POLTERGEIST MIGHT HEX SUPERMARKET AND HOME
Also remembering Big Mama and Big Daddy.
In a newspaper column I wrote a number of years ago, I commented on strange adventures I had been having in a supermarket, such as having a watermelon fall to the floor and burst open as I walked through the produce department and having soda pop bottles fall to the floor when I entered the aisle. In response to that column, a writer friend sent me a note, asking if I’d ever thought of a poltergeist ? He said it is louder than a “glockenspiel” and less pleasant than a “serendipity.”
I knew the word had something to do with the supernatural but wasn’t sure what it meant. I found the word in the Random House dictionary and it means a ghost or spirit making itself known by knockings and sounds. That may explain why for 25 years we have heard a car door slam shut, and the sound seems to come from our driveway but there is never anyone there . Say, do you suppose my favorite supermarket as well as my house may be haunted? Or, do I have my own personal ghost following me around? That might be the case considering the things that happen to me and not just on Halloween.
Thinking about the supernatural reminded me of my maternal grandfather, Big Daddy Green. He and Big Mama had told friends and relatives that having enjoyed life’s pleasures and shared its sorrows for so long, they dreaded being separated more than they did death. My grandfather was an attorney in Tennessee who quit his law practice to become a circuit- rider Methodist preacher. Then, in later life, he resumed his law practice on a limited basis. Being absent-minded by nature, one day he stepped into the path of a car and was seriously injured.
During the days he was barely clinging to life, my grandmother, who had high blood pressure, was constantly by his side. One night she was persuaded by family members to rest a while. Shortly afterward, a daughter checked on her and Big Mama had died in her sleep. A few hours later, Big Daddy died.
While this was a crushing blow to our family, everyone remembered the many times they had heard them say they wanted to leave this world together. We all knew it was what they wanted and that somehow seemed to console us.
And remembering Big Daddy’s superstitions and fear of thunderstorms has been a topic of family conversations over the years. When he rode his horse to his churches at night, he would often report to family that he had seen a ghost dressed in white hovering above the road near a cemetery. Then, during a thunderstorm at night, he would awaken the entire family and insist they get dressed. He asked the females to remove bobby pins from their hair to avoid having lightning strike their heads. Big Daddy’s fear was passed on to his daughters but, fortunately, my three sisters and I escaped that fear.
By Olivene Godfrey
Also remembering Big Mama and Big Daddy.
In a newspaper column I wrote a number of years ago, I commented on strange adventures I had been having in a supermarket, such as having a watermelon fall to the floor and burst open as I walked through the produce department and having soda pop bottles fall to the floor when I entered the aisle. In response to that column, a writer friend sent me a note, asking if I’d ever thought of a poltergeist ? He said it is louder than a “glockenspiel” and less pleasant than a “serendipity.”
I knew the word had something to do with the supernatural but wasn’t sure what it meant. I found the word in the Random House dictionary and it means a ghost or spirit making itself known by knockings and sounds. That may explain why for 25 years we have heard a car door slam shut, and the sound seems to come from our driveway but there is never anyone there . Say, do you suppose my favorite supermarket as well as my house may be haunted? Or, do I have my own personal ghost following me around? That might be the case considering the things that happen to me and not just on Halloween.
Thinking about the supernatural reminded me of my maternal grandfather, Big Daddy Green. He and Big Mama had told friends and relatives that having enjoyed life’s pleasures and shared its sorrows for so long, they dreaded being separated more than they did death. My grandfather was an attorney in Tennessee who quit his law practice to become a circuit- rider Methodist preacher. Then, in later life, he resumed his law practice on a limited basis. Being absent-minded by nature, one day he stepped into the path of a car and was seriously injured.
During the days he was barely clinging to life, my grandmother, who had high blood pressure, was constantly by his side. One night she was persuaded by family members to rest a while. Shortly afterward, a daughter checked on her and Big Mama had died in her sleep. A few hours later, Big Daddy died.
While this was a crushing blow to our family, everyone remembered the many times they had heard them say they wanted to leave this world together. We all knew it was what they wanted and that somehow seemed to console us.
And remembering Big Daddy’s superstitions and fear of thunderstorms has been a topic of family conversations over the years. When he rode his horse to his churches at night, he would often report to family that he had seen a ghost dressed in white hovering above the road near a cemetery. Then, during a thunderstorm at night, he would awaken the entire family and insist they get dressed. He asked the females to remove bobby pins from their hair to avoid having lightning strike their heads. Big Daddy’s fear was passed on to his daughters but, fortunately, my three sisters and I escaped that fear.
By Olivene Godfrey
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