"Can I see my family NOW?"

South River Heights part of Red River Colony?

I have a ghost story to tell you...

Thirty-three years ago (1976) I was just 10 years old and our family had just moved into a home in south River Heights a few months prior.

I remember going downstairs for some toy or book after school in the Fall, and back then we didn't have as many LED lights from gadgets like we have now. The basement was pretty much pitch black.

One day after school between 4.30 and 5 p.m. I walked downstairs and I could feel this "presence" of this older (approx. 50 years old) man. This happened several times. I was so freightened of him that I'd run to get my stuff and then run like Hell back upstairs, careful not to bump into the telepost.

One day this man showed me this lifesize Sepia-toned image of his family. I now know that this was just a still Dagerotype from the 1800s. The man was standing and to the right of him was his wife holding onto her husband's leg. To the right of them were their children - a girl and a boy.

I studied the image for a bit, before running upstairs to my room.

It was at that time that I was huffing and puffing and asked their names...

Me: OK, what are your names, starting with the father.

Father: Aern. (with a Brogue/Celtic/Gaelic accent)

Me: How do you spell that?

Father: A E R N

Me: What is your wife's name?

Father: Mary

Me: What is your son's name?

Father: Joe (in a humble tone)

At that moment I thought the names were being inserted by my own consciousness because Mary and Joseph were my grandparents name. So I never did get the name of the daughter. And I haven't gotten their Surname which would have made it easier to locate history records of them.

Over the years after 1976-77-78 etc.. I had gotten over the fear of going downstairs because I started to turn on the lights instead of just running from this "man".

In 1985 my heart changed and I was a kinder more loving person. One day I saw this "memory clip" that of this 7 year old boy who looked like he was just getting ready for bed. He had overalls on which he had just taken off. Under that he wore an orange, blue and silver striped shirt. It was Aern's son, Joe from the life-size Dagerotype! At the time I thought he was pointing at me but he was actually just one of Aern's memories. Joe was making monkey faces and was just being silly. I had seen this clip at least 4 times in the 1980s.

Then nothing. Until November 1, 2009.

I had taken my cat, Tiger, to my parent's home, and after watching part of a movie in the basement, my cat peered to the back of the basement doorway where the laundry room was. I heard Tiger say "Hello, hello, Aern?"

I gasped, and said to my cat "Hey, I remember that name from when I was younger!" Then Tiger says while returning from the back of the basement and lookking contented "gotta go, Aern". My cat looked like I was interrupting something between them and that they were friendly to one another.

So this past week was one in which everything that the ghost of Aern had just started to make sense. And he was such a good family man. I remember talking to him back in 1985... He would ask me telepathically ... "Can I see my family now?" repeating that for a few times. I told him at the time I wasn't sure whether he could go to Heaven or not because I wasn't sure whether he had done something to cause him to not go up.

This year has seen a monumental shift inside of me. I lost my first cat, Smiles, to abdominal cancer. I had him for 18 years. And other things at work and in the political happenings in the U.S. caused me to reflect on what it means to be "human" and where we go in the afterlife.

In June I became open to reincarnation and have been listening to David Icke and others on the topic.

So when I heard Aern's name called out by my cat last week it reminded me of all thatI had encountered of him since 1976.

My question is this... Was there a Red River Colony Settlement in what is now southwest River Heights? And if so, how do I find out more about this Aern guy and his family. I am sorry I couldn't find his last/surname. I don't know if he just doesn't remember it (head injury at death?) or I couldn't hear his ghost whisper voice clear enough.

Can you help me find more about the Red River Colony if there were families not just at the Rivers, but also beyond?