Ghost stories bring out the primal
in us. We want to be scared. It goes back to the days when we huddled in caves,
a fire kept going all night, not just against the real threat of the wolf and
cave bear, but also against the spirits and monsters the tribal shaman warned
us to beware of around the fire. Today, that tradition is kept by someone
telling legends and urban legends to us as we sit around a warm campfire with
friends or family, or in a building, locked tight against intruders. Which
being the logical people we are in today’s modern world, kept safe from the living
who might do harm to us. But ghosts can walk through walls and locked doors,
and forget the outdoors, the unseen hover all around us more than we think.
Yet, we crave these ghostly tales,
whether myths and legends, or what paranormal investigators or other people
experience for real. The titillation of experiencing second hand what others
have gone through is a safe way of almost being there. Still there are those
who suddenly realized that second hand is not good enough. They need to
experience it first hand! They need to see if there is life after death, proof
to back up what they suspect, or if a skeptic, to maybe have their disbeliefs
proven wrong. Most of all, it’s the thrill of actually coming face-to-face with
an actual spirit or paranormal phenomenon, where the shackles of safe second
hand hearing and viewing no longer are there as a safe-guard. The titillation
has gone up several notches in the hair rising on the back of the neck.
I admit after researching in
person for my four nonfiction ghost books, especially leading investigations at
night with paranormal groups that I’d never done before for this new one, Haunted Richmond II, published by
Schiffer Publishing (www.schifferbooks.com), I was not ready to go back to the safety of my couch and
read about ghosts or watch them on paranormal shows on television. Not to say
that I still don’t enjoy reading ghost stories or watching them on shows like
Paranormal Witness or Ghost Adventures. No, even for many times noting happens
on an investigation when absolutely nothing happens, the times when it does by
evidence of ghostly presences in photos, EVPs on my recorder or hearing a voice
from my Frank’s box (ghost book-- http://www.angelsghosts.com/ghost_box),
or even a personal experience, makes me appreciate that sometimes we need to
get out of that building or away from that campfire and really test the
boundaries and learn something. Sometimes, we need to be a part of those ghost
stories.
Don’t you agree?
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