First, let me give you a little background on my father and the relationship that he and I shared.  My father enjoyed being a Christian man and much of the last few years of his life were consumed by various church activities, bible studies and other faith based activities.  He particularly enjoyed the woods and drove to a spot each morning before his wife awoke, walked a little way into the woods and would sit in what he called his "prayer spot" to relax, pray and read the bible.  Only my grandmother (his mother), his wife and I knew about this and only I knew where it was located. He had showed me where it was just in case something would ever happen or he would be missing (he had a bad heart) but made me vow to never tell anyone where it was.  My stepmother (his wife) did not know a lot about his church and faith activities because my father was Pentecostal and well...she was not and used to make fun of him in a very mean way about his faith.  He had revealed to my husband and I that he planned to leave her but was concerned about starting over so late in life especially since he was no longer able to work due to a previous heart attack.

I received a call from the hospital on Feb. 11th, two days before my twins 4th birthday (my father was also a twin) telling me that my father had died and to come to the hospital right away.  Upon arriving I was informed that my father was found dead in his car, seated upright in the drivers seat with his foot still on the brake.  The car was still in drive and on, however; it had run out of gas and was no longer running.  Some neighborhood children had noticed that a man in a car hadn't moved for a long time and told their mother who phoned 911.  The police reported no signs of foul play and with his previous health issues his death was ruled as the result of a massive heart attack. I requested an autopsy, however; my step-mother refused and since she was his wife no autopsy was performed.  This bothered me greatly since at the hospital I noticed a few drops of fresh blood on the inside of the jacket my father had been wearing yet there was no attempt to revive him and he had no marks or other injuries anywhere. Not even a scab or scratch.  I also noticed that the times did not seem to meet up with my stepmother's version of the days events.  Particularly the fact that my father was very mottled on one side of his body (the side that he had been slightly leaning to in the car according to a police friend of ours who had been at the call, yet my stepmother had claimed to have spoken to him only "an hour prior".   She also wailed and wailed over his body without a single shed tear.  Gave his car to her ex husband along with a number of other things that had belonged to my dad. I told myself that any thought that she would hurt him in any way was crazy and I never mentioned it to anyone other than my husband once when we were alone at my father's grave, however; the events surrounding his death bothered me daily.   

Months and months had gone by and while I still thought of my father almost daily I didn't think about him all of the time and I wasn't what I would call "mourning" him anymore.  I had moments when I would miss him terribly and still do.  One night...the night before my son relayed his dream to me..I had been sitting on my back porch looking at the woods and I thought of how much my Dad would have loved sitting there (we had just bought our first home which my father never knew about or saw).  I was feeling very sad and angry about the turmoil my stepmother had caused for him in his last few years of life.   

The next day, my son and I were sitting out on that same porch and he said that "pappy came to see me last night"  I was a little caught off guard by his statement but not too much so since he regularly said he saw my father (pappy as he called him) He then went on to tell me that "pappy got killed by a bear"  I said "that must have been a really bad dream buddy"  He said, "no, mommy! Pappy got chased by a bear and it made his heart stop "beeping" ".  He then told me that my father told him that he was at his prayer spot praying and a big bear came.  He said that my father told him that he tried not to run but he was close enough to his car so he ran and the bear was chasing him.  He said that my father told him that he was laughing and drove away but then he felt his heart stop "beeping" so he stopped his car.  My son said that my father told him to make sure he tells mommy what happened because it was really important for me to know. 

My son knew nothing about my father's prayer spot or that he even called it that and even if he had overheard the term he would have no way of knowing that it was in the woods.  He also...did not know any details of my fathers death.  We didn't discuss them around the kids and my children did not attend his viewing or funeral because they were ill themselves at the time.  There was no way for him to know that my father died or was found dead in a car either or the fact that the location where he and his car were found was no more than a few blocks from the entrance to his prayer spot.  Also, the fact that he mentioned that my Dad said "I tried not to run" when he was talking about the bear also stood out to me since my father was a big hunter, fisherman who spent a huge part of his life in the woods and always made a point of telling us if we encountered a bear NEVER RUN.  Also, after my father had his first heart attack we had explained to the kids that it meant he had big trouble with his heart "beeping" and my Dad always referred to his heart beat as his heart "beep" after that so that the kids knew what he meant.   

Interestingly enough, my son has never claimed to see or speak to my father since.  He does talk about him often but only how he wishes he were here to see or do something with him.  He is the youngest of my children and was only 3 when my father died yet he knows things and remembers my father better than my older children do.  I have to wonder if he didn't get some extra time with him that none of us will ever know about.

Was this experience difficult to express in words?  No

Did you hear the deceased or hear something associated with the deceased?          Uncertain

            Did the voice or sound seem to originate externally or outside of you, inside you, or did you not hear a voice or sound, but had a sense of knowing what was communicated?  My son never really said but I assumed it had been in a dream.

            Is there any possibility what you heard was from any other source present in the surroundings at the time of your experience?           no

            Was there any possible impairment to your hearing at the time of the experience?   no

Did you feel a touch or experience any physical contact from the deceased?            Uncertain

Did you see the deceased?         Yes

My son saw him during the experience but I never asked him then what he looked like he just told me it was my father (his pappy)