Colorado Ghost Stories. Antonio Boone's Garcez

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СКАЧАТЬ figure sitting at the kitchen table! I just happened to walk into the kitchen and saw him seated at the table while no one else was in the room. His image lasted only for a few seconds, but I did see him. He just sat at the table looking straight ahead, then “poof” he was gone! I chose to keep this experience to myself. I didn’t know how others in my family would react, and I didn’t want to chance being verbally mistreated for having such a crazy imagination. So I just kept quiet.

      There was another incident where I witnessed seeing my uncle’s ghost. It was just the following day after my first sighting. The day was a sunny one, about 2 or

      3 p.m. in the afternoon. I was playing with my dog, and as I came running around to the front of the house, from the backyard, a movement caught my eye, and I glanced at the front porch. Seated on one of the chairs, this time staring directly at me was my uncle! I immediately stopped and froze in place. Not unlike before, his image lasted only but a few seconds, then disappeared! It was as if time stood still for me. I recall not even hearing the sounds of birds, traffic noise, or even the movement of the leaves of the trees moving in the breeze. Everything was deadly silent.

      This time, being so startled by what I had seen, I ran around to the backyard and informed my mother. She stopped hanging clothes on the line and turned to face me. “What are you saying, you saw your uncle sitting on the porch?” I responded, “Yes, yes he was also sitting at the kitchen table yesterday!” Strangely, my mother’s reaction was to take me into her arms, hold me tight, and weep. I thought this was strange because I assumed she would scold me, or take a belt to me for making up such a story, but instead she reacted with grief. I was so surprised by this that I too began to cry. I chose not to reveal any more to my mother about her brother’s spiritual visits. I had mixed emotions and due to my young age, was in no position to mentally process what was going on. I began to feel a real fear a fear that I had never felt before.

      Later that night, I was awakened from my sleep by a loud sound in my bedroom. I opened my eyes and knew that my window was closed, but the curtains were moving as if from a light breeze. I focused my sight on the movement of the curtains, when I heard the sound of footsteps walking about the small room. I was so scared that I closed my eyes, threw the blanket over my head and somehow, eventually fell back to sleep. This same pattern continued for another two nights until the third night when a very scary incident took place.

      Again, I was awakened as before from a sound sleep, only this time when I heard the noise, I felt an overpowering sense that something was in the room with me, something large and not very friendly. I tightly shut my eyes and before I could cover my head with my blanket, I felt the pressure of an unseen hand grasp my shoulder. It was a strong force that could only be that of a male hand that shook my shoulder. I was so scared that I couldn’t yell or make a noise. I was frozen with fear! All I could do was to lay still in my bed hoping that whatever was grasping my shoulder would let me go. Suddenly, I felt a very cold hand take hold of my lower jaw and slowly begin to open it. I was ready to pass out from fear.

      Somehow, I found the courage to open my eyes. I was very hesitant to do this, but when I did, I saw a male ghost, strangely not my uncle, standing next to my bed! I didn’t recognize who it could be, but I’ll never forget how deep and dark his eyes were. At first it was only a large silhouette against the darkness of my room, but that quickly changed. A recognizable form of a large man began to take shape, and I’ll never forget his eyes. He was staring, fixated on me with those eyes, and before I could think of what to do next, he raised his left arm and slowly his hand came over my face, grasped my jaw, and opened my mouth. Then his index finger reached inside and came to rest on the top of my tongue. The finger was ice cold! I was overwhelmed by the sense that I was powerless to do anything to help myself get away from him. I could not move or speak. He opened my mouth wide. Once inside, I felt his fingernail make short little poking movements in my mouth, something like a dentist would do when exploring for cavities with a metal pick. Suddenly, I noticed another person in the room with us. I looked towards the window and spotted my uncle’s spirit standing, looking directly at me. His image was transparent, but without a doubt it was my uncle Paolo! I somehow gathered the strength to break away from the awful ghost’s grasp. I rolled out of bed, fell onto the floor and yelled out to my mother. Immediately the ghost retreated into the darkness. Then I scrambled to the door and into my parents’ bedroom. I attempted to explain to my parents every detail of what had happened but they would have none of it. I spent the remainder of the night sleeping in their bed with my head on my mother’s lap.

      Thereafter, because of the trauma and panic that was very evident on my face, even my father relented and moved my small bed into my parent’s bedroom, where I spent several more nights. About a week after that, my cousin’s family al- lowed me to stay with them for about another two weeks, until I was emotionally able to return to my own house and bedroom.

      During my absence, my parents contacted a local Benedictine priest at the Holy Cross Abbey to perform a blessing and cleansing ceremony at my home. A special, personal blessing was also performed by that same priest over me. Within Catholicism the Benedictine Order is one of the oldest Catholic orders that was founded in the sixth century by St. Benedict. I’ve learned since then that the church employs St. Benedict’s prayers and other protocols in its rituals of exorcism. Looking back, I was very fortunate to have been living within such close proximity of the abbey and its priests.

      After having the blessings performed and returning home, I was not furthered bothered by ghosts. But many years after that experience the questions stayed with me as to why my uncle had appeared only to me, and who was the bothersome and terrifying ghost that had taken hold of my face, and most importantly, why didn’t my uncle’s spirit intervene when the evil presence came very close to actually causing me harm?

      I have not been unable to fully understand why I was singled out for this physically dramatic and mental distress. I was only 10 years old. What or who could cause a young boy such emotional injury? Well, that incident took place many years ago. Today, I’m fortunate to be able to sit here and tell you my story. I hope there is someone who might read this and will recognize something in it that might help them.”

      Museum of Colorado Prisons

      The museum is unique in the fact that it is the only prison museum located adjacent to an actively, operating prison. Behind the walls on the west side of the museum is Old Max, now called Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility; it was originally built in 1868 as the Territorial Prison. On June 13, 1871 it received John Shepler as its first inmate. In 1876, when Colorado became a state, the Federal Government deeded the Territorial Prison to Colorado, and it became a State Facility. Today, there are approximately 700 medium security male prisoners housed at CTCF. There are nine State Facilities and four Federal Facilities located in Fremont County, and these are the largest employers in the area.

      Pat Kant’s Story

      I interviewed both Pat and Melissa for their stories in Pat’s office. Both women were very helpful in taking me around the inside of the property and pointing out various items of interest. Pat provided me with additional hearsay information, prison terminology, and factual details.

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