Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side (15 page)

lounge.

“Has this gentleman come with any of you?”

Suicide victims are often the strongest and quickest to

come through and this evening was no exception. The spirits

of those who have prematurely ended their lives are invariably surrounded by an aura of intense emotion, as I suspect they

are enveloped in sorrow and regret. They are often eager to

contact their loved ones; to make amends and offer comfort

with the assurance that they’re OK.

My friend, Lane identified her Uncle Laurie immediately.

Laurie had passed just a month earlier, a seemingly spur of the moment suicide which saw him put a gun barrel to his mouth.

Lane’s grief was still very raw and she excused herself and

went into the kitchen. I gave her a minute or so and then fol-

lowed her upstairs. Lane was crying, shaking from the inten-

sity of her heartache and shock.

“I felt him put his hand on my shoulder,” she said tearfully.

“Barbie, he was really there!”

Lane has often displayed mediumistic abilities, so it didn’t

surprise me that she felt Laurie’s presence so strongly. Lane

was ordinarily at ease with the presence of spirits, but the

Laurie 119

rawness of her grief had taken the experience to a new and

intense level. I suggested that if she wasn’t comfortable with Laurie being so close, that she ask him to step back a little. I assured her that he’d understand.

“No, it’s fine,” said Lane. “It was just a bit of a shock …”

Lane remained in the kitchen for a little while longer, whilst I returned to the group downstairs. She later told me that

she stayed behind to speak to Laurie. Contrary to what I had

expected, Lane didn’t want Laurie to ease up at all, in fact she had asked him to provide her with some solid proof of his presence. She asked Laurie to give her an unmistakeable sign that he was really there beside her. She wanted to be convinced.

Once Paula had completed the readings, it was time to

work with the table. We decided to work in groups of four,

swapping the sitters every few minutes so that everyone could

experience the phenomenon for themselves.

Paula began the table tipping with a breathtaking display.

The table skittered repeatedly across the floorboards, buck-

ing and rocking as if it had suddenly come to life. Those

who hadn’t experienced table tipping before were awestruck,

almost unable to comprehend the scene playing out before

them.

It was a hard act to follow, but Laurie made sure that my

table tipping session was equally memorable.

I began with the usual prayer of protection and invited the

spirits to make themselves known to us. Using my pendulum,

I asked if I was speaking to my spirit guide. The answer was a strong and categorical
NO.

I was informed that I was speaking to a spirit who had

come with one of my guests. Of course I suspected it was Lau-

rie right away, but proceeded to list the names of my guests in 120 Laurie

turn, asking if he had come with them. Each name was met

with a no, until I asked if he had come with Lane.

The pendulum began to transcribe big, strong circles; the

signal for
yes
.

When I asked if I was speaking to Laurie, the circles

became even larger, so I encouraged Lane to come and join us

at the table.

After answering some questions which confirmed that we

were speaking to Laurie, he told us he was eager to try and

make the table move. He said he wasn’t sure if he would be

able to do it, but was certainly keen to try.

Fingers poised lightly on the tabletop, I invited Laurie to

see what he could do. The vibrations coursing through the

wood came through almost immediately; a promising sign! A

moment later the table lifted up on one side, tipping straight into Lane’s lap.

Laurie’s effort was met with encouraging whoops and

clapping from those standing around us. The energy in the

room felt electric. The table returned to its starting position for a brief moment, after which it lifted up once again, tipping back towards Lane. As impressed as we were, Laurie was

about to take things further.

Suddenly from behind me, I heard the sound of glass

breaking. My first thought was that someone had knocked a

glass over. But the wide-eyed expressions of those before me

quickly dispelled this idea, as it was evident that something

incredible had just happened.

I turned to see that the candle holder had spontaneously

broken, a large piece of its glass casing had sheared off and was lying beside it. The candle itself continued to innocently flicker.

I picked up the holder to examine it, searching for a plau-

sible explanation for the spontaneously breaking glass. I won-

Laurie 121

dered if perhaps the glass had gotten too hot, but of course the glass was designed to be heat proof. The wick itself was

leaning away from the side that shattered, thereby dispelling

my initial theory that it had simply overheated.

It was at this point that Lane told us about her request in the kitchen; and how she had asked her uncle to give her an unmistakeable physical sign. It seems Laurie was happy to comply. It was an incredible conclusion to an emotionally charged night!

When going through the photographs after my guests had

left, I came across a photo taken shortly before the candle holder broke. Hovering just above it is a beautiful, iridescent orb. Could it have been Laurie gearing up for his grand finale? It seemed too much of a coincidence to have been anyone else.

I later discovered that Lane wasn’t the only one to be

graced with a loved one’s visit, as my friend Alison revealed

the following the day.

A moment after this photo was taken, the glass candle

holder just beneath the orb shattered. We were convinced

that Laurie was the culprit!

122 Laurie

I emailed Alison the morning after the séance, eager to

share with her a sequence of three photographs that were taken the night before. The photos showed a distinct orb sitting just behind her, its size and shape identical in each frame. I felt sure that the spirit was Martin, Alison’s infant son who died seventeen years earlier. His twin brother Brett, and indeed Alison herself, have always suspected that Martin is around them. The

persistent orb seemed more than a little coincidental.

Paula expressed a similar belief during Alison’s reading, picking up on the presence of a young spirit who was closely con-

nected to her. The photographs seemed to reinforce this and I

was interested to hear Alison’s opinion of the photos. I had no idea that she had a thrilling experience to relay herself.

Alison told me that not only had she been aware of some-

one sitting behind her for most of the séance, she felt as

though she was being firmly enveloped in a bear hug. It just

had to be Martin!

Once she got home, Alison thought about what Paula had

said about her son. She had suggested that Alison only had to

ask, and Martin would happily give her another sign. In fact he was waiting for an invitation to do so.

Alison lay on her bed and began to breathe deeply. She

closed her eyes and thought of the baby son who would’ve

been a strapping teenager by now. Whispering into the dark-

ness, she asked if he would touch her.

Within seconds he was there; an unmistakeable presence

sitting beside his mother on the bed. Alison felt a warm hand

within her own, which she described as feeling as though her

hand and Martin’s were merged into one.

“It wasn’t as though I was holding his hand,” she explained.

“It was more a case of his hand being
inside
mine!”

Laurie 123

Alison told me she was overcome by a sense of overwhelm-

ing happiness and peace.

“I felt so blessed,” she said. “Then I simply drifted off and had the best sleep I can remember. I just can’t wait to experience something like that again!”

After this wonderful experience, the photos I sent her were

just the icing on the cake. Alison was already convinced that

she had shared a wonderful experience with her son, and as

lovely as it was seeing the photographs, no further proof had been necessary.

It was safe to say that our mass séance had been a resound-

ing success!

Laurie’s presence lingered into the following day, and

the atmosphere in our house remained charged. I decided to

establish contact once again, to ask if Laurie was intending to move on.

He assured me that he was continuing on his spiritual path,

and had every intention of going into the light. Having com-

forted his loved ones by proving that his spirit lived on, he was now at peace. He was ready to embark on the next phase of

his journey.

I felt a pang when I realised that this was goodbye.

“Laurie … would you like to leave one last gift for your

family?” I asked.

I had no doubt that the answer would be
yes.

“How about we go downstairs and take one last photo? Do

you think you’d be able to appear for me?”

I grabbed my camera and made my way down the stair-

case, stopping halfway so as to capture a full view of the family room.

“OK Laurie,” I said. “Shine big and bright for me!”

124 Laurie

I asked Laurie for a farewell photo, and was rewarded

with this memorable snap!

The photograph that I captured took my breath away; as

I immediately noticed the plate-sized, radiant orb. There was

Laurie on the lounge, in the very position where Lane had

been sitting the night before.

“Look at you …” I said. “You’re absolutely beautiful!”

I wished him all the love and happiness in the world and a

moment later, he was gone. Another beautiful soul that I have

been privileged to have crossed paths with.

Lane ended up keeping the broken candle holder, as a

reminder of her much loved uncle. Together with the photos

in which Laurie had shown himself, her family had a special

set of mementoes to acknowledge his after death visit.

Despite Laurie’s despair towards the end of his life, his

spirit had moved beyond the negativity which had furnished

his final days. Although dark emotions had led him towards

his tragic end, he was no longer held in their clutches. The

darkness had turned into light.

Laurie 125

The purpose of Laurie’s visit was to no doubt make

amends, and to offer his family peace before progressing on his journey. Although he carried a sense of sadness and regret, the over-riding emotion that he radiated was love.

Now he was moving towards the light, comforted by the

fact that he had given his loved ones some reprieve from their pain. And should they need further comfort, I have no doubt

Laurie will be back in a heartbeat, to radiate his comfort and love once again.

Given Lane’s sensitivity to the spirit world, I suspect he’ll

make a beeline for his niece when needed. And I have no

doubt that he will be welcomed with open arms.

The first thing someone would think if they heard something

shatter in a gift shop, is that some clumsy customer had acci-

dentally broken something. And that’s exactly what came to

mind when I heard a crash come from the front room of an

old house, each room of which had been converted into a

showroom for different types of gifts.