GUIDING A SPIRIT TO THE LIGHT

GUIDING A SPIRIT TO THE LIGHT
                          - Donna DiPietro

This particular case involves the first house that I was asked to go to for use of my psychic abilities to help solve a paranormal disturbance. August 7, 2001 was a very hot day with temperatures over 100 degrees. I was at work and a colleague, Alice, received a telephone call from a frightened young lady that had moved into a house, in a suburb of Boston, the previous autumn. The first question she asked Alice was “Is my house haunted?” Alice is a refined, attractive, no nonsense type with a logical mind, and she was not prepared for such an unusual question. Not every real estate office has a resident psychic and, though unusual, my abilities have been called upon and used to great extent many times over the years. The caller, Sandra, lived in the house with her husband and their infant daughter. Alice put down the receiver and walked over to my office and asked if I would talk to Sandra. At that moment, I saw the vision of a man of ethnic appearance that was no more than five feet, six inches tall. Alice picked up the receiver and told Sandra of my vision and Sandra said that she was seeing a vision of a man. Sandra asked if I would go to her house and I told her I could go there that afternoon, and I asked Alice to go with me.

Alice and I arrived at the house and were greeted by Sandra and her baby waiting outside. I walked around the exterior of the house to sense anything unusual. It was a lovely older Colonial in a nice area with a church across the street. A priest from the church had recently been called to the house for his assistance, and he blessed the house, but the paranormal activity continued.  Sandra invited us inside and we went into the living room and I sat on the love seat and Alice and Sandra sat on the couch. Sandra was apprehensive about her experiences because she thought she had no one to turn to. I asked Sandra to sit next to me and I held her hand and asked her exactly what she had been seeing and how many times she saw this figure. She said it was a mist that took on the shape of a man, and she had seen it about ten times, but that the last time it looked frightening. I asked her why it looked frightening and she said it looked distorted. I told her that it looked that way because it hadn’t finished materializing into a human form. I also told her that she was psychically gifted and that the spirit she was seeing was someone that wanted to communicate with her and not to be afraid. This gave her comfort and assurance that what she was experiencing was not to be feared.

I asked Sandra if I could walk through each room for a sense of paranormal activity and she was most obliged. She picked up the baby and she and Alice followed me from room to room on the first and second floors. As I walked through each room, I told Sandra where I felt the man’s presence. I said he was often in the kitchen, and spends time in the baby’s room and in the computer room. Sandra said that those were the three rooms she saw him in. He was mostly seen in the kitchen, and a few times she saw him in the baby’s room. She also saw his misty form in the computer room where her husband had his office. Her husband would sometimes feel the presence of someone standing behind him as he sat working at the computer, but when he turned around there was never anyone there.

We went back to the living room and I sat on the love-seat by myself, Alice sat on the couch, while Sandra sat on the floor with the baby. Immediately, I felt the presence of the man, his energy and his emotions. I said he died at the age of fifty-seven of a heart attack in his kitchen five years before. I said he smoked and owned a small brown boat. I saw him dressed in new clothes – black pants and a glowing white dress shirt – and he was carrying a stack of men’s folded new glowing white shirts and was walking towards a shelf as though to place the shirts there. He was crying and said he loved his son and Sandra and the baby and he wanted to be near them. With a great sense of relief, Sandra realized who I was talking about. It was her father-in-law. He died of a heart attack in his kitchen in his home in South America at the age of fifty-seven, five years before. He was no more than five feet, six inches tall, he smoked, owned a small brown boat and owned a men’s clothing store. Sandra got up from the floor and walked over to a table that was against a wall. She opened a drawer, took out a photo album and showed Alice and me her father-in-law’s picture – he was standing next to his small brown boat. I told Sandra that he was now happy to finally communicate with her. I asked her if she wanted him to leave and she said that he could stay. I told her that I had to speak with him in private and I got up from the couch and walked into the hall and stood next to the stairs that went to the second floor. I said that Sandra wanted him to stay and that she and his son and grandchild loved him. I told him what year it was and that he was no longer living and should pass through the light where many of his loved ones were. I felt his strong emotions of love for his family and sadness in his acceptance that he was no longer living and he was crying through me and he went over to where he should be. I knew he was gone when these strong emotions suddenly stopped and there was silence and a great sense of calm.

I walked into the nearby room where Sandra, the baby, and Alice were waiting. They had heard what I said to Sandra’s father-in-law while I stood in the hall next to the stairs. A great burden was lifted from Sandra’s shoulders and she was overjoyed that I was able to solve a most unusual case of paranormal activity. I was at my office the next day and received a call from Sandra. She thanked me and said she was in such a state when we said good-bye the previous day that she forgot to ask me how much I charge for my services. I told her that I don’t charge anything and that I was happy that I was able to help her. She insisted that she pay me and I insisted that I would not accept payment. Sandra showed up at my office a short time later to thank me in person and gave me a gift of imported candies in a lovely decorative tin. I still have the tin as a keepsake. She said she would never forget what I did and how much she appreciated my help. I was happy to help a young family in need, and in doing so, I was able to make direct contact with the spirit of a kind man that died before he was able to enjoy his extended family that he watched over and loved.

THE ATTIC ROOM

THE ATTIC ROOM
        - Donna DiPietro

This unusual event happened in the mid 1990s while I was working at a real estate office in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Ms. M, a long-time sales associate, was in the office and asked for my help in finding her summer clothes. She said people often ask me to find valuables but her summer clothes were valuable to her. I immediately was transported to the walkway that runs in front of her house. As I walked along, I described to Mrs. M in detail what I was seeing. I arrived at her house and stood facing the front of the house and walked up her front steps. The door was open, I walked inside the entry hall and the stairs leading to the top floors were in front of me. I described the décor, furniture and flowers that I saw in the areas of the house that I could see from the entry hall and stairs. I walked up the stairs until I reached her attic and stood at the threshold and looked inside. Near the middle of the attic room I saw a child’s old small red wagon with a grey stripe that was once white. I saw a highchair near the right wall and I saw some yellow curtains on the floor near the left wall. I walked over to the curtains and told Mrs. M that her summer clothes were under the curtains. Mrs. M said she had looked there but had not seen them. I told her the clothes were in a bag under the curtains and they blended in with the curtains so she would miss seeing the bag. She went home right away and looked where I said she would find her summer clothes and she did, under the yellow curtains on the floor near the left wall of her attic. She said there is a child’s old small red wagon with a grey stripe sitting in the middle of the attic room. It was hers when she was a child and the stripe was white years before. She also affirmed there is a highchair on the right side of the room. Since I have never seen her house and I don’t know where she lives, I shouldn’t know what it looks like, but I do. My visions were precise and accurate as I walked to her house, went inside and found what was missing. Mrs. M still keeps in touch and has never forgotten the lost and found summer clothes.

GOLD HEART SHAPED PENDANT

GOLD HEART SHAPED PENDANT
                              -Donna DiPietro

On the same day, and at the same moment that *Loretta called excitedly telling me that she found her gold bracelet using the clues I gave her, I had to answer another incoming call. It was the mid 1990s and I was working at a real estate office in Wellesley, Massachusetts. I was sitting at the front desk answering the phone while the receptionist was at lunch. The call on the second line was 'D', a real estate agent in our office. She said she had searched her house for two days but could not find her large gold heart-shaped pendant necklace that hung from a heavy gold chain. It was a special piece of jewelry that she enjoyed wearing in the winter months and she thought she had stored it away in a safe place. As we spoke on the phone, I went to her house in spirit form and saw a mahogany chest on the first floor. I told her to open the drawer of the chest that held her white lace tablecloths. I had never been to her house and didn’t know what the interior or exterior of her house looked like, but suddenly I was standing in the entry room of her house and I could see the décor and furnishings. As we continued speaking on the phone, I saw her running down the stairs with the phone to her ear and saw her walking over to the mahogany chest. She said her white lace tablecloths were inside a mahogany chest downstairs and I told her to open the drawer that held the tablecloths and she did. She said she saw the white lace tablecloths and I told her to lift them up and she would find her gold heart-shaped pendant underneath. She did as I asked and found her pendant and she had no idea how it got there. Interestingly, many years later I read a newspaper article about people who steal valuable items from homes. They may work there as outside help and will take something of value and hide it in a drawer under something such as linens, many times in a room close to an outside door on the first floor. When no one is around, they will take the article and either walk off with it or hand it to an accomplice who happens to stop by when no one else is home. I could never imagine how D's valuable gold necklace ended up in her white lace tablecloth drawer, but after reading that newspaper article it made sense of what may have happened. 'D' and her family keep in touch and she still enjoys wearing her large gold heart-shaped pendant in the winter months.

*The events relating to finding Loretta’s gold bracelet, mentioned at the beginning of this story, are explained in a previous story in this blog ‘Loretta’s Gold Bracelet’.

LORETTA'S GOLD BRACELET

Loretta’s Gold Bracelet
              - Donna DiPietro

In the mid 1990s, I was working at a real estate office in Wellesley, Massachusetts. One day I received a call from a woman named Loretta asking for my help in finding her gold bracelet. She got my name from one of my co-workers, who incidentally had asked for, and successfully received, my help in finding her own lost bracelet. Loretta said she never took her bracelet off but somehow it fell off and she was afraid it was gone forever. She told me that she had put an ad in the newspaper with a reward for anyone who found it. I told her that I would not accept a reward and would be happy to help find her bracelet. After speaking with her and hanging up the phone, I sat at my desk and received visions in my mind. I wasn’t sure if they meant anything but they came to me one by one. I first saw a GOLD CUP; then a LARGE FLAT RED OBJECT THAT LOOKED LIKE A BOOK; YELLOW FLOWERS; a SMALL BROWNISH HOUSE; and AX7. I called Loretta and left her a voicemail with this information. I said I didn’t know if these things meant anything and that I would call her if I received any more information. The next day it was my turn to fill in for the receptionist while she was at lunch and I was sitting at the front desk when Loretta called. I answered the phone and she screamed with excitement that she found the bracelet. She said that all the things I mentioned led to the bracelet. Part of her kitchen was her office and she said there was a big red book that she kept appointments in, and there were yellow flowers nearby. There was also a miniature brownish house near the book, next to the book was an American Express bill with AX7 on it, and the gold cup I saw was the gold pencil cup that sat amongst the other items that I mentioned. She looked inside the gold pencil cup and found her bracelet. She said perhaps one of her children had found it and put it there. Since I insisted I would not accept a reward, she came over to the office with a huge bouquet of flowers. To top it off, at the exact same time I was talking with her on the phone and she was telling me all this, I got a call on the other line. It was another lady asking for my help to find her gold heart-shaped pendant, which I found in a matter of minutes, also over the phone.

BELFAST, MAINE - HAUNTED HOUSE

BELFAST, MAINE - HAUNTED HOUSE
                                  - Donna DiPietro

I met my friend Tina in the mid 1960s when we were working for Kemper Insurance. The company had an office on an upper floor in the Music Hall building on Tremont Street in Boston, in the heart of the theatre district. The Music Hall is now the Wang Center where Broadway shows and the famous still take center stage in the beautiful grand theatre. We were right out of high school, before we decided what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. Tina eventually graduated from nursing school and was a nurse for many years. She had a wonderful family and we all got together for special occasions. Her sister Joanne was a few years older than Tina, and married with three young children. Each summer Joanne, her husband Jim and their children went to a coastal town in Maine for two weeks to house sit their in-laws’ beautiful estate that sat on eighty-eight acres. Joanne’s sister-in-law was an artisan who made lovely ceramics and fine jewelry and needed someone to tend her store while she was away. There were also some hens, roosters and a few sheep on the property that needed daily attention. The estate consisted of a large 1790s white colonial with black shutters, a smaller building that was used as the store, and a barn. In the summer of 1969 Joanne invited Tina and me to accompany her family on their two week excursion and we all looked forward to having a fun time. When we arrived at the house, Joanne’s sister-in-law, brother-in-law and their two teenage children greeted us warmly and had a delicious dinner waiting. We had a wonderful time that evening singing songs of long ago as I played the old upright piano that sat in the living room. The in-laws were leaving the next morning to their vacation spot on an island off the coast of Maine, and they filled us in on what was needed to make sure everything ran smoothly while they were away.

As the days went by, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until about the third night. Tina and I shared a bedroom and a noise woke both of us up at the same time, and the strong floral scent of a woman’s perfume filled the room. We silently listened and heard soft footsteps and saw the shadowy figure of a woman in a long dress glide between our beds. The form dissipated within a few seconds and I reached over to the night table and turned on the light. We were both frightened and stayed up the rest of the night with all the lights on in the room. The next morning we told Joanne and Jim what had happened. Joanne was very interested but her husband would have nothing to do with such foolishness. Joanne admitted that she had a similar experience two summers before and had since felt uneasy being there. She was now convinced there was a ghostly presence and she wouldn’t go anywhere in the house alone.

One evening, with the three children safely in their beds asleep, Joanne, Jim, Tina and I sat on the living room floor playing cards. Joanne asked me to use my psychic abilities and tell her things that came to mind. I started saying names and nicknames of people and private things about these people that only she and her husband knew. They were amazed that I was getting this information from somewhere because I certainly would never know otherwise. I then said that something was going to happen at ten o’clock that evening. I had no idea what was going to happen at ten o’clock but I knew that it had to do with the house. We were intrigued, but making light of the fact that something would actually happen. At the time, it was around eight o’clock and we said we would all meet in the living room well before ten o’clock to see what awaited us. At around 9:45 p.m. we were once again all sitting on the living room floor, and now looking at our watches and at the antique clock that hung on the wall. The clock’s pendulum swung back and forth and counted down each second as the minute hand got closer to ten o’clock. Only five more minutes, only one more minute, seconds to go…get ready.  As the hour hand was on the ten and the minute hand struck the twelve, a huge bang reverberated throughout the house. It sounded like something large and heavy had slammed against the outside of the house. At exactly the same time as the huge bang sound, all the lights went out in the house. We couldn’t believe what had just happened, even Jim was apprehensive. He got a flashlight and went outside to see if something had fallen against the house. He walked around the house’s exterior and came back in and said he didn’t see anything that may have fallen against the house. A short time later, we learned that the water was no longer working. None of us slept well that night and were shaken by what we had experienced. The next morning at exactly ten o’clock the electricity and water came back on. Tina and I took a short walk to the general store and mentioned what had happened at the house. We asked if anyone else had experienced electrical or water problems the previous evening, and we were told that none had. If it was a ghost that caused this to happen, it certainly had a great sense of humor. I can imagine the entity watching and waiting for us to jump at its practical joke. It was a good joke, I must admit, and apparently the ghost gave me the info to pass on to the others that something would happen at ten o’clock that evening. The rest of our stay was uneventful but we were on alert for anything unusual until we were safely on our way home.

THE BANK VAULT

THE BANK VAULT
       - Donna DiPietro

In 2000 I was working as the administrative manager for a company in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. We were located on the first floor of an attractive professional building on the corner of the street. Our part of the building was once a bank and the deposit drop off door was still in place on the front of the building. The bank vault was at the back of the office and was used to store file cabinets filled with closed sales folders. The vault’s heavy door was propped wide open with a large rock. Heaven forbid if anyone were searching for an old file alone late at night and the door should shut.

When I first entered the office and walked down the narrow hall to the vault area, I sensed a man in his early 50s standing near the vault door. He was dressed in a vintage 1930s dark brown three piece suit and wore brown shoes. He looked worried and kept looking at the pocket watch that he held in his hand. The watch had a gold chain that connected to his vest pocket. His dark hair was glossy and straight and slicked back firmly against his head. He was clean shaven and attractive and if he wasn’t dead, I would say he looked to be in the prime of life. The market had gone down drastically and everything he had in the bank was gone. He waited at the vault door peering into the vault and his eyes never focused on mine, he was in his own world. I sensed his name was George. I never told anyone about George until he was sighted months later by another employee. The receptionist’s desk was at the front of the office. One day she came running into my office visibly shaken. She said she had just seen a ghost. She had been sitting at her desk and noticed from the corner of her eye a person walking toward her. She looked up and saw a man walk right past her desk and go through a solid partition toward the deposit drop off door. She said he was dressed in an old fashioned brown suit and had dark hair combed back. There was no way the man could have come from the area were she first noticed him, because the door to enter the office was straight in front of her and he didn’t come through the door. I told her that perhaps she saw someone walking down the street in front of our building, but she insisted the man was in the office and walked right in front of her desk and straight through the partition. I mentioned this to Anne, one of our associates, and we kept it to ourselves.

About three months later a new employee joined our office – her name was Maudie.  One day she heard Anne and me mention a ghost. Maudie stopped dead in her tracks as she went past my office. She said “Ghost, what ghost? Why didn’t anyone tell me about a ghost?” Maudie then related a terrifying experience she had the first month of working there. She had stopped by one night to use the fax machine. She came in through the front door and turned on some of the lights. The fax machine was located on the inside of the front counter. She had just finished faxing and was getting ready to leave when she saw a man walking straight toward her. She was very frightened as she thought that she was alone. The man walked right up to the outside of the counter looking straight through her, then he turned and walked toward the narrow hall where the vault was and disappeared. Maudie grabbed her purse and ran out the front door, not thinking if she left lights on or the door unlocked. She never told anyone because she thought she’d be laughed at, so kept the frightening experience to herself…until she heard Anne and me talking about a ghost. I asked Maudie what the man looked like. She said he was dressed in an old fashioned 3 piece suit and his hair was slicked back. The office is no longer in existence but George is, and he’s still waiting at the vault door.

NIMBLE THIMBLE

NIMBLE THIMBLE
           - Donna DiPietro

I worked in the same office building in Wellesley, Massachusetts for fifteen years, from 1979 to 1994, and knew most of the wonderful people from the various offices. One of the businesses was a small tailor shop that was owned by two dear ladies, 'E' and 'D'.  They each had a table and sewing machine and 'E' had an adorable apricot Toy Poodle, named Gonzo, who happily spent most of his time in a doggy bed under her table while her sewing machine hummed. 'E' and 'D' were always a joy and I looked forward to visiting them each day. One day 'D' asked me if her son and his wife would have more children. They already had a little boy, and I told her that they would have twin girls with ‘A’ names within two years and told her the week they would be born. She decided not to say anything about my predictions to her son or his wife. The next year 'D' found out her daughter-in-law was expecting a baby, months later she learned that she was carrying twins and her granddaughters, named Amy and Amanda, were born the exact week that I predicted. About three years later, I was at a July 4th parade with my husband Al in our home town of Natick, and saw a young man walking towards us with beautiful twin girls. I complimented him on his pretty girls and asked him their names. He said they were Amy and Amanda. I told him I knew a lady who lives in Wellesley who has twin granddaughters named Amy and Amanda. He said I was talking about his mother 'D'.

On another visit to Nimble Thimble, I told 'D' that a man she knows in Italy will break his leg while cutting down a tree. That evening, she received a phone call that a relative who lives in Italy broke his leg that day while cutting down a tree.

Predictions of true events were a daily happening on my visits to the Nimble Thimble. More importantly, 'E' and 'D' turned a routine work day into something special each time I entered their shop. The little bell on their door, the Toy Poodle Gonzo greeting me, and the warm smiles will remain with me forever.