Dad was a religious man and enjoyed going to church, he also loved the social aspect of it. As a family we went to church every Sunday. It was like an extended family, a community that we fitted into and enjoyed the company of.
In the church hall we went to barn dances, attended shows, and musicals, in which we also starred in. There were jumble sales to organise and attend, and I went to the youth club and guides in the hall.
Mum and Dad went to social evenings at different people’s houses. They even went to Benidorm with the minister and his wife. I often baby sat their children.
The Rose Queen was a great annual event. My sister was Rosebud Queen at one time, and I was a lady in waiting to the Rose Queen hersef. Happy days.
That’s me in the black and white photo on the far right. I recall having a boyfriend who was a biker and and a bit of a bad boy. I adored him but was hugely embarrassed to be doing this. My parents had volunteered me. He never found out and at that time it was never the person I wanted to be.
We eventually moved away and although Mum and Dad went to other churches, they never quite got the same friendship and social events they had there.
I went to see The Exorcist when it first came out and it terrified me, so much so it put me off horror films for life.
In 2000 Dad got septicaemia and almost died. When he recovered he said he saw a tunnel and he was being urged through it by his mum who was waiting for him. Later he retracted saying it was the drugs that made him say it. I think he experienced something but it went against what he believed in, so he denied it.
He lived for another ten years, and when he was told he only had a few days left to live, he was so brave. He accepted it was his time to go and to this day I wonder where he is, where he thinks he is, as its hard to accept him not being a conscious mind somewhere.
I’ve never forgotten him telling me about Ouija boards and although I don’t recall the full conversation, it inspired a story called They Came For Him.
There is an interesting article about Ouija boards here if you would like to read it. Meanwhile, They Came for Him is about a girl who goes back to a friends house to play with a Ouija board. What she experiences is will affect her for the rest of her life.
Here is a small extract from the story. If you want to share your experiences, I would be interested to here them.
‘Dad was now running in my direction. His face filled with fear. For one horrible, horrible second, our eyes met before he passed right through me. For that brief moment, I felt his core and spirit. It was part of me again. When he was gone, I felt bereft, like something had been torn away.
Immediately my skin turned ice cold. A raw blackness filled me. For a second, I couldn’t breathe, and then it was gone. I spun around and saw the spectre sweep dad into the road and under the wheels of a passing truck.’
Karen J. Mossman 
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