Ghosts Among Us - James Van Praagh [23]
“Where are they buried?”
“Holy Cross Cemetery, not far from here.”
Mary Ann added, “There are two other ghosts that visit this house, but they don’t stay for long periods of time. One is a nineteen-year-old boy named Harold Spratt. He died in a car accident. He follows the teenage girl who lives in this home and comes around every now and then. He says he likes her energy and finds her attractive.”
“Are you telling me this ghost is a pervert?” I blurted out.
“He’s a typical nineteen-year-old. In his ghostly body, he can do things and be places he never could before.”
“He’s a Peeping Tom, then!” I said. The thought of this ghost following around the teenage girl grossed me out.
“The other ghost is Johnson. He was sort of the neighborhood busybody. He had a heart attack and died in his garage. He especially doesn’t like the people who bought his house next door, so he hangs around just to cause trouble.”
I asked the owners about the next-door neighbor. They verified that they did have a neighbor named Mr. Johnson who died of a heart attack in the garage.
“He was always complaining about something,” said Beth. When we told Beth that he was still hanging around, she almost jumped in the air. “I bet he’s the one causing all the problems for that young couple. They’re always having some kind of trouble with the plumbing and electricity.”
Mary Ann warned the daughter to always protect herself by visualizing a white light around her. “That goes for all of you,” she continued. “You don’t want to bring any wayward ghosts into your home anymore.”
Mary Ann asked the owners, “Do you want me to create a porthole of light so the ghosts can cross over? Once I do, and if they go into the light, you will definitely notice a change in the atmosphere of the house. It will feel more peaceful.”
Beth replied, “I hate to see them go. It’s already making me sad because I know I will miss them. Are you sure there isn’t any other way that they can stay and not bother us?”
Mary Ann and I looked at each other, thinking, Uh-oh.
“If you keep them here, it really wouldn’t be fair to them,” I explained. “They’re spirits, and they need to continue on their journey. The best thing to do is to set them free from the shackles of this earth plane.”
Beth was stubborn. The ghosts not only made her feel special but were fodder for good gossip. It’s ironic that we, the living, can just as easily keep the dead around with our thoughts as the dead can manipulate us with theirs.
Finally Beth gave in, and Mary Ann began to concentrate. “I am creating a white light on the wall, sort of like a doorway.” The moment she began her visualization, everyone in the room, including the crew, felt an immediate difference in the atmosphere, as if a weight had been lifted. The hairs on my arms stood up. I knew the ghosts were gone.
After lunch break, Jeff came over to me. “I need more footage. Having Mary Ann create a light in her mind is great, but it doesn’t do a lot for our television audience.”
“Maybe we should try to find the cemetery she mentioned and locate the graves of these ghosts,” I suggested.
Jeff asked the owner for the yellow pages and jotted down the cemetery’s address. We all jumped into the cars and drove about twenty minutes to Holy Cross Cemetery. I was so excited at the thought of finding the ghosts’ graves. I thought to myself, James, only you could get this excited about going to a cemetery.
Although the cemetery was only average in size, it took us a while to locate the graves, and the unbearable heat was taking its toll. Maybe my bright idea wasn’t so bright after all. We seemed to be going around in circles, searching for the graves of the young boy and the old man. My brain was fried. Pretty soon we wouldn’t have to look any