When Ghosts Speak - Mary Ann Winkowski [50]
But when I nodded that, yes, I could see him, his composure cracked and I was shocked to see tears run down his face. “Thank goodness,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
It turned out that the man’s lawyer had taken advantage of the deceased’s trust and friendship and had, shortly after the man’s death, removed critical documents from the safe where they had been stored. The ghost told me that the lawyer was planning to falsify documents and redirect the dead man’s estate into the business where he was the sole remaining partner. I was able to tell the daughters about their father’s crooked partner and his role in the missing will. With the last of his business finally taken care of, the ghost was able to cross over into the Light after his funeral.
What I Do at Wakes and Funerals
Some of my earliest memories of talking to earthbound spirits are from when I accompanied my grandmother to funeral homes during calling hours. I’d talk to whatever recently departed neighbor or aunt or cousin might be present and answer questions from the large extended family gathered there.
I still go to funeral homes frequently, only now mostly at the request of strangers. In the old days, I would go to funerals if asked by any of my grandmother’s huge network of friends from the Old Country. But these days, pretty much the only way I will attend a funeral or viewing is if an immediate family member of the deceased personally invites me. I won’t go if a cousin or a distant niece or a well-intentioned nosy neighbor wants me there; I deal only with the immediate family.
The one exception I will make is when someone has suddenly died at the workplace. In these situations, I will talk to employers, and I’ll go to the funeral home at their request. But I ask the ghost only one question on behalf of the employer: What is the password for your work computer?
Honestly, you would not believe how many people neglect to tell their supervisors the password for their personal office computer. And you might be amazed by how many computer techs can’t access these personal accounts. But perhaps you wouldn’t be surprised to hear how many times I’ve asked ghosts for a password, only to have them laugh heartily and ask me to pass an unprintable message along to their former employer.
I’ve done this enough to learn that most people aren’t all that creative when it comes to choosing a password. When employers call to tell me that an older male employee has unexpectedly passed away and they need me to find out the password, I’ll first give them a couple of the more common ones that I’ve heard to try out. My success rate with this approach is pretty good. You wouldn’t believe how many men between fifty-five and sixty-five use rosebud as their password.
As I’ve become more recognized, especially in my hometown area, I’ve had to add a few other rules about funeral home visits. For instance, I no longer visit during the scheduled calling hours. If I try, all sorts of people—not just family members—realize who I am and want to know whether the dead person has any special messages just for them. With a crowd suddenly surrounding me, I then find myself in the awkward position of having to explain that I’m not there for a ghost chat, or to send messages back and forth from everyone who’s coming to view the body. And on more than one occasion I know I have irritated the family priest or minister, who has arrived to lead the prayers for the departed soul only to find that the family has more interest in asking whether or not Dad likes his casket than they do in saying a rosary or prayer service.
And so I try to be very clear that, when I go to a funeral or viewing, I am there for the sole purpose of passing specific information along to the family. If a family wants me to come to a viewing and talk to a loved one, I try to schedule a time just after, or between, the scheduled calling hours. For many grieving family members, the first viewing is the hardest. After they have been at the funeral home for several hours, they can