Seeing A Light

Seeing A Light

Untold Stories of Tonio

by Marco M. Pardi

All comments are welcome and will receive a reply. All previous posts are open for comment.

Maartje sat reading in the library of the home she shared with Tonio. A large home, appointed with original art, Persian rugs, artifacts from around the world, and many hundreds of books. One of the four bedrooms was crowded with well over $100,000.00 worth of audio-visual equipment. All protected by a detection system designed and installed by Tonio. When she marveled at the home, obviously more than a college professor’s salary could obtain, he said only, I have other talents that are in demand. Of the exotic detection system he said, Getting into a house is easy; getting out alive is not.

Maartje had several talents of her own. In a studio she and Tonio had set up in the home she used his Bolex MacroZoom movie camera to produce “ClayMation” films; his Bolex H16s were just too big. She would make an entire set, complete with characters, from modeling clay and then, setting the camera on single frame, shot a frame-altered a character-shot a frame-altered a character and so on until the finished product was a motion picture film in which the characters smoothly and naturally “came to life”. Tonio could not imagine the discipline needed for such an intensive task.

At other times Maartje created stunning oil paintings, usually of natural scenes. One, which hung in the living room, was a 3′ X 5′ rendition of a forest pool, the trees deeply dense and vibrant, each leaf and branch properly reflected in the water. When Tonio recovered from stunned silence he told her it made him think of what survivors of near death experiences often say, “Everything there was more real than it is here.” Even while watching their favorite PBS programs, Faulty Towers, To The Manor Born, and Benny Hill, Maartje would sit with her portfolio open on her lap and sketch pen-inked cartoons of their daily life complete with humorous dialogue that only insiders would truly understand.

Maartje’s artistic nature was well known in the community and she was on constant call to render stunning murals inside private homes and some businesses. But in her off time she loved to wander slowly through hardware stores looking at the parts and pieces, imagining what she could do with a yard full of them.

Maartje had wondered briefly if Tonio was in the burgeoning drug trade but quickly found he was utterly intolerant of any mind altering substances, even a cold beer. Then, there were the austere and very serious people who dropped by. By no means naive, she pegged two of them for Mossad. Her deep and extensive knowledge of audio-visual equipment, and her work history, seemed to clear her for sitting in on conversations which, while guarded, were clear to her in their meaning. She wanted in.

But Tonio had plans for the week-end. Among his books were volumes by Hans Holzer, a journalist turned paranormal investigator. In his travels Holzer had come across an array of photographs which appeared to show everyday scenes with the spirit or wraith of someone long or recently deceased clearly visible, and recognizable, in the scene. Also fascinating were photos taken by tourists inside European cathedrals. Some showed gauzy monks kneeling in prayer, but they appeared to be kneeling in the floor not on the floor. A little research found they were kneeling where the floor had been hundreds of years earlier.

Tonio, having gained notoriety in the developing field of Death & Dying (which he found ironic), could think of no good reason spirits would hang around a cemetery but he did describe a particularly vivid experience while spending the night in a Central European cemetery. (Maartje did not ask the obvious question.) So, along with another couple from the college they were going to spend the night in two local cemeteries for which Tonio had already obtained permission,

After dinner they loaded a variety of audio-visual equipment in Maartje’s car. Tonio’s new Italian sports car did not have room. Maartje and Tonio had gone several times to a firing range where she proved a fast learner and excellent shot but they brought no firearms. As Tonio said, What’s the use of shooting a dead guy? So, as night was falling they arrived at the first cemetery, finding the other couple waiting. Maartje squeezed the man’s arm. Just checking, she said. She had a disarming sense of humor and a distinctive laugh. Not usually one for pet names, she did often call Tonio Darlin’ or refer to him as the DEEVIL. Her Dutch language bled through on occasion.

Set up was a bit clumsy, however Maartje, tall and slender but muscular knew exactly what to do even in very limited light. Tonio assumed she could easily field strip and re-assemble a semi-automatic handgun in darkness, and he was later proved correct. She also proved a masterful learner in Kung Fu, Krav Maga, and knife fighting. But she struggled with learning the Japanese covert hand-hypnosis technique Tonio was teaching her.

With the audio equipment set up on power sources attached to the cars they settled in to take infra-red and regular film shots of various areas. But just then a strange sound began, and got louder. Laughing. Human laughing, at a low pitch and volume. No one spoke, but the sidelong glances indicated everyone had heard it. A while after it stopped everyone went back to photography, eventually moving into a long covered hallway open at each end. Briefly using flashlights they discovered that deposited in the walls on each side were crypts containing cremains. The names and dates were inscribed on each, with a bud vase attached by each name. Returning to absolute darkness they took more photos.

As the moonless night wore on they gathered together in the open for a coffee break. Just then, at around 1:30 a.m., they heard a horrible screaming coming from a neighborhood bordering the cemetery. All agreed it sounded like a vicious wife beating in progress. The car the other couple was using was equipped with a CB radio capable of calling the Sheriff’s department, which they did. Amazingly, two Deputy cars arrived quickly. The Deputies were unaware of why they were in the cemetery but, to Maartje’s surprise, they knew of Tonio and treated it as just another quirk of his. Still, it was unfortunate that despite their cruise through the neighborhood they were unable to find the source and take any action.

Having completed their sound and photo shoot at this site Maartje and the group drove to the other cemetery, a much older one with some ornate above ground tombs. After setting up their equipment they began filming and recording. But something was odd. There was very little to no ambient light yet they were able to easily see the few fresh graves standing out. As if they glowed. Indeed, each grave, even the older ones, had a concrete border surrounding it and the border seemed to glow.

They finished their work and their documentation shortly before dawn and went to their homes. Later that day they gathered and listened to the tapes, hearing the distinct laughing. They agreed there had been no place for someone to hide and play tricks. So, they took the audio tapes and the various films to a professional advertising studio where Maartje had done some work and, without much explanation, asked them to process all the material.

As this seemed to take longer than expected Maartje inquired into the delay. She was told the very best technicians on staff had looked and listened repeatedly, conducting every test they knew of, and had reached conclusions they logically rejected but knew to be true: The audio was indeed human speech, though at a frequency unknown to them; the photographs taken in complete darkness within the crematory crypt clearly and legibly showed the names on the crypts and showed the bud vases casting shadows consistent with a single, angular light source though no light was on; and, the concrete borders on the graves at the other cemetery (and a couple of fresh graves themselves) showed light which was not a reflection from a light source elsewhere. It seemed to come from within.

Weeks later Tonio, who was leaving the college, gave a good-bye presentation, showing just the photos, for a general audience. Included were the ones inside the crematorium crypt. After the presentation finished a little old lady trotted up to Tonio and declared she had an explanation for the light in the crypt. “It was a UFO! You know UFOs can come in all sizes and I’m pretty certain one slipped into the crypt to see what you all were doing.”

Standing next to him, Maartje felt that was as good an explanation as any.

Maartje knew she had a congenital heart condition for which there was no treatment. This would take her at an early age, and although she reminded Tonio of it from time to time they spoke of being together for what time they had whether they married or not. She had also come to feel that Tonio’s “consulting” work was something from which he might never return, or return in one piece. She decided that, whenever possible, she would accompany him, nurse him back to health, or cremate him if the time came. She got the first two, even moving thousands of miles over six years. Then things changed.