by Jim Harold
44. A Most Unique Name
This story is about my middle daughter. For some reason, from the time I was pregnant with her, I always had a sense of foreboding. It never really left. As she got into her teens, I started having this repetitive dream about her, at the age of 17 or 18. In the dream she got into a car with some friends, the car is involved in an accident, and she dies. It was vivid even to the point of one of the girl's names. I knew her name and what she looked like. My daughter knew about this dream, but we didn't know anybody by that name, so I thought everything was fine.
Eventually, we were living in Texas together. She was working there and she had some new friends from work. One evening they were getting ready to go out. Her friends introduced her to a couple of their friends and they were all going to divvy up cars to go out and have a good time. This was in Austin, so it is the perfect place for that. My daughter was ready to go until she was introduced to one of the girls who was going to be riding in the same car with her. This girl had the same name as the girl from my dream.
Anyway, it's a most unique name so I don't want to repeat it, but I've heard it maybe once before in my life. As soon as my daughter heard her name, she said, "Oh, I don't think I'm going anywhere tonight. I'm going to stay home." She didn't tell them why. She just decided against going in the car with them.
Guess what? They did have an accident. It was not as bad as what I'd seen in my dream. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured at all; nobody required hospitalization. It was an ER visit. Everybody was okay, but it shook up my daughter pretty badly and it was kind of an odd thing to happen.
It crossed my mind that it might have been something like the Butterfly Effect. The idea that history can change by something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings. Maybe something worse would have happened had my daughter been in that car. It really gives me pause.
-Mary, California
45. Grandpa, My Guardian Angel
I went hiking by myself out in Mecca, California. It's about 12 miles from the closest town. I was the only one around, as it was about 9.a.m. on a Sunday morning. As you are hiking there, you have to go through these tall valleys, like tall walls. While I was up there, I felt as though I wasn't alone, like there was a presence with me, but a comforting one. Since I had never been there before, I was taking a lot of photos.
As I was looking through the pictures on my camera, I saw a figure in the photos. It looked like a man. I had to blow up the images larger on my display to get a better look. A couple of days earlier, my cousin had visited our grandparents' home, took a picture of their wedding photo, and posted it on Facebook. The crazy thing is that I knew exactly who the figure in my hiking photos was the minute I saw him. I'd seen his picture two days before. It was my grandfather.
The photos were just the start. My car ended up getting stuck in the sand and I was stranded out there. A tow truck couldn't get out there and neither could the California Highway Patrol but I was in luck. This random guy, a construction worker, came by in this truck and had everything to pull my car out of the sand. I'm convinced that I was able to get home safely that day because of my grandpa, my guardian angel!
-Tonya, California
46. Making Rounds from the Great Beyond
This happened a few years back. At the time, I worked in housekeeping at a medical center. I worked the 3-to-11 shift at night. My assignment was in an outpatient area, so it was closed when I was there. This area was closed off from the public and I was locked inside.
I was working in the oncology treatment area where they did chemotherapy, so it was set back a little bit. There was nobody around. I walked in and I was doing my cleaning in there, and I thought I heard something. I stopped and listened. I didn't hear anything, so I continued what I was doing. I thought I heard something again. So, I decided I'd better see what that noise was about and I stepped out to the long hallway. I looked down toward the high radiation room and there was an elderly man there in a blue three-piece suit. It looked like he had walked from the low radiation room, out a short hallway to where the doctors' offices would've been. I paused for a minute, because I knew I was alone and locked in the area. I couldn't believe my eyes.
I ran down the other hallway that went to the waiting room, because that would've been the only way he could've gone. I got out there and there was nothing. I went through the other door to the doctors' offices. Nothing. The automated door was still locked and closed.
What I saw definitely looked like a person.
There was a doctor who had been affiliated with that medical center for years. He, in fact, was the president at one point. He loved the hospital. The area I was working in was like his baby, and even when he was very sick and feeble, he would come back to the hospital. I had only seen him from a distance a couple times, so I wasn't real familiar with him. His daughter would walk him around the hospital because he just loved it so much. He had recently passed from cancer, ironically, maybe four months before I saw the figure. I always thought what I saw that night was him. He was returning to the hospital he loved.
-Jennifer, Vermont
47. Memaw's Mommy Is an Angel
I have two daughters. My oldest, Jennifer, runs an in-home daycare and has three children of her own. She was always kind of my mom's favorite. Mom loved all her grandchildren, but she had a special place for Jennifer. Unfortunately, she passed before Jennifer's kids were born.
One day, Jennifer called me, near Christmastime and told me a very interesting story. She was decorating and she had put a Hello Kitty figure on the top of her Christmas tree. One of the little daycare kids asked her, "JenJen, how come you don't put an angel up there?" Jennifer said, "Because I like Hello Kitty."
Out of the blue, my oldest granddaughter, who was about 4-years-old, said, "Memaw's mommy is an angel, and she follows me wherever I go." She called me Memaw, so she was saying my mom was an angel!
Now, to put this in perspective, there weren't pictures of my mother floating around or anything. She had been dead for several years and she was one of those people, like myself, who does not like having their picture taken. When somebody pulls out a camera, she'd say, "Get out of here." I asked my daughter, "Have you been talking about my mom or anything?" She said, "No." My granddaughter never met my mom, of course. I thought it was quite strange.
Jennifer lives in another town and I drove over there the next day to visit. The daycare kids were running around. There was a little group of them that were pretty rambunctious, and they were being loud and crazy. I sat down on the sofa, and in came my granddaughter. She had just learned how to wrap a baby doll like a burrito. That's a little thing all little girls do at a certain age. They kind of wrap them up like a papoose?
She came over, laid her baby doll down on the coffee table and started wrapping her up. I was watching her, and I said, "So, Leah, I hear you see angels." That little girl turned her head, looked right at me, and just said, "Your mom."
I said, "Uh-uh-uh-uh." I was speechless, which is not like me at all. I said, "Oh, she's nice, huh?" She nodded her head, she said, "Mm-hm," and she just continued wrapping her baby doll.
Now, she's 13-years-old and I do hope that my mom is still watching over her, because as kids get older, it gets scary.
Occasionally, I've asked her about it. There was a time I think when she was younger where she remembered, but now when I ask she just smiles. I believe she did see something. I think Memaw's mommy is an angel after all.
-Diane, California
48. Like Someone Flipped a Switch
I was involved in a road traffic accident in a lorry about seven years ago. I died at the scene and I was gone for approximately eight minutes. My heart had stopped. I found myself standing away from the accident scene, overlooking my body. I saw paramedics working on me. During this time, I was standing with a lady, who I knew many years before, but who had passed away about 20 years previously. I saw a light and other bits and pieces that I didn't fully understa
nd at the time. After being at the hospital and seeing many things in this disembodied state, it was like someone flipped a switch and I came back. Since that point, I've experienced many aspects of the unknown, the spirit, call it what you will.
The fact that I came back makes me think that the other world wasn't ready for me. I had more work to do. After the accident, I found myself seeing and experiencing things which I couldn't explain. I can now see the other side and give messages to people. I now work with a paranormal group and I have my own spiritual experiences. It's like a completely new existence. I'm injured for life now, but this newfound insight has kept me focused. Obviously, my life changed because I had never believed in heaven and hell, as they are called.
When a person loses somebody close to them, I now can share with them that their loved one is still with them spiritually. They are not alone, as they may think. Sometimes if a person loses a child or partner, getting a message from the other side through a medium gives them that uplift. It's nice to see people get something, a communication from somebody that has passed over.
I'm less afraid of death. It has changed my perspective knowing that we do live on, but in a slightly different way, not physically but spiritually.
Had I died and stayed in the spirit world, I think I would have likely found myself a guide or inspirer who worked with the living. I think I would have stayed with the lady who came to me during my experience. I probably would've been with her spiritually helping living people down here. That's what I feel the spirit world does. It brings inspiration and sometimes it brings relief to people, knowing that there is something real on the other side. I would have liked to have been able to prove to the living, if I had passed over, that there truly is something on the other side.
I can be skeptical, don't get me wrong. I question everything that I've experienced, and what other people experience. But there is something, because if there wasn't, I wouldn't be involved in what I do. Like someone flicking a switch, something happened, and now, I'm on a completely different journey from where I was prior to my accident. A complete change from that 9-to-5 job, and just living an everyday life. I see things in a different light. The spirit world is a terrific mystery. I learned a lot more about what life is all about and that's precious.
-Martin, United Kingdom
49. You Made the Right Choice
My mom lived well into her early 80s. Unfortunately, the last couple of years she was with us got kind of tough and she started declining. She'd been in the hospital several times and she finally got to the point where she said, "No more hospitals; I've had enough," She signed a do not resuscitate order.
She became ill again and I left work to go to my mom and dad's home to have a talk with her. I said, "Mom, if we don't go to the hospital, you're probably not going to make it." She said, "Yes, I know. But that's okay. My sister is here." Her sister had died 10 years earlier, but Mom swore that she had seen her in the house.
I called in hospice and I took care of my mother with the help of my wonderful adult daughters. I made her comfortable in bed. She passed very peacefully, but it was a tough decision. When it came down to it, I asked, "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" She said, "I'll leave that decision up to you." Unfortunately, that's a heck of a decision to leave in your daughter's hands. I thought about it so very hard and finally decided, "No, she wants to be home. Let's let her go peacefully at home." She died very peacefully, but I couldn't resolve the guilt in my mind. I thought that if I'd only called the ambulance, she could've been saved. We could've kept her around for six months, or maybe longer. Who knows?
About two weeks went by and I was just a wreck. I just couldn't resolve this in my head. One night, I went to sleep, as usual, and I had this dream. There was my mother and she wasn't speaking to me, but she was in a convalescent home bed. She was unable to feed herself and one side of her body was paralyzed. She was crying and miserable. Without words, she looked at me and I knew that this is what would have happened had I taken her to the hospital and prolonged her life. I knew because in the next moment, we were out of the convalescent home, she took my hand and took me flying. I don't know how to explain it. One moment, I was watching her miserable in bed and the next moment we were flying over the water, the lakes, and the sky was purple. It was beautiful beyond words. She finally said to me, "You made the right choice."
She was so happy and in utter bliss. It was an incredible dream, because the colors were so real. It was like watching a sunrise with every brilliant color you can imagine. She was smiling and happy. I was told I'd made the right choice. Once I woke up from that dream, I realized that she was happy now. Of course, I still miss her. It's tough wanting to call her, but knowing I can't. Yet, I know I made the right decision by allowing her the dignity of dying at home with the people who loved her.
It was a dream, but one that I am very thankful that I had.
-Mary, California
50. The Ride Not Taken
I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and had just gotten out of the military. My family and I were living with my brother-in-law, Seth, until our apartment was ready. He was an avid motorcycle rider and he invited me to go on a ride with him and a friend on an upcoming Sunday.
Something inside me felt kind of funny when he asked me, but I didn't say yes or no immediately. The ride wasn't for about another week. The next day, I was sitting in the room where we were staying. I had a daydream, as clear as any picture. I saw a motorcycle going up a mountain, then flying and hitting the side of it. The people on the bike were thrown and the passenger went over a cliff. It was quite extraordinary because it was just so vivid and it scared me because of the invitation to ride.
I was disturbed by it. My wife could tell I was upset. She asked me what was wrong. I told her what I had daydreamed, and that I wasn't planning on going on the motorcycle ride. Right away, she called in my sister-in-law and asked me to tell her the story. Afterward, my sister-in-law just looked at me like I was being silly, as if to say, "Okay, whatever, guy."
My wife and I discussed it. This was not the first time I had a feeling about something. I had experiences before we moved to Albuquerque, just little things like anticipating a box delivery or whatever. We ended up going through the rest of the week normally. I didn't feel any anxiety or anything.
Sunday morning came, and I felt really peaceful. Instead of the bike ride, my family and I made plans to go around driving, since we were new to the area and we wanted to check the place out. We spent the day together, exploring. Around 2:00 p.m., we went back home. We were there for maybe 10 minutes and we heard the front door swing open frantically. We heard footsteps running around the house. It was my sister-in-law.
She was panicking. My wife couldn't get information from her right away, but she finally did. My sister-in-law said, "There was an accident with Seth and his friend". She said the friend, who I would've been riding with on the back of the bike, lost control. He hit the side of the mountain wall, and skidded. The bike slid over the edge of a cliff. Thankfully, he was thrown from it first. He was hurt pretty badly, but I would've been on the back of that bike. Had I been there, I would have gone over that cliff, just like in the daydream!
When I told my sister-in-law that I wasn't going it was uncomfortable. She looked at me and called me a freak. She was weirded out by the fact that I had verbalized it. She didn't tell her husband about my reason for not going.
Was it fate? Well, I believe that there's something, call it a guardian angel or guiding spirit or whatever. To this day, if I'm driving down the street and plan to make a left, but something tells me not to I'll deviate and go straight or to the right.
I guess that Sunday just wasn't my time.
-Floyd, California
51. I Shouldn't Have Been Able to See That
I have a neuromuscular disease, so I have very severe scoliosis of the spine. When I was 16, I needed surgery to straighten it out a bit. When I was on the operating
table, I was told that I actually died twice. During the surgery, I saw my mom's leg in my mind's eye. When my mom is nervous, she crosses her leg and bounces her foot up and down. I saw her foot bouncing up and down on the other side of this white screen. At first, I assumed the surgery was over and I was seeing this. I just figured I was in the recovery room, was waking up and she was waiting for me. Then, in what seemed like a few minutes, I woke up after the surgery. I realized that I wasn't in the recovery room, but still in the operating room. I had seen my mom bouncing her leg during the surgery.
It took a couple of weeks but I recovered. I told my mom, "When I was having surgery, I saw you. I guess you were in the waiting room. I don't know where else you would've been, but I saw you, and I shouldn't have been able to see you."
They took me down to the surgical waiting room and it was pretty big. They wanted to test me. They said, "All right, we're just curious; show us where we were sitting in this vision you had." I said, "Okay," So, I rolled around in my wheelchair and I saw a white divider, like I had seen in my vision. I said, "You were sitting in that chair right there, Mom." Her jaw dropped and she looked really startled.
I said, "But you know, the weird thing is, the chairs in here are purple, upholstered, but in my dream or whatever, they were this gross green color." She about fell over, and she said, "Between the time of your surgery and the week now, they reupholstered this entire waiting room."