In the fall of 2022, a few months after moving into a new rental home, and about a month after my medium abilities fully activated, I began to feel like somebody was watching me every time I went into our laundry/storage room.
This sensation was not new to me; I’d been able to feel presences for 30 years or so at that point. But this time, it was different. I couldn’t explain it at the time, but I felt a heaviness in the air every time I went into the room. Driving home one afternoon, I remarked on the sensation to my wife.
The very next night, I was sitting at my computer, working on the final novel of my fantasy trilogy, when I felt the full-body shivers that let me know I have a visitor…but these were different than what I’d experienced during the first month of my journey.
I won’t lie…I legitimately froze in place. I wasn’t sure how to respond, because I just felt…sad. Overwhelmed. Hopeless, even.
These are not things I normally feel, so all I could deduce was that they were coming from my guest. At the time, I hadn’t progressed enough in my abilities to just communicate without writing things down, so I opened up the Notes app on my Mac and started typing.
“Hello. Are you a spirit?”
The shivers felt like they were barely there, which I had already learned meant “No”. So I tried again, my heart starting to race. “Are you a ghost?”
Very strong shivers ran through my body. That was a definite “Yes”.
I don’t know whether it was my clairvoyance choosing to kick in, or just my brain leaping to the logical conclusion, but I typed, “You’re the one watching me in the laundry room, aren’t you? The presence I’ve been feeling?”
The answer was “Yes”, but there was a caveat. I’d already learned how to tell the difference between “Yes” and “Yes, but…” This was a “Yes, but….” answer.
“Are there more of you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you stuck here?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to you?”
The emotion I received in response was very, very clear: “I don’t want to talk about it. Don’t ask.”
“Ok, fair enough. I won’t ask, but I will definitely be thinking about it. However, I will respect your boundaries.” I paused, then continued, “Is there anything you want to say to me?”
In my mind, I saw the word “coexist” pop into being, as if written on a chalkboard. “You want to coexist peacefully?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Again, I will not lie…I breathed a huge sigh of relief. We’d just moved into this condo, after all, and we’d been lucky to find an affordable place in the South Florida rental market. I really didn’t want to move because of an angry ghost.
I continued talking with my guest for an hour or so. Maybe two? I honestly lost track of the time. The conversation was mostly yes/no answers, with occasional images or words put into my head. You ever tried to have a serious conversation with a toddler who can barely speak, but you have to figure out what happened to them? It was kinda like that, except the other person was far more intelligent and mature than a toddler.
Eventually, before the night was over, I learned that we had not 1, not 2, not even 3 ghosts tethered to our condo.
We had 7.
They were a family of Miccosukee, one of the Native American tribes who’d lived in this part of Florida back in the 1800s. They didn’t remember their names–or, at least, couldn’t tell me–but they were able to respond to letters that I thought. On that particular evening, only 1 of them told me what I could call them.
Her initial was the letter J. I managed to get that she was the mom of the family, but she wasn’t yet ready to introduce me to the others. I respected that; they’d obviously been through some kind of horrible tragedy for an entire FAMILY to end up as ghosts.
Over the next few weeks, J and I visited frequently. I told her that no matter what, I was going to treat her family like part of ours. I nicknamed them “The J Crew”, in part because I didn’t have any other letters or information about anyone.
Eventually, J decided that it was time to introduce me to the rest of her family, and I want to introduce them to you. You can follow their story in the blog; I’m going to tell as much of it as I can, but there’s a LOT. I’ll give you a quick spoiler, though: they’re doing fantastic now. I helped them break free of the darkness that had tethered them to the land beneath our building, and they decided to stay with my family. They’ve even moved to a different part of South Florida with us, leaving the only home they’d ever known, because they want to experience as much as they can with us….hence the name of this website.
So, without further ado, I introduce to you my ghost fam:
J, the mother of the group. Unsure of her age, but I’m guessing early 30s at the oldest.
T, her husband. Around the same age as J.
K, their oldest daughter. She was nearing 13.
H, the next daughter: She was a little over 11 or so.
M, the oldest of the two boys. He was around 9.
L, the second boy. He was 7 or so.
And, last but certainly not least, we have P, or we always call her, Little Miss P. She was 3.
Their family is now part of ours, and what a ride it’s been!