Ghost Diaries: Adam, Part 1

Around Halloween last fall some friends of ours invited us on a ghost tour in Wake Forest, NC. I have never been on a ghost tour before, and I figured it would be ridiculous. You probably walk around at night with a group of people, someone holds a karaoke machine and tells silly ghost stories about the alleged spirits inhabiting the stores and restaurants of this tiny, historic downtown. You laugh some, get a beer somewhere, go home.

I was pretty new to the whole talking-to-dead-people thing, and it only happened during reiki sessions. On the way over I assured myself that I was NOT actually going to see spirits that night- I can’t really do that, can I? Not out in the wild. I bet earthbound spirits aren’t even real. We parked on a little side street and joined the group huddled under umbrellas, dolled up and ready for a fun night with friends.

GUESS WHAT ?

TURNS OUT I CAN SEE THEM

Before I knew how to control whether I was seeing spirits or not- they just showed up. But again, only during reiki sessions where I was practically inviting them in. And yet, here I was standing in the middle of a street, surrounded by people, sensing spirits all around me. In buildings and behind corners. Looking out of windows above me. Walking hallways and back rooms. I didn’t know what to do besides squeeze my husband’s hand and whisper to him in the back of the group about what I was seeing, each time with my disclaimer I’m sure I’m making this up before pointing out someone new.

Maybe in total I sensed ten to fifteen strong presences, but what was most fascinating was being able to have an immediate impression of who they are. Their personalities. Their…feelings. I could feel how long they’ve been there, what they are doing, who they are looking for, and how aware they are of their predicament. A few stood out to me: a pair of very aware spirits residing mostly in the uppermost level of a warehouse, the bottom level of which is an antique mall with rotating vendors and stalls. This pair loves to play tricks on customers, slam doors, mess with the computers and payment systems, and terrify the employees at the end of the night.

While these two spirits seemed totally in control of themselves and their decision to stay in this plane, many others did not. There was the girl who wanders around a store at the end of the street, looking for her mother who used to work there. She was dressed like a teenager from the 90’s, and I could feel her hope. Then there was the spirit who has been sighted many times over the years by the train tracks that run through the town: a woman with five children who was known to have been murdered. She was desperate to stay near to her children, which she believed to be here, I guess. Then- there was Adam.

Adam, whose name I didn’t know at the time, was behind an old building near the train tracks. He was from a very long time ago and was dressed like a traveler or trader, probably in his 30’s, and was being hunted. He was terrified and hiding, and then had to experience an awful moment of being found. It was maybe a three or four minute loop, which I watched again and again. Could he actually have been stuck like this for decades? Centuries? I felt in my body the urge to go set him free, like I had done it a million times before, but I didn’t even know were to begin. Plus, I’m making all of this up, right?

Six months later, I finally felt confident enough to come back. Hardly a day had gone by that I hadn’t thought of him…

Stay tuned- I’ll send part two out on Monday!