From Spirit With Love – Part 2

Extract 2 – Things That Don’t Just Go Bump In The Night

My birth in Corby in 1963 coincided with the onset of psychic activity in the house which my mother recalls only started after I arrived. Although I was just five years old when our family moved from that house I still recall many fond details of the simple pebble dash three bedroom terrace that had been let to my father by the development corporation when he left his job as a Turner and Grinder in London in 1961.

My mother and older brother, who was then a baby came with him and soon after this I came into the world.

“4 o’clock”

By the age of around three years old I began to talk a lot about ‘ghosts’ that were living in the house with us and I was actually quite terrified of them, but my mother was marvellous in her handling of the situation.

‘Mum there’s a ghost up here’ I would call in panic from the top of the stairs when I felt the presence of something that I couldn’t see.

‘Well ask if he would like a cup of tea then dear’ Would be her reply which eased my fear every time.

My brother quickly realised that he could have a game with me over this and one afternoon he locked me in the spare room.

‘Oh and by the way’ he laughed as he pulled the door shut ‘There’s a ghost in there with you’ Thinking he was teasing and not wanting to give him any satisfaction I replied indignantly that there were no such things as ghosts.

‘You’ll see’ he called back cheerfully through the door.

I tried not to think about this as the room fell quiet and the sound of my brothers footsteps trailed  away down the stairs. Having decided not to give him the pleasure of hearing me beg to be let out my eyes scanned the bags and boxes that were stacked up against the walls in the hope of finding something to help pass the time.

My eyes fell upon our family pram, a large cream coloured coach style with overlapping wheels and a curled handle. Many times my parents sat us children in it and pushed us for a mile to the town centre on a Saturday morning to get shopping. Thinking that it might be fun to climb into it I stood on a box and swung my legs over the side. One final heave and I was in!

Feeling very pleased with myself I laid back in it with my hands behind my head and propped my feet on the handle.

Gazing up at the ceiling, my attention was drawn to the pale blue fringed lampshade that hung from the centre of the room as it appeared to be moving. In fact it began to tremble all by itself, swinging like a pendulum before my eyes with the tassels sweeping as it did.

I was not at all happy and jumped from the pram tugging violently at the door handle in an attempt to escape from the room.

‘Let me out’ I screamed with the lampshade still dancing above me. My pleas must have sounded desperate because my brother took pity on me and came up to unlock the door. Needless to say he did not believe my story because by then the lampshade was quite still, but I knew what I had seen and felt and it did happen again on several other occasions although it would only move when I was alone in the room.

We called the lampshade ghost ‘4 o’clock’ although I cannot remember why, but I remained nervous about this for the years we lived in the house and my brother knew that at any time he wanted to make me squirm he would stand alongside me and whisper ‘4 o’clock’ in my ear.

Of course I realise now that Spirit friends are not something to be afraid of. What they want to do is to let us know that they are well, happy and still a part of our lives. I still smile as I think back to the many times that I was terrified of the idea that a ‘dead’ person with sharing the same room as me.

I could never have believed they would not only become my dear friends but would also share and change my life as well as the life of those closest to me.

I have no recollection of seeing Spirits during those early years of my life but I could feel them around and close to me. It was often a knowing that someone was there although I did not know who. Throughout my life and even as a child, whenever I made decisions I would rationalise them to myself especially if I felt guilty about my choices just in case someone was listening or watching somehow. I always felt that I was not alone

There have been many occasions when I have instinctively known that someone was looking after me. Having had some very good opportunities in my life I feel sure that certain things happened to shape my future as an ambassador for Spirit, but also like other mediums there has been some pain along the way that was necessary for me to learn compassion for others in need. However there were other events about to take place in our house in Taunton Avenue that were more than unusual.

The Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy had been in the night and left me a sixpence for the long awaited departure of a front tooth. My father‘s employment paid a modest wage so although we will always well fed and clothed , extra money for sweets was a treat. I had wiggled this tooth for days while planning my spending spree and finally in an act of desperation, I gave it one final tug. The tooth was out and the sixpence was mine!

Now It has always been my habit to bite coins to make sure that they are genuine and the occasion of the sixpence was no exception.          

Sitting on the carpet in our front room the following day I decided to test it and placed it between my remaining teeth,and in a moment it had passed down my throat and was wedged firmly in my windpipe. I could just managed to signal to my father who sat in his chair with the newspaper that I was in trouble. He leapt from his chair shouting to my mother that I had something stuck in my throat as he took hold of me, turned me upside down and gave me a heavy-handed shake. Nothing came out so he stood me upright and I began to feel the sixpence creeping down towards my stomach, allowing me to draw breath again.

‘Well that’s done it now’ remarked dad as tears sprang from my eyes ‘You’ll have to pull another tooth out’  I was heartbroken and decided to sit back down on the carpet for the rest of my cry.

Sometime later having sat there for long enough, I stood up and heard something fall to the floor from my dress. I stared downwards in amazement at my sixpence on the carpet for a moment and then called  ‘Dad, dad I’ve got my sixpence!’ while waving it at him. He moved his large newspaper to one side and glanced over the top of his glasses. ‘You can’t have swallowed it then dear ‘

‘But I did dad… I felt it go down’

‘Well you can’t have done because it’s there’ he concluded wisely, nodding towards my hand ‘You must have dropped it in your dress instead’ Protesting was useless. I knew that it was the only sixpence I had and I felt it go down my throat into my stomach and I remember thinking that it must have dropped out of my bellybutton and I was very happy.  Many years later, having never believe that it hadn’t really happened I discovered that Spirit can dematerialise objects and reassemble them in another place.

My Father

My father was a handsome man standing 6 feet tall with a strong lean frame, olive skin and soft brown eyes. In his younger days he had a good neat head of dark hair which he inherited from his grandmother who had been a Romany Gypsy.

She had met and married my great grandfather who was English after she left her home in Foulness Island off the coast of Essex to go into domestic service,  and although my father had not been raised as a Romany he loved to tell us stories about his heritage. It is often said that descendants of Romanies are particularly spiritually sensitive and I think this must be so because my father had two premonitions that he believed saved his life.    

He was a born and bred Londoner as is my mother and I am very fortunate to have been raised in a close loving family with them. Although Dad is now in Spirit I remain in a close relationship with my mother and siblings.

Having quite a serious nature it was sometimes difficult to know what my father was thinking but his sense of humour was dry and he would often say something that caused  hysterical laughter while he looked around in bewilderment as to why.

He believed there was somewhere to go after death but did not like to talk about it. I think he found it all a bit unsettling because he made my mother promise not to go in search of him should he be the first to go. When my father passed away with a sudden heart attack in March 1988 we were devastated. On the night he passed I sat in his chair watching over my younger sister as she slept when I felt warmth come from behind me, giving me the feeling of comfort and peace. I knew that it was Dad and for a while my pain subsided. I also knew in that moment that he had not really left us.

I have witnessed some truly remarkable events in my life but what followed next is still one of the most profound to me even now…

Next time – A Little Bit Of Spirit Magic?

Donna Stewart Copyright 2018.