Short Story: Tracee Ford
I am
going to let you in on a little secret. The reason I write
paranormal is because I’ve experienced the paranormal. I am
going to recount for you chronologically what I’ve experienced and
then you’ll see what has made me who I am today.
As a
very young child, some of my earliest memories are of feelings that I
had or dreams. Now that I look back on it, I understand
everything clearly. Up until I was in the third grade, I lived
in a house with an unknown past. My mother always told me that
the deed didn’t even have a date on it because the construction of
the dwelling was unknown. It wasn’t a fancy house and to be
quite honest I had a love/hate relationship with the place. It
was the first home I ever knew, which is why I think I loved it, but
there were times I wanted to escape from it, especially at night.
I
hated trying to sleep. My bedroom was in the back of the house
right over the laundry room. During the day things weren’t so
bad, but when it was time for bed I couldn’t control my anxiety.
I screamed and cried sometimes, begging not to go to sleep. I
couldn’t put it all into words then because, of course, as a child
our understanding of everything is so limited. All I knew was
that things happened to me when I slept; things that frightened me.
I
used to dream from the time I put my head on the pillow until the sun
came up. Everyone says that’s not possible, but that’s not
how I see it. I had two closets in my room on opposite sides of
the room. The closet that my clothing was in didn’t scare me,
but the closet at the end of my bed terrified me. A witch lived
in it. Yes, a witch. Now remember, I was a child and the
only thing I could relate to what I saw was a witch. I know now
it was either a spirit or a demon. She tormented me in my
dreams. There were times I was awake and saw her standing at
the end of the room watching me. She always stood right beside
the closet door. I don’t remember her approaching me but just
the fact she was in the room and visible was enough to make me want
to run out of the room screaming, which I did many times, by the
way. She was average size, dark clothing, long gray hair, and
the ugliest face I’d ever seen in my life. She haunted me, no
doubt. To be honest, just writing this and thinking about her
makes me a little sick.
Now,
how do you tell that to your parents or adults what you’re seeing
and experiencing? My mom asked me recently why I didn’t tell
her. I, myself, didn’t understand it so how could I explain
it to someone else? Often adults pass these sort of confessions
off to dreams or just fear; “Oh, you’re just afraid of the
dark.” Yes, I was and for good reason.
I
can tell you what I saw and what I felt was as real as I am. Of
course, in today’s times I would have been diagnosed with some sort
of mental disorder. However, I have two degrees in psychology
and I know I wasn’t crazy or hallucinating.
I
don’t think it was a coincidence that I was sick as a child either;
physically ill all of the time. At least, I was sick when we
lived in that house. I was always having some sort of illness.
Trust me, the world of the paranormal melts right into our current
state of being and things happen, good or bad. Some individuals
experience physical illness. Others experience mental
breakdowns. It depends on the haunting as well as the person
experiencing the haunting.
The
other thing I remember is having vivid dreams about what I called
“no-eyed rabbits.” As I write I can still seem them quite
clearly in my head. I remember that there were several of them
standing in a circle around the fire. They chanted and now I
realize they were wearing hoods and had horns. As a child, I
could only relate the way they looked to rabbits with big tall ears.
I called them “no-eyed rabbits” because to me their eyes weren’t
normal. They looked like onions cut in half; no color or
expression. They held staffs in their hands and stood around an
enormous fire. Sometimes, in my dreams, they chased after me,
but most of the time I was just trapped running around them begging
for my mom or to leave or to wake up.
The
basement in that house was a place I knew not to go. Don’t
ask me why, I just knew it was no place for me. The few times I
went down there I felt a distinct feeling of unwelcome. I hated
the basement sometimes as much as I hated my room. It was just
off of the kitchen. When I went into the kitchen I sometimes
felt like whatever was in the basement had made it’s way to the
main part of the house. That feeling that something or someone
is watching you.
Like
I said though, it was a love/hate relationship with the house.
In fact, I sobbed when we moved out of the house. However, when
we left, there were no more nightmares about the rabbits or the
witch. They stayed with the house.
My
guess, now that I’m grown up, is that they were attached to the
house from the very beginning. I guess I could research who has
lived in the home, but honestly, until a few years ago the
experiences never made sense.
After
we moved out a friend of mine that I went to school with moved into
the house with her parents. Ironically, the back of the house
caught on fire. What was once my room and the laundry room
caught on fire, destroying the back of the house. Coincidence?
I don’t know. What I do know is that spirits can be pretty
powerful and cause things to happen. Would I stake my life on
the possibility that the witch caused the fire? No, but I’m
certainly not closed down to it.
So
let’s fast forward, shall we? In December of 2011 I sank into a
very deep depression after the death of my aunt. I had become atheist
prior to that and I had no hope of an afterlife. So, when she passed
away, I saw it as final, which nearly drove me crazy. However, I met
a wonderful holistic physician who introduced me to a very important
vitamin regiment that would help my body reset itself. This still
didn’t temper my intense fear of death.
I
sat in the waiting area of his office one day and beside me lay a
book. Its title: Soul
Proof (http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Proof-Mark-R-Pitstick/dp/0966141962).
I brushed it off for whatever reason that time, but it wasn’t long
before the dreams began.
The
first I remember was about my grandfather (maternal). I could see him
standing at the top of concrete stairs. He was dressed in his gray
pants and a light-weight button-up shirt. I remember being a child
and running up the stairs to him, leaping in his arms and saying,
“Please, Papa, don’t go. I don’t want you to go.” He
said, “I have to go for a little while. Go to Kat now. You’ll
see me again, just go to Kat.” Kat is my eldest aunt who had
been dead for a year. I turned and saw her; she looked like she
did when I was a small child and I begged again for my grandfather
not to leave me. When I woke, I could still smell his Old Spice
cologne. I had no doubt I’d encountered his presence, but my
limited faith at that time didn’t allow me to process it.
Other
dreams were of my aunt; her touch on my forehead and assuring me that
everything was alright and that she was in a wonderful place. Again,
the doubting Thomas I was at that time, wouldn’t allow me to
embrace what was really going on. Another dream, my paternal
grandmother, who died long before I was born, came to me. She had
passed away tragically in a car accident when my dad wasn’t even
out of high school. She told me that she was always with me and
that she loved me. I remember her face and how beautiful she was. I
remember hearing her laughing and saying how much she loved watching
me grow up.
After
all of this, I went back to my healer again and sat in his waiting
area. This time I opened up Soul
Proof and
read the introduction. I couldn’t put the book down. I asked to
borrow it. I know it might sound clique, but it changed my life.
After reading the book, everything made sense. The struggles I
had endured throughout the years. The fight I had within myself
made total sense and the conflict was over. It all fell right
into place. I have never felt such utter peace in my entire
life. Peace that cannot be bought or explained. Peace
like no other. I made a conscious decision to change my life and put
a more positive spin on my attitude. It was a defining moment in my
life that put me on a completely different path.
In
early April my husband’s cousin died of cancer. He was young and
vibrant and everyone loved him. I never personally met him. However,
as I stood in the line at his viewing, he definitely made sure I
understood who he was. At first I thought my husband was talking to
me. Turns out it wasn’t my husband at all.
Now
this is where you can either decide whether I’m crazy or not.
This dead person made an effort to communicate with me. Yes, I know
it sounds like I’m schizophrenic, but I assure you I’m perfectly
health and very mentally sound. I wasn’t sure what was happening.
The next day at his funeral, it worsened. I felt like someone was
screaming in my ear. He begged me to comfort his mother and to send
messages to his loved ones. Because I didn’t understand what was
happening, I didn’t entertain any of this, but when we were
standing at the graveside I could literally feel this man’s
presence. During the service I felt his agony and grief and
found myself losing emotional control. I didn’t know this man. Why
was I crying? I’ll tell you why: because I felt his emotion and
empathized. In my mind I told him to crossover and that there were
others waiting to help him. I didn’t hear him anymore that day.
I
went to a person right after the funeral that I knew could help me
and that’s precisely what she did. She helped me understand what
was happening and that I have an ability that I am still learning to
use and understand. I don’t question it or flaunt it or
advertise it or talk about it unless I’m asked, but it’s there;
always a part of me and always will be.
Since
this encounter I’ve had regular communication with many of those
who’ve passed on from my grandmother, who is truly with me at all
times, to my husband’s relatives. I am also in constant
communication with the Creator and I make sure I take time to thank
Him and to commune with him. I also have a direct like to what I
call, spirit guides (the Christian faith calls them angels). They
help me and guide me and teach me; they comfort me when I’m sad and
they help me stay focused when I need to. An entirely new world
opened to me when I decided to change my life and walk down a
positive path and I don’t regret one decision I’ve made in this
new life.
When
this happened to me, I rewrote my novel, Between
Worlds: The Fine Line and
took on a more opened-minded approach to solving spiritual problems
and confronting spiritual battles. In fact the still small
voice made it very clear that in order for my book to be published I
would have to change the content. So, I did and I let the Divine take
over. I wasn’t disappointed. PDMI Publishing was the answer the
Creator sent to me.
Since
I have discovered the inner self, I formed a paranormal investigation
team, The Southern Ohio Ghost Hunters. However, the first ghost hunt
went terribly wrong. The initial premise of forming such a team was
to examine local legends and lore. So, me, my husband, and another
couple went to two graveyards and a bridge in Ross County. We took
photos, audio recordings, and then returned to the house and analyzed
them. Before we even arrived home, the strange occurrences started.
Something tapped on the glass in the back of my husband’s truck. I
felt uneasy. When we went to the bridge, my spirit guides told me not
to get out of the truck. At one of the graveyards they told me to
stay away from a certain part of the property. However, the other guy
that was with us, didn’t and then came running back toward us
saying something was chasing him. Like I said, we did things all
wrong.
The
next week I encountered phenomenon that I wasn’t comfortable with
at all. The first thing was I stood in my bedroom and felt like
someone was watching me. The night of the hunt, I couldn’t stop
dreaming. I dreamed about the graveyards and so many other things, it
isn’t even possible for me to recount it all.
That
hunt happened on a Saturday night. I don’t remember if it was
Sunday or Monday morning, but I was awakened by the dog rubbing up
against the bed. He is really big and when he rubs against anything,
it shakes. So, I got up and went into the computer room. I told my
husband the dog woke me up and he said, “He couldn’t have. He’s
outside.” RED FLAG!
That
same day I lay down with my husband for a nap and something picked up
a portion of the blanket off of my leg and dropped it back onto my
leg. Now I was concerned.
The
next thing that happened is that I was sitting up sleeping one night
because my acid reflux was acting up. I was in bed propped against
pillows. I dreamed of a man. I saw him from the knees up. He stood on
the other side of the bed (where my husband sleeps). His skin, gray,
and his build frail. It reminded me of a Holocaust victim. He reached
over toward me and I woke myself up smacking his hand away.
Friday
night, I am home sitting in my chair with the laptop and I’m typing
something, can’t remember what. I feel intense heat from the top of
my head to the soles of my feet. I cannot move. I cannot speak. I
cannot move my eyes. I feel suffocated and trapped. My husband is
outside on the porch. I start praying. No relief. At that point, I
realized I hadn’t had any contact with my spirit guides that entire
week. I was alone. I know now that I was being taught a very
important lesson and that they had to stand back and let me learn.
They hadn’t left me, but I know they were told to keep their hands
off.
That
entire I felt something on me. I could walk down the hallway and felt
like something was going to crawl up my back. Very creepy!
The
sensation left. When I told my husband about it, he didn’t seem to
care. The next morning I researched the hot and cold sensations. I
was under the impression, from my previous encounters, that the cold
sensation meant spiritual activity, possibly demonic. As I read, I
found that intense heat indicated demonic encounters. My heart sank
and I felt sick. I had allowed this thing to enter into my life. I
suddenly felt that whatever followed me to my home was picked up in
the second cemetery due to my team member’s lack of restraint. Then
I felt that it had been attached to him all along. I text him and my
other friend to see if anything was happening with them. The guy text
me back saying the activity was heightened for him. I suggested that
we do a cleansing at my house because of what was happening. I didn’t
get a response.
Sunday
we went to my cousin-in-law’s to swim. Even in her house I felt
like someone was watching me, so whatever was with me was following
me; it had nothing to do with my house. While I was sitting at her
house, the guy who started all of this called me and told me he
didn’t want to “hear about a cleansing.” This immediately told
me he liked whatever activity was happening to him. RED FLAG.
When
we arrived home, I took a shower and when I stepped out I felt
something standing in the doorway leering at me. I got mad. I started
shouting at it to get out and that I didn’t care what it was or why
it was here, but it needed to go back to where it came from; it
wasn’t welcome in my home and I wasn’t going to put up with it
anymore. Immediately, it left. I heard my spirit guides again. They
told me how sorry they were that I’d experienced those things. I
promised myself I’d never do another hunt again, at least not
without some precautionary measures, which leads me to my final part
of this post.
I
took a new job in July of 2012 and was pleasantly surprised to learn
that one of my employees was also a paranormal investigator. We
talked about my previous issues and how apprehensive I was about
investigating again. Nevertheless, we received a call that a couple
needed help at their home. They were going through a tough time and
the spirit in the house was starting to physically harm them. I’m
going to call her LW here to protect her privacy, but she talked to
me about going because I shared with her what I could hear and how I
could communicate with the dead.
I
will admit openly that I was fearful that something would come home
with me again or bad things would happen, but I went. My spirit
guides and the Creator encouraged me saying, “You’re helping.”
So my husband and I met LW and the other team members at the house.
When I walked in, I really didn’t feel much. I felt anxious because
I was afraid for myself, not for the couple that lived there.
I
went into the bathroom to be alone for a moment. I was still very
unsure, so I prayed. The still small voice said, “I’m using you
to help this family. Don’t be afraid, just be mindful and
reverent.” When I walked out of the bathroom, a bedroom was right
across and as I walked down the hallway I got the feeling that
something was trying to crawl up on my back again. Then I heard my
spirit guide say, “Don’t be afraid. We’re here to protect you.”
I
walked back into the kitchen where the others were gathered and the
man of the house gave my husband and I tour of the basement, but
before he did I asked him if there had been any activity in the room
across from the bathroom. He told me that his wife had been drug off
the bed and that he had been attack, with scratches left behind;
three distinct scratches. I told him I wanted to see the basement
before I made a determination, but before that, LW did a prayer of
protection over the entire group there and a detachment prayer so
that we would leave with no unwanted guests.
When
I walked into the basement I couldn’t feel anything unusual. There
was one room, however, that I couldn’t go near. I felt like if I
did, I might suffocate. It was the room right under the bedroom where
the activity had been the most recent. I was also told that the dog,
an animal that they had had for a very long time, sudden started
urinating in the floor for no reason, then suddenly this stopped. I
explained that the dog was in predator mode, so whatever was in the
house was powerful enough to scare the dog.
In
the weight room, there were windows and I felt the presence of
several tribal people. I knew they were Native Americans. The owner
told me a tree had either fallen or been cut down and it seemed that
the activity heightened when that happened. He also indicated that it
was possible that the land the house was on was burial property for
the Indians that lived in the area. He said there was a mound on the
property but he has never disturbed it. I told him that the tribal
people didn’t mean him harm. In fact they protect the land as they
swore they would do. They make sure that the land is safe and that is
their job. I told him that there were several that were wondering
what we were doing, but they were more fascinated than distressed. I
explained that what I felt was very distinct honor and pride, but not
vengeful or jealous pride. It was pride that their belief brought
them back to this land that they used to occupy and that they are the
guardians forever. This seemed to make the man of the house feel
better.
Baby
monitors had been set up before we went downstairs. The team said
they heard what sounded like a screech. We explained we didn’t hear
anything. I told the team that it made me feel uneasy to go into the
basement corner room. We split up into groups. The man of the house,
his wife, and two of the team members stayed upstairs. LW, me, and my
husband went downstairs. Both groups had equipment: cameras, EVP’s,
other technology to help us communicate.
When
we went downstairs, the uneasiness was gone. As we walked around I
kept hearing someone saying something, but it was very muffled at
first. “Need help” finally came through. I asked aloud, which I
usually don’t do but because it was being audio taped it did, “What
do you want us to help you with?” The short of it was that there
was a boy, around the age of seven or eight, who fell from the tree
that the man of the house cut down. He broke his neck when he fell
and didn’t even know he was dead. He made it clear that there was
something in the house that told him he wasn’t allowed to leave. He
lit up the EVP and the flashlight to help us. He said he saw a lot of
other people with us. The picture in this blog shows several things.
The before picture and the after picture. Orbs everywhere. The little
boy identified my grandmother and a little boy with my husband, who
we both knew was his grandmother’s brother who died when he was a
child. He said he wanted to play with the little boy and wanted my
grandmother to cross over with him. I explained that if he looked
hard enough he could see his mother. In fact, there was one time when
he said, “I want my mom.” I nearly lost it. It took everything I
had not to sob.
In
my head I was able to see what this little boy looked like; blonde
bowl cut hair, colonial style clothing and he knew of the tribal
people. He said that his family liked them and they were good to his
family. Before he crossed over he saw them standing outside of the
house. I explained to him that once he crossed he could come and go
as he wished. That he had to check in first.
The
way I see it, we all make the journey to the other side. Sometimes we
need help doing this. Sometimes it happens right at the moment of
death. Other times, especially in cases where life is taken quickly,
it takes more help; sometimes from someone like me. Other times the
spirit guides can help, but with this poor little boy, he was being
oppressed by the other source in the house.
Finally,
after talking to this little guy for over an hour, he crossed over
and when he did I heard a voice say “Thank you.” I knew it was
his mom.
We
went back upstairs. Before we went into the bedroom for our
final piece of research, we sat at the kitchen table, me, the man of
the house, his wife, LW, and my husband. The two other team
members went downstairs to do some research. As we sat at the
table I felt the presence of an older woman. He told me that
his grandmother died in the home. I knew she had attached
herself to him. She had checked in on the other side, but had
been sent back to him as a spirit guide, just as my grandmother had
been assigned to me. I described to him her characteristics and
general fiery attitude. He and his wife both decided that I
must be seeing her. She was very protective of him. In the mind
time I heard, “That old woman means nothing to me.” The
demon decided it was time to talk. The impressions I got were
“steal,” “take,” “destroy.” This demon’s mission
was to steal and take the man’s marriage and possibly his life.
The man didn’t understand why and I told him that these creatures
don’t have to have a reason, they just do. I explained that
they feed of of negativity and that they thrive on turmoil. He
and his wife confirmed that they had been having trouble and that
they argued a lot.
Then
the true reason came out. My husband said, “Did you have
something bad happen to you when you were a kid?” The man explained
that he was abandoned and his grandparents raised him. He
admitted that he was holding all of that resentment and he was raised
Catholic and didn’t understand anything anymore. He was
trying to open his mind spiritually but was struggling. I
explained that this is what was probably feeding the entity.
To
make a long story a little shorter, when we went into the bedroom to
do our investigation, the demon pulled my hair. There were very
cold breezes in the room. LW and I had to pray constant
protection around us and we rebuked it many, many times. The
man of the house was just getting angrier, which is why it wouldn’t
leave. And sometimes, it takes more than one time of doing
something like this to clean the space. However, we didn’t
get any resolve that night. When we stood in our circle prayer,
we heard noises in the hallway, and then we all felt it standing in
the corner of the room. We prayed our hearts out and we also
ended with a detaching prayer of protection.
Nothing
went home with me, I am thankful to report. I have also not heard of
anymore situations at the house we investigated. I have been in
contact with the little boy once more. He came through to me
the day after the investigation. I was in the hallway at my home and
I felt him hug my legs and thank me. In my mind I told him that
it was my pleasure and that he was free to visit again, but he needed
to get more familiar with the other side for now. I also felt
his mom’s presence and knew she was the one who had come back with
him to urge him to show his appreciation, just like any good parent
would do.
I
love my life and I love my gift. I am thankful every day that I
discovered the light within myself and I work very hard to show that
light to others. I created my own YouTube series to recount my
experiences. If you are interested in learning more, please visit my
blog, http://traceeford.wordpress.com,
to find the archived series, Bumps
in the Night: My Own Tales of the Paranormal.
You can also visit my YouTube Channel
(http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2O27s3YyDjvpVwKWE6kHJQ)
to watch the series taken straight from the blog archive.
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Thank you so much for being on my blog! Sounds awesome. I think it would be cool to have your gift. I had a blast reading your post, and I am going to be checking out your youtube videos.
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