CRY FOR HELP
In a fit of panic one Friday evening after a particularly nasty argument with her husband Paul that left Norma bruised both physically and emotionally, Norma ran to her closest relative in her Bronx neighborhood on East Tremont Street. Aunt Carmen always took a liking to Norma since she was a chubby child in their middle class world. Carmen knew how the other children’s teasing affected little Norma who, although slightly overweight for her age, had classic Latin features and flawless skin that blended into a stunningly pretty face. She would tell Maria not to cry about being teased and that one day she would grow up to be a beautiful woman who all of the men in the world would want to date. She told Norma that one day she would be married to a wonderful man who would care for her for the rest of her life. But Paul, Norma’s high school love and eventual husband, was not that man, and in fact was nothing but a constant source of her misery. So Norma’s cry for security once again turned to her aunt Carmen whom she knew would make things right in her life.
Despite Norma’s repeated attempts to make things work with her husband, he couldn’t be reached. She was at the end of her rope when she visited Carmen one Friday evening to ask for help. Norma knew that Carmen wise a wise woman for sure, but she also remembered the many neighborhood stories about Carmen’s “powers” – her ability to use the magic of Santeria spending hours at the neighborhood Botanica watching her aunt console the locals with sage advice, special instructions for the use of charms and powders and of course the candle magic offerings to the Catholic saints that most of the faithful knew could right almost any ill.
Norma was sure that Carmen had a potion or candle that would help make Paul change his ways, or at the very least let her find out who this other woman was who was running her family life. She could at least then confront the other woman and have some closure.
And Carmen didn’t disappoint her niece. She provided her with her strongest talismans and mixtures. She used the reading of animal parts and bones as she performed her most powerful candle magic, offering many devotions to the Roman Catholic saints known to aid in family and marital problems of all kinds. But nothing worked. Paul continued to play around, Norma was abused and their children suffered. Carmen told Norma she had only one last chance, “We must ask for help from the other side my child,” she told her. “We must seek the advice of the dead – they can see all on this earth. You must ask them or your life will continue in pain. It is your only resort.”
THE HAUNTED HUSBAND
Our telephone rang at X-Investigations just before 7PM on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving holiday of ‘99. My Czech assistant, Silvana had already left for the weekend and I was gathering the paperwork I was planning to look over during the holiday to prepare for my lecture on using occult magic in the business world at the Borough of Manhattan Community College the following week. I hurried to answer the phone in hopes that it was a telemarketer or not very important so that I could begin my holiday. But Carmen Garcia’s urgent plea in broken Spanish to assist her and her niece using the “eyes of the dead,” was too intriguing and fascinating to blow off for anther turkey day. “This is X-Investigations?” Carmen asked after a moment. “You are knowledgeable about the afterlife and how we can summon the dead to help us?”
It was a good 30 seconds before I could get a word in edgewise. Carmen at least let me answer that this was in fact X-Investigations, but the moment I said that I understood her plea, she cut me short and began to ramble about her niece Norma’s domestic predicament and that they had exhausted all known regular and magical aids. I managed to discover that they wanted to conduct a séance to contact someone that Norma trusted to help uncover why Norma’s husband Paul was cheating on her and with whom. “It is very important to my niece and her children that we take care of this problem soon,” Carmen said. “I have used all of my magical knowledge but nothing is working for us.”
I laid down my briefcase and sat back in my chair, resigning myself to the fact that I wasn’t going anywhere this Thanksgiving eve. I discussed at length Carmen’s knowledge of the occult, especially the ways of Santeria, and what spells, talismans, etc. she had tried to overcome Norma’s problem. Carmen was indeed an expert in the ways of her craft, citing ancient tribal remedies and ceremonies that I knew were authentic from my prior research into the field. She told me of the Orishas – the gods of Santeria – and the offerings she sacrificed to them. She also hinted at the ways of Voodoun and the necromantic powers of controlling the dead. But what struck me most was how defeated Carmen sounded. She was obviously concerned with her niece’s welfare, but she was also frightened of something else. I later discovered that Carmen had a twofold reason for wanting to conduct the séance that involved her own occult powers as well as Norma’s requests. This made the case that much more interesting to me so I decided on the spot that X-Investigations would assist Carmen and her niece and attempt to reach the “other side.” What I didn’t bargain for was that my decision would put Silvana’s and my sanity in jeopardy - and thrust our very lives in danger.
I asked Silvana to call on Norma the Friday after Thanksgiving at her home in the Bronx. I thought another woman would make Norma feel more comfortable in this delicate situation as well as a smoother entrée to begin the investigation. When Silvana visited Norma she expected to find a worried mother and wife, but she didn’t expect to see and hear the strange occurrences in the apartment that we later found was a primary reason for the séance request. The interview began as normal with the standard questions and answers. We typically ask about any religious beliefs, mental illness, superstitions, etc., so we can weed out any preconceived prejudices the subject might have regarding our work. Silvana then began to ask Norma why she requested the séance when there are many regular investigative techniques available to nab a philandering husband. Or she could have opted to use our regular clairvoyant means of tapping into realms unknown. But Norma reminded Silvana that her aunt Carmen had tried all of her magical skills to no avail, but then curiously enough, Norma became reticent and just stopped in the middle of the conversation. “What is wrong Norma?” Silvana asked. Norma raised her head and in a teary voice and said, “Very strange things are happening here. It is my father who died many years ago. He comes into my room at night when I am sleeping and he is very angry with me. He always hated Paul and now he is punishing me for his lustful behavior. I am very frightened. His cold hands touch me and the dark closes in on me.” At that very moment Norma began to scream, clutching the area just below her. “Aye Dios mio! My neck, the marks are coming again,” Norma yelled. Silvana was stunned to see stigmata-like welts being raised on Norma’s skin right above her breasts that appeared as though they were finger marks squeezing he flesh. “He does not want me to talk to you. He doesn’t want you to help me. My father is very angry because I did not heed his warnings about Paul when he was alive.”
Silvana tried calming Norma then immediately called me on her cell phone. She recounted what had just happened and said that Norma not only wanted to contact her dead father for help but she needed to be released from his ghostly grip. Norma was haunted on earth by her husband’s misdeeds and by her father’s spirit. “Robert, we must act quickly…Norma will become possessed. I felt a very powerful presence in the room with us. It is deep and very angry with anyone near Norma. She is in danger. We also will be in danger. You must know this before we begin,” Silvana said in her heavy Eastern European accent. I told her we would discuss it further in the office and asked if she was safe at the moment. “He knows I am clairvoyant…this one knows I am one to reach him and to force him to us. He has touched me already Robert,” Silvana said in a disturbingly unfamiliar voice.