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

Strong manifestations such as these also serve to remind

us that there is no barrier to love; least of all death. And sometimes, if we’re lucky, spirits like Tom will do whatever it takes to prove it.

chapter eighteen

S é a n c e a t

t h e C l i n i c

The relentless flashing lights at my podiatry clinic seemed to intensify over time; so much so that not a day went by that I

didn’t see them. The spirit presences became increasingly pal-

pable; occasionally showing themselves as fleeting filmy fig-

ures or by clattering the instruments which lay beside me in

their kidney dish. In these instances my patients were quick

to joke that my clinic was haunted; little realising how much

truth lay in their off-the-cuff remarks!

My reception staff reported feeling uneasy when left alone

at the clinic at the end of the day. On one occasion my office manager, Sonia was convinced that one of the podiatrists was

still busily working away in their consulting room, such was

the noise filtering down the corridor. When she ventured into

the treatment room to investigate, she was stunned to find it

was empty.

143

144Seance at the Clinic

I began to realise that as well as the spirits who came in

accompanying my patients, there were those who appeared to

be permanent fixtures. One little soul doggedly stood beside

my treatment trolley; repeatedly flashing an intense blue light at me from the centre of her chest. At first I thought the figure was that of a small boy, but I was to later discover my persistent friend was a little girl who had taken a shine to me. Rare was the day that she didn’t make her presence known.

The spirit activity escalated to the point that I knew it

would be remiss of me not to investigate matters further. So

with this thought in mind, I decided to hold an on-site séance.

In addition to dowsing with the pendulum and my now stan-

dard technique of table-tipping, I arranged for a lady named to Karen to record the evening’s proceedings on infrared camera.

I had met Karen a few months earlier, when we both

attended an investigation at the haunted Carinup Tavern. The

tavern’s resident poltergeist had provided a spectacular display; banging on walls and pelting us with stones. His tirade was

recorded by both television and infrared cameras; the latter providing further evidence of the poltergeist’s presence.

Despite the ghost’s obvious antagonism towards us, he was

surprisingly compliant when asked to show himself. He repeat-

edly acquiesced to our requests to appear before us, although I suspect that his motivation was to intimidate rather than coop-erate. Regardless, his appearance on infrared proved to me that it was possible to physically record spirit energy, thereby validat-ing what I was seeing with my clairvoyant vision.

Of course the infrared image was very different to what I was

seeing clairvoyantly, since it was capturing the ghost’s energy imprint and converting it to an electronic signal. The poltergeist appeared on camera as a radiant, darting orb; as opposed to the Seance at the Clinic 145

filmy, grey figure I saw before me. The location of the orb did however correspond to where I was seeing the figure, so as such I considered it to be a useful investigative tool.

I arranged to conduct the séance on a Friday evening,

a couple of hours after the last patient had left. Along with Karen, I invited three fans from my Facebook page; ladies who

had expressed a desire to gain firsthand experience of the paranormal. I also invited one of my patients; a company director

named Andrew. Andrew had asked to be included in my next

investigation and I was happy for him to make up our group

of six.

It was decided that at any given time there would be one

person filming proceedings digitally, whilst Karen took charge of the infrared. The remaining four would be the sitters as we tried to establish spirit contact.

It was gratifying to see orbs on both infrared and digital

cameras, exactly where the spirits presented themselves in my

day-to-day work life. They congregated behind my treatment

chair, occasionally darting across the room in an energetic display of barely-contained excitement.

One dashed underneath the table, as if in preparation

for the tipping which was about to take place. There was no

doubt we had an eventful evening in store; the spirits seemed

as excited as we were!

I began with the usual protective rituals, after which the

omnipresent little spirit girl was quick to step in. My sitters were amused to notice that when the spirit energy starting

coming through, my hair began to stand on end. It looked as

though I was surrounded by a halo of wispy flyaways; a look

so ridiculous that the seriousness of proceedings was momen-

tarily forgotten!

146Seance at the Clinic

The little girl confirmed that she is with me every day

and likes to watch me work. I asked her if she knew where

her parents were; to which she responded NO. I then asked if she would like help to find them, but she insisted that she was happy to stay at the clinic with me. She told us that she had

followed me from the Carinup tavern, and indeed I had been

aware of a little ghost girl scurrying about the dining room

prior to that evening’s séance.

As happy as I was for the little girl to stay with me, I told

her I didn’t think it was healthy for her to remain at my clinic.

She deserved more attention than I could give. I asked if she would like me to arrange for someone to help her cross over

into the light. Again she was quite adamant; the answer was

NO.

My little spirit friend then proceeded to shake and tip

the table; she was obviously basking in the opportunity to

physically express herself. We praised her lavishly before she stepped back.

As I write this, it’s only been four days since our séance. I

spent yesterday consulting at my clinic and as always, the spirit girl stood beside my treatment trolley and sporadically flashed her radiant, blue light.

I told her that as welcome as she