A Memory That Wasn’t

Ghost stories and Paranormal Incidents

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When I was about four years old, I experienced something so vivid, so real, it became etched in my mind as fact. I remembered it as clearly as the layout of my childhood home. In my memory, my great-grandmother’s casket rested in our dining room for several days after she passed. It sat on the wall between the dining room and the kitchen, a rich mahogany box with a shiny polish. It was closed, but I knew it was my great-grandmother resting inside. The house was filled with family, their voices hushed, the air heavy with the grief of mourning. I can picture the scene even now: the somber glow of the afternoon light filtering through drawn curtains, the scent of flowers mingling with the musty air. For years, I believed it had happened exactly as I remembered.

But here’s the thing—it didn’t.

Years later, I related this memory to my older brother, giving him the details and wondering why the casket was in the house. That’s when I learned my great-grandmother had passed away in Mexico, at my Uncle Rob’s house in Parral. Her casket never came to our home in Texas. And yet, the memory remains. It’s as vivid and detailed as any childhood recollection, refusing to fade despite being factually impossible.

Since this revelation, I’ve often wondered: How could this be? Was it just my young mind constructing a scene that never existed, blending details from stories or emotions? Or—could it be something stranger, a sliver of memory not from this life, but from another?

Four generations of my family. Left to right: me, my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mother.

What might explain this strange memory?

· Reincarnation Remix

Maybe my past life was an Irish poet, fond of wakes, and I decided to stage a surprise comeback. My brain, a fan of drama, thought it’d be fun to cross timelines.

· Imaginative Improv

Young brains are like movie studios—they'll produce blockbusters from the tiniest sparks. Heard some family tales, added a dash of kid creativity, and voilà: the casket-in-dining-room saga!

· Heritage Hiccups

Blame my Irish roots—traditions have a sneaky way of hitchhiking into memories. It’s like a cultural gene saying, “You’re Irish, let’s pop in a wake for flair.”

· Emotion over Logic

Who needs facts when feelings are involved? My mind probably thought, “Let’s make this moment even more cinematic to honor great-grandma!”

· Memory Mash-up

My brain: “Why keep memories in silos? Let’s cross-breed them! Irish tradition plus family tales equals a perfect emotional casserole.”

Memories don’t exist in isolation; they’re fluid and constantly interacting. My vivid image may have been influenced by something I saw or heard about Irish traditions, mixing it with real-life events to create a hybrid memory. This blend may hold deeper meaning tied to my identity and emotional resonance with family.

The odd thing about that, though, is my family never talked about our Irish heritage. It was so far back in the linage that we simply thought of ourselves as Americans with a weirdly strange reference to my grandfather’s Norse roots. My genetic testing pointed to a very small percent from that while the rest was Irish, Scots, and Welsh.

In the end, I lean toward the reincarnation theory—a memory from a past life, triggered by the profound grief of my family at my great-grandmother’s passing. Young minds often carry lingering echoes of previous existences, and maybe my childhood imagination allowed that sliver of past experience to surface. While I can’t prove it, I like to think of it as an ode to the depth of human emotion and the mysteries our minds hold.

Have you ever experienced a memory so vivid that it had to be true, only to discover it wasn’t? Perhaps you recall flying across the yard in a superhero cape or chatting with the family dog about philosophy. I’d love to hear your own odd, but fake childhood memories. They might just reveal the fascinating and creative ways our minds work—and who knows, maybe you’ve got a reincarnation mystery of your own waiting to be uncovered!