doors below my bedroom, because no one was awake to use them.

~ The cat was in the hallway outside my room and could have maybe caused Logan to initially bark, but when he jumps at the door, it's a noticeable sound that did not match what I was hearing and also didn't match the location where it came from. 

Flash, Bang, Boom! (Spring 2022)

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was sudden and I propped myself up and looked around for the sound. My dog was looking right towards the foot of my bed, which is where I had heard my name. It was a male voice that said my name and my dog had also heard it. I said "hello" into the room, but nothing sounded again so I went back to sleep.

The next day I talked to my mom about it on the phone and she brought up guardians calling my name. That it was the time of night when guardians try to reach you or send you a message, because the veil is thinner. I felt more like it was literally just someone trying to get my attention. I always find it strange that things like this happen at night, but all I could work with was that a male voice said my name in the middle of the night.

I decided to stay on high alert.

Not long after, I awoke at 5:37AM to what felt like a bright flash that pierced through my eyelids. I opened my eyes to darkness, but then, a moment later, I witnessed something I had never seen before despite my myriad various experiences. As I pushed myself up on my right side I scanned the other side of the room where it felt like the flash had originated. And then, there it was; a giant ball of light flashed and disappear. My dog barked at the light when it flashed. 

I sat shocked for a few minutes and then got up, thinking maybe a bulb in the track lighting on that side of the room had somehow exploded and I checked them out. I turned them on and off. Then I went downstairs, flabbergasted by the experience. I sat down and told my husband what had happened and then went back upstairs and went back to sleep.

Later that day, I started talking to my husband about the light. I was standing in the doorway of his office and was trying to guess who the light burst was. 

"I started to feel like it was maybe Grandpa Fritz. But it doesn't feel right. I keep feeling my dad. Like it's my dad and I can't let go of the thought that it was him who flashed the light at me."

Chills started to run through my body and I was feeling cold and then I felt a firm touch on my shoulders. Kind of like when you play sports and get that supportive shoulder squeeze on both shoulders from behind. It was very much a my-dad move. Then I started to cry and I embraced, internally and verbally, that it was my dad. I then expressed what was going through my mind.

"I feel like he wants me to tell my mom that he can't do the things she's asking him to do, but to let her knew that he is there for her even though he can't do them."

As I said those words, I felt more and more at peace with the situation and my own thoughts and feelings. The cold and goosebumps went away and I was finally calm.

Over the next two hours, I had this nagging feeling that I needed to call my mom and tell her what I learned. I finally gave in and called her, sharing everything, including the message he wanted me to pass on to her. After the phone call, I felt even more at peace - as if I had completed my mission and was now relieved of duty. No more anxiety or stress. Instead it was relaxation.

I thought that was the end of things, but when I went to bed that night, I just had to get out my divining rods. I was in my bedroom and I had the rods ready and I started asking questions.

"Dad is that you?" Crossed/Yes

"Is Grandpa Fritz with you?" Did Not Cross/No

"Are you the light that I saw flash in my room this morning?" Crossed/Yes

"Were you touching my shoulders this afternoon?" Crossed/Yes

"Did I get the message to mom alright? Was it right?" Crossed/Yes

"You know I love you so much right?" Crossed/Yes

"Okay. I love you dad. Please don't do things to scare me anymore. When you do things before bed or in the middle of the night it really scares me a lot."

The whole time I was getting goosebumps all over my arms and I was starting to cry as I felt him around me. I stopped asking questions when I told him to please not scare me anymore. It wasn't a question. It was a direct statement, because it was true and I didn't need an answer. After all of that, I went to bed.

A few weeks later, on Mother's Day weekend, I was visiting at my mom's house. I didn't bring any of my ghost hunting materials and we didn't have her old set of divining rods because I had taken them home with me. I haven't had much happen at my mom's house in the years following the elevated activity from Grandpa Fritz in 2005, so I wasn't ever freaked out to sleep in my old bedroom. 

I went to sleep, but at around 2:55AM I woke up and heard a knock-knock-knock at my door. It was loud enough to hear over two fans blowing full blast. I was barely awake, so I didn't answer and I went back to sleep. I knew the knocking wasn't my daughter or my husband, but I asked my mom if she had knocked and she said no. I didn't know what to think of it, so I filed it away with the other strange things that had been happening lately.

A couple weeks after that we were back at my mom's to visit. This time I brought all my gear and we intended to make contact with spirits in my mom's house. (See this entry for what happened.) I made contact with my Grandpa Fritz, but I didn't make contact with my dad. I wrapped up the day and got settled into bed.

I was watching television in bed, unwinding before falling asleep, when suddenly a large bang sounded from the other side of the room. It was like someone took a fist and drove it into my dresser. I bolted up, straining to see if my REM-Pod had fallen onto the floor off the dresser, but everything seemed to be fine. The bang really shook me and it took me a while to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep. What I did remember thinking was that it was my dad and he was mad at me for some reason. 

The next day I told everyone what happened, but no one else had heard the bang or was around my room doing anything that would make that kind of noise. I couldn't seem to shake the feeling that it was my dad and that I had done something to make him mad. Additionally, hadn't I asked him to stop doing things that would scare me before bed?

I ended up coming to a conclusion about both of these strange encounters at my mom's house. First, the three knocks was what my dad used to do on my door when I was a child and I feel that it was his way of letting me know that he was now at my mom's house with her. This felt like the right assumption, especially since it was our first visit to my mom's since I had the encounter with him at my own house.  The second encounter, the bang on the dresser, was also my dad and I think he was upset at me for not taking the time to communicate with him using my divining rods. When we visited I briefly put the REM-Pod in my mom's room and when I didn't get a response, I took it away and didn't return with any other communication device. So I never talked to my dad that visit. I think he was expressing how upset he was that I didn't give him a chance to speak that night. 

Granted, these last two experiences are me using my own intuition to try to understand strange happenings. I'm not just grasping at any oddities that happen and labeling them my dad or my Grandpa Fritz. I've dismissed plenty of other weird noises or sights. But I take seriously the feelings that seem to "come to me" with encounters like the above. Lately, a number of weird things have happened that are not immediately explainable, but my intuition is pushing those experiences into another category that has nothing to do with any of my departed family and that hopefully someday I can explain. For now, my dad is here and he is trying to make contact and be heard.

Next Up on My Ghost Stories: The vaults below the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland are still busy.

Gone Too Soon (June 2009)

I don't know where my dad stood on the paranormal. I guess it just wasn't a conversation that ever came up with him. I have a feeling he believed in the things that were happening around their house back in 2005. I knew some of his religious beliefs and practices that he cherished. But I guess it doesn't much matter what he believed before he passed away suddenly in June of 2009, because I've experienced a good bit of interactions with him since his passing.

My dad had been having health problems for a while. In the summer of 2008 he was in a coma post-bypass surgery and had a stroke (potentially more than one). When he came around, he clearly was struggling regaining his typical composure. I'm not going to go into all the details of what happened, but he struggled with staying coherent with reality. I was living in Edinburgh at the time. 

At 2AM on June 19, 2009, I received a call from my mom in the United States. My father had passed away. 

I arrived home in Wisconsin from Edinburgh, Scotland within 24 hours of the phone call. During my flight home across the ocean, in an odds-defying and cruel twist of fate, my grandfather (Grandpa Frank) also passed away from a seizure related to Alzheimer's. Before I had even left Scotland I had a feeling something was wrong with Grandpa Frank and that bothered me the entire flight home. So when I arrived home, I was thunderstruck anew upon learning of his passing.

It was a very rough time for our family. A time that included learning that my grandma's cancer had come back, but this time in her brain and she was going to opt out of surgery. She died exactly two months (August 20) after my Grandpa Frank (June 20). It rocked the family something fierce.

With all of this loss, grief, and pain, came paranormal activity to some degree. I've never had any paranormal interaction with my grandma. I adopted the mentality that she had finished all her business and found her place beyond the veil. I did have a brief interaction with my beloved Grandpa Frank, which I think was him giving me a final goodbye and that he was moving on. 

I had come around the end of the bed to my side of my bed in my room. I looked up and I saw my grandpa standing at the foot of the bed at the other side. He looked at me, acknowledged me, smiled and was gone. It was so quick, but it hit my heart hard. It ached so badly. The apparition looked exactly like him. I could see his facial features and large glasses. He had on his white golf hat. He had a green aura to him, but it might have been because he was wearing his green sweater jacket. I could make out his shirt and pants - all in that quick moment of interaction. And I just knew he was gone. I've never had interactions with him again or felt him around me.

This event happened a few years after his death, when I was living in my current home. My current home used to be a visitation/vacation condo and is positioned right across the street from where my grandparents used to live. It was purchased so that my parents could come up to where my grandparents lived and help take care of them. This condo was for sale across the street, so everyday I am reminded of my grandparents as I watch people live in their old condo. But even though my moment with my Grandpa Frank was well after the day he departed, I had a very powerful interaction with my dad almost a day after I arrived home from Edinburgh.

I was at home at my parents' house. It was pretty early in the morning and there was no one around downstairs. I had gone into the small bathroom off of the kitchen. Before leaving the small bathroom, I opened the door and turned to wash my hands. The one wall opposite the sink is a giant mirror and as I looked up into that mirror I saw my dad, as real as anything, standing in the kitchen behind me at the kitchen sink, bent over, peeling an apple. He was wearing his long-sleeve dark red suede shirt with the cuffs rolled up and a pair of blue jeans. I turned around to see him with my own eyes, but he wasn't there and when I turned back to the mirror he was gone.

It was a heartbreaking encounter, but it felt so real. I didn't have anything else happen at that time that I could remember. My husband did, though. We are convinced it was my dad letting us know that he was on the other side and alright. 

If you read back about the entries with my Grandpa Fritz, you'll know about the faucets. My husband had to fly back to Edinburgh for work after the funeral. Shortly after arriving home, he was in our bedroom on the phone with me when he heard a strange noise out in the flat somewhere. He traced the noise to our bathroom only to discover the sink faucet running inexplicably. In the two and a half years we lived there and the several months before we moved out, we had no other faucet incidents. This is the one and only. We believed that it was dad using a very paranormal message he knew we'd experienced before to reach a skeptic. Why he chose my husband I imagine had to do with that skepticism and practicality, and likely the emotional difference the message would have carried if it had been directed at me or my mom who were in pretty delicate states at that time. 

Over the last 13 years, I've kept his spirit alive in my heart. I hadn't heard anything from him or had any kind of contact since. I also wasn't searching it out. But this past Spring.... that changed.

Up Next in My Ghost Stories: Flash, Bang, Boom! Is that really you?

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.

My Childhood Home & Grandpa Fritz (July 2005)

In 1992, when I was 11 years old, my Grandpa Fritz moved in with us. He had been diagnosed with cancer of the mouth and throat. The operation that he had to remove the cancer left him struggling to talk and a tube had been placed in his throat. My parents turned our converted basement into a bedroom for him, giving him access to a personal bathroom for himself and just general privacy. In order to communicate with Grandpa Fritz, he had to write on a notepad. I was only a child at the time and while I understood what was going on, it was still confusing and sometimes scary. 

In the spring of 1993, Grandpa Fritz's cancer came back in his throat and closed off his windpipe. He passed away in his sleep in that basement.

In 2004, my brother moved back in with our parents following his departure from the military. I had already moved away to live in North Carolina with my husband in his home state. It was my brother who was the first to notice strange activity in the house. It all started with a faucet.

A sink faucet turned on by itself.

I should probably preface the remainder of this entry by saying that I am very comfortable with debunking and looking for more rational explanations before jumping on the paranormal bandwagon. I was familiar with Ghost Hunters at the time. They had just started airing the year prior on television. Being plumbers, they always made a huge deal about faucets and all things plumbing. I think it actually created a sense of dismissal in the paranormal community of faucets turning on by themselves. That's not to say that Ghost Hunters dismissed it, but it just sort of felt like a common story that became oft dismissed because the guys from TAPS were able to provide some mechanical explanations to why this circumstance might occur. In this situation, know that frequent attempts by the inhabitants of our home were made to rectify the faucet issue. It persisted nonetheless.

My brother's first problem faucet was in the bathroom upstairs that is attached to his room. The bathroom has two sinks and two faucets, but only his turned on. After this instance, other faucets occasionally started turning on throughout the house, from the kitchen to other bathrooms.

What also started happening around this time is what some would refer to as poltergeist activity. As my brother tells it, things in his room would fly around and it would be really cold. His cell phone would turn on in front of him, even though it was turned off entirely. I was not there to verify these claims, so I have no problem recommending a grain of salt be taken with these stories.

However, there may be veracity to the claims. As my mom recounts things, she and my father would be sitting in the living room and would hear loud and inexplicable thumps, like stomping, coming from upstairs in my brother's room. The sounds would be heard through the ceiling in the living room. Then they would realize that my brother wasn't home and wondered who or what was making all that noise.

Additionally, since the first occurence of the faucet turning on, my mom would keep me updated on the strange goings-on in the house when we would talk on the phone. I didn't keep track of all of these times, but it was quite a few. She told me that my dad, who was a handyman among other talents, had checked out the sinks to make sure the faucet knobs were tight and he even replaced one he found suspect. This did not stop the activity. They blamed one of our cats at one point for the kitchen faucet, but after finding snapped rubber-bands that had been securing the position of faucet knobs over and over again, deduced it was something more powerful than a nudge from the cat.

Fast forward to July 2005. My brother was no longer living with my parents. He found himself in legal trouble and was residing in designated lodgings. I had returned home for my grandma's 80th birthday and to spend some time in Wisconsin with my family. I was wiling away the late afternoon with my mom while she finished off some work she had. We were in her bedroom in a private corner of the large room that my mom used for her office. Talk had come up about all of the faucet shenanigans and other activity. I asked her if the faucets had been acting up while we were in New Orleans and she said that no activity had been reported by my dad. 

My mom pontificated what could be going on and I said, quite matter-of-factly as I recall, "It's Grandpa Fritz." I was very adamant about it and right after I made the statement the faucet of the bathroom tub turned on full blast, as if punctuating and confirming my statement. I could see straight into the bathroom from where I was sitting and watched the water turn on full blast. I was stunned.

I called to my husband who joined us within seconds and saw the water blasting. My mom was speechless and actually stopped what she was doing. Then she said, "How do you know that?"

I said, "Because you once told me you knew Grandpa Fritz was awake at night because you could hear the water running in the basement."

"I didn't tell you that," she responded.  Now, to be fair, my mother and I frequently lock horns on the subject of things-said-and-unsaid. However, despite my current belief in some level of psychic sensitivity I may possess, the fact was I had no other source where I can say I got that tidbit of information from at that time. 

It was, in fact, a true statement that my mother thought she hadn't shared with me. And Grandpa Fritz was on our minds, because of the experiences we had in New Orleans. So if he hadn't been active in my mom's house while she was gone, but was active now that she was back, maybe it meant that he was trying to get her attention for some reason.

Having this new knowledge opened up a discussion about the activity. Why would it happen to my brother and then transfer over to mom. I brought up what the guy at the ghost hunt said about activity ramping up due to something big coming. I thought that maybe Grandpa Fritz was trying to warn her about the trouble my brother was about to get into. 

Later that night, I was lying in bed and I felt like something was in the room with me. Against my better judgement, I asked if there was something in the room and, if so, if it could touch my arm. All of a sudden I felt a cold grasp on my arm and I knew, through and through, that it was Grandpa Fritz. It felt heavy, almost like something was holding my arm down and it tingled with goosebumps. 

After locking up with emotion and attempting to process what just happened, I got out of bed and went down to my parents room and immediately told my mom that Grandpa Fritz grabbed my arm. I think she was still a bit skeptical of the realizations of the day and didn't really engage with me over the situation. I, though, had to make my way back to my bedroom and go to bed with the knowledge that something unseen could be watching me while I sleep.

A few days later, after processing everything that had happened, I was home alone and decided to talk to him. I had long harbored childhood guilt about the New Years Eve before his passing when I yelled at him in anger. It was typical dumb tween stuff. I was blasting my music and dancing around and turned around to see he had dared to enter my room and ask me to turn down my music. The truth is he had startled me and my outburst was borne of fear and embarrassment. I carried that guilt with me for so long, though, because the incident occurred not long before he left us and I felt I had been so mean to him over nothing.  The memory had gnawed at me for years. 

So, that day in 2005, alone in my parent's house, I loudly called out to him and apologized for what I had done. As I did this, I felt a soothing relief wash other me and I knew that I had been forgiven for my actions. 

Faucet activity and other things stopped almost immediately after that day. But this isn't the last time I'll interact with Grandpa Fritz and it won't be the last time I experience activity at my childhood home.

Next Up on My Ghost Stories: Grandpa Fritz now.