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Encounters Archive:

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2004 Encounters:
Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus in the Window - North Baker, Pennsylvania

The Little Girl in the Red Dress - San Jose, California

The Scream Orb - Indianapolis, Indiana

Tyler's Torment - Sterling Heights, Michigan

Ribhu's Last Visit - Siliguri, West Bengal, India

Grandmother's Shadow? - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Woman of Whiskey Row - Prescott, Arizona

Dad's Helping Hand - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Great Grandfather's House - Spartanburg, South Carolina

Family's Mysterious Mist - Glenville, West Virginia

Grandma's Goodbye Hug - Bellingham, Massachusetts

Jimmy and Jacob's War Games - Toledo, Ohio

Sachs Bridge Ghost Mist - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The Man in the Overcoat - Chicago, Illinois

Witch Bertha's Flying Orb Video - Coleraine, Minnesota

Auditorium Shadow Video - Hibbing, Minnesta

The Apartment in the Former Morgue - Marlborough, Massachusetts

My Father's Visit - Spring, Texas

Knocks, Bumps, a Cemetery, and a Book - Banks, Oregon

The Chase Through Enchanted Forest - Pasadena, California

Ghostly Wisps of Blonde Hair - Ellicott City, Maryland

The Mist of Gunntown Cemetery - Naugatuck, Connecticut

The Cold Wind and Haunted House - Porterville, California

The Cloaked Figure in Nesbitt Elementary - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Tormented in My Bedroom - Grand Prairie, Texas

The Little Girl of Grants Pass - Grants Pass, Oregon

Stephanie in the Window - Painesville, Ohio

Phantom Funeral Pyre - Nagaland, India

The Visiting Nun - Des Plaines, Illinois

The Nazi Belt - Georgia

Forest Park Cemetery Chase - Troy, New York

Sarah's Nightly Visits - Lawrence, Kansas

My Sixth Sense - Chicago, Illinois

The Old Prisoner - Indianapolis, Indiana

Fast Food Victorian Ghost - Guthrie, Oklahoma

Camarillo State Mental Hospital "Pipes" - Camarillo, California

The Insistent Spirit - Litchfeild, New Hampshire

Disembodied Voices Speak - Flubdun Township, Pennsylvania

Thomas Edison Museum Orb - Ft. Myers, Florida

The Old Hag Who Lifted Me - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Ghosts of Fort Pulaski - Savannah, Georgia

The Blithe Spirit - Portland, Maine

Paco from Chichen Itza - Atlanta, Georgia

Footsteps in the Forest - Hooks, Texas

The Phantom Maid of Melville - Melville Hotel, Saskatchewan, Canada

Grandfather's House Full of Family Spirits - Cheektowaga, New York

The Spirit of Anne - Norfolk, Virginia

The Shadow Man's Hand - Verden, Germany

Murderous Mirror Message - Jefferson, Texas

River Styx Cemetery Face - Wadsworth, Ohio

The Phantom Sentry - Israel

The Flash at Devil's Den - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The Little Man of Bihar - Bihar, India

Chesterland Cemetery Mist - Chesterland, Ohio

The Thing in the Woods at Camp Morgan - White Mountains, New Hampshire

Mom's Cat and Pennies from Heaven - Lindenhurst, Illinois

The Haunted Apartment - Brooklyn, New York

A Friend's Goodbye - Chicago, Illinois

Temporary Possession - Believe It, Or Not - St. Augustine, Florida

The Douglas Arms' Ghostly Argument - Banchory, North East Scotland

Mystic Pizza Place - Saratoga, California

A Sleeper's Disembodied Hands - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Ebne Baviie Cemetery Orb - Tehran, Iran

Sean's Visit with My Daughter - Norman, Oklahoma

A Crying Mary Statue - Lyons, Illinois

Mischievous Boy Ghost in the Pub - Brighton, England

Dad's Answering Machine Message from Beyond - Knoxville, Iowa electronic voice phenomenon (evp)

Haunted High School - Slinger, Wisconsin

The Angry Man in Brown Flannel - Everett, Washington

The Boy on the Rock - Forests near Trichur, Kerala, India

Cemetery Orb - Las Vegas, Nevada

Amli Apartments Ghosts - Kennesaw, Georgia

Gawler's Tree Ghost - Gawler, South Australia

Granny's Bouncing Green Lights - Jemison, Alabama

The Ghost of Ceely Rose - Lucas, and Lima, Ohio

Ghostly Stalker - Nashville, Tennessee

Jerry's Visit to Say Goodbye - New Mexico

Grandmother's Premonition - Spring Green, Wisconsin

Grandpa's Message - Los Angeles, California

Seeing the Light - Perham, Minnesota

Amanda, The "Imaginary" Friend - San Jose, California

Swan Lake Cemetery Energy - Swan Lake Cemetery, Hibbing, Minnesota

Grampa's Painting - Greely, Ontario, Canada

Haunted Homes I Have Lived In - Washington D.C and Las Vegas, Nevada

The Rapping and Disembodied Voice - Troy, New York

Tall Man at My Door - Tampa, Florida

Grandmother in the Shed - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Orb in the Wardrobe - Hartlepool, England

The Third Eye Opens - Orion, Bataan, Philippines

Aunt Flo's Saving Grace - Lackawanna, New York

Mom's Visit With Talk of Love - Alva, Oklahoma

Stuck Out of Body - Sunnyvale, California

A Confederate Solider Followed Me Home - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The Walking Boy - Edina, Minnesota

Haunted Statue - Punchbowl, NSW, Australia

Missing Hot Sauce and Candied Hearts - Brooklyn, New York

Ghostly Girl from the Well - Milford, Massachusetts

Precognition of Dad's Death - Southington, Connecticut

Red Dot in a Fog - Granbury, Texas

More Pennies From Heaven - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Mother's Kept Promise - Reynella, South Australia

Sensing a Previous Tenant - Los Angeles, California

Shaking Red Couch - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Discovered Room Unleashes Spirit - Toledo, Ohio

Graveyard Ectoplasm - Indianapolis, Indiana

Ghost Woman on Video - Chatham, New Jersey

Pennies from Heaven - Cincinnati, Ohio

Blurry Nap-Time Visitor - Boise, Idaho

Vanishing Girl - Davao City, Philippines

Black-Hooded Ghost - Hamilton, Ohio

Ka Huaka'i Po (The Night Marchers) - La'ie, O'ahu, Hawai'i

The Lady in the Blue Dress at Captain Tony's Bar - Key West, Florida

Haunted House in Princeton - Princeton, West Virginia



October 31, 2004

My Father's Visit

Rate this encounter:
Votes:69 Rating: Rating = 7.33 Ratings Breakdown
Susan Dancy, Spring, Texas, 2002, info@ghostvillage.com

My father was murdered on Halloween night in 1979 in New Caney, Texas. He opened the door, to what he must have thought were trick-or-treaters, and was shot to death. His body was found on the floor by the front door, with a bowl of candy spilled beside him. His murderer was never found.

My parents divorced when I was 2 years old and I did not meet my father until I was about 9 years old. They remarried and then divorced a few years later. During the time he lived in our home, I was afraid of my father. He was an artist and an alcoholic; brilliant but filled with rage; creative and a diagnosed schizophrenic; violent and often irrational. Tortured, no doubt, by his own demons, I felt only relief when he finally moved out of our house.

I did not see my father again until my mother's death in 1965 when he came to her funeral. After that, I saw him on holidays and we got along as polite strangers. Eventually, as I got older, I was able to enjoy his company. We went to foreign films together, prowled rare book stores together, and sometimes got high with my friends. 

When I had a child, he was a loving grandfather. He adored my daughter and showered her with affection and attention. Unfortunately, his illness caused him to behave in increasingly bizarre ways. I became afraid for my child and afraid for myself. I eventually felt forced to severe all ties to him. We had a terrible confrontation in 1976 and I never saw him again.

My feelings towards him remained angry and resentful, even after his death. I didn't attend his funeral. I wanted nothing more to do with him and told myself I was glad he was dead.

One night, about 2 years ago, I attended a séance at Tranquil Thymes in Old Town Spring led by psychic Pat Rickard. We were sitting in a circle after being led in a meditation by Pat. Quite suddenly, the room filled with the smell of linseed oil and turpentine. I knew those scents intimately. I had smelled them often in my father's studio. Pat jumped up to look for the source. She thought a bottle of cleaning liquid must have spilled somewhere.

I sat in the circle, stunned into silence. I knew my father was there. I could feel him standing behind me. I smelled his scent, part oil paint, part turpentine, part pipe tobacco. He was my father but he felt like another person. He was not the dark, rage-filled monster I remembered. He was calm and quiet, and just there. His whole being, his soul, was transformed. I felt it. For the first time in my life, I knew who my father should have been. Could have been. Was meant to be before the ravages of alcohol and mental illness coated him in darkness. I was overwhelmed by his presence and the very lightness of it. He walked in the Light. I was filled with gratitude and a sense of the divine.

Pat came back, still bustling around, looking for the spilled Pinesol or something. I gathered my senses enough to just whisper that nothing had spilled, it was my father. Chris Pennell was sitting directly across from me in the séance. He asked me if my father was bald, wore glasses, smoked a pipe, and had a goatee. I said he did. Chris said, "He's been standing behind you for awhile." If I had needed any validation, that was certainly it. But I didn't need it. I KNEW. I felt my dad. I felt his soul. And I felt my soul shift. I loved him at that moment and forgave him. It was so simple. I had spent many years off and on in therapy in an attempt to resolve various issues created by a disturbed, distant father. But in just a simple moment, those issues cleared, the wounds healed. My soul healed.

I don't really remember much more about that night. I do remember driving home, crying and grieving for my father but also feeling such joy. As I write this, he is here in the room with me again. Just a reminder that he is in the light but nearby if I need him. The way a dad should be.




2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar by Jeff Belanger photography by Frank Grace
Check out the 2014 Haunted New England wall calendar by Jeff Belanger and photography by Frank Grace!


Paranormal Conferences and Lectures
Don't miss the following events and lectures:

Jeff Belanger and “The Bridgewater Triangle” at Dedham Community Theatre - April 6, 2014 9:00PM

The Spirits of the Mark Twain House - Hartford, Connecticut - April 12, 2014

Paracon Australia - East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia - May 10-12, 2014