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

At this point Ray managed to find his way back in, and we

continued our séance with broad smiles and lighter hearts.

It was the perfect counterbalance to our encounter with

Ted, and we finished our evening on an upbeat note.

As I lay in bed that evening, my mind was buzzing with all

that we’d experienced. It still didn’t seem real. It had been a ghost hunter’s dream, with much of the evidence caught on camera.

I was elated yet overwhelmed, and a small part of me

couldn’t help worrying that one of the spirits from the hotel had decided to come home with me. I can’t say I felt frightened, but I wasn’t entirely comfortable either. Needless to say, there was little sleep to be had that night. When I did finally manage to doze off, my bedside lamp was still blazing and my head was

hidden firmly beneath the sheets.

chapter two

R e p e r c u s s i o n s

Three days after the Carinup investigation, I found myself

driving South once again. This time I was heading to the sea-

side town of Mandurah, for a meeting with a medium named

Dot. Dot had come highly recommended and I was eager to

discover whether she and I would pick up on the same spirits.

Sometimes it feels as though I’m on a constant quest for vali-

dation, to seek out confirmation that my clairvoyance is real.

I pulled up outside Dot’s neat brick and tile home just

before 9am, brimming with expectation. I was still very much

affected by my experience of a few nights ago and could think

of little else. I wasn’t so much scared as awestruck, particularly since it had been one of those rare occasions where a paranormal experience had been shared amongst a group. My encoun-

ters with ghosts are usually solitary affairs, whereby they show themselves to me for a brief instant and then move on. So

sharing a protracted paranormal encounter felt somehow spe-

cial, as everyone who was present experienced the same thing.

19

20Repercussions

Also, as confronting as poltergeist activity can be, it is wonderfully concrete proof of the continuity of life after death.

Dot welcomed me with a hug as she ushered me into her

incense-filled consulting room. She passed me a deck of well-

worn Tarot cards, which I ineptly began to shuffle.

“Now cut them into three piles,” she said.

I did as I was instructed, then leant back in my chair and

waited for the reading to unfold. Dot expertly arranged the

cards into rapid-fire rows; their mysterious, faded images captivating and eerie. Yet of all the cards laid out before me, one caught my attention more than the others. Especially since I

noticed Dot’s small, involuntary gasp as it fell to the table. It was the Queen of Pentacles.

Dot leaned in towards me in a way that put me immedi-

ately on edge. Her face had suddenly become furrowed with

worry. She scanned the cards quickly once again, as if to con-

firm what she was seeing, then looked directly into my eyes.

“Have you had things moving around your house lately?”

she asked. “Any stuff being thrown around?”

I knew where this conversation was heading, and my heart

began to race.

“I have had in the past,” I replied nervously. “Is that what

you mean?”

“No,” said Dot. “I mean now. In the last day or so.”

I braced myself for what I had no doubt was coming.

“You have a poltergeist attached to you …”

After the initial pang of fear, my over-riding emotion was

anger. How had I been so stupid as to have willingly placed myself in the firing line of a poltergeist! After all I’d lived through as a teenager, here I was about to go through it again!

Repercussions 21

I didn’t want to believe it could be true, but sitting there

across from Dot, I knew that she was simply confirming what

I had suspected for the last couple of days.

I thought back to Monday night’s haunting investigation,

and how the thought of possibly being followed home had

occurred to me then. As I was standing in the pitch black hallway calling out into the darkness, I wondered if I was the first person to speak kindly to Ted in all these years. I wondered

whether he would gravitate towards me. The thought was

answered by a gentle touch to my hair. It was almost as if he was stroking it. Tony was also touched, but rather than touching his hair, Ted had given him a little prod to the leg.

Had Ted been reaching out to us, grateful for the compas-

sion we had shown him? I’d tried to put it out of my head,

but now with Dot’s confirmation, the possibility was suddenly

very real.

“You need to move him on,” said Dot firmly. “If you don’t

he’s going to start disturbing the children.”

I was feeling increasingly anxious. I had lived through a

five-year poltergeist haunting before and was terrified at the thought of having to do so again. I was especially worried for my children.

Since I’d seen a fleeting black figure at the periphery of my

vision numerous times since Monday night, I just knew that

what Dot was telling me was real. Further evidence of Ted’s

presence came from my husband Stuart, who told me he’d

heard footsteps and banging in the hallway the night before.

The noises were loud enough for him to think that one of the

children had gotten up, but when he went to investigate, the

hallway was empty.

22Repercussions

Whilst Dot assured me that Ted didn’t mean any harm,

she couldn’t stress enough that his presence would have an

ill-effect on our household. She told me that he’d been a vio-

lent alcoholic in life, and was now fearful of progressing to the light to face the consequences.

“You need to go home and cleanse yourself and your

house,” she said. “Do it today.”

She advised me to scrub myself with rock salt and to

smudge every corner of every room in the house, whilst

mindful of the intention of moving Ted on. She told me to

use a smouldering bundle of white sage, and to ensure that its smoke permeated every inch