“My impish nine year old had a bit of the soothsayer in him.”

It was the middle of February and I was daydreaming how nice it would be to spend a week or two in sunny California.

It was a particularly miserable winter in Chicago, and I yearned to get out of town.  My wife had called a few minutes earlier and alerted me to a problem our youngest boy was having in school.

Turns out he was in trouble with the same teacher again, and we wondered if he was alienating her or perhaps she somehow had it in for our boy.  After all, Dustin was a quiet kid who wouldn’t hurt a fly, and he was the last person we’d thought who would cause trouble.

When I returned home that night, Dustin and I had a “man to man” talk, and I was shocked by what he told me.  My impish nine year old had a bit of the soothsayer in him.  It seems he was constantly interrupting the teacher by shouting out the answer before she opened her mouth to ask the question.

I told my wife about this, and after having a good laugh, we thought it best to ask Dustin’s teacher if this was indeed true.  Well, it turns out that Mrs. Miller was at her wits end because she said our kid somehow was getting “into her head” and would interrupt her time and time again with something she was about to say.

Fortunately, Mrs. Miller had a good sense of humor, and she admitted she wished she had Dustin’s ability to read minds.  She said Dustin was a good boy and she’d figure out how to cope with his “talent.”

She also told me something about Dustin that I’ll never forget.  A few days earlier, he had shouted out “fire drill” only a second before the alarm rang.  Mrs. Miller said the school principal had alerted her that there would be a fire drill that day but hadn’t informed her of the exact time.  “Apparently,” she said, “I should have asked Dustin.  He would have told me.”

R. McGurthy
Tucson, AZ

“He said, ‘Go back to your mother now.'”

Bernard had come down with cancer and his health was failing rapidly.  He was only forty-five years old and up to that time he had been quite active and in good health.

One Saturday morning, Bernard told his son Johnny to go out and play, that he was feeling weak and needed some sleep. The eight year old nodded and went out to the back yard to play on the swing set.

No sooner had Johnny sat down on the swing, he noticed his father walking out the yard and down the road.  “Daddy, daddy,” he called after him.  At first, the man didn’t turn or even acknowledge his son’s call.

Johnny started to run after him.  Bernard stopped slowly and said, “It’s OK.  Go back to your mother now.”

Johnny ran into the house but was met by his mother who he noticed had tears in her eyes.  “It’s better you not come in right now,” she said.  Then she went on to explain that his father isn’t in pain anymore and that he had passed away.

“But I just saw him,” cried the little boy.  “I did, too,” said his mother.  Apparently, she had seen the vision of Bernard walking out of the house, and a few moments later, Johnny saw his father walking down the road.

She reports that from time to time when she is in the kitchen she can see his vision in the garden.  “It only occurs for a few seconds, and then I can’t see him anymore.  I think he comes to check on us, to see if we’re OK.  That’s the way he was in real life, and I think he’s showing me he still cares for us.”

M. Marquais
Albuquerque, NM

“Tears were streaming down my face as I moved the pillow toward Maxwell’s face “

Mary Sampson was a South African woman who was charged with taking care of a severely handicapped boy named Maxwell.

Maxwell had been horribly injured in a tractor accident when he was nine years old and he could barely function without assistance from his loyal caretaker, Mary.

Mary wrote in her journal:  “I was very depressed because Maxwell’s parents were running out of money and they simply couldn’t afford to take care of Maxwell for much longer.  The boy needed constant attention, and it was the saddest thing I had ever witnessed.

“One morning, Maxwell, without saying a word, motioned with his eyes toward a pillow that was resting beside his head.  He silently said ‘do it.’  I looked at him and said, no, I can’t.

“I never felt so terrible in my life.

“I sat beside Maxwell for a while wondering what was best for him.  I finally came to the conclusion that perhaps it was best for the boy to put him out of his misery.  I don’t know what got into me, but when I noticed Maxwell had fallen asleep, I slowly picked up the pillow.

“I stood there for what seemed to be an eternity not knowing what to do.  Tears were streaming down my face as I moved the pillow toward Maxwell’s face.  Then I almost jumped out of my clothes when the phone rang.

“It was Maxwell’s mother who said she had a feeling that something was terribly wrong.  I dropped the pillow and was sobbing as I explained that I didn’t know what was going to become of Maxwell.  We both cried together that day.

“Maxwell died peacefully in his sleep two years later.”

“For the first time since I’ve known him, he cried.”

I was sitting at the breakfast table having my morning cup of coffee and reading the paper when my husband walked in.  He had a strange look on his face and when he sat down and said nothing, not even a hello, I asked him if anything was wrong.

He said he had a dream that an old flame from the past had suddenly appeared at the front door.  He said the dream was so real that he could describe her outfit right down to the last detail.  And he said she had something important to tell him but although her lips were moving he couldn’t make out the words.

I asked who she was and he went on to explain their relationship.  I was a bit taken aback because Jeff and I never keep any secrets from one another.  At least I didn’t think so.  And seemingly out of the blue he was telling me about someone who had apparently played an important role in his life.

I asked him why he appeared so troubled.  After all, we had been married for over twenty years now, and the past is the past.  But he said something happened that he had to explain.

Jeff went on to tell me about a child she had that she gave up for adoption.  And he looked up at me and said the child was his.

I walked around the table and hugged him.  I asked him if he had ever seen his child, and he just shook his head.  For the first time since I’ve known Jeff, he cried.

We spoke about it for the next week or so, and then the unexpected occurred.  We received a letter from a young man named Charlton.  Incredibly, he explained how he was trying to find his birth father and was now convinced Jeff was the man.

Jeff has had dreams before that have alerted him to things to come but never anything quite like this.

J. Spencer
Casper, Wyoming

“My heart dropped right out of my body.”

I was rushing back home.

After making a lame excuse to my boss, I had left work early because I had a premonition that I was needed, that my presence was necessary.

I didn’t know why I had acted upon it.  I’ve had pessimistic thoughts before and rarely have they reached fruition.  But today the premonition resonated in my soul.  I could feel it all the way to my toes.

And with a pregnant wife and a son who was not quite three years old, I couldn’t take the chance that I wasn’t needed.

I pulled up into the driveway and burst out of the car only to have Mindy come running up to me.  She said a terrible thing had occurred, and my heart dropped right out of my body.

To my relief (and I will forever feel guilty about it), our dog Sandy had been run over by a car only minutes before.

Fortunately, Sandy suffered mostly superficial injuries, and after a couple of days at the vets, she returned with a limp but not much more.  She was lucky.

Mindy asked why I had suddenly come screeching up to the house unannounced, and why I wasn’t at work.  I explained my premonition, and it was then she said she had a similar feeling as well.

This wasn’t a surprise as Mindy and I are soul mates and we have often had similar thoughts rushing through our heads at the same time.

D. Eckerston
Hartford, CO

“Everyone in the place feared for his life”

I would like to tell you about a paranormal experience I had recently.

Normally, I wouldn’t tell this to anyone for fear they’d think I was a bit loony, but I’ve read several of your stories, and I’d like to hear what you think.

It was a Tuesday afternoon and I was on my way to a local pub to share a beer or two with a couple of good buddies.  I received a call on my cell from my sister, Emily, who said she was thinking of me and was afraid something bad might occur.

I assured her that I was fine and explained that she always had an active imagination.  However, what she told me scared the daylights out of me.

Emily said that she had been “watching” me all day.  I asked her what she meant and she said she could see just about everything I had done for the past several hours.

When she heard me give out a little snicker, she went on to describe several things I had done.  Well, my snicker disappeared because there was no way she could have known.  I hadn’t been around anyone else, so no one could have alerted her.  And she described places and events in such detail, I was unnerved.  Absolutely, unconditionally, unnerved.

Then she said to come back home.  To not meet with my friends.  When I asked why, she just said, trust me.

Well, I did as she said because after her extraordinary tale, I wasn’t about to ignore her warning.  As I walked in the house, I received another call.  This was from Andy, one of my friends at the place I was supposed to go.

Andy said one of the patrons at the bar had pulled a gun and started waving it at everyone.  They called the police who quickly arrived on the scene and disarmed him.  But for a while everyone in the place feared for his life.

Who knows what might have happened had Emily not forewarned me.

F. Taslov
Jackson, MI