The author of this story is Fred Welling, an English spiritual medium who resettled in Adelaide, South Australia in the late 60’s. I was fortunate to witness his gifted mediumship demonstrations in local spiritualist churches which brought comfort and healing to many. His article was originally published in the popular Afterlife Magazine, which has since joined the PDN family.
We have much more to fear from humans than from spirits/ghosts
In the 1940s, my parents and I lived in a two-storey home in Southampton, England and like many children, I was scared of the dark and things that go bump in the night. My bedroom was at the top of the stairs and as a young boy of 5 or 6 years old, when I climbed those stairs, I often felt that someone or something was standing at the top of them. Terrified, I would jump into bed and pull the covers right over my head. I heard scary noises and felt that someone or something I could not see was in the bedroom with me.
My parents were both psychically aware and used to tell me that I had much more to fear from humans with physical bodies than from spirits/ghosts. They also encouraged me to not be afraid of the unseen presences in my room as they would not harm me.
However, I was not too sure of this. We often spent time downstairs in the living room, talking or listening to the radio. We began to hear crashing sounds from upstairs, my father and I would run up the stairs to find dozens of the fragile, mantlepiece ornaments scattered all over the floor of my parent’s bedroom. It was amazing that none of these ornaments ever broke.
My father, a professional boxer, eventually became completely frustrated with this recurring activity and in a strong and authoritative voice, he said: ‘We do not mind you visiting but please do not do that again!’ From that time onward, to our relief, the ornaments were left alone.
Learning that ghosts are not ‘bad’
During my teenage years I met a young man called ‘Buck’ who became a friend. Buck was training to become a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. He was fully aware of the unseen world of spirit and could have conversations with those in the spirit world as clearly as with a group of friends in this world. Buck’s spirit guide told him: “You will be a good priest, but you will help more people if you do not become a priest.”
One evening, Buck was visiting the family and went upstairs to use the toilet. He was away a long time and when he returned, with my dry sense of humour, I couldn’t resist asking if he had fallen into the toilet. Buck ignored my question and asked if we had ever noticed anything unusual at the top of the stairs. We all replied, “Yes.”
He revealed that he had seen a young mother holding a baby at the top of the stairs and found out that many years ago, this young woman had committed suicide in my parent’s bedroom. Her young baby also died in that room.
The mother had become ‘stuck between the worlds’ and had been trying to get someone’s attention for quite some time. Even though my parents were psychically/spiritually aware, they had not been on the same wave length as the mother and baby and were therefore unable to help.
Fortunately, Buck was able to tune in to the mother’s spiritual energy level and assist her and the child to move on to a more fulfilling life in the spirit worlds. To our relief, we no longer felt a sad presence at the top of the stairs. It was wonderful that Buck had been able to converse with ‘our ghost’ and help her.
This proved to me that life did indeed continue beyond physical death and that ghosts are not ‘bad’ but rather souls who need our love and assistance to help them move into the realms of light in the spiritual worlds where they are met by their loved ones. When I finished school and started work, I thought no more of these psychic experiences. However, little did I know that Spirit had only just started with me!
How my lifelong commitment to Spiritualism began
In my early twenties, my beloved wife Doreen became ill with a heart condition. The doctors said that she would not survive without surgery. I gave permission and signed documents for the surgery to be performed but tragically, Doreen died on the operating table. For many decades I felt extremely guilty for having signed the papers and irrationally believed that I had killed my wife.
At the time I was living in Shirley, Southampton UK and heard about a Spiritualist Church which was within walking distance of my home. During my grief period, I visited this church on a number of occasions.
My first visit left me intrigued and I really enjoyed the service, so I returned the following week and sat near the back. The spiritual medium on the platform was an old lady who was almost blind. During her demonstration of evidential mediumship, she said: “I want to come to the young man who is hiding near the back.”
I was naturally stunned, as she could not have physically seen me. The medium gave incredible details of the relationship between my wife and me. This information was known only to me. She also emphasized that Doreen did not hold me responsible for her death. It was her time to leave the physical world.
So began my lifelong commitment to Spiritualism. I ended up vice president of that Southampton church and over the years, became an evidential medium both in the UK and later in Australia when my second wife (another Doreen) and our two daughters, Patricia and Barbara, migrated in 1969.
True tales from a closed physical mediumship development group
Before leaving the UK, I had heard about a closed physical mediumship development group at Lances Hill. There were about ten to twelve sitters in this group and after waiting several years, I was invited to attend as a visitor to see if my vibrations were suitable to join this group. To my delight, I was accepted and attended on a weekly basis, catching two buses there and back.
The development group was led by a medium who had leukemia and was not expected to live for long. However, we were told that he would continue his work until it was finished and then leave the physical world. When I left for Australia in 1969, the medium appeared to have recovered.
Physical mediumship involves spirit entities using the energies of a medium to produce tangible physical effects which can be witnessed visibly and audibly by everyone in the room at the same time. The spirit entities manipulate the energies and substances of a medium to form physical manifestations such as spirit ‘bodies’ that enable a spirit to speak directly from their world to ours.
The spirit communicators provide an interface of communication between our world on earth and their worlds known as spirit world. Other physical phenomena that can be produced include physical smells, hot or cold drafts, levitation, apportation of objects from mid-air, transfiguration, spirit lights, raps or knocks, direct voice communication and physical apparitions.
Each week we met in a private home in an upstairs, candlelit room that was reserved solely for the purpose of physical mediumship. Members of the group, referred to as ‘sitters’, would enter quietly and always sit in the same position and the same chair. This ensured that the group energy remained harmonious and balanced.
We were asked to talk quietly about spiritual topics while the medium prepared to move into a state of deep trance. Suddenly, there would be a change of energy and we knew that a spirit being was about to manifest physically in the room.
Opening our hearts to the Divine Force
The manifested spirit would speak through the medium for about thirty minutes on spiritual topics such as life beyond the physical world, karmic events affecting individual lives here on earth and what we could do to mitigate the negative effects. He emphasized the need to open our hearts to the Divine Force and to work in service to humanity.
Questions were permitted to be asked and answers were received. However, if the spirit being felt it was not in a person’s best interests to receive the answer, it was not given. Sometimes the spirit would move close to a sitter and hold their hands, an experience that felt like an electrical current passing through the body.
On the rare occasion when a guest hoped to be accepted into the group, the spirit would proceed to tell them a few of the things they had been doing that day as a means of confirmation and validation that their arrival had been anticipated. They were assured that this was an ongoing practice and there would be no further intrusion in anyone’s private life.
These major life experiences began my search for truth.
Australia Bound
Following my arrival in Australia, I settled in Adelaide, South Australia and joined various psychic development and self-awareness groups. For over 40 years I have continued to develop my ability to tune into the spiritual worlds and, like the old lady who was almost blind, I have worked on many platforms in spiritualist churches across the country.
I have been able to bring comfort to many people by giving them evidence that their loved ones are not dead but very much alive in a wonderful spiritual dimension. I am still doing this in 2020 at the age of almost 86 years young.
Author, Fred Welling
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