Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Do you believe in ghosts or that those who have gone can still reach out to you? If not, I’m going to change your mind!

October 3rd was a horrible day that will live in my memory as clear as the day it happened.

Peter had an accident at work and was killed on the job site. The next months are a bit of a blur as we tried to settle into our new existence without our big brother.

Peter and I had always been close and through our adult years, we vacationed together. His wife and children and my family had side by side beach suites at our favorite place at Lake George, NY. We spent so much time laughing and enjoying our families that the resort became a very special place for all of us. We went there for 12 years together and those years hold the best memories.

That December after Peter died, I called the resort to ask if we could plant a tree in his memory on the grounds of the resort. They said they would be honored to have a tree in Peter’s memory and they would take great care of it for many years to come.

That next July, we planted a red maple tree on the grounds of our favorite place. His wife and kids were there and my husband and my kids and several friends all turned out to plant the tree. We were all taking pictures of the event.

When vacation was over and we left Lake George, we weren’t sure we would ever return as things were going to be very different now. Vacation would never be the same.

My niece, Cindy, got her pictures back and called me immediately. “Aunt Barb, there is something really weird on my photos.”

She drove over and we looked at the pictures together. There was definitely something strange about the photos. We checked with everyone else and only Cindy’s pictures had this image and only two photos in the middle of her roll of film of the planting of the tree.

We did return to Lake George but stayed at a different resort and did things differently so as not trying to recreate our past summers with Peter. Ghosts can only follow natural light so we light candles every evening and talk to Peter every year when we return to the lake. Over the years, we have asked him to let us know he was there with us and he has always been very responsive. When walking through the village, we find pennies on the ground all the time. Oh, I know . . people want to explain it by saying those pennies were dropped by people coming out of the stores or whatever, but explain this. We have been very specific about our request to Peter. “OK, we have enough pennies, throw us something different tomorrow so we know it’s you.”

The following day, we hoped we would find a nickel or a dime. We got really specific that year and asked him to throw some pennies, a nickel and a dime all at the same time. The following day, on the crosswalk in the village, all lined up together, we found two pennies, a dime and a nickel. We watched as several people sidestepped the change, so we walked over, scooped up the coins and said "thanks Pete."

We return to that resort every summer to visit his tree and take photos of big it has grown.

We still wonder about Cindy’s photos to this day but we are all very sure that Peter was with us that day at Lake George helping us to plant his tree and that he continues to visit us every year when we return to our favorite place.