Man finds unexplained photos after losing son to suicide
A father feels comforted by unexplained changes to photos while grieving the loss of his son.
“One thing I realize, is that when I have a bad moment, I’m not moving backwards, I’m just healing more.”
For this first edition of The Woo section of the ‘zine, we have Bill from Shoreham, NY, who says he’s had many experiences that he considers signs from his son that he lost to suicide.
Bill’s son Vincent always wanted him to get an iPhone, but Bill didn’t want to spend the money. A couple of months after losing Vincent, his cell phone broke and he decided to finally get an iPhone. He bought a refurbished phone, and the store transferred all of his photos onto his new phone.
When he looked at the photos on his new phone soon after, he realized that two of the photos of his son had been blended together - and in one of them, his son was holding an iPhone. In the other photo, he was standing smiling at a museum.
“I spent a long time looking for an answer to how this could have happened. I asked several people from Apple, but no one could explain it! I had both of the original photos, plus one photo with them superimposed on each other on my phone.”
Bill thinks these changes are signs from his son. “[It’s] out of the ordinary. I take it as Vincent, somehow, was able to do it to let me know he was present and not in pain anymore. My pain was so great and I think he wanted to let me know he was near me. I felt good, like he was right there with me.”
Bill shared these signs from Vincent have gotten him through the darkest days of his life.
There were also what Bill calls “orbs”, or small points of colored light, that began showing up in photos and videos.
“I went down to Key West to honor him. Actually, I visited all of the places that I thought were special places looking for him. Sounds silly, but looking for any sign, anything - and I believe he was with me but not all the time. I could feel the difference.
“The first blue orb I saw while in Key West while taking a video, the orb itself was strong and blue and active [moving around the video]. Then blue orbs began popping up in all of the pictures of him, including that one where the two photos blended together. They definitely were not there before, but when I would look back at those photos, they started showing up. I just believed that our relationship was just so strong that he was able to do that. A golden orb showed up in a video after he passed, and after my father passed as well.”
“I feel he was with me when I see the orbs on him or near him. As I heal, the orbs are not really [showing up as much anymore].”
His other son began having similar experiences as well, with orbs showing up in photos and videos, especially in places that he would frequent with his brother.
Bill says that when he was in “bad shape” emotionally after losing his son, these photos got him through. “I talk to him all the time, every day. I miss him so much.”
Bill also began having single, unexplained pennies appear unexpectedly, and began noticing a pattern to when they would appear.
Bill shared, “They now seem to show up when I have an emotional decision to make, where before they would show up when I was in tremendous pain. Maybe in the future they’ll show when when I’m having a great time. That would be awesome.”
To get through his most painful days, Bill thinks of his son’s favorite color, blue. He learned to associate the color with a good memory of them together during a hypnosis session which he sought out to bring him some peace.
“It [the color blue] brings me to a great memory of us in South Beach”, Bill says. “That usually does the trick, but if it doesn’t - I sometimes numb myself to get through, the pain can be agonizing. Honestly at the beginning I did not think I would survive it, but now I know [the pain] will pass if I give it time - so I just have to get through. One thing I realize now is that when I have a bad moment, I’m not moving backwards, I’m just healing more.”
“Losing a child is the worst pain a parent can ever experience”, Bill said, but added these experiences he has had since have given him some comfort.
Here at Full Circle we believe that acknowledging and sharing the mysteries that frequently occur around the end-of-life transition and grief space can be incredibly validating and inspiring to others. We would love to hear your stories! If you would like to submit a story to “The Woo” please e-mail info@walkinghome.org
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