Eerie Encounters in Everyday Life

Interview with Thomas L. Freese

1. With your new book, “Eerie Encounters in Everyday Life Angels Aliens Ghosts Haunts” What was your inspiration and motivation in creating this new tome?

As I travel, doing events and professional speaking, I constantly meet folks who have amazing stories. I want to both honor the narrative of their personal experiences—their encounters with ghosts, spirits, angels and other dimensional creatures—and provide an opportunity for those experiences to be read by others. There are many regular folks walking around who have had unusual encounters. As someone reads about another’s coping with seeing a deceased family member, sighting a UFO, or being helped by an angel; they find hope and meaning through relating to that person’s story. We are not alone in grasping for an understanding of the lesser known world.
Specifically, Eerie Encounters picks up where I left off after writing two previous general collections (Ghosts, Spirits and Angels and More True Tales of Ghosts, Spirits and Angels) yet adds an additional category of UFO encounters. The title refers to the fact that eerie encounters happen while we are living our so-called mundane life of work, sleep, errands and socializing with family and friends. Many encounters happen in our own home, backyard and while driving. So often we buy into the ghostly urban legend that ghosts are only found in famous buildings with a tragic history. Not so! When I tell ghost stories to children I often remind them that ghosts can be encountered anywhere, anytime by anyone.
My nonfiction books have all true stories, collected by me or experienced by me, and taken from direct, voice-recorded interviews or submitted via email. Most of the stories note the actual name and locations, with a smaller portion given anonymously. And I would like to note that many eerie encounters are experienced by children.

2. Would you share a story with us about angels from your book?

Let me first say that what children believe, and what many teach is true—angels are around us, they provide help and protection and they interact with us in real time. These are not fanciful notions but real experiences in my own life and also reported by many; they show up in a wide variety of situations. Angels provide help in time of need and never stay around for a “thank you”. Angels can appear as any skin color or ethnic look and as adults or as children. Angels have been given power by the Divine and, as with nature spirits and other creatures who transcend our third dimension—believing in them is most helpful to see them and receive the grace of their assistance.

God is not done with Me Yet (pages 80-82, Eerie Encounters)
By Tonia Nolden
I was living in Metro Atlanta back in 2002. I had been unemployed for a few months, and severely depressed. It was an awful time for me. I was newly divorced, my twin girls lived with my ex-husband in Nashville, I left my $70k per year job due to the stress on my mental health, and couldn’t afford the medications I needed to take to treat my severe depression and anxiety. The icing on the cake was the recent events of 9-11 of which I saw in a dream a week prior to the tragedy. But that’s another story. The attack on America caused an economic downturn in major cities like Atlanta, which made it nearly impossible to find a job. I was on a path to self destruction. I couldn’t understand why everything bad was happening to me all at once. I drank heavily, partied hard, and did anything for attention from anyone. I just needed to feel loved, but at the same time I didn’t care about the consequences I would face if I met the wrong person. “Whatever happens is supposed to happen…” was my motto.
One night, I decided to venture out to meet a guy I had met at a bar a couple of nights before. Who cares if he’s crazy? As long as I found the companionship I needed, I will be fine. I lived in Gwinnett County just northeast of Fulton County. He lived in Southwest Atlanta. It was about a 30 minute drive to his house at 2 o’clock in the morning. In hindsight, a woman in her right mind should not be driving to anyone’s home that late at night. She must be looking for trouble, right?
I made it to my exit just like the directions said, and I proceeded down the main road to his subdivision. Then, my sister-friend’s car (mine was totaled the week before), came to a grinding halt right off of the exit. I had just enough momentum to pull into the shoulder next to the driveway of a shady apartment complex. I was stuck. My cell phone was only able to dial 911 (couldn’t afford to pay the bill) and it was dark. Very dark… no street lights.
I called 911 for help and tried to explain where I was. The operator said I was on a county line, so she could not determine which police station could help me—the perils of living in a big city. As she frantically tried to find help for me, I noticed someone walking towards me. By the light of his cigarette, he made eye contact with me, and was heading my way. I felt fear run up my spine. I knew this man was only there to harm me. So, I started to panic and locked myself in the car trying to protect myself as best as I could. What the hell was I doing driving in one of the worst areas of the city so late at night—just to meet up with some guy?! If I got raped or killed, that’s what I get for being so foolish.
Out of nowhere, a car pulled up next to mine. It was one of those older models Infinity Q45’s. I’ll never forget it because my brother-in-law had one just like it. The man in the car rolled down his window, I cracked mine.
He turned on his overhead light so I could see him, smiled and said, “Having car trouble?”
I said “yes!”
He said, “Well let me help you move your car off of the road…”
I never felt so happy to see someone! I told the 911 operator I had help and she said “What a blessing!” and disconnected the call.
The gentleman told me to put the car in neutral and steer as he pushed. I did what he said, and together we glided the car safely into a parking space.
He then asked me if I needed a ride somewhere, and I said, “Yes, I have a friend not to far from here…” referring to my late-night rendezvous.
He had a funny look on his face, and said “Ok, I will take you there. What is the address?”
I told him the address, and asked to borrow his phone to call my friend to look out for us. Then we drove off.
The feeling I had in this gentleman’s car was of safety. He had the friendliest demeanor and smiled the entire time. Not sure if it was the light from the dash or what, but he appeared to glow. He reminded me of my brother-in-law (my sister’s husband), who was a great helpful guy, so I felt comfortable.
I asked him why did he pull over to help me, and he said, “Because you looked like you didn’t belong here…”
We parked right in front of my friend’s home. I thanked the gentleman profusely and got out of the car. I walked up to the door where my friend stood and explained to him that the man over there in the car was so nice to bring me here after my car broke down.
My friend said, “Well let me give him some gas money for bringing you here.”
We looked around for his car, and he was gone. No brake lights, no nothing, just gone.
I was in shock. My friend was puzzled and said, “Well I guess he was in a hurry.”
Then we went inside. I spent the night there contemplating on how I was going to get home. We talked and fell asleep. The next morning, we talked at length about the incident the night before. My friend was kind enough to give me fare and a ride to the nearest Marta commuter train station to get back to Gwinnett County. During the long train ride and bus transfer home, it hit me—that guy who helped me last night was an angel! How else can someone just appear out of nowhere and disappear into darkness like that? This was a message from God that He was not done with me yet. It was a wake up call to stop my self-destructive ways and wait to receive my blessing. When I got home, I was exhausted. I lie down in my bed and cried myself to sleep praising God for helping me the night before.
Later that day, my sister-friend’s car was towed to a mechanic who determined that the engine mounts had failed. The engine fell on the transmission of the car! He said I was lucky that it fell when it did. If I had been on the interstate, I would have been in a fatal accident.
“I hear you loud and clear God… I’m going to stop effin’up, and listen to you!”
A few months later, I got a job that provided me with a new car and a move to Louisville, KY where I now reside. Since I’ve been here, I met my husband Steve, settled into a new home and my now 15 year-old twins reside with us. I’m in a new place, with a new family and a new home. My prayers have been answered!
This experience is “proof positive” that God is not done with me yet. Even when I thought he was, he came through. I hope my story helps someone out there.

3. What story can you share with us about aliens?

As with many stories of what could be called psychic or paranormal events, the seeing of UFOs and interactions with (what Whitley Strieber calls) “visitors” aka aliens, and the upshot of the feeling, the tone and quite possibly the reality of the experience is that those “others” are actually us, or versions of us, or the us in the future, and that they could be found not only “out there” but also inside our own mind. This is not to imply that they are not real but rather that the matrix in which we exist is complex and allows for intimate communication which transcends the perceived limits of physical brain and body. The cartoon character Pogo stated an already famous quote from Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry “We have met the enemy and he is us”. Perhaps that same observation could be applied to those spirits and Sasquatch and visitors which we encounter.

Definitely Not Identified (pages 136-137, Eerie Encounters)
By Carole Goad
In January of 1967, at about 9:00 am, I had just gotten my husband and kids off to work and school respectively, finished the morning kitchen clean-up and sat down in my easy chair in the living room to read the morning paper. It was such a typical cold, winter morning in the rural area of southern Michigan where we lived. A clean, white blanket of snow covered the frozen ground.
My easy chair faced eastward toward a rather large window out of which I could clearly see the neighbor’s farmhouse, perched atop a small hill that was about an eighth of a mile east of our home.
As I began to look at my newspaper, something caught my eye out the window, and it was significant enough that it quickly brought me right back out of my chair and to the window! Hovering above the neighbor’s home, I saw this enormous silver-appearing “craft” just hovering, as though it was sitting atop some invisible landing dock. Its appearance was extremely bright, although it did not hurt my eyes to look at it. It looked like a huge toy “top” that parents used to buy to spin around to amuse their children. The object appeared to have a row of ports or windows around it, midway between the top and the bottom of it.
I could hardly believe what I was seeing, so I went outside on my front porch just to make sure I was not seeing some type of reflection or mirage in the window. Outside on my porch, I clearly saw the craft and noted that the craft was completely silent and still. I wanted to call someone, but I was afraid it would be gone before they could see it, and they would think I was crazy!
I stood outdoors for sometime, maybe ten minutes, just studying the strange craft. It was obviously not a plane, helicopter or balloon. Then suddenly, it moved to the right, then straight upward and outward and away at what appeared to me to be an extremely high rate of speed, and it was gone, its exit taking only about two seconds, in absolute silence. That evening when my husband came home, I told him, but he thought it was probably a “plane or helicopter”.
Two weeks later, a similar incident occurred. This time, it was about 8:00 pm, well after dark. I was finishing cleaning the kitchen after dinner. My husband was reading the paper in the living room. I walked out the side door on the west side of our home to take out some trash. There, looking westward, I saw an identical object, extremely bright in the dark night, just hovering over the cornfield surrounding our home.
I quickly summoned my husband to come see this. He and I both walked outside together. We both stood looking at this huge, silent, bright object hovering in the air. We were both speechless for a few seconds. I told him that this craft was exactly what I had seen two weeks before. I asked him if he thought it was a plane or a helicopter. He admitted that he did not know what the craft was, and stated, “I never want to discuss this again.” He went back into the house to resume reading his paper. I lingered outside watching the craft for several minutes when it suddenly, as before, moved upward and away extremely fast, then disappeared.

4. Could you share a story with us about ghosts that you find fascinating?

I have collected over 500 ghost stories and I have to say that there is no end to the raw data of anecdotal evidence for ghosts. I have taken or received incredible photographs of ghosts and other dimensional beings. My favorite program to tell, as a storyteller, for any and all ages, is ghost stories and I have six subcategories of ghost stories. I play guitar and sing songs I’ve written about ghosts, I have a Halloween tree with hand-crafted wood ornaments for the ghostly theme. No story program attracts more interest than ghost stories. Why?
Ghosts are people. Ghosts are folks that we know, even loved ones. Ghosts are our constant existential reminder of our origin and our destination—the dimension of spirit. Ghosts are usually nice or neutral and occasionally naughty or mean. But one can engage in communication with ghosts much easier than trying to talk to your Congressman.

Footsteps but Nobody There, (pages 60-61, Eerie Encounters)
Pat Banks, Richmond
The Center for Appalachian Studies has been in the Robert Martin house since about 2001. It had been vacant for several years before then. It is the residence of State Senator and Eastern Kentucky University President Martin. He probably wore other hats as well. He and his wife lived here and then they donated it to the University. For several years it needed renovations to get it ready for use as office space.
I would visit my husband here and once he remarked, “I think Bob has been here to visit me again.”
He described hearing someone walking inside after opening the door, then closing the door. Then he would come downstairs from his office and the first floor would be empty—not a soul in sight. This sort of thing happens in other parts of the house as well. Even when there was carpeting on the stairs, covering the wooden steps, we could clearly hear someone walking up the stairs but, when I turned around to respond to the person I heard, no one was visible. Last year they took the carpeting out. And we still hear someone walking up the stairs, stopping at the landing, and again, I turn around to speak to that person who I know is standing right there…and they are not there. It’s not scary but it’s like there is a conversation wanting to happen but it doesn’t take place.
It is a very old house and it was originally heated with coal. There are fireplaces in every section of the home. One afternoon, my husband was in his front office and I was in the back office—we were both upstairs. We were expecting two other faculty members to come over for a meeting. It was about two or three PM when I heard the front door open, first the glass storm door and then the main wooden door opened. I then heard both of those doors close in turn when we both listened to two voices, one male and the other female. The voice went into the house, talking back and forth then we heard them turn to the right and head into the meeting room.
So I started to walk down the steps, calling out to them, “We’ll be right down, we’ll be right down.”
I got down to the first floor and found the meeting room empty. So I though maybe they went to the other side of the house.
I went through the entire house and there was no one besides Allan and me. Fifteen minutes later, with the identical set of sounds of doors opening and closing, male and female voices interacting, and footsteps walking into the home, and it was actually the two faculty we’d expected.

Another time, when we had a spring break, the maintenance workers came into the empty house to clean the white carpeting that was upstairs in the offices. The custodial staff took the time to clean the carpeting while we school was out. We found out later that they were really upset because when they returned, before we came back, they someone had walked into the center of the office carpeting leaving full black footprints.
Because there is still coal dust in the basement of the house, the black footprints would have been tracked up from there. The curious thing about the ghostly evidence left was that the footprints showed someone walking into the center of the room, standing that far, but leaving no footprints to walk outside of the room. The footprints were very clear—they just ended in the middle of the room. This house just seems like it’s got more people in it than we see.
No one, to my knowledge, has seen a spirit here. Now this is an old house, and I can clearly recognize the sounds an old house makes—it creaks, the wind rattles things. But I often hear other sounds, much more specific sounds, like footsteps, rustling sounds in another room. But raccoons and mice don’t make the sound of shoes going up the stairs or open the doors.

5. What story can you share with us about haunts?

I suppose a haunt is a place where one sees a ghost or a number of ghosts. There seems to be constant activity there, whether it’s in a building, outdoors in nature or at a cemetery. You get a vibe about these places, you don’t feel alone—someone is there, just out of sight, hovering over your shoulder. I’ve been in some famous haunts like Waverly Hills and old battlefields. I’ve walked into old mansions in Kentucky where the first question I want to ask is, “Tell me about the ghosts you have in here?”
Our pets and working animals often show us when we come upon a haunt; a horse will stop in its tracks and the hair will go up on a dog. Each spot on this planet has a history and many times, ignorant of those previous events, we seemed puzzled about the odd sounds and sightings in that haunted location. There are many stories from Louisville’s old tuberculosis sanatorium, Waverly Hills. I went on a tour there about ten years ago and I can only describe the energetic atmosphere as heavy. People have seen ghostly figures, recorded voices, and women have felt their hair pulled. Shadow figures cross the hallways and a child’s ball seems to move around on its own power.

We Snuck in Waverly, (page 75, Eerie Encounters)
Laura Rissler
I was about fourteen years old when me and some friends decided we’d sneak in Waverly Hills. We had heard that the old tuberculosis sanatorium was haunted and I lived right down Dixie Highway from Waverly. Of course, as a kid, I didn’t realize how bad it was to trespass, to “break and enter”. One of my friends drove there one night and there were six of us in the car. We took a board off, crawled through the window and went up the stairwell to the second floor. Back then, we’d often sneak in to Waverly, literally we went about thirty times throughout high school. I only saw somebody else up there twice.
This happened before the Mattinglys bought Waverly. There was no commercial operation, no security guards, nothing but the empty and abandoned building. As we walked through the second floor, I was at the back of the line. There were all kinds of things on the floor. The signs to the various rooms, Psych Room, were still on the doors. It seemed that we walked forever. Then we all heard somebody moaning. But we told ourselves oh that’s the wind. But it stopped us in our tracks.
We got really quiet and then we all agreed, “Maybe we should head back.”
I know we were all really scared then, we had the heebie-jeebies but nobody wanted to admit it. We walked back down the stairwell and I’m one of the first ones to crawl out the window. I helped my friends climb out. As the last person was coming out the window, we heard the stairwell door to the second floor sham shut! I was the last one in the line, the last one to move out of the rooms and I know there was no one else up there. When the door SLAMMED shut, all of us freaked out.
We took off running down the hill, through the woods, down the path past the little apartments at the bottom of the hill, got in our car and took off. We did not say a word while we ran away, not until we were safe in the car. I didn’t see anything, but I would swear on my life that there was nobody else with us that night in Waverly.
In the car, we overcame our adrenalin and started talking, “Oh my God! Did that really just happen?!”
We were so spooked we hardly talked about it. We were in shock. And I was looking into the stairwell as I helped the last person down I saw the door slam shut. I just didn’t see what shut it, and that was creepy.

6. Could you go into shape shifting creatures with us and what you think about them?

The lore of shape shifting creatures is very ancient. From tribal societies to science fiction, stories of creatures who can flow into alternate forms—or appearances—both fascinate us and provide a pretty good scary factor as well. Many debate whether we are actually hybrid creatures and, whether through our DNA or our memories, we understand and have kinship with more than the human tribe. Shape shifting is explored in shamanic journeying and many tales of witches provide witness to stories of a spirit appearing as an animal or a human changing into a glowing green ball of fire. Once again, these real world encounters either force us into a fearful corner of denial or the necessary relaxation of the concrete and inflexible reality in our dominant Western view, of a mechanistic 3-dimensional universe.
Native American experience, spiritual tenets and practices acknowledge the brotherhood of all living beings. The bears are brothers, the ravens are just as smart as us, and the coyote is a teacher and trickster. Spirits, angels and faeries constantly shift and change and the ease which with they do so is, to be honest, enviable. We can do this in our dream state and the astral realm is a more fluid medium for shape shifting. In storytelling, any shifts of form are not only possible but part of a good story. Magic and shape shifting go hand in hand.
In some accounts, it is hard to decipher whether the creature has actually shifted shape, or whether that spirit or alien has instead planted in our mind the alternate view. Stories of alien encounters speak of “screened memories” where those who describe the encounter first mention seeing the face of an owl or a mouse or a deer…and then later realize that they actually had awakened to see an alien. Perhaps those beings provide a less threatening image or work with the library of reality within our mind to translate their appearance into something less threatening.

7. Would you tell us a story about Sasquatch?

Oh, the stories of Sasquatch are so fascinating! I’ve had several subtle encounters, I’ve been given first hand accounts, and I’ve done some reading in books and online. First let me say, that for any sort of unusual phenomena, the nascent reality is one of denial and of offering a narrative that on the surface is cursory, superficial and a ludicrous; and is a dismissive effort via a collusion of media, government and scientific establishment. In other words, when it comes to Bigfoot, UFOs and crop circles, the cover stories offered by the media, accepted by a gullible and uneducated populace, actually wilt under the many facts and accounts.
The commonly held assumption is that Sasquatch is a remnant ape species that clumsily traipses around the Pacific Northwest, leaving the occasional footprint, sighting or clump of hair. I’ve found Bigfoot stories in nearly every one of Kentucky’s 120 counties and there have been sightings and video taken here in Louisville and in the counties surrounding the Louisville metro. I merely suggest, as with the stories of angels, ghosts, spirits, faeries and UFOs, is that folks simply read the actual accounts and come to their own conclusion/s. My conclusions regarding Bigfoot are:
The Sasquatch are multi-dimensional creatures with easy and skilled access to our realm and at least one other dimension.
The Sasquatch are very intelligent, social and they can, have and will communicate with us if we earnestly seek their wisdom and friendship.
The Sasquatch can defend themselves with sound, smell, force and dimensional movement.
Most Sasquatch encounters are reported by country folk—hunters, farmers and those familiar with the creatures of the woods and rural habitat. They are perfectly qualified to identify what does not run like a bear or sound like a mountain lion. One witness said, “It sounded like a human imitating an owl.”
Thus, Sasquatch are expert imitators of the sounds and voice around them, including both animals and humans.
Lastly, the Native American Indians often say that Sasquatch were here long before they came to this land.

There’s Something Out There, (pages 42-43, Eerie Encounters)
Jackie Stefano, Anchorage, Alaska
This is a true story. Once upon a time, back in the late 1970s I lived with my husband on a remote placer mine of 80 acres which was about 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska, up the Steese highway. One night we had a very strange visitor, which we never saw but we heard it and felt it. We believe it was a Sasquatch. We lived in a homemade log cabin which he built himself. It was quite small, only about 14 feet by 18 feet long. We had an old fashioned barrel wood stove which kept us quite warm, and a large wood shed, a cache, and an outhouse. I cooked on a camp propane stove in the kitchen which also had a slop bucket under the homemade plywood counter. We also had a lovely screened in porch of about eight by fourteen feet to keep the bugs out and live work in the summer. We lived out there a total of about 6 years together.
One late night in September we were sitting up playing Scrabble together as one of our normal evenings of entertainment. This was before internet and we had no cell phones or television of any kind. It was quite cold already, and we had a layer of dry, crunchy leaves around on the frozen ground although it had not snowed yet. It was a very quiet, dark night. The stars were out and there wasn’t any wind. We didn’t have electricity, so we read and played games by our cherished Aladdin lamps which put out much more light than a regular oil lamp. Being seasoned Alaskans we always paid attention to the weather.
It was around 1 am on this particular night and I began feeling like something was watching us from outside our small, black windows. It was not likely that anything was “watching” us. We were six miles from the nearest road, and up a trail and across Sourdough Creek for four miles of that. Our nearest neighbors were five miles away. However, I had never had this feeling at night before. I remember telling my husband that the next time we went into town I was going to get some material at the fabric store and make curtains for our place. We sat near the small about two feet by two feet north facing window. Across the small room, was a slightly larger south facing window, about two and a half feet wide by three and a half tall.
Several times during the course of probably about a half hour, I heard our little wind chime hanging from the top front ridge pole off of the front porch, ring.
I said, “hun, do you hear our little wind chime ringing? It’s not windy out.”
My husband only replied, “There’s nothing out there! I’ve told you that before! There’s nothing there, it’s just your imagination.”
I knew that realistically, there wouldn’t be anything outside looking in. We’d never had a moose right at our cabin, as it was cleared back pretty well. They seemed to stay on the mountain trails or near the creek where the willows were plentiful. We were almost at the tree line level, and had only seen one bear across a ridge once before. The most wildlife we had around were spruce grouse, rabbits and fox along with a multitude of birds.
I however, continued to get the “creepy feeling” of something being able to see into our bright cabin, and we not being able to see out into the dark night. The chime continued light, short rings occasionally which I tried to ignore.
Then, all of a sudden and at once, the wind chimes rang and clanged very hard as if they’d been shook. At the same time, we heard loud footsteps which thundered down on the ground making the ground underneath the cabin shake. The first stomp started at the front porch where the wind chime was, and the second was mid cabin and the third was at the far end of the cabin, as if a two-footed thing which weighed as much as an elephant ran by.
My husband jumped up and grabbed his shotgun, yelling, “There’s something out there!!”
I’ll never forget the fright on his face as he ran out the cabin door to face whatever it was. He grabbed a big flashlight from the porch and shined it around while I hid in the cabin. When he came back in he said he didn’t see anything.
And that was the end of it. The next morning I actually looked for tracks right next to the cabin, but all there only the frozen ground and brittle, old broken leaves. We both knew a bear or a moose would not shake the ground and feel like it went by on two legs, with booming steps.
That was the end of that very spooky, unexplained experience.

8. What about the faerie folk can you tell us?

We are not alone on this planet and the faeries are part of the elemental kingdom—those creatures closely connected with Nature. Children of all ages love faerie tales and there are many a child and also grownups who have seen, heard and even photographed the faeries. The faeries, often minimized as fanciful creatures from movies, actually have great power and wisdom. We would do well to respect and endeavor to learn from the faerie folk. They could help us save our own planet and there is a world of cooperative endeavors if we only reached out to communicate and hear what they want to tell us.
I have a set of faerie stories, true accounts, in my book titled More True Tales of Ghosts, Spirits and Angels, as well as other faerie stories in my other books.

9. Who returned from the dead in one of your stories from the book?

The father of a colleague returned to attend to what he saw was unfinished business. Oftentimes, our loved ones and other dearly departed have a few loose ends and they will travel to whichever location on the planet to appear or otherwise communicate final business. Here is the daughter’s story.

Old Man, Do Not Kill My Dog! (pages 25-26, Eerie Encounters)
By Barbara Bloecher
My dad was getting ill and he and I talked about what to do with his dog Noodles.
I told him, “Daddy, I’ll make sure Noodles has a good home.”
I was not interested in having Noodles in my home and I told him that a couple of times. When my dad died, I still had Penny who was very aggressive to dogs and very, very old. My brothers wanted Noodles to stay on the farm. Well my dad died and we buried him. My nephew moved in to his old house.
About three weeks later, I was sitting at one end of the dining room table, paying bills. I looked up to the other end of the table and there sat my dad. I looked at him and I burst out into tears.
I told him, “Don’t leave—don’t leave!”
I cried for a while before I could speak again. When I opened my eyes I was amazed to find that he was still there.
He sat there and spoke to me, saying, “You told me that you’d take care of my dog.”
I answered, “Daddy, your dog is taken care of. Noodles is on the farm, everything is okay.”
He repeated, “You told me you’d take care of my dog and that you’d find it a good home. I think that it needs to come here. Noodles needs to come here.”
I insisted, “Dad, I can’t do that while Penny’s alive because she’s dog aggressive, very old and senile. And the boys don’t want Noodles coming off the farm. They want Noodles to stay there right now.”
“You told me you’d take care of Noodles.”
I assured my father, “I will take care of Noodles. I will make sure Noodles has a good home. And right at this moment Noodles has got the same home he’s had for the last two years.”
He just gave me a look, got up, walked into the office and through the office wall and disappeared. I sat there, stunned. Then I went back to writing bills. I looked up a while later and my dog Penny is having a big spasm, like a seizure.
I looked at her and grabbed the phone while I reached out to touch her. She was cold! Her lips were cold.
I called the vet to say, “Something really bad is wrong with Penny. She’s cold and out like a light.”
He asked, “Is she alive?”
I said, “Yes, she’s still alive.”
He told me, “Barbara, she’s dying. Do you want me to come out and put her down? She’s not in any pain.”
I thought for a moment then replied, “This old dog’s got a lot of gumption. I’ll call you in the morning.”
I hung up the phone and I said, “OLD MAN, DO NOT KILL MY DOG.”
I covered her up, she was too big to move and I went to bed. When I got up a few times in the night, she was laying right there behind the couch near the hallway. The next morning I checked on her and was fine, her little tail tapping. She lived three more months. After she died I was without a dog for about six months. I fostered dogs and walked them for a few weeks but I never found a dog I bonded with. And then my nephew moved out of the farmhouse, my brother stayed there for a while. Then he was going back to California—what are we going to do with Noodles?
I said, “I’ll take him.”
I didn’t know if at the time, but I got the best end of that deal. But that was something to see my father after he died—there he was.

10. Do you have a website you can share with us and when can we expect your next book?
My website is www.ThomasLFreese.com