Walking To Damascus

Chapter 2: The Haunted House

My very unusual spiritual transformation began with an investment property my wife Stella and I purchased in Sarasota, Florida at the end of 2011. It was a tract home constructed in the late fifties in one of the first large subdivisions developed in Sarasota County. The property was a HUD foreclosure and seemed to be in reasonable shape despite having been unoccupied for two years.

We came across it after the existing contract fell through. I liked the house and its possibilities as a profitable flip, but I felt it was a little more than we could afford at the time. We discussed with the real estate agent the type of offer that could be accepted and it was clear we could not make what was considered an acceptable offer. We let it go for a couple of days, but Stella kept reminding me it probably presented the best investment we had encountered.

Stella is convincing proof that opposite attract in real life. She's short and cute with dark curly hair and a vivacious personality to match. I'm tall, blond and reserved, and not terribly sociable. I always say that people, and this includes my own family, put up with me because they love Stella. She prevents me from my natural inclination of sometimes climbing into a shell of my own making.

Stella finally asked me what price I would be willing to pay for the house. I gave an amount that was quite a bit below what the agent said would be the minimum that would be considered. She said we should submit an offer at my price. I reluctantly agreed, thinking we were probably wasting our time. But two days later our offer was accepted, surprising the real estate agent and us.

My estimate was that it would take four months and $10,000 to rehabilitate the house, but it took over a year and $25,000. Some of it was just finding plumbing and electrical issues I didn't anticipate, but a lot of it was health related. Though the ability to work 12-hour days was still fresh in my mind, heart issues had robbed me of more than I realized. If I managed to work three or four hours in a day, I was lucky. But even with my limitations, my progress was steady, if slow.

In August of 2012 I suffered a heart attack. It was not a major event but kept me in the hospital for a few days, and convalescing for a couple of weeks after that. We had a family gathering planned for Labor Day at the investment property. Since I was recuperating nicely, we decided to go ahead with the party. It was going to be a pool party, as I had already completed rehabilitating the pool and back patio area. The front portion of the house was also done, including the remodeled and reconfigured kitchen, so it was ready for a party.

On Labor Day I arrived at the house early to clean the pool and deck. I was circling the pool with the skimmer in my hands, my mind wandering off aimlessly, like normal, when something unseen pushed me into the pool. It felt like two hands in the middle of my back, pushing without great force, but enough to knock me off balance and over the edge into the pool. I scraped my ankle and knee on the way into the water. The water was only about waist-high at that location in the pool, so I just stood up and waited for a few seconds to see if there was anything else coming. But I couldn't see anything and I couldn't hear or feel anything. I decided it was safe to wade out of the pool.

My ankle was sore and the scrape on my knee was bleeding a little, but I was otherwise okay. I wasn't afraid; I was just confused. I had always been fascinated with the paranormal, and was even slightly obsessed with some of the paranormal television programs. But I never really believed any of it. I thought most of the evidence existed in the imaginations of the investigators and those who thought they were afflicted by something not existing in the flesh. I never discounted the possibility of energy imprints on certain surfaces like some woods and minerals. And I conceded the possibility that the energy could replay itself under the right conditions. I felt the stored and occasional release of energy was the sum total of paranormal phenomena. I dismissed the idea of the existence of ghosts.