Ursula Bielski - Theres Something Under the Bed: Childrens Experiences with the Paranormal

T HERES S OMETHING U NDER THE B ED!

Childrens Experiences
With the Paranormal

B Y U RSULA B IELSKI

Foreword by Jeff Belanger

Copyright 2010 by Ursula Bielski

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopy-ing, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the pub-lisher, The Career Press.

T HERES S OMETHING U NDER T HE B ED
Edited by Nicole DeFelice
Typeset by Diana Ghazzawi
Cover art by Ian Daniels
Printed in the U.S.A. by Courier

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For D, who knows the monsters are real.

Whenever I write, I try to get across the fact that many people are involved in producing a manuscript of this kind: both experts and unwitting witnesses, those who set out to discover the reality of the paranormal, and those who have it thrust upon them, like it or not. I would like to recognize the tireless dedication, in particular, of Jeff Belanger, who so graciously brought the idea for this book to the attention of Michael Pye at New Page Books, and who has spent each and every day for more than 10 years giving a voice to paranormal experiencers at GhostVillage.com, filling the bookshelves of ghost hunters around the world, and providing endless encouragement and support to people like me. He is the greatest cheerleader and friend anyone could have, and I am honored that he accepted the invitation to write the foreword for this volume.

I want to thank Michael Pye for giving me the chance to write this book and editor Kirsten Dalley for her patient and knowledgeable direction in the completion of it. Many thanks, too, to my research assistant, Cynthia Pelayo, who dug up a lot of interesting notes to get me started on some of my more daunting topics.

Many thanks to those who provided their own experiences, especially those who contributed verbatim accounts, including Trish Baldwin, David Schnoebelen, and particularly, David Slone of TrueGhostTales.com, who kindly granted permission to reproduce accounts from his ever-growing collection of readers true stories. Thanks to Kathleen Erickson of the Journal for Scientific Exploration for permission to share the late Ian Stevensons information and photographs on birthmarks relating to past lives of children; I hope readers will find their skepticism on the subject as challenged as mine was when confronted with Dr. Stevensons amazing findings.

Many thanks to Lorraine Warren who, along with her late husband, Ed, has contributed so much to the field of paranormal research. In addition to being one of the worlds greatest investigators, she is just such a kind person. The chilling story of Annabelle the Doll was a must-have for this book, and Im grateful for the opportunity to share it.

At home, on a very practical level, I am continuously grateful to the Chicago Public Library for always guiding me when Im not sure where I need to go. The staff of its many branches has been with me throughout my writing career, and Im so fortunate to have access to such a valuableand personally helpfulresource.

Thank you, David, for taking care of the girls every day, so I could write, and for running the business end of things so I could concentrate. And thank you, Eva and Ilse, for being so proud of me all the time, no matter how strange I may appear to others!

Finally, Im very grateful to all of those who have supported my writing and research all these years. All of my friends and colleagues; all the bleary-eyed ghost hunters who are out there all night, freezing and often frustrated, looking patiently for the needles in the paranormal haystack; all who enthusiastically and trustingly share their experiences year after year. I promise Ill never stop telling your stories.

From ghoulies and ghosties
Long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night
Good Lord, deliver us.

Old Scottish prayer

Theres no such thing as ghosts. At least thats what many of us tell our children. Its a natural thing to say, even if we dont believe a word of it. We want our kids to feel safe, and we want to allay every fear we can, so we tell them not to worry, and that the shadowy figure lurking by the closet is just their imagination.

Likewise, when children tell us of their invisible friends, we parents tell ourselves this is just a flight of fancy for our offspring. We want to feel safe, too. We may love to discuss ghosts and haunted places, but wed prefer they not necessarily live with us, thank you very much.

We live during a time of unprecedented paranormal discussion. All forms of media inundate us with content about ghosts, demons, monsters, and other unexplained phenomena. These subjects are going to filter down to our children; we cant stop it. And our children are going to have questions, because all children want to figure out the world around them. Of course we must assure our children that theyre safe, but theres so much they can tell us about the world they see and experience.

The paranormal isnt just for adults anymore. Not that it ever was. I recall my interest in the subject being born out of a Ouija board session around age 10 during a sleepover at a friends old haunted home. My intrigue gave way to further questions, my questions led me to reading all the books I could find, the reading led me to investigations, and somewhere along the way I realized my thirst for the unexplained would never be quenched. Now that Im a dad, I can think of worse paths for my own child.

I recall my daughter, Sophie, at 14 months old, sitting in the living room of my not-haunted house. She was sitting and playing when something caught her attention over my wifes shoulder. She gave a big grin and waved. The only thing over my wifes shoulder was an empty corner of the room. My daughter had done nothing like that before or since. She only knows she saw something that seemed friendly, so she smiled and wavedjust as she would to someone smiling at her in the grocery store.

As my daughter grows, shes starting to ask questions about what her daddy does for a living. The words ghosts and paranormal are thrown around my home quite a bit. As a paranormal researcher, I want to tell her everythingall of the theories, what I believe, and what Ive seen. As her daddy, I dont want her to be scared. As of this writing, shes 3 years old. She likes to throw a blanket over her head and say, Im a ghostoooooooo! She talks about ghosts in the same manner she talks about butterflies or dogs. We dont go on and on about the subject, but when it comes up, Im happy to let her lead the discussion. I have no doubt that a paranormal guy like me can learn a lot from a 3-year-old. Sophie often speaks whatever she is thinking about. Theres no filter, so I get to hear all of it. If she starts talking to someone I cant see or if she describes conversations, I will give her my full attention. If its only her imagination, I wont discourage her. I want her to have a wonderful imagination. If its something more, I still wont discourage her. Ill listen. I want her to know she can talk about these subjects with me.