Weddings are supposed to be filled with joy, but as I watched Shanize approach the altar, a knot formed in my stomach. Something was wrong, and I couldn’t ignore it. When I finally stepped forward to lift her gown, the truth I found left me frozen in shock.
I’ve known Dave for over 30 years. We grew up together, shared secrets, and laughed through awkward teenage years. So, when he told me he was getting married to Shanize, this stunning, graceful woman he met a year ago, I was thrilled for him.
Honestly, I didn’t think anyone could ever tie him down, but here we were on his wedding day.
The ceremony was perfect — almost too perfect. Shanize looked like she had stepped right out of a bridal magazine, her long white dress gliding down the aisle. I should’ve been lost in the beauty of it all, but something wasn’t right.
At first, I thought it was just nerves. Weddings are nerve-wracking, right? But as Shanize took one step, then another, I noticed her walking oddly. It wasn’t the poised, confident bride’s walk you’d expect. Her steps were small, unsure, almost as if she was stumbling.
I leaned over to whisper to Dave’s sister, Heather.
“Do you see that?” I murmured, trying to keep my voice low.
Heather frowned, glancing at the aisle. “See what?” she asked, oblivious.
“Shanize,” I said, gesturing subtly with my chin. “She’s walking weird. Like… like something’s wrong.”
Heather squinted and then shrugged. “You’re overthinking it. She’s just nervous, Janice. I mean, it’s a big day.” She gave me a reassuring smile, but it didn’t calm the uneasy feeling bubbling inside me.
Maybe. But something about the way Shanize’s dress moved gnawed at me. Was her dress too tight? Had something happened before the ceremony? I tried to push the thoughts away, but as she got closer to the altar, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. Her steps weren’t just slow; they were almost labored.
I leaned over again, unable to resist. “Heather, I swear something’s off.”
“Janice, stop it,” Heather whispered, her tone sharp. “You’ll ruin the moment. Don’t make a scene.”
I looked back toward the altar. Dave was standing there, his eyes sparkling with love. When our eyes met, he gave me a thumbs-up and mouthed, “Can you believe it?”
I forced a smile back at him, nodding, but inside, something wasn’t sitting right.
The closer Shanize came to the altar, the more unsettled I felt. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“She’s gliding!” someone whispered behind me, a man’s voice laced with amusement. Something about that comment chilled me to my core. I leaned in toward Heather again, my voice barely above a whisper. “Did you hear that? Gliding? That’s exactly it. She’s not walking right.”
“Janice, for God’s sake,” Heather hissed, her patience thinning. “You’re going to embarrass Dave. Stop acting like this!”
But I couldn’t stop. As Shanize drew nearer, I squinted at her feet, trying to make sense of it. The flow of her dress was unnatural. I couldn’t take it anymore. My body moved before my mind could catch up.
“I have to check,” I muttered, stepping forward. I heard Heather’s sharp intake of breath as I edged past her, my eyes locked on the bride.
“Janice!” Heather hissed behind me, her voice tight with panic. But it was too late. I was already there.
My heart pounded, and my hands trembled as I reached out. The world seemed to slow down as I bent over and lifted the hem of Shanize’s gown just a few inches. I wasn’t even sure what I expected to see — maybe some malfunction with her shoes or a wardrobe mishap. But what I found defied all logic.
The entire church fell into stunned silence.
Underneath the beautiful white gown was something so out of place and shocking that my mind went blank for a second. Men’s shoes. Large, polished men’s shoes.
I blinked, half convinced I was hallucinating. I glanced up, but no one moved. No one breathed. Shanize — no, this person — didn’t react, but I did. I knelt down further and looked closer. My stomach churned as I noticed the fabric of the suit pants, slightly hidden by the dress. And then, my eyes darted upward to the face.
That’s when I realized.
This wasn’t Shanize.
It was a man. A man in a wig, a veil covering most of his features, but now that I was up close, I could see the truth. My throat went dry. I stood, my hands trembling at my sides, and met Dave’s eyes.
“Janice…?” Dave’s voice wavered, his happiness crumbling into confusion as he watched me. “What’s going on?”
I didn’t know how to answer him.
For a moment, no one moved. The entire church was frozen, mouths agape, eyes locked on the man standing at the altar, dressed as the bride. The weight of what I’d uncovered hung in the air like a bomb waiting to explode.
Dave’s face was pale, his eyes wide, darting between me, the man in the wedding dress, and the confused guests. He staggered backward, nearly tripping over his own feet.
“What… What the hell is this?” His voice cracked, thick with disbelief.
The guests started whispering, their voices like a swarm of bees filling the room.
The man in the dress — the fake Shanize — stood tall, a smirk spreading across his face. Slowly, deliberately, he reached up and pulled the veil from his head, letting it drop to the ground. The wig came off next with a flourish, revealing short, dark hair. The transformation was complete, and the church erupted in confused chatter.
“Surprise,” he said, his voice filled with smug satisfaction. “You didn’t even notice, did you?”
Dave blinked, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “Where’s Shanize?” he demanded, his voice barely holding together. “Where is she?!”
The man — Dave’s best man — chuckled, shaking his head. “She’s gone, Dave. Left days ago. But don’t worry, she knew about this. She’s the one who asked me to do it.”
The murmurs in the church grew louder, and I could hear people shifting uncomfortably in their seats. I stood there, numb, unable to process what I was hearing. Dave’s best friend — the one standing there in Shanize’s wedding dress — had been in on this?
Dave’s face twisted in confusion and anger. “What the hell are you talking about? What did you do to her?” His voice rose in panic as he stepped forward, his fists clenched. “Where is she?!”
The best man held up a hand, signaling for calm, though his eyes glinted with triumph. “Oh, she’s safe. Don’t worry. But she wanted you to feel this moment, Dave. She wanted you to know what it’s like to be blindsided.”
Dave’s confusion deepened. “What are you talking about?”
The best man smiled a cold, sharp smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “She found out, Dave. About you and Vanessa.” His voice dropped to a near-whisper, the words dripping with malice. “The bridesmaid you’ve been sneaking around with? Shanize knew.”
The air left the room. Dave’s face drained of all color, his eyes wide with horror. “No… no, that’s not… That’s not true.”
“Oh, but it is,” the best man interrupted, his tone vicious. “She found out a few days ago. She could’ve called off the wedding, but where’s the fun in that? No, she wanted to make sure everyone saw who you really are.”
I felt my knees weaken, and I gripped the back of a pew for support. My mind raced. Dave? Cheating on Shanize with one of the bridesmaids? I glanced over at Vanessa, sitting just a few rows away. Her face was pale, her hands trembling as she stared at the floor, unable to meet anyone’s eyes.
Dave shook his head frantically. “No, no, this isn’t happening.”
But the best man stepped forward, his voice rising with each word. “This is happening, Dave! You betrayed her! You threw away your chance at happiness for a cheap fling, and now you’re paying for it.”
The room erupted in chaos. Guests were talking over each other, shouting questions, trying to piece together what had just happened. Some stood, ready to leave, while others stared in disbelief at the man in the wedding dress, still standing proudly at the altar.
Dave’s eyes were wild with panic as he looked at me as if I could somehow save him from this nightmare. “Janice,” he gasped, reaching out toward me. “Please, you have to believe me. This isn’t what it looks like!”
I stared back at him, my heart breaking. “Dave… what have you done?”
The church fell silent again, and the best man’s cold voice cut through the air like a knife. “This is your punishment, Dave. For what you did to her.”
And with that, he turned on his heel, leaving Dave standing there alone — shattered, exposed, and utterly broken.
A woman who died and came back to life after 11 minutes has shared what she experienced during that time.
A woman named Charlotte Holmes said she spent 11 minutes in heaven after a near-death experience and shared the amazing things she saw in the afterlife.
In September 2019, Charlotte was at a routine check-up with her heart doctor when her blood pressure suddenly shot up to a dangerous 234/134. The doctors told her she might be having another stroke or a heart attack.
She was taken to the hospital while her husband, Danny, watched helplessly. He recalled the moment he thought he might lose her, saying, “Immediately, they called a code, and everyone rushed in. They started working on her, and I wondered if I would even be able to bring her home.”
As Charlotte’s condition got worse, she began to describe things she could see, like flowers. But when Danny looked around the room and realized there were no flowers, he realized something incredible. “That’s when I knew she was not in this world,” he said.
Charlotte’s heart had stopped, and for the next 11 minutes, she was clinically dead. But during that time, she said she was looking down at her lifeless body while watching doctors and nurses try to bring her back.
“I could smell the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever smelled, and then I heard music,” she remembered. “When I opened my eyes, I knew where I was. I knew I was in heaven.”
Charlotte, who lives in Wichita, Kansas, described being surrounded by incredible beauty in every direction. She watched everything sway in time with the music she could hear.
“I can’t explain what heaven looked like because it’s so much more amazing than we can imagine,” she said. Then, a group of angels led her deeper into the afterlife.
“There’s no fear, just pure joy when the angels are with you,” she continued. “I saw my mom, my dad, my sister, and other family members standing behind them.”
Write this in easy human language:
“I seen saints of old,” the mum explained. “They didn’t look old, they didn’t look sick, none of them wore glasses. They looked like they were in their 30s. Yet it says in the scriptures, ‘we will be known as we were known’.
“I knew them there in their new bodies. They looked wonderful.”
Charlotte then revealed that she saw a toddler, which left her quite confused.
She said: “I can remember thinking, ‘who is this?’ And I heard my heavenly father say to me, ‘It’s your child.’
“I lost that child. I was five-and-a-half months pregnant. I can remember them holding the baby up and saying, ‘Charlotte, it’s a boy’. Then he was gone. So when I seen this toddler, I said, ‘God, how is that possible?’
“He said, ‘They continue to grow in heaven – but there’s no time, it’s eternity’.”
Charlotte then claimed that she was taken to a place that was the complete opposite of the paradise she had just enjoyed.
“God took me to hell, and I looked down and the smell, and the rotten flesh – that’s what it smelled like…and screams,” she explained. “After seeing the beauty of heaven, the contrast to seeing hell is almost unbearable.”
Detailing why she was taken there, Charlotte said: “And he says, ‘I show you this to tell you, if some of them do not change their ways, this is where they shall reside.’ I heard my father say, ‘You have time to go back and share’.”
She then described how she felt herself being ‘drawn back into’ her body, while Danny noticed her eye twitched.
Charlotte – who went on to make a full recovery and was released from hospital after two weeks – said: “I felt the pain, where I hadn’t felt pain, I felt the sorrow.”
Following her near-death experience, she decided to share her incredible story with others.
“People need hope,” Charlotte said. “They want to know that there really is something out there, they want to know that everything’s okay. Heaven is more than you can imagine.
“I can look you square in the eye and tell you for sure, heaven is real.”
According to The Ozark County Times, Charlotte passed away on November 28, 2023, at the age of 72 after suffering a heart attack. She was survived by her husband of 52 years and their daughter Chrystal, as well as her grandchildren.
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