My dad, Brian Llewelyn Morris, died in Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Hampshire, England, in February 2005. He had been admitted to the hospital on my birthday in January of the same year.

Dad's ghostly message.

I won't go into details about his death because that is not what this story is about, but he was on life support that was turned off, so we knew that his time had come.

After the decision had been made by us, his family, to turn off the life support, my mother and sister went to sit with him when the machine was turned off. I was not allowed to go into the hospital because I had an open wound on my leg, which had an MRSA infection which was contagious, and I couldn't enter the ward he was in because of this. I sat at home on my own, fielding questions from his family and friends and notifying them when he finally passed away. 

I was sitting at home in his armchair in the front room of our home. I was sitting in the quiet when he, or a ghostly image of him, appeared before me. He spoke to me quietly and told me that he had died and that I was now the head of the family. He told me that my mum would need me now and that I needed to take care of her.

I had not been able to physically cry for many years because of damage to my tear ducts, but I sobbed uncontrollably as he spoke to me. My dry eyes wept, and my shoulders shook with emotion, but I was not scared in any way, and to be honest, I wasn't even surprised to see his spirit in front of me. I have seen a few spirits in my lifetime and had a few near-death experiences of my own, but I just could not control my emotions at his passing. After he gave me the message, he disappeared and I waited for a call from the hospital.

The call did not come, but a short time later, my sister dropped my mum off at home and my mum came in through the door of the kitchen of our home. I went to her, and she broke down, trying to tell me my dad had passed away. I broke down again, shedding more dry tears whilst I told her that I already knew because he had visited me after he passed.

We both sat quietly, had a drink and spoke about my dad. At no stage did my mum doubt any part of my story about my dad's spirit coming to me. She had been with me when I was a very young boy on two separate occasions when the spirit of my Grandma, my dad's mother, had visited me after her death.

I have been through some very, some might say, strange experiences in my life, but this one has never left me. Whenever I think back to this event, I think of my dad again and know he is still with me everywhere I go.