There are spirits among us, and their existence is supported by numerous personal encounters. Despite skepticism surrounding the concept of ghosts, these firsthand experiences are difficult to dismiss. Bethany Mortellaro and Cher Vaden staunchly believe in the presence of ghosts, and they have captivating tales to recount. Brace yourself for spine-tingling narratives as they delve into their most harrowing experiences with the spirit realm, shedding light on how these encounters have transformed their perspectives on the world, life, and death. Have you had an encounter with a ghost? We invite you to share your story with us!
—
Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Ghosts Are Real Y’all
Cher Vaden.
Yes, Bethany Mortellaro? Talk to me.
We have another thing in common.
What do we have?
Crazy ghost stories.
Ghosts are real, you all. I said you all and I never say you all. It’s the country feel that we’ve got going on here. Me and my plaid, my hat.
Shouldn’t it be fall instead of blazing hot summer here in Tampa, Florida?
We should never give our time away. No one would ever know. We could be lying and it could be winter, wear bikinis under. I’m not going to wear a bikini on this show. We got this country vibe feel-ish.
I feel like we need some pumpkins behind us, though.
That’s my favorite, pumpkins and ghost stories.
We’re both suckers for fall.
I love fall. I roll back around and open up the windows and there’s a different smell in the air. If I could bottle up that smell and turn it into a candle, I would.
I agree with you 100%. I love your house in the fall. Your house is my favorite in the fall.
My house in the fall?
You have decorations.
I do love to decorate.
You do such good decorations.
I got to pat myself on the back for that one.
You got to. Ghost stories. Tell me, you heard some new ones. We tend to have a sixth sense of things.
I have a couple of clients that have shown me their videos.
Do you have a video?
I don’t have the videos from their phone. They didn’t send me the videos.
You got to share them.
She’s been my client for years and she always talks to me. Her parents have both passed and they always make themselves known in her home but in a loving, sweet way. If I remember correctly, she thinks that this is her mother or her father. I want to say she’s in her 50s. She comes into the salon one day and she’s showing me this video on her phone of her webcam set up in the back of her house. This is all on camera. She’s not filming it. She’s sleeping. This is going on in the middle of the night. I asked her to send me the story.
I feel like we need to save this episode for Halloween. We’ll have more.
By then, we’ll have ghost stories that our readers have sent in. We can share all their crazy ghost stories.
I can’t wait. Share your stories.
This is the screen door to her back patio. “I always check at night to make sure doors are closed. I had taken the dog out and shut the screen door.” This is the creepiest part of this video. You know when you open up a screen door and you have that little metal slide on the car?
Don’t tell me it showed it open.
That moved. I’ve seen this video. When she’s double booked, like when I have her and another client, I’m always like, “Show them the video on your phone.” Everybody’s like the hair’s sticking up on the back of their neck.
Shut the fridge. You’ve seen it with your own eyeballs?
I’ve seen the video with my own eyeballs. My other clients have seen my client’s video. They’re all flabbergasted. We’re all flabbergasted. “When I got up the next morning, the screen door was open. I checked the security camera at about 2:00 AM, and the door opened. No one was there and the slide lock slid all the way to keep the door open. It’s creepy. You hear the sound effects. You hear walking.”
Is this from the ring camera or the security camera?
This is from her security camera.
What was the purpose? Was the dog on the porch?
“The door will shut now by itself if I leave it open. After letting the dog out, I took the slide off. There can be no breeze or wind. I’ll go back to shut and the door is already closed.” I’m telling you. This video is spooky. She thinks it’s her mom or dad, nothing ever threatening.
Isn’t it terrible? What I’m thinking is, are they closing the door when the dog’s out and they don’t want the dog on the porch, or they’re letting the dog off the porch? What is the ghost doing? They’re messing with the door.
She’ll keep the door open and prop it open. She shows another video of the screen door 1 year or 2 later. Do you see a shadow in the grass?
Stop it.
It’s creepers.
I’d be calling Soul Centers and I’d be like, “I’ve got a little bit of a thing here.” Did you ever watch that show? I was wondering if they’re real. Some of those, I think, are real.
There used to be a ghost show that I would watch all the time.
Do you know why? It’s because you get up at the butt crack of dawn.
I get up at 5:20 every morning.
You’re tired.
I used to watch the show on ID TV. Do you know what I love? It is with ghosts because I love watching these shows where the psychics come in and then solve the murder with the ghost.
I love it. I used to watch the show Medium where she would do that.
I know a lot of people think this is all hocus pocus and not real. There are a lot of people that do think this is real. I am a believer.
I’m a believer because it’s personally happened. It’s not ghosts. There are entities that happen. I had an issue with an entity. Back in my younger years, I dated a guy and we lived together over in Clearwater. The house that we lived in was previously a church.
A lot of people think ghost stories are not real. But they have personally happened to many people. Click To Tweet
I didn’t know you lived in the house. I thought you guys were housesitting.
It was his house. He asked me to move in, and so I moved in. We were together for a couple of years. That served its purpose in my life. Anyway, one night, sound asleep in the bedroom, and we both woke up. It was very random. Both of us were wide awake. We were frozen. He says to me, “Do you see that?” I go, “Yes. The black thing in the corner?” He goes, “Yes.” I said, “Are you sure you’re not imagining?” He goes, “Are you seeing it too?” I said, “I’m seeing it too. How could he be imagining it?” There was something at the foot.
He slept on the left side of the bed and I was on the right side of the bed. This was in the corner of the room at the foot of the left side of the bed. It was not touching the floor. It wasn’t touching the ceiling. It was suspended there. It was this black mess. It was weird. It had a form, but it didn’t have a face. Have you ever had a suffocating fear? That’s what he and I both had and bolted our butts right out of that room. You’ve never seen two people fly out of the bedroom so fast.
Have you ever had a suffocating fear? Click To Tweet
You both saw it.
It was there.
It wasn’t like, “I’m hallucinating,” and he’s not seeing something and vice versa.
We both woke up at the same time and both of us were fixated. Neither one of us could move from that. I’ll never forget it. We bolted out of the room and then we were like, “Neither one of us could sleep at this point.” We ended up going out to the den as we went all the way around the other side of the house and went to the den and sat up watching movies. I don’t even know how long it was until we went back into that bedroom to sleep in there. It was a good week, I would think.
What happened when you went back in there to sleep?
We took melatonin or something. We want to sleep through it. If people think this is hocus pocus, I went through and touched each wall and banished whatever spirit that was because I do believe that. I believe that we have the ability to bring the Holy Spirit to cleanse.
We have the ability to bring the Holy Spirit to cleanse. Click To Tweet
A girlfriend of mine has this black cloud over her. Major bad things have been happening to her. A girlfriend of Cher and I gave us blessed salt. I’ve already blessed everything I need to bless. I was like, “You need this more than I do.” I gave her the salt because my heart is going out to her. She’s had some major things happen. She was so appreciative of it. I need to make a phone call to our girlfriend and be like, “I need my blessed salt, holy water.”
“Give me some more blessed salt.”
You’re in the Catholic Church all the time. Do you have holy water?
Of course, I have holy water.
Get me some holy water.
I’ll get you some holy water. I keep holy water. I have a bottle of it. Do you know what else I have? I also have anointed oil that’s been blessed by a preacher who, God rest her soul, is gone from us now, but I still have a whole bottle.
I’m usually stingy with my blessed stuff. I felt this friend needed it.
That’s what it’s about.
She did. I needed to pass it along. The first thing I thought of was, “You need this blessed salt.” I had it here.
You need to follow up and find out if that has had any impact.
She’s like, “What do I do with this?” I’m like, “Sprinkle that. Sprinkle it everywhere, your car, your home, wherever.”
You have to bind some of that stuff.
“Sprinkle it on your steak.”
Eat some. Ingest some of that salt. Get it all the way up in you.
I have a blessing a while back. This was years ago. Bring me holy water. I would take a swig of it every now and then.
Did you drink the holy water?
I drank the holy water. Why not? It probably has parasites and all the dirty stuff.
I have a joke. Do you want to hear a joke?
I do.
There are three nuns. These three nuns decided to go out for an evening. The desire overtook them. Three of them snuck out of the convent this one particular night. Next thing, they felt remorseful the next day, so they went to confession. The first nun goes in and she says, “Bless me Father for I have sinned. It’s been 48 hours since my last confession.” He says, “Yes, child, confess your sins.”
She says, “Father, I snuck out last evening. I allowed a man to touch my breast.” He says, “Sister.” She says, “I know, Father. I’m so remorseful. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done.” He says, “I want you to do 10 Hail Marys and 2 Our Fathers, and rinse your breast in the holy water.” She says, “Yes, Father. Thank you.” She does her penance.
She walks up to her friend nuns and they said, “How did it go? Did it go okay?” She says, “Yeah, he told me that I needed to say 10 Hail Marys and 2 Our Fathers, that I needed to wash my breast in the holy water.” The third nun looks over at the second nun and says, “You’re on your own. I’m not going to confession.” She says, “What do you mean?” She says, “If I’m going, I’m going before you.” She says, “Why do you have to go before me? I want to go next.” She says, “You’re not. I’ll be damned if I’m drinking the holy water after you put your pussy in it.” It’s terrible. We know what she did.
That’s a humdinger.
It might have been. No one knows. It could have been a kiss. Who knows? She was not drinking it. Anyway, isn’t that terrible? That’s a terrible joke. I’m Catholic. Lord, forgive me. Anyway, ghost stories.
I have several things that have happened to me, but the one that made the most impact was when I was probably between 20 to 22. I don’t remember my 21st birthday and where I was, but it was around that time. I dated this guy and became very close with his mom. We had broken up. I was still very friendly with his mom. We had a nice relationship. We would go get lunch together.
We created this bond even though he and I had broken up. She would always tell me stories when I was dating her son about how when they would have guests over to their house, out of town or so what have you, if they went out for lunch or dinner when they would come back home, all the doors on the inside of the house would be locked. It’s weird stuff like that.
Where’s this house?
In Palm Harbor.
It’s here in Florida?
I grew up here in Florida, so it’s here. If they did yard work or construction, they would see figures or they see a little girl.
In the house or on the property?
On the property, outside, inside, if they were doing any renovation or fixing up. If guests came over, all the doors on the inside of the house, bedrooms, and bathrooms, would be locked when they come home. It would spook their guests. She would tell me these stories here and there. Some time had passed. She was going out of town and her son was going to be out of town as well. They had several little dogs and a bird so she asked if I could help sit because I live five minutes down the road. I’m like, “No problem at all.”
I drive over to their house and I type in the garage code. Now, the garage door leads into the laundry room and then there’s a door. If you go to the left, there are 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. If I were to go straight, I go right into the kitchen. If I go right, I go into the living room and dining room, and then it’s a split home, her master bedroom was to the right.
She leaves the notes on the washing machine. I go into the garage. I go right into the laundry room. I see all the notes for the dogs. I go into the kitchen. I lay the notes down on the kitchen counter, and I’m like, “I got to go to the bathroom.” I go into the bathroom down the hallway and with habit, I shut the door behind me. I hear knocking on the door. I’m like, “This has to be her son, Ryan. He’s playing tricks on me.” I’m like, “Ryan?” No answer.
Were you doing a number 1 or a number 2?
I was doing a number one.
Did it start as a number 1 and turned into a number 2?
I was not pooping.
I would’ve pooped myself right then.
I was certainly peeing, but I don’t remember.
At that moment, I’m in an alone house where I already know there are spooky things happening and someone knocks on the damn door, no.
I hear knocking again for the second time.
Do you think it’s Ryan?
I’m thinking it’s Ryan. I’m like, “He’s playing a prank on me,” but I’m getting spooked. I don’t know. You’re now aware.
How do you come out of the bathroom? What if it’s a stranger?
I come out of the bathroom and the dogs were little. They’re Chihuahuas. They’re not knocking at the door with a hard knock. There are no mind tricks here of what’s going on. I go back into the kitchen. The notes are gone.
How the hell did you have the cojones to come out of that bathroom?
In my mind, I still thought it was Ryan playing a trick.
That’s acceptable. That works for my brain. I appreciate that one.
I’m in the kitchen. The notes are gone. I’m trying to call my girlfriend who lives there. Her name was Laura, and I can’t get ahold of her. I’m trying to call her girlfriend, which is a backup number, her friend Jade. I cannot get ahold of her to like, “What do I feed these dogs?” At this point, I’m like, “Screw it.” The notes are gone. They’re nowhere to be found. I retraced my steps. I went back to the laundry room. They didn’t fall on the floor and I knew exactly where I left them on the counter.
The hair on the back of my neck is standing up because now, I’m remembering all the stories that they were telling me and how the ghost of the house didn’t care for guests in the house. I’m creeping myself out. Nobody’s picking up their phone. I’m like, “Screw it. You get one cup. You get two cups. I don’t know who gets shit. You guys get food,” and we’re good to go. All the animals, the bird, the Chihuahuas, everybody’s eating their food.
In the kitchen, there’s this bar area. You walk around it to the right and it’s a wall divider. On one side is the kitchen, and on the other side is a couch against the wall. I’m laying in front of the couch. There’s nothing behind the couch. It’s a wall with a painting on it. I’m patting and playing with the dogs on the floor. Out of nowhere, I feel scratches down my back. At this point, I book it. That’s it. I’m done. I didn’t put the dogs up.
That’s not a nice ghost.
It wasn’t. I am freaked out. I’m trying to get ahold of Laura, the woman who owns the house. I can’t get ahold of her. I finally get ahold of Jade as I remember correctly. I feel scratches down my back. It hurts. It was not a friendly little pat. It was fingernails going down my back.
It wasn’t a sexy time scratchy thing.
My brother and I are roommates for several years after I moved out of my mom’s house. I drive home. My brother’s home. I’m wearing workout clothes. I had workout pants and a sports bra on because back then I was super sporty.
Show it off.
I knock on my brother’s door and I’m like, “Look at my back.” He’s like, “What happened?”
Did you tell him?
He saw the scratch marks, which makes me know that I’m not losing my shit. This isn’t all make-believe in my head. He sees the scratch marks on my back.
Did he ask you about it?
Yeah, and I’m trembling. I’m in shock. I’m scared.
It’s like a story in one of those shows.
Needless to say, I did not go back to that house. Those dogs took the bed for themselves. Her friend Jade did. It was her very best friend. There was something like she was out of town for so many days. I was like, “Laura, I’m not going back into that home.”
Was Jade okay? She didn’t get scratched?
Jade was fine. Jade was always a guest there.
Maybe they were familiar with her.
Needless to say, I did not go back to that house. I did not continue to feed those dogs. I never dog-sat for her again.
Did you ever tell your friend? You told her what happened?
I did. Laura finally called me back and I had to share with her, “I’m not going back to your home. This is what happened.” She was so apologetic. She’s like, “I’m so sorry.” She was aware of when she has guests come into her home, weird things would happen. Nobody’s ever been attacked or touched.
Now, they have.
That’s the one that’s stuck with me.
That’s a pretty significant one. That’s not a ghost encounter. That’s a ghost attack.
That freaked me out for a very long time. That was not nice.
I would’ve drank holy water after that. That messed you up.
I felt like if I never go back there, I’m okay. I don’t think anything followed me. Do you know what I’m saying? Sometimes people say spirits will follow you.
People say that sometimes spirits will follow. Click To Tweet
That’s an interesting transition because I want to tell you about that.
Did you have something follow you?
I had something follow me.
From where to where?
New Orleans.
Did you tell me this story?
I did.
I vaguely remember it.
Creepy AF.
I ended with my story of a thing touching me.
We did, but no, it’s not my turn because I want to hear your creepy black mask thing.
I was previously married for a very short period of time. Mark was my husband at the time. We were housesitting for his brother. We go over. We’re housesitting. This is a home in Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs is notorious because there are so many old homes in Tarpon Springs.
It’s one of the older parts of town.
When I started researching haunted places in the Tampa Bay area, Tarpon Springs kept coming up quite a bit. Anyways, we’re housesitting for my then-brother-in-law. I’m lying in the master bedroom and my husband at the time went to go get the sheets and all the bedding out of the dryer. You plop on a bed and you take a load off. The lights were off. He’s getting the stuff.
I’m resting for a second. I am on the left side of this king-sized mattress. To that is a nightstand and a window, which the blinds were shut. It’s nighttime at this time, so the room’s dark. This is another touchy moment because I’m lying on the mattress and I felt something pushing down on my chest into the mattress.
Mark’s not in the room.
He’s in the laundry room. It’s a one-story house. It’s on the opposite end of the house. It’s an old-style Tarpon Springs home. I expect you guys to know what that looks like.
It’s a basic ranch-style home.
It’s not a big home. It’s a very small home. I start screaming for his name, but I feel like I can’t scream. I have this pressure pushing me into the mattress. As you said, it’s like that dark entity. There’s no face.
Is this before or after the scratches?
This is after.
You did have a damn spirit attached to your behind. It’s coming after you.
He comes running into the room frantic because I’m screaming. I was watching a couple of TikToks of people randomly screaming at their husbands or their children pretending they have a bug on them or something to scare them. I’m going to start pranking family members.
I want to see that. That’d be awesome.
Anyways, so here I am screaming. He comes into the room frantic like, “What is going on?” I was telling him I feel like I can’t breathe. He proceeds to tell me about how his brother already went to the Greek Church. The Father at the time was Father Tryfon. He had requested Father Tryfon come to his home. He has not been sleeping in the master bedroom because something is in the master bedroom. I booked it. We didn’t stay that night. I’m like, “I’m out of here. We’re done.”
Information you should have shared prior to me laying on his bed, taking a load off, and then getting a load put right onto me, thank you, of the ghostly caliber. Ghost stories are prevalent too. I remember when I was a little girl, I overheard my mom talking to a friend of hers. They were talking about a mutual friend.
Here’s how the story goes. The one friend had lost her child of maybe 9 or 10, maybe 12 max. She had an upstairs and downstairs in her house. The way the house was constructed, if you were walking up the stairs, there was a balcony overhang. You could see downstairs to the right where the piano was. The child played piano. The piano had a padded bench. I don’t know how the child died. I don’t know what happened. I know that this friend’s child passed away. There was this one particular period of time when the woman was home. She had started walking up the stairs and she heard the piano. She turned and looked. There was a print on the pad. The piano was playing and it was whatever the child used to play.
Did she break down in tears?
Yeah. I wasn’t there, but again, I overheard the story. Isn’t that gut-wrenching?
I would lose it.
I might make you cry. I might make everyone cry. Maybe, maybe not. It’s fine if you don’t. I’m not expecting tears. We’ll see if I can get through it without tears. My very significant ghost story, are you ready?
No tears.
It’s very significant. I told you this. We’ll talk about this at some point because we did list this as one of our topics. We talked about losing children, losing babies. When my husband and I first met, he wanted me to come and meet his family, so I did. I traveled to Arkansas and I met his family. I love his Mama. She was great. She’s a feisty woman. I met her. We went home.
We found out that we were pregnant with our first son. Even though she has said, since her husband died, that she was ready to go whenever the good Lord was ready to take her, “I’m ready to go see my Wick. I’m ready to go see him.” Anyway, she found out we were pregnant. She wanted to wait to see that baby. She wanted to wait. She wanted God to let her live on this earth until she could see that baby.
We lost our son. It was a terrible accident. We’ll talk about it some of the time, but freak occurrence. He did pass away. I was about eight months pregnant. It was very sad. That was devastating to her. Four months later, we got pregnant with Henry. When we told her we were pregnant with Henry, she says, “I’m not ready to go until I meet that baby.” She was going to hang on.
When Henry was born, he was born close to Christmas time. We packed up our two-month-old baby and drove to Arkansas so Mama could meet him. I’ll never forget it. Nick had gone off while we were up there. He had gone off to meet some of his friends. Mama and I were sitting there talking. Henry was sleeping and we were sitting there in the living room.
The way her living room was set up, I was sitting on this hearth. There’s a big fireplace mantle there. Maybe I was in the rocking chair. I was sitting to her left. She’s sitting in her chair and to her right is the long couch. Everyone has had a couch like this in their house, especially if your family had the ‘70s and ‘80s furniture. It looked like a woven blouse. I don’t know how to explain it other than that.
Anyway, so we started talking about how she said she was ready to go. Now, she could go that she met the baby. She was happy now. She’d go to heaven because she wanted to be in heaven with her husband. I said, “Do you miss him?” She goes, “I still see him sometimes.” I said, “You do?” She giggled a little bit and she says, “Yeah. People think I’m crazy. Every once in a while, I’ll look over and he’s lying there. He used to lay with his head up on his arm, with his hand tucked behind his head.” She said that she’ll look over there and he’s lying there. He’ll turn his head and look at her.
Who was she seeing?
Her deceased husband, Nick’s Papa. That man was the best thing that ever happened to my husband. That’s where our first son was named after too. Anyway, she says that sometimes she looks over and she sees her husband. He’ll wink at her and then he is gone. She’s like, “I don’t tell many people that because they think I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. “
I said to her, “Mama, when you do get to heaven, if you see baby Wick, which would be my son, can you let me know?” She laughed at me and she says, “Yeah. I reckon. If I can figure that out, I will. I don’t want you to be scared.” I said, “I won’t be scared.” She says, “I’ll promise that.” I say, “I’m going to cry.” I’ve said numerous times that leading up to the birth of my son was my callback to God and how I fell in love with the Lord and knew how real God was. People think, “How can you think that if he was taking your innocent baby?” “I firmly did.” There was a ghost story there too, but we won’t talk about that one.
Anyway, the day came when Mama passed. My son was born at 10:10 on a Thursday. If you look at a clock, that’s when the clock is smiling. Mama died at 10:10 on a Thursday. It was the next day I believe. I’d gone to bed that night. It was sad. My poor husband was so sad. We had brought Henry’s crib into our room. He was only six months old and the crib was on my side of the bed. I was sleeping on the right side of the bed and there was a door to the base of our bed to the left. Anyway, Henry’s crib was, again, right alongside the wall, 3 feet from my side of the bed.
All I know is I was sound asleep and my husband jumps up and slams me in the arm with his hand like, “Wake up.” I’m like, “What?” He’s like, “Don’t go.” He starts screaming, “Don’t go.” He’s running to the foot of our bed. We have a big king-sized bed. I was like, “What?” He goes, “Look.” I look and at the bottom right of my bed, there is a woman standing in my freaking room.
I’ve never seen this woman before in my life. She’s wearing a white gown. It looks like an old gown, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. She has red hair and she’s opaque. Not that I can see through her, but I can’t see her as well as I can see you. I also was sound asleep. I look at this woman and her hair’s pulled up a little bit. You could tell it was reddish hair. I’ve never seen her before. She was a young woman.
In her left hand, she’s holding the hand of a little boy. He looks like he might be eight years old, maybe. He’s wearing linen. I don’t know how to explain it. It looks like if you were to cut out fabric, like a shirt and shorts, something very basic, simple out of linen. He’s standing there and he has this dark hair. He’s so fair with these big blue eyes. I remember I sat up and I sat on the edge of my bed. I picked up my knees and I put my feet on the side of the bed, so I’m facing Henry’s crib. I’m turned completely to look over my left shoulder. This woman smiles at me and she looks down at the little boy. She takes his hand and she guides him over to me.
Nick is seeing all this at the same time.
I don’t know where Nick is. All I know is I am completely enraptured at this moment. I’m sitting there on the side of my bed and this little boy walks over. The woman sits at the foot of my bed, facing like I am. Anyway, the little boy walks over and he stands in front of me. I look at him. I look over at her and she smiles. I look back at the little boy and he says, “Mom, wake up.” That’s all I hear.
I will tell you, I messed up a big part of the story. That was because I’m trying not to get emotional. I can’t help it. When he walked over to me, he looked me in the eyes. I looked at the woman. I looked back at him and he looks down at my left arm first. I looked down at my left arm. When I looked down at my left arm. I was right back in the moment when they handed me, Wick, for the first time. When they handed me my baby, I looked down at him and told him how beautiful he was. I’m like, “You’re so perfect.” He was perfect. He didn’t have a heartbeat and he wasn’t coming home with me like that, but he was so perfect.
I remember lifting my head and I’m looking back. Now, I’m right back with this little boy standing in front of me. He looks down at my right arm, and so I looked down at my right arm and I’m right back in this moment when we had first brought Henry home from the hospital. I looked down at Henry and Henry was smiling. A newborn baby doesn’t smile like that. Nick was over my shoulder and he said, “Is your brother making faces at you from heaven?” That’s when I looked back up and I was back in my room, a little boy sitting in front of me. That’s when he whispered, “Hi, Mommy.” It was like he was showing me who he was.
I remember I looked back over my left shoulder and the woman smiled at me again. She stood up and she walked over to the crib. She bent over a little bit and she put her hands down in the bed. The way Henry was sleeping, his head was where my feet sleep, so he was sleeping opposite of me. She put her hands underneath them and my baby is lifted up. She lifted him right out. She had his face cradled and she lifted him up perfectly. She turned her head and looked him right in the face. She looked over her right shoulder, smiled at me, and put him back down. She took the little boy’s hand, and she walked away.
I’ll never forget, I turned to my husband and I went, “Did you see that?” He goes, “What are you talking about?” He had no idea and couldn’t remember anything. The next morning, I woke up and one of his cousins had posted the obituary that they were going to put in the paper for Mama. She was the dressmaker. She always made all the wedding dresses for the whole town and stuff. There was a picture of her in her wedding dress.
Was it the same dress?
Same woman, same dress. I’d never seen that in my life, ever. I had never seen that photo in my life. That was her.
Do you feel like those are such special kisses from God? How can you not say that that’s not a gift?
I don’t know. I can tell you that all the time, I knew that God had a plan. He took my son. He had a plan. I continued to have faith and belief in that. Here I am now and Wick would be almost twelve years old. I would not be Henry’s Mommy and I wouldn’t be Kathryn’s Mommy if he was here. If I was able to make the choice, it’s an easy choice. It goes the way it was planned to go. I don’t know that people get that comfort and that solace and that healing. I feel very fortunate that I did. Again, it was as real as you’re sitting here next to me. No one could ever convince me otherwise. Again, I had never seen that picture before. It’s not like I imagined this. It was very real. It was amazing.
I had lost two babies before Enzo. I remember feeling alone, sad, and crushed because you start planning in your head this life with this child. I was devastated. I was like a different person. I remember having this dream of a little boy and a little girl. The little girl was wearing the dress and went down to her knees. It was a little frilly on the bottom.
Like a Shirley Temple dress, cap sleeve?
Yeah, and she had little white shiny shoes on. The little boy was in almost like an Easter short and a little button shirt. They were all pastel colors. They were running in a field together. I remember waking up knowing that those were my kids. I didn’t cry a single day after that. It was a reassurance, a little touch or kiss from God saying, “They’re doing great. They’re having fun,” and then Enzo came so far later. You’re always going to wonder.
You do wonder.
That’s what you’re going to do. You were a mom too.
That was a difficult thing. Mother’s Day after that was hard. Ghosts are ghosts, but entities and evil things are something completely different. People can call it what they want to call it. You can say that that was someone’s imagination. It’s not my imagination. I’m a very sane person. My husband might beg to differ but I promise you, I’m a sane person.
I talked to my therapist about this because I have so many other stories in my arsenal of ghost-spirit stories. I’m like, “Tell me if I’m crazy.” He’s like, “You’re not crazy at all.”
I feel like it’s almost like a red car. You buy a brand-new red Ferrari. You’ve never seen a red Ferrari on the road. Now, you’re going to see it all over the place. It’s almost like it happens one time and you’re desensitized. Here it comes. Open the floodgates.
These are things that you literally cannot even explain, moving, turning on, things that have never lit up before, lighting up. Crazy stuff has happened to me that I’ve talked to my therapist about. I’m like, “If I’m nutso, tell me about it. I swear to God these stories are real. They have such emotion. I could feel them.”
Have you ever had your child have an encounter?
Enzo was very close with my father-in-law. My husband’s stepdad passed away. He will talk about him a lot.
In the present tense?
In dreams and stuff like that, especially when he first passed. He talked about him a lot. I don’t think my kids have ever mentioned any, and I have a weird connection to my father-in-law as well, which we’ll say for another episode because it’s a long story. I wanted to be the one who oversaw him. I went to the morgue and did his hair. I’ve never done that before. I’ve never been around a dead body. I don’t believe I’ve ever been to a funeral before that. I was 38 or 39. A lot of things happened with that. We’ll touch on that down the road. That was a very special moment for me and I do feel a very angelic one.
That’s a good story because you talked about doing a deceased person’s hair.
Do you want me to do your hair when you’re dead?
No. I want my head shaved before I die. I’ve always wanted to shave my head. I remember when my great-grandmother died. You all hear me talk about my great-grandmother a lot. You’ve heard me talk about my great Josephine. Josephine was an amazing human. She was an amazing human. I loved the woman so much. She’s one of the strongest women I know. When she died, she wanted to be buried, not cremated. That’s still a debate I have. I don’t know which one I want to do yet. Josephine was buried. Her body was embalmed and she was put in a casket. It was an open casket. She was an old lady and she died.
My mom was as close to her grandmother as I am to her mother. The grandmother relationships are big deals in my family. When my mom lost her grandmother, I lost my great-grandmother. For my mom, it was devastating, but we knew it was coming. She was a very old woman. She lived a good life. I’ll never forget walking up to the casket with my mom. I’m thinking, “Lord.” I love my mom.
How old were you when she passed?
I was in my twenties. I was an adult.
You’re a young adult.
I’m sorry, Mom. I know you can’t wait to tune in to these shows. My mom can be dramatic. I come by it on this. Let’s be real. “Here you go. She’s going to start wailing.” She gets up to the casket and she starts laughing. “Are you okay?” I’m thinking, “She’s lost her shit. She’s done. The home girl is laughing at her dead grandma. This is not okay. She’s going to fall down and have a seizure or something.”
She’s in shock.
Someone’s going to have to slap her in the face and snap her out of it. Anyway, she’s laughing hysterically. Standing at a coffin, laughing. I walk up, and I go, “Mom, are you all right? What is your problem?” She goes, “She looks like Mrs. Doubtfire.” I’ll never watch that movie without seeing my dead grandmother.
That’s so true. That’s exactly why I wanted to oversee my father-in-law because I’ll never forget my husband saying when his grandmother passed, it didn’t look like her. She looks horrible.
That’s a good segue. We’re segueing again into your story. Your story is so beautiful.
We’ll park that one. We’ll say it’s a good story.
They don’t look like themselves. That’s the body. Let’s be real.
I love watching prank videos where people pretend to be dead and jump out.
I do. I love it. When people fall, I love it. Unless it’s kids, I don’t want to see kids fall.
If I see somebody fall, I am dying laughing. What the heck were we watching? There was a Comedy Central show. It’s not Talk Soup, which was funny. It was like that, but it was on videos on the internet. There was a guy who was dancing in the street and he got hit by an ice cream truck. I must have made my husband rewind that fourteen times. I was pissing my pants. I was laughing so hard.
Why is it that when people get hurt, it’s funny? Even if I don’t see it but if it’s explained to me and I can see it in my mind’s eye, I can envision what’s happening, I will laugh my ass off. It happened to me with my very first boyfriend, Kevin. I was with him for three and a half years. We dated. My first love, he was the sweetest guy ever. No one has ever been nicer to me than my first boyfriend. I can tell you that. That’s the truth.
His parents had been divorced. It was him, his brother, and his dad. They lived together. His mom had moved to California and it worked out. Teenage boys lived with their dads. They all started working out. He and his dad started working out together. His Dad was one of those guys who dated a younger girl even though he was an older man. He’s a very attractive older man.
He went with it. He wore the loafers with the jeans and the button-down shirt. His dad’s name is Jeffrey. I’ll never forget, one night, I was on the phone with Kevin and he goes, “Oh, my God.” Jeff’s very tall, very built, and always stood very straight. He almost looked like he was always squeezing his butt cheeks together to make his butt stick out a little bit more.
He walked like he has a stick up his ass.
If Kevin ever reads this, I’m sorry. I’m not making fun of your dad. I’m trying to give a visual here. This one particular day, was on the phone with Kevin. He goes, “Dad, are you okay?” I’m freaking out. I’m only on the phone with him. I don’t know what’s happening. Is something wrong with his dad? If he’s setting the phone down and, “Dad, are you okay?” I just hear vomiting sounds.
Is he vomiting?
No. I go, “What is happening?” I’m having a face like you have right now. He goes, “That was so scary.” I go, “What happened? Is everything okay?” He goes, “I walked into the kitchen. I saw my dad on all fours.” I go, “And?” He goes, “He was choking on a pea.” I’m picturing this gigantic man, who walks all upright and is choking on a pea. Of all the things, you’re going to choke on a fucking little pea? Again, if he wasn’t always so poised and so perfect when he walked and he always smelled so good. You couldn’t stand up like a man?
Not a peapod?
No, just one little tiny pea. Why on the ground, on all fours? Why did you have to choke like that? Did it drop you to your knees to choke?
It’s crazy because when Michelangelo and I were first married, he was cooking dinner.
Would this be karma right now?
Yeah. I had a massive headache, so I took two liquid capsules of Advil. I took them at the same time. They got stuck together in my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I’m going up to him and I’m holding my neck. I’m pointing and I can’t breathe. Everything’s shut down. He was looking at me like, “What’s going on?” I’m pointing at my neck freaking out. My saliva was starting to build up. This was a good 20 to 30 seconds, which felt like forever. You feel it stuck in your throat. It’s painful. You can’t breathe. Your husband doesn’t know what the fuck you’re doing. You’re jumping around.
You’re already married. I thought you said you were dating.
This is when we were very first married because we were living at a certain home in Palm Harbor. We weren’t there very long.
You have to avoid Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs. Scary place.
I grew up there, with lots of stories and memories about Tarpon Springs.
Something followed you home.
It’s not a fun feeling to choke. The point of what I’m saying is you go into this freakout moment, you don’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should start pushing on my stomach. I was frantic and he finally realized what was going on.
You put your saliva and you swallowed it down?
Yeah. It finally went down.
That’s a good little plug for the gel tabs versus the tablets because if it’s a gel, it is going to eventually dissolve, which is good versus the tablet.
Take one at a time though because when they get wet, they get sticky.
I get it. What you’re saying makes complete sense. I take horse pills all at the same time and drop them all down there.
I used to. You know you raise your arm when you take pills.
You raise your arm when you’re choking because it opens up. You should’ve done that. Why didn’t you think about that when you were choking?
Many years ago, the hell was I thinking pointing at my throat and asking my husband for help?
You should’ve been like, “It’s gone. Never mind. Thanks. I’m good.”
“I’m not talking about a blowjob here. I’m talking about my throat.”
“I’m dying. Do you care?”
I want to hear your guys’ ghost stories and your angelic moments. I love this stuff. I love when my clients tell me about stuff because it’s like, we’re all believers. You can feel it.
I won’t watch horror movies, but yes, I do want to hear people’s stories.
I did binge-watch The Watcher. That was phenomenal.
The Witcher or the Watcher?
The Watcher on Netflix. It was so freaking good. I had to watch it during daylight hours. I can’t do it at night. It’s a weird thing. Email your stories to SlimeInMyStilettos@Gmail.com, or message us @SlimeInMyStilettos on Instagram. I can’t wait to hear them.
During Halloween, we’ll have to decorate our set. Halloween is my favorite because it’s fall, and that’s why.
All right, friends.