Heather Scarbro Dobson, 48, of Woodstock, Georgia, has not yet passed away. Someday, though, after a brief, or possibly long, illness, or maybe even after a horrible accident—like tripping over her own feet—she will move on from this mortal coil to whatever happens next.
Heather started out life as a scared, too-smart-for-her-own-good little girl in the town of South Charleston, West Virginia, with a father who loved to tell her stories of the creatures and ghosts of her home state. Even though those tales fascinated her, she remained frightened of the unknown and of the blank slate of death and eternity.
Eventually, Heather drove off into the wild, big world, got married, and started a family. Her husband knew of her fear of death and was able to help assuage it, but with the arrival of their three children, Heather became less afraid of her own inevitable death and more fearful of those of her children.
Rather than sit on her laurels, hoping for time to erase her anxiety, she joined a paranormal investigative group and began the journey of an after-lifetime. Her nights were soon filled with shadows, disembodied voices, cold chills, and even phantom touches. All too quickly, twelve years passed and her fear had subsided, replaced with a respect for death and a knowledge that after her own certain end, she would go somewhere. And so would her loved ones. She had peace and wanted to share that with the world.
Thus, her book Memoirs of a Future Ghost was born. In it, she poured out her experiences with the paranormal, illustrating the very true, often funny, sometimes sad tales of her years investigating ghosts and the people haunted by them. Her book became a love letter to science, life, and the afterlife. And she knew that it would help people across the country, and maybe even around the world, understand that death is nothing to be feared, that an afterlife exists, and that sometimes ghosts just miss their homes, their people, and their lives, and want to stay as close to all of it as they can.
Heather was a technical writer, a scuba diving instructor, and a volunteer at her children’s schools. As a paranormal investigator she is well-equipped to meet the afterlife head-on. She is preceded in death by her grandfather, Simeon Berkley; her father, Thomas Scarbro; her uncles Curtis and Romie Scarbro; and her aunts Joy Jones and Allegra Daniel. She knows that they’re out there, somewhere, in the great beyond, cheering her on.
In lieu of flowers, please consider reading Memoirs of a Future Ghost and contributing to her second and third books funds. Condolences and praise can be sent to heather@afutureghost.org.