By Rick Hinton
A weekly reader of The Southside Times contacted me to comment upon a prior column, “The Mischievous Spirits.” Sharon Kinder felt the article hit home for her personally, admitting that while she has an open mind, she never thought she would ever experience the paranormal for herself. Well … she has, and it’s a bit on the mischievous side!
“I’ve had lots of ‘funny’ incidents that I’m blaming on a mischievous spirit. It’s been a continuing thing in my life for a few years,” she declared. She has no doubt about the identity. It would appear to be her deceased husband Don playing the jokes. That who we are in life translates to who we are in death seems to make perfect sense in Sharon’s case.
Don and Sharon were Southside residents, yet after taking early retirement, moved to the Cataract Lake area. It became the next chapter in their lives. They settled into their new home with Don still loving his pranks and continuing his keen sense of humor. However, the years after the move became not so kind. Don began a battle with cancer and then other health related issues as a result. During this period the couple had plenty of time to talk about dying. I’m sure these were hard, heartfelt conversations for any couple. Sharon asked Don for some sort of sign after his passing … something to show that he was all right. Don apparently held up his end of the agreement.
Things started happening almost immediately. Sharon is convinced that it was Don up to the shenanigans. “Most folks who knew my husband weren’t surprised,” she said. And, these shenanigans all revolved around pennies, cat food and sunflower seeds. …
Sharon’s younger daughter’s family became the recipients of a sudden onslaught of pennies – not only in their home – but wherever they seemed to go! They appeared out of nowhere. The daughter would find these coins in the unlikeliest places, for example, in a shoe she’d taken off before getting into bed. Sharon claimed, “The grandkids soon blamed anything silly that would happen in their house on Grandpa.”
Sharon suffered a stroke in 2012 and afterward began preparing for a move back to Indy to be closer to family. As she was packing, a paper sack of 45 RPM records, leftovers from high school that had ended up in a guest room closet, gave her a reminder that Don was still at the helm. The records were stacked in a column inside the bag. The large round holes in the middle – from bottom to top – were full of sunflower seeds. Critters, you might ask? There was no evidence of any rodents in the house or guest room, and the bag was sealed.
The majority of instances occurred after the first year Don died; only sporadically afterward. After Sharon’s move back to the city one morning she discovered cat food in her underwear drawer. She doesn’t own a cat. “It still makes me laugh and reminds me of the years we enjoyed together,” Sharon smiled. “It particularly makes me happy that he’s still playing tricks and thinking of me.”
“My last discovery was last March (2015), so he may have finally moved on,” she said. “I’m so happy I asked Don to send me a message if he could, and so happy he paid attention to me. I, myself, would have a difficult time believing these things if I hadn’t experienced them!”
Welcome to the club, Sharon!
