Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side

by Barbara Parks

  than twenty times over the course of two weeks, and the fam-

  ily were beginning to feel frightened. Whilst the energy in

  their home didn’t feel negative, there was an unmistakeable

  heaviness which seemed to be pervading their home. Antic-

  The Interactions of Others 167

  ipating the next burning candle seemed to have put them

  increasingly on edge.

  As much as the St Clairs longed for peace and normality,

  further strangeness was on it’s way.

  Whilst running a few errands in the city, Anouk was

  approached by an dishevelled-looking vagrant. He insisted on

  giving her a playing card, which happened to be the nine of

  Spades. Uncomprehending, Anouk looked up at the man as he

  spoke.

  “You will be in luck,” he told her. “The nine of spades

  brings luck and good fortune.”

  He looked at Anouk meaningfully and then hurriedly

  walked away.

  Anouk dismissed the man as an oddball and swiftly forgot

  about the card.

  The following day was a Sunday, and the St Clairs were

  uncharacteristically going out. Sundays were usually reserved

  for quiet family time; a peaceful respite from the chaos of the working week. But friends had invited them out for dinner, so

  they decided to break their stringent Sunday routine and enjoy a family outing.

  What happened next would change their lives forever.

  Neighbours told them that no more than ten minutes after

  they left, a massive explosion tore through their house. In no time at all, the St Clairs beloved home was engulfed in ever-mounting flames. There was no chance of saving their beauti-

  ful old house; it was razed within minutes.

  Had the St Clair’s been home, they would have undoubt-

  edly perished.

  Of course their first thought was that their fears had been

  realised and that the randomly appearing candles had been

  168 The Interactions of Others

  responsible for the fire. The family’s devastating sense of loss was intensified by a feeling of dread. It seemed as though the presences in their home had been hell-bent on destroying

  them.

  It was only once the source of the fire was determined that

  they were forced to think otherwise. The subsequent investi-

  gation confirmed that the fire was the result of a faulty heater in the upstairs bathroom. It appeared that an electrical short circuit had caused the devastating explosion. Interestingly, the lit candles had most often appeared in this very bathroom,

  prompting the St Clairs to radically change their way of thinking.

  The way the candles had been placed out of harm’s way

  was particularly telling; they had never been left where they

  could set something else alight. It seemed their silent benefactor had been trying to warn them all along.

  It was some weeks later that Anouk chanced upon the

  strange man in the city; the one who had given her the suppos-

  edly lucky card. She approached him without hesitation.

  “The day after you gave me your card my family lost every-

  thing in a house fire,” she said. “I thought you said I’d be in luck!”

  The man looked bemused.

  “And so you were,” he replied.

  “How can that be lucky?” she asked.

  “You all lived, didn’t you?”

  And that’s when the full-force of the past few weeks struck

  her; her family were incredibly lucky. Not only did they all survive a potential tragedy, Anouk was filled with the conviction that they were indeed blessed. Not least because their family

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  had a ghostly protector; who determinedly tried to warn them

  as the imminent explosion loomed.

  These days Vincent and Anouk are much more accept-

  ing of the reality of spirits; after what had transpired it was impossible to think otherwise. They felt indebted to their persistent ghostly protector and now think of the mysteriously

  appearing candles fondly. So much so that as they settled into their new home, they couldn’t help hoping that their previous

  home’s unseen occupant had come along with them.

  The White Dove

  Spirit contact with deceased loved ones is more common than

  most people think. Death does not sever the bonds of love

  which unite family and friends, and the emotions which con-

  nect us during life remain just as strong after our loved ones have passed.

  Spirit visitations are not always outwardly obvious, and

  quite often cause us to question whether we experienced them

  at all. They may be so subtle that we miss them altogether,

  no doubt causing no end of frustration for the spirit folk trying to make contact. They may take the form of dreams or

  synchronicities, or may be as tangible as a familiar smell suddenly wafting into a room. Some spirits are able to manifest

  even more substantially, creating physical disturbances to let us know that they’re there. Some even hurl photographs of

  themselves off walls or mantle pieces … a sure-fire way of garnering some attention!

  In many instances, spirits employ the use of signs and sym-

  bols in order to make themselves known to us. They may, for

  instance, repeatedly show us significant words or numbers,

  often enough for us to rule out the possibility of coincidence.

  170 The Interactions of Others

  After my friend, Maureen’s father passed away, she kept see-

  ing a car with the numberplate DADDY. Of course at first she thought it to be little more than a fluke. But as the days went by and she kept repeatedly seeing the same car in the middle

  of a busy highway, she came to accept that the ever-present

  numberplate was a sign from her dad.

  Another friend also had the privilege of being on the

  receiving end of a post-death visit from her father. Fortunately for Lesley, she was in tune enough to pick up on the perti-nent signs and symbols, leaving no doubt whatsoever that her

  beloved dad was close by.

  Lesley’s father, Wilfrid was not quite eighty when he suf-

  fered a debilitating stroke. Although he lived for another four years, the stroke precipitated the onset of vascular dementia, which saw his mental state steadily deteriorate over the coming years. After enduring a relentless decline in both his mental and physical health, by his eighty fourth birthday, Wilfrid’s body had begun to shut down.

  As Lesley and her family surrounded Wilfrid’s bed, their

  emotions were running high. By now entirely immobile, Wil-

  frid was enveloped in the love of his family as they honoured what was to be his very last birthday.

  By the time Lesley returned home that evening, she was an

  emotional wreck.

  “I just sat on the edge of my bed and couldn’t stop cry-

  ing,” Lesley told me. Despite Wilfrid being unwell for so many years, she felt unready to let him go. She still felt ill-prepared, and asked her guides and guardian angels to give her a sign

  to warn her when Wilfrid’s death was imminent. Unsure why,

  she asked them to show her a white dove. Perhaps it was an

  uplifting image which signified love and freedom, a positive

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  symbol to counteract the bleak pall of death which lay wait-

  ing on the sidelines.

  A week after Wilfrid’s bedside birthday gathering, his wife

  and daughters had congregated at his nursing home once

  again. After a l
engthy visit, Lesley and her sisters decided to make their way home. A spur of the moment decision saw

  them take a slight detour, in order to take in some of the local Christmas lights. Since it was December 17th and they felt

  anything but festive, the sisters hoped that the lights would

  perhaps stir up some Christmas cheer.

  Lesley was particularly taken with one beautifully-dec-

  orated house just around the corner from her own. It was

  adorned with all manner of beautiful decorations, the most

  striking of which was a beautiful white dove. It sparkled with hundreds of tiny white and gold lights, the very sight of which took her breath away. It was only later that evening that its significance suddenly dawned on her; the dove was the sign she

  had asked for!

  Two days later, surrounded by his loving family, Wilfrid

  Ashley Freeman quietly passed away. After four years of hard-

  ship and struggle, he allowed himself to transition into spirit.

  Despite their forewarning, Lesley and her family were shat-

  tered.

  That evening as she lay in bed crying herself to sleep, Les-

  ley was suddenly overcome by the sense of someone being

  in the room with her. She rolled over slowly, and gasped at

  what she saw. There on the side of her bed was Wilfrid, sitting serenely as though he hadn’t a care in the world. His legs were crossed nonchalantly and he was reaching for Lesley’s forehead. And as he calmly stroked her brow, he smiled … word-

  lessly reassuring his daughter that he was absolutely fine.

  172 The Interactions of Others

  Even now, almost five years after Wilfrid’s passing, Lesley

  still gets teary at the recollection.

  “I wondered if I could have been imagining it …” she said.

  But the intense sense of love and comfort that radiated from

  her vision, soon had her convinced. “I’ll never forget the feeling,” Lesley smiled. “I just knew it was Dad’s spirit!”

  Over time, the pain of losing her father became less palpa-

  ble, but Lesley will never entirely get over her loss. Wilfrid is particularly missed at significant family events, such as Lesley’s wedding in 2012.

  Lesley and her fiancé, Jason celebrated their marriage in

  Bali, together with close family and friends. As sad as it was not to have her father walking her down the aisle, Lesley was

  delighted that her mother stepped in and offered to do the

  honours. It was also a great comfort that Wilfrid had managed

  to meet Jason just before he died. Although, by then, he was in the grips of dementia, Lesley felt that on some level her husband-to-be and father had connected.

  So it was with bittersweet emotion that Lesley and Jason

  flew into Bali three days before their wedding, little imagining that Wilfrid would make it known that he would definitely be

  there on their special day.

  Late on the evening of their arrival, Lesley was sitting

  alone on their hotel balcony, testing out the duty-free cam-

  era she had just bought. Since Jason was otherwise occupied

  inside their hotel room, Lesley decided to test the camera on

  herself, and extended her left arm to take a self-portrait.

  Upon reviewing the photograph, Lesley noticed an anom-

  aly immediately. There was a white filmy object floating just

  above her head. She turned around to see what was behind

  her, checking to see if there was something beyond her bal-

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  cony which would account for the strange image. All Lesley

  could see was a solitary, spindly tree. It looked nothing like the white ephemeral shape which had appeared in her photo.

  As she zoomed into the shot, her heart jumped into her

  mouth. She was suddenly struck by the realization that the

  image was of a beautiful white dove, wings outstretched and

  holding a love heart. It was most certainly a wedding gift from her father!

  Despite bursting into tears, Lesley couldn’t have felt hap-

  pier. She had no doubt that her father was right beside her, and would be sharing in the joy of her and Jason’s wedding day.

  Lesley is convinced the white dove in this photograph is a sign from her father, Wilfrid.

  Inexplicable events such as these remind us that there is no

  barrier to love in the world of spirit. The seemingly impossible can manifest in the blink of an eye or even in the blasé click of 174 The Interactions of Others

  a camera shutter, effortlessly reminding us that our loved ones are never far away

  The Enigma of the Haunted House

  Is there any way of knowing whether a house is haunted? Is

  there a tell-tale sign, or a prevailing sense of foreboding that instantly warns us off ? Do haunted houses need to be of a certain age, or harbour tragic, bloody histories? If only it were that straightforward!

  Some haunted houses are patently obvious. So much so,

  that one can’t help but wonder what possessed their occupants

  to live in them in the first place. Houses like Monte Cristo in the New South Wales town of Junee, scream of the ghosts which

  linger within their walls. They are Victorian-era mansions

  which fit the bill as far as what one would expect a haunted

  house to look like. And indeed, in Monte Cristo’s case, its foreboding appearance matches the paranormal disturbances

  within. It is reputed to be the most haunted house in Australia.

  Not only does Monte Cristo definitely look haunted, it’s sinister history cements the likelihood of ghosts. Its past is replete with baleful occupants and tragic deaths; including that of an unfortunate infant who was fatally dropped down a stairwell.

  Just as disturbing is the case of a teenage stable boy who was burnt to death in his sick-bed in the early 1900’s. As the story goes, the boy’s foreman suspected the youngster of malinger-ing, and threw a match to his straw mattress in an attempt to

  catch him out. The stable boy was, however, too ill to escape

  his flaming bed. The horrific circumstances of the youngster’s death seem to have imprinted themselves on the ether, as the

  boy’s suffering leaves an indelible sense of doom at the scene The Interactions of Others 175

  of his death. It’s of little surprise that the stable is the focus of countless paranormal disturbances.

  Then of course there are the ghosts of the first owners of

  Monte Cristo themselves, Christopher and Elizabeth Crawley.

  Mr Crawley’s sudden and unexpected passing (as the result of

  an infected carbuncle which progressed to blood poisoning)

  further increases the likelihood that he is not ready to move on and leave his beloved home. And although Crawley’s wife lived

  at Monte Cristo for another twenty three years after his death, it seems she is just as reluctant to leave as her husband. And indeed, in the years following her husband’s death, Mrs Crawley only left the homestead twice.

  The home’s current owners, Reg and Olive Ryan, report

  that Elizabeth Crawley is a regular and obvious presence.

  On occasions she even shows herself; manifesting as a dense,

  black-dressed apparition. Her presence is very proprietorial,

  and she is quick to demonstrate her displeasure at those she

  considers to be unwelcome guests.

  Monte Cristo’s sinister manifestations are numerous and well-documented, and range from the benign to the horrific. Perhaps most distressing to Reg and Olive, were the deaths of numerous family pets, the means of which were quite often inexpli-

  cable. The discovery that every bird in the hen house had been killed was par
ticularly disturbing, especially since their necks had been violently rung. The lock, walls and roof all remained intact, with no evidence of being tampered with.

  Similarly upsetting was the early morning discovery of the

  family’s five month old kitten. It lay dead in a downstairs hallway, its stomach slashed open. Again, there were no signs of

  forced entry by either man or beast.

  176 The Interactions of Others

  As far as Monte Cristo is concerned, it’s certainly appropriate to judge a book by its cover. This is one house that cer-

  tainly lives up to its ghostly expectations!

  My friend, Jason is passionate about all things paranormal,

  as evidenced by his self-named moniker, Jason Ghostman. He is particularly entranced by Monte Cristo, and makes a point of

  trying to visit the homestead every year. Being a regular visitor, he has become good friends with Reg and Olive. As such,

  he has been privy to many of Monte Cristo’s paranormal dis-

  turbances, and indeed, has experienced many of them himself.

  Olive, Reg and Jason on the front porch at Monte Cristo.

  Jason tells me that the feeling of being watched is ever-

  present at Monte Cristo, as well as the feeling of having travelled back through time.

  “You almost feel like you shouldn’t be there,” he says. “And

  in some rooms, you can actually start to feel really sick.” Jason tells me that on a recent ghost tour, some people refused to

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  enter certain rooms, so strong was the feeling of revulsion and foreboding.

  On one particular occasion, Jason decided to stay at Monte

  Cristo overnight. He had heard numerous accounts of late

  night visits by noisy, ghostly children, and was keen to encounter them for himself. As well as making a right ruckus, the

  young ghosts were also reported to jump up and down on the

  guests’ beds, and Jason was hopeful that they would do so to

  him.

  He expectantly lay in his darkened room, ears trained for

  the slightest sound. The effort must have been exhausting,

  because in no time at all, Jason fell fast asleep! He was devastated to discover that not only had he slept soundly through

  the entire night, but he had also missed numerous ghostly

  manifestations.

  Although there weren’t any reports of the young ghosts