Corner

This is a strange but true story. Our family moved to a house on Granada Street in Denver. It was an ordinary street of older homes with sidewalks running up and down both sides and lots of large trees. A lovely street.

The boys were in first and third grade and the neighborhood was brimming with children, especially since the elementary school was only a few blocks away. It wasn't hard to meet the neighbors as the children were always outside playing and we quickly became friendly with many of them.

As the story goes, there used to be a boy that lived in the house before us that was an absolute terror, breaking into homes to steal, bullying the other children, and catching sheds on fire, so it was no surprise that the entire neighborhood was relieved when this family moved away. That is all I knew.

At the time I was working at a Christian Book and Music warehouse. They had an album bin where record albums were placed. They were very inexpensive so I would pick up records for about $1 a piece, so even though I had never heard of any of these bands, I was willing to spend the buck.

I would play these records alot and many of them were excellant bands like Petra, Sweet Comfort Band, Second Chapter of Acts, etc. But I noticed when I played these records when the family was home all hell would break loose. The children would start fighting, my husband would yell and our dog, Ho-Chin, a big red Chow would get irritable and actually started to attack the children.

It finally came to a point where I had to start keeping him outside until Dad came home because he would give me nasty crusty looks and actually did bite me in the face and he bit both of my boys. I became too afraid to be left alone with him and I didn't want him around my boys. This was really weird because I had always felt safe with him. This was so out of character for him.

Now, it's not unusual for most families to have their children argue and fight from time to time but I started noticing this seemed to escalate every time I played these records, incidently, I still have them and I still play them.

I needed confirmation so, one day, my best friend Carrie was over and I told her about my suspicions. I said "Watch this". I went over and put on a record, we were standing in the archway between the living room and kitchen and sure enough, all hell broke loose again. I went over and took the record off and everything returned to normal, so now I had a witness. Weird huh?

Wait, it gets even more interesting.

The living room was brightly lit from the large windows that covered an entire wall, lots of sunshine. It really wasn't creepy at all but I was drawn to and kept looking up to the SW corner of the room.

There wasn't a shadow or anything there that I could see as to why I would keep looking there but it was like a magnet and my eyes were constantly darting to look there often.

During the day when I was home alone, a deep dark depression would envelope me completely and I would just cry and cry. There was no reason for it but when this feeling came over me, I truly did just want to die. I'm not kidding. I am not yet putting two and two together.

But one day, I was so over taken by the intense sadness that I collapsed to my knees and with my face in my hands just wailed and wailed like I had lost a child. I happened to be in the living room just underneath this particular corner.

Then I felt a hand on my left shoulder and I immediately and completely forgot what I was crying about. Over 30 years later, try as I might, I still cannot remember what I was so upset about.

This really freaked me out because there was no one there. I'm not saying it was Jesus or my Guardian Angel, I really cannot say. I guess I'll find out that was all about when I see my life review. I'm just saying I had a religious experience that cannot be explained.

I never talked about it because I thought people would think I was nuts. But, having access to all those books at the warehouse, and being an advid reader, I soon found where other people had the experience of the hand of the shoulder.

Although their experiences and situations where different than mine, they still felt the hand and the comfort that came with it. When I read this, I was truly relieved as it confirmed I was not crazy, but I still never told anyone, not even my family or my best friend. It was just too weird.

A few days later, after that experience, there was a group of children out at the end of our walkway standing on the sidewalk. I was in the house with the front door open watching the children through the screen door. I had one of my records playing.

I was actually standing in the exact same place in the living room where I had had the touching experience. As I stood there watching the children, all of a sudden there were three bright blinding flashes in rapid procession that came from that corner. It was kind of like the flash on a camera only very much more intense.

With each flash I spun in a circle saying What, what, what and immediately after, one of those children starting screening bloody murder and took off down the street like a bolt of lightening I, of course, promptly ran outside to find out the who, what, where of "What the heck just happened?". All of the children were looking confused, and I said "What on Earth was that all about?".

Well, one of those children was the boy that used to live there. I guess his parents were visiting one of their friends and he came down to see who was living in his old house. The children said, "for no reason, this boy just starting screaming and ran down the street!",Wow! I think what was in that corner, saw him and repossessed him to get out of that house that was full of the praise and worship of Jesus.

After this occured, the household returned to normal. My depression left, the children got along better and the dog also became our protector again and became quite friendly.

If I ever have another experience like this, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you fill your heart and home with genuine praise and love the Lord with all your heart, any demon has to leave. Not sure about the sage and all that stuff, but this is what worked for me.

Anyway, that's my take on it. What do you think?

You know, I've always wondered about that little boy and I do hope that he got the help that he needed. He's must now in his mid-forties. I never knew his name, but God knows who he is. I've prayed for him often, and now that you know the story, maybe you will pray for him too.