Haunted

My mother sat down at the kitchen table to have her morning tea. She was having a rough start of the day and decided to sit in my father's spot at the table that faced the back window. My dad had been dead for a few months and my mother would occasionally find comfort in his chair. She sipped her tea recalling a conversation they had just a few weeks before he died, before the cancer took over his brain, about how my mom never sees any rabbits in the yard anymore. My dad told her it was probably due to the groundhog living under the shed as well as the neighbors dog that was keeping away the rabbits. As these thoughts ran through her mind a brown Cottontail Rabbit hopped into her view through the window. The windows in my mother's kitchen run almost floor to ceiling and only sit 2 feet above the outside ground. My mother watched the rabbit hop closer to the window and seemingly stare inside. Mom stared back for what she said seemed like 10 to 15 minutes. My mom took the rabbit as a sign from my dad saying everything was going to be okay.

Ray, my wife's father, passed away just a few weeks before my dad. Just a a few days before Christmas actually. I remember the week after Christmas, right around Ray's birthday, Lauren and I were laying in bed enjoying a rare afternoon quiet rest, when a bug flew against the window over and over again. Lauren got up to investigate to find a Lady Bug hanging out on the curtains. A few days later we learned that Lauren's mom had a similar experience at the same time. Max, who missed his Pop-Pop very much, also had a Ladybug experience during that week. We began to call Ladybugs Ray.

Some people believe that the spirits or ghosts of deceased loved ones try to communicate with the living through signs. These sightings or symbols are called after-death-communications; ADC for short.

In 2005 when my grandmother died (my mom's mom) there was a butterfly ADC phenomena going around amongst her siblings. When a family friend, Jeff Toz, died in Iraq there were many deer sightings (my mom used to babysit Jeff before and after school everyday for three to four years. Jeff and my youngest brother Jim became very tight friends. Jeff was an avid hunter and a deer showed up at his funeral which the Arlington guards were very wary and suspicious about a wild animal being on the grounds. When my mom came home the next day from the funeral her next door neighbor told her there was deer on her front yard at the exact same time of Jeff's funeral, doo-doo-doo-doo-dood-doo-doo-dooo-dooooooo. *) ADC.

A couple of weeks after my mom told me her rabbit story I had three rabbit sightings/signs.

1- A rabbit was sitting in my driveway when I came home from Steve G's mother's funeral. Steve G and I were childhood friends. So after a night of thinking about dead parents I see a rabbit.
2- I took my mother-in-law to see Lisa Williams, the entertainer/medium, perform at the Keswick theater. After an evening talking about dead loved ones I pulled into my mother-in-law's driveway and there on her front walk was a rabbit.
3- The third time I saw a rabbit (after my mom's ADC story) was when our family was leaving for one of our cousins/nieces first holy communions (which was the first big family event without my father). I was in the car waiting for Lauren to come out when a rabbit appeared from under a bush, hopped towards the car and just sat there staring at me. Again another doo-doo-doo-doo dood-doo-doo dooooo*moment. We began to call rabbits Skip.

We have also have had many other ladybug encounters. For a while after Ray died wherever Max and Wyatt went they would find ladybugs. Wyatt who usually screams at the sight of bugs would have no problem picking up and carrying ladybugs. There was a time right around Max's birthday where there were 5 ladybugs in his bedroom. ADC? I don't know. Strange and weird? Yes. Last week I was cleaning out the garage and a ladybug landed on the workbench. I said "Hello Ray."

Lately, as rabbits are known (and actually so was Skip) to do, they have procreated. There has been so much procreation, my backyard is becoming overrun by Skips. On any given morning there are at least 5 or 6 rabbits in my backyard grazing on the grass or eating our garden. They are everywhere. They have set up a den behind my shed. There are piles of rabbit poop all over the place. Every morning I sit on my back porch sip my coffee and watch rabbits chew up my lawn and I say "Good morning Skip."

My house is haunted. Haunted by ladybugs and bunnies.

Do you have any ADC stories? Is your house haunted?



* The doo-doo-doo is supposed to sound like the theme to the Twilight Zone but every time I read it it sounds like the spaceship tones from Close Encounters. I am sorry for any confusion this may have caused if you "heard"the same thing in your head.