Are these orbs of light the ghost of Mary Bell Wilson?

 

Have you ever had times when you’re busy doing something and out of the corner of your eye, you see someone move but when you turn around to get a better look, you realize there’s no one there? Or maybe you’re working away and all of a sudden, you get a really strong whiff of your granddad’s Old Spice cologne, but you know that’s impossible because your granddad died 15 years ago?

I think most of us have experiences like these at least once in our lifetimes. And I don’t know about you, but it sure makes me question my sanity. Or at least my imagination.

But what if it’s not our imagination?

While I have always kept an open mind about the existence of ghosts, I continue to maintain some skepticism because I think a little skepticism is healthier than accepting any premise without first checking it out. But since having an OBE (out-of-body experience) in 2003 and after losing people very close to me, I have had some pretty strange things happen, things that made me wonder whether spirits really can contact us from other dimensions. I’ve had moments where I’d be in the middle of doing something and for no reason, I’d get goosebumps; tears would run from my eyes, and I’d feel emotion so intense, it was as if I was experiencing all human emotions at once. My breathing would come in gasps and my body would tense up like how some people react when they hear the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. After doing a lot of research, I decided that these moments were times when a spirit was trying to contact me. I’d never heard of anyone having a reaction like that before, so there was no way to be sure, but I couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

And now that my book about those experiences has been published, I’ve been wondering where this road will take me next. I thought perhaps I should explore the possibility of nurturing my spiritual side in order to be of greater help to others from that angle. And because I stated my intention to the Universe, it, in turn, obliged, although once again, not in the manner I expected: I was given the opportunity to meet a real ghost.

No matter what one’s beliefs, there is still something tempting about the whole notion of ghosts, is there not? Like a game, not to be taken too seriously.

But what if they are real?

Well, let me tell you, it is not a game. It is real. I witnessed it with my own eyes. And I now see why one must be very respectful of these situations. In other words, it scared the crap out of me. So much so, that I hesitated to tell the story. But after I gained a better perspective of the situation, I realized that what happened to me was not evil in any way—I wouldn’t even have considered pursuing it if I thought there was any indication of that—and I wanted to experience it because I thought perhaps it might help me better understand all those unusual sensations I’d been getting since my OBE 10 years ago.

It certainly did that.

Last month, I was invited to the home of Kenneth and Monika Harmon, to make the acquaintance of their resident ghost—Mary Bell Wilson. According to Ken, Mary Bell died in 1886 at the age of 21 of typhoid fever, leaving behind a husband and a 2-year-old daughter, and for some unknown reason, her ghost has “adopted” his family ever since they moved into their brand-new home in Fort Collins, Colorado. She even followed them when they moved from one house to another. All of his family members, including their dog, Rosie, have had contact with the ghost, so Ken began filming some of the incidents. His research, along with Mary Bell’s activities, resulted in Ghost under Foot: The Spirit of Mary Bell, which has recently been published. Ken also put together a video with real-time footage of apparitions and sparks of light that streak in front of the camera. (You can view this video on Ken’s website. The address follows this post.)

 

 

I must admit that when I first watched the video, I was still skeptical. I mean, with all the progress in digital enhancement technology these days, and software such as Photoshop, it makes it easier than ever for even the average person to manipulate photos and videos. But what were those orbs in Ken’s video? Dust particles? Insects? Light refractions? I’ve read that orbs can easily be explained away as these types of things. And yet, that didn’t explain the spinning apparition shown in one of the frames, or the hazy image of a woman’s dress fading into the Harmon’s bookshelves.

When the day for my visit arrived, Ken welcomed my friend and me and invited us inside his house. It’s an odd feeling walking through someone’s front door, and stepping into a house that looks ordinary in every way, when you’re not necessarily there to visit the people who live there, you’re hoping to witness a supernatural phenomenon. It was surreal, like being an actor in a movie but without a script.

Ken introduced us to his wife and three daughters—a lovely family whom I liked instantly. We all sat at the kitchen table and nibbled on yummy cookies and sipped hot tea while Ken told the story of Mary Bell and how it all came about.

“Mary Bell hasn’t been real active lately,” Ken explained as he finished his story, “but we’ll see if she’ll reveal herself to you tonight.” Ken told me that before we arrived, he communicated with Mary Bell and asked her if it would be okay if my friend Jill and I came over to meet her. She said yes. Then he asked if she would show up for us. She said yes.

At that point, Ken started to set up chairs for us in preparation for our introduction to Mary Bell, and I began to feel a mix of trepidation and excitement rising inside me, but I pushed the feelings away in an attempt to convince myself that this was just an ordinary visit with an ordinary family. “Maybe next time I can invite them all over to my house for a barbeque,” I thought. Yeah, right. Rosie, the family dog, must have sensed my nervousness because she jumped up on me in the sweetest way, as if she wanted to let me know that everything would be okay. Ken told us that Rosie used to growl at thin air and refuse to walk past certain areas of the house, but now she was showing no signs of fear, as if she too, realized that the ghost meant no harm, and her demeanor helped me relax too. Well, momentarily.

My heart started to pound as we readied our video cameras. I brought a tripod along and Ken told me to aim the camera near the floor in the hall. I wondered why the floor? But I didn’t ask because all of this was already too hard to believe. Then he showed us the dowsing rods he used to communicate with Mary Bell—two pieces of wire, like straightened coat hangers, with one end bent into an “L” shape. He held the rods in his hands and I watched as they slowly moved and crossed, creating an “X”.

“What does that mean?” I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“It means a spirit is present,” he said.

My heart skipped a beat.

 

(Part 2 will be posted next week. Please check back.)

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Harmon

 

A retired Fort Worth Police officer, Kenneth Harmon lives in Fort Collins, CO with his wife, four daughters, and a ghost named Mary Bell. Kenneth loves to write both fiction and non-fiction. He has been a prior finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association Zola Award, and has had short fiction published in numerous anthologies and on line. In addition to spending time with family and friends, he enjoys reading, sports, music, and taking long walks along the Poudre River. For more information, please visit www.ghostunderfoot.com.  Thank you for your interest.

(All photos by Ken Harmon. Used by permission.)