After reading and commenting on a writer friend’s blog today, The Story River, I wondered if I had ever talked in detail about the night my guardian angel saved my life on my own blog.

I remember writing about it a little, so I went back and discovered I never really got into the meat of the story, the supernatural part. Since it’s October and a good ghost story is always fitting, here’s my recollection of that fateful night nearly 27 years ago thanks to Lisa who brought it up in my memory again. Lisa Stowe a fantastic writer and has books for sale here if you’re interested.

If you’d like to read the story I told about it in 2014, read today’s post first and then read lessons from that night here.

Below is my guardian angel, my grandma. I’m about 15 here I think. I lost Grandma when I was 19, we were very close. I even lived with her for a short time, about a month, to take care of her.

Saved by my Guardian Angel

My story goes back to when I was 24 years old. It was an eventful year. In May, we had been married. Then in late November my husband and I had just bought our first house. We moved from our tiny house trailer to a real house out in the country with 2 acres all to ourselves in Kentucky.

Across the road, was thick woods and a creek that you could hear rushing after a rain. It was sublime and remote. Our new house perched on a hill close to the road, had a picture window in the living room looking out over the porch and road to this woods, we were so excited.

At the time, I had quit my job and was attending school full time. I was to graduate in spring of 1995, just less than half a year away. My husband had a decent paying job but worked the night shift in Indiana so the drive was an hour and a half one way. Looking back, I don’t know what we were thinking with that kind of commute. Stars in our eyes I guess. We know better now.

I’ll never forget the nights leading up to what happened. Little did I know my guardian angel would be there to help me. It was two nights before the incident I would wake up at 2 something am in a panic that someone was in the house with me. I could feel them. I just knew there was someone there… in my room. But everywhere I searched in the house, no one.

The Second Night

The second night, it happened again. I was woken up at 2 something am. Once again, I walk the house, flipping on every single light switch and checking every closet. I made my way to the back den where the wood burning furnace crackled and the flames danced all while heating up the house quite nicely.

My two cats following me around and looking up at me all the while as if to say what are you doing up? I couldn’t shake it, I knew I felt someone there. I felt them actually looking at me in bed.

This was before my paranormal days, so while I had had encounters, I really didn’t know much about ghosts, spirits or even a guardian angel. Just that I had an interest in that sort of thing. So I wasn’t able to discern the difference between a real person’s presence and a spirit’s. In fact, in my heart I knew someone had to have been in the house and had somehow gotten out as I was walking around turning on the lights.

After securing the locks once again, I knew I had to return to sleep as I had school in a few hours. I grabbed a large butcher knife and took it to bed with me just in case. I put it under my pillow and managed to go back to sleep.

Disbelief

A couple of hours later, my husband came home from work and slid his hand under the pillow while adjusting himself to go to sleep and that’s when he found the knife. He was not pleased at all. Did I mention we had a waterbed? Hah. He argued with me about what a stupid thing that was to do. That I was just dreaming and no one had been in the house. He said he could tell by the gravel driveway that no one had drove up and there were no foot prints near the door.

He didn’t believe me.

A couple of hours later I got up and went to school like normal and later in the day he went to work.

The Third Night

The third night, I went to bed at my normal time which was about midnight. Once again, I was woken up at 2 something only this time it was to the smoke alarms. I’m betting now that my guardian angel was in that room with me, too.

Scared, I turned on the wall light and looked down to see my two cats at my feet looking to me in terror. Our house had very low ceilings, it had been built as a tannery but converted to a home years later. One reason we probably could afford the place. Me being only five one and a half, could stretch on my tiptoes and reach the ceiling with my middle finger. So when I turned on the light, the smoke was already at my head and I had to crouch a bit to not breathe in the smoke.

I ran to the den where the wood burner was and could see the fire inside. It had a glass door but the flames were all contained inside. I couldn’t understand where the smoke was coming from. There were no flames anywhere in the house… that I could see.

Each night, before my husband went to work he would pack the wood burner full, as it was our only source of heat. That way it would burn until he got home in the morning to fill it again. It had an electric blower to spread the warmth.

What a mess

I remember thinking oh no what a mess! It must be backed up and filling the house with smoke. All I could think about was how it was going to stain everything up and I’d have to wash all my walls down, curtains and shampoo the carpets to get the smell out. So I started to open as many windows as I could to let the smoke out. I just was feeding oxygen to the fire I found out later.

After that I called my in-laws. They lived about 20 minutes away. I told them the wood burner must be backed up and smoke was filling the house. My father-in-law said he was on his way. I hung up the phone and put my clothes on.

While waiting, I went back into the back den. This time flames were shooting out of the ceiling! I screamed and ran back into the kitchen and called 911. The person on the other end of the line told me to put the phone down (not hang up) and get out of the house.

I threw on a coat, grabbed my cats and my purse and ran to put them in the truck and slammed the door. I remember standing there in the cold, dark night watching the smoke pour out of my house, helpless.

Millions of stars

One thing that struck me as I stood there waiting for help to come was how many stars there were. It was a cold late fall night. It was December 13th. I could see millions of stars on this incredibly clear night. It was quiet except for a strange hissing sound that got louder and louder and turned into a low roar.

It seemed like an eternity had gone by and no one was there. I remember screaming out into the night knowing no one could hear me. We had no neighbors. My house was burning and no one could help me. Out of desperation, I went back into the house. Thinking back now, I wonder if my guardian angel was with me as I felt a quietness settle in as I walked back into the house.

I grabbed the biggest container I could which was a gallon pitcher and filled it at the kitchen sink. I ran into the back den and threw the water as high as I could at the flames. Instantly, the glass lights on either side of the flue shattered. I ran to get more water.

Finally, my father-in-law showed up. He ran in the house and yelled have you got a water hose? I did, but since it was almost winter, we hadn’t hooked it up and I wasn’t even sure where the spicket was. We ran outside to try and find it. No luck. We ran back inside and remember filling another pitcher full of water and taking it to the den where the fire was. The smoke was getting so thick, I could barely see.

Just as I threw the water up to the ceiling again, a firefighter walked in the door that was standing open and grabbed me and said I had to get out.

I don’t remember much after that. They made me leave. My naive 24 year old self did what I was told. My father-in-law said go back to their house so I did. I made a stop to friends house on the way and banged on their door because I saw their light was on.

Tony was getting ready for his very early shift as a truck driver. I stood at the door and he answered. Carolee came to the door after he yelled it’s Jaime! They both were standing at the door and I was on the outside as their faces made a wrinkle, what’s that horrible smell they asked?! It was me.

It hit me just then as I cried out our house is burning down!

Looking back soon after, I knew I was getting visits from what I like to think was my grandmother, my apparent guardian angel. She had to have been warning me of the upcoming fire and to be ready to get up and leave. If it weren’t for the visits and the smoke alarm, I wouldn’t be here to tell the story. I would’ve died from smoke inhalation and then burned up. My guardian angel saved my life.

Don’t forget if you’d like to read more about lessons this fire taught me, read more here.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are always on watch for your guardian angel.

Creepy Art Show ⬅︎   /     Jennings Street Public House ➡︎

Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page under the additional links menu. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts and have started created more and more of them. My most favorite thing to try to achieve in my painting is is mystery and telling mystical stories.

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