Do Ghosts Talk?

EXPLAINING LIFE'S MYSTERIES
By Stephen Ellis

DO GHOSTS TALK?

Nobody asked me, but…

Years before I became interested in the paranormal, I was told of an incident by a female friend of mine. At the time we were both seventeen years old, and I really didn't give what she told me too much credibility. But now, reflecting back on the story she told me, I can't think of another possible explanation. For purposes of this blog, we'll call the girl Laura Goldberg.

I knew Laura as a part of the crowd I used to hang-out with in New York. She was a member of the B'nai B'rith Girls, and I was the president of the B'nai B'rith Boys. These were social associations connected to a couple of neighborhood synagogues where the kids shared a belief in Judaism. We would sponsor teen-age dances and other outings (such as a trip to Bear Mountain or to Rye Beach, etc.). Dances were always held at one or another synagogue and it was a great way to meet other kids your age who shared your religious beliefs.

I knew Laura only slightly as a member of BBG, but I did hear about the tragic accident that took the lives of both her mother and father. I don't know the details of the accident, but from what I was told, her father and mother were returning from a day at Atlantic Beach, when a car in front of them had a blow-out and careened into their car. They swerved and went into a tree, killing them both instantly.

Possibly the accident (everyone at B'nai B'rith talked about it) made me take greater notice of Laura, and we became quite friendly. One night, after a B'nai B'rith sponsored dance, I asked her if she would like to join me for some dessert and coffee at a restaurant on Broadway and 86th Street called "Tip Toe Inn". She accepted and we went there.

As kids of seventeen will do, our conversation started by talking about mutual friends, but quickly came around to the accident that killed her parents. I had planned to have coffee for about thirty minutes, but two hours later, we were still talking and having more coffee. Laura told me that she didn't talk about an incident with her father much because people usually thought she was crazy, but she decided she was going to tell me about the strangest thing that happened to her after her parents were killed:

The night following the accident, Laura had virtually cried herself to sleep, when she awoke with a start. She opened her eyes and her father was standing over her bed. She bolted upright with a lot of questions pounding in her head when her father spoke to her and said, "Laura, don't talk, just do what I tell you to do. Go to your desk and write down what I tell you to write."
Almost in a trance, she did what her father said.

Her father began to list a number of bank accounts that were in Swiss Banks . They were numbered accounts and he had her write down the numbers. He also told Laura where she would find two keys that were hidden in the apartment. They were, he said, to two safe deposit boxes no one knew about. She wrote everything down, and then her father's voice stopped. She looked around and he was gone.

Needless to say, Laura did not go back to sleep. She tried calling her father's attorney, Irving Roth, but his office did not answer (no answering machines in those days) until 9:30 the following morning. She finally reached Roth and Laura told him what had happened. Roth told Laura that she was probably dreaming and that he didn't know of any Swiss bank accounts or safe deposit boxes her parents had, but if Laura would relate what she thought her father told her, he would check it out for her. She relayed the information.

About a week later, Roth called Laura and wanted to know where she got the banking information. Everything Laura had written down was accurate! Roth refused to believe the story Laura had told him and preferred to believe that Laura had simply come-upon the information when going through her deceased parents' things. Laura told me that following her parents' death, she had not gone into her parents' bedroom because she was afraid to…until after her father spoke with her.

I told Laura that Roth made more sense than the story she told me, but Laura swore to me that every word was true. I have to admit, our mutual friends all believed Laura to be a very honest person.

Knowing what I now know, I can believe Laura's story quite readily. I've run into numbers of people who have been contacted verbally by a deceased parent, spouse or other loved one.
It would have been prudent for me to meet with Laura again and question her thoroughly, but at seventeen you're not always "prudent". She moved away less than a year later and I have completely lost contact with her. I did try to locate an attorney named Irving Roth in New York, but there was more than one lawyer with that name...and some lawyers with that name had already passed away.

As I said, nobody asked me.

Please e-mail me at stebrel@aol.com and tell me about your paranormal experiences.