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  BARBARA CASE SPEERS

LIFE IS A STORY

              To the ordinary person, who doesn't have wailing spirits reaching out and touching them, they believe paranormal supernatural occurrences are bogus.  Nothing more then big hoop-di-do stories with no validity. For others, they reckon to close their ears and something that goes bump in the night, is merely a human trying to get to the bathroom, while tripping over the old hound-dog.   Which side of the supernatural , paranormal spectrum do you rally for?

Unbelievers contend that believers have overactive imaginations, or they are people who like to spin yarns, clothing themselves with importance.  Of course, you have the flamboyant deliverers of the message, puffed up storytellers who if they did see a ghost, well, let's say, they'd run scared or freeze like deer in headlights. But those of us, and the club is limited, we understand the truth and power behind the supernatural.  We don't boast, we tremble knowing the seriousness behind the task at hand.

In Victorious, here is where things that go bump in the night come to life.  Perhaps it is a creative writing windfall of the author mimicking the treachery of Biblical Job, in modern times.  A menagerie of events take place in this book such as; murder, lust, lying, deception; you get the picture.  People of all backgrounds and color come together into one final moment to end the battle of evil versus good in one woman's life. Requesting to return back to Earth, after death via a heart attack, God regrettably grants the petition.  Satan enters the picture, and wages war on her soul. If the spiritual battle is won by this mortal, the gift to avenge the dead is the reward for the victory.  It's a gift.  For the rest of her life she will become an intercessor, a vindicator.  If she is defeated by death, Satan claims her soul, forever and the spiritual spoil is hell! 

Good versus evil, supernatural warfare, has been around since the Garden of Eden and is referenced in all creeds and religions.  Eve fought her own battle with the supernatural, a talking reptile, and lost.   Lucifer, the bright morning star, fell from grace, another victim of evil.  Holding to Christianity, embracing the Bible as the word of God, there are many references to the supernatural occurrences.  Even the nucleus of Christianity is based on God suppressing the physical world as we know it.  The conception, birth and death of Jesus all violate the laws of natural order.  Hence, the supernatural realm exists, being sanctioned by God.

Whether one believes in the Big Bang theory, or God created the world, both beliefs deny the basic pattern of Science.  Both have a supreme being, a power greater than ourselves.  Someone had to create something from nothing, which is the root of the Hebrew word, create, in Genesis.  Carl Sagan can not explain where the atom came from in his theory.  Bottom line, even he didn't think his theory through. 

Should we be shocked when things are a little bit out of the ordinary?  What was the chasm in the life after death experience Lazarus spoke about?  Could that be a reference to a holding place when one dies?  Could that be an indication that the earth holds both the living and dead?  Perhaps the dead see us?  Perhaps some can see the dead?

The Catholics for thousands of years believe in Transubstantiation; whereas a wafer transforms into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, once it hits the tongue of the repentant recipient.  Is this supernatural?  Many churches have a defined procedure to perform exorcisms, the art of releasing evil spirits housed by he living.  Jesus and the disciples performed exorcisms.  Another confirmed supernatural event is when the chosen witnessed the Transfiguration. Jesus transformed from mortal into immortality, right before their eyes. If we can't explain something, is it wrong to say we don't know?  If we are the created, not the Creator, our minds are inferior!  We can not create something from nothing!  Therefore, there is a more powerful being!  With more intelligence comes a deeper concept of the world in which we live, or die.

            Planet Earth contains the living and the dead.  Look around, because the graveyards are full. This writer believes the dead walk among us, but we cannot see or hear them, unless we fine-tune our thinking and open our spiritual ears.  Most of the dead crossover to the other side, but some stay behind, cohabitating with the living for a reason.  Deception will take you to the place where this happened!  Although a century and a half had ticked by, the people in that particular place in time still exist.  Why? Because the dead had something to say.  The dead had something to complete.  The dead needed someone to vindicate their souls, and set them free.  Their reputation were at stake!  Your eulogy is your life story.

            There are three reasons why spirits don't go on to the afterlife.  The first, they don't know they are dead as in the book Whisper.  Several ghosts are searching for something in a posh hotel in New York City, but what are they seeking?  Is it to be avenged, or are they living their normal routine life, because they don't want to crossover? That is the second reason for hauntings; ruthless insubordination to the rules of natural order.  Death where is thy sting?  Most ghost sightings, are spirits that don't know they have died, and become loiterers who want to hang around the living.  If the person died by natural causes, unexpectedly, they may still believe they are alive, and will carry on as they normally would.  The others, well they like the earth, and will stay as long as God will allow the visit.  Both types of spirits roam the halls, not really getting involved with the living, only to make an occasional appearance, scaring the pants off their unsuspecting audience.

            However, the spirits who talk, or communicate with the intercessors are the ones that have to finish something.  Unfinished business is the third response as to why the dead don't crossover.  Murdered are the modus operandi for these unfortunate souls. Their story becomes an obsession.  An intercessor is someone who has a keen sense of the spirit world.  Intercession allows the reader to see first-hand how an intercessor really works!  When a spirit feels comfortable with a mortal, they will befriend that person to be their sound piece.  Even in the living world, we don't pour our hearts out to every acquaintance we meet.  We approve our close friends. Spirits do reach out and touch their intercessors, and that person will be someone they trust to get the job done.  Intercessors investigate crime scenes after the case is buried in a folder, unsolvable.  Many die, and never see their perpetrator.  It's the duty of the intercessor to bring the murderer to spiritual court!
   

            But how does this bridge to communicate between the spirit and mortal worlds take place?  There are several ways to have a meeting of the minds. The spirit will open up and transmit their requests by their appearance, speaking to the heart of their vindicator.  It could be a materialization, whereas, the intercessor will see the ghost and will understand what happened by witnessing a series of events that had taken place when the dead had a heart beat.  Not all spirits know their whole story, therefore, forcing the intercessor to investigate.  The intercessor is responsible to solve the crime or to supply the need of that spirit, whatever the petition is, so they, the ghost can go in peace.  Accused is a battle of the living and dead.  How many murders can a vile human commit before they are caught?  One of the victims comes back and demands justice after a gruesome ordeal.  While visiting a haunted Bed and Breakfast, the intercessor falls into a trap, being falsely accused.  But, where does the finger pointing, really point to? And, how does the accusation intercept the victim's death story?

            Have you ever been a victim?  I would venture to say everyone at some point in their life has been a victim.  Inspired by this premise, Victim was written.  As the storyline starts out, it's normal.  That is, if one could use such a phrase to describe daily living.  The intercessor receives what she believes is spam email, letters from a young girl.  Victim, slowly chugs up the track, and races into hell.  This book is not for the faint-hearted.  Dahh- the title!

          With the above disclosure, it is evident that I am a believer in things that go bump in the night.  Have you ever felt uncomfortable in a room, as if someone were watching you?  Have you ever felt the edge of the bed depress, but there is no one there?  Have you ever felt something touch your arm, turning around, and there is no one within five feet of you? Have you ever had deja vu? 

          When I was five years old, my family moved to a new home in Brentwood, Long Island.  It was completely different than the small apartment that we had lived in out in Bellport.  That apartment was where I was introduced to the little people who were always on my bed at night, and of course, the monsters hiding in my closet.  Did I have an overactive imagination?  Most definitely!

On moving day, I ran into my new bedroom adjoined by a playroom, and here is where I found a bird nest, and a small wooden-toy airplane.  My little playroom had windows that went the length of the wall.  But ,even in the dead of summer, this room remained abnormally, icy-cold.  These trinkets were my treasures left over from the last occupant.

            This house was where my little people vanished into thin air, but were immediately replaced by a new acquaintance.  Dopey, the pet name for my new friend, would play with me in the gazebo, or out by the big pine tree.  He didn't say much, and when he did, it was usually silly.  That was why I called him Dopey.  He was about nine, with light-brown hair, and was stocky. Wearing a red and blue striped shirt, dark-blue jeans, he always had a smile on his freckled face.
 
            Dopey was always with me when I was alone, deep in thought.  I could tell him anything, and he would listen.  Later on in life, I read up on children who had imaginary friends.  Reading the psychological aspects of the occurrence, I rationalized, accepting this experience as a diversion from reality.  Many upsetting things had happened in that old house, and that was my juvenile way to cope,  a funny imaginary friend.

            Reading all the reference material I could find, one thing stood out, and I questioned it over, and over again.  Most imaginary friends are gender related, meaning girls, will have girl imaginary friends and vice-versa.  That discrepancy was always staring me in the face, unresolved.  A year ago, visiting my parents who live in Florida, my mother and I were discussing my childhood.  That was the first time I confessed to having an imaginary friend.  I laughed, amused by my childish ways.

            Mom looked at me, and with a serious tone began her story.  She explained the night before we moved into the home on Lukens Avenue, a little boy lived there with his mother.  Circumstances changed, and mother and son were moving to Arizona where the woman was going to get married.  On the way across country, the day after they moved out, there was a terrible accident. The mother lived, and the little boy died in the car engulfed by fiery flames.  The victim was a freckle-face boy, about nine years old, stocky and had light-brown hair.  It was Dopey!

             That was my second ghostly encounter.  The first was my grandmother who lived in a white-clapboard house, surrounded by a white picket fence. Passing this home, I would cry because mom wouldn't let me go to see my grandmother. Was mom, being mean?  No.  My grandmother didn't live there!  My maternal grandmother died Christmas Day, in 1936, when my mother was ten years old.  I never knew my grandmother.  So, who was the woman I wanted to visit?

             Wrapping it up, if you are nonbeliever, maybe, just maybe, I have given you some food for thought.  Don't limit the world around you!  Examine your life, and question your beliefs. The next time you think someone is there, speak out and address the situation.  You might be surprised when they talk back!  Take precaution, because if you do communicate with the dead, you will become an intercessor.  Those who mediate call their gift a curse!  The crime series doesn't end with the above titles.  The latest books; Unfinished, and Spin, will be published in the fall of 2008!