The Celtic Symbol

by V M Jones

  “The family was in the back of their home when the oldest son disappeared in a flash of blue light near a mound of dirt that seems to be covering some kind of old stone wall,” said Dr. McNamara trying to hide his excitement but showing concern for the family.

  “That’s definitely for us,” said Brody excitedly as he rubbed his hands together.

  “What about the research for the university?” asked Aine.

  “It can wait for a while”, replied Dr. McNamara holding up his hand. “A boy’s life may be at stake.”

  Dr. McNamara was in his late 40’s. He loved being a paranormal research analyst or “parapsychologist” as they were known. It was his passion. He had never married although he had been in several relationships. He just hadn’t found the right one.

  Dr. McNamara had become obsessed with the paranormal from his early teens. His first encounter with the paranormal was also his most traumatic. He and his younger brother Shane spent a couple of weeks every summer with their Grandfather McNamara in Granard, in the northern part of Ireland.

  Grandfather was an avid fisherman who loved fishing for brown trout at the nearby lake, Lough Sheelin. The two boys loved fishing with their grandfather. He was a patient fisherman and enjoyed teaching his grandsons the art of fishing. They would go out on the lake nearly every day that they were there.

  They had heard stories from the local villagers about the spirit of a lady that haunted the lake, looking for her fiancé. The two had drowned in the lake a long time ago, but she had been seen roaming the shores on certain nights calling for him.

  Occasionally, someone would drown in the lake and the locals would blame it on the ghostly figure. Liam and Shane sometimes felt afraid and asked their grandfather about the ghost lady. He would smile at them and tell them they needn’t worry.

  One weekend, Grandfather McNamara stayed in a cottage at the lake with the two boys to get as much fishing in as they could.

  On Saturday night, the two boys decided they wanted to see for themselves if a ghost really did haunt the lake.

  It was overcast that night but the full moon occasionally peeked out from behind the clouds to shine a few rays of moonlight onto the lake. The two boys knew that their grandfather wouldn’t let them take the boat out onto the lake at night so they waited until he drifted off to sleep.

  They snuck out of the cottage and to the boat that was near the shore. They climbed into the boat and untied the rope. They pushed the boat away from the shore and quietly drifted out onto the lake. Liam and Shane each took an oar and carefully rowed out.

  The lake appeared eerie as shafts of moonlight appeared and disappeared from behind the moving clouds. They had been out on the lake for about half an hour.

  “Let’s go in,” pleaded Shane as he began getting scared.

  “Just a few more minutes,” said Liam trying to reassure his younger brother.

  A few minutes later Shane again turned to Liam and said, “I’m scared. Please can we go in now?”

  “Okay,” replied Liam as he could see the fear in his eyes. “The lady probably doesn’t exist anyway.”

  The two boys each took an oar and began rowing back towards the shore near the fishing cottage.

  Just as they turned the boat towards the shore, Liam could see a blue light out in the distance. Shane noticed it as well and stopped rowing.

  “Liam, what’s that?” shouted Shane fearfully and pointing towards the light.

  “I don’t know,” replied Liam as fear began to fill his mind.

  The two boys watched as the blue light came closer to the small boat. The blue light was about fifty meters away when the boys were able to see the outline of a woman that seemed to be walking on the surface of the water.

  “It’s her!” shouted Shane pointing to the eerie apparition coming near the boat.

  “Liam, get us out of here, please!” pleaded Shane hoping his brother could somehow make the boat move faster.

  Liam was scared but felt he had to protect his younger brother. He picked up both oars and began rowing away from the blue apparition coming towards them. He kept missing the water with one oar or the other as he frantically tried to row the boat.

  The blue transparent figure was now about ten meters from the boat. Her hair was billowing. She was dressed in a long dress from a previous century. As she neared the boat she motioned with her hand for the two boys to join her. The two boys froze and stared at the beautiful, young woman beckoning to them.

  Shane began to panic. He stood up in the boat and turned to Liam with tears in his eyes. “Liam! Help me!” he cried as complete fear overtook him.

  “Sit down or you will tip the boat over!” shouted Liam trying to calm him.

  The ghost lady was now only a few meters from the boat.

  “Come with me,” she seemed to whisper.

  Shane lunged from where he was standing towards the other end of the boat. As he jumped, the boat twisted and overturned. The boys fell into the cold, dark water.

  Liam fell headfirst and struggled to make his way back up to the surface of the water. As his head cleared the surface, he gasped for air and looked around for Shane. He swam over to the capsized boat and held onto its side. He looked in all directions but couldn’t find Shane.

  “Shane! Shane! Where are you?” he called hoping to hear his brother respond.

  There was no answer. He looked up to see the blue, transparent lady looking down at him and smiling. She moved about a meter away and disappeared below the surface of the water. Liam could see a blue light underneath the surface. He continued looking in all directions calling for Shane who was nowhere to be found. After a few minutes, Liam saw a blue light a couple of meters away coming up from the depths of the lake. In front of the blue light he could see the outline of Shane’s lifeless body floating up to the surface. Terrified, Liam dove into the water to reach for his younger brother’s arm. He pulled his body to the surface but he was already gone.

  Liam was devastated. He blamed himself for his brother’s death.

  Ever since that night, Dr. McNamara vowed to search out the paranormal and protect the living from its grasp. He was obsessed with the paranormal.

  He attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and graduated with a degree in Psychology. The University of Edinburgh was also one of the few universities to provide courses in Parapsychology. Dr. McNamara focused on paranormal research and received his PhD. After graduation he continued his research of the paranormal with funding from several universities.

  He started the Irish Paranormal Pinkertons with two young graduates to offer services to the public. He now had the process in place to further his passion of protecting the living from the paranormal.

  It was a two hour drive from Dublin to Cahir, but it seemed like an eternity for the family as they awaited the arrival of the IPP. Their truck drove up to the Murphy home in the late afternoon.

  Patrick opened the door just as Dr. McNamara raised his hand to knock. Patrick asked them to come into the sitting room where the rest of the family was already waiting.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. McNamara. This is Aine Sheehan and Brody Gillihan,” he said shaking their hands.

  Patrick introduced the family, “I’m Patrick, and this is Ansley, Siobhan, and Declan.”

  “We’re here to find out what happened to Tevan and do our best to bring him home,” Dr. McNamara said trying to reassure them.

  “We would like to start out by interviewing the family,” he said. “Where can we set up an interview table?”

  “You can use the kitchen table for now,” answered Ansley gesturing towards the kitchen.

  The team set up the table with a digital camera to record the eye witness reports from the family. Dr. McNamara listened intently to the accounts of each family member and interrupted the interviews at various points when he felt there was a key issue that needed more clarification.

  “Can you please show us the painting?” asked Dr. McNamara hoping to co
rroborate what he was being told.

  Patrick led the team to the play room where it was displayed.

  “What a beautiful painting. Is this the mound you were talking about?” asked Dr. McNamara pointing to the pile of dirt in the picture.

  “Aye, but that’s not what it looked like a couple of days ago,” said Patrick in a quiet voice.

  “This is what it looked like when we saw it the other day,” he said as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “You can see the change in the middle of the mound. Notice the small cross in the stone and the red glow coming from inside it,” said Patrick nervously pointing to the digital image.

  Dr. McNamara looked intently at the photo and compared it to the painting on the wall.

  “This might be an important clue,” said Dr. McNamara trying to reassure Patrick.

  He showed the image to his team who acknowledged it with a nod.

  “Could you please send me a copy of the photo to my cell phone?” he asked.

  “Of course,” responded Patrick as he sent it to the number he was provided.

  Dr. McNamara then took a snapshot of the painting on the wall with his camera.

  Next, Patrick led the team to the grounds behind the house to re-enact the events leading up to Tevan’s disappearance. The IPP team inspected the mound where the blue flash of light had appeared.

  As he watched the IPP team scour the area with their equipment, Patrick put his hands in his pockets. His hand touched something metallic. He had forgotten about the artifact he had picked up from the ground. He pulled it out and called out to Dr. McNamara who walked over to him.

  “I forgot about this metal object in my pocket,” he said hoping it would be of use.

  “What metal object is that?”

  “This is a piece of metal Declan pried off of the wall above the slit in the stone wall,” as he held it up for Dr. McNamara to see.

  “Declan, please tell Dr. McNamara everything that happened.”

  Declan recounted his experience of removing the metal item from the stone and the flash of blue he had seen.

  Dr. McNamara took the metal artifact and turned it over several times as he closely examined it. It looked like a Celtic design of some kind. The design was an endless knot which seemed to begin and end with a green emerald crystal in the center of the design.

  “May I hold onto this?” asked Dr. McNamara as he held it up between his thumb and fore finger.

  “Of course,” said Patrick nodding his head.

  Dr. McNamara placed it in a plastic bag and put it in his pocket for later inspection.

  He turned his attention back to the mound and the narrow slit with the clay imbedded in the stone. He tried pushing his finger through the clay without success. He ran his hand across the small section of the exposed stone wall and thought for a few moments. He recalled the change in Ansley’s picture. Suddenly he came to a realization and turned to face the others.

  “This is not just a dirt mound or a stone wall. It’s actually an old tower,” he said with excitement in his voice. “That’s why Ansley’s painting changed the other night.”

  He paused then looked back at the tower. His face changed from excitement to concern.

  “I would like to have everyone stay back from the tower. If this is where Tevan disappeared, then it’s possible that something similar could happen again,” he said out of concern for everyone’s safety.

  He worried about excavating the dirt around the tower without damaging it. Whatever this structure was it was very old. He and his team were not trained on preservation of structures.

  Brody and Aine took out their equipment. They had K II meters to monitor any electromagnetic fields or EMF. They pulled out a laser thermometer to monitor any cold spots or temperature changes in the area indicating possible paranormal activity. They also had a digital camera for visual analysis.

  After several minutes, Brody called over to Dr. McNamara, “There is some EMF activity at the slit in the tower.”

  “I’m getting temperature fluctuations at the same point,” said Aine looking up.

  “Interesting,” said Dr. McNamara as he put his hand over his chin in thought.

  “What does that mean?” asked Patrick feeling anxiety building up inside him.

  “It means that there has been some paranormal activity at that part of the structure. That confirms my suspicion that Tevan’s disappearance was a paranormal event,” said Dr. McNamara confidently.

  “It’s going to take us a day or two to monitor and investigate the area. Until then, I would suggest the family stay away from this part of the estate for your own safety.” he said out of concern.

  Dr. McNamara was sure that Tevan was in there somewhere. He felt empathy for the family and wanted to do everything possible to bring Tevan back to them.

  After their initial investigation was complete, Dr. McNamara called his team over away from the house.

  “Alright team let’s analyze what we know so far,” he said trying to encourage them.

  Aine responded first.

  “Physical inspection of the area shows no points of entry into the tower. The ground around it appears solid so there are no holes in the ground.”

  Dr. McNamara nodded and turned to Brody.

  “Based on readings from the K II meter and laser thermometer, there was EMF activity originating from the slit in the tower. There is definitely some paranormal activity there,” Brody reported confidently.

  “Okay, next we have the eyewitness reports from the family,” said Dr. McNamara. “We have the changing scenery of the picture. We have the flash of light when Declan removed the metal object from the tower. Then we have the small, blue light forming next to Tevan then engulfing him when he disappeared. What does that tell us?” asked Dr. McNamara of his apprentices encouraging their deductive training.

  “Since there’s no other physical explanation, the evidence suggests that the family experienced a paranormal event,” responded Aine smiling defiantly at Brody.

  “Good response,” said Dr. McNamara nodding approvingly.

  “The paranormal event took place after Declan removed the metal object from the tower. Therefore the piece of metal is related to the paranormal activity. However, we don’t know why or where Tevan was taken. Until we have more information we can’t assume to know what happened,” said Brody giving Aine a half-smile.

  “Good work team,” said Dr. McNamara. “When working with clients we want to give them answers on what we do know and not lead them to incorrect conclusions.”

  “What should be our next steps?” he asked the two apprentices.

  “Continue monitoring the tower,” responded Aine quickly.

  “Research the metal object taken from the stone,” added Brody.

  “Correct,” said Dr. McNamara with a smile. He was proud of his team.

  “Dr. McNamara, Why was there a change in the picture?” asked Aine inquisitively.

  “Sometimes before a paranormal event takes place, warnings are sent out ahead of time,” said Dr. McNamara. “We don’t know why they happen but they do. Maybe it’s fate trying to protect us. Many people ignore the warnings to their detriment.”

  That evening Dr. McNamara sat with Patrick and Ansley to provide them with his preliminary findings.

  “From what we have been able to determine, Tevan has been the victim of a paranormal event. Not something that can be explained from the physical world,” said Dr. McNamara watching for the couple’s response. “Why he was taken or what took him, we don’t know yet but we won’t leave until we find out. I do know that this metal plate from above the small opening in the tower is an important clue. We believe its removal is directly related to his disappearance.”

  Patrick and Ansley listened carefully to Dr. McNamara’s explanation. They nodded indicating they understood what they were being told.

  “What do we do now?” asked Ansley with hope in her voice.

  “Since the metal object is a c
ritical part of the investigation I would like your permission to call in an expert on medieval artifacts to help us. We have worked with him before. He has a PhD in archaeology and heads up excavations around the Commonwealth,” replied Dr. McNamara waiting for their approval as he finished.

  “What’s his name?” asked Patrick with hope in his voice.

  “His name is Dr. Sean Ryan. Not only can help us identify this metal artifact, but he is also the perfect person to head up the excavation of the tower,” answered Dr. McNamara.

  “Please contact him as soon as possible,” pleaded Ansley hopeful they would have Tevan back soon.

  Patrick nodded in agreement.

  6 the archaeologist

  Dr. Ryan grew up on a small farm outside of Trim, Ireland. As a small boy he found several pieces of old iron tools in his father’s newly plowed fields which planted in him the seeds of archaeology. He knew at an early age that he would become an archaeologist.

  His father took him to see Trim Castle when he was eight. He loved exploring the ruins and hearing all about its history. That was the start of a series of excursions to the castles of Ireland with his father. Together they explored almost all of them. Archaeology was all he could think about growing up.

  Dr. Ryan graduated with a PhD from Oxford University in Archaeology in the early ‘80s. It was at Oxford that he met a beautiful brunette named Tara. They soon married and were blessed with two children, a boy and a girl.

  Tara was the love of his life. He was truly happy.

  Everything changed about ten years ago when she was diagnosed with cancer. He watched as his vibrant, beautiful wife slowly ebbed away.

  On her death bed she was still able to make him smile. She grabbed his hands, looked him in the eye and put something into his hand. He opened his hand to see what she had given him. It was her engagement ring with the one carat round diamond he had given her the day he proposed. This was the first time he had seen it off of her finger. She had put it onto a thick waxed string for him to wear around his neck.

  “You gave this to me with love for me to remember you. Now I want to give it to you with love for you to remember me,” she said softly.