Jackie’s surgery, her husband Bob arrived at the hospital to pick her up after the procedure. “I remember it was a full moon that night,” Jackie recalled. On the way home from the hospital, Bob’s demeanor completely changed and he became very resentful towards Jackie. “He told me to shut up and threatened to drop me off and make me walk my way back home. We were easily over an hour from our house.” Through their thirty-six years of marriage, Bob had never been one to make such comments or be disrespectful towards Jackie. Why was he behaving like this? Jackie silently pondered.
Overwhelmed by the intensive surgery and medication, Jackie lulled off into a heavy sleep until they arrived home. “The next day Bob was back to being Bob. I didn’t mention the argument we had the night before in the car, because I was afraid I’d upset him again. I didn’t ever want to see that side of him again.”
Jackie’s health began to rapidly decline after her surgery. She was bedridden for nearly four weeks, a condition that was unexpected by the doctors. Her hair began falling out and Jackie seemed to age more quickly. Before the procedure, Jackie was a healthy and robust woman. She would go running every day and frequently played tennis with her friends. It seemed as though her energy was being sucked out of her and fed to the entity. Towards the end of her time being bound in the bed, a strange knocking began. “First it started in the office room. I could hear it rapping away in there. I thought it might be the computer, and had someone come examine it but nothing was wrong. Then it began knocking on the windows and soon moved to the headboard. I was losing sleep and was being driven insane!”
Bob had not experienced anything abnormal and was never home during the events, leaving Jackie to feel very alone and questioning her own sanity. “I would mention this to Bob, but he just thought I was letting my imagination get the best of me. He hired so many technicians and fixer-upper guys to come look at our house.”
One day Jackie heard a strange gurgling sound in their master bath. As she approached the bathroom, she was perplexed to find that the toilet water was bubbling and boiling in the toilet bowl. “Bob immediately called a plumber and he arrived a few short hours after our phone call.” Jackie sat there explaining the incident to the plumber as he finished examining the toilet and plumbing lines.
As he placed the cover back on the toilet, he turned to her and calmly asked, “Well, do you think you have a poltergeist?” Jackie was surprised that a man of his profession would openly suggest such an idea. I quickly reminded her that plumbers and the paranormal seem to go hand in hand these days. “You remember the Roto-Rooter guys on T.V., right?” Jackie and I laughed.
She continued with her story, “I recall looking at the plumber and he arched his eyebrows at me as if he knew that I was already aware of the house being haunted.”
“Maybe you should call a priest or bring in one of those ghost-buster groups? Maybe they can explain all of this and help you,” he suggested while packing up his belongings.
Cue the Michigan Paranormal Research Association. And so we rode in on our white horse with shining armor. Instead of having a white horse, I had my white Ford Escape, but it proved to be a sturdy and valiant mobile. “ Turn right. Recalculating. Approaching destination. Recalculating.” Before leaving my house, TomTom, my GPS, knew the exact location of Jackie’s home and how to get there, but upon nearing the destination, it no longer recalled its whereabouts—as if the GPS were on trial and now conveniently forgot its previous statements. The GPS seemed as if it were overcome by the demonic entity and was now giving us driving directions.
“Would you make up your mind! Damn it, TomTom!” I was tempted to throttle the GPS until it gave us more truthful directions. I glared at the device