A mom fights an evil entity from beyond the grave, another mom defeats another evil spirit, yet another mom builds a haunted house and other moms send signs from beyond.
In case you hadn’t figured it out, this is our Mother’s Day show where every story involves moms!
This episode is dedicated to all of the moms out there and to those moms who have gone on to the other side. Happy Mother’s Day!
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TRANSCRIPT
Jim Harold (00:00:00):
Mom can do it all. Whether it’s fighting off evil entities or simply sending a precious message from beyond. We’ll cover all the possibilities on this special Mother’s Day edition of the Campfire.
Announcer (00:00:29):
Welcome to our gathering tonight. Here we share stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim Harold (00:00:40):
Welcome to the Campfire. I am Jim Harold. So glad to be with you for this special Mother’s Day edition of the Campfire. Unless you think this episode is going to be all sweetness and light, and there certainly is some of that. There’s also some moms fighting off evil entities as we’ll soon find out. So stay tuned for all these different mom stories. And today’s show is dedicated to all of the moms out there and also dedicated to those who have lost their moms like me, and I think of my mom and my mother-in-law and the moms who have gone on. So if you have your mom with you, give her a big hug, and I hope you enjoy our stories today. First of all though, I got to tell you about something very cool. We just released True Ghost Stories, Jim Harold’s Campfire six, that is both in the ebook form and in the paperback form.
(00:01:35):
That is our sixth book of the Campfire series, and you can read them in any order. And if you haven’t read one yet, I suggest you start with this one because it is the best one. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. 65 great stories from the archives at the Campfire, and you can get yours on Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and you can get all the links whether you are in the US or you’re international by going to Jim Harold dot com and clicking on the big green button that says, get Jim’s new Campfire book, click here. It’s right at the top of the page, you can’t miss it. And then you’ll be able to get up places, as I said, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and the list goes on and on. So I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to everybody who has already purchased one.
(00:02:24):
We had a strong start. We appreciate it, but got a long way to go. And if you do get it and you enjoy it, please rate and review it because that means so much. And now on to these great stories about Mom.
Rick is on the line all the way from Texas. Now imagine nighttime and there’s something knocking on your window. Well, I got to tell you, that’s frightening enough, but wait till you find what was knocking on Rick’s window. We’re so glad. Have him with us. I know his buddy Rob told him about the shows. Rob was listening to shows. Rick overheard it, said, I want to check that out. He became a fan. So Rob, thank you and make that a lesson to everybody. Please play the show out loud so we can get a lot of people listening. Rick, thanks so much for joining us. Tell us what happened with this strange thing knocking on your windows at night.
Rick (TX) (00:03:20):
No problem. First of all, thank you for having me on the show. This all started back in 2000, back when I was 13. It was during the summertime and for most people who live in south Texas and know how hot it gets here during the summertime. So I was laying in bed and back then we didn’t have any air cons. All we had was little fans. So I like to sleep with my window open and the curtain open so I can get some air in as well. This one particular night when it first started happening, I was asleep and I heard little tapping on the window. I thought nothing of it. So I just continued to sleep and the tapping kept growing and increasing and increasing. So I finally woke up and I see this outline of a shadow. It looked like a person, but he had no features. It was just like a dark figure. The only thing I could notice on him was two red eyes.
Jim Harold (00:04:10):
Oh my.
Rick (TX) (00:04:11):
So I woke up and I stared at it, and then I screamed. And being 13 at the time, my parents ran into the room and they were asking me what was wrong. And I kept pulling out the window, they saw, they looked out the window and they didn’t see anything. So my dad went outside, like dad’s do, with this flashlight. He didn’t find anything, so we just played it off. They go, it was just your imagination. So I thought, okay, maybe I was just seeing things. So a couple nights go by, I don’t notice anything again. And then once again, I hear the tapping on the window., this time I opened up my eyes and it wasn’t on the window, it was near my bed.
Jim Harold (00:04:51):
Oh man.
Rick (TX) (00:04:51):
At this point I am starting to freak out even more. And again, I screamed for my parents. They run into the room and I tell ’em what I saw. And when I told ’em what I saw, my dad had a look on his face. So you’re just imagining things. And I didn’t see my mom, and she has this kind of shocked look on her face. That plays into the story a little bit later on. So they again leave my room and a couple of nights go by and then it happens again. It starts off with the tapping, like always. And this time I felt a little pressure on my arm. I wake up and this thing is next to my bed with what I see an outline of an arm pressing down on my shoulder.
Jim Harold (00:05:33):
Oh man.
Rick (TX) (00:05:34):
And I wake up again and I start screaming again. My parents run in this time, I take a look at where he was pressing down. It was all red and with two scratches on me.
Jim Harold (00:05:44):
Oh man. Physical, physical proof, yeah.
Rick (TX) (00:05:46):
And then my mom was like, did you scratch yourself at night? I’m like, no. It was the same thing that I’ve been seeing, that I’ve been seeing. And throughout this goes about two months. And then by the third month of this happening, my mom had become sick earlier that year without breast cancer and she had ended up passing away two months after that. And once again, we hear the little tapping and I wake up again in the middle of the night. It had been two weeks since my mom had passed away. And within those two weeks I didn’t see or hear from that shadow figure. And then once again, I hear the tapping, and this was after the funeral, after the, two weeks after the funeral, and then I hear the tapping again. But this time when I woke up, when I woke up, it was kind of hovering over me with my shoulders pressed down.
(00:06:38):
But by this point, I’m freaking out. I try to scream, but nothing comes out. And then I hear what I think is my mom’s voice saying, speaking in Spanish, leave my child alone. And this thing just looks into the corner of my room and then all of a sudden just dissipates again. I wake up and I have scratches on one of my shoulders and the other one just has a red mark. I ran to my dad’s room and I told him what was going on, and then that’s when finally my dad goes, well, since your mom’s no longer here, I feel like I can tell you this. Growing up, my parents, they grew up next to each other and they were raised together. So my dad had told me that when my mom was 13, the same age that I was seeing this thing, that she was seeing something similar to what I was seeing.
Jim Harold (00:07:24):
Wow. Wow. Now do you think that was some kind of an omen of some type?
Rick (TX) (00:07:32):
For that? I don’t really know. My dad always told me that my mom felt like she had a curse on her. I was the only one that saw it. And the people on her side of the family are the only one that I’ve seen this thing as well. My dad has never seen it, and his side of the family has never experienced anything like this.
Jim Harold (00:07:51):
And it never came back again after that last incident.
Rick (TX) (00:07:56):
After that last incident, no, I’ve never seen it again.
Jim Harold (00:07:59):
Wow. Wow. That’s quite a story. Rick, I got to tell you, and again, sorry about you. Losing your mom at a young age, that has to be very, very tough. But obviously she cared for you very much and she was there to defend you even though she had passed beyond this life and apparently scared whatever this thing is off. So she was still there for you.
Rick (TX) (00:08:24):
Yeah, unfortunately for me that, I mean, even though I did lose her, I feel like I gained her as a protector looking over me. So that’s one good thing that did come out of this.
Jim Harold (00:08:35):
There you have it. Well, Rick, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank Rob again for telling me about the show, and we appreciate you both being a part of the Campfire.
Rick (TX) (00:08:45):
No problem, sir. Thank you for having me.
Jim Harold (00:08:46):
Tamara is on the line from Vancouver, Canada, and we’re so glad to have her on the line. She said she’s been listening for a couple of years, and she said, “Hey, I think it’s my turn to put a story back into the pot.” Which I think is great. So if you listen to the show, and you enjoy it, one way that you can support us is sign up at JimHarold.com/campfire and tell your story just like Tamara did, or is going to. Tamara, welcome to the show, and this is a cool story. Please tell us about it.
Tamara (CAN) (00:09:18):
Thank you so much for having me, Jim. Um, yeah, so my mom passed away in 2016. And prior to her passing– I haven’t had the best of luck when it comes to love and dating, and she really wanted to see me, you know, find somebody like a boyfriend or a husband and settle down. But unfortunately, she didn’t stick around long enough to see that happen. But about a year ago, I started to date a guy that was sle– seemingly very perfect for me. And, you know, he had a really good job. He was super handsome, really, really lovely guy. And we were dating for only about a week. And we had plans to do something on a Friday night. And leading up to that day, my mom kept coming into my dreams, like every night, and she was constantly in my thoughts. And just, there were signs of my mom sort of like everywhere. And before I left for work on that Friday morning, I said to my roommate, “You know, I don’t know why, but I keep thinking about my mom, and she keeps popping into my dreams. And I feel like she’s trying to tell me something, but I don’t- I don’t know what. I can’t figure it out. But it’s- it’s significant enough that, you know, I just–” Anyways, so I go to work, and a couple hours into my shift, I see a phone call come in from the guy that I was supposed to go out with later on that night. I was at work, so I couldn’t accept the phone call. So I just hit decline. So it would just go straight to voicemail. And a couple minutes later, I get a text message from him. And he says, “Hey, I’m really sorry, but I have to cancel tonight. I just tried to call you, but it was strange, because it went to some other voicemail. It wasn’t yours. With some other lady on the line, and she said her name was Carolanne.” Funny thing about that is that: number one, and he didn’t even know that my mother had passed. And two, he didn’t know that her name was Carolanne.
Jim Harold (00:11:50):
Wow.
Tamara (CAN) (00:11:52):
Yeah, so I’m sitting there, and I shared an office with a couple of people. And I just freaked out, and everyone was, “What- what’s going on? What’s wrong?” And I told them the story, and I just about fell off my chair. And I said, I got to take this call. So I call him, and I said, “What did you just say?” And he goes, “Yeah, I’m really sorry. I gotta cancel tonight. But it’s really strange. I just tried to call you, but I think it was the wrong number, because it was some other lady on the line. Yeah, she said her name was Carolanne,” and- and I said, “No, you didn’t call the wrong number, you called my phone number. Because I saw the call come in, I hit decline. Are you sure that you heard the name ‘Carolanne’?” and he goes, “Clear as day. It was absolutely not you. It was some other lady’s voice. And I promise you, her name was Carolanne.” And I said, “That’s my mother’s name. She died in 2016”. Now this guy was a medical professional, and very scientifically-minded and didn’t really believe in this stuff, I don’t think. And he just went silent.
Jim Harold 58:17
Huh.
Tamara 58:18
Absolutely silent. He just said, “What?” And I said, “Yeah.” So…
Jim Harold (00:13:04):
Wow. Yeah. Now, did it work out with him or it didn’t work out with him?
Tamara (CAN) (00:13:08):
It didn’t, unfortunately. We’re still friends. Yeah. Lots of reasons, but lovely person. But yeah, I think he was my mom trying to say something like, don’t screw it up out of here,
Jim Harold (00:13:25):
But what are the chances? I mean, it could have been, her name was this, if it were a wired cross situation, because weird things happen with telecommunications. The name could have been Brittany, or it could have been Susan, or it could have been any of thousand names, but Carolanne, which if it’s Carol or it’s, and that those are relatively common names, but together, I mean, what, again, people will complete my sentence here. Too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence.
Tamara (CAN) (00:13:57):
Exactly. I thought so too.
Jim Harold (00:13:59):
Very interesting. Well, thank you so much, Tamara, for sharing this very, very cool Campfire story.
Tamara (CAN) (00:14:07):
Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Jim.
Jim Harold (00:14:10):
Robert is on the line from Minnesota, and we’re so glad to have him on the line. He’s going to tell us a very interesting story about some things that happened in Chicago with a roommate and so forth. Very interesting. But he’s also going to tell us about a very special art exhibit at the end of this call. Robert, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us, and please tell us your experience.
Robert (MN):
Thanks for having me, Jim. I have had supernatural or paranormal experiences happen to me and lots of loved ones as far back as I can remember. I was born on Halloween, so maybe the spirits are watching because of that. [laughs]
One particular instance that has always stayed with me happened collectively to a group of friends. I was living in Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago in 1993 to 1997. I lived with a friend of mine and then a couple, and one of the members of that couple had a mother who was a Sentara; she was a priestess in the Santeria religion. She would come over and sit with us and do readings and talk to us about things that were going on in our lives. She would throw divination stones. We were all very interested in this, but I wasn’t sure that we were all taking it as serious as we should’ve.
One day, she heard a story of how a friend of ours was having dreams that a ghost was having sex with her, so she had declared that our friend Chantelle had an incubus, and there was a whole cleansing that had to do with getting rid of that incubus. Other things that were interrupting our relationships or giving us problems at work, my friend Tony’s mother would actually see it as different spirit entities that were coming between us, interfering with relationships, blocking paths, and often asked us to leave particular offerings in places to Orisha, or to light Catholic candles.
So those were the kinds of things that were happening. We had had a party and nobody was drinking or doing drugs; it was just a gathering. A friend of mine, I remember from this party, looked down the corridor in our apartment and saw a featureless, large, six-foot-tall entity glide from the living room into our friend Richard’s room.
Jim Harold:
Oh my.
Robert (MN): Jonathan, who’s a very pragmatic, skeptical guy who I’ve known since fifth grade, walked curiously down the hall, leaving us from the kitchen, and then coming back and looking perplexed. He later told me that that’s what he had seen. And others had had dreams about this featureless, almost like Gollum creature coming into our rooms or taking things off of shelves and throwing them on the floor. A few of us had had nightmares about this.
So when Tony’s mom heard about this, she was alarmed and felt that it was this entity that had gotten into our house or was sent out by my friend Richard’s estranged wife, who he was trying to get divorced from. It was going to be amicable, but she wasn’t signing papers and it was becoming this prolonged thing that Richard was concerned about. And because it had seemed to be entering his room, she felt like it had something to do with that.
So she had the entire house do this ritual that involved a cleansing and a number of other kinds of things, and it ended with us each being responsible for sweeping up the dirt in our private spaces, collecting it in a bag, and then Richard and I drove out with that with 100 pennies, a cigar, and this bag of dirt to the gates of a graveyard, left it behind there, had to say this incantation, and then lo and behold, Jim, the next week Richard’s divorce became final. And a lot of the other strange things and ripples at work that were happening with some of us died down.
Tony’s mom’s explanation of this was that this entity was permeating all of our unconscious, but also we were carrying a little part of it into our other daily lives. It was obstructing things. So once this cleansing had happened, this whole house cleansing, it dissipated and it went away. That was something I’ve never forgotten because the dreams stopped and a whole bunch of other kinds of things leveled out.
Jim Harold:
That’s really interesting. I do think that there are people who have powers and have these abilities. Whether you’re pro one of these practices or you’re not pro one of these practices, I think they do exist and I do think that they can have power, absolutely.
Robert (MN): Right.
Jim Harold: How did that change you? Did it give you a lifelong fascination with these topics? I assume so, since you’re listening to a show called Campfire.
Robert (MN): Yeah. I had seen ghosts or heard things, watched paranormal activity play out with witnesses of doors open, door knobs jingle, things move around on a table. These kinds of things have been things that have happened around me.
But this kind of relationship to something and going up to it in this ritual way that Tony’s mom suggested, and appeasing it in some way, or appeasing the Orishas that might have had some control over it, and having it be removed in that way, that cause and effect and that engagement with the supernatural is not something I had ever really thought was possible. They just were things that happened. But this seemed like it was a communion on another level that helped alter the presence of this thing in our apartment.
Whether folks will believe that or not, this is an essential part of a lot of people’s sacred practices across religions, so seeing it from that perspective was something that was new for me.
Jim Harold (00:21:26):
Robert, thank you for sharing your Campfire story.
Robert (MN) (00:21:30):
Thanks, Jim.
Jim Harold (00:21:31):
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Announcer (00:23:18):
If you love the Campfire, be sure to check out the Paranormal Podcast where every week Jim interviews experts and authors about strange mysteries. Find it for free wherever you listen to this podcast. Tune in to the Paranormal Podcast today. Now we return to Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim Harold (00:23:34):
Next up is Karl from San Francisco, California. Every time I hear Karl, you, you might know. You may I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember this. But every time I hear San Francisco I think of the 49ers, I think of Tony Bennett and I think of Rice a Roney that’s San Francisco. (laughs)
Karl (CA):
That’s great. And also we have Karl the fog here.
Jim Harold:
There you go. Excellent. Excellent. Well, you’re gonna tell us about a head scratcher. And so glad to have you on the show. So please tell us about this head scratcher.
Karl (CA):
Oh, well, I suppose. Let’s see I guess I’m it’s 1983. And it was just north of San Francisco and Marin County group in a little town called Fairfax. And a brilliant little place to grow up. And I was living at home at the time. I was I guess I was 20. And I have brothers and sisters and I had a younger brother have a younger brother who was about four years younger than I am. And anyway, this occurred one evening I was out with some friends And my brother and I had kind of neat cars at the time he had like up Pontiac LeMans. And I had a 260s Z Datsun and we took care of our cars. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. And I used to go and hang out with these guys until all hours and they were benign evenings, we just sit and talk for hours. And it was on another in another town close to Fairfax, called San Anselmo. Anyway, I guess it was about 1:30 in the morning, 1983. I don’t know what time of year it was exactly. And I drive home from being with my buddies and I lived up this long hill at the very top, there’s about 20 homes at the top of this hill. And as I’m rounding the corner, to turn into my driveway, the whole the whole street is dark. Obviously, it’s like two in the morning, except for our house. Every single light was on in our house. And I said at two in the morning, I couldn’t figure it out. And I had a mother and father there I had my brother and my sister living at the house and the time that at two in the morning, all the lights are on. So I pull into the driveway. I turn off the motor and I get out and they walk to our front door into the kitchen. And every light is on. Not a peep Not a soul in the house as far as I can tell, I called out a few names. And I decided to walk upstairs and check the bedrooms. So the firstbedroom I come to is my brother’s. And I knock on his door and I opened his door in his bed is perfectly made. Which I thought was a little disturbing at this time tonight. So the next room I went into was my little sister’s and her bed clothes were pulled to the side as if she had gotten out for some reason. But her lights are on, then I knocked on my parents’ door. Same thing, their bed clothes are off to the side like they had made some sort of an escape or something. I had no idea.
Jim Harold:
So normally they all would have been in their beds that time of night at the house.
Karl (CA):
Oh goodness. Oh, yeah. As I I’d have to quietly step in and go downstairs to my room.
Jim Harold:
So I want to try to get it straight, it would have been usually your parents, your brother and your sister? Is that right?
Karl (CA):
Right. They would be home. Upon my arrival for sure in bed. So I made my way back down to the kitchen in it was trying to figure out what to do. And hadn’t decided to call a neighbor to see if they and heard any thing over here or seen any anything take place. So I called my neighbor who in the morning, very nice woman, an old friend of ours. She said I’m sorry, Karl I have no idea what you’re talking about. No, we didn’t hear about anything. So then I’m sitting in front of the old rotary phones. Remember, this is a time before cell phones.
Jim Harold:
Oh, yeah. We have one on the kitchen wall.
Karl (CA):
On the kitchen wall, exactly. So I go what to do here. It’s so I decided to call the Sheriff’s Department. And we, we were out of the city limits, so the sheriff was the, they were the people to connect with. And so I called them and they said I live at this address. Have there been any reports of any anything going on here and the sheriff said I’m sorry, if I were you I try the hospitals. So I said, Okay, that makes sense. So there’s a hospital about seven miles away from where I live. And I called their emergency room. And they said, you know, we usually pass them into the pay phone. So let me give you that number. And if someone’s in the waiting room, they’ll pick up the payphone. You’re with me here? So I they gave me the pay phone number at the at the first hospital. I called someone picked up and they said, Listen, do you have a show? And so Taylor in your waiting room, is there anybody by this name Taylor are in your waiting room? And so she asked around and No, there wasn’t. So I said okay, so she hung up the phone and decided to call the main hospital waiting room. And this is where it gets really interesting. So I call the emergency room at the main hospital. And they give me the same routine, please call the payphone. So I dial the payphone. And a person picks up and I said excuse me, I understand that I’m supposed to call the payphone to find out if anybody’s in your waiting room. Do you have a Mrs. Taylor or a Mr. Taylor in your waiting room? And she goes well, hold on. Let me find out here. Just one moment. And oh, listen, she goes, Yes. As a matter of fact. So all of a sudden, my mom comes to the phone.
Jim Harold:
Oh boy.
Karl (CA):
And this is unbelievable, Jim this part. So I say, Mom, what’s going on? She goes, Oh, what are you talking about? And I go, Well, why, who’s in the hospital? What’s the emergency? And she goes, what are you doing calling me here? And he said, Mom, when I checked around, though, all that all the lights are on in the house. Oh, Mrs. H from across the street and no idea what happened. And they decided to call the hospitals and you’re at this hospital. So what’s going on? And this is it, gym. She goes, Karl. I just walked up the hill because your brother’s car broke down. And I knew that they had a payphone here in this hospital.
Jim Harold:
Oh, how weird.
Karl (CA):
I came up here to use this payphone to call a tow truck.
Jim Harold:
That’s bizarre.
Karl (CA):
And so knowing now Jim here, it gets even better. So I go, Oh, my God, my God, this is astounding. Can you believe you’re at the payphone that I called you at? And she goes, I don’t understand why it’s that big of a deal. And I’m in a hurry, and I want to get home. And my mom is the sweetest, greatest versions, but she was a little annoyed. She goes I’m gonna call to make here and I go, Well, wait, wait, wait, wait, don’t you understand? She goes bub, we’ll talk when we get home. I’m sitting there going. She doesn’t think that’s interesting or bizarre at all. The fact that she happened to be at that payphone. So they get home. And I’m sitting there on the couch and I look at them when I go. Everything’s okay. And he goes, Oh, yeah, we just had a truck, we had his car towed. And I go Mom, can you believe you were at this payphone? She goes, you know, sweetie. She goes, I don’t find it that interesting. And I don’t think it’s up and down bizarre. And they go well, wait a minute. I just don’t understand. I understand. And it’s so funny because thankfully, I still have my mom. Right. And to this day, she vaguely remembers it. And still doesn’t feel that it was that big of a deal.
Jim Harold:
I mean, it’s a pretty wild synchronicity. Now what happened with the maybe I missed it what happened with the rest of the family?
Karl (CA):
Everybody was for everybody piled in the car. Oh, they all went together. Yeah. And they all went down to you know, because Lisa, my my little sister was too young to stay home.. So they just all got in the car to go help Mark. The car happened to break down near a hospital, near a phone.
Jim Harold:
That you happen to call.
Karl (CA):
Exactly! It fits into your…
Jim Harold (00:32:28):
Oh, yeah, it absolutely does. This to me is is a head scratcher. Just kind of, you know, there was a song back in the 80s or 90s things that could make you go hmm, and this is definitely one of those things that make you go hmm. And just kind of wonder what was that all about? Definite head scratcher. Karl, thank you for joining us today. I appreciate it.
Karl 1:18:08
It was a joy. Thanks, Jim.
Jim Harold:
Lina from LA is joining us and she has a story, and we just had another call like this. I don’t know if they’ll air together, but sometimes I say the shows produce themselves where a loved one gets a message across. Lina, thank you for joining us, and please tell us what happened.
Lina (CA) (00:33:10):
Thank you, Jim. Okay, well, here’s a little bit of backstory. It’s happened on a Saturday where I just gotten my Reiki Master attunement. And my husband was out of town on business. So it was just my then six year old daughter and myself in our apartment. And on that Sunday night after the attunement, which had happened on Saturday, I was talking to a friend on the phone that night and my daughter was already asleep in her room, and I just happened to be glancing out into the living room area. And I saw this dark silhouette walking through the living room. And for some reason I didn’t freak out. (Laughing). Even though I get very nervous when my husband’s not around. I just like shrugged my shoulders and said, okay.
Jim Harold (00:33:57):
You’re braver than me. I can say that.
Lina (CA) (00:33:59):
Well, I said, I don’t know. Because normally I wouldn’t. (Laughing). And anyway, so I got- get off the phone, turn off the lights and go to sleep. The next morning, I get my daughter and myself ready for school and work and we leave the apartment. And like I said, there’s nobody else there except for myself and my daughter. And so my mother-in-law is the one who picks her up after school, and then brings her back to the apartment and stays with her until I get home that night. So I- when I get home, she, my daughter, comes running out onto the porch. And she’s really excited. And she’s talking about there being earrings on the door. And it’s like, well, what are you talking about earrings on the door? And I get in there and my mother-in-law hands me this pair of earrings, and says that when they came up to the door that they were hanging there, at least there was one hanging that adult eye level on the inside of the screen door. And the other one was kind of like- like it had fallen was on like the threshold there of the door. And I look at them. And there’s this pair of earrings that my mother had given to me when I was very young, probably around my daughter’s age. And it was the last remaining pair of the earrings that I got. And as for my childhood, and I had given them to my daughter a few months before saying, “You- this is a, you know, from me from your grandmother who you never got to meet.” Because she had died when I was eighteen. So my daughter had never gotten to meet her but I’d named her after her. And I said but, since you keep losing your earrings right now, I’m going to hold on to them for a while until you’re a little older. And she was fine with that.
And she wasn’t around when I put them away. I’d wrapped them up in tissue paper. I put them in a little box. And I hit it all the way in the back of the drawer of my dressing table. So I don’t think anyone knew where they were except for me. So how they got on on a screen door? I don’t know. But yeah, at that point, I just kind of got like this inkling that had something to do with my mom. And I go to the dressing table, pull out the drawer, pull out the box. And sure enough, it’s still in there with the tissue paper, but of course no earrings. (Laughing)
So I’m thinking, Wait a minute, you know, the more I thought about… like, this might have been my mom. That might have been her walking through the living room last night, which would explain me not being scared, even though I didn’t know. And I was thinking perhaps she was showing me, or telling me, in some way that she was proud of me for becoming a Reiki Master. Because, yes, I mean, she was very, very Catholic, very religious type. But she was also very open minded about things other than what she was supposed to believe in. In other words, so, I think she probably would have been very proud of me being a Reiki Master..
Jim Harold (00:37:03):
Well, it sounds like she certainly would’ve, and again, what other explanation is there for that? Your daughter couldn’t get to them or didn’t know where they were at. You certainly didn’t do it. So who did it and why?
Lina (CA) (00:37:16):
Exactly. And through the years though, I think that she’s probably, my mom has probably visited my daughter, and then we have a younger daughter as well. And I remember on her wedding day, my eldest daughter. Then while she was taking her vows, I saw this ladybug land on her veil, and it was like, I don’t know that anyone else noticed it, but it was just like my eye just went straight to this ladybug landing on her veil and i’s like, I’m just absolutely convinced it was my mom.
Jim Harold (00:37:52):
That is so cool. That is so cool. I believe our loved ones get their message across. Lena, thank you so much for sharing your story on the Campfire.
Lina (CA) (00:38:01):
Sure. Thank you so much for having me.
Jim Harold (00:38:04):
Do you have a pet? If so, I’m going to tell you about something that you’ll really enjoy and it’s totally free. It’s this week’s episode of the Paranormal Podcast, and you can find it wherever you listen to the Campfire. And it is with Nancy Mello: Pet Psychic, and she spills the secrets of what she has learned in communicating with dogs and cats and other animals psychically. It’s a fascinating episode and it’s available wherever you listen to the Campfire. I hope you’ll check out the Paranormal Podcast this week with Pet Psychic Nancy Mello. Thanks!
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Announcer (00:41:21):
You are listening to Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim Harold (00:41:24):
Heidi is on the line from Pennsylvania. She found out about us from that great podcast, Astonishing Legends. Check it out. And some of our favorite stories about loved ones who find a way, maybe it’s subtle, maybe it’s kind of indirect, but they find a way to make contact. And that’s the kind of story Heidi has for us tonight. Heidi, welcome to the program. Thanks for listening and for calling in, and tell us your story.
Heidi (PA) (00:41:50):
Thanks, Jim. I’m so happy to be on with you. About 29 years ago, my mother passed away and I was barely out of my twenties. It was for me, very much a case of gone way too soon, and I’ve missed her terribly ever since. She never got to meet my husband or my children, so I kind of found a way of commemorating her. And the way that, I’m trying to remember the first time it happened, but I can just tell you that over the years, there will be a ladybug that will appear suddenly on the wall or the ceiling, usually off season. In cold weather, often when I’m sad or in despair or just thinking of my mom, they’ll just all of a sudden be a ladybug that appears in our home or in our apartment and usually against the wall or the ceiling. So you can’t miss that she’s here.
(00:42:50):
And so whenever a ladybug would appear, I would say to my sons, that’s a Ruthie. My mother’s name was Ruth. Love it. So I would say that’s a Ruthie. So whenever we would see a ladybug, my children would say, look, mom, it’s a Ruthie. So these ladybugs would appear at very interesting times, always off season. So it wasn’t as though the roses were in bloom, and you’d open your window and the ladybug would fly in. Usually in wintertime in March or February, we’d suddenly see a ladybug and we’d know, we’d feel like we’d know that there was a message from my mom that she was thinking of us, or she was there for us. And actually one time, very close friend of mine lost her mother. And then that night I was getting ready for bed and there was a ladybug on a wall of our bathroom, our master bedroom’s en suite bathroom.
(00:43:48):
And I immediately told my friend Patty, I said, my mom has come to tell us that she’s going to be welcoming your mom and it’s going to be okay. And Patty was very touched by that, and I think it really made her feel better having lost her mom. So over the years, it’s been a comfort to have these ladybugs appear. And as I said, it’s always at odd times. So recently we went through a very difficult period with my son. I won’t go into details, but just very, very heart-wrenching, frightening, and worrisome time with my younger son. And I really wasn’t sure that things were going to be okay. For the first time in my life, I really had a sense that things might not be okay. So we went ahead though, and we scheduled college visits for him. And we were visiting a college just outside of Chestertown, Maryland.
(00:44:45):
And I was staying in a huge old Victorian bed and breakfast, actually an Airbnb, huge Victorian, only partially restored. And as I’m walking up the stairs with the woman who’s hosting me, I said, are there any stories about this place having spirits or hauntings or anything interesting like that? Because I noticed that part of the staircases here and there were walled off kind of randomly, and I thought, there must be these passages that they don’t live in but have walled off. And it just struck me that there would be spirits that would love to live in those places. So she was a little unsure how to answer me. I think she was afraid that if she said yes, I would turn and run. So she said, why do you ask? And I said, oh, I’m just curious if there are stories or not that I won’t stay the night, but just if there are interesting stories that you could tell.
(00:45:43):
She said, no, as far as I know, there’s nothing here. And I thought to myself, there are spirits here. I really think there are spirits here. So I went to bed that night actually very, very worried about my son, still trying to sort of hang on to some hope. And as I am falling asleep, I realized that I’ve gotten an email and I look at the email and it is a message from one of the colleges that he’s been accepted, and it’s one of those email messages where they get confetti to fall all over it. So it’s sort of like this little special effect where it says, congratulations, you’ve been accepted, and confetti is falling. And I just felt elated. I felt just so elated. I really did. It just made me so happy. And here he was at another town visiting another college, but something about this particular college accepting him made me feel very good.
(00:46:42):
So I went to bed feeling a little bit better, and I kept the light on because I had to keep the electricity moving through part of the room so that the iphone alarm clock charger thing that I have for my iPhone could stay on because if you turned off the main light, there was no electricity in the room at all. So I had to keep the overhead light on, and as I’m falling asleep, I noticed there was something flying into the light and it didn’t look like a moth, and it didn’t look like a fly. And I thought, if that’s a ladybug, I should get up and check. But I was too sleepy, and so I just fell asleep. In the morning when I woke up, I sort of did something that I am not usually aware of doing, which is sort of waking up gradually.
(00:47:31):
And I looked over to the bedside table and I see, and it’s a black sort of little black bedside table that somebody probably repainted. It probably once been wood, and they repainted it black and against the black very clearly. I could see a ladybug, and I thought, oh, wow, that was a ladybug. Then that was flying off the overhead light, and I should have rescued it while I had the chance. And so I got up and very gingerly walked over to the window towards where I had my things that I could start getting ready for the morning. And I noticed on the window sill there was a ladybug, and I looked down and where I had stepped right near my foot, there was a ladybug. And suddenly I thought something is happening. And I stopped. And I can’t be sure, Jim. It felt to me as though they were appearing in real time, although I don’t know how that sort of stretch as credulity, more than I guess I’d be willing to put out there.
(00:48:39):
But it felt as though they appeared in real time. In other words, every time I took a step, I saw ladybugs, and then I looked up, and the blinds and the windowsills all on the side of the room where I had slept were covered in ladybugs. I mean about at least 80 or 90 ladybugs. And this is in March? This is in March, and I think you’ll know because you’re in Ohio. We’ve had a very, very unusually cold spring. It’s not one of those springs where the warmth seemed to come early. It snowed well into April. It was freezing, and it just snowed. And so the fact that this room was covered in ladybugs struck me as a huge message from my mother. But then I thought, oh, now I have to interpret this. And I stood in the middle of the room and I was afraid to step because every time I put a foot forward, there was a ladybug there, so I was actually afraid to walk.
(00:49:41):
I didn’t want to walk on any of them. So they were all over the blinds, all over the windowsills and on the rug on the floor. And I stood there in the middle of the room and I said, but mom, what are you trying to tell me? Are you trying to tell me that Aaron should go to this school in Maryland where we’re visiting? Or are you responding to the elation? I felt last night when I got the email that he was accepted into this other school in Pennsylvania. So for a little while, I just stood there transfixed thinking, this is a huge message, but I’m not sure what the import of it is and what I’m supposed to do now. But it was the most miraculous thing that’s ever happened to me, Jim. And even over the years when the little ladybugs appeared, they’ve always come singly.
(00:50:33):
I’ve never had a huge mass of ladybugs appear, and this was really off season. So I don’t know how else to explain and accept that it was a message, but I know it seems sort of, I mean, obviously we all listened to and tell fantastic stories, but what was really interesting to me, and I wish I could go back and relive it, truly, it seemed to unfold in real time that they appeared around me. And that was what was most interesting, because I think if I had woken up and looked in front of me, I would’ve seen a lot of ladybugs. And instead, it sort of unfolded gradually as an experience. And that’s part of what made it such a miracle for me, because I was drawn into this experience, if you know what I mean.
Jim Harold (00:51:29):
Sure. Now, quick question for you. Why do you think your mom has chosen ladybugs?
Heidi (PA) (00:51:37):
Well, I think I kind of chose them with her somehow. I just sensed when I saw a ladybug, and this goes back years, that it was my mom coming to say hi. And I can’t explain why, but there was just something my mom and I were really, really close and weren’t, I think it’s what they call sensitive, not psychic by any means, but just sort of sensitive, particularly with one another. We, we had a very, very unusually close bond. And so I think my sort of seizing onto the ladybug as a sign that she was communicating with me was something that she must have decided was okay with her, because it was as though the ladybug was as good away as any for her to reach me and for me to identify that it was her coming to me. And sometimes I also think, sometimes when I see robins, I’ll think sometimes that that might also be my mom, but ladybugs have a particular significance.
(00:52:41):
And it’s really just one that’s just grown up because I think when I first saw Ladybug and my sons were with me, I just made it into kind of a story for them because they didn’t know their grandmother, and they would never know her except through stories. And so that was my way of capturing her still being around. And I guess it was just, it was not quite random, but it wasn’t as though my mom and I had a thing about ladybugs, although my mother was a gardener, and she would say, ladybugs, protect. We had a lot of rose bushes, and she would say they protect against aphids, but it could have been anything. But for some reason, ladybugs seemed to be something that we almost agreed on kind of psychically. And ever since then, they’ve just appeared and always off season and almost always when it’s cold, it’s just so, it’s always very moving to me when I see one. And I usually try to rescue it if it’s still living. I try to make sure that nothing happens to it.
Jim Harold (00:53:48):
Well, Heidi, I love that story, and thank you so much for sharing it with us on the Campfire.
Heidi (PA) (00:53:54):
Oh, you’re welcome. And I love being a listener, Jim. I just love it. It’s just a wonderful experience to be part of what you do. Thank you.
Jim Harold (00:54:03):
And next we have Marcy from Iowa, and she has a very poignant story, one about her mom, and then kind of a connected story about a beloved pet. And before we get started, Marcy has a small baby there, so we might hear a little bit of fussing because apparently she doesn’t want to go down to bed right now. The baby I’m talking about, not Marcy. So if we hear a little crying, let’s be patient and let Marcy tell her story. Marcy, thanks for joining us on the Campfire. Tell us what happened.
Marcy (IA) (00:54:35):
Well, thanks for having me. Well, my mom had, we live in different cities, and when we didn’t get in contact every day, but my dog one day, his name was Boomer, I had Monday off and I was kind of cleaning around the house or whatever. And we used to play a game with him where I would pinch his rear end and we’d say, pinchy, pinchy, pinchy. And he’d jump up and bounce around and try and grab at his rear end. And it was just kind of a funny, whatever silly thing that you do with your dog. Well, one morning I was out and I’m cleaning, and all of a sudden he started doing that just out of the blue, out of nowhere. And I thought, well, that was kind of weird, but didn’t think anything of it. Well, it was, I can’t remember if it was the next day or the day after that. Make a long story short, we found out my mom had passed away. And of course that was awful. And then I got to thinking that that is exactly what my mom would do, because I’ve had a lot of instances where someone has passed, and it seemed like three days later I have experiences with that. And that was almost exactly to the time that he did that to me.
Jim Harold (00:56:08):
Actually, somebody asked me, not this long ago on an interview that I was doing, what is the one thing that I believe in more than any kind of paranormal activity? And I think number one for me, maybe because I think I had an experience with it, is that there’s some connection between us and our loved ones after a loved one passes. I believe that.
Marcy (IA) (00:56:28):
I think so too. I think so too. And this is kind of an offshoot, but for about a year after my mom passed away, my mom, ever since I was little, has, had kept pennies for me ever since I was born. And ended up, when she died, we found out that she had like $1,500 worth of pennies. And it was kind of her trademark, and that’s, everybody kind of knew her. She had a huge penny on her key chain. And so for about a year after she died, I would find pennies everywhere. And I just knew that was mom.
Jim Harold (00:57:04):
Yeah. She was kind of leaving them there to kind of say, Hey.
Marcy (IA) (00:57:08):
Don’t forget me.
Jim Harold (00:57:09):
Yeah, I’m still around. I may not be around on this earth, but I’m still with you and I’m watching you, and you’re in my thoughts.
Marcy (IA) (00:57:18):
And she was pretty sassy, but she did love my dog. And that was just typical for something that she would do. And then about maybe three years ago, we had to put that particular dog to sleep. He was sick and not doing real well. And so we have another dog, a golden retriever, black lab mix, who grew up with this other dog, with Boomer, and her name is Phoebe and who we still have. And one night Boomer, or excuse me, one night, Phoebe, out of nowhere again, about three days after we put Boomer to sleep out of nowhere, started barking at something in our hallway, and it was about three o’clock in the morning, and she had never acted that way before. And of course, I go out and I look to see if something was in the window or you know what? And there was nothing there. And all of a sudden I said, is it Boomer? And she just kind of sat there and then it was gone. I mean, right now I have goosebumps thinking about it.
Jim Harold (00:58:21):
Yeah. It’s really something when something like this happens to you, it’s like, because I think we’re all so into, a lot of us are so into this stuff that we tend to forget that weird things really happen to people. And then when it happens to you, it’s kind of like it really is real, isn’t it?
Marcy (IA) (00:58:41):
Yeah. And like I said, I probably normally wouldn’t have thought any of those things, but I tend to have these. Yeah,
Jim Harold (00:58:53):
She’s agreeing with us.
Marcy (IA) (00:58:54):
She is. She’s definitely, I tend to have these experiences and these things happen to me quite often, and I’ve learned to trust my gut instinct. And my gut instinct was she was barking at Boomer. So I think personally think he was coming back to say goodbye.
Jim Harold (00:59:13):
Well, thank you so much for sharing this story. I really do appreciate it. And if any other come to mind, please let us know and send us a note. And thanks so much for being on the Campfire tonight and sharing those stories.
Marcy (IA) (00:59:30):
Thanks for having me,
Jim Harold (00:59:31):
Jim, and I hope she gets to sleep for you.
Marcy (IA) (00:59:33):
Yeah, thanks,
Jim Harold (00:59:35):
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Announcer (01:01:54):
Want the entire Campfire archive going back to 2009 plus much more? Get in on Jim’s Plus Club at jimharoldplus.com. Now back to another great story.
Jim Harold (01:02:04):
Nikki is online from Denver and she is a return caller. Always glad to hear that. Glad we didn’t scare anybody off. And Nikki, you might remember a while back, told us about her apartment and some strangeness there and there were some final incidents that she wanted to add on and tell us about to conclude that story. And she is back. Nikki, welcome back to the show. And tell us, maybe just give us a brief, brief recap of what had happened in your apartment and then tell this other piece if you would.
Nikki (CO) (01:02:36):
Oh, sure, absolutely. So in my apartment, I’d had some various visitations. I would be touched, something ran its finger down my back and sat on my bed and pulled on the covers and moved some stuff around the house and various things like that to make its presence known. And then one night I was sleeping and because of all the visitations, I do sleep with the lights on. I wear an eye mask to block out the light. And I also sleep on my back because they like to touch me. I like to be a little bit more guarded by sleeping on my back. And this night I decided to sleep on my side and as I rolled over, a little voice in my head said, you’re probably going to regret this, but I did it anyway because it’s truly more comfortable for me. And I went to sleep and about 3, 3:30 in the morning I woke up and I woke up to myself saying, someone’s here.
(01:03:38):
And when I realized that those words were coming out of my mouth, I opened my eyes and through the gap in my eye mask, I could see there was some sort of being standing next to my bed. And I only noticed this because I could see them blocking out the light from my lamp and I could see them moving. And not only could I see them, the shadow of them, but I could also hear them and I could feel them moving as well. And they were moving something around my head in between my head and my nightstand, and it was above my pillow. And I’m not sure even to this day what they were doing. I couldn’t find any evidence of something being done. But I did notice the next day that my stack of books that I keep directly next to my bed was moved about 18 inches away from my bed.
(01:04:27):
So they moved those to get closer to me for some reason. So they spent about, I’d say about 15 seconds doing whatever they were doing next to my head. And then I felt them leave the room. At this point, I’m pretty freaked out and wide awake and trying to make sense of what had just happened. And then about an hour to an hour and a half later it comes back and I can hear it coming in my door. I can hear it as it walked. I could hear the footsteps like shuffling on the carpet, and it came up behind my back and it leaned down with its knee pressed against the small of my back and it leaned over and it pulled the covers up over my shoulders.
Jim Harold (01:05:09):
Oh my.
Nikki (CO) (01:05:10):
Yeah. So this really freaked me out. I was not expecting this. That’s just something you can’t mistake that was so pronounced that of course I am on edge at this point and I’m even more awake than I was before. And then I noticed that my cats who were sleeping on the bed with me, they didn’t even flinch. They didn’t move, they didn’t notice anything. They weren’t scared at all. And after I moved over on my back and was paying attention to them, they both just nonchalantly stretched and jumped off the bed like nothing happened. And I got up early or I got out of bed early and got ready and went to work right away. I just didn’t want to be in the apartment anymore. And later that day, I have a psychic friend and I asked her what her impression was, who she thought that could be, and she immediately said that she thought it was my mom.
(01:06:05):
And my mom had passed away in 2017, but we didn’t speak for the last 12 years of her life because we just couldn’t get along. And so I told her, I said, I don’t think that’s the case. We didn’t get along. I can’t imagine she’d come back and tuck me in. That’s kind of crazy to think since we didn’t get along. But she insisted that that’s who she really felt that it could be. So I sat with that for a while and then I had heard that a good way to communicate with somebody on the other side is to ask them to come through with a message through music. And I’m a huge music fan and I have a ton of songs on my iPod.
Jim Harold (01:06:45):
Nikki, I got to tell you something. This is extremely, I hate to interrupt you, but this is extremely strange. I got to tell you what’s happened here. We’ve recorded today, you are the seventh call, I believe, and I think that something like four or five calls have surrounded people and music and messages from loved ones, from music. And I was talking about it today on social media and how remarkable this has been. And strangely enough, it’s happened again. It’s happened again. You’re actually the fourth person I’m looking here. The fourth person has talked about this. This is getting weirder and weirder in a very good way. So finish your story. I’m sorry.
Nikki (CO) (01:07:35):
Oh, sure. Not a problem. So I have about 6,000 songs on my iPod and I asked her if that was her, which she tell me. So with the next song that came up on my iPod and I hit shuffle. When I hit Shuffle, the very first song that came up was a song titled Sleeping Beauty from a perfect Circle. And that to me was just too big of a coincidence to not be something. So I just decided that, hey, it must’ve been my mom and I should just think that maybe she’s trying to make amends on the other side or that that’s her way of saying that she wants to get along. And that was her message to me.
Jim Harold (01:08:22):
That’s amazing. And I think it happens, and we have several stories this week, and the thing is, all these story folks you’re hearing this is going to be put out around the 22nd of October, this show, every call you’ve heard tonight about music has been recorded. You’re going to hear it in the order it was recorded and none of this was preset up. Like I said, this show or something produces itself sometimes. Certainly we’ve seen that. Well, Nikki, I’ve got to believe that that brought you a lot of closure. Made you feel better.
Nikki (CO) (01:08:53):
Oh, absolutely. I feel like I can have a relationship with her once again, and who knows if we’ll have further contact in some other means.
Jim Harold (01:09:02):
Well, Nikki, thank you. Thank you for joining us, and thank you for continuing today’s musical theme.
Nikki (CO) (01:09:09):
Absolutely, Jim, thank you.
Jim Harold (01:09:11):
Julia is on the line from Utah. She heard about us from the great Astonishing Legends. Check out their podcast if you haven’t. They do a great job. Actually, Julia is a podcaster too, and we’ll have her tell us a little bit about that at the end of her call here. But first she is going to tell us about a spooky story that starts with when her mother built a house and strangeness ensued. Julian, welcome to the program and tell us what happened.
Julia (UT) (01:09:39):
So about almost 15 years ago, my mom built a house out in a town called Plain City, Utah. And the house was built on land that had formerly been farmland. So this was a brand new neighborhood, and she built it right next door to her brother. And Plain City is right next door to the town that she grew up in. So she was very familiar with the area and she knows a lot of people out there. So this land that was formerly farmland, she was told by a historian in Plain City that land was formerly used as a Native American summer campground because there’s a nice little river that runs through there and it’s just a nice little patch of land. So probably 10 years ago, one night I was asleep. That was when my sister and I both lived at home. I was asleep and I felt something sitting on my bed.
Jim Harold (01:10:57):
Oh boy.
Julia (UT) (01:10:58):
And it just to kind of give you a little bit of background information on my sleeping, I’m a sleepwalker, I’m a sleep talker. I remember my dreams pretty much every night. And because of that, I knew that this was not just in my sleep. I felt the weight of something on my bed, and I knew it wasn’t my cat because he has a bell. He had a bell on his collar. So I would’ve heard him come in and my dog was too little to jump onto my bed unless she got a running start and I didn’t hear her, and it really terrified me. I wanted whatever that was off of my bed. So I laid there with my eyes closed, and I got all my courage together and all I could do was kick. So I kicked where this thing was as fast and as hard as I could and whatever it was left. But my leg where I had kicked whatever it was, was tingly, like pins and needles. Oh man. It wasn’t like my leg was asleep. It just felt like just the weirdest pins and needles feeling that I haven’t felt since or before.
Jim Harold (01:12:22):
Oh man,
Julia (UT) (01:12:24):
It was so weird.
Jim Harold (01:12:26):
That is weird.
Julia (UT) (01:12:27):
And there’s just a lot of weird things out of the blue one night. Well, my grandma was talking to my mom and my grandma had been staying next door. Like I said, my uncle lived next door to my mom and him and his wife were out of town. So my grandma was staying at their house with their two kids while she was there, she saw a black figure in the bedroom one night. She just woke up with a start and she saw this thing just standing there kind of looking at her.
Jim Harold (01:13:04):
Oh man.
Julia (UT) (01:13:06):
My aunt that lives there has actually seen the same thing. My sister and I, well, I’ve seen the black figure. She’s heard like a trickster kind of speaking in my voice right in her ear saying her name.
Jim Harold (01:13:21):
Oh man.
Julia (UT) (01:13:21):
And the neighbor. One night, probably five years ago, the neighbors were just kind of all out talking. And I mentioned to the one on the other side of my mom, I said, have you ever seen or felt anything weird? Because me and my sister had, and my aunt had, and my grandma had. And he said, every once in a while I will be in the basement working and I will just feel something with their eyes on me. And he said one time, it scared me so bad, he said, even as a grown man, it scared me so bad. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could just to get away from it. He said, I don’t know what it was. It just really scared me to death.
Jim Harold (01:14:12):
Oh man.
Julia (UT) (01:14:13):
I don’t know what it is, but when I lived there, I’d be asleep. I’d feel something like tugging on my hair. Not hard, but it never really scared me. The only time I was ever scared was when whatever it was sat on my bed,
Jim Harold (01:14:32):
That would do it. Yeah. Now, let me ask you this. Now, is the house still in the family?
Julia (UT) (01:14:39):
Yeah, my mom still lives there and my uncle still lives next door. So I don’t see either one of them going anywhere anytime soon.
Jim Harold (01:14:45):
Does strange stuff continue to happen?
Julia (UT) (01:14:48): soon.
My mom doesn’t pick up on it and my sister isn’t there anymore. I don’t live there anymore. But when I do go over to my mom’s, sometimes I’ll be over there by myself and I will feel like something’s watching me and I don’t feel like I’m being threatened. I just feel like there’s someone there just kind of hanging out. I know that sounds weird, but that’s all that I really get, that I’m just not alone.
Jim Harold (01:15:21):
Well, there you have it. And you’re certainly not alone in having these kind of experiences. We’ve had many people say that they’ve had a figure or something. Visit them in the night sitting down on the bed though. That’s indeed pretty scary.
Julia (UT) (01:15:37):
Yeah, that was just so weird. I could just feel the full weight of something sitting there.
Jim Harold (01:15:43):
And I just had this discussion with another caller. I’m not sure if it’s going to be on tonight’s show or not, but we were talking about having an interest in the paranormal is one thing, but when something visits you two or three o’clock in the morning, you’re not expecting it, you’re asleep. Or maybe you’re alone at a workplace as this person was, it might not be just as much fun as you would think it might be.
Julia (UT) (01:16:07):
Right. And like I said, there’s things that are creepy, but I’ve never really been scared. And so I can totally understand that when you’re not expecting it, it’s not anything you want.
Jim Harold (01:16:19):
Right. Well, Julia, thank you so much for joining us tonight on The Campfire. And I wanted to do one last thing, and I want to forget about this. You are also a podcaster. Now, many people don’t know this, but I also have a True Crime podcast, and we were talking and comparing notes. It’s called Jim Harold’s Crime Scene, by the way, and comparing notes. And you have a True Crime podcast. Tell us about that.
Julia (UT) (01:16:49):
That’s right. It’s called Zion’s Lost, and it’s based on missing people in my home state of Utah. Right now we are in the middle of a multi-part series on Susan Cox Powell, and people are really enjoying that. So we’re fairly new, but it’s, it’s picking up speed. So we’re excited about it. It’s me and my sister that do it.
Jim Harold (01:17:13):
Well, I’ll tell you, podcasting changed my life. So anybody who embarks on that journey, I wish ’em the best. And Julie, I wish you the best and thank you for being a part of the Campfire tonight.
Julia (UT) (01:17:25):
My pleasure. Thank you so much.
Jim Harold (01:17:27):
And next on our show, we have Steph, she’s joining us from Massachusetts. She has a very poignant story about the passing of her mom. Thanks so much for joining us on the show tonight, Steph.
Steph (MA) (01:17:41):
Oh, thanks, Jim. I really appreciate being able to share this story with everyone.
Jim Harold (01:17:45):
So tell us a little bit about what happened when your mom passed. It’s a short but very, very poignant story.
Steph (MA) (01:17:57):
Well, what happened is, she was in her 80s, and she took ill from multiple strokes. And we took care of her for quite a few years, she had a great sense of humor, wonderful person. And eventually though, she deteriorated to where we had to put her into a hospital down the street. And then one evening, we got the call that her oxygen level had dropped to 65%. And we all–whole family rushed in. So we surrounded her bedside. And the doctor basically said, she’s gone. Her time has passed. So I’m holding her hand, and my brother was with her, and he was a fire chief and an EMT. And he’d been very analytical and holding on to her wrist and listening to her pulse. And as she’s passing away, she had a single tear drop from her. And suddenly, you know, I gotta say, real quick, I have never seen a ghost. I’ve never–I’m not even sure if I believe in them. So I’m watching my mom. And it was almost like a second eye. I could see something happening right in front of me right by her chest, and I could hear a whooshing sound. As the tear dropped from her cheek, this brown swirl just came out of her, and within a second crossed the distance between us, hit me, thump, right in the chest. And it was gone. At that point, my brother said, she’s gone. And I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. She’s not gone. Now, I didn’t feel possessed or anything like that. And the feeling faded away. But it was the most amazing thing for me, I literally saw this brown swirl, just float right from her. And right to me, as you passed away.
Jim Harold (01:19:52):
As you’ve had time to reflect upon it and think about what happened, what do you think it was?
Steph (MA) (01:20:02):
You know, I think what it really meant to me, this happened about 10 years ago, and and I really think that we’re more than just this physical body, we travel from maybe body to body. And it really kind of–I was wondering, really, what type of creature are we? Are we something else or like an energy force that we imprint upon, that we get imprinted upon, and we move from being an experience to experience? My father passed away two years later, and very much like, okay, is this going to happen again? I think I was fortunate to be with both of my parents when they passed. With my dad, it was just a quieting of the room as if he just left. There was nothing there. So I don’t really understand what happened. I’ve never seen a ghost. I’ve never seen anything like this before. And I have never heard of a story like this. But we were all there, awake. I was the only one that saw it. My mom and I, you know, were very, very close. And to see this, almost like swirling gas come at me. Oh, it’s kind of a shock. You can imagine.
Jim Harold (01:21:19):
Oh, of course. And I guess what I would say is, is I think in your email, you expressed that you’d be interested if others have had a similar experience. And by all means, listeners, please let us know. If you’ve had an experience like this, if you just want to send us a note or if you want to be on the show and share your story. Because I think, you know, we’ve all had loved ones who are close to us who have passed away. And I think that one of the great questions of life is what’s happened to them? Are they still around in some form? You know, will we be reunited with them eventually, in some way. And I think that your story and the stories like it really speak to some of the greatest mysteries of life. So I’d like to thank you for coming on the show tonight and sharing your story, Steph.
Steph (MA) (01:22:07):
Thank you very much, Jim. I appreciate it.
Jim Harold (01:22:09):
Thanks so much for tuning into the Campfire. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I hope you moms out there have the best Mother’s Day ever. Also, remember to check out that new book, Jim Harold’s Campfire six. Find it at jimharold.com. Click on the green button there, or you can search directly at places like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Thank you so much. We’ll talk to you next time. Have a great week, everybody. Stay spooky. Bye bye.
Announcer (01:22:34):
You’ve been listening to Jim Harold’s Campfire. Tune in again next time for more stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things.
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