Aunt Belle Confirms Ghost

 

Yep, she sensed the same ghost that I saw in the rocking chair, as well as another one I'd sensed hanging around. Then Thursday night, one more. It's been a great ghostly visit so far this trip!

The ghost I saw in the rocking chair before Aunt Belle got here was my great-grandmother Alice. She's Aunt Belle's grandmother, Aunt Belle daddy's mother. When we lived in Ohio, all three of our houses were in a row, out in the country so we all had several acres of land and lots of room in between us. Aunt Belle and family lived in the first house, my family in the second, and Grandma Alice in the third one. I'd been thinking about Grandma Alice for the past couple weeks, wondering why I hadn't seen her much since she died so many years ago. Then suddenly I saw her, which may have meant she'd been visiting and nudged my memories.

When Aunt Belle arrived and we were in the Molly Belle Suite so she could unpack, I said, "We have a new ghost. She's someone related to both you and me, but that's all I'm going to tell you."

Well, suddenly we both felt some very distinct and strong paranormal energy. Our arms hairs were standing up and we both were looking around to see if someone had actually materialized. They hadn't, and there was way too much energy for only one ghost or spirit. We looked at each other and talked for a few seconds about what we felt, agreeing we both felt the same thing.

Aunt Belle said, "Aunt 'Cille was visiting me the other day down at the house. She was helping me cook. She must have come with me, because she's here now. But she's not really related to me. She's your mother's sister." Aunt 'Cille has been gone for at least ten years, but Aunt Belle also knew her well. We had some experiences at her house, too.

"It's not her," I said.

"No," Aunt Belle said. "It's Grandma Alice."

"Yippee!" I said, and lifted my fist in the air. "You're right. And now I've got confirmation that Grandma Alice is who I saw in the rocking chair a couple days ago."

I told her about the sighting and we both agreed that's who was there with us right then … along with Aunt 'Cille. This is always the time of year when Aunt 'Cille and Uncle Keith would come by on their way home to Ohio after wintering in Arizona, so Aunt 'Cille always visits around now.

That night, Aunt Belle also has another visitor: Grandma Alice's husband, Uncle Will. She always looks at the clock when things happen to her, and she said at 4:00, she woke up to hear someone say, "Let's go poodeling down the road." (That word sounds like a poodle with an ing on the end of it.)

"Grandpa Will always came up to the house in the early morning," she said. "He would get me and take me down to visit with him and Grandma Alice all day, to keep my out of mother's hair so she could garden and do other things while Daddy slept until time to go to work. He'd tell me, 'Let's go poodeling down the road,' and I'd get on my tricycle and ride beside him to his house. Grandma Alice would always have cookies for me, even though Mother had already fed me. Then Grandpa Will and I would go down to the barn and mess around most of the day. He had a lot of tools there and I'd 'help' him do things. Sometimes we'd sit under the grape arbor and rest or watch the coal trucks go by on the road. He died when I was seven, and he was my first buddy."

I was only two or three when Grandpa Will died, and I just vaguely remember a man at Grandma Alice's house. I knew Grandma Alice lots better. But I would have liked to know Grandpa Will, from what Aunt Belle tells me.

Not to be outdone by her husband, early the next morning, Grandma Alice woke Aunt Belle up. At 6:45 a.m., she heard Grandma Alice's voice say, "Aren't you up yet?" Well, she was after that. <smile>

We got to talking and we're going to write down a lot of this history. I'll get it all recorded and probably in book form for our families. It will be way cool!

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Aunt Belle and I went to the Tyler Paranormal Conference on Saturday. We had a wonderful time and met some great people, some of whom I hope to have at the Beckham at the Fest and perhaps otherwise. Plans in progress.

Not much writing, but some; three more chapters on Dead Man Ohio. Aunt Belle and I had fun talking about the next Dead Man book and where we want to go research it. Gotta finish this one first, though.

Hope you enjoyed the ghostly confirmation as much as I did!

Boo!

T. M.