My Uncle’s Ghost

The following is part ghost story, and part guardian angel story, that was shared several years ago.

That night I had my one and only encounter with the paranormal. I have rarely spoken about it even years later. Being shy, I have no desire for the notoriety that claiming a meeting with a ghost would bring.

At the age of 10, my parents were killed in a car accident. My Uncle Charles, a childless confirmed bachelor, found himself, my guardian.

He proved to be a loving, wise, and very protective guardian. Sadly, he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and didn’t live to see my 18^th birthday.

Before he died, he assured me that he would always be with me even in spirit form.

He left me financially well off and I continued to seek his advice feeling his warm presence and wise counsel even in death.

One early winter evening I was driving from Boulder Falls back to Boulder where I was a student at the University of Colorado. A light snow was falling, and a mist blocked the moon and stars overhead.

As I approached a bend in the road a ghostly figure suddenly appeared in the middle of my path.

This figure was wearing a white shirt, and the headlights from my car reflected off this form. I then recognized the man before me as being my Uncle Charles.

He was holding his hands up palms outstretched as if he was beseeching me to stop. His facial expression revealed alarm.

I took my foot off the gas and slowly pumped the brake just as he had taught me to avoid a skid on wet pavement.

As my car came to a complete stop on this sharp curve, I was horrified to see a large tanker truck had jackknifed on the slippery road.

The truck had hit the guardrail demolishing it and then turned over on its side. Some sort of liquid was spilling out and congealing on the road’s surface.

If I had not heeded my uncle’s warning, my car would have hit this slippery surface and then headed over the edge of the steep drop that was beneath the missing guardrail.

My uncle’s spirit had saved my life.