Cape Breton's Magazine

Cleve Townsend of Louisbourg I remember when I was a boy, any knocks at the door, I wouldn't let anybody go to the door but me. I knew there was nobody there that they could see. I knew the knocks were coming from that world. And I'd always go to the door. And as far as this world was concerned I could say there was no one there. But there was always someone there. From the other world. It would be like to bring a warning about a death close by or something like that. Notice of a death or something like that. I don't think they'd say anything. I'd receive the thoughts from their mind. But I would see them. Yes. I could see a form, see their face. Oh, yes. Before someone was going to die, very often I'd see a coffin. And sometimes a sleigh of coal would stop at the house of a dead person. Coal would be going, would be traveling somewhere and it would stop at a certain house--that coal is a sure sign of death. In some cases, yes, there were horses. Two loads of coal that stayed down here at the gate, there were horses there, before David and Ida. I turned my back to do something. When I looked around, the horses were gone. But the sleds were there. And the sleighs • there was no snow anywhere • but the sleighs were on top of the snow, I said, " irtio- ever is gonna pass is gonna pass in the wintertime. And they did. I knew it was this house. One night in a vision, I saw a lot of coal down there on the dump. Oh, lovely coal. I wanted to take it home. And when I started to pick it up • "Leave it alone," someone said from that life. "It's not for you. But watch it," And the coal, the coal that was scattered around took the form of a coffin or a square block of coal. "Watch it. It's going, watch it." And I watched it. It went up the track, went close to a house up there. And I told someone, "Someone is going out of that house • Jim MacDonald is going out of that house." Wasn't long before he was dead. Another time I was down at the shore. It was in a dream • down at the harbour. And there was a couple of colored women there, from that world. And there was someone else. And this someone else said to the colored women, "Here he is. Here he is." The colored woman said, "I don't want him, I'm not after him." And she named the one she wanted to see. Dave, my brother. When I was a boy I used to take boats out on the harbour, rowing and fishing. I went to the end of the wharf one day • nice day to go fishing • and a little boy came up through the planks of the wharf and warned me. I heard every word. "You go back. You better go back. Or you may never come back this way again as you are." Meaning the physical body would stay in the ocean and harbour. I didn't take any notice of that warning. I went out fishing just the same. And when I was out there, the anchor was quite a good size, heavy anchor • and plenty of rope on it. I'll be damned, I dumped the anchor overboard, I was standing on the rope. I fell overboard and had a heck of F>Hr'' • 'i'e-'GcF'%' 5tt>' <'i'L<'% - p'r-p/rzlr, t'Aan ri/'e- <)ood ro~LO} very c'ooj f/e'se'''i's /i-a'*' Jv??'.