Welcome Guest Lena Gregory

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Welcome, Lena Gregory! Lena is giving away a copy of Clairvoyant and Present Danger to someone who leaves a comment. Here’s a bit about the book:

Whoever said that dead men tell no tales has never met Cass Donnovan…

Cass has always relied on her abilities to guide her, but after communications with a ghost land her in the middle of a murder investigation, she has to wonder if her gifts are really more a curse.

Cass knows she is meant to help track down the killer–much to the chagrin of local law enforcement–when the apparition leads her to a dead body on the beach near her psychic shop, Mystical Musings. But the police are not the only ones who wish Cass would stick to reading palms. Someone is trying to scare her off, and it will take all her powers of premonition to catch the killer before Cass herself becomes the next victim…

Thank you to the Wicked Cozy Authors and Sherry Harris for inviting me to guest blog today. I’m so excited to be here and visit with all of you!

Whether or not ghosts are real is a huge debate in my house. My husband doesn’t believe in anything “otherworldly,” and my daughter and I are firm believers. Have you ever had a brush with the paranormal? And encounter you couldn’t quite explain away, no matter how hard you tried to convince yourself there was a logical explanation? I’ve had several over the years, but I’ll only share a couple.

I have three kids, and not one of them slept through the night, so I can only assume it’s something I did wrong. Of course, neither my husband nor I sleep through the night either, so I guess it’s no surprise.

Anyway, one night, when my middle guy, Nicky, was around a year and a half old, he just would not go to sleep. I was so exhausted I couldn’t keep my eyes open another minute, and I was afraid to bring him in my bed for fear he’d fall down the stairs if he got up and wandered, which he did even then, so I crawled into the crib with him and closed my eyes.

The next think I knew, someone was shaking my shoulder. Startled, I opened my eyes and looked up, fully expecting to find my husband standing over me wondering what in the world was going on, but there was no one there. I was absolutely positive a hand had gripped my shoulder and shaken me, so I sat up and looked around the room, figuring either my husband or my ten-year-old daughter had tried to wake me then walked away when I didn’t respond.

When I looked down, I didn’t see Nicky. Terrified, I jumped up and found him tangled in the blanket. I quickly unwrapped the blanket from his head. His face was beet red, and he was breathing hard but, thankfully, he was okay. It might have ended much differently if something hadn’t nudged me awake that morning. When I finally calmed down enough to get up, my husband and daughter were both still asleep and hadn’t been up to wake me.

To this day, sixteen years later, I still get chills and hug my son whenever that memory surfaces.

On a lighter note, I used to teach dance for a living, until Nicky was about three. I’d always brought my kids to the studio with me while I was teaching, but he couldn’t handle the noise. The kids talking and laughing, the music blasting, tap shoes hitting the wood floor, all proved to be too much for him. He would always want to be in my arms with his hands over his ears.

Within the year, he was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum. He needed physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech, so I gave up teaching and started cleaning houses to give me the flexibility necessary to bring him to therapy five days a week.

One of the houses I took was a beautiful, old house on the bay. The view was gorgeous, as was the house, which was built in the 1800s. One of the first times I went in to clean, I put the garbage pail back in the bathroom beside the shower. Then I realized there was an old stain beneath the pipe under the sink where the pail had been. I figured it must leak sometimes and put the pail back under it. When I returned a few minutes later, the pail was beside the shower again.

That freaked me out a little, but I figured maybe I’d left the floor a little wet and it slid over a couple of feet, or maybe I’d meant to put it under the pipe but then forgot to actually do it. So, I made sure the floor was dry and put it back. The next time I looked in the bathroom, it was back beside the shower. Needless to say, that’s where it stayed that time.

Every time I returned to the house after that day, I put the pail under the pipe and it stayed where it was.

Then, one day, I was in the basement doing laundry when there was a weird sort of scratchy, tapping sound. It was coming from the ceiling rafters in the basement beneath the foyer. It definitely freaked me out, but I finally decided it must be mice or something, and I filed the incident away to use in a book somewhere down the line—which I haven’t yet but still intend to.

When the homeowner asked how everything was going and if I was finding everything okay, I told her everything was fine, but I thought the house was haunted, and I sort of laughed.

She laughed too and asked me what had happened.

I told her about the garbage pail, but not the tapping, since I’d already explained that to myself.

She then told me the house definitely was haunted, and what was now the foyer was originally a bedroom, and someone died in there. She also said they often here a strange knocking sound in the foyer.

The existence of the unexplainable has always fascinated me. Is there truly a world beyond our own that sometimes overlaps with ours? Or are we just creatures with extremely vivid imaginations?

Cass Donovan, from Death at First Sight, Occult and Battery, and Clairvoyant and Present Danger makes a living delving into that world, “contacting” the dead. At least, that’s what her customers think. She thinks she’s just very intuitive. What do you think?

Readers: Have you ever had a brush with the paranormal? For a chance to win a copy of Clairvoyant and Present Danger, leave a comment and let me know!

Bio:

Lena Gregory is the author of the Bay Island Psychic Mystery series, Death at First Sight, Occult and Battery, and Clairvoyant and Present Danger, which take place on a small island between the north and south forks of Long Island, New York, and the All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series, Scone Cold Killer, Murder Made to Order, and Cold Brew Killing, which are set on the outskirts of Florida’s Ocala National Forest.

Lena Grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, where she still lives with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. When she was growing up, she spent many lazy afternoons on the beach, in the yard, anywhere she could find to curl up with a good book. She loves reading as much now as she did then, but she now enjoys the added pleasure of creating her own stories.

Website: http://www.lenagregory.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Lena.Gregory.Author/?fref=ts

Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/lena.gregory.986

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LenaGregory03

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lenagregoryauth/?etslf=2219&eq=lena%20gregory

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14956514.Lena_Gregory

 

 

Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

64 Thoughts

  2. One of the houses we lived in had someone there, but she was benevolent and most always going up and down the stairs.

  3. I would see my dad for about a year after he died. The first time, he was actually driving his car. I was on a lonely, 4 lane road when I saw a car, in the distance, behind me. The closer it got, I realized it was a car like my dad had. Soon it was in the lane next to me and getting closer. As it pulled next to me, I glanced over and looked at the driver. It was my dad, cigarette in hand. He looked over at me, smiled and waved. I am almost positive I stopped breathing! His car then passed mine and soon it disappeared. No, there was not a curve where I could no longer see the car, it just faded away!
    I have always believed there was more than we can see, that there is another plain, so to speak. I have seen ghosts many times. My old house had several.
    Thank you for the wonderful series you write! I enjoy them and hope there are many more additions!

  5. Welcome, Lena! Very interesting stories. When my daughter was three we lived in San Pedro, California. We were in the upstairs hall of our townhouse. I squatted down and hugged her. She was staring over my shoulder. In a very matter of fact voice she said, “There’s a monster behind you.” I turned fully expecting to see something, but of course didn’t.

  6. My aunt seems to have a “ghost” that followed her everywhere she lives. Every time I stayed with her, the cabinets would slam and I would see images that would disappear very quickly. I used to be terrified to stay at her house as a child.

  7. No, nothing for me. Have to tell you though, read your book and LOVED IT!

  9. I love ghost stories and creepy gothic houses. Unfortunately no such experiences in my life….although when I go to places really intense tragedies have happened, it just feels different. But alas, no ghosts or spirits!

  10. Love to read about the paranormal but have not seen any ghosts so far. Not sure how to react if a ghost suddenly appeared…. scared… curious… or run like hell out of there.

    1. If I ever actually saw a ghost, I would definitely choose option three! lol As fascinating as I find ghosts, they scare me to death.

  12. My wife’s maternal grandma Mary was an amazing lady. Illiterate in any language she spoke. She could produce a feast from minimum ingredients. She also followed you cleaning up as you messed. When she passed on peacefully somewhere around age 102 (in her rocking chair, bottle of scotch on the floor beside her) no one was surprised. That’s when the strangeness began. My not yet life partner and her sister would toss out their torn pantyhose and find them the next day, washed and folded back in their dresser drawers.

    Years go by and E and I move in together and started a family. Lo and Behold, it seems like Granma Mary moved in with us. We’d find laundry we’d not folded yet put away, and the baby always sleeping peacefully as if he was rocked to sleep.

    Yes we believe.

    NoraAdrienne (at) gmail (dot) com

  13. Welcome to the Wickeds, Lena. Our old house in Boothbay Harbor is supposed to be haunted. I’m not a believer, but our old cocker spaniel certainly was.

  14. I am a firm believer that there is much more than what we see with just our eyes.

  15. I live in Portland, Oregon and we have many haunted hotels here. One of the best is the Edgefield Hotel. My ex and I were staying there about ten years ago, and he swears that in the middle of the night he heard a voice saying “BOO” in his ear. It wasn’t me, and he didn’t see anybody when he opened his eyes. I absolutely do believe in otherworldly creatures. Thanks for the stories and the giveaway!

  16. I’m not sure if I believe in ghosts or not. But my stepfather always said the old house where he had his Realtor’s office (and lived on the upper floors before he was with my mother) was haunted. He claimed–and so did my mother–that sometimes there were footsteps running up and down the back stairs. So, hmmm. . .

  17. You can put me in the don’t believe in ghosts camp. (And I already have the book, so don’t factor me into the giveaway.)

  18. I used to volunteer at an old theatre they swear is haunted by a spirit they call Fred (because those that have seen it, swear he resembles a man who managed the theatre and lived there a short time when his home was flooded). One day I was sitting upstairs, reading, of course, in between shows and I heard this loud noise that sounded like the lid of a baby grand piano being slammed down. The baby grand was on the other side of the room, but the lid was up. There was no way that sound could have been anything else. It was said Fred like to cause mischief, but he was harmless.

  19. I fell asleep on the patio one summer afternoon. I woke up because I smelled someone smoking. There was no one there and my husband and I don’t smoke. When I told my husband what happened, he said where I fell asleep was where my father in law used to smoke cigarettes when he was alive. I think it was my Father in Law’s way of letting me know he stopped by for a visit.

  20. I frequently feel the presence of my daddy who died 44 years ago. I don’t see ghosts, but I’ve had a lot of other worldly experiences. I don’t need them explained. I just enjoy and appreciate them. Looking forward to reading your book.

  21. Wow, I wish I had a ghost to fold my laundry. My mother used to say I was “folding challenged” but she hasn’t seen fit to fold anything for me since she died. Your book sounds interesting.

  22. Yes I have. I’m not as brave as you are and I’m not talking about it. I wouldn’t have gone back to the house if I were you. That good old shoulder shaking was a life saver! So, I guess there really are good spirits too, other than moonshine. LOL

  23. I have my Dad’s car and sometimes when I’m driving the interior lights will flash on and off. I feel like my Dad is telling me that he’s watching over me.

  25. I definitely believe as I’ve had many run ins and signs with the other world!

  27. Sounds like a fun cozy! I have not had any paranormal experiences! I would love to win your book!

  29. I have lived in three houses that have had spirits in them. Some relatives and some not. I have seen spirits, heard them and have seen objects move on there own. I think somehow spirits are drawn to my family.My current house sits on land that was formerly a plantation. Lots of activity here.Thanks for this chance to win.

  30. Are you kidding me. I am from southern Louisiana where there is always something lurking about.

  31. I was sleeping and something shook my shoulder twice, I thought it was my daughter, but, she was sleeping. So I looked and I saw my two year old granddaughter, she had recently died. She just disappeared after I saw her.

  32. Several weeks after the passing of my dad and then years later, my grandmother, I began seeing both of them, at different times. I see each of them, or hear them whisper my name, every now and again and I’ll catch a brief whiff of daddy’s Old Spice, or Nannie’s Chanel. I am a big believer!

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