Tri-County Times
Features
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
'Aaron's Crossing' is a true ghost story
by Jan Rynearson,
Features Editor
"Aaron's Crossing" by Linda Alice Dewey is a true Michigan ghost story. The fascinating paperback keeps the reader absorbed from beginning to end.
The book was published by Northern Spirit Creative Productions, LLC of Empire and will be released on June 15. One month later, on July 15, from 4 to 6 p.m., the author will be at Little Professor Book Center in Fenton to autograph her first book and talk with readers. She will also sing and play music written specifically for her book-signing tour.
Formerly, she taught remedial reading and music at Clarkston Junior High School. She also has a musical performance background with keyboard and singing.
The author has studied metaphysics since 1987 and facilitates spiritual workshops. For 16 years she lived in Arizona, before returning to northern Michigan. She has two grown sons.
"I wasn't afraid when I encountered Aaron, I wanted to help him cross to the other side. Everything makes sense on the other side," said Dewey.
She first encountered the ghost in 1995 in an abandoned cemetery during a summer hike deep in the woods along Lake Michigan's shoreline, not far from her Glen Arbor home.
She and Aaron Burke, who died in 1922, found a way to communicate and the quest to help him cross over to the other side begins.
Later, the man of Irish heritage returns to her to dictate the story of his life, which is filled with detailed information and twists and turns from his childhood through the time he met his untimely accidental death and beyond - into his afterlife.
Dewey claims her ghost encounter transformed her life, as did Aaron's story of how he became a ghost and what he had to do to overcome it.
To progress, Aaron must come to terms with what happened in life. Kidnapped and dragged from Ireland to America at the age of 4, he overcomes obstacle upon obstacle while growing up. Finally, he finds happiness with the woman he loves, only to have it all fall apart.
Unlike any regular ghost story, which attempts to scare and give one goose bumps, this story presents the lesson that people need to face personal shortcomings and heal relationships in order to "cross over" into a more peaceful existence - regardless of how long it takes.
Dewey felt a longing to reach out to the being, whoever he was, when she first visited the cemetery. Over the next few years, she returned twice. Once in the middle of the day. Although the sun shone, the place still felt eerie. She took photos, hoping to capture a ghost on film, only to return home and find the camera empty. She forgot to put film in it.
"On the third visit, I knew he was there, sad and helpless," said Dewey. I said, "Whoever is here, my heart is with you." After that, nothing was ever the same. He followed her and broke through to her the next day.
Years later, one morning, while in bed and still half awake, she heard a male voice in her head. It said "Aaron! Aaron! Wake up boy. You're comin' after me." The name was pronounced in a way Dewey had never heard. "AhRone," with a roll on the "R."
"I didn't understand the command, but I knew who it was and what it was," said Dewey. "I hurried to the computer and began to type. As I listened, I first heard single words, then a phrase at a time. I typed what I heard, never knowing what would come next or where it was heading. When I finished that morning, I had five pages, beginning the story of Aaron's life. Months later I would have a full, though rough, manuscript. So I give you Aaron, telling his story in his own voice, just as I heard him."
The story is unusual to say the least, and remarkable, giving the reader an awareness of life and death, love and forgiveness.
