My parents always called me spooky and sensitive, due to the fact that I would often stare off into space and could sense things before others did.
When I was a child, I took their observations as a sign that I was different and that I’d be better off keeping these things to myself, for fear of being ridiculed.
Updated 2/9/2020 – Strangely enough, I was always afraid of ghost stories, which is ironic, seeing as I had a “gift” – whatever that meant.
It certainly didn’t earn me any brownie points but it did keep me interested in paranormal and spiritual topics.
I have always been the type of person to wander off from the group when I felt “called” by the other side.
The most frightening event happened to me when I was in my late teens.
I’d gone on a road trip with two of my girlfriends and we found ourselves in what appeared to be an almost abandoned town in Mexico.
Sitting in a café, I looked out the window and saw the ruins of an old church across the road.
I felt a stirring in my solar plexus!
Ever had one of those dreamy déjà vu feelings?
Well, that’s what happened to me.
I didn’t know whether I had dreamed about the church but I felt drawn to it, like someone or something was calling me to it.
When I told my friends I was surprised that they were disinterested and told me to “Knock myself out.”
So, I set off on my own.
Even though I was trembling with excitement and fear, I had to go.
I was amazed with how important the building seemed to be to me.
It was a crumbling, stone church – like a shell of what it used to be back in the day.
I felt a push and pull sensation that seemed to tell me “You have to go inside, but be careful!”
This only proved to enhance my fear and fascination at the same time.
It was so strange that I was nearly hyperventilating and I couldn’t tell what was more powerful: the fear or the strong desire to go in.
As I walked through the arch and into the ruins, it was like an electrical charge ran through my body.
There was a lot of rubble everywhere and an intense feeling that I wasn’t alone.
The feeling of spiders or creepy crawly insects all over my neck came over me, but I continued making my way past all the rocks and debris, panting like a scared animal.
I felt the sweat rolling down my skin – but then it froze like a sheet of ice when I heard a rock fall from the far wall.
I could’ve sworn I heard someone exhaling into my left ear.
I feared that I was stepping into one of those ghost stories
I felt the palpitations of my heart and wondered why I wasn’t responding to the alarm bells going off inside my mind.
Still, I felt a strong desire to continue my way through the ruins.
I stopped in my tracks when I heard the word “Girl” in a creepy, low voice and was surprised to hear the word in English.
Spinning around to try and figure out where the voice was coming from, I heard another gasp in my left ear.
I was shaking and wanted to race out, but a glint of something shiny distracted me.
It was on the wall to the right of me, so I crept over – wondering if it was just a nail or something benign glinting in the sun.
Another small rock fell down from the crumbling wall and I hesitated, but the shiny object seemed to be calling to me.
Was this what I was supposed to find?
I carefully stepped over the debris and soon found myself at the wall and face to face with a necklace.
I took it from the jagged piece of stone and held it in my hand. It was freezing!
When I took a closer look I saw that it was a silver pendant with Saint Christopher on one side – carrying the child on his shoulder, with an engraving on the back.
It was in Latin so I couldn’t understand it, but I jumped when several more rocks dropped behind me – like they had been thrown.
Something told me to get out – quick.
I ran over to the arched entrance and screamed when a black cat ran ahead of me.
I hadn’t seen it the whole time I’d been in the church.
What was bizarre, was when I finally got out and looked back, I was sure that I saw a shimmering figure watching me from the wall where the pendant had been – but then it evaporated!
When I got back to my friends in the café, they were laughing at my shocked face, but they soon stopped laughing when I told them what happened and showed them the pendant.
The waitress overheard and came over to check it out.
She told me that the engraving said “Salvus ero – I am saved!”
I shuddered and nearly threw it at her!
She told me that the pendant was meant for me and that Saint Christopher would protect me as long as I prayed to him and wore the pendant.
When I put it around my neck, I could still feel the chill, but I knew that everything was okay.
I’ve worn it ever since and I’m happy to say – I’ve felt his presence with me every single day.
