It was a typical wintry day in Connecticut in February, 2006. I was doing my usual programming and taking an occasional break, going out the side door of our home office to have a smoke to think about some programming issue. It had been 8 years since my mother died, and except for the unexplained event of the fan above the stove turning on by itself at my father's home in Michigan a week after she died, there hadn't been any events that one could point to as being a possible afterlife communication from her. While I had always hoped that she would some how in some way let me know how she was doing, I only experienced silence...until that night.
Before I get into the events of that night, and all the subsequent events that have followed to this day, let me say that we live on a hill in a very residential section of a small town in Connecticut, where the streets are empty by nightfall. Not even an old western ghost town is as silent as our streets are at night, especially in the dead of winter. The only sound generally is the wind rustling the leafless tree branches. So when I got up to have one of my usual smokes (around 10PM, yeah we work day and night) I wasn't expecting anything unusual in the least.
I opened the door and stepped out, and was blasted by a strong smell of perfume. Immediately the fragrance reminded me of my mom, of times when she and my father were going out somewhere, all dressed up in some formal attire. I am a suspicious sort, so before saying anything to Michelle who was busy at her computer, I walked out to the driveway to see if anyone else was around, though why there would be, and why they would be so heavily scented, was beyond me. The perfumy smell was strong up and down the driveway, and of course, the streets were completely empty. Given my smoking, my sense of smell is not what is used to be, so what I was experiencing was extremely strong. Thinking that maybe I was experiencing a memory activated in some way similar to Penfield's electrodes on people's brains, I went immediately back into the house and without telling her anything, I asked Michelle to step outdoors. She immediately smelled it.
Had this happened at any other time of the year, I may have written off the scent to some type of flowers or bushes, but this was in the dead of winter! Michelle, being more of an expert on such matters than I, said it was definitely perfume, a sweet scent exhaled from application to human bodies, and not exuded from rose bushes and their like.
Had this been the only occurrence, I would probably not be writing this, but it has continued to this day, and other events have begun to manifest as well. Briefly I would like to describe some of them.
It wasn’t until it happened a few times that year that I finally called my dad (he will be 90 this year), my aunt (my mom’s twin sister) and uncle, and my cousins (my aunt’s children) to tell them about it. My dad, my aunt/uncle and one of my cousins live in Michigan, and my other cousin also lives in Connecticut. (I mention this now because it will be important later in this article.) None of my family or friends had experienced anything resembling a communication from my mom or anyone else that had passed. Since 2006, we (including our two youngest children, now 6 & 7 years old) have experienced it numerous times. One summer day in 2006, we experienced it in the hallway leading up to the kitchen, in the kitchen and living room. The only window that was open was in the bathroom (yes, I inspected all possible avenues of entry in order to be convinced it wasn’t coming from outside).
Since that February night in 2006, the perfume smell has occurred at least 4 times in the house, and countless times outside. One time in particular was unusual, Michelle and I were getting the little ones ready for bed when all of a sudden, Michelle started calling me frantically to come into their bedroom where the perfume seemed to be emanating from outside their second floor window. I ran down to go outside and stood under the window. When I arrived, the perfume seemed to be getting stronger where I stood, and Michelle confirmed that it was getting weaker where she stood by the upstairs window. As I walked back to the side door, the scent seemed to be just ahead of me, as if someone (mom, I presume) was walking in front of me. It continued in that manner until I reached the side door and re-entered the house.
Now if Michelle and I were the only ones experiencing this, I suppose everyone, including my family, could attribute our experience to having watched Loony Tunes one too many times. But here is where the story gets even more interesting.
My parents were married the first Saturday of October, on October 2, 1943 to be exact. On the first Saturday of October in 2006 (the 7th) we again smelled the perfume very strongly outside our home in Connecticut. As was my wont since it has been happening so often, I called my father to let him know. To my surprise, he said he smelled it at his home in Michigan on Monday, which "coincidently" was Oct 2, their anniversary. Why he didn’t tell me about it on Monday, I can only attribute to his reticence about such matters and not wanting to being classified as wacky as us. A few months later, my cousin Mike, living in Connecticut, called to tell me he and his wife also smelled perfume in the driveway of their home. My aunt called shortly thereafter to tell me she and my uncle also were smelling perfume in their home in Michigan. Since then, they have smelled it numerous times as well, including last summer when we all smelled it together while we were visiting them in Michigan.
Have you experienced similar events? We would love to know. You can share yours by commenting here or visiting our forums. We have other experiences that we will share over the coming weeks.
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