"Growing up in my family was quite different," Nancy Napier explained. "My father's side consisted of an aunt who thought that the sun rose in my sister because she was so much like my Dad and she rejected my brother and me because we were so much like my Mom. It didn't bother me much because I had Uncle Johnny, who loved my brother and I. My aunt often complained that we were Johnny's favorites."

Nancy's uncle, Johnny, was a tool and die maker at Caterpillar in Decatur. He often worked long days and was usually exhausted when he got home from work. One evening, he came home and told his wife that he was especially tired. He wasn't feeling well and decided to have a drink in the kitchen before going to bed. He made it to the kitchen and had a drink and started for the bed room. Unfortunately, he never made it. On his way to turn in, he sat down in the living room, had a heart attack and died quietly. That was in February of 1966.

"He went so quick that he didn't get to say good-bye to anyone," said Nancy. She was only thirteen years old at the time and was very upset. "I loved him very much."

A short time later Uncle Johnny had his chance to say good-bye.

"One night not long after he was buried, I awoke from sleep to see him in the door of mine and my sister's bedroom. He was leaning with his left shoulder on the door jam, his arms crossed on his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles. He just stood there smiling at me. I was frozen in my bed. I tried to scream or call my sister's name but my throat wouldn't work."

Nancy realized that she was not afraid of the apparition of her uncle, but she knew that he shouldn't be there. The ghost never moved. He stood there silent in the doorway until finally Nancy could not keep her eyes open anymore. She squeezed them closed, then was afraid to open them, sure that the ghost would be closer to her when they opened again. The next thing that she remembers was that when she opened her eyes again, it was morning.

"It had not been a dream, I was awake and Uncle Johnny had been there. He had come to say good-bye and that he loved me. I can still see it as though it were yesterday. I never believed in ghosts before that night, or probably never really thought about it...but I believe now. No one can make me think that it was a dream or the fantasy of a thirteen-year-old mind. He just came to say good-bye to one of his favorites."