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Gift Confirmation

 

I knew that I could see and feel things that other people could not from a very young age. It was hard growing up with this reality without anyone that I could talk to that understood my situation. My parents would constantly tell me "Ghosts aren't real," or "It's just your imagination." I knew I wasn't crazy, and my imagination was what I used when I drew or had wrestling matches between my G. I. Joe figures. My imagination was not causing me to see and feel ghostly presences. It was what I turned to in an attempt to keep myself from being terrified when I was having an experience.

When I was 19, my friend Kathy's mother had bought a house. She invited me and our other close friend Cori to the house to take a look around shortly after they closed on the house. It was exciting for us. I lived in NYC and we all grew up in apartment buildings. So buying a house was a big deal.

We went through the obligatory walk-through of the entire house checking every closet, nook and cranny. After seeing the entire downstairs where she was going to live, we went upstairs to the place she was going to rent out to another family. Everything was fine up until we got to the master bedroom and she showed us a long walk-in closet. Although this was over 10 years ago and I have never gone back upstairs since, I remember the physical details of that closet vividly.

The door to the closet was in the back-left corner of the room when you walked in. Upon opening the closet door, you would turn left and the closet went the length of the room. At the end of the closet was another door that led to the attic. There were no stairs to get to the attic; it was simply separated from the end of the closet by the door.

The girls went into the closet and I started to as well but then I could sense a nasty presence and I stopped dead in my tracks. They opened the attic door and the feeling seemed to get even stronger. When they walked into the attic, they noticed I wasn't following them and they called for me. "I'm good right here." I told them. They joked aloud at the fact that a 6'3, 250-pound athlete was too scared to walk into a closet that two girls barely over 5 feet tall had no problem going into. I didn't care what they said. I wasn't going near that closet and I wanted out of the top floor altogether.

As is customary with Catholic Hispanic families, they were having the house blessed before moving in. The priest and congregation (12 members of the church group) showed up at the house about 15 minutes after we came back downstairs. He would walk into every room and closet saying a prayer and blessing every inch with Holy Water. Again, everything was normal until we got upstairs to the walk-in closet.

The priest opened the closet door and froze in mid-step, as he was about to walk in. He stayed on the outside and splashed Holy Water inside from the open door. My friend Kathy whispered, "That's weird. He walked into every other room and closet. Why is he stopping here?"

When he was finished with the blessing of the closet, he asked everyone present to stand in a circle and join hands for a prayer. He then said "that there is evil trapped in beyond that door. We are going to pray and ask Jesus to expel it." At that time, Cori shouted, "Oh my God Jeff that's what you said!" (Yes, she used the Lord's name in vain in front of a church congregation, but nobody seemed to notice. On the other hand, maybe I was too caught up in the moment to realize that they did.) She looked horrified and Kathy did as well. The next thing I know, all of these strangers in the circle, including the priest, are staring right at me. It was an uncomfortable feeling to put it mildly.

The priest led us in prayer and we walked back downstairs. I was only there for a few minutes after that before I decided that I needed to leave. I kept noticing the congregation glancing over at me. They were spread out in smaller groups now, but every group seemed to be glancing over at me in the midst of their conversations. I was completely uncomfortable and told my friends that I was leaving to go home. On my way out the door, the priest caught up to me and stopped me on the porch. He asked me what I felt and I described it as best I could. He told me that I was given a "gift" from God and that I should appreciate it and learn to accept and utilize it. I wasn't up for becoming a priest and that is where I was afraid that the conversation was going so I nodded politely and left for home.

I have never gone back to that house since. I am not sure if it is clean or not, but I can tell you that I will never go back to see for myself.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

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, Jackets, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

ppbutt71 (4 posts)
 
14 years ago (2009-11-21)
sometimes the gift is a curse its just how you decide to use it. Sometimes things happen when you least expect them and your afraid to say anything. The house I live in is haunted and we have blessed the home and it doesn't always work so if your feelings are to never go back then don't cause chances are the evil never left.
Jackets (3 stories) (71 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
Again, thank you all for your comments. Hopefully I can use my gift to help others, but I am not extremely well versed on the ridding of unwanted energies. Of course through research I know of exorcisms and smudgings and prayer. So for now, the most important help I will provide is to my son in being able to handle his gift.

I have since embraced this gift and I can appreciate what it means to me. I have now opened myself up to developing it as the fear that was always attached to my experiences has dissipated.
rhodes68 (14 stories) (1596 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
What an amazing priest Jackets!

I don't think the priest meant that you should follow in his footsteps-he was talking about your GIFT per ce. His comment was meant to reassure you that you as he had the power to see deeper than the "surface" of things and once you learnt to accept it and practise it, you might be able to help those in need.

Great story! Thank you for sharing!
whitebuffalo (guest)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
Awesome advice from the priest, Jackets. Take heed his words.
You HAVE been given a gift from God, and it IS up to you to learn how to accept and utilize it.
I read and reread the account from the moment when your friend said "...thats what you said." (the sentence about not wanting to be recruited as a priest made me look thrice at the story) I KNOW the "eye catching" phrase was not intended to be that one, but it was.
I also do not feel he was trying to recruit you. He and the 12 others (fitting as there were 12 disciples) SAW that you also sensed this presence. Chances are pretty high that whomever was chosen to help in the House Blessing were NOT seers. Chances are extremely high that NONE of them even sensed the being both you and the priest felt in the attic area.
Most generally (at least this is how it went, in my past), a priest announces a house needs blessed, and a few of the elders step forward and say "Hey, I'm game for it. I have nothing going on Thursday evening." No one EXPECTS there to BE anything in the home. They GENERALLY think that they are going to be able to get to see the inside of the new parishioners home, and get a "sneak peek" at who they are.
Saying THAT, I believe the discomfort you still feel in that home is due, in part, to the experience of being "examined" by the priests helpers. They could hardly contain their curiosity. MOST of them probably had enough trust in the priest to believe that it was possible for HIM to see something "extra", but YOU were a "wild card". A treat.
Rest assured, the Priest took care of it.
Thank you.
Tonith (1136 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
I have heard these comments from a number of people who have the gift but wished they didn't. I don't think the priest was trying to tell you to become a priest because of your gift but just to use it wisely. Apparently this priest was also sensitive. I don't know if I buy demonolgy on a personal level but there are many religious people who are well convinced of it. To me if someone was horrible in their real life chances are they are going to be just as horrible in their afterlife and create havoc if they can. I think the reason they hang out in this plane of existence is to delay what they consider to be judgment and condemnation in the next phase of the soul's journey. Odd how what they no doubt did to other people when alive, like judging and condemning is the same reason they can not move forward in the afterlife.

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