Read Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side Online
Authors: Barbara Parks
Tags: #Body; Mind & Spirit, #on vacation, #personal journey of gradually accepting and embracing the clairvoyant gifts that allow her to see spirits. She shares dramatic and heartwarming stories of interacting with spirits who turn up everywhere: at home, #Traumatized by vicious poltergeist attacks that lasted five years, #she receives a miraculous visit from him. This joyous experience marks her first step toward healing—and opening up to spirit world.In the Presence of Spirits chronicles Barbara’s uplifting, #Barbara Parks never imagined that her deep-rooted fear of ghosts would disappear. A momentous turning point occurs when, #still mourning the sudden death of a beloved friend, #these amazing true tales are convincing reminders that our loved ones are never far away., #and accompanying her patients. From the departed uncle that protects Barbara’s young children from grave injury to the child spirits who bring comfort to their parents, #Supernatural
had asked for!
Two days later, surrounded by his loving family, Wilfrid
Ashley Freeman quietly passed away. After four years of hard-
ship and struggle, he allowed himself to transition into spirit.
Despite their forewarning, Lesley and her family were shat-
tered.
That evening as she lay in bed crying herself to sleep, Les-
ley was suddenly overcome by the sense of someone being
in the room with her. She rolled over slowly, and gasped at
what she saw. There on the side of her bed was Wilfrid, sitting serenely as though he hadn’t a care in the world. His legs were crossed nonchalantly and he was reaching for Lesley’s forehead. And as he calmly stroked her brow, he smiled … word-
lessly reassuring his daughter that he was absolutely fine.
172 The Interactions of Others
Even now, almost five years after Wilfrid’s passing, Lesley
still gets teary at the recollection.
“I wondered if I could have been imagining it …” she said.
But the intense sense of love and comfort that radiated from
her vision, soon had her convinced. “I’ll never forget the feeling,” Lesley smiled. “I just knew it was Dad’s spirit!”
Over time, the pain of losing her father became less palpa-
ble, but Lesley will never entirely get over her loss. Wilfrid is particularly missed at significant family events, such as Lesley’s wedding in 2012.
Lesley and her fiancé, Jason celebrated their marriage in
Bali, together with close family and friends. As sad as it was not to have her father walking her down the aisle, Lesley was
delighted that her mother stepped in and offered to do the
honours. It was also a great comfort that Wilfrid had managed
to meet Jason just before he died. Although, by then, he was in the grips of dementia, Lesley felt that on some level her husband-to-be and father had connected.
So it was with bittersweet emotion that Lesley and Jason
flew into Bali three days before their wedding, little imagining that Wilfrid would make it known that he would definitely be
there on their special day.
Late on the evening of their arrival, Lesley was sitting
alone on their hotel balcony, testing out the duty-free cam-
era she had just bought. Since Jason was otherwise occupied
inside their hotel room, Lesley decided to test the camera on
herself, and extended her left arm to take a self-portrait.
Upon reviewing the photograph, Lesley noticed an anom-
aly immediately. There was a white filmy object floating just
above her head. She turned around to see what was behind
her, checking to see if there was something beyond her bal-
The Interactions of Others 173
cony which would account for the strange image. All Lesley
could see was a solitary, spindly tree. It looked nothing like the white ephemeral shape which had appeared in her photo.
As she zoomed into the shot, her heart jumped into her
mouth. She was suddenly struck by the realization that the
image was of a beautiful white dove, wings outstretched and
holding a love heart. It was most certainly a wedding gift from her father!
Despite bursting into tears, Lesley couldn’t have felt hap-
pier. She had no doubt that her father was right beside her, and would be sharing in the joy of her and Jason’s wedding day.
Lesley is convinced the white dove in this photograph is a
sign from her father, Wilfrid.
Inexplicable events such as these remind us that there is no
barrier to love in the world of spirit. The seemingly impossible can manifest in the blink of an eye or even in the blasé click of 174 The Interactions of Others
a camera shutter, effortlessly reminding us that our loved ones are never far away
The Enigma of the Haunted House
Is there any way of knowing whether a house is haunted? Is
there a tell-tale sign, or a prevailing sense of foreboding that instantly warns us off ? Do haunted houses need to be of a certain age, or harbour tragic, bloody histories? If only it were that straightforward!
Some haunted houses are patently obvious. So much so,
that one can’t help but wonder what possessed their occupants
to live in them in the first place. Houses like
Monte Cristo
in the New South Wales town of Junee, scream of the ghosts which
linger within their walls. They are Victorian-era mansions
which fit the bill as far as what one would expect a haunted
house to look like. And indeed, in
Monte Cristo’s
case, its foreboding appearance matches the paranormal disturbances
within. It is reputed to be the most haunted house in Australia.
Not only does
Monte Cristo
definitely
look haunted, it’s sinister history cements the likelihood of ghosts. Its past is replete with baleful occupants and tragic deaths; including that of an unfortunate infant who was fatally dropped down a stairwell.
Just as disturbing is the case of a teenage stable boy who was burnt to death in his sick-bed in the early 1900’s. As the story goes, the boy’s foreman suspected the youngster of malinger-ing, and threw a match to his straw mattress in an attempt to
catch him out. The stable boy was, however, too ill to escape
his flaming bed. The horrific circumstances of the youngster’s death seem to have imprinted themselves on the ether, as the
boy’s suffering leaves an indelible sense of doom at the scene The Interactions of Others 175
of his death. It’s of little surprise that the stable is the focus of countless paranormal disturbances.
Then of course there are the ghosts of the first owners of
Monte Cristo
themselves, Christopher and Elizabeth Crawley.
Mr Crawley’s sudden and unexpected passing (as the result of
an infected carbuncle which progressed to blood poisoning)
further increases the likelihood that he is not ready to move on and leave his beloved home. And although Crawley’s wife lived
at
Monte Cristo
for another twenty three years after his death, it seems she is just as reluctant to leave as her husband. And indeed, in the years following her husband’s death, Mrs Crawley only left the homestead twice.
The home’s current owners, Reg and Olive Ryan, report
that Elizabeth Crawley is a regular and obvious presence.
On occasions she even shows herself; manifesting as a dense,
black-dressed apparition. Her presence is very proprietorial,
and she is quick to demonstrate her displeasure at those she
considers to be unwelcome guests.
Monte Cristo’s
sinister manifestations are numerous and well-documented, and range from the benign to the horrific. Perhaps most distressing to Reg and Olive, were the deaths of numerous family pets, the means of which were quite often inexpli-
cable. The discovery that every bird in the hen house had been killed was particularly disturbing, especially since their necks had been violently rung. The lock, walls and roof all remained intact, with no evidence of being tampered with.
Similarly upsetting was the early morning discovery of the
family’s five month old kitten. It lay dead in a downstairs hallway, its stomach slashed open. Again, there were no signs of
forced entry by either man or beast.
176 The Interactions of Others
As far as
Monte Cristo
is concerned,
it’s certainly appropriate to judge a book by its cover. This is one house that cer-
tainly lives up to its ghostly expectations!
My friend, Jason is passionate about all things paranormal,
as evidenced by his self-named moniker,
Jason Ghostman.
He is particularly entranced by Monte Cristo, and makes a point of
trying to visit the homestead every year. Being a regular visitor, he has become good friends with Reg and Olive. As such,
he has been privy to many of Monte Cristo’s paranormal dis-
turbances, and indeed, has experienced many of them himself.
Olive, Reg and Jason on the front porch at Monte Cristo.
Jason tells me that the feeling of being watched is ever-
present at Monte Cristo, as well as the feeling of having travelled back through time.
“You almost feel like you shouldn’t be there,” he says. “And
in some rooms, you can actually start to feel really sick.” Jason tells me that on a recent ghost tour, some people refused to
The Interactions of Others 177
enter certain rooms, so strong was the feeling of revulsion and foreboding.
On one particular occasion, Jason decided to stay at Monte
Cristo overnight. He had heard numerous accounts of late
night visits by noisy, ghostly children, and was keen to encounter them for himself. As well as making a right ruckus, the
young ghosts were also reported to jump up and down on the
guests’ beds, and Jason was hopeful that they would do so to
him.
He expectantly lay in his darkened room, ears trained for
the slightest sound. The effort must have been exhausting,
because in no time at all, Jason fell fast asleep! He was devastated to discover that not only had he slept soundly through
the entire night, but he had also missed numerous ghostly
manifestations.
Although there weren’t any reports of the young ghosts
jumping on beds, they had been heard laughing and running
up and down the hallways. Jason was devastated.
He was further affronted to discover that one of the guests
in the neighbouring room had seen a black, shadowy figure
purposefully going about its business.
“You should have knocked on the wall!” Jason told the
bemused guest. “I would’ve run in … I had my camera ready
and everything!”
Once he got over the disappointment of missing such an
eventful night, Jason reasoned that there would be plenty
more opportunities to fraternise with Monte Cristo’s ghosts.
And in accordance with his promise to himself, he continues
to visit his favourite haunted house year after year.
178 The Interactions of Others
The grand old lady herself; Monte Cristo Homestead,
believed to be Australia’s most haunted house.
Unlike Monte Cristo, not all haunted houses bear the clas-
sic appearance of looking old and creepy. And by the same
token, even those houses which look positively ominous can
draw a blank as far as ghostly activity is concerned.
The most sinister-looking mansions can be entirely ghost-
free, whereas their non-descript suburban counterparts can be
crawling with ghosts. It would be remiss to assume that only
old homes with chequered histories are likely to be haunted,
as it’s just as likely that a newly-built modern house is home to unseen occupants. It may be that the ghosts are connected to