On our way over to Larch Lane, I wondered what we might encounter there? I wondered what Father
Janovich was thinking? Had he faced something like this before? Would he be able to help? Or, I thought
in a panic, would he run, and tell me he was afraid? A dozen other questions raced through my mind, the
nearer we got. I would glance from time to time at Father Janovich's face, looking for a clue, but he showed
no expression I could see. When we arrived, I parked and looked at the house.
The door was shut, yellow do not enter tape across the door and porch. There was also a small girl with
shoulder length blonde hair, in front of the door. She wore a blue dress, and looked sad. Then, before we
could get out of the car, she turned, and walked right through the closed door. When I looked at Father
Janovich and he looked at me, I heard him say, "well... let's go see her"! He was taking it much better then
I was, because I had never seen a ghost before. When we reached the porch, we ducked under the tape,
and I examined the tape across the door frame. No one had broken the tape, since the swat team had left.
I pulled the tape away, and unlocked the door, and pushed it open slowly, but stayed outside on the porch.
This was one time, I was taking nothing for granted. As my eyes got accustomed to the dim light, there she
was, standing by the basement door, her hands clasped together. The father nudged my shoulder and in a
soft compassioned voice asked, "well; don't you think we should go in"?I told him, Something horrible is in this
house father, many have died, if I tell you to run, please, please run, as if the devil himself was after you". I
looked down and he had his bible in his left hand and nodded for us to go in.
We stopped perhaps 6 feet from the ghost of the child we had seen on the porch and she was the first to speak.
"He knew you would come with a priest, he told me. What do you want father"? Father Janovich asked her,
her name, and she replied, "my name is not important, but why you are here is, isn't it"? The little girl and father
Janovich talked back and forth for several minutes and I could see he was trying to seek the answers to the
questions in his mind. But she was smart, evasive, never moving an inch, not even her hands.
Then a light grey smoke, or rather , a mist began to seep up from the basement. lingering inches off the floor,
but not rising. Instinctively, I reached to my waist and pulled out my revolver, and she smiled and her eyes held
a laughter... like the look a bully would have, when a smaller boy would say he was unafraid to fight. "You
don't need a gun"; and invisible hands knocked the gun from my hand. Then, I was pushed against a wall so
tight, I could barely breathe, as the father looked at me, and then the girl.
By now, the mist was surrounding the girl, as Father Jovanovich held his bible in front of him with both hands,
but did not open it. Instead, he recited a passage he had memorized:
"Heavenly Father, I love You, I praise You, and I worship You. I thank You for
sending your Son Jesus Who won victory over sin and death for my salvation.
I thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit Who empowers me, guides me, and
leads me into fullness of life. I thank You for Mary, my Heavenly Mother, who
intercedes with the holy angels and saints for me.
Lord Jesus Christ, I place myself at the foot of Your cross and ask You to cover
me with Your Precious Blood which pours forth from Your Most Sacred Hearth
and Your Most Holy Wounds, Cleanse me, my Jesus, in the living water that
flows form Your Heart. I ask You to surround me, Lord Jesus, with Your Holy Light.
Heavenly Father, let the healing waters of my baptism now flow back through the maternal and paternal generations to purify my family line of Satan and sin. I come before You, Father, and ask forgiveness for myself, my relatives, and my ancestors, for any calling upon powers that set themselves up in opposition to You or that does not offer true honor to Jesus Christ. In Jesus' Holy Name, I now reclaim any territory that was handed over to Satan and place it under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit, reveal to me, Father, any people I need to forgive and any areas of unconfessed sin. Reveal aspects of my life that are not pleasing You, Father, ways that have given or could give Satan a foothold in my life. Father I give to You and unforgiveness; I give to You my sins; and, I give to You all ways that Satan has a hold of my life. Thank You, Father for these revelations, thank You, for Your forgiveness and Your love.
Lord Jesus, in Your Holy Name, I bind all evil spirits of the air, water, ground, underground, and netherworld. I further bind, in Jesus' Name, any and all emissaries of the satanic headquarters and claim the Precious Blood of Jesus on the air, atmosphere, water, ground and their fruits around us, the underground and the netherworld below.
Heavenly Father, allow Your Son Jesus to come now with the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holy angels and the saints to protect me from all harm and to keep all evil spirits from taking revenge on me in any way".
She patiently waited until he was through, tho I know she could have taken his bible as easily as she did my gun.
Sweat was pouring down his face, yet the house was cool inside. Then, he reached into his pocket, removing
the cap off a small bottle of holy water and splashed it across the girl, with no affect. She merely smiled back
at him, and asked, "you look surprised priest"! I am not a demon, and your words cannot harm me. If your
faith is strong, come with me into the basement, for there are things you must know, things you must see for
yourself, is your faith that strong"? I was helpess to break free, helpless to speak, as Father Janovich looked
into my eyes with calmness, and told me, he had to go with her, that God would protect him.
She smiled into the eyes of Father Jovanovich and held out her hand, and he took her hand as he stood next
to her. Together they walked down the blood stained steps of the basement into the darkness. When they
had both reached the basement floor, she turned and looked up into his eyes. "Does it give you comfort,
reciting the lords prayer, priest"? The look on Father Jovanovich's face was one of surprise, and all that he
could say back was, "yes it does my child"! She thought for a minute, nodded curiously, then pointed with
her hand, and said..."come with me, I want to show you something". In a moment, they were standing at the
northwest corner of the basement, facing the brick wall.
With her small hand, she pointed to the wall. "Behind this wall...is where "he" buried me, after he brought me
here and killed me. He was a mean man, a bully, hateful, and the police never found my body, and he went free.
One night, my daddy came to this house and pleaded with him to let me go, but he only laughed. Then, they
fought and suddenly, the one who killed me, was lying on the floor dead too. But like me, his spirit lingers, and
he is so angry, that he gave his soul to the devil".
"He is coming for you priest, he told me so, but first, three other's will die! The three people who were in this
house. I am telling you this, hoping you can stop him, in exchange for freeing my soul! You must find my body
before darkness comes, you will be safe. Bury me on sacred ground. I will be at peace at last. He draws strength
from my anguished tears, and that is his only weakness. I do not know if you can defeat him, but you must try,
for you, and the others. He will never stop killing. He can take any shape, and no where can you hide".
"You must go now, there isn't much time left, before he returns. Will you help me priest"? Father Jovanovich
wished he could have told her, he was unafraid, but he was trembling, but he said "Yes, I will bury you on sacred
ground before the sun has set". She smiled as tears flowed down her cheeks, and she hugged him, as she
vanished. At the same instant she vanished, I fell to the floor, exhausted, gasping for the first full breath of air.
I heard foot steps coming up the stairs and frantically looked for my gun. Then, to my relief, I saw Father
Jovanovich.
In a moment, he was helping me to my feet, and Father Jovanovich saw the gun on the floor, by the end table,
reached down and picked it up, handing it back to me. "We have to leave now; we have much to do before
sunset. My life and the other's who were in this house depend on what we are about to do". As we reached
the front porch, I squinted at the bright light, as we made our way to my car. When we got ready to leave, I
asked him, "What are we about to do"?
"Detective David, there are times when you must set aside what you have been trained to do. To do something
you know must be done, not because it follows procedure, but because it protects life. I need your help and
together, yes together we have a chance to save four lives, one of them being mine"! "What have you got in
mind, Father... what did she tell you", I asked? Father Jovanovich continued, "The little girl was murdered
in that basement, and the man who killed her, was killed in this house. But the evilness in him, the bitterness,
deceit, and anger lives on thru Satan. It will take all my faith in Jesus, the lord and Holy Spirit, to defeat him.
You alone Detective David will be helpless against him. She did not say you will die, but she told me, "He will
come for me"
"We need to drive back to the church, I need a shovel. I must bury her on holy ground before the sun sets this
day, he will not have as much strength. I know your training tells you that there should be an autopsy, a morgue,
a funeral home, a burial with relatives and friends, but there is no time. The other three people that were in the
house are in danger, I am in danger. I will not ask you to help me, but I will ask you not to stop me, my son".
I didn't need to think about what I should do, to choose between right and wrong. "Two can dig faster then one
Father, so we'll need two shovel's"; I told him, and I saw relief shine in his eyes. When we reached the church,
he went straight to the garden shed, grabbed two shovels and was back in my car in minutes. Once back at
Larch Lane, he took the shovels and I took a tarp from the trunk.
He showed me the spot to dig, and together, we watched blisters form on our hands. Within an hour, we
began to uncover her body. We made the hole wider and carefully placed all her bones on the tarp. It was
then, that we heard the little girl's voice coming from the stairway. As we looked over, we saw her smiling,
but nervously saying... "Thank you Priest, but you must hurry, you don't have much time and she disappeared.
Quickly we placed her remains and the shovels in the car and I drove us to Compton County Cemetery. It
was getting late, but the sun was still shining when we pulled through the double gate. I stopped and asked
him where he wanted me to drive and he pointed to an open area, near other headstones. Together, we
carried the tools and tarp, and sat them on the green grass. We dug and dug, until Father Jovanovich told
me to stop. He took off his cross necklace and placed it on the child's body.
Then, he opened his bottle of holy water and poured what was left on her remains... then he spoke a prayer.
“Oh Lord, we beseech you to take this child into your loving arms and protect her from all evil, and send your
angels to guide and protect those who are in danger now, Amen�? Father Jovanovich wiped his brow, nodded
at me and we filled the grave. Suddenly, the little girl appeared before us, a beautiful glow surrounding her, as
she ran to the priest and hugged him. Then she stepped back and waved to him, and vanished. Father
Jovanovich looked over to me with tear filled eyes, and saw I too had tears in my eyes.
Quickly, Father Jovanovich had me drive him back to the church. He said he wanted to give me something
that might offer protection to me. But I was more concerned with how to protect him and the other three people
who were in danger.
© 2004 Raymond Cook (All rights reserved)
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