This happened in Memphis, Tennessee (I'm so glad when people tell where their story happened, It makes it so much more interesting). I've had a couple of different "visits" over the years. I'd like to relate two of them (my favorites).

The first happened back in 1977. My ex-husband and I were having a great deal of problems in our second year of marriage. The biggest part of the problem lay solely at my feet at that time. His mother had passed away when he was three years old. I think the things that took place at this time were her being there for her son. She wanted to let him know she was watching over him. Of course, this is just my opinion. See what you think?

We lived in a two bedroom apartment in east Memphis when this first story took place.

One night, I was in the living room on the couch watching t.v. My husband was taking a shower in the master bathroom. When he was finished with his shower, he came into the living room, still mostly wet and a towel wrapped around his waist. He was smiling and asked, "What were you trying to do, scare me?" I asked what he meant since I had done nothing. I had not even gotten up off the couch since he started his shower. He continued........."next time, throw bills." Now I was really confused. I giggled and asked what he meant. He opened his hand and in it were three brand new shiny pennies. Again I asked, "what are you talking about?" He told me that I had thrown the pennies in at him while he was taking his shower. I giggled again. And again, he told me to throw bills next time. At that time, I thought he was serious! That this had taken place!. I promised him, that I had not thrown the pennies in at him. It took a few seconds, but it sunk in......I had not done this. He knew if I promised that I was telling the truth. Nothing much was said about this after that night.

Not too long after that night, we had a serious argument late one night. We had gone to bed, but we were still talking, trying to get it straight before we fell asleep that night. We were really afraid we were not going to be able to make the marriage work. We both said some pretty hateful things that night. I took my wedding band and engagement ring off and tossed them about two feet. They hit the wall. We both heard them hit the wall. When they hit, we both started to cry. We really started not only to get THAT argument straight, but we mended the marriage as well. It lasted another nine years. I got up to look for my rings after we were through talking. The wedding band was nowhere to be found. We never did find it. We tore up that corner of the room looking for it. We even pulled the carpet back. No wedding band. I vacuumed the carpet and then emptied the bag and sifted through the contents............NOTHING. We had no pets at that time that may have gotten hold of it. There was no logical reason for us not to find it, but we never did. The engagement ring was right there where I had thrown the rings. So, to mark the beginning of us starting over, we got new bands. In between the shower and the ring occurrences, I saw a white, filmy figure float down our hall. I followed it and it vanished when it got to our bedroom.

As I said, I fully believe it was his mother watching over her son. After we repaired our broken marriage, she never showed again. Our next set of problems, the ones that tore us apart, were strictly him. I assume that is why she didn't show up then. He also hoped it was his mother. But, as I said, we never really talked about it much at all.

In 1982, we moved into a huge two-story duplex. I loved the place. It was a big, comfortable home. All three bedrooms were upstairs, with two baths, a laundry room and a long hall. There were stairs leading to the attic in the hall. Downstairs we had a living room, a den, a half bath, the kitchen and a breakfast room. After we had been there about a month, I lay in bed trying to go to sleep, recounting the days events. I heard a child crying. It was about 1:00a.m. The crying continued for about 10-15 minutes and I knew no small child should be outside for that length of time at that time of the morning. The duplexes were separated by carports, no connecting walls. It was like two separate homes. So it certainly wasn't anything I was hearing through the walls. My husband was asleep. I saw no reason to wake him over this. He had to get up and go to work. I just lay there and listened. I'll try to put this into words........the crying seemed like it was coming from inside my head, but at the same time it was coming from somewhere else. It was very faint at first. It got louder, but only a bit. Just loud enough to realize where it was coming from (besides the sound that was in my head). And that place was our closet. The child sounded scared and oh, SO unhappy. The cry itself did not allow me to distinguish whether it was a little boy or a little girl. I just knew in my heart and somehow, my mind, that this was a VERY sad, VERY lonely little girl. For some time, that is all that took place. She would just cry each night in our closet. Mark (my ex) never heard her and thought I was quite possibly going off the edge. That did not bother me. I knew what I heard each night. It was heart-wrenching knowing I could do nothing to comfort this poor child. I wanted so badly to take her in my arms and hold her and love all her hurt away.

If I remember correctly, the next thing to happen was the "cold spot" in the hallway upstairs. She never left the upstairs part of the house. I could always "feel" her upstairs, but never on the lower level. Anyway, I was doing laundry one afternoon. I was folding a towel and backed up into the hallway to "pop" it. When I did, I stepped into a spot that felt like someone had opened a door on a slightly cold winter's day. It was at this time that I started "feeling" her with me when I was upstairs or in the attic. This spot was right below the attic stairs. The next thing, which I think is SO cute, was her waking me up each and every morning. I have Lupus. I tell you this so hopefully you wont get the wrong idea about my sleep habits. It causes extreme fatigue and you need more rest than some folks.. Anyway, I would come downstairs after Mark would go to work and go back to sleep on the couch in the den (I'm afraid in any two-level home of an intruder coming in and me not hearing in time if I'm asleep upstairs). And as I said, this place was huge. It started about two months after her first sad cries from the closet. She would knock twice on the ceiling above my head each morning at exactly 9:57am. I guess she felt I'd slept long enough and I had to agree with her. I always got up then. I would talk to her (never any response). It got to the point that I felt as though she were my own child. I loved having her there with me. I never saw her, but my sister did.

She was visiting about six months into all of this. I took her upstairs, showed her the closet and the "cold spot" (which she felt). She could also "feel" her presence as strongly as I did. When we were through, we went downstairs and sat at the bottom of the stairs, about three or four stairs up. I had a full length mirror at the bottom facing the stairs. We sat there and talked about the "why's", the "maybes", the "could be's" and the "what ifs" of this child. I was in mid-sentence when my sister grabbed my leg and said, "LOOK." I turned around and looked up the stairs instead of looking in the mirror. I saw nothing and asked her "look at what?" She said, "oh, she's gone." She had seen her in the mirror. She had long, dark hair, about four inches below her shoulder. Very, very sad and dark eyes. She didn't have her head tilted to look down at us, just down-cast eyes......sad, very sad eyes. She had on a blue dress from around the late 1800's. The little girl did not move an inch. But, my sister looked up the stairs when I did and she was gone. When she looked back in the mirror, the same time I did, she was no longer there either. That was the one and only time she presented herself. I wanted so badly to see her.

I don't know if she lived on that land at some point or not. There was a cemetery about 700-1000 yards back behind the property. But I feel she was more connected to the land the duplex was on and not at all connected to the cemetery. I would love for someone to tell me how to go about finding out what was on that land years before. I know it may sound silly, but I know nothing about how to go about this. I still feel such a connection to this child. I was hoping that she would come with us when we moved, but she stayed in her home. I'll tell this one last thing and then I'll close.

I had a feeling for the longest time that she died in a fire and the feeling was a very strong one. Then I had a dream one afternoon while napping on the couch in the den. I dreamt I was asleep on the couch. The floor of the lower level was on fire. Now, the fire was really strange. It looked like 1000's and 1000's of pilot lights about 3/4 of an inch high. Each flame had a yellow, blue and a pinkish-purple color to it, not assorted color flames. In my dream, I could NOT move. ALL my energy was completely zapped. My strength........GONE! And on top of all of that, I could barely breathe at all. I never saw her in my dream, but she was there.......near to me the whole time. I knew I had to help her. I tried and tried. I fought hard to get up off the couch......trying desperately to breathe. I could not even manage to sit up. There was no talking, no crying, not a whimper.........no sound at all from her. I knew she needed my help, though. After a time, I was running completely out of air. I felt as though I were near death. Then I finally woke up. When I first woke up, I had a hard time telling the dream from my reality since I was napping on the couch and dreamt I was napping on the couch. Also, when I awoke, I had no strength, no energy. Also, I could barely breathe when I awoke. I had to fight for air. I could not get up off the couch for quite sometime. When I did manage to move, I was only able to roll off the couch and land on my knees where I remained for about 15 minutes before being able to stand. My lungs ached. It was a LONG while before I felt normal and it was a good two hours before I could move and breathe normally. That never happened again (thank the good Lord). But to this day, if I voice the dream to anyone, I go through the breathing problem all over again. It is not nearly to the extent of the dream or what I went through upon awakening, but it does cause difficulty in my breathing. And given this, I do not like to speak of that part of my story. I do wonder if this is how she died and did her mother have the same problem I did in my dream and was unable to rescue her beautiful little daughter.

I miss my sad little girl. I often wonder if she is still wandering around sad and lonely or has she found her way to a happier time and place. I wish her well........I wish her the happiness that she most greatly deserves. I have gone back to the duplex a few times and sat out front hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Even hoping against hope that maybe she will "hop" in my truck and go with me. A few years back, I went around the time of year our lease was up (August). I missed by a day being able to get in the place. There was a family moving in on that day. I got out of my truck and started to go to the door. I changed my mind. I'm sure they would have thought me insane if I asked to come in and especially if I told them it was to visit a little girl who passed away many years ago. So, I got back in my truck, sat there a little while and left. I can still "feel" her there when I sit out front, but not like I did when I lived there. As I said, I miss her terribly. If anyone can give me the information I need on how to go about finding out what has been on that property in the past, I would like to thank them in advance. Please e-mail me at sc.Jingles@aol.com.

Rainbows to everyone,

Submitted from: Jingles, Mississippi, USA