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 The Mysterious "Lady In Black". (c) 2001 Mark Andrews - ufo1128@webtv.net (continued from Newsletter # 61)
September, 1995 You could say that it was only by chance that I happened to see the TV columnist's piece in the Indianapolis News that spoke the coming episode of Sightings in which the story of a local EMT and his encounter with a strange "apparition" would be featured. I found it to be an interesting prospect and made a point of watching. When I saw how the mysterious lady was presented, (and realized the location's proximity to the red brick "school house" that I saw the night that Melvin and I had the ghost / angel encounter) I was elated and decided to look up the central person in the presentation, Randy Neibert. And when the old school house itself was shown as part of the episode (home of the Franklin Township Historical Society) I was pretty much beside myself with excitement. There were so many lights going on in my mind and "bells ringing" that I began my search to find Randy before that particular segment had even finished. I should mention that as part of the visit to the old school house / museum, the Sightings crew filmed an old black dress on display as well as a Bible from the 19th Century. Both Randy and his sister, Kim, agreed that those items were identical to what they saw on and with the woman the day of her appearance at the accident site. After several calls around, and a couple of days, I finally did get to speak with Randy first- hand. We agreed to meet at his apartment and compare notes of our individual experiences. On my second visit to Randy's apartment, I had a feeling that the Lady would be willing to give us some form of a manifestation. I'm really not much of an artist, but I like to sketch faces. So after dinner, we put out a verbal request to the Lady to guide my hand to give us an idea of how she looked when she was still 'in body". As I picked up the pencil, some force sent it flying across the dining room. Randy and I took it to be a good sign that she was there and had agreed to our request. The drawing that developed was a very "other worldly" sketch of a Native American woman in a wrap-around gown. Her eyes were deep and transcending. We both agreed (as much as our memories allowed) that that was the woman we had seen. One thing that Randy and I realized that we had in common was the fact that we had each been baptized and confirmed in local Lutheran churches. (He at St. John's - I at St. Paul's.) It was an interesting piece of "common ground", but nothing (that we first thought) might have any bearing in terms of our mutual "communion" with The Lady In Black. As the years went along, Randy and I became good friends and would frequently have "hunches" about our curious angelic friend. It would be impossible for me to give a chronology of our discovered information regarding the the Lady, so I'm going to list it as best I can. - Just to the North of the red brick school house sits Indian Creek Christian Church. The creek in question was named for the fact that an old Cherokee woman made her home along the creek in the latter part of the 19th Century. (Incidentally, I chose to be baptized by immersion {my second baptism} at that church on Feb. 21, 1982. My parents were members of Indian Creek at the time.) - The red brick school house served many functions following its construction in the mid 1800's. It was the site of the first Lutheran high school in the Indianapolis area. Randy and I were surprised to come across this information on one of our fact-finding missions to the building. I can still see the stunned expression on Randy's face as we looked at each other and said in unison, "Oh my god!" It came to both of us at the same instant that The Lady In Black had been a Lutheran school teacher. The Lutheran Church was born from the Reformation started by Martin Luther in the year 1517. The break from the Roman Catholic Church lead to many changes in Protestant theology. Among the many discarded practices was the veneration of Saints, and prayers for their intercession. It is now commonly held by standard Lutheran and main-stream Protestant theology that once we experience death, our souls "sleep" until the Resurrection on The Last Day. The fact that a deceased Lutheran school teacher would so much take it upon herself to cause a "re-thinking" of those theological points (with two confirmed Lutherans and former students of Lutheran schools) was something that Randy and I found to be just too tantalizing to over-look. If you have known many Lutheran school teachers, then you know that they are probably the most dedicated members of their profession, and some of he most "staunch" defenders of Lutheran theology. And the idea of a deceased Native Cherokee Lutheran school teacher presenting herself as she came in response to the "intercessory petitions " (prayers heard by Saints) offered by Lutheran confirmants!... Well, let's just say that you would have to be very Lutheran to catch the sweetness of that irony. And to Randy and me, that point was just about as SWEET and wonderfully ironic as any moment in earthly in life can get ! And it is exactly what we would expect from a dedicated, Native American Lutheran school teacher. After all these years, she's still teaching!
Originally published in Project X Newsletter #62
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