Do You Believe?

I don’t typically write paranormal elements into my Intrigues. However, in my Jan. release, The Sheriff of Silverhill, I included a little paranormal action. The heroine is half Southern Ute, a Native American tribe in Colorado, and she has some special “powers.” These gifts brought nothing but trouble to the heroine’s mother, so the heroine doesn’t readily embrace them…until she has to so that she can rescue her daughter and catch a killer.

I don’t claim to have any special powers of clairvoyance, but I have had a few experiences that have led me to believe there’s more “out there” than meets the eye. When I was in my early twenties, I had left my proofreading job to take a job as a high school English teacher. It was the end of January and I was applying for my emergency teaching credential. The semester hadn’t started yet, and I was scheduled for my physical that day. Since the appointment was in the afternoon, I didn’t have anywhere to be prior to the appointment so I didn’t set my alarm clock. That morning I woke up with a start; it was like a shot to my heart. I went from sound asleep to sitting upright in my bed, wide awake. I glanced at my digital clock and it read “7:32” or something very precise like that. I tried to go back to sleep without much success.

I got up, showered, dressed, ate breakfast, and puttered around my apartment before my doctor’s appointment. The phone rang and I answered it. It was my brother with awful news. My father had passed away that morning from a massive heart attack. My parents lived about 400 miles away from me, so I went through the rest of the day in a haze and made arrangements to fly up north.

The next few months were very difficult for me. I was only 24 years old at the time, and my father had been just 65. Also, my mother had been an invalid with Parkinson’s Disease and it was a very stressful period in our lives, finding care for her and getting her settled. My oldest sister was the executor of my father’s will and she handled all of the business.

Several months after my father passed away, my sister sent me copies of his death certificate just in case I needed them for any legal matters. When I looked over my father’s death certificate, I nearly fell over when I read the time of death. His time of death was noted as “7:32,” the exact moment when I woke up with a start on the day he died and obviously the time he died.

I still feel to this day that my father was trying to communicate with me in some way at the time of his death. And he was successful.

How about you? Have you ever experienced any “paranormal activity?”

To celebrate the release of my Jan. Intrigue, The Sheriff of Silverhill, one poster today will receive an autographed copy of The Sheriff of Silverhill.

21 comments:

Nicole North said...

Wow that gave me chills, Carol! And how sad too. I've never had an experience like this, but I've heard about them a lot from others. I believe very much in the supernatural and feel that it is real.

Congratulations on the book release!

Rebekah E. said...

I was clean an old hotel that was converted into offices when something decided play. It would let us unlock doors and when we would turn away you would hear a loud click of the door being unlocked. It flipped my out to know that something was unlocking doors and we weren't even touching the door. After I quite I heard that some girls got stuck up on the 9th floor. This floor is off limits and is always locked, we never had a key to get up there. Needless to say I hate that building and will never step foot in it again.

Congrats on your release.

Carol Ericson said...

Nicole, you know Culloden is supposed to be haunted? Have you been there?

Nicole North said...

Yes, I've been to Culloden. I'm not one to normally see ghosts. Have only seen one in my life. But I definitely got the feeling, emotionally, that the place was likely haunted. It has that sad, tragic feeling about it. And I did get an interesting picture of birds that freaked me out. Maybe it meant nothing but it sure seemed to.

Carol Ericson said...

Wow, Rebekah. I wonder what happened at that hotel?

Carol Ericson said...

Nicole, it does have a haunted aura about it. What was the bird picture?

Carly Carson said...

That is very strange about your father but I've heard many identical stories.

I don't believe in hauntings but...I've been to Culloden...and it's haunted.

Carol Ericson said...

Carly, I've also heard many similar stories. And yes, there's something about Culloden

Unknown said...

This is wild, I have heard a lot of stories like this.

Congrats on your new release!

Abby Niles said...

Chills are right. Wow, Carol. That would have stunned me too.

I believe in this stuff. Just hope none of it happens to me. And so far it hasn't. I'm an avid Ghosthunters fan and some of the things that happen to them, I'm immediately like, and I'm out. That stuff gives me the willies quick.
Esme

Carol Ericson said...

Thanks, Virginia. It just makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Carol Ericson said...

Esme, yeah it was stunning when it happened, but I'm glad it did happen. In a way, it made me feel like my dad was reaching out to me at the very end, and that our connection was strong enough in life that I received his message in death. I think he's communicated to me a few other times as well - found a penney on the ground right after I was telling my younger son about his grandpa. Just little things like that.

Lexi said...

I've had several dreams come true. It's kind of scary. One specific one was a dream about an older co-worker having a heart attack and dying. The next day at work I told my boss and she said the woman was still alive but she'd had a heart attack through the night.

And when I was in Ireland, I was in the King's Head Pub and I had weird "feelings." It was like I could see, hear and feel the people who used to hang out in the pub when it was first opened. That was not creepy. That was a very COOL experience.

I would love to learn more about this stuff and honing my supernatural "powers."

Cameo Brown said...

Congrats on your new release! Grew up with this stuff, so when I read or see something with these elements, I immediately know if it's created from authentic experience or just someone's imagination. Either can lend itself to a good read, but the authentic stories are just nicely familiar.

Carol Ericson said...

Lexi, wow, those ARE scary dreams. Yes, I believe you can probably "hone" your powers or open yourself to be more sensitive.

Carol Ericson said...

Cameo, well, I don't claim to have experienced the same things as my heroine, Dana, but I hope the scenes are authentic enough!

Anonymous said...

Interesting post, Carol.

Once when my husband was a kid and an alter boy, he was watching the candles, and he saw Mother Mary. He told his mother and she didn't believe him. I do because he still talks about it.

Sandy

Donna Marie Rogers said...

Hi Carol, what a powerful post!

I've had a few minor experiences.
The one that sticks in my mind is about a guy I dated in HS. We had met when we were 11 and 10 and he was infatuated with how small I was (I was always the smallest kid in school...LOL). We had a close relationship, and he used to talk about suicide when we were really young...he was very brooding and mysterious. He pursued me during those years, and it wasn't until I was 16 that I finally admitted I had feelings for him as well. It didn't last very long, unfortunately.

Anyway, I hadn't thought about him for years, but one night I had a very vivid dream about him. The next day I told a friend at work about the dream and how it had freaked me out. When I got home that night, there was a letter waiting from a childhood friend. She told me that my ex-boyfriend had committed suicide. :-( It still gives me the chills just thinking about it.

Carol Ericson said...

Donna, that's freaky. I had another experience somewhat like that. I knew my ex-boyfriend had brain cancer and had gone home to his family in England, so I knew he was ill. Later that year I had a dream about him. I was trying to follow him around an outdoor mall, but he kept eluding me. I'd just catch sight of his boots as he walked around a corner, but I could never catch him. I found out the following week that he had passed away on New Year's Eve - can't remember if I had the dream on New Year's Eve, but it was very close. So amazingly weird!

Carol Ericson said...

Sandy, the experience obviously left an impression on your husband. I'm catching up on the show Lost right now, and there's so much stuff like that going on.

Julie Robinson said...

Carol,
Congrats on your book. It looks wonderful.
In answer to your question,
Yes, but will not elaborate. There is no doubt your dad was communicating with you. What a blessing for you that he came to check up on you and tell you good-bye.
Julie