This Best-Selling Author Has Convincing Evidence The Dead Reached Out To Him With An Ominous Warning
Many people have had moments in their lives when something extraordinary occurs with no rational explanation. Best-selling horror novelist Dean Koontz received a phone call from who he claims was his mother - 20 years after she died - and her warning allegedly saved his life.
Read on to find out more about the creepy Koontz call.
Dean Koontz Claims He Received A Phone Call From His Dead Mother
In September of 1988, author Dean Koontz was working in his office when the phone began to ring. Koontz answered the receiver and heard a weak, far-away voice on the other end of the receiver. The voice warned, “Please, be careful.” Koontz asked the person's identity, but they did not respond to his inquiry. Instead, they repeated their warning three additional times before the line went silent. Koontz was in shock. The voice sounded just like his mother, except his mother had been dead for nearly 20 years.
His Phone Number Was Unlisted
Koontz's phone number was unlisted, which means it was intentionally not listed in phone books. If you have a private number, you usually do not have to worry about getting calls from telemarketers, prank calls, or being contacted by people you do not know. The fact that Koontz did not have a listed phone number makes the phone call all the more interesting. Although it could have been a case of a person calling the wrong number, the warning the woman gave him on the phone could very well have been about an incident that occurred only two days later.
Koontz Believes His Mother Was Warning Him About His Father
Two days after Koontz's strange phone call, the retirement home where his father was staying contacted him. His father, Ray, would often cause problems at the facility, but the problems were escalating, and he had become violent, punching another resident. Nurses at the facility were concerned and asked Koontz to speak with Ray and try to calm him down.
When Koontz arrived at Ray's room, his father wasted no time and proceeded to grab a knife from a drawer and attempted to stab his son. Koontz had to fight off his father, and he eventually was able to get the knife away from him. Police arrived, and they took Ray to a psychiatric facility, which everyone felt was the best place for him.
Koontz Wrote About The Experience In An Essay
It took Koontz a long time to talk about what he felt was a fateful phone call. Once he felt comfortable sharing his story, he did what he does best and wrote about it. In a book titled Beautiful Death: The Art of the Cemetery by photographer David Robinson, you see morbid, yet beautiful photos of tombstones and cemeteries. You will also see that the introduction is written by none other than Dean Koontz. In the introduction, Koontz writes an essay about his phone call experience, sharing the book's theme of exploring death.
His Mother Died Before Sharing "Life-Changing" Information
Florence Koontz had severe health problems throughout her life. The stress of her horrible marriage with Ray didn't help matters. Florence passed away in February 1969 at the age of 53. While on her deathbed, Florence explained to her son that she had some information about his father to share with him and that it would be "life-changing." Florence ended up dying before she could ever share the secret with her son. Koontz has often wondered if his mother was going to tell him that Ray wasn't actually his biological father. He contemplated getting a DNA test to find out, but decided against it, knowing he would be unhappy if he learned Ray was his real father.
His Father Was An Alcoholic Who Suffered From Mental Illness
Ray was 35 years old when his son Dean was born. Koontz does not recall any happy memories regarding his father. Throughout his life, he remembers his father drinking and abusing him and his mother. When his father would arrive home from a night out drinking, his mother would promptly send Koontz to his room so he wouldn't be able to see or hear how his drunken father would behave. Later in life, Ray would be diagnosed as schizophrenic.
It Wasn't The First Time His Father Tried To Kill Him
Ray trying to stab Koontz in the retirement community was actually his second attempt to kill his son. Koontz has not shared many details of the first attack, but we do know it occurred in 1987 when the author was 42 years old. The two were arguing, and his father pulled a knife on his son. The police were not notified.
Koontz's Bad Childhood Was Inspiration For His Writing
Koontz grew up very poor and refers to his mother as a saint and his father as a sinner. Koontz took his negative life experiences from his childhood and turned them into something positive. He's quoted as saying, "I have said sometimes that I would not have had my career if not for my father because that's where all the creativity comes from," Koontz said. “When I write about sociopaths, I'm writing from the trenches.”
He Never Forgave His Father
Koontz took care of his father until he died from degenerative alcohol syndrome in 1990. Even though Koontz would regularly visit his father and arrange his healthcare and living situations, he never forgave Ray for how he treated him and his mother. He did not dwell on his father's violence and actions, but he never forgot them either.
Koontz's Mother Never Called Him Again
Koontz never received another strange phone call from the woman who sounded like his mother. Maybe it just means he has nothing to worry about - that no one is trying to kill him, and he is safe. Although Koontz cannot say with certainty that the ghost of his mother called him that day, he believes someone, somewhere, is looking out for him.
