My Favorite Aunt

To begin with, let me just say I am a skeptic when it comes to anything paranormal or alien in origin. I don't believe in ghosts or UFOs or any of that stuff. But, I will be the first to admit I have seen and heard things that I can't explain. This post is the first odd experience I can remember that still has me wondering what really happened:

When I was about 6 or 7 years old, my aunt was killed in a car accident in the early Spring of '66. She was my favorite aunt and a middle child such as myself. I think we bonded closely with each other because we were both middle children, but aside from that, she was just a blast to be with as I recall. Not that my mother and other aunts weren't as fun to be with, but she was somehow different. She was extremely beautiful, had a gorgeous figure, was very intelligent and had a fabulous sense of humor. She was always playing tricks on everyone, including us kids. Playful tricks that would leave you kicking yourself for having fallen into her tricksters lair.

My aunt still lived in the small town up north she and my mother were born in. It was quite a distance from where we resided, about an 8-hour drive away. Each year my father and mother would pack up the family and we'd travel to visit my aunt, uncle and my grandparents for the summer. This summer trip took place every year as long as I can remember. My brother, sisters and I couldn't wait until the end of the school year because we knew we'd be spending the summer months up north with mom's relatives. And for me it was especially important because I'd get to be with my favorite aunt.

Though I don't remember the last time I saw my aunt, I definitely remember the day she was killed. I will never forget my mother's screams of anguish when she heard her little sister was gone. Given I was so young, I don't remember much, but I do know us children did not attend her funeral. Only my parents were in attendance. In later years my mother would tell me the horrible experience of seeing her baby sister in a casket and her relatives so dearly lost in grief, but she rarely spoke of it in detail.

I believe we missed our annual summer trip up north that summer, but we did go the following year.
The family was once again enjoying each other's company, even though my aunt wasn't there. Since we kids were young, we were always tucked away in bed by 9:00 pm. One of those nights my sister and I were bedded down in the master bedroom, my aunt's old room. It was a hot summer night. The windows were open and the sheers were blowing inward with each breeze. I remember hearing my parents, grand-parents and other aunts and uncles chatting away in the next room as I drifted off to sleep.

Something woke me up throughout the night though. I thought I heard someone chuckling. I sat up slightly in the bed only to see my favorite aunt stumbling into the room from outside the window. It seems she had caught her foot on the sheers and nearly fell inside and she was laughing about it. When she saw me, she held her finger to her lips and said, "Shhh," and began tip-toeing towards the bedroom door. When she reached the door she looked up at me and said, "Shhh, don't give me away. I'm going to play a trick on everyone and scare them." With that, she blew me a kiss and slipped through the doorway. Of course when I heard boisterous laughter from the living room, I figured she must have surprised them all good and simply went back to sleep.

When we were all sitting around the table the next morning having breakfast, I asked my mother what she thought of my aunt pulling a prank and scaring them the evening before. My mother's face just went as pale as a ghost. "What do you mean? What prank?" she asked me. I told her what happened— that my aunt told me to be quiet as to not give her away, that she was just going to play a little trick on them. My mother just sat back staring at me for a second or two before saying, "Wanda! Now you know that isn't true. Why would you say something like that?'

At the time I was puzzled and wondered why she would think I was lying? I told her I just wanted to know if they were all surprised when my aunt sprang into the room. That's when my mother leaned down to me and said, "You know your aunt died, Wanda. So you couldn't have seen her last night. And I don't want you telling any more stories like that again. It's not nice!"

I remember those words to this very day. My mother did not believe me... But I know what I saw and heard. Even to this day, I can still envision my aunt stumbling into the room, shushing me,  letting me in on the prank she was going to play on everyone and blowing me a kiss before she left the room. It is as real to me now, as it was the day that it happened.

I know what I saw and heard, but I can't explain it. When I tell people about this experience some believe I actually saw her, since it is believed that young children are more open to the paranormal. Some tell me it was just a dream while others say it's wishful thinking perhaps—wishing that I could see and be with her again. I don't know which one it is, but I'd like to think it was true. Because that way I'd know she was still having fun playing tricks on us, unwittingly not realizing we've all moved on in this life without her.