Hello From the Other Side ~ Darlene Kuncytes

It’s that time of year again, when ghosts and goblins roam the streets in search of treats... When the air is filled with that subtle hint of excitement at what you just might encounter along your way. 

I love Halloween. 

Maybe it’s because I’m an October baby, I don’t know, but I love all things spooky. I mean, who doesn’t love sitting around a roaring fire telling ghostly tales? 

It’s practically a rite of passage growing up.  Sitting under the streetlight in the summer, telling each other the urban legends we had heard, and swore were true because they happened to a friend of a friend who told them to you. lolol

I have always loved reading true stories of hauntings, and I simply can’t get enough of shows on the subject. (Hello Travel Channel!!!)

My interest might also be in part because of the few strange things that have happened to me. Although, who are we kidding? I have loved horror and jump scares for as long as I can remember.

So. This month I decided to share a few of them with you in preparation for All Hallows Eve! But…don’t worry, they aren’t scary. My scary experience with a Ouija board will have to wait for another time. 

This month I’ve decided to share some things that have happened to my sister and I, that were actually pretty comforting. 

It was about a month after we lost my mom. My sister and I were sitting in the living room talking about her, and about how quiet things seemed with her gone. My mother was a character and a half. She told it like it was, and had a sense of humor that would leave you in stitches. 

Anyway, we were just talking quietly about how much we missed her, and one of my dog’s balls, which was sitting in front of the television, rolled across the floor and between us. We sat there in silence as we watched it move across the floor and come to a stop, then just looked at each other in shock before smiling and agreeing that is was mom’s way of saying hello. There was no one near it, the dogs were all sleeping on the couch, no open windows. In fact, it was a thick, heavy rubber ball that you put treats in, so even if the windows had been open, it would have taken Dorothy Gale’s tornado from the Wizard of Oz to move it. 

The next incident was a few months after that. I came home from work to find my sister sitting at the kitchen table, white as a sheet. When I asked what was wrong, she handed me our cordless phone and instructed me to listen to the saved message. I did, but all I heard was what sounded like a group of people talking and laughing, as if a party were taking place, and I looked at her in confusion. 

Someone must have butt dialed. 

She said that she was at the sink when the phone rang. She was cooking and decided to let the voice mail grab it. After the usual 5 rings, it kept on ringing which she thought odd because it should have gone to voice mail. So, after a few more rings she grabbed it and heard what I had just heard. People talking and laughing. You couldn’t make out what we being said, but again, it sounded like a party. 

She may or may not have growled something not so nice into the phone before hanging up. lol

She was about to go back to cooking when she thought about our caller id. She looked up the number and kind of freaked when she saw it was our home number, and it said the person calling was my mother! The phone bill had never been in her name, so to see the number of our phone and my mother’s name show as the person calling was really, pretty crazy. 

After I got over my case of the shivers and thought about it, I decided that it as our mom’s way of letting us know that she was okay, and with those she loved. My mom loved people, and nothing on this earth made her happier than sitting around talking. 

We saved the message, but a day or two later, my sister tried to look it up again, and it was gone. No record of the call at all. 

These are just a few of the things that have happened, and whether you believe in the paranormal or not, I myself take comfort in and choose to believe that it was my mom letting us know that she was where she needed to be. 

So, this Halloween, just enjoy the feel of the season. And, maybe think that sometimes those we love can come back for just the briefest of moments to let us know that they are okay. 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Dar