Elvis Returns

As I type these words, it has been exactly one week since my mother passed away.

Since the dawn of time there have been folks who were “taken up” with the consideration that, given the right circumstances, the dead would find a way to come back and make themselves known to the living; with mixed results, I might add.

Harry Houdini promised his wife that after his demise, if it were at all possible, he would find a way to grace her presence with his presence one last time. And although the troubled woman hosted séance after séance, the world famous magician failed to master his greatest trick of all.

My grandmother told a story that shortly after the passing of her brother, she heard footsteps on one end of the house, and the stride seemed like that of her dear brother, Russell. 

My own mother claimed that she awoke from a nap one afternoon, a few days after the death of my father, only to cast her gaze on a wicker rocking chair in the corner of her bedroom. She was both startled and comforted to see my father in the chair. And while he never said a word, his countenance was aglow, and he wore the most joyful smile on his face. A few seconds later, the manifestation (if that is what it was) disappeared.

One of his staff members tells a poignant story about Elvis Presley.
It seems Elvis was laid out in an open coffin in the Peacock Room at Graceland the night before his burial, and those nearest and dearest to the rock star kept a constant vigil throughout the wee hours of the morning. And not unlike Harry Houdini, Elvis had promised his family and friends that if it were possible, he would, in one fashion or another, “show up” after his death.

As dawn gave way to morning light, Elvis’ “band of brothers” prepared to move the casket to the waiting hearse; which lay just beyond the front door. It was all they could manage, but the eight pall bearers managed to squeeze the heavy casket through the narrow front door. 

Suddenly, as the pall bearers navigated the steps leading down to the awaiting hearse, the air resounded with a loud “Pop”; like the sound of a rifle shot. And as members of the funeral party raised their heads upward, a large tree branch fell from 30 thirty feet above, landed on an awaiting car, and came to rest just behind the funeral vehicle. (There was not a trace of wind at the time, and upon examination the limb was found to be green and healthy).


And as the startled crew gained their composure, “The King’s” right hand man marveled, shook his head, and exclaimed, 


“So you had to have the last word, huh, Elvis?”

King Saul was a prime example of a man who attempted to “conjure up” the dead when he asked the Witch of Endor to supplicate for him to Samuel the Prophet. 

Lord Byron offered a poignant comment on 1st Samuel, Chapter 28 when he said,

"I have always thought this the finest and most finished witch scene that ever was written or conceived, and you will be of my opinion if you consider all the circumstances of the actors of the case, together with the gravity, simplicity and density of the language. It beats all the ghost scenes I have ever read."

I don’t know what you believe about life after death, and the remote possibility the dead can come back and flit unseen around those whom they loved in life. But I am convinced that the appearance of a deceased loved one is less an If, than a When; among some who are left behind. To be sure, I am just as convinced that, as Christians, we should not fall victim to this mentality.

While scripture is crystal clear about the practice of conjuring up departed spirits, and attempting to interact with them who have stepped across the threshold which separates the living from the dead, nonetheless, I am thankful that many have experienced some ethereal occurrences which were seemingly sent as some sort of initial and momentary assurance that a loved one had successfully negotiated the journey from this life to the next.

 By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 31. Copyright pending

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