As a child growing up in Australia, Charlotte* would frequently see a Victorian woman – or a man – sitting on her bed. Feet at the door. Or lights flickering on and off on their own.
She was “anxious and emotionally scared”.
Doors would slam shut by themselves, clocks would stop for no reason.
Charlotte would also have visions of a black mass with hands and legs. She saw swells in the ground that she would get caught up in.
“My siblings and I felt uncomfortable at home. Even in our bedrooms,” said Charlotte, who is now in her 40s.
“I always felt as if there was someone watching me.”
She had recurring nightmares of feeling fingers in her back.
“It was very painful. When I asked my sister about it, she said she had the same nightmare.”
They were using seances and ouija boards to contact their own mother who had passed away.
Charlotte was the most affected out of her siblings. The others “didn’t want to talk about it, or pushed it out of their heads”.
When Charlotte tried talking to her mum about it, her mum would “play it off like it was a bit of a joke”.
Charlotte’s mum and aunts would often have what they called “a girl’s night out” in the home.
It was “just a bit of fun”, her mum would say.
Charlotte and her siblings were not allowed to see what they were doing. But through snatches of the grown-ups’ conversation, Charlotte gathered that they were using seances and ouija boards to contact their own mother. She had passed away when they were just a few years old.
Charlotte also guessed that they were contacting the spirit of a man who had died in the house.
Often, their neighbours, and even her own mum, would say to her: “You must be reading till late because I see your bedroom light on at midnight.” But she had switched the light off at 9pm before going to bed.
“The music on the radio slowed … the lights started flickering on and off.”
She knew it was not her imagination. A girl her age witnessed the strange occurrences when she came to visit.
“The music on the radio slowed, and there was this creepy slow, deep voice. The lights started flickering on and off. It freaked us out,” said Charlotte.
The next day, Charlotte told her parents about it. “My sister also said our home felt spooky.”
Her parents called in a priest to do an exorcism, but it did not stop the unnatural occurrences.
When they moved to another suburb, Charlotte was relieved. “I wanted to get out of my bedroom where I had seen so many things.”
Even when she eventually left home, Charlotte would still be plagued by nightmares and ghostly apparitions well into her 30s.
Charlotte’s mum did not see anything wrong with the seances. She seemed desperate to contact her mother who had died when she was three.
“Her mother’s death hit her hard. It had really hurt her,” explained Charlotte.
Her dad remarried, but her stepmother was unkind to the children.
Then she met three people whose lives often gave her something to think about.
“Because Mum wasn’t shown much love by her stepmother, she wasn’t really a loving mother to us. She was quite detached from us.
“Whenever we complained about anything, she would say, ‘I had it so much worse’.”
So Charlotte and her siblings clung to each other.
Then she met three people whose lives often gave her something to think about.
When she was 21, she met Olivia*, who would become her best friend for life.
“She was pretty, and I realised that Christians can be cool. But what set her apart from others was her behaviour.
“Even though her life wasn’t easy, she had this sort of glow about her. Like she had a super power within her. I realised this was her faith.
“When I went to her home, her parents were so lovely and welcoming. They were always thinking about their children. So different from my mum.”
Olivia was the first of what she would call “signposts” in her life” – people who made a big impact on her. They were all Christians.
“While the other men would put down their wives, he always had something nice to say about his family.”
The second was a colleague at the finance firm where she worked.
“While the other men would talk about how much they drank or put down their wives, he would come in and say how happy he was. He always had something nice to say about his family.
“We knew he went to church, but he didn’t push his faith on us.
“All of us adored him.”
Later, she met Jack*, her third “signpost”. They were on the same tour group for people under 30 in Europe.
“He was outgoing and the life of the party. But he was respectful of the girls, decent and helpful,” she said.
“He had been Christian all his life and had attended theological college. He had a deep faith that he would share with us.”
Charlotte invited Jack to her engagement party. They lost contact after he moved to another state.
Charlotte’s honeymoon period with her new husband did not last long. He was “a bad boy” she had known from school.
His gambling and drinking problems surfaced. He also bruised her when he got drunk and angry.
“He would grab me very hard. Once, he put a pillow over my face.”
They went for couple counselling. But he denied that there was any issue.
Then she found calling cards of prostitutes in their home.
The last straw was when she walked in on him snorting drugs.
Because he was violent, she feared for her safety. So she made an excuse that she needed to help her sister and moved out.
Their marriage only lasted nine months.
When they broke up, her husband confirmed that he had indeed been unfaithful.
Olivia, her best friend, started encouraging Charlotte to go to church.
She introduced Charlotte to her church friends.
Charlotte said: “Some had problems, but they still were happy and had this inner glow which I would describe as a strength. They had this love for life. Whereas I was really down and anxious.”
“God is in control and has dominion over evil. And that was exactly what I needed to hear and know.”
Within two weeks, Charlotte found herself attending a course which invites attendees to ask all sorts of questions about Jesus.
“The Alpha course was so powerful. I learnt that there is a wonderful, protective God who overrules the bad stuff in the spiritual world we live in. He is in control and has dominion over evil. And that was exactly what I needed to hear and know.”
She found herself being “overwhelmed by God’s love and protection”. It was something she had never known growing up.
She felt God’s presence especially in nature. Walking past the beach, she thought about the Creator who made the waves, the sand and the trees.
“He’s so powerful. I had this euphoric feeling. I phoned my girl friend straight away and told her that I wanted to continue with Alpha and go to church regularly.”
She began to study the Bible to grow in knowledge of her God and His strength.
One day, while walking to a work party in the city, Charlotte ran into Jack – the guy from the tour bus in Europe.
Jack was in the city to visit family and friends.
Today, Charlotte* lives in Southeast Asia with her husband, who works in finance, and their two teenage children. She volunteers in the community – teaching English and befriending the elderly and lonely. Photo courtesy of Charlotte.
He asked how she was, adding that she did not look well.
“I told him that I was going through a divorce. I also told him I had become a Christian.”
Before they parted, he asked: “Can I write to you?”
Through exchanging letters (this was an era before email and mobile phones), their friendship deepened. And a relationship blossomed after her divorce was finalised.
“He’s such a gentleman,” said Charlotte. “During our courtship, if we we went on holiday together, we would have separate bedrooms.”
Jack and his mother sought counsel from their church leaders about the relationship and he felt at peace. Jack and Charlotte got married in 2001 – two years after running into each other.
In church one Sunday, Charlotte broke down. She still continued to see apparitions. She couldn’t stop crying.
“I found the words at church so comforting and the music so soothing for my soul,” she said.
“I wanted God’s love and strength over me, but I still felt like I was under spiritual attack.”
The girls from her cell group surrounded her. They knew a little about her past.
That afternoon, they brought a woman with a gift of healing.
“She told me, ‘There is so much attached to you. You are bound by chains and swords to your childhood.’
Charlotte threw out recordings of readings and predictions sent by a relative who was a clairvoyant.
“She started praying and told me to get rid of anything unclean, like idols.”
Charlotte then threw out recordings of readings and predictions sent by a relative who was a clairvoyant.
After that, she no longer saw apparitions. The older woman continued praying for her and with her.
“Like everyone else, I still have moments of worries, and am prone to anxiety about the future,” said Charlotte. “But knowing the Gospel and knowing that God is there keeps me grounded.”
She finds Philippians 4:6-7 especially comforting. It reminds her not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, to present her requests to God.
It also promises that “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” will guard her heart and mind.
Charlotte leaves a message of warning: “If you are going to a party and someone says, ‘Let’s get out the ouija board for fun’ or ‘Let’s make one’, don’t take it lightly. It is not just a bit of fun. It can bring evil into your home and affect your family’s life for a long time.”
*Names have been withheld at the request of the interviewee.
This is an excerpt of an article that first appeared in Salt&Light.
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