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Joe Cassidy

Book: The Diviner

'Mr Cassidy.' He extended his hand. 'I'm James. I hope you can help us. It's our son’s room. It's always cold in there.'

'But there's more to it than that,' Jane said. She looked really worried. 'He swears he sees someone at night-time. He says someone tries to take his duvet off the bed. He says it's a little girl.'

'I really don't believe in ghosts,' said James. 'I never have. But this has been going on a while. I'm starting to think there may be something in it.'

'There has to be,' Jane said. 'The whole house has an atmosphere. But Jake's room is the worst.'

She would have talked on, but I decided to check round the house and see what I could find. The young boy wasn't there that day. He was at school. I asked the couple to show me round and then, I told them, I'd wander around on my own.

First I walked around outside, checking for water lines. As I walked to the side of the house, I saw these old sheds. I remember thinking they looked out of character. And then I looked again, and the sheds weren't there any more. In their place was a spanking new extension. I was startled. I wondered what was going on here. I was puzzling over this as I walked back into the house.

I will never forget walking into the boy's bedroom. It was a typical boy's room. There were posters of Manchester United footballers, and football boots left abandoned on the floor. But there, in the left-hand corner, I saw a young girl with long fair hair. It was the clearest spirit I have ever seen.

I would have taken her for a living girl, except that she was floating. Her feet weren't touching the floor, nor her head the ceiling. It was so clear that it took my breath away.

Now, spirits don't talk to me the way a living person would. But they do communicate. It's done through telepathy. And this girl was keen to tell me her story.

Her parents had got married late; her mother was in her late thirties and her father older still. She had been their only child. They were simple people, but they were happy. And they adored their small daughter.

She had died when she was still a small child, and her parents were heartbroken. She said they'd never got over their loss, and the experience had changed them. She said the energy from their loss lingered on.  ...........

'Tell me this though,' said Jane 'We've lived in this house for five years now. It was peaceful for the first four. Why would a spirit not make her presence felt until now?'

I explained that it's not until walls start to come down that spirits appear.

'Before that the energy is stagnant,' I explained.

'OK. And another question: why can Jake see her spirit, when we can't?'

I explained that children are better at picking up on these things, that they're more open. And he's about the same age as that little girl was when she died. That would give him a closer connection.'

I worked on the house then. First I earthed the water lines, because, as I expected, there was geopathic stress. There almost always is when there is spirit activity. Then I worked on the energy. They thanked me profusely.