Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side (14 page)

108 Haunted Theaters

ilarly coloured base or root chakra. This is the chakra which

connects us to the earth. Because these souls are earthbound,

there is usually an emotional attachment or sense of unfin-

ished business which is keeping them tethered to their earthly roots. As such, there may be negative emotional energy present, as they are invariably angry or dissatisfied.

I suspected that the orange orb was that of the angry entity

backstage; it felt as though he just skulked out from behind

the curtain to show himself in the photo. What happened next

made me think so all the more.

As soon as Tony asked the theatre’s ghosts to gather around him,
he was surrounded!

Tony went on to ask if any ghosts or spirits would like to

make some noise. He pointed out that this was their chance to

further prove themselves. It took a few minutes of encourage-

ment but the results were worth the wait.

By now we were all standing in front of the stage, look-

ing out towards the stalls. There was a sudden banging from

the right of the stage, so loud and frightening that I jumped and grabbed onto Glenda. Someone (possibly me …) let out a

Haunted Theaters 109

shriek. Matilda and Eleanor were also clinging to each other,

hearts racing.

Tony concluded the evening by facilitating contact with

some of the friendlier spirits, most of whom were part of

the theatre community in days gone by. It seemed they had

retained their connection to the theatre for positive reasons, as it had held happy memories they didn’t want to let go. Perhaps they were crossed over energies who just called in from time

to time, happy to re-live their days in the theatre.

Jock stepped in towards the end of the evening, confirming

our suspicions about the ghost who roamed backstage. He iden-

tified him as
Walter
, and told us that he was not at all impressed with us being there. Walter thought we were intruding and was

adamant that we should leave.

Whether it was because it was after midnight, or on account

of Walter’s menacing presence, we decided to call it a night.

And as we locked up behind ourselves, we couldn’t help feel-

ing pleased. Despite the heart-stopping moments and Walter’s

negativity, we would no doubt do it all again. We were buoyed

by the success of our evening, and the conviction that that the spirit world had proven itself once again.

Amid the bustle which makes up my average workday, an ele-

ment of the amazing managed to worm its way in amongst

the chaos. I was running behind schedule and my waiting

room was beginning to fill up. I felt under increasing pressure as the afternoon wore on, especially since each time I walked

into reception I was greeted by a sea of expectant faces.

One gentleman seated directly opposite me caught my

attention each time I entered the reception area. He exuded an air of calm and smiled as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

He didn’t seem at all perturbed to be kept waiting. There was

something almost familiar about him, although I knew we had

never met.

By the time I ushered him into my treatment room, I felt as

though we had already made some kind of unspoken connec-

tion. The feeling was reinforced as we shook hands and intro-

duced ourselves. Steve took my hand in both of his and shook

it firmly, smiling into my eyes with unmistakeable kindness.

111

112 Steve

I took to examining Steve’s feet as he gave me the history

of his condition. As debilitating as his foot pain had been, he didn’t stop smiling as he relayed the details of his complaint. I found myself grinning back, when perhaps it would’ve been

more appropriate to assume a look of sympathetic concern. I

just couldn’t help mirroring the happy face before me.

I asked Steve to stand up so that I could check his foot and

leg alignment, which is when the appointment took a dramatic

turn. His foot condition was soon to be swiftly forgotten.

“So …” I asked as I measured Steve’s arch. “What do
you
do for a living?”

There was a long pause.

“I’m a telephone counsellor …” he said. “I work in suicide

prevention.”

Given my recent interactions with the spirits of those who

had suicided, Steve’s profession immediately struck a chord

with me. I felt even more of a connection with him.

Steve went on to tell me that his son took his own life five

years ago; a tragedy which had prompted him towards his

life’s vocation.

I tried to maintain my composure and continue with the

examination as we spoke, but pretty soon my professionalism

would go flying spectacularly out the window. I could see that Steve was preparing to tell me more about his son, but could

never have anticipated the bombshell he was about to deliver.

He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders as he began to speak. He told me he
thought it was time to come clean
.

I looked up at him expectantly, unable to imagine what

coming clean
could possibly entail. My routine day at the clinic was about to come to an end; replaced by a magical day I

would never forget.

Steve 113

“I’m Gary’s dad,” smiled Steve.

I was immediately flooded by an overwhelming onslaught

of emotions.

Gary
… M
y cheeky little bed-shaker! The spirit to whom I’d
promised that I would speak to his parents!
And now without even trying, I was fulfilling my part of our bargain
.
I was gob-smacked.

I stood up and dropped my pen onto the desk. The busi-

ness part of our appointment was undeniably over. Steve and I

smiled at each other as we moved in for a heartfelt hug.

“I am so delighted to finally meet you!” I said. “And I’ve so

loved my interactions with your son … well at least everything bar the bed-shaking!”

We sat beaming as we shared anecdotes about Gary’s

recent visits. I was excited to discover that Steve himself had experienced a number of visitations from his son, many of

them resonating with my own.

Steve described how Gary had shown himself one evening

as a smattering of bright flashing lights, whilst simultaneously allowing his energy to pulsate through his parents’ bed. Steve felt waves of vibration systematically coursing through the

mattress, until the bed itself began to quiver. The way Steve described it, it sounded very much like my own late night visit from Gary; whereby the bed shaking was preceded by the feeling of energy rhythmically coursing beneath me.

“It seems that’s Gary’s standard party trick, doesn’t it?” I

said. “Oh and he’s also very good at focussing his energy on the table. He and Matt had it tipped over on its side in no time!”

Steve also told me that for the duration of Gary’s visit, his

body had felt entirely immobile. He was neither able to speak

nor move, and just lay on the bed transfixed by the beautiful

114 Steve

lights before him. This sense of temporary paralysis is a fairly common aspect of a paranormal visitation, as the spirit makes

use of the observers life-force in order to manifest. As a result of their energy being utilised by the spirit, the observer is able to do little more than take it all in.

Since Steve knew his visitor was Gary, he didn’t consider

his temporary immobility to be disturbing. He appreciated

it to be part and parcel of an extraordinary experience, and

allowed himself to savour the visit from his much-loved son.

Steve also told me about a vivid interaction he and Gary had

just a week after his death. Steve was sitting quietly one evening when he suddenly felt a palpable energy shift in the room.

A moment later he saw his son standing before him, look-

ing as he had when he was thirteen years old. Despite being

twenty when he passed away, Steve believes Gary manifested

as his thirteen-year-old self as he had been very happy at that age. It’s often said that our spirit selves take on the appearance of when we were in our prime, so perhaps to Gary, the onset

of his teen years had indeed been the prime of his life.

Steve described Gary as looking corporeal and real; he

appeared so solid that it felt as though Steve could simply

reach out and touch him. It was heart-rending and wonder-

ful all at once.

Judging by his appearance, it was obvious that young Gary

had yet to cross-over; as his energy was very dense. Steve suspected that he was still earthbound and as painful as it was,

encouraged his son to move on.

“You can’t stay here mate,” said Steve sadly.”It’s time to go

to Heaven …”

As I sat listening to Steve’s story, Gary’s vibrant energy

was buzzing around us. I had no doubt that he was overjoyed

Steve 115

at the latest development; and felt glad that at last contact

between myself and his family had been made.

I was repeatedly distracted by a bright light flashing on

the empty chair across my desk, right beside where Steve was

sitting. When I looked over and allowed my gaze to relax, it

didn’t take long before a masculine figure began to appear.

His form was defined by a pale, glowing luminescence; the

unmistakable manifestation of a crossed over spirit. It appeared that Gary had definitely made the transition into the higher

realms and was now watching over his family. It was heartening to know he was continuing on his spiritual journey.

Steve went on to tell me that he felt sure that Gary had

been instrumental in facilitating our meeting, and that he had somehow managed to intensify Steve’s foot pain in order to

ensure that he would to come to my clinic. Matilda had told

Callum about my experiences with Gary, and had simply iden-

tified me as a “podiatrist called Barbara.”

Callum had then of course told his parents, and the wheels

had been set into motion.

Although Steve had attended my clinic some years earlier,

he had been attended to by one of my staff members, rather

than myself.

“When I rang to make an appointment, they told me that

my podiatrist had left,” Steve told me. “So I asked who else

was available. When your receptionist said
Barbara,
the penny dropped that it just had to be you!”

A quick scan of my Facebook author page confirmed that

I was indeed the Barbara who had been communicating with

his son. It all seemed somehow orchestrated; so much so that

Steve couldn’t help thinking things were being subtly influ-

enced by the other side. I couldn’t have agreed more!

116 Steve

As the appointment came to a close, I was yet to stop smil-

ing. In a matter of minutes, my mundane, stress-filled after-

noon had been transformed into something magical. Steve

and I promised each other we would be in touch again soon,

as I very much wanted to meet Gary’s mother and brother.

And if by chance his family wanted to physically experi-

ence their beloved Gary’s presence, I felt sure that all they had to do was say the word. Gary had not only ascended from the

earth plane to the spiritual realms, he had also transcended

the depression which had plagued him in life. He was now a

vibrant, happy energy; and was eager to spread the word.

Meeting Steve had given me further insight into my new

spirit friend and I was very much looking forward to our next

contact. Gary had a beautiful energy I couldn’t wait to interact with again. And if that meant allowing him to do his famous

party-trick of shaking the bed then so be it; I think I’d be hard-pressed to ever find it scary again!

L a u r i e

As much as I shy away from the term
séance
and its sinister connotations of conjuring up the dead, there is no denying

that my table tipping sessions were indeed a type of séance.

By now I was becoming a competent
table tipper
and the spirits seemed to be ever more willing to come through. Their physical manifestations were becoming stronger; the proof of their

presence more irrefutable. I had finally established a strong

link of communication with the spirit world and the word was

out; amongst both the living and the dead.

It wasn’t long before I was inundated with requests to

facilitate spirit contact, and I found myself conducting small-scale séances with increasing regularity. Since this was becoming time consuming and mentally draining, I decided to trial a larger scale event, inviting twenty guests in one sitting instead of the usual groups of four. I had no idea whether the loss of intimacy would be detrimental to spirit contact and I was curious to find out.

117

118 Laurie

The plan was to begin the evening with dinner, after which

we would convene in my downstairs family room and invite

the spirits to join us. My psychic friend, Paula would com-

mence proceedings by doing readings for our guests.

She began by methodically reading each person in turn,

but there was one impatient spirit who simply refused to wait.

Paula’s physical discomfort became evident as she put her

hand to her throat.

“Someone’s passed from suicide … something to do with

the throat.”

She looked towards a group of women seated on the