The best-selling series of books, Chicken Soup, just released a new one, and it has a local connection.
Chicken Soup for the Soul:Miracles and the Unexplainable was released in mid-September, and nestled in amongst its “101 stories of miracles and unexplainable” is a story written by local author Barbara Gladue.
Titled “A Celestial Operator,” the short story discusses the death of Gladue’s mother, who died in 1997, and a Heavenly phone call she received a couple of years later.
Gladue recounted the story in a recent interview, discussing how the phone rang while she was painting. She picked the phone up and heard static, before noticing that it wasn’t plugged in.
“You have that feeling that this is not of here,” said Gladue.
According to Gladue, when she isn’t working as a health care aide she is ghost hunting with her grandchildren.
Gladue notes, with a laugh, that her husband, an engineer, is a critic and tries to “debunk” the paranormal activity she looks into.
Still, with her husband attempting to debunk the paranormal or not, Gladue says that she has experienced a significant amount of paranormal activity already in her life with the phone story just being one example.
In addition to the short story, Gladue has also self-authored two weight loss books: Weighing in,and 365 ways to lose. She also plans to continue submitting stories to Chicken Soup.
Gladue says that weight-loss has always been a passion of hers and she also runs the local TOPS Canada Club in Castor.