Things That Go Bump in the Night

I have often questioned my beliefs about the afterlife and the existence of spirit around us. I have heard so many reports of strange, inexplicable encounters from friends and family who I trust, that I cannot deny their reality. I have never seen or felt a ghost myself, but I do have many dreams where my dead relatives speak to me very clearly. Some would say that this is them visiting and communicating from the other side. Some would say it’s just my own mind trying to make sense of their departure. Either way, it’s very cool, and often leaves me waking up to start my day in an emotional state.

 I have visited Tarot card readers and psychics several times, more for entertainment than for serious belief. Some have been given some very specific information that came true. For example, one woman told me that my mother would pass on the 6th day of the month, which was correct. She also confirmed that mum was not looking forward to seeing her own mother on the other side, which was true because they had a very strained relationship. Another psychic told me, as I walked in her door, that a male spirit who had served in the military had been waiting for me all day in her house. That one kind of freaked me out because my father had recently passed and was in the British army.

 One of my dearest friends, who is the most level-headed accountant, reported an experience of “astral-traveling” to me. She traveled across Canada in her dream and saw the inside of an old boyfriend’s bedroom. She had never been there in real life, but when she called him the next day, she was able to describe every detail of his room, from the paint colour to the furniture and artwork. What’s more is that he had also felt her visiting him in the night. How do you explain that?

I have two close family members who have spoken of repeated past-life regression dreams since they were small children. My husband had a dream over and over as a young child that he was clinging to life on a piece of driftwood in the dark ocean as an old wooden sailing ship burned. He is scared of the ocean to this day because of it. An auntie in the family dreamt over and over that she was dressed in a full-length gown standing on the edge of a cliff and when she jumped, she always woke up in a panic. This suicide haunted her dreams for years.

Have you ever walked into a building in a completely new location and felt strongly like you had been there before? I know someone who walked into an old church in a foreign country, made a beeline to a specific pew, and then reached under the pew in front of her to feel a giant crack in the wood that she somehow knew would be there. It was as if she had sat in that exact spot a hundred times before.

So, what kind of strange, ghostly experiences have you had in your life? Or do you think this is all hokum? Please share your thoughts.