The Paranormal

For years, Amy and Tammie enjoyed watching ghost shows. I think that their favorite was always the Ghost Hunters on the Syfy Network (which used to be the SciFi Network, but evidently people were confused and thought it the She Fee Network. In any event, the name was changed and it really doesn't matter.) The Ghost Hunters show started out with these two Roto-Rooter plumbers who unclogged drains by day and worked as paranormal investigators by night. I am not sure that they have ever truly encountered a ghost, but it is a fun show to watch.

In almost every episode, the plumbers try to interact with the ghosts through a series of questions, such as: Is there any one here with us? Could you make a noise? Could you move this object? They record everything with these digital voice recorders and then spend "hours" looking at the evidence in a hotel room or a construction trailer. The plumbers have several assistants and these assistants help them to comb through the "massive evidence".

Currently, they employ a gruff, but highly-trained, heavily tattooed gentleman to supervise this process. This fellow is not afraid of anything; except flying in an airplane, bats, heights and I believe spiders. If he hops on a plane or sees one of these creatures, he becomes hysterical and is useless for a sustained period of time. Most times though, he is just gruff and lovable and works tirelessly. Often, he will discover a voice anomaly and then eagerly highlight these supposed sounds and bring them to the plumbers for confirmation. I always have to struggle to hear these whispered sounds and they rarely make sense to me. For instance, the "I am not guilty." of a recent show, sounded a lot like indigestion, but I am not a trained investigator and we have a Curtis Mathes TV with limited audio accessories.

Just after Tammie's funeral, I was at my parent's home and I went into my old bedroom (which was Tammie's bedroom before that). When I walked into the room, I believed that I felt something tug on my pant leg and I looked down, but saw nothing there. I kind of laughed it off, but decided to ask if the "presence" could move a hanger that was on a stepladder in the room. I asked this question several times, but nothing happened. Eventually, I smiled and headed back to the living room to be with the rest of my family.

I went home that night and the next morning, Amy woke me up to show me an odd angled wire hangar in her closet. At first glance, it seemed to be hanging in mid-air and I guessed that it probably fell down at some point in the night and got stuck on some clothes. A few days after that episode, my parents both claimed to see an apparition in their bedroom. They had separate encounters and at completely different times. They both described this figure as a woman that resembled Tammie. I suppose this is a way that people deal with a passing and it might just be a part of the grieving process, but we all thought it quite unusual.

I don't really believe in the paranormal, but I do still feel my sister's presence at times. Most often, this will occur when I think of something funny and want to share it with her. From the time we were children, we enjoyed telling stories and making each other laugh. Perhaps, these "ghostly" encounters are a result of our immense longing for her. Unfortunately, we have had just a few of these experiences and most of those occurred only a few days after Tammie's funeral.