The Queen of Hearts
Witness: D. Collins
Location: Irwin, Pennsylvania
Date of Encounter: Summer 1977
I was in college at the time, sitting up late one night in bed studying, while my husband was working late. Of note, my mother-in-law, only 47 at the time, had died suddenly in May of 1977. My spouse and his 5 siblings were coping as well as could be expected but my father-in-law was not — he just could not accept the loss.
That night, I thought I'd fallen asleep and was dreaming. I dreamed that she came to my bedside and said, "I know Bill [her husband] is having a hard time coping and I want you to give him this to let him know I'm still nearby. I'll always love him, but he must carry on with his life." When I "awoke" I was holding a playing card in my hand — the Queen of Hearts. At first, I couldn't believe it, so I went to the kitchen drawer where we kept several decks of cards. All of the Queen of Hearts were in the boxes, plus the pattern on the back of the card she gave me was a different color and style than our decks. I told my husband when he came home and when we took the card to my father-in-law with her message, he burst out crying, saying, they had belonged to a Bridge Club in years past and he had always called her his "Queen of Hearts."