Night Tour

In April 2006, I woke up and was standing in the middle of a huge front yard with the greenest grass I had ever seen. This lawn went on for miles. I didn't know where I was. All of a sudden, I heard a voice behind me say, "Judy, it's me, don't be scared..." It was Chris, my brother. I tried to turn my head to see him, but I couldn't. I wasn't afraid to see what Chris looked like and I just wanted to know where I was and whose property I was on. I knew it had to be someone important by the look of it.

Chris said, "I flew you here to show you something." I said "Ya, okay where am I?" Still standing there looking at this huge mansion in the distance, I thought, what does he have up his sleeve? Chris said, "Come on, let's start walking towards the front entrance." I did what he told me. On the way to the front door, Chris said to me that it was nice to see me, his voice still the same, soft spoken but a little different, it was very peaceful. At this time I wanted to see his face, but I couldn't. I didn't know what to expect if I did. I finally did get a glance behind me from the corner of my right eye and saw a bright white cloak raying down. I thought to myself, "Wow, this is too much. It looks like Chris is at least 500' tall. He is an angel." Weird, because his voice still came at my level of height.

We finally got to the front door and I stood there. It wasn't spooky looking but I thought to myself that Chris was taking me through a haunted house. Chris said, "Judy okay open it." I said, "What for?" I had a feeling that he was up to something. He said, "You will see." He chuckled. I finally gave in and said okay.

Entering the mansion I stood in the foyer or entrance of this estate. I was thinking to myself, why did he bring me here? Chris said from behind me, "Okay Jude, see the stairs on the right, I want you to go up. I'll be right behind you. I will tell you what door I want you to open." I said "What, no I don't want to." Chris said, "Come on, don't be afraid, nothing is going to happen." Then he chuckled. I finally gave in and said okay. He then reassured me again and said, "Don't worry, I am right behind you. Nothing is going to happen." With another chuckle! I went up the stairs to the 2nd level and Chris said, "Ok, see that door on the right, I want you to open it." I said, "Why? No, I don't want to." He giggled and said, "Just do it, nothing is going to happen." I put out my hand to open the door slowly. Nothing happened.

Then Chris said, "Let's go down a little further. I want you to open the door on the right at the end." I walked down slowly to the end of the hallway and stood in front of the door. From behind me Chris said, "Go ahead, open it." I said, "No, I don't want to." I was standing right in front of the door with my hand frozen in front of the handle. Chris then said, "Come on, just do it." (One of his favourite sayings was "just do it"). I said okay, kind of hesitant. I opened the door and nothing happened. Thank God!

I said to Chris, "Why are we doing this?" Chris said, "You'll see," and he had a little giggle. The whole building was dark but I could see the doors lined up down the hallway. There were a lot of rooms on this level.

I know Chris said he will come back to haunt me and he has, but in a good way! Actually, it makes me laugh now when I think about what he has done to me since his passing!

Chris then said to me, "Okay Jude, one more door and that's it." He chuckled again. I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be good because he said one more and that's it!

Chris said, "Okay, I want you to walk all the way to the end of the hallway on the other side and open the door the one before the last on the right." I said okay, but I didn't want to open the door because I knew it was the last one to open and had a feeling that something was going to happen.

Walking down the hallway to the other side, Chris was giggling. I said what are laughing at? Chris didn't say anything, just another little chuckle. At this time I was a little nervous thinking about the last door Chris wanted me to open up.

I finally reached the end. I stood in front of the door for at least a minute or so. Chris was behind me and said, "Okay Judy, this is it, you can open up the door." I was hesitant. I finally said, "No." Chris said, "Just open it." I said, "No I am scared." He said, "Geez, come on, Judy, just do it and get it over with." I stood in front of it with my hand reaching in front of the door knob, not touching it. I didn't want to open it. All of a sudden, as I approached to touch the door handle, a skeletal arm with ugly pointy fingers came out of the door and tried to pull my arm in. I screamed so loud. Chris started to laugh. He said, "I got you. I came back to haunt you, but it was a good haunt."

I woke up and sat there. My back was very warm. I laughed to myself and thought, "That little bugger did it again." He flew me to this beautiful mansion, where, I did not know, until two months ago.

Now it is June 2008. My husband and I were watching regular TV, the PBS station, since our satellite went out because of a thunderstorm that afternoon. Otherwise, I still wouldn't have known what mansion I was at. I stared at this guy driving up to this estate in England and couldn't believe my eyes. That was the place Chris flew me to. I said to my husband, "That's it...that's the place Chris flew me to." He said, "Really...are you sure?" and I said, "Yes, that's the one." It was Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England.

The palace wasn't like a regular castle meaning it wasn't scary looking. It is very nice, no turrets or anything like that and very long, almost like an "n" shape. We found out that day that Sir Winston Churchill was born there and the guy driving there was a designer from Texas interviewing Lady Spencer Churchill about the palace. She also gives daily tours. I knew exactly what the inside of this palace looked like when she was walking him through the rooms. It also has a history of being haunted. I couldn't believe this was the castle Chris flew me to.

After seeing this palace and knowing the history I had a feeling that Chris visited here on his trip to Europe. I remember getting a little gift from Chris at the time he went to Europe. He bought me a silver spoon from England. When I checked it out, it was Blenheim Palace. I couldn't believe this. It was after watching the story on TV. I couldn't stand still and knew that one day I would find out what place it was I was at and I finally did. My husband was wondering what I was doing! I was kind of excited that it was a real place. I bet Chris went to this Palace for a tour because I found out that it is very medieval, has Victorian events and Chris loved these kind of things. Whenever he had the opportunity to see medieval events, he would go and this time it probably happened to be Blenheim Palace.

His old house was set in Old Walkerville here in Windsor and was down the street from where the Honorable Paul Martin had his estate. He lived there for years until the day he moved to a bigger home for more space. It was unexplainable that the day Chris moved into his newly built home, he would be diagnosed with cancer.

I guess you can say that this was a "good haunt" from Chris as he said before he passed on. He is still getting the best of me playing his little tricks. This one though was a "night tour."

Thanks for reading.