CHARLIE'S GHOST-LAMP
I asked her about this lamp which was stationed on the front porch of her house. All choked up with tears she explained it was her late husband Charlie's favorite lamp.
Charlie was an avid fisherman. He loved to take his boat out on Lake Erie late at night and fish until morning. One morning Charlie never came home. The afternoon passed... and soon it was evening again. Eleanor knew something bad had happened to him.
A preliminary coast guard search came up with nothing... no body... no abandoned fishing boat... nothing.
Eleanor lit his favorite lamp before she retired for the night. She did this for two reasons... [1] so that he could find his way into the house if he did make it home, and more importantly, [2] it somehow made her feel like there was still hope. She said to me, "I determined to KEEP that light shining as a prayer for my Charlie's return."
Days turned into weeks before Eleanor received the dreadful phone call. His boat had been found washed ashore near the Niagara River. Charlie's body, however, was never found.
Eleanor never unplugged his lamp. She kept it burning continuously. She would even hastily replace the light bulbs before they would expire so that her "prayer" for her husband's return would continue to proclaim itself.
Weeks turned into months... months into three years. By now she knew Charlie was never coming back. Yet, she kept the lamp going mostly out of habit.
I wanted that lamp big-time! And because of its sentimental value, I knew I was going to have to pay mega-bucks for it! That's IF I could convince her to sell it at all!
I ended up offering an ungodly amount of money for it... enough to make her happy to sell it because she needed the money.
She unplugged it for the first time in 3 years and I brought it to my studio. The sun was shining brightly that day, so I didn't notice anything unusual until I walked it into my place. Away from the sunlight I was stunned to discover the light bulb shining even though I was holding its unplugged electrical cord in my hand!
Trying to be logical, I said to myself, "There must be a battery of some kind in this thing." There was no battery to be found when I opened up the inside of the lamp.
I unhooked the electrical wires from the switch... and STILL the light shined brightly! "A true paranormal mystery," I thought. "How COOL!"
I brought my electrician-friend over to see my electrical wonder. He took the whole thing apart... then turned pale as he said, "J, there is no rational explanation for this! I'd be SPOOKED to have this thing in my place!"
"That's the difference between you and me," I said with a smile. "I get into this stuff!"
I tried one last experiment. I wanted to see if the bulb would stay lit if I unscrewed it from the lamp. It didn't. It only lit up when it was connected to the lamp.
So, for two days it shone brightly on top of my TV without the aid of electricity.
Then, the following night I was abruptly awakened. The lamp was vibrating loud enough to be heard. The face of an old man appeared on the lampshade. I didn't hear him speak audibly, but this message strongly came to my mind: "Tell Eleanor, 'Heart attack! Overboard! I will see you again when we are reunited in heaven'."
A cloud-like mist rose from the lamp... taking on the general shape of a man... and then it floated right up through the ceiling. When I looked, Charlie's lamp was no longer shining.
I put a new bulb in it... but to no avail. It had now become a normal lamp, dependent upon electricity for its life.
Talk about place-bound spirits! Charlie's wife lit his lamp to call him home... and his spirit found it!
Why did Charlie stay stuck in that lamp for so long? He had unfinished business! He was determined to say goodbye to his dear wife one last time. Had she been more psychically inclined, she, HERSELF, could have received his message much sooner.
When I called Eleanor and told her the whole story... including what the man's face on the lampshade looked like... she cried many "thank you's". "That's my Charlie! Now I can rest knowing he is ok," she proclaimed.
Why was I so attracted to Charlie's lamp that day at the garage sale? Was it just because it is a great lamp? Or was it because my spirit heard something my mind could not detect... most notably the unfinished prayers of Charlie and Eleanor which were energizing that lamp?
