I know.....I could make a thousand jokes about Mothers-in Law, but Esther was one of a kind. She was different, but everybody who met her loved her. She passed away on Feb. 22, 2002, and still visits us. At least we think its her.

Her younger sisters husband (both still alive) was a woodworker and made each of his in-laws a beautiful handcrafted grandfather clock. From Scratch. With very limited power tools. These were all built by hand in Hebron, N.D. in the 50's and early 60's. When Esther died we were at her house that afternoon figuring out how to clear everything out and to whom it should go. The junk went to those relatives that didn't show up to help clean.

So...on the day she died she had forgotten to pull up the three chains that run the time and chimes (on the quarter hour by the way). The clock had stopped at 8:30 AM so we figured she died sometime before that. About 2 in the afternoon the clocked chimed and several of us went and looked and it was running and the hands were at the correct time. There was only 4 of us in the house and we all saw each other and none of us were near that clock at any time before that. Wow.....Esther is still with us!

Fast forward to now. My wife and I have the clock and just before this past Christmas the pendulum and its' attachment to the upper movement snapped off. Probably from metal fatigue of swinging back and forth for so long. So the clock doesn't run at all. It had stopped at 7:45 AM. Little by little the clock has been advancing time with no one moving the hands or anything else. It now says 8:30AM. I have looked up into the movement and nothing is moving or clicking or clacking or whatever Grandfather clock movements do.

The other day I finally said, "Esther, if you're moving the hands on the clock why don't you get it to the right time?"

Three hours later I came back from subbing down at school and the clock was at 11:45AM....about 5 minutes off the correct time. Nobody was here, and Murphi our wonder Yorkie is hardly tall enough to get up there, open the door, and move the hands. It's still at 11:45, so I guess Esther made her point. Anyone got any ideas on why it's moving like that?

Gonna call Ghost Hunters.

If it were my house, I would move the hands on the clock without telling people all the time.

Just to mess with them.

I have seen/ had strange things happen that i couldn't explain.
So it wouldn't surprise me if something was going on at Bob's house.
Bob, have you noticed anything else that might be strange (I mean, even for you?)LOL!
My sister in law had a poltergeist in her home that loved to move things and throw things. They never did figure out what was doing it.
If i were you, Bob, I would leave a pen and piece of paper by the clock, ask a question and see if anything shows up later on the paper. Maybe it will get some response.

Your wife is not stupid.

She's a beautiful, intelligent Minnesota girl that made one incredibly idiotic choice in her life.
And she's been paying for it ever since her wedding day.
Hell, the woman should be put in for sainthood after all these years.

Interesting story Bob.
Interesting as well that you posted this exactly 10 years to the day of her passing.

All right, I'm back among the living. Sicker than snot the past week and didn't even want to look at a computer, eat anything, etc., etc.,!

We've come up with one theory...we have lots of small earthquakes around here and since Christmas the U of M Geology Dept. has recorded 48 tremors under 3.0 around this area. So, either that's moving the clock or we really have Esther in our midst. I'm a skeptic, but my daughter who is here now is a firm believer in the hereafter, ghosts and whatever. Afterall, she worked at the UFO Museum in Roswell, NM for 7 years: saw the supposed crash site and all the evidence hidden away in the airport hangars; and firmly believes that people can come back and be among us.

Esther....if that's you, at least fix my back gate. Remember my Elk incident from a couple winters ago? Gate still doesn't shut properly.

What about the Minnesota Vikings?
They have "blown" for YEARS! LOL!