THE SISTER and BROTHER

In all the strange experiences I have encountered, talking to ghosts was not one of them until one day a ghost spoke to me.  I didn’t see the ghost, and I wasn’t even sure at first if it was a ghost.

The story is both sad and happy.  When my husband and I moved to the Ozarks after leaving Maui, Hawaii, we bought a house in a remote area with only a few neighbors around.  There were two homes directly across the road, the others were not in sight.  I didn’t know either of them, although one neighbor saw me outside and the lady came over to introduce herself.  She said her husband had cancer and was very ill. They had just received an adorable miniature Doxie puppy but couldn’t keep her, asking if I would like to have her, saying she was a purebred with papers.  Of course I wanted to meet her before I said yes.  When Ruth brought her over, it was a dream come true for me because since I was a little girl and saw a red mini doxie, I have envisioned that is the kind of dog my heart wished for.  But I never could bring myself to purchase one, that just never felt right to me.  When I held her in my arms, I instantly felt the bond ... a bond so strong that I knew she was soulmate animal in this life.  She was a gift I cherished for 10 years before she passed.  I will always miss my Lillie May (:

 A short time later his sister, DeeAnn, came from out of state to help care for her brother before he passed away.  DeeAnn came over one day while I was sitting on the front deck.  She was about my age and as we chatted, I realized we had a lot in common.  She was emotionally a wreck after her brother died, telling me her sister-in-law wouldn’t give her some of his belongings.  What she wanted most was his cowboy hat.  She was upset about it.  It wasn’t long after that when DeeAnn moved into town into an apartment.  She called me one day and invited me over.  After that I went to visit her a couple of more times when I went to town to do shopping.  She seemed kind of depressed, but I didn’t know what to do for her, other than listen and show compassion.

One morning I was in the kitchen cooking myself some breakfast when I heard a voice in my head tell me I had to tell his sister he was with her.  I wondered what was going on as I tried to ignore the strange voice.  It kept saying over and over I had to tell his sister he was with her.  I wondered what sister, and then I heard the voice say DeeAnn.  At first, I was taken aback, and brushed off the voice and went on with my day, while the strangeness lingered.

The next day, it happened again.  I stopped by DeeAnn’s a few days later to check on her and she seemed very sad.  She was glad that her sister-in-law decided to give her the cowboy hat, but after she hung it on a hook in the living room, it brought a lot of memories flooding her mind.  She missed him so much.  I could feel her pain.  I went home that day and the voice again returned, saying the same thing, and it made sense to me then.  He saw her pain and he desperately wanted her to know he was with her.  Every time she spoke of him by name, she called him BJ.  I had never met BJ myself.

When the voice came to me repeating the same words, I decided to see if I could communicate with what I believed by then was the ghost of BJ.  I told the voice I would not say anything to DeeAnn until I had proof and so I asked what BJ stood for.  The voice told me it stood for Billy Joe.  Each day I felt the conviction grow stronger to talk to DeeAnn about what I had been experiencing.  I called her one morning to see if she would like to go out to lunch, and she accepted.  We chatted a bit in the car until we got to the restaurant.

After we ordered our lunch, I asked her if she believed in the supernatural, and she perked up and said she did.  She shared with me that she had seen things moved around before, things she knew were not in the same place they were.  Then she told me just recently BJ’s hat had been turned, which she noticed right away and it made her feel like he was letting her know he was there, but she thought it was just her imagination and hope.  I could tell see was holding back tears.  I had never seen such a bond between siblings, but then I had never known anyone who lost one.  As she was talking, I felt the presence of BJ show up.  It was very strong, and the voice inside my head was telling me over and over to tell her.

I had to know to for sure before I could say such a thing, and so I needed my proof.  I asked her what BJ stood for, and she said Billy Joe.  Suddenly I felt a rush inside and I looked her in the eyes and told her BJ was with her.  I told her for some strange reason I heard a voice that had been urging me to tell her that he was with her, yet, I wasn’t sure if it was real ... but after she confirmed his name I knew then I had to let her know.  I told her he didn’t want her to hurt any longer, and that he’s been watching over her, and it seemed important that she knew he was all right.  In that moment she broke down and started crying, and she reached out and took my hand, thanking me.  When we were leaving she asked for a hug, and as we held each other for that brief moment, I felt BJ’s presence disappear ... to never return again. 

It was such an emotional moment I will never forget.

The next time I saw her she was working at the grocery store.  She was happy and glowing, and we had a short chat.  She told me to stop by on her day off sometime, and one day I did.  When I entered her apartment, there was another lady there.  DeeAnn introduced her as a neighbor as Sandy, also a co-worker at the grocery store.  DeeAnn only had two chairs, so I sat on the floor.  When DeeAnn introduced me she told the lady I was the one who helped with BJ.  The lady lit up and said how wonderful that was, saying DeeAnn is a happier person now, saying how she really believed in the supernatural, praising me for me for such a gift.

As I sat there, I felt the presence of a ghost appear and suddenly I heard a strong voice telling me to tell the lady her father was there.  I clearly heard, “Tell her, I’m watching over the boy”.  Tell her, the voice kept saying.  As DeeAnn and the lady were into a different conversation, the voice kept nagging at me.  I thought to myself - to the voice - I’m not saying anything until I know if her father is even dead.  When the two had finished their conversation I spoke up and asked Sandy if she was born and raised in Arkansas.  She said she was, mentioning her entire family stilled lived in the area.  I asked her what her dad did for a living, and when she said he had passed away a few years ago, I knew then I had to speak up.

I said to her, “I know, because he is here”.  The look on her face was deeply emotional and she started to cry, saying she had been feeling his presence at times but thought it was her imagination.  I told her that he wanted me to tell her that he has been here through this difficult time and has been watching over the boy.  I had no idea what that meant, as she gasped and said, “OMG”, telling me her oldest son was just convicted and sent to jail.  She said she’s been worried sick about him.  The tears ran down her face as she thanked me for giving her that message.  She said now she can have peace of mind.  And after I had told her these things, the voice said, “Tell her I’m right next to her,” and when I did, she began to smile through her tears, saying, “I love you daddy.”  She expressed that now when she talks to him, she knows he is listening.  She said she had been praying for her son’s emotional well being, and felt relieved that he wasn’t alone.

 THE DECEASED HUSBAND

Right after that, it was like the flood gates opened and I began to hear the chatter of voices in my head.  It was as if they discovered I could hear them and they all wanted me to tell people things.  I tried to ignore them the best I could, but one day I was having lunch at a Mexican restaurant, sitting alone, when I noticed a young couple several tables away holding hands.  I thought to myself, how sweet.  They looked to be in the late teens.  The waiter brought my meal and I began to eat, then I felt a presence show up, and a voice spoke telling me to tell the girl her father was there.  I thought to myself, to the voice, I’m not doing that.  The voice kept repeating over and over until I asked for a to go box and I left.  I couldn’t even finish my lunch.

After that, I start blocking my mind.  It took a while but the voices finally stopped.  One day I was talking on the phone with a friend in Oregon.  She and I had a lot in common with strange things, so I told her my experience.  She had just recently lost her husband and she asked me if I would try to contact him to see if could get a message.  I told her I would be open to the request, but I really wasn’t expecting to get anything.  A couple of weeks went by, and occasionally I would ask if Frank had a message for Katherine.  When we spoke the next time, she asked if I had received anything and I said no.

Then one evening I was getting ready for bed and I heard a faint voice saying “I am here.”  I paused and asked who was here.  The voice didn’t say, but it did tell me to tell her to take the ring and go to their favorite place.  He would be there.  I was really taken by surprise.  It was too late to call Katherine so I waited until the morning.  I told her I think I got a message from Frank, but first I had to ask her if she had a ring of his.  I had to have proof.  When I asked her that, she said immediately gasped yes, it was the only thing she kept of his and was in her jewelry box.  I then told her the rest of the message and she said she knew exactly where he wanted her to go.

She was so happy to get that message and she did what he requested.  She told me she drove out to that place, with the ring, and she felt his presence very powerfully.  She didn’t say so, but I got the impression there were things that needed to be spoken to give her peace.  And after that, she had her peace.

A lot of things like that happened to me while living in the Ozarks. 

A NEW LIFE

I was talking to my brother Johnny about moving out of California and coming to Arkansas.  He said he was planning on getting out of there as soon as he could.  He lived in a senior mobile home park, alone, running a string of Burger King stores.  He had several monitors setup at home after he wrote a program to keep track of all their supplies and sales.  His work load was killing him, though.  He’d been at for years and he was ready for a change. 

Johnny always was the computer wizard, and after he was first hired as a fry cook, they soon realized his talent ... and he was promoted soon there after running several Burger King offices database in and around the southern California area.  Though he was making excellent money, he lived in an old, very old run-down singlewide trailer  He said he was trying to fix it up a bit and hoped to get at least $5,000 out of it.  My mother and step father lived right next store in a double wide.  She had purchased the singlewide years earlier when the old folks living there had passed away, and she turned it into an office where she published her ‘Travelin’ On A Shoestring’ magazine.  When Johnny left Colorado, many years after I had left, as he stayed on in Avon working at a hotel, he bought the singlewide from mom and that’s where he’d been living ever since.  He said he left Avon, Colorado after the hotel was robbed one night, and the masked man held a gun to his head.  He thought he was going to die, and it scared him terribly.

 One afternoon I was sitting at my desk when I heard a voice out of the blue telling me to tell my brother information regarding the sale of his trailer.  I thought it was crazy since I didn’t even know if my brother was looking to sale.  But the feeling I got from that voice overwhelmed me all day.  I called my brother that evening to see how he was doing, it had been awhile since we had spoken.  He told me he was trying to fix his place up and sale it, but had a lot of work to be done, and was planning on living in his RV.  I knew then I had to tell him about my encounter, sharing the information just as I heard it.  I told him to put a For Sale sign in the window, and one at the community building at the mobile home park, and put the price on there of $30,000 Cash.  He started to laugh, saying there was no way anyone would pay that.  He said it wasn’t worth even a thousand dollars at that time and that is why he had a lot more work to do, hoping for $5,000.  I said, “Just do it and see what happens”.  I went on to tell him that someone is going to come, and they are going to buy it at full price, with a 30-day cash close.  He laughed again, and I said again, just do it.  So he did.

One week later a man came to his door and said he saw the For Sale sign in the window and was thrilled, because he had been waiting a long time for a space along that area of the park to become available, telling my brother his folks live in the park and he’s kept an eye out.  Johnny was blown away when the man offered full price, with less than a 30 day close.  He stopped all his repairs and started to pack, although he wasn’t sure he was coming to Arkansas.  The moment I knew his place had sold I started looking for a place in the Ozarks close to me.  I sent him information on various homes for sale, but nothing interested him.  I called the Realtor who sold me my place, and who had become a friend, and she said they were getting a new listing on an A-Frame cabin on ¼ acre for $29,500.  When she had taken me to see the place, I knew right then and there, this was Johnny’s home.

I took a bunch of pictures and emailed them to him.  He was so excited, saying that was his dream house.  When his sale closed on the trailer he was able to purchase the cabin with all cash and soon he was on his way to the Ozarks.  And he’s still there today.

My mother told us as soon as Johnny moved out, the new owners had that singlewide hauled off and a brand new one brought in.  The man paid $30,000 for a rented space.  It was nearly unbelievable, but he trusted me and it happened. 

I always love telling this story because it’s just so awesome!  I don’t know if it’s a ghost story, but it certainly could have been.

The End