Haunted

Ted sneaked into the bed quietly and snuggled into her husband's warm body.

"I am scared," she whispered silently to his sleeping form.

They had watched a ghost movie called Paheli (meaning Puzzle, in Hindi), together that evening.

The half-asleep Tony awoke with a start, then settled back slowly in their bed, trying to regain his slumber.

"Don't be," he mumbled, hugging her tightly to him. "It was only a movie."

"How do you make a ghost go away?"

 she asked again, staring wide-eyed into the darkness.

He awakened fully now. He sensed her stiff body, her cold hands under the covers. He took them in his own warm hands and spoke quietly into the night, "The wife of a man, once became very sick. So sick, that it was time for her to go."

"She spoke her dying words to him, "I love you so much. I don't want to leave you. I will always love you. Promise me, that you will always love me too. Promise me, or I will come back to haunt you."

"For several years after her death, the husband grieved her loss. Life passed him by, as he stumbled through it for a while, but then he met someone and fell in love with her."

"As their affair got serious and he began to contemplate marrying again, the ghost of his former wife started appearing in his dreams. The apparition blamed him for not keeping his promise, and every night thereafter, started returning to taunt him. Haunt him."

"She would remind him of everything that had transpired between them, even to the point of repeating, their conversations verbatim. It upset him so badly that he began losing his ability to sleep at all. His bedside table became piled with sleeping pills, but his condition got from bad to worse."

"Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived nearby."

"This is a very clever ghost," the master said, upon hearing the man's story.

"It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every detail. What I say. What I do. She knows everything!"

The master smiled, "Indeed, she does. She knows that you are in love with this other woman now."

The man nodded.

"And knows that you want to marry her."

The man nodded.

"Do you really want to marry this other woman?"

The man nodded again.

"And you really want the ghost of your dead wife to release you forever?"

The man nodded again, firmly.

"Then I will tell you what to do, the next time you see the ghost."

That night, when the ghost returned, the man responded just as the master had advised.

"You are such an omniscient soul," the man said. "You know that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question, I will break off with the other woman and remain single forever after."

"Ask your question," the ghost replied.

The man scooped up a handful of pills from his bedside table and asked, "Tell me exactly how many pills there are in my hand."

"Instantaneously, the ghost disappeared and never returned. Can you guess why this was so?" Tony asked as he concluded the story.

"Because the ghost had came from the man's own mind,"Ted responded. "He had created it. That's why she knew only what he knew. It was his own guilt that came to haunt him."

"The Buddhist master wanted him to realise that the ghost existed in his own mind. Only in his own mind! It had never really existed outside, like a pink elephant does not exist outside the mind."

"The man couldn't know beforehand, how many pills he would scoop up. If she really were an all knowing ghost that existed outside his mind, she would know. But she didn't. The man didn't know how many pills he did scoop up. Neither did she."

"If she existed in the man's mind," said Tony, "she would have known what was coming. She would have known what the master had advised the man to do, as the man knew it. Why did she fall for it then?"

"Are you saying ghosts do exist?" she asked him. "That she was entrapped because she didn't know about the trap. Which means she must have existed outside his mind. But if she existed outside his mind and knew everything, why did she not know the number of pills?"

"Could it be that ghosts exist outside the mind, but they may not be all knowing. They may be just like us. So, she knew a lot about him, but not everything. Honouring a deal, jealousy, these traits make her very human-like anyway."

"Nothing in the story says she didn't know the number," Tony suggested. "Nothing in the story says she didn't know about the trap. You jumped to those conclusions. The story only says she vanished and never returned. Why?"

"Why would she know about an ambush, but want to be ambushed regardless?" Ted was bewildered. "Know about the number of pills, but vanish and release him forever. A sudden change of heart, only when she had been put to the test."

"Why indeed?" he whispered softly. "Why did she disappear? Or choose to disappear?"

Ted

pondered long into the night on that. When he hadn't spoken for a while, she turned to look at him. Sometimes, just looking at him gave her a clue to what he was really thinking.

He was already fast asleep. Sleeping like a baby. Free of any doubts or inhibitions.

She snuggled back into him. The warmth of his body tucked her away slowly into a drowsy haven. For a while...

Doctors Are Stunned By Conjoined Twins’ Transformation After They’re Separated

Doctors didn’t expect Shylah and Selah Oglesby to live. In fact, doctors believed the conjoined twins’ chances of dying were around 75 to 95 percent, leaving a small window for survival.

Shylah and Selah were conjoined at the stomach. Although they had two separate hearts, they shared a liver. Their parents, Misty and Curtis Oglesby, agreed to allow the baby girls to undergo an invasive surgery to separate them.

Physicians at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center spent three months creating a strategy to separate the little ones. Finally, the six hour surgery was a success. Shylah and Selah were separated, but Selah still struggled with a congenital heart defect that required several surgeries.

Two years later, and the toddlers are happy, healthy babies. Both their parents and doctors are stunned at their development.

“They are my miracles,” said Misty. “I am in awe of their progress.”

Their second birthday is a huge milestone for the girls. It’s their first birthday where they can truly enjoy themselves without being bound by health limitations.

“Today feels like their first birthday,” says their mom. “Their first birthday in which they’ll be able to eat cake. The first birthday where they’re mobile and able to get around and open presents.”

Doctors credit Misty and Curtis for providing their daughters with an incredible support system. Doctors can give you an outlook, a percentage, a few statistics, but Shylah and Selah show that it is up to each of us to beat the odds.

Video Credit: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center / Facebook

Young Woman Nearly Dies In Tragic Plane Crash 12 Years Ago. Now, Judges Can’t Believe Her Voice

Kechi has been through a lot in her life. Probably more then any of us could ever imagine.

When she was just 16 years old, she was in a horrible plane crash that claimed the lives of 107 passengers on board. She was one of only two survivors from the crash.

Originally from Nigeria, Kechi took to the America’s Got Talent stage to share her survival story. When asked how she was able to cope after experiencing such tragedy and loss, Kechi expressed how music was her escape during her recovery.

How it helped her through that rough time in her life.

Kechi absolutely blows the judges and audience members away with her raw talent and achingly beautiful vocals.

After she finished her rendition of “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran, the judges and audience members erupted in applause and a standing ovation for the survivor. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, including Kechi herself.

Even Simon Cowell looked like the waterworks were about to start caressing down his cheeks!

Kechi will surely be one to watch out for this upcoming season on America’s Got Talent. For not just her talent alone, but for her amazing bravery, and honesty.

Check out the video for yourself to see Kechi blow everyone away.

Mom Says, ‘Nobody Ever Wants My Son In Their Class,’ Then Finds Special New Program For Him

Starting school is always a tough adjustment for children. New environment, new people, new experiences that can be both exciting, and scary.

It can be a lot harder for some children who have special needs as well.

While most schools implore programs to help special needs children, there aren’t as many programs as there probably should be.

That is until “It’s A Sensory World” came along.

Cindy Chadwick, whose son Wes attends the “It’s A Sensory World” establishment praises the program for giving her what she always wanted for her son.

She said: “Teacher ran out into the parking lot and followed me out. And she goes, I want him in my class, and nobody has ever said that. Nobody has every said to me that they wanted Wes and I knew in that moment before even going forward, that it was a great place to be.”

The program specializes in providing an environment specifically intended for children with special needs. It’s areas of expertise include both educational and therapeutic practices.

According to CW 33, the site is currently trying to raise funds to buy a school bus because of the growing number of kids in the program.

The campaign to raise funds for the bus is entitled “Bus For Hope,” and the goal is $20,000. This would help cover insurance and field trips once a week for a year.

Hopefully the site can raise their goal soon!

Why Dead People are Buried

In the beginning of the world when the Creator had made men and women and the animals, they all lived together in the creation land. The Creator was a big chief, past all men, and being very kind-hearted, was very sorry whenever any one died. So one day he sent for the dog, who was his head messenger, and told him to go out into the world and give his word to all people that for the future whenever any one died the body was to be placed in the compound, and wood ashes were to be thrown over it; that the dead body was to be left on the ground, and in twenty-four hours it would become alive again.
When the dog had traveled for half a day he began to get tired; so as he was near an old woman's house he looked in, and seeing a bone with some meat on it he made a meal off it, and then went to sleep, entirely forgetting the message which had been given him to deliver.
After a time, when the dog did not return, the Creator called for a sheep, and sent him out with the same message. But the sheep was a very foolish one, and being hungry, began eating the sweet grasses by the wayside. After a time, however, he remembered that he had a message to deliver, but forgot what it was exactly; so as he went about among the people he told them that the message the Creator had given him to tell the people, was that whenever any one died they should be buried underneath the ground.
A little time afterwards the dog remembered his message, so he ran into the town and told the people that they were to place wood ashes on the dead bodies and leave them in the compound, and that they would come to life again after twenty-four hours. But the people would not believe him, and said, "We have already received the word from the Creator by the sheep, that all dead bodies should be buried." In consequence of this the dead bodies are now always buried, and the dog is much disliked and not trusted as a messenger, as if he had not found the bone in the old woman's house and forgotten his message, the dead people might still be alive.

The Considerate Husband

‘The Considerate Husband’ is an effort to understand the female mind!
Funny story on how the final 3 wishes of a dying man were interpreted by his loving wife...

 Women fool men," Paul teased, "and when they are not fooling them, they are fooling around with them."
"Women don't need to make fools out of men," Mary

retorted laughingly. "Most men are the do-it-yourself types."
"Is that what women think?" he asked. "That empathy is foolishness. Kindness is lost upon an ungrateful soul."
“Not true,” she fought back. "Women appreciate kindness, and they know how to show their gratitude."
"How?" he asked.
"Well," she replied. "I recently read of a widow telling her friends what a wonderful, empathetic, and considerate husband her man had been."
"He thought of everything," the widow told her friends. "Just before he died, he called me to his bedside, and handed me a sealed envelope."
"Love," he said. "It contains a Memorandum of my last three wishes. Promise me, that after I am gone, you will open it and do exactly as I have instructed. Then, I can go in peace."
"So I promised," she said. "And he found peace. God bless his thoughtful soul."
"What were his last wishes?" her friends asked.
"The first was: Buy a nice coffin," she replied. "So I bought the most expensive casket I could find. Lovely look. Luxurious lining. Smart style. He would have liked that, wouldn't he?"
"The second was: Buy a nice funeral. So I bought the most expensive service I could find. With all his favorite foods for everyone attending. He would have loved that, wouldn't he?"
"And the third wish?" asked her friends.
"The third was: Buy a nice stone. So I bought the most expensive stone, the rest of his money could buy."
She flashed her breathtaking diamond at her friends, and said, "He would have been proud of that, wouldn't he?"

The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull

Effiong Edem was a native of Cobham Town. He had a very fine daughter, whose name was Afiong. All the young men in the country wanted to marry her on account of her beauty; but she refused all offers of marriage in spite of repeated entreaties from her parents, as she was very vain, and said she would only marry the best-looking man in the country, who would have to be young and strong, and capable of loving her properly. Most of the men her parents wanted her to marry, although they were rich, were old men and ugly, so the girl continued to disobey her parents, at which they were very much grieved. The skull who lived in the spirit land heard of the beauty of this Calabar virgin, and thought he would like to possess her; so he went about amongst his friends and borrowed different parts of the body from them, all of the best. From one he got a good head, another lent him a body, a third gave him strong arms, and a fourth lent him a fine pair of legs. At last he was complete, and was a very perfect specimen of manhood.
He then left the spirit land and went to Cobham market, where he saw Afiong, and admired her very much.
About this time Afiong heard that a very fine man had been seen in the market, who was better-looking than any of the natives. She therefore went to the market at once, and directly she saw the Skull in his borrowed beauty, she fell in love with him, and invited him to her house. The Skull was delighted, and went home with her, and on his arrival was introduced by the girl to her parents, and immediately asked their consent to marry their daughter. At first they refused, as they did not wish her to marry a stranger, but at last they agreed.
He lived with Afiong for two days in her parents' house, and then said he wished to take his wife back to his country, which was far off. To this the girl readily agreed, as he was such a fine man, but her parents tried to persuade her not to go. However, being very headstrong, she made up her mind to go, and they started off together. After they had been gone a few days the father consulted his Ju Ju man, who by casting lots very soon discovered that his daughter's husband belonged to the spirit land, and that she would surely be killed. They therefore all mourned her as dead.
After walking for several days, Afiong and the Skull crossed the border between the spirit land and the human country. Directly they set foot in the spirit land, first of all one man came to the Skull and demanded his legs, then another his head, and the next his body, and so on, until in a few minutes the skull was left by itself in all its natural ugliness. At this the girl was very frightened, and wanted to return home, but the skull would not allow this, and ordered her to go with him. When they arrived at the skull's house they found his mother, who was a very old woman quite incapable of doing any work, who could only creep about. Afiong tried her best to help her, and cooked her food, and brought water and firewood for the old woman. The old creature was very grateful for these attentions, and soon became quite fond of Afiong.
One day the old woman told Afiong that she was very sorry for her, but all the people in the spirit land were cannibals, and when they heard there was a human being in their country, they would come down and kill her and eat her. The skull's mother then hid Afiong, and as she had looked after her so well, she promised she would send her back to her country as soon as possible, providing that she promised for the future to obey her parents. This Afiong readily consented to do. Then the old woman sent for the spider, who was a very clever hairdresser, and made him dress Afiong's hair in the latest fashion. She also presented her with anklets and other things on account of her kindness. She then made a Ju Ju and called the winds to come and convey Afiong to her home. At first a violent tornado came, with thunder, lightning and rain, but the skull's mother sent him away as unsuitable. The next wind to come was a gentle breeze, so she told the breeze to carry Afiong to her mother's house, and said good-bye to her. Very soon afterwards the breeze deposited Afiong outside her home, and left her there.
When the parents saw their daughter they were very glad, as they had for some months given her up as lost. The father spread soft animals' skins on the ground from where his daughter was standing all the way to the house, so that her feet should not be soiled. Afiong then walked to the house, and her father called all the young girls who belonged to Afiong's company to come and dance, and the feasting and dancing was kept up for eight days and nights. When the rejoicing was over, the father reported what had happened to the head chief of the town. The chief then passed a law that parents should never allow their daughters to marry strangers who came from a far country. Then the father told his daughter to marry a friend of his, and she willingly consented, and lived with him for many years, and had many children.