A Family Ghost Story
It is always nice to visit family that you haven't seen in a while. On a recent trip to my father's side of the family in Massachusetts, we were reminiscing about the old times. Before long, someone mentioned ghosts and how I am the family "Ghost Hunter." In the past, I have written about it, but I always say that I have one foot in the old country and one in the new.  And an Irish family is not without it's an own ghost story or two. I thought I might share one or two of them...





My cousin Elaine asked if I heard about the woman who has been seen walking down the hallway of the house. I asked, "What house?, she said "This house!"(meaning my Aunt Sheila's longtime home). All these years and I didn't realize my Aunt's house was haunted... Elaine spoke about the time they saw a woman walking down the hallway in the middle of the night, which would frighten anyone. They referred to her as Mrs. Marsden, who my aunt's home was built on their farmland. The old Marsden Farmhouse still stands today a few houses down. At first, they were terrified, as they witnessed the spirit of  Mrs. Marsden walk into my cousin's Shirley's room. My cousin used to suffer from seizures from time to time. This particular occasion, the appearance of Marsden was a precursor to the seizure.

It seemed that the spirit knew that it was about to occur.  As time went on, they became of used to Mrs. Marsden appearing and came to know her as someone that was watching over my cousin and not there to harm. My Aunt said that many a guest has stayed in the home to be woken up by strange noises and the sight of a person glowing in the brilliant golden light. On several occasions, Aunt Sheila witnessed this woman, but no one was ever scared again by Mrs. Marsden's presence. Showing that people can live symbiotically with a spirit.

Picture of an alleged spirit at crash site

Then there was the time my Uncle Joe and Aunt Eileen had a rural vacation home in northern Massachusetts, somewhere near New Hampshire state line. One night, the family were all staying the night at the home when they were abruptly woken up by the sound of a terrible car crash in front of the house. It woke everyone up in the house. They looked outside, but they didn't see the car crash on the road. A short time later there was a knock on the door, and Aunt Eileen answered the door and found this poor man bleeding from the head. The man gave his name, which no one remembers but for the sake of the story, his name was John. John explained he got into an accident down the road. Aunt Eileen helped John as best as she could. The whole family then came to the kitchen to find Aunt Eileen assisting this man in with the head injury, wrapping him in gauze. The man then used the telephone to phone someone to pick him up. After he was done,  the man departed, stating that he was going to go to the hospital. Then everyone when back to bed. In the morning, Aunt Eileen being concerned, called the local hospital to ask about the condition of John. The man never made it to the hospital, in fact, the accident never happened. The hospital person stated that John had died in the car crash years ago on the road by Uncle Joe's house. They went outside to see if they could find the scene of the crash. And they found nothing. To this day, they remember the time John

came to spend some time with them. This is a classic example of how people suffer from a traumatic event and suddenly pass away.  Getting stuck between worlds, and not even knowing they are in fact dead.




On paranormal investigations, it is essential to show the utmost respect and reverence for the dead. If the dead are confused and do not know they are gone, maybe telling them they are, perhaps counter-productive and make the situation worse. I shared these two particular stories to show, that you may never know where a ghost may pop up. Secondly, I think some of us can recall a strange time in our lives, where we met someone and wondered. Who was that person?

Written by Shamus Denniston

Director & Lead Investigator of  TSPI

Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations