Ghosts Among Us - James Van Praagh [22]
Then she said something that caught the staff by surprise.
“Ghosts prefer places that are crowded with people. They like to feed off the living’s energy. They need the energy to give them the power to remain earthbound.”
There was a gasp, then dead silence.
One of the production assistants was brave enough to ask, “Are there any ghosts here now?”
Suddenly Mary Ann’s face froze as her eyes darted around the room. “Yes. I can see three of them. Two men and a woman. The man and woman came to the restaurant attached to someone in the far corner, and the other man comes here all the time because it’s his favorite spot. He enjoys the smell of charbroiled meat.”
Sensing that everyone wanted to hear more, Mary Ann continued. “Ghosts almost always attach themselves to friends and relatives. It’s not unusual for them to follow their loved ones around.”
That evening Mary Ann entertained us all with her ghostly tales, and especially stories about her work with the FBI and local police agencies.
“One night, as I was sleeping, I heard a noise,” said Mary Ann. “I awakened to see my friend Thomas standing at the foot of my bed.” She explained that Thomas was a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) agent; the two of them had worked together many times on murder cases.
Mary Ann continued. “I asked Thomas, ‘What are you doing in my bedroom?’ He answered, ‘I was just killed, and you’re the only one who can tell my partner who killed me and where to find my body.’”
Mary Ann explained that Thomas had gone undercover to investigate a drug ring and one of the dealers found out his true identity. Thomas was killed, and his body dumped in a swamp south of Cleveland. When Mary Ann conveyed this information to the police, Thomas’s body was recovered, and eventually his killer was captured.
After dinner, we were too wound up to sleep, so we decided to take a drive to the location site. Mary Ann and I were anxious to determine if there were indeed any ghosts haunting the house. As we drove up the street, I glanced over at Mary Ann. She had a strange, trancelike look on her face and was very quiet. I decided to close my eyes. Jeff, our producer, drove the car at a snail’s pace while looking for the house number. Suddenly Mary Ann and I shouted in unison, “Stop!” Jeff slammed on the brake, and the car screeched to a halt in front of a brown-shuttered, clapboard house.
“Can you see the dark energy over the rooftop?” I asked.
“Yeah…looks like a dome of clouds,” Mary Ann replied.
By the size of the shadowy mass surrounding the house, we figured there were a number of ghosts haunting it. I squeezed Mary Ann’s hand. At last I had found a long-lost, kindred spirit.
The next morning we arrived at the haunted house raring to go. The owners waited at the side door to welcome us. Beth, the wife, seemed a little too happy to have ghosts living in her home. I whispered to Mary Ann, “Do you think she’ll give us trouble?” Mary Ann nodded. “She may not want them to go.”
Mary Ann suddenly began to turn her head in all different directions. “There’s an older man here. His name is William. He was born in 1857 and died in 1935. He is here to protect the young boy.” I followed Mary Ann into a bedroom. We could tell it was the owner’s young son’s room by the toys and games scattered around.
As we entered the room, Mary Ann uttered, “There is a little boy named Jimmy at the end of the bed.”
“Ask him why he feels the need to be here,” I said.
“Because he never had the toys this boy has,” she