Ghostly Vision Says Goodbye

August 27, 2008

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The day my father-in-law died following a heart attack shattered his whole family. A man so ornery and full of life, no wonder everyone cried so hard at the funeral and the emptiness settled in even before he was laid to rest. He had four sons and a daughter. My husband was the first born and extremely close to his father.

One night after the funeral, I sat watching TV with our four month old daughter, Faith. Denny said goodnight and went up to bed. I had heard ghost stories all my life, but had never experienced a real life encounter. That is until I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. At first I just thought it was Denny coming back downstairs. Yet, I didn’t hear the usual creaking of the stairs. That’s odd, I thought.

About that time, I looked into the other room and there stood my father-in-law, dressed in his favorite plaid short-sleeved shirt, standing at the foot of the stairs. I stared and for a minute my heart filled with joy - he’s back! The next second I could hardly breathe as the realization of his death and grief consumed me. Suddenly, a tremendous feeling of peace took its place. I felt no fear at all. He smiled at me and then in my head, I heard him say, “I’m just going to say good-bye.” Then he started to walk up the stairs and out of sight.

I sat there for a good while unable to move holding my baby daughter close to my heart. I could feel love all around me. Time seemed to stop for a while.

When I finally got up, I put Faith to bed and went to check on my husband. He looked so peaceful. After I came back down stairs, I sat down in the chair, trying to make sense of what had just happened. I kept looking in the other room at the stairs, hoping to see my father-in-law again. I never did.

But perhaps the strangest and hardest to explain phenomenon occurred when my husband and I went to the hospital to see his Dad after his first heart attack. When I followed Denny into his hospital room, Dean greeted us with jokes about the cute nurses. Maybe he would be alright, I thought. I didn’t look at Dean as I sat down in the chair at the foot of the bed. It was only after I looked up did I see the purple cross on his forehead. I sat transfixed staring at it while he laughed and talked to his son. Suddenly, this irrepressible feeling of grief engulfed me. I knew he was going to die. I could no longer hold back the tears and lowered my eyes. When I finally looked up again, it was gone.

A few days later he rallied and there was talk of his getting to come home. I felt so guilty knowing what was coming and asked myself over and over - why me? Why did I have to know? Then it happened. The fatal heart attack took his life.

Sent in by Brenda Luyster, Copyright 2008

Rating 3.00 out of 5

Filed Under Ghosts & Hauntings 

Comments

14 Responses to “Ghostly Vision Says Goodbye”

  1. vanessa on August 27th, 2008 2:21 am

    the purple sign was there to help you prepare for his loss. we are never ever ready to loos those so close to our heats but god gives you moments.tc and sorry for the loss.

  2. hamida on August 27th, 2008 9:00 am

    i think you shouldn’t be so hard on your self just yhink off it has a gift and i am so sorry about your farther in law and ths other guy. good luck in life and just in enjoy. bye :)

  3. tori on August 27th, 2008 11:01 am

    wow that is a reallly good story im 13 and iv believed in ghosts all my life thats really upsetting that you knew he was going to die and not doing anything about it!:(

  4. tori on August 27th, 2008 11:02 am

    couldnt do anything about it**

  5. Joe on August 27th, 2008 1:48 pm

    wow great story. very touching. did you ever tell your husband that you saw him? and did the purple cross seem to be drawn on his head when you saw it?

  6. Jackie on August 27th, 2008 6:08 pm

    What a lovely experience, and i have to say my daughter’s father-in law died just recently and he was a powerfull presence too. He had so much charisma.
    Anyway, a few days after he died, my daughter was ready for falling asleep just after having pillow talk about him with her partner when she started to cry a little. Then she thought she felt some strange heat above her hand, which was dangling out of bed. She normally doesn’t like to talk about paranormal things and if i start, she’ll say something like, ‘mum - just don’t please.’ So, for her to tell me that she thought that this could have MAYBE been her father in law comforting her is the biggest thing. I wouldn’t have mentioned this, as it’s got such little credibility here, had i not seen this story.

    I only thought i’d tell you this as it seems so close from after my daughter in laws father’s death, just last week he was buried after waiting weeks for the outcome of a post mortem.

    I know yours is very different as you saw him….wow!! Did you tell your husband about this as you never said in your story?

  7. NAZ on August 28th, 2008 9:02 am

    hi
    sori to hear about your loss
    wat did ur husband say after the incident?

  8. Brenda on August 28th, 2008 10:30 am

    No, I never told my husband about what I saw. He comes from a family on non-believers. But I know it happened and those I did talk to about it, believed me. Thanks for reading my story.

  9. kyle on August 28th, 2008 9:26 pm

    its hard having to loose someone but how did you feel when you saw him

  10. Brenda on August 29th, 2008 11:02 am

    Well, I felt extreme happiness, but I wasn’t afraid at all. I just knew he wouldn’t hurt me or my daughter. As for the cross, it was sort of see-through. Ever since then, I have had this feeling of peace each time I see the color purple. I remember when I went with my husband when he was driving truck and each time I saw a semi with purple lights, I felt a thrill and said, “We’ll have good luck.” So the color purple is special to me.

  11. nicole on August 30th, 2008 9:17 pm

    IM A KID WHO LOVES THE PARANORMAL BUT HERE IS MY QUESTION WHEN YOU SAW HIM YOU FELT GOOD BUT WHEN YOU SAID THAT YOU KNEW SOMEONE WAS GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK DID YOU MEAN HIM OR YOUR HUSBAND THEN YOU SAID WHY ME I DON’T GET IT DID YOU KNOW HE WAS GONNA DIE ?????? I SAW MY DEAD GRANDFATHER ONCE AND HE SHOWED HIMSELF TO ME MANY YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH.

  12. Grace Tung on August 31st, 2008 1:43 am

    That’s was sweet that your father-in-law came to you just to say goodbye.

  13. brenda on September 6th, 2008 2:48 am

    really beautiful! my own father came back to me in a dream just to say hi and he looked well and healthy to. you were loved by this man for him to appear to you first. our loved ones who have passed are never very far away even on the otherside. make sure you let the ones you love that are still here know how much they mean to you. life is too short!

  14. Brenda on September 11th, 2008 2:11 am

    brenda, you are so right about letting the ones you love know how you feel about them. I tell them often and show it by being kind and helpful. I believe that having regrets after someone has passed away eats at you and causes way too much pain. I don’t want that on my shoulders if I can help it. And it is good to get the love back in return from your loved ones, alive or dead.

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