Paranormal Visits

 Originally Written Between 2013-2015

It was two days before Christmas, 1995.  Mary Jane Becker, Norm’s sister, died at the age of 55 of cancer.  She had lived with her husband and family in Sioux Falls all her married life.  And so, on the day after Christmas, Norm and I and two of our children who were home for the holiday, David and Rebecca, made the five-hour trip to Sioux Falls to attend Mary Jane’s funeral.

The Visitation ended around 7PM.  And we (family and the many friends who grew up with the McGraw kids,) went out to dinner and soon we were all secure in our hotel rooms.

Rebecca and I slept in one bed and Norm and David slept in the other.  Around 3:00 in the morning, I felt someone tapping on my arm.  It was Norm.  He whispered to me, “Can you hurry and get dressed?  I think I’m having a heart attack and you need to get me to the hospital.”

Of course, the commotion we made trying to get dressed in the dark woke up our kids.  They wanted to go with us; but, for some reason unbeknown to me, Norm insisted that they stay at the hotel and that we would call them when we found out what was happening.

We asked the hotel’s night clerk where the nearest hospital was and he said there were two close by.  Norm said, “Where is the Catholic one?” – because that is where Mary Jane had been hospitalized.  The clerk said to drive out of the parking lot, take a right for one mile and then take another right for a few blocks and take a left into the ER entrance.

I really knew Norm was in pain because he let me drive.  I stopped at the first red light and he said, “There’s no one around.  Go through it.”  It was then it really hit me that he needed to get to the hospital – fast.

Now, at this time, you may be thinking:  “Why didn’t you call 9-1-1?” I have to honestly say that it never crossed my mind!  I just did what Norm wanted me to do.  Get dressed and take him to the hospital.  And, that’s what I did.

The ER medical team was truly fantastic.  I’m not sure what all they did to Norm – I just sat on a chair and watched them work on him.  They gave him – what I call – the miracle blood clot zapping drug – called TPA.  

Norm was placed in the coronary unit and an angiogram was scheduled for later in the day.  I was led to the coronary waiting room.  There was one other person there.  A lady about my age was curled up in a chair with a blanket around her.  And, she was sleeping.  There were two phones in the room.  The sleeping lady sat underneath one of the phones.  Of course, I didn’t want to disturb her so I used the phone on the opposite wall.  

Even though it was only about 5:00 in the morning, I called David and Rebecca and said, “Your dad did have a heart attack and they are going to do some more tests on him.  He’s in a separate room now in the coronary unit.  Just grab a taxi and go to St Mary’s Hospital.  As I was in the process of answering David’s questions, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

The sleeping lady had woken up and was at my side.  She said, “I’m sorry, I don’t want you to think that I was eavesdropping.  But, you are NOT at St. Mary’s Hospital.

I looked at her and said, “Well, then – where the hell am I?”  I don’t normally talk like that so you can see that I obviously don’t handle stress very well.  Anyway, she said, “You are at McKennen Hospital.”  “Well,” I said.  “That’s not even a Saint’s name!”

I turned around to talk into the phone and told David to go to McKennen Hospital and then hung up the phone.  I then looked around so I could thank the lady for straightening me out.  And, she was gone.  There was no sign of her.  The blanket was gone.  I hadn’t even heard the door open or close.  I knew then that God had sent me an angel to look after us.