I don’t know if you would consider this a paranormal experience but I went on vacation with a bunch of my family members about 10 years ago. It wasn’t a family reunion but as time went on it started feeling like one. We had a good time and of course we took many pictures as vacationers normally do. My parents are not alive but during the trip, my brothers and sisters and I felt like they were there with us every step of the way. When I came back and developed the film, in one of the family photos was an image that I at first thought was just a shadow. But at first glance my sister thought it looked like our parents holding hands. I gave it a second look and realized she was correct. It did frighten me at first but I had a reading done and was told that our parents were with us and wanted to let us know that, which is why they took part in the family photo, and why we strongly felt their presence during the entire trip.

That is a great story. I had the chills a bit when I read it. It makes you realize that although things happen that we can't explain, they still feel very real. And, that's a great validation you had from the psychic/medium. How nice to know that are loved ones really are still with us during special times (or maybe the ordinary times, too).

Ken - This certainly is a paranormal experience - of the very best kind! Our departed family members do watch over us, and are always there for us. That they came through so strongly that you felt that they were there, and then that they actually showed on the film - that is incredible! :) Bonnie

Ken - I was just reading about your reaction to what you saw on hte film, once your sister pointed it out. I too have had times when someting that came to me in this manner was rather scarey. I remember when I was a child, my sister used to wake up screaming every night. She was seeing energy forms/beings in her sleep. Looking back, I remember that my mother told her that they were not going to hurt her, but that she must not try and touch them. I think that whatever it was came with the house (or perhaps the land that the house was moved to, after a flood). I used to wake up in the morning before anyone else, and lay perfectly still until someone else woke up too. The reason? I was certain that there were "people" in the living room, and I was scared of them. I htink that it is much better to try and understand these tings, than to try and "shush them up". Marcey

To Ken and the group discussing paranormal phenomena, greetings. I agree that unusual manifestations like this really do challenge our sense of normality. However, we know intuitively that everything in the universe has some form of consciousness. It just depends on what form of consciousness we are talking about. At one point in human evolution, it was normal for us human beings literally to see the departed ancestors. Spirits were regular participants at rituals and celebrations. Modern life has discounted all this with the emphasis on science. Still, we can elect to open our minds to the many possibilities and the many levels of consciousness. Science some decades back started trying to study the paranormal. The efforts took shape as the parapsychological approach, followed by such luminaries as J.B. Rhine, who once directed a research lab in this field at Duke University. Spin offs from his work and from that of others has involved all kinds of modern technology in the effort to detect spirit life. One thing that has happened often, like here in Ken's case, is the capturing of unexpected images or sounds in various media. An older book which examines this cross-over of information is Breakthrough by Konstantine Raudive. He studied strange multi-lingual voices that literally came out of the air onto tape recordings. These voices would speak in combinations of European languages. At first Raudive thought it was nonsense, but upon analysis, found that some of the chance bits of conversation actually referred to persons and situations once known and real. I think this sort of thing can happen because reality is made of many levels of energies interacting. The spirit level is not far away, in fact, a very small shift away from the usual physical or tangible world. It seems to me that often these voices come into readings, mainly from relatives, who want to inject a word of encouragement or of caution for the seeker. It is good to remember that native cultures the world over revere their ancestors and ask for their blessings and directions. So it's not such a wild idea that we might want to do the same. White Owl