It was a beautiful summer morning at our home near the town of Zamora.  My wife was off doing something in town, so I was home by myself, making something in my wood shop. I had taken over the barn to become my “shop” when the kids moved out and we no longer had horses or 4-H projects.  The big, sliding barn door was wide open as usual, so I could easily see and hear what was going on outside.

I heard someone loudly, calling my name as if looking for me.  It is not unusual for people to call out for us when they come to visit because it is sometimes difficult to find us on our tree-covered five acres.  I stopped what I was doing to try to figure out who was calling and where they were.  I heard the call again and was surprised that it was my brother, Michael. He doesn’t get down from Eureka to visit very often, but since we live adjacent to the main north-south freeway in California people sometimes stop to say “hi” on the way by.  I was excited and pleased to hear his voice.  He is my best friend, and I miss having him nearby to talk to.  I always enjoy our visits.  I put down what I was doing and went to find him.  However, I was startled to discover that his car wasn’t there.  I checked around the house and property, but he wasn’t there at all.  I was not only a bit disappointed that he wasn’t actually there, but also very perplexed about how he had managed to call me so clearly without being there.

I let it go as some kind of strange hallucination or dream since it made no other sense to me.  However, the next morning it was still bugging me so I gave him a call (using the telephone this time) to see if he knew anything about it.  He wasn’t aware of any long distance communications, but he was very upset because a mutual friend of ours had just been murdered by his son (the friend’s son) over an argument concerning drugs.   I believe our friend was stabbed to death.  This had happened the day before I heard Mike calling me, and Mike had found out about it just about the time that I heard the calling.  He said he wasn’t aware of trying to contact me.  I was glad that I had called so that he could talk about it.

That is the only time that I recall “hearing voices” in a way that sounded exactly like someone talking.