Where Angels Tread--Real Stories of Miracles and Angelic Intervention
Proposal
by
Leslie Rule
Chelsea Banton's mother did not think her daughter would make it to fifteen.
Born five weeks premature, she had been chronically ill her entire life. Now, the 14-year-old was in Charlotte, North Carolina's, Presbyterian Hospital with a case of pneumonia so severe that doctors offered no hope. The heartbroken family made the decision to take her off life support.
An hour later a nurse noticed a startling image on the security monitor and called others to look. A tall, glowing figure with what appeared to be wings stood just outside the door to the girl's room.
"It's an angel!" cried Chelsea's mother. She got out her camera and snapped a picture.
As an awed group of hospital staff gathered to gawk at the monitor, Chelsea began to recover. Within an hour of the angel sighting, she had improved significantly.
She celebrated her fifteenth birthday on Christmas day, 2008, at home with her family.
Chelsea's angel story is no fairy tale.
It was reported by Charlotte, North Carolina's, WBTV, complete with the photo for proof. But if a 2007 Gallup Poll is any indication, people don't need much convincing. In fact, 75 percent of Americans believe in angels!
As I cast my net for real life cases of miracles and angels, I soon learned why so many believe. Nearly everyone I have asked has some firsthand knowledge of an angel encounter or a miraculous rescue.
My own literary agent, Sheree Bykofsky, told me of her sadness thirty years ago as she walked through Manhattan. A shabbily dressed man sat on the sidewalk with his back against a brick wall as he played a guitar. "Lose your smile and you lose everything," he told her. The words jolted her as she realized they were true. She smiled at him and began to feel better. The homeless "man's" message stayed with her through the years, largely because of the music she had heard. The distinctive sound of guitar strumming was unmistakable. "But there were no strings on the guitar," Sheree said. She decided he was an angel.
It is a widely held belief that angels can appear as the traditionally depicted celestial beings with wings and halos, as ordinary humans, or as animals.
In some cases, what appear to be humans or animals are actually angels in disguise. At other times, angels are simply acting through humans or animals.
In many instances, the angels are not seen but felt. A Portland, Oregon, Chef told me of a harrowing moment when, as a teenager, he was climbing a cliff with friends. His pals had made it to the top but he found himself clinging precariously to a ledge. A fall would be deadly and he was washed with terror as he realized he was losing his grip. Suddenly he felt himself lifted to safety.
It may very well be angels working behind the scenes when any miracle occurs. Certainly, there is some kind of divine intervention. Miracles can be big or small.
While writing for Women's World magazine some twenty years ago, I was assigned the story of a family whose trailer was snatched up by a tornado. The young couple had been sleeping beside their newborn daughter when they heard what sounded like a freight train bearing down on them. The father told me of how he held his baby tight as the trailer was lifted into the air. The child was ripped from his arms and the next thing he knew, he woke up amidst the ruins. It was eerily silent as his eyes adjusted to the dark and he began to make out the shapes of the smashed refrigerator, television, and the debris of the splintered trailer. He found his wife unharmed but there was no sign of the baby.
The frantic father ran to a relative's nearby home and asked them to bring their car and shine the headlights on the scene so they could look for the child. They had little hope, but as they searched, a thin wail pierced the night. They aimed the beams toward the sound. There was the baby, nestled in a bush. She had survived with just a scratch.
Of the forty-five stories I wrote for that magazine, this was the rare one that was "killed."
The reason?
The editor told me that there had been too many recent news stories of babies surviving falls from the sky.
The angels must have been very busy!
A baby surviving against all odds definitely rates as a big miracle, while an unexpected reunion with an old friend is a small miracle. A reader and I were recently emailing about life's amazing little things. She told me of the time she had felt so very lonely for a friend she had known years before while living in another state. Her efforts to find her had failed and her husband suggested a drive might cheer her up. They ended up at an obscure bookstore.
Guess who walked in? The long lost friend.
Some may call it a coincidence but to the reunited friends, it felt like a miracle.
Where Angels Tread will follow the formula of my ghost books with tightly written stories of amazing, yet very real cases.
Photographs, along with a sprinkling of sidebar articles, will add visual appeal. Sidebars will include "Angels in the News."
(I created "Ghosts in the News" sidebars for my ghost books and searched archives for actual new stories. I recapped the accounts, cited the newspapers, the dates of publication, and credited the reporters.)
Where Angels Tread will feature stories that make the heart sing. The tone will be joyful with the emphasis on happy endings.
If it is necessary to mention death, the assumption will be that we will one day be reunited with our loved ones. In fact, some stories will mention relatives from The Other Side who return to help, such as the case of Susan Walker who told me of the time she was very sick and woke in the night see a petite, red haired woman watching over her. "She was wearing a green shirtwaist dress and I saw a light around her," Susan confided. When she later described the woman to her mother, she learned that the visiting spirit was her great-grandmother who died when Susan was small.
Whether they are helpful spirits or heavenly angels, loving beings from The Other Side are often sensed around those who are extremely ill. Darlene Glover told me of how frightened she was when her toddler, Stacey, was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. The worried mother slept beside Stacey all night and woke in the morning to see the girl sitting up and smiling with her eyes full of wonder. "Mommy did you see the angels last night?" Stacey asked excitedly.
"No." replied Darlene. Did you?"
"I heard their wings flapping!" said Stacey.
Today Stacey is a 32-year-old veterinarian technician and she still remembers that night. "The sound of the flapping wings woke me up," she told me. "It sounded as if they were circling above me." Though she was too weak to look up and see them, Stacey knew that angels were with her and was overwhelmed with a feeling of peace. She does not doubt that the angels healed her.
The Market
Inspirational books are currently among top sellers. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, which teaches the power of positive thought, has sold millions since it debuted in 2006. Americans are eager to believe and devour books that reinforce their faith in happy endings. As mentioned earlier, surveys show that most of us do believe.
With so many believers, it is no wonder that angels are big business. Angel products became popular in the early 1990s and the trend is still strong. Publishers have capitalized on our fascination with celestial beings and produced so many books on the topic that powerhouse Amazon.com has an entire book category devoted just to angels.
While most of Amazon's blockbuster angel books are instructional, such as their currently top ranked angel book, Angels 101--an Introduction to Connecting, Working and Healing with Angels (by Doreen Virtue, Hay House 2006), a few are collections of true stories of angel encounters such as those by journalist Joan Wester Anderson. Between 1993 and 2008, she authored a series of seven bestselling books of real angel stories, including In the Arms of Angels--True Stories of Heavenly Guardians (2004 Loyola Press) In addition, Joan Wester Anderson has published two books on miracles. (Miracles and angels go hand in hand and more than a couple of authors have noted this and combined the two.)
Over 20 books on either angels or miracles are currently selling in the top five percent of all books available on Amazon.com with a half dozen of those falling into the top two percent. For example, Into the Light--Real Life Stories about Angelic Visits, Visions of the Afterlife and other Pre-death Experiences (by John Lerma, New Page Books 2007) is ranked in the top one percent.
The fact that angel and miracle books continue to sell well is promising--especially for a book that fills a special niche with verifiable cases and photographs.
While many of the books on the topic are well written, the stories too often sound like fiction. As a reader, I find myself wondering if the authors simply made up the stories or embellished the facts. I want to believe, but how can I when real names are not used? Are the witnesses ashamed to share? Why won't they stand behind their words?
And why aren't photographs provided? I want to see pictures of the people who experienced such amazing things.
It was this same lack of evidence that left me unconvinced and a little empty when I was a reader of ghost stories.
Where Angels Tread will not only be entertaining and visually appealing, the provided proof will reinforce readers' faith in the magic of divine intervention and leave them with a smile.
***
At last count, my four ghost books have sold a combined total of about 140,000 copies. With my already solid base of readers of paranormal books, Where Angels Tread will get a head start on sales and capture readers of Christmas books as well as fans of spiritual/Inspirational books.
Promotion
Since the publication of Coast to Coast Ghosts in 2001, I've been interviewed over 500 times on the radio. I suspect that the same hosts who invite me on their shows to talk about hauntings will be just as excited about miracles.
December will be an excellent time to push Where Angels Tread, particularly because I will include a chapter on Christmas Miracles. The fact that shoppers are actively looking for gifts in December should give sales an extra boost.
In addition to radio interviews, I've appeared on television a few times and been featured in a number of newspaper articles. I've also been invited several times to write articles on the paranormal--including the November, 2005 feature on ghosts I penned for Readers's Digest.
My existing media contacts should certainly help with the promotion of Where Angels Tread.
The Stories
Where Angels Tread will be broken into approximately ten chapters, each following a particular theme including "Animal Miracles," "Saved by an Angel," and "Angels on the Road."
The chapter "Angels on the Road" will feature cases of celestial beings assisting travelers. For example, Lelabelle Wolfert, an Albuquerquie, New Mexico, author told me of her arduous automobile trip across the country in the 1930s. Lellabelle was only five when she and her mother and 14-year-old sister traveled to California to see relatives.
When Lelabelle's exhausted mother dozed off while driving, the teenage sister tearfully grabbed the wheel and steered them off the road.
Soon after, they pulled into a diner where a man approached them, introducing himself as Gabe.
The stranger told him that he had lost his family in a disaster and needed a ride to San Francisco, their destination.
Lelabelle's mother noted that he had the cleanest hands she'd ever seen and decided he was safe. The trip went smoothly after that, with Gabe sharing the driving and even changing a flat tire.
"My sister asked him if Gabe was short for Gabrielle," remembers Lelabelle. "He smiled and said it was."
When they reached San Francisco, Gabe insisted on being dropped off on the side of the road. "He got out of the car," said Lelabelle. "My mother wanted to say goodbye to him but first she leaned over the seat to get her purse out of the backseat. When she got out of the car he was nowhere in sight. He just disappeared."
The chapter "Saved by an Angel" will include the case of a group of people who were in the first of the twin towers hit by planes on infamous September 11, 2001.
Shortly after the first plane struck, dozens of people were headed down the stairs but their progress was slowed by a pregnant woman who was leading the way. People were concerned about her, sure she must be hallucinating when she repeatedly stopped to complain about the bright light that was blocking the way.
No one else saw a bright light but they patiently waited for her to descend the stairs. Suddenly, the stairwell on the floor below them collapsed.
The mysterious light had stalled the group, preventing them from stepping onto the collapsing steps.
The delayed group found another exit and survived the disaster.
The story of a Port St. Lucie, Florida, hound who was trained to rescue children will be included as a "Miracle in the News," in the chapter, "Animal Miracles." Hunter the hound actually flunked out of training and was adopted out to a family. Shortly after acquiring Hunter, new owner Reyna Zurita arrived home one afternoon and as she opened the door, the dog pushed past her and took off. She chased him as he led her to a home half a mile away and discovered an unconscious infant on the lawn.
The baby's mother had stepped away while bathing him and returned to find him beneath the water. She then raced outside and deposited him on the grass and ran to look for help.
Reyna Zurita performed CPR and saved the child's life.
The chapter "Christmas Miracles" will showcase stories of miraculous events that happen around Christmas including the following sidebar:
Christmas Miracle in the News
A cat named Angel was the star of a Colorado family's very own Christmas miracle according to a December 24th, 2004, issue of the Aspen Times. Journalist Janet Urquhart reported on the heartwarming case of a pretty white cat who vanished from his home at Christmastime five years earlier and was believed to be lost forever.
Sam Mosher told the reporter how she and her children, Lindsey and Parker, had adopted two cats, Fly and Angel, from an area shelter a decade before and were brokenhearted when Angel disappeared, apparently taken by a predator.
Five years passed and it was one week before Christmas when 22-year-old Lindsey dreamed of the long lost Angel. The next morning she picked up the latest edition of the Aspen Times Weekly and found herself staring at an image of a cat who looked just like their missing Angel. The photograph of the white cat with one blue and one green eye accompanied an article featuring adoptable shelter pets.
By coincidence or miracle, wrote Janet Urquhart, the cat was selected over other pets in the shelter's care for the photograph.
Lindsey sprang into action and soon learned that the cat had been found in the area at the same time Angel went missing and was taken in by a married couple. When the wife died, the husband took the cat to the shelter.
Shelter workers noted that the underfed feline was very shy but he perked up as Lindsey called, "Angel!" Angel dashed over to her and began purring.
Angel not only remembered her humans, she was happy to see Fly. The reporter quoted Lindsey, "Once they got together, they were making little cat-chat sounds at each other."
The following story will be featured in the chapter "Christmas Miracles."
Mystery Shoppers
Mystery Shoppers
Jonathan was a joyful child who loved to laugh. He looked a little like an angel, with his head of golden curls and wide innocent eyes. The toddler was blissfully unaware of his serious health problems.
"He was born with Goldenhar Syndrome," confided his grandmother, Nancy Fischer, of Lake Canandaigua, New York. She explained that the syndrome divided his body down the middle from his head to his waist, with one half functioning normally and the opposite side plagued with cranial and vertebral deformities. The features on half of his face were malformed but those who loved him saw only his beautiful spirit.