Elizabeth – Spirit of a Child

By Shella Hewett

A child is precious. A child in spirit returns to us, the love we once gave them. Their love is everlasting and unconditional. They help guide us as we once guided them. They reach out to us in the hope that we understand their message. Message of love and comfort when we need it most in our lives.
One such spirit graced me with her presence, leading me on a journey that would change my life forever. A relationship of trust, mutual understanding but most of all, love.
Who would have believed the chain of events after moving into my new home, the home that I was meant to live in. What I experienced would change my belief in the paranormal from a non-believer to a believer. I would like to share my experiences with you and give you the insight into the paranormal which I received. Welcome to my life, my home and Elizabeth – Spirit of a Child.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528968713

Shella Hewett

Shella, who is a mother of two children, gained a BA (Hons) degree in public policy after studying at the Solent University, Southampton. Besides writing, she enjoys walking her two dogs in the countryside and by the sea. Shella often participates in paranormal investigations and has a passion for reading about the spirit realm and unexplained phenomena.

Book preview

13:Elizabeth

About the Author

Shella, who is a mother of two children, gained a BA (Hons) degree in public policy after studying at the Solent University, Southampton. Besides writing, she enjoys walking her two dogs in the countryside and by the sea. Shella often participates in paranormal investigations and has a passion for reading about the spirit realm and unexplained phenomena.

Dedication

To Elizabeth, my inspiration. Thank you for being here, for without you, I could not have written this;

and to my beloved nan, Eileen Dickson, who taught me to never give up.

Copyright Information ©

Shella Hewett (2021)

The right of Shella Hewett to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, experiences, and words are the author’s alone.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528936460 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528968713 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Synopsis

Seeing is believing, which equates to only physical or concrete evidence is convincing.

Although she has never shown herself to me as a full-bodied apparition, she has made herself known in many other ways.

I believe. I believe in the spirit of Elizabeth.

Author’s note

As a child, I could always be found with my nose in a book or putting pen to paper. I loved words, the sheer power of them. Words that turned into sentences, paragraphs, chapters, a story. I remember saying to my mum and dad, I’m going to be an author when I grow up. At the time, I had no idea I would write about the paranormal. That’s because I hadn’t met her then.

A true account about sharing my life with a spirit.

Chapter 1

Home Calling

Moving in, was no different from any other house move I’ve made. My husband, Graham, and I and our two young children, Mia and Sam, were looking forward to the much-needed space the house would provide. Although not large in size by anyone’s standards, it was a welcome relief from our previous two-up, two-down.

On Friday 28th October 2005, we hired a modest removal van and with the help of my tireless dad, did all the lifting and shifting ourselves. Our new home was built circa 1900, a typical three-bedroom mid-terrace, situated on a relatively busy road in the town of Gosport, Hampshire. Nothing out of the ordinary one might think. It required some updating but that we knew would come with time. Looking back, I’m sure we were destined to live there because of events that had occurred beforehand.

Our initial house-hunting involved viewing many properties, one of them being a house in the nearby town of Fareham. This was my hometown, the place where I grew up and spent twenty-six years of my life. Coming from a close-knit family, I was keen to move near my parents, grandparents and brother, who still live in Fareham. Naturally, I thought the most important thing was that Mia and Sam should be around them, enjoying the closeness that I had experienced as a child.

We viewed a house. It was exactly what we wanted. Although it was slightly above our price range, we made an immediate offer for the full asking price. It was accepted. Excited about the prospect of being back in Fareham, I was astonished when the estate agent telephoned with the news. Bad news. Bitterly disappointed, I learnt that the vendor had unexpectedly taken the property off the market. It was claimed that moving house would be detrimental to her health. Interestingly though, the very same house was back on the market within a week but at a much higher price. Unfortunately, it was a price we couldn’t stretch to.

I suspect the real reason behind the sudden change of mind came down to one thing. Money. Despite us having agreed to pay the full price, I believe the realisation set in that she could make more. All at once, we were faced with a considerable stumbling block and we had to find a way to overcome it.

It is said that time is of the essence and that was certainly the case for us. A buyer had been lined up for our property and he desperately wanted to move in. We were under tremendous pressure to find a new home. However, as our initial choice had fallen through, we now had to find somewhere else to live. The very next day, I made a phone call and waited in anticipation for someone to answer. After what seemed like an eternity, the estate agent spoke. He greeted me in a warm and friendly manner.

Arrangements were made for us to view a house we had previously looked at. The house that was to become our new home. On both occasions it had felt homely, with a welcoming air about it. The proprietor at the time was a likeable lady, as welcoming as the house itself. She had been living in the property for twelve years and loved her home dearly, so she felt sad at the prospect of having to sell, for reasons I won’t go into. At the time of the second viewing, I noticed that the adjoining house was up for sale with the same estate agents. Out of curiosity, I made an appointment to view it the following day.

Walking in, I noticed that the house let in a vast amount of light. Light then beckoned me like a full moon on a cloudless evening. Everything was immaculate. Everything was in its place. As Graham and I looked around each room, we knew it was above and beyond what we could have hoped for and at a less expensive price. There and then, we decided to make an offer for the full asking price. This was our second chance at buying a property that we were really keen on. (Apart from it not being in Fareham of course!) I couldn’t let it slip through my fingers.

Anxiously, I waited for the estate agent to get back to me. Eventually, the phone rang. It was the call I’d been expecting. He went on to tell me the house had been taken off the market; it was no longer for sale. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Surely, this couldn’t be happening again, not a second time. My heart sank with disbelief. Questions raced through my mind. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Confused, I just couldn’t ask them out loud. There were no answers. The estate agent apologised profusely. I couldn’t believe it. The house had been up for sale and we were willing to pay the full asking price, so what was the problem? There shouldn’t be a problem. Surely.

Home was calling. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, it was meant to be. My family and I moved into the house, our house, our new home. Despite all that had happened beforehand, we settled in quickly. A few days after we had moved in, our next-door neighbour (whose house we’d wanted to buy) explained over the fence why she had taken her house off the market. Oh, we had to take it off the market so you’d buy your house. She was desperate to sell because she had debts. ‘She’ being the proprietor.

At that moment, I felt upset, yet incensed at the same time. At least I knew the real reason behind the decision to withdraw the sale but why tell me now? What good could it do? There stood this woman so shameless and bold, who was telling me things I now didn’t need to know. Talk about rubbing salt into the wound! As painful as it was to hear her words, I couldn’t let her show how much they upset me. I had to hide it. I did hide it.

Surprisingly, I didn’t hold it against her. It soon became water under the bridge.

I had to live next door so I wanted to maintain a good neighbourly relationship. Subsequently, we would exchange pleasantries whenever we met and things ran smoothly between us.

I cannot recall exactly when events first started to occur, certainly not when I first moved into my new home. Graham went to work, I stayed at home and the children went to school. After having both Mia and Sam, I had taken on the role of a full-time mum. Days, then weeks passed. Although I spent a great deal of time in the house, I didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

A short time later, (which I recall being winter time) the first of many unusual occurrences took place. It was a vision. Graham had kept his thoughts of the initial sighting to himself because he didn’t want me to feel panicked by what he had witnessed. It was only when he observed these sightings on a more frequent basis, he hesitantly decided to confide in me.

Cautiously, Graham went on to explain about the visions. A dog. They were visions of a dog! To his eyes, it would present itself as a solid form and appeared no less real than a living canine. I went on to learn, it had been seen in various locations throughout the house. According to Graham, this spirit dog was medium-sized with a short, golden coat and it resembled a Labrador retriever. It appeared to be peaceful and content, as if it belonged with us.

Fortunately, there was nothing menacing about the spirit dog in any shape or form. Often, Graham would see it resting in front of our living room fire, as if keeping itself warm. Astonishingly, it was also seen lying beside a radiator, (which was turned on at the time) as if appreciating the heat that was being emitted. Strangely though, the base of the radiator felt unusually cold when the spirit dog was there.

On one occasion, I was washing-up in the kitchen when a rubber ball, which belonged to my children, came rolling into the room and stopped exactly where I was standing. As it happened, Mia and Sam were playing elsewhere in the house, and Graham had watched the ball move. Phenomenally, it bounced across the length of the lounge, hit the end wall, bounced back and proceeded to roll to where I was in the kitchen. Due to the strange angle and the distance it had travelled, we believe the spirit dog had been playing chase with the ball. Although Graham had not seen the spirit dog at that precise time, he had seen it downstairs many times leading up to this event.

There’s that dreadful smell when a dog’s been out in the rain, that horrible, wet dog smell. It was late one evening, while Graham and I were watching television, when the distinct odour engulfed us. All of a sudden, I noticed that my right thigh became as cold as ice yet, the rest of my leg remained warm to the touch. Feeling nervous, I didn’t know what to do. As this occurred, Graham’s gaze fell upon a translucent but definite image of a dog. The spirit dog. Its head was resting on my thigh and this appeared to be the cause of my coldness. A few minutes passed, before the warmth returned to my thigh. The spirit dog had vanished! It was a breath-taking moment and I felt moved by the encounter.

Soon after this occurrence, it was Christmas time and my parents, along with my nan, came to visit me. Everyone felt relaxed and happy and there was a friendly, warm atmosphere in the