Family mystery during the Spanish Civil War

[Vox]

Hiya Guys, this is one of my first postings and I would like to recall to memory an encounter that occurred 15 years ago by my uncle, who met a supposedly long gone family member. I'll let you decide if the story has any paranormal inclinations...

The event I'm about to recall took place in 1936, on the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (36-39), to circa 1978. Those involved were my grandfather's brother, my uncle (my grandfather's son) and a family friend of the time (1936-1939). My family from my mother's side came from a small city on the border with my British home city (Gibraltar); this small Spanish city is called La Linea de la Concepcion. On the outbreak of the Spanish civil war my grandfather worked in Gibraltar, so he became a refugee in the city, as he felt the war had no meaning and that both sides had terrible flaws (but was later incarcerated by the fascist authorities on the grounds of him being a traitor, etc, but that's a different story!). My grandfather's brother however was studying to become a lawyer in Madrid, and was roped into the last ditch defense (whether he agreed or not is a bone of contention within my family) of the capital by the Republic, against the onslaught of the fascist army. The weeks passed and my family had no word of their son since the invasion of Madrid. A couple of weeks later however the news came back home in shape and form of an envelope...

Needless to say the envelope described how bravely my grandfather's brother had fought for the Republic (like they all do I gather), but his life was lost in the defense, his body being recovered from behind a sandbag with a single shot to the head. My family went into a state of intense mourning for the loss of their prodigious son, but time went by, and like all similar situations, they lose their intensity and life returns to a varying degree of 'normalness' for lack of a simpler word. This is when the family friend comes into play. She was a volunteer looking after injured Republican soldiers in hospitals around Spain, but she came back with a fascinating tale of an unexpected encounter. She told my family that their long thought dead son was alive for she had seen him in one of the Republic's hospitals near Madrid! She said that he was unconscious with bandages around his head due to some head trauma, but that she had recognized him, but the doctors would not allow her entry into the ward. My family rapidly sent word to the Republican authorities but never received an answer, for soon enough the Republic lay battered, bleeding, and broken for Franco's fascist army had successfully won the coup de etat. Time went by and with no hope of retrieving any information; my family lost any further ambitions of looking for their son as it was completely hopeless.

We now come to the year 1978, when my uncle (my grandfather's son) started to work for the Spanish government. At this time my family had moved to the larger city of Malaga, the capital of La Costa del Sol. My uncle, a lowly clerk at the time was working in the records area of the Malaguese "ayuntamiento" (local government), dealing with the public in information gathering. One day he had to interview a senior gentleman to retrieve some information, and the first thing that struck him was that he had the same surname as his father (in Spain surnames consist of the juxtaposition of the father's and mother's surname), which he commented to the gentleman. The gentleman laughed, and told him briefly of his past, which entailed:-

1. He was originally from a small city called La Linea de la Concepcion

2. Judging from my uncle's description of the man he would appear to be of the correct age at the time (i.e. 62 years old give or take).

3. He was in Madrid, in the outbreak of the war, and that he had t defend it

4. Suffered a head wound in the course of the battle, and that he did not remember much prior to the injury as the authorities had just told him his name, and where he came from.

My uncle did not put two and two together at the time (he was quite young as well, around 22), so he proceeded in taking down the details he required, at which point the gentleman told him that he was running late and that he would come in another day... needless to say, he didn't come back.

So what was this encounter? Was it a long lost relative who suffered amnesia, or an apparition? I leave up to you to decide...

I might also like to add a series of events which have occured to my aunt over the course of the years which may help or even hinder your opinions. There have been a series of occasions when she has woken up in the middle of the night to see the looming figure of a man dressed in a grey military uniform (consistent with the Republics' uniform of the time). She describes him as being very tall, lean and of striking features, which relates alot to the general description of my grandfather's brother. On the occasions that this has happened she has tried to wake her husband up (to no avail might I add), and when she turns back to face this figure, it has simply gone.

So there you have it, I look forward to your opinions!

Regards,

Frederick (Vox)

p.s. I do have the desire to go back home and check church records and the such for marriages, etc to maybe shed some light on this mystery, but first of all I have to conclude my studies in this cold, cold island that is known as the UK (excl. N. Ireland, and Gibraltar! LoL).

Oh and by the way, I know that everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I'd rather wish that disrespectful comments and the like to be avoided or kept to a minimum as it is a quite personal matter thanx!

[Althalus]

it sounds like it was a doppelganger or something similar, either that or it could have been coincidence, or it could have been him and had suffered such a terrible wound to the head, that he forgot about the family.

The doppelganger could have been visiting up on the family to let them know that he was fine, your aunt could not wake him up during the sighting because it was taking all of his mental energy to form it. When she eventually managed to wake him up it had vanished because he was concentrating on other things.

[Bizarro]

sounds like a coincidence to me. they do happen from time to time.

[Kismit]

Sounds like somebody letting the family know they are allright to me ...