Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side by Barbara Parks (best ereader for graphic novels txt) 📗

towards his spectacular finale.

It didn’t take long before one side of the table started to

lift, teetering shakily on two of its wooden legs.

“Keep going,” we cheered. “You can do it!”

The table continued to steadily tip, pausing precariously

above the floor at a thirty degree angle.

“Come on Dad … Bang it!” said Matilda.

“Don’t worry about the floor,” I added. “Just slam it down

for us!”

And in what was to be his spectacular finale, the table

slammed into the floor with a triumphant bang.

At this, we all began clapping, happy that Matt had been

able to provide proof of his presence as he had hoped.

As we debriefed afterwards, we were all similarly heart-

ened by the evening’s events. We were in no doubt that we had

just shared a wonderful experience with Matt, and we were

Matt 35

convinced that he was equally delighted with the success of

the night.

As evidenced by the large number of orbs which showed

themselves prior to our table-tipping session, I knew that my

preparations had attracted a large number of spirits to our

home.

As I lay on my bed the following afternoon, I noticed doz-

ens of flashing lights up near the ceiling. I was speaking on the phone to my friend, Deb, and was telling her about the previous night’s events.

The camera was beside me on the bed, so I grabbed it

and took a quick snap. Not surprisingly, the photo was sprin-

kled with numerous shining orbs. In light of this, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by what happened next …

It was a few hours later and I had not long fallen asleep.

I was woken by my bed shaking, in the same steady rhythm

that the table had been shaking the night before. I wasted no

time snapping on the bedside lamp and as I sat up, the bed

continued to shake.

“Guys!” I said in a voice which betrayed my nervousness.

“Stop this right now!”

The bed continued to shake.

“If you freak me out, I’ll end up blocking you out forever.

This isn’t fair, it’s my rest time!”

I went on to tell them that there had to be boundaries.

The spirits were welcome to contact me, but preferably not

at night. And especially not when I was alone! I asked them to only come in the day time, or at night only if they had been

invited.

It took quite some time, but the bed eventually stopped

shaking and I got out my pendulum once again.

36Matt

Matt stepped forward.

“Was that you shaking my bed?” I asked.

NO.

“Were spirits shaking my bed?”

YES.

“ Were they trying to frighten me?”

NO.

“Were they trying to get my attention?”

YES.

“Was there a main instigator?”

YES.

At this, I immediately knew it was Gary, the young man

who had shown himself at Matilda’s first visit. I asked Matt if he would please encourage Gary to step forward.

“Gary?” I asked, “Are you here?”

YES.

“Were you shaking my bed?”

YES.

“Are you going to do it again?”

NO.

“Promise?”

YES!

And at this, I made a promise of my own. Whatever it took,

I would find a way to contact Gary’s family. Gary didn’t want to frighten me, he was just desperate to let his family know that he was OK. I just needed to work out how I was going to facilitate a meeting with a family I had never met. Now that the doors of communication were open, there was no way I could turn back.

I hoped that between us, Gary and I would find a way.

chapter five

G a r y

As my mediumship abilities have developed over time, I’ve

certainly noticed how some spirits will do whatever it takes

to make themselves known to me. This is particularly true of

those who have taken their own lives. No matter how tenuous

the link between myself and the spirit, these souls somehow

manage to find me. Sometimes it feels as though they have

deliberately sought me out, to help them pass on messages of

reassurance to the families they have left behind.

This was particularly true with Gary, who made himself

known to me when the young journalist Matilda came to my

home. As you may recall, I was trying to facilitate contact

between Matilda and her father Matt; yet Gary was desperate

to be acknowledged and kept repeatedly butting in.

Matilda had been in a relationship with Gary’s brother,

Callum. He was now taking advantage of Matilda’s connec-

tion to me, in order to come through.

37

38Gary

Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was another con-

nection between Gary and myself; he had actually been a

patient at my clinic. I have no idea how the realisation dawned on me but I was suddenly struck by the thought of I wonder if Gary’s ever been to my work?

Once the thought occurred to me I just couldn’t let it go,

so I jumped into my car and drove to the surgery. My recep-

tionist, Sue located Gary’s file within minutes. As I held it in my hands my heart was beating wildly, and I began to understand why he was reaching out to me.

Although Gary had been to my clinic several times as

a teenager, I had never met him personally. He had been

attended to by one of my staff members rather than myself.

But still, the link was there; he was using whatever means he

could to get through to his family.

I took the file home with me, grateful to have something

tangible to work with. It was heartening to have something

concrete that I could use to help link us together.

As I flicked through Gary’s notes to see where he’d lived, I

was taken aback to see that his house was just around the cor-

ner from mine. When I typed his address into Google maps,

I was stunned by what I saw. Gary had lived only six hundred

meters away, his house virtually in line with my own. No won-

der he had gravitated to me!

Since Gary had been vying for my attention from the

moment he first came to my house with Matilda, I called her

to ask what she thought we should do. Gary had been moving

things in my house and