Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Does your child have an imaginary friend? Are you sure?

Imaginary friends? Dreams? That's what a Franklin woman thought until she heard our story about a three-year-old boy who told his parents he saw a "bloody man" in a Franklin business one day. Mom was standing right there and saw nothing--no man, no blood--but the boy repeated his story over and over without budging.

Afterwards, the woman related her own story about her two-year-old daughter telling her there was a man in her room at night. The details got more and more specific (down to the name and the color of his clothing: blue) over several months, but the parents just concluded it was a dream. But when they heard the story about the bloody man, they began to wonder....

And then later when another Franklin woman (who lived in the same neighborhood as the first woman) heard the story, she about fainted, because when her daughter was age two she also said there was a man in her room, and some of the details were similar.

And by the way, all these incidents took place on the battlefield of Franklin. But if you want to hear the stories in more detail, come on the tour.

However, I will share a couple from out-of-towners.

Last night a family came from Illinois and the 12-year-old daughter brought her friend. The friend said when she was 3 her father, who had just died, often visited her at night and would kiss her forehead.  

A mother and her teenage daughter came on the ghost tour last summer from Cincinnati.
After the tour, the mother told me this story:

"I'm a nurse in a pediatric cancer ward. I had a sweet little girl named "Kaci" who was a patient for many months, and who died from cancer at age 3. Her mother and I had grown very close, and after her child died, she gave me a picture of her. I would note that in the photo Kaci was wearing glasses.

"I put the picture on the refrigerator, and my own daughter, also age 3, pointed to it one day and said, "That's Kaci!'

"I was shocked and asked her, 'how did you know that?' I had never talked about her to my own daughter.

"She said, 'She comes to see me at night sometimes. But, mommy, she doesn't wear glasses anymore!'"