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My Horse Saw Him First

 

I am currently sixty-seven years of age, and have some ability to see or hear what others cannot. What I am telling of in this writing took place when I was about ten years old, one of the earliest events I recall with detail.

We lived on a farm that was in our family since 1791. First I must explain, my Mom had died from cancer and my Dad, being a farmer, worked many long hours of the day. It was a different time then, I was raised to know right from wrong, and although left alone I knew where on the farm my Dad could be found.

Before my Mom had died, she and my Dad had purchased a small horse for me named Boots. She and I were best friends through the next few years, meandering around the old roads and paths that covered our hilly six hundred plus acre New England farm. This event took place on an early summer day about 1960.

I was too lazy to saddle Boots up and so we were just hanging around together inside her pasture. The pasture was part of an old apple orchard and part grazing grass placed on one of the larger hills. At the top there was a brook, where on this day we were heading. I lay on the back of Boots with my eyes closed, enjoying her slow ramble when, without warning, Boots had come to a quick stop and I felt a ripple pass over her back, so I struggled to a sitting position. She had begun to do a prancing dance, and I feared I would fall.

Where Boots drank from the brook, there was an old stone wall, one of many running around and over the fields and woods. Beyond that a sturdy barbed wire fencing that my Dad had placed. The brook ran in front of both fences. I thought I could see something move and rubbed my sleepy eyes, trying to focus on this movement. Boots was trying to head away, and I had to hold her reins firmly.

What I seemed to see was an older man wearing an odd hat, a light brown shirt and brown pants but no shoes. He wasn't clear as I faintly saw the woods and fence behind him. He was bending and lifting large rocks as best that I can explain. He appeared to be placing these stones on the top of the stone wall building it higher. Boots had stilled, feeling no danger, and we watched for a very short while, and the man looked up at us, and just faded away. I knew I had seen a moment of the past, but was still some afraid. Cantering away I shook my head in disbelief.

As always during supper, my Dad asked about my day. After listening, he first said never to lay down on the horse it was not safe. I can still picture him lifting his fork of food and slowly chewing. He then said, "That man was probably not from this century, probably a great great. How very lucky you were to see that moment from the past."

Later, in need of money, that section of the farm was sold, and new people built a home there. I have often wondered if they too have seen that faded worker from long ago.

Thank you all, for allowing me to share this simpler time with you, I welcome comments.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, msforgetmenott, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2015-10-01)
Hi, Jan.

I think your message to me today was the most honest, open, and sincere communication we've had in this entire sorry fiasco. Manafon is partly right; If you do go, I will miss you. He is mistaken in one regard: I do not need the last word; I've usually done enough damage -inadvertently or deliberately- by the time the last word is said.

I'm concerned that I don't remember calling you an old lady, but I can see how such diction is hurtful. I regret that I wrote that. You're only a decade older than my mother, and a decade younger than my mother-in-law. Being "old" is a choice; it is not a result of the Gregorian calendar. You have not made that choice; you have every right to have been offended. (Sidenote: oddly enough, I'm still a resident alien, though I'm beginning to consider dual citizenship; if I don't, I'll never be able to collect social security. It's why the government likes Resident Aliens: we pay into the system at the same rate as Citizens, but we're not allowed to collect money later.)

I'm afraid that your defensive responses pushed more of my buttons than I knew what to do with! Your natural defenses are your feelings; mine are logic and argumentation. You are in physical pain; my traumas have been extensive psychological scarring since childhood. I had parents with unreasonable standards and narcissistic attitudes; my mother's response to any situation was often affronted anger or passive-aggressive appeals for sympathy designed to make the other party feel bad for having gotten angry. I was also her psychotherapist, confident, and marriage counselor from the age of 8 until about 25, followed by over a decade of weekly phone calls in which I'd spend up to 45 minutes listening. I've spent much of the last decade trying to identify and accept my emotions as part of my life; I think I was around 12 when I couldn't deal with them any more (because my mother's emotional state governed everything in our house), so I locked them away. I always react badly -overreact badly, if you prefer- when an appeal to emotions/feelings is introduced in a discussion. The Greeks divided the art of rhetoric into three forms of appeal: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Logic is statements, facts, reasoning, explaining, etc.; two people may disagree over the significance of data, but they agree that the data is the topic of debate. Ethics is morality, evaluations, opinions, traditions, and beliefs; two people may have totally different social taboos, but judging their relative moral stances allows for the possibility of compromise. Pathos relies upon empathy, sympathy, and the completely subjective experience of each person; this causes the most problems in human interaction because person A states "I feel_____," leaving person B with the options of conceding the point without objective evidence or explaining to person A what he or she *should* have felt instead. The appeal to Pathos, then, can be very effective because it bypasses the logic centers of the brain and channels raw emotion.

I suspect that I was frustrated by my incomprehension of your feelings' connection to a series of logic-based statements. I responded by ignoring my own feelings (whatever they may have been), and appealing to the reassuring solidity of logic.

Which Early American settlements? The ones with cyclopean stones held in place by pressure instead of mortar?
-Dan.
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
 
8 years ago (2015-09-30)
Msforgetmenott, for heavens sake, don't leave. There are way too many deep and meaningful things to learn from conversing with folks on this site. Internet misunderstandings happen on every forum, every day, people get over them. Before long it's like they never even happened. To leave would be utterly foolish.
babygoatpuller (4 stories) (432 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2015-09-30)
I would miss you msforgetmenott and sincerely hope you will reconsider leaving us as I'm sure many others would miss you also. Your accounts are so enjoyable and you have such a wonderful way of drawing the reader in.

You're an important part of this community and your contributions have been insightful, helpful and enlightening.

Please do not let one misunderstanding take away from all the good that you have found here.

(Love your user name btw!) 😊 ❤

Brenda...
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2015-09-30)
Msforgetmenott--I was very moved by your message to Biblio and wanted you to know there are people here who really don't want you to abandon YGS! I am certain Biblio is one of them. It is clear you are a sensitive and kind soul from both your accounts and comments.

Biblio is an intelligent person and you are an intelligent person. It seems the former wants the final word on your back and forth and as you had earlier chosen the path of silence it would have been best if Biblio did as well--at least as far as your discussion was progressing. I have read both of your comments from the sidelines but wanted to show some support for you and I truly hope everyone can just get back to what this great site is about, first and foremost--GHOSTS!

I wish you the best and hope you stay.
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
+1
8 years ago (2015-09-30)
msforgetmenott - I will not get into any sort of debate with you over this. The only thing I am going to say is all I did was ask you to move it to one of your stories. You were introducing a new topic of conversation. When we can catch them in time, this is our procedure. If the member posing a new topic has at least one story, we ask that the conversation be moved there. This happens often; perhaps you just haven't noticed.
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2015-09-30)
Biblio,

Perhaps you haven't noticed but I have requested all comments and events of mine to be removed.

I was serious in sharing the events in my life that changed my way of thinking of the paranormal.

I enjoyed the banter, even more than the telling. I am so sorry that I am now unable to finish my paranormal past events, or even future ones. There are wonderful people on YGS, kind, thoughtful and caring. I will seriously miss them.

No one on this website can come close to your intelligence, your wording and high level phrases, You do leave the ordinary in the dust. I am low level ordinary. It was intended to be a complement, and still is intended as such.

You do need to know, Biblio, we are NOT your students!

I did try to send you mental thoughts about this matter, and you can not tell me you were not thinking about it. Can you?

I joked about you having a headache as I had a severe spinal headache myself, (lasted days). I get them when tense. I am in very poor health, I have been for many years. I am unable to stand or walk, the pain is constant, and severe. The last thing I needed or wanted was this. YGS had been a distraction from this pain. Good for me until this happened.

You called me an old lady, and as I am unwell, I do look older than 67, my Birthday was in May. How old will you be when you are able to collect Social Security? Some people on this site will not collect Social Security until they are seventy, if at all. The way you phrased the two words old lady was cruel and hurtful. You have no idea how fast your years will fly, and you will remember those words.

I was the last one to make a comment on your post, there were two others that posted before mine. The way I read your "do not" statement, was that you somehow feel superior to all, and could direct who and what will be allowed. Again I say we are not your students.

Lastly, I do have a strong interest in a subject that I have not seen on YGS, so with respect I wrote a small approach about my study of Ancient man in America, requesting your input. I was kind and polite, but brief.

With in seconds a moderator told me it will be removed as it was off topic. I found this hurtful and cruel, as very seldom does the banter stay on topic in any story. That was far more painful than anything you said. I got the message loud and clear, I was not wanted... And I do not stay where I am not wanted.

I mentioned Monks and questioned what your reasoning was on the subject... Many of my favorite books contain much on this subject, and there still is unexplained dwellings and stone works... I know, I have seen and entered them. Including the triangular cut quartz rock, found at the base of most stone structures. There is some information on line as well, concerning New England Ancient Mysteries.

That was what I had tried to write to you. In a brief, polite way.

So, Biblio, I cry easily, and I am sensitive. The quick deleting of my polite brief post, was cause for more tears.

Enough said...
Jan
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+3
8 years ago (2015-09-30)
Msforgetmenott:

You wrote "I guess I tend to be overly sensitive, but I felt hurt and then shamed... In tears, I read and read repeatedly your very long, off topic response... You have burst my bubble... I will never make the mistake of entering words on your thread again, this said in tears." THIS is why I apologized. I'm not very good at gauging other peoples' feelings over the internet, which is how I misread both Dreamer's and Tweed's statements. However, you mentioned tears twice, so I got your unhappiness loud and clear.

Your response to my apology, apparently moved here from "Grandad's Carved Bust," begins with self-justification of your hurt feelings: "you state: DON'T do it on a thread for one of my stories... Now, please look under your name. Does it not say Msforgetmenott? [No; it does not.]...Addressee to addresser: This is simple 6th grade English! You have not directed to whom you write. Perhaps if you had, I would not have thought you were in general, referring to all three of us." I have no idea why this is necessary, as you had been upset and I had apologized, but you've taken umbrage at the second half of a sentence which originally read "If you can't resist the temptation to heap scorn on imaginative, creative, dedicated explorers of ideas, DON'T do it on a thread for one of my stories." This sentence is specifically addressed to anyone who is dismissive of the expansion of human understanding through science. In fact, the sentence is the second half of a paragraph which is introduced by my clarification, "Please, please, please do not condescend to scientists and their methods, when the limiting factor in exploration is usually business 'suits' and 'beancounters.'" As the first half of the paragraph and the first half of the second sentence do not fit with your feelings, they are not mentioned in your analysis of the half sentence which you claim is NOT addressed to anyone. I had apologized for having upset you inadvertently, but I had written that the intention of that message had been my defense of scientific thought. The entire posting was prefaced by, "I'm enjoying the banter -don't get me wrong- but I have a serious issue with the generalization that "scientists" are stuck in regimented thinking BECAUSE they're scientists. They are bright people trapped by a stupid social set-up which can yank their funding at any time!" I EXPRESSLY FOCUSED upon the casual dismissal of scientific thought as unimaginative. You didn't write anything that could have been misconstrued as dismissive. Dreamer and Tweed had expressed ideas that provoked my irritation, but there was a lack of context, both for their comments and for my reaction: long since resolved.

I have NO idea why you wrote, "As usual, Biblio, you left me in the dust, just as you do most of us. There now dear, do you now feel better?" How would this make anyone feel better? I'd been busy thanking others (Tweed and Val, in particular) for their perspectives opening up new possibilities for me to consider. I'll admit that my posts can be somewhat frustrating for me to write, as my fingers only type at about 1/3 the speed of my message composition in my head, but that's why I usually take a couple of hours to write out responses, edit them, re-edit them, triple-check for clarity, then post them. Why would I waste time leaving people "in the dust?" I simplify my sentences to speed up the typing process, I add clarifications if I think I'm making too obscure a reference for the general public, and I presume that everyone reading my comments or narratives understands what I have written.

Because I wish to get to your concluding thought, I'll skip commenting on, "I had been waiting to bring up the subject of what I have been reading much of, now I probably will never get the chance. For that I am sorry, you probably would have input."

Your message ends with "Did you have a bit of pain in your left temple for a while? It is gone now isn't it." Seriously: what the hell? Were you trying to SEND me a headache? 🤔 REALLY? No; I've had no pain in my left temple. There's been no pain in my head whatsoever. I've had no head trauma, headache, dizziness, nausea, vertigo, migraine, bruising, pressure, nor nerve damage. I have no idea if it's gone because wherever it was, it wasn't here. Did you send the a headache via Voodoo? If so, perhaps you have a malfunctioning poppet which needs to get stuffed. Is the Left-Hand Path more your style: Sethian sex magic to create a headache? Headaches are the archetypical of excuses to avoid sex, but sexual behaviors improve overall bloodflow and release endorphins which relieve headaches: a self-defeating exercise. Right-Hand Path rituals with which I'm familiar wouldn't send out one headache without the sevenfold binding causing the sender intense pain (I have trouble believing anyone enduring that much agony just to send pain to me). Did you encrypt a neural-feedback message within your post, so that anyone who reads it will get a headache? Doubtful; there'd be vitriolic responses about headaches from everyone who read it. Was this comment just an attempt to irritate me before you accepted my apology IN THE POST-SCRIPT? Were you seriously so bent on writing out the self-justification of your feelings that you forgot to write that you'd accepted the apology? "PS: Your forgiven! Biblio, we all welcome your words even if we need the Daniel Webster dictionary to see what they mean. Please address properly."

Msforgetmenott, I'll introduce a brief clarification: Daniel Webster was a New Hampshire Lawyer, a Constitutional scholar, a Congressman (first from N.H., then from MA.), a Senator (Massachusetts again), and *twice* served as Secretary of State. NOAH Webster was the lexicographer from the West Division of Hartford (now "West Hartford"), Connecticut. After Noah Webster died, the Merriam brothers of West Brookfield, MA, bought the rights to his dictionary, and eventually moved the enterprise to Springfield. However, through common attribution, ANY dictionary in the U.S. Has the right to print "Webster's" on the front cover as a generic term (though why Americans are enamored of a man who wanted to change the spelling of "women" to "wimmin" has yet to be made clear).
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
+3
9 years ago (2015-09-24)
Biblio,

At the very end of your multitude of words, you state: DON'T do it on a thread for one of my stories.

Thanks
Biblio.

Now, please look under your name. Does it not say Msforgetmenott?

Addressee to addresser: This is simple 6th grade English! You have not directed to whom you write. Perhaps if you had, I would not have thought you were in general, referring to all three of us. As you can see Tweed did make a note to me at the base of her letter, where I then answered her.

I quickly deducted, as I often quickly deduct... I, as well as the others had offended you in some very dramatic way. I simply did not know how. Or how your post was somehow too superior for our banter.

Or in fact how your multiple quotes and your subject matter related to anything previously said, by anyone. I did clearly see that I and the others had set you off somehow.

As usual, Biblio, you left me in the dust, just as you do most of us. There now dear, do you now feel better?

Please tell you wife thank you, for her support.

There is one thing that we can agree on I think, there should be more investigative scientists paying attention to the paranormal and all related studies.

I had been waiting to bring up the subject of what I have been reading much of, now I probably will never get the chance. For that I am sorry, you probably would have input.

Did you have a bit of pain in your left temple for a while? It is gone now isn't it.

😊
Jan

PS: Your forgiven! Biblio, we all welcome your words even if we need the Daniel Webster dictionary to see what they mean. Please address properly.
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
-1
9 years ago (2015-08-09)
Thank you Blue Daisy,
My Dad had spoke of something similar happening to him.
It was a moment to remember for me, one of several.
Jan
Blue_Daisy (3 stories) (4 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-08-09)
That was a cool story, I love the idea of witnessing the past. A day in the life of...
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-08-02)
Oh...my mistake... Somewhere between your experience and all the comments I managed to place the property out on the Cape...

Western Ma is very beautiful... And you have brooks on the property... Its sounds if they may not be seen, but I know for a fact that some of the brooks and streams in MA end up flowing underground so people do not realize the water is actually flowing.

Respectfully,

Rook
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
-1
9 years ago (2015-08-02)
Rook,
One correction: we do not live on the Cape. My ancestors came to the Cape and lived there for 4 or 5 generations. Then joined a group of like settlers, purchased king plots in the rough area in what later was mapped out to be Western Mass the foot hills of that State. I am glad we are not on the Cape, much too crowded!
Jan
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-08-02)
Rook, I have just seen your added comment.

There is at times much too much water forced by hurricanes and deep snow run off. We made national news when two hurricanes hit a week apart. 11 inches and a week later 13 inches. It took acres of rich soil from our land and destroyed much down stream when other brooks joined ours. It has left a scar that would make my Dad heartbroken.
If you can picture solid ledge, one knows water runs deep within. When roads opened allowing us to pass, we studied the destruction. Our pasture has ledge popping up above the grass, spouts of water poured out of the stone. It was called a 500 year storm by the old timers. We traveled by ATV into the woods where we have a portion of high ledge, there we found spouts shooting in many areas removing wood greens and dirt, traveling to the larger brook. Following this trees are uprooting from soil loss.
I am sorry the cost would be too great to send 3,000 miles. We can't send it to California, where they need it so badly for crops.
We have four brooks bubbling about spilling into one of greater size. A brook is not determined to be so unless it commonly runs year round.
During that time we were haunted, yes, haunted by nature.
Rook, we have water.
Jan
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-08-02)
msforgetmenot,

In all of the excitement concerning the crystals and stones I totally forgot your Property was out on Cape Cod... Water on both sides... Cape Cod Bay on one side (to the North or West) and the Atlantic Ocean (to the east) or Nantucket Sound (to the south) depending on the exact location of the property... I wonder how much the 'tides' affect the energy levels on the property?

Respectfully,

Rook
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-08-02)
Thank you Rook,
Amethyst has been my choice in life, seldom will you see me without, As I am now disabled I would wear anything, to make me feel better,
The land's white stones have always been an attraction for me. They are part white stone, molded with crystal, or if smaller perhaps more crystal. Some are boulders. Rarely found is a white stone with black crystal, my Dad called this crow's feet, a good description, as seen when cut or broken in two.
The 1910, rewritten town history described the stones as having been bowled by God, scattered hither along the hills. They would have been have been more noticeable at that time, as the land was then farmed with sheep in the days before cotton and synthetics. The woods not as high and plentiful, as need for fire.
Yes when counting my Grand Daughter, nine generations have loved and cared for this land, four or five more generations on Cape Cod before that.
Sadly I do not reside on this land, not since youth. Work and good schools prompted us to settle sixty miles away. While we do own and camp with a generator, working the land.
I tend to think of early North East man (American Indian) that hunted and fished the hills long before the white man. Their footprint so powerful, and so lovingly close to earth.
My husband brings me white/crystal stones when he finds them, scooped up in his tractor bucket. Why have I always loved them so? I think you have explained.
Thank you again,
Jan
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-08-02)
Whoops...covered the crystals but forgot something else that may help provide energy for a residual... Or for that matter a 'live' haunting.

Water, water can be a source of energy for a 'haunting'. Is there a spring or creek or river or even an 'active' aquifer on the property? A moving water source?

Respectfully,

Rook
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+3
9 years ago (2015-08-02)
msforgetmenott,

Gem stones hold onto energies. They can hold energies from past owners, people who mined them, people who polished and set and sold them, and people who held them in the shop before you picked them up... In the case of your property the energy of those who lived there before you as well as events that occurred on the Property itself. The 'personality' or event would have been either often repeated or very 'emotionally charged'... (focused) in order to imprint on the environment.

Different Crystals (gem stones) 'work' with different energies... It breaks down like this (please see below).

Quartz (White) Crystal: Attracts, amplifies, and sends energy. Easy and safe. Useful for all kinds of healing.

Amethyst: Healing on all levels - body, mind, and spirit. Raises vibrational frequency and protects against negative energies.

Amber: Transmutes negative energy into positive. Bridges conscious self to the Divine.

Diamond: Purifies. Amplifies thoughts and feelings - both positive and negative.

Hematite: Grounding. Clarifies thought, improves memory, and calms anxiety.

Lapis Lazuli: Deep wisdom and intuition. Opens the third eye and leads to enlightenment.

Moonstone: Balances yin and yang. Enhances the inner feminine, and acceptance for yin attributes.

Opal: Amplifies emotion, insight, and spontaneity. Very potent, and can cause difficulties with the wrong person. Each colour of opal has its own properties.

Pearl: Pure mind and heart. Balances emotions and reduces stress.

Rose Quartz: Balances yin and yang, restoring harmony after emotional wounding.

Turquoise: Highly spiritual yet grounding. Uplifting to unconditional Love. Aligns chakras and opens heart.

There are many other types of stones and gems, this is a 'short list'.

Respectfully,

Rook
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-07-31)
Hello Rookdygin, thank you for your insight,
On the original property there are (was) several cellar holes falling into themselves. Facing the left of the brook there is a small one that my Dad called the Widow's house, gone before his time. I have always thought that when that man looked up, he was not seeing my horse and I, but another child. In old times lunch was brought to the worksite by a youngster, saving steps and time for the worker.
My Dad had such a willingness to share, much of his information came from listening to the older generation and his Father, not only did he learn the farming and logging ways but he learned of the old ways. Unspoken, I observed he seldom to never changed a stonewall, cellar hole, or waterway. He cared and respected the past, thus preserved.
Not long ago a friend brought a quest to our land mainly to show her the view. As we approached them, without even an introduction, she said "can't you feel it?" Here eyes were watered, but face in a glow. My husband and I...feel what? She turned out to be extremely sensitive, much and far more than I, What a wonderful afternoon we had. I told her of YGS as I have been reading for years. She encouraged me to take the step and here I am. She also touched upon an area that I had given no thought, way before my ancestors. The natural white crystal found here there and all around on that property has meaning to her. I want to learn more about what that could indicate. Perhaps you are the one to ask.
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
+3
9 years ago (2015-07-31)
Mayhaps the residual playback looked in the direction of the O/P when the energy was imprinted on the enviroment... So it really wasn't looking at them... But at or towards something that was in that direction in the past (hope that makes sense). Do you know if anything was built there in the past, something that would have been looked towards?

As far as the description of the area goes...wonderful...Family History... Well my wife can trace her Family to the Adams of the Revolution... Burial plots in (on) Boston Common and they are pretty much the first group to polute Boston Harbor... A little thing they called a Tea Party... 😉

Respectfully,

Rook
Argette (guest)
+1
9 years ago (2015-07-30)
What a beautifully written account! I think your father was right. You wer lucky.

Welcome to YGS. I do hope you share more.
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-07-30)
Hecate,
We share a lot in common, I too have a family Genealogy in print, but take no credit for it. It dates 1637-1892 from that the rest is easy. My family settled on the Cape, moving West in time.
The comments have given me bravery me, I am now planning to write of another childhood event I have often wondered about, but never spoke of. I will admit feeling a bit timid, I recall such fear.
Hecate0 (4 stories) (418 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-07-29)
Msforgetmenott, I can even see the lichens on the stones in those walls, some tumbled down. My family moved from the Portsmouth area to central New Hampshire in the early 1700s. I have a copy of a book on our family history. Fascinating, especially to see how many people got into trouble. Lol

So much of the native history has been squelched, at least it was when I lived there until the late 1980's. That adds to the land's energy. Loved your story. We are always here to help with more paranormal issues. 😊

Hecate
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-07-28)
Hi Hecate, you describe it as it was, and still is quite unchanged. Small town, Western Ma. I have many old photos also, no one else had interest, I DO! So much so that we have kept a large part of the land and continue to farm after my Dad's death in 1999. The walls are unchanged but are sinking into the ground as nature takes over. Thank you
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-07-28)
Thank you YGS, and responders,
I have wondered over the years, was this a repeat as in residual or did this man appear just for my viewing, thus disappearing as he did. I certainly hope he wasn't made to walk those stonewalls forever as there are still miles of them.
I want to believe he was not even seeing Boots and myself but perhaps a young one bringing his homemade pint with his lunch bucket, riding her own pony.
Even though I was young, I often felt I traveled in a path used before by ancestors. Our barn was built in 1858, the old farm house before that, after the first two homes were lost in fire. The stonewalls over two hundred years ago.
Perhaps in healing from our loss, my Dad often forgot how young I was and was a walking book of local past. Showing me and speaking as his father had to him, I learned much from him. Yes, he never questioned me, he had had his own experiences also.
Thank you all for your interest, I will get to work on other moments I recall. Perhaps I can gain help with a current problem I am having.
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
 
9 years ago (2015-07-28)
I really enjoyed this. If you knew the age of that old wall, you probably could determine which great-great it was 😊. You are fortunate to have a parent who understood.
Manafon (4 stories) (74 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-07-28)
Msforgetmenott--Reading the account of your experience with a long ago "great, great" really transports the reader to the bucolic surroundings of your childhood.

What is especially interesting is that it seems to be a "residual" incident except the apparition looked up at you and Boots before disappearing. Did you get the feeling he was actually seeing you or just completing a long ago action?

Thanks for sharing your childhood encounter.
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-07-28)
Msforgetmenott: thanks for sharing this lovely story.
I'm looking forward to read more of your experiences.

Welcome to YGS.
Hecate0 (4 stories) (418 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-07-28)
msforgetmenot, I am from New Hampshire, having grown up in the 1960's there. You SO took me back. What a wonderful story. A great great! What a wonderful way for your father to say it. I have a small hallway in my house. One wall is lined with photos of, I call them The Ancestors - my grand parents and great grandparents. I also wonder about the new residents of that land. They might have insights about the distinction between residual and intelligent haunting. Thanks so much for sharing. I do miss those lazy summer days. I can hear the bugs buzzing, feel (and smell) the last of the morning dew evaporate. Thank you.

Best to you!
Hecate
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-07-28)
Hi there Msforgetmenott, nice name!

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story, I felt like I was there lying on Boots and feeling her move beneath.😊
It makes sense this would be a residual energy but I wonder if this man was actually there, as he looked at you and faded. Either way it was a beautiful moment and one I can tell you've treasured ever since.

Thanks again for sharing it!

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