THE ghost FILES
Karina Machado is a journalist, host of the
Spirit Sisters podcast and the author of Spirit Sisters, Where Spirits Dwell and Love Never Dies, a non-fiction series exploring the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people. Now, on The Ghost Files podcast each week, Karina will introduce a guest who’ll share their personal encounter with the spirit world.
THE WARNING
Over the years, I have heard so many stories about late relatives who show up to support family members during a challenging moment in their lives that I dedicated a chapter to this in my book Love Never Dies.i called the chapter ‘Love in the Lineage’, noting that, in many cases, the ancestor-spirit who shows up had never met the person. Recently, a reader wrote to share a beautiful experience that called to mind this topic, reminding me once again of the indestructibility of love.
“I was three months pregnant, lying in bed, when I experienced a tingling that something unusual was about to happen. I felt no fear,” recalls
Mary Anne. “The doorway was suddenly illuminated in a soft light and a woman appeared. She was wearing a long, black dress with a white lace collar. There was some sort of brooch at her throat.”
The visitor in Victorian-era clothing was holding a paper with the number 24 written in large type, “like a page out of a calendar”, says Mary Anne. “She spoke softly, without emotion. ‘Your baby will be born on the 24th of February and it will be a bad day for you,’ she said. Then she was gone.” Mary Anne fell to sleep peacefully.
Her baby was due in late March, but on the 21st of February, Mary Anne’s waters broke and she went into labour – it lasted three excruciating days. An obstetrician arrived. Deeply shocked at Mary Anne’s condition, he sedated her and manually turned the baby around. “Somehow, we both survived,” says Mary Anne, explaining that her baby had been transverse. Later, Mary Anne’s mother revealed that a great-aunt had died in childbirth under those exact circumstances. “I feel it was she who visited me,” reflects Mary Anne. “She looked absolutely real.”