This afternoon I was reading a book about ghosts in Virginia, which made me wonder if people on the whole believe in ghosts or not.

I believe in them because our bodies require so much energy to live that that energy has to go somewhere when we die, and I think sometimes that energy is what we call ghosts. I just think that there are too many people who have had experiences with the supernatural that it can't be dismissed as something else.

What do y'all think?

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2000

Answers

I don't disbelieve. I've never seen a ghost, but friends of mine have had experiences that make me keep an open mind. I think once I dreamed that my dead uncle was telling me something, and there was something slightly omen-y about it. (But obviously it wasn't anything really spectacular, or else I'd remember it now, right?) My friend Letty got several dream-messages from dead people.

So I don't disbelieve. But I wouldn't spend my money on seances or anything like that.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2000

I believe in ghosts, definitely. I can't say I've ever had an actual experience with one, but I believe in lots of stuff that I don't have actual proof of.

I just read this ghost story and once again, it's reconfirmed my whole believing thing.

I also have a friend who has ghosts come to her in her sleep to deliver messages. Her mom is Vietnamese and believes in ancestors coming back to try to correct the wrongs of present relatives.

And Nicole, you're living in a really ghosty area, what with a ton of battles that went on in that area, you should have all kinds of dead fellows looking for their lost loves and whatnot.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2000

I try to keep an open mind. But I guess being from the show-me state makes me genetically incapable because I don't think I've ever seen anything. I've heard lots of stories about haunted houses and the news just ran a story about houses haunted in San Diego. There is a light phenomenon I've seen and would like to research back in Missouri called the "spook light". The news back home video taped it for a week. There is also a battlefield in my home town of Springfield. A lot of people died there. We use to party and drive out there really, really late at night. Some of the old buildings still have blood stains from the civil war. One night we were out there and a fog bank rolled in along the line of march. It felt as though we were all transported back in time and we all felt a chill to our bones.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2000

I think there's a "spook light" just about everywhere. I know we had one back in Arkansas and there's one in Central Texas too. I'm not saying they're not real, just common enough that they don't scare me.

I believe in ghosts for the same reason I believe in extraterrestrials: there's just so much in the world we don't know about yet that it's hard to say they don't exist.... Plus, I'm a big Halloween Freak, and it makes the holiday so much more fun.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2000

I'm neutral on the subject. I've never seen one, but have known people who have and I don't disbelieve them. I love checking out ghost sites. There was this one that had like 400 pictures. Now I know it's easy to fake a picture and they claim if you see a white blob or white streaks in your pictures that is really a ghost. I'm not sure if I believe that.

However, I wouldn't want to be in a cemetary at night, knowingly live in a house where someone was murdered or even died, and Ouija boards freak me out.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2000

East Texas where I live is a stronghold of the klan. Anyone who shows up at my house after dark in a sheet (except on Halloween) is a candidate for some serious gunshot wounds. If it's a ghost...no harm done. If it's NOT a ghost...no harm done. There is disease and ther is negative emotion. Everything else can be handled with gunfire. My wife is a "hider"- if she hears a nosie, she pulls the cover over her head. I'm pro-active. If I hear a noise, I'll NEVER go back to sleep unless I go look. I have a Winchester Defender next to the bed loaded with buckshot. If that don't do it, they can have my ass. All Irish- Catholic children are taught: "Dear Lord protect me, from ghosties and ghoulies and Long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night." I have a legal, conceal to carry permit and I'm always armed. There is nothing in the dark that isn't there with the lights on. Who said spirits are out to get us, anyway? Ghosts? Shee-e-e-it.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 2000

Vicki, I think know the spooklight of which you speak. Is it in the Southwest Mo area? Like around Joplin/Carthage? That's where my bf grew up and is not far from my neck of the woods. We frequented the spooklight in Erie, Ks, tho.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 2000

I totally believe... which is Reason Number One why I can't watch creepy movies. I've even seen one ghost, and it was an amazing experience... I woke up from a deep sleep and saw my grandfather standing in the corner of my room, about 8 years after he died. Yeah, you can write it off as a dream or something, but, well, this might sound silly to non-believers... but I felt what I can only describe as "the peace that passes all understanding" when I saw him. I *know* I was awake, and I *know* he was there, and I guess you'd have to've been there to really understand....

Like Nicole said, there've been too many legitimately supernatural experiences to just dismiss it all as "nothing." At the very least, it's pretty self-centered to think that our material bodies here and now are the be-all and end-all of existance.

-- Anonymous, October 24, 2000

Jill, that is exactly the spooklight I am talking about. I tried to do some serious research but was met by a couple of exceptionally condescending responses from some colleges down there. Somehow I found a society of big name scientists that encourage exploration of that type and they were very interested. Unfortunately, their email has disappeared.

Bubba, you totally crack me up. Yes, you are absolutely correct, nothing speaks like a gun---but don't ghosts just keep on going :)? booooooo

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2000

Yes, I believe. Because I've seen Them.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2000

Claudia and others who have seen, please post your stories. I'd love to hear them.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2000

Vicki...that's my point, hon. If it's a ghost, a bullet can't hurt 'em. If it's some asshole in a sheet, well, too bad. I din't mean I don't believe in spirits, I'm just convinced they mean no harm and/or couldn't hurt you if they wanted to. (Unless you're easily frightened and get scared to death.) I live in the country with three "free range" german shepherds. They investigate anything unusual and if it's worth my attention, they let me know, believe me. The only thing they can't handle are skunks. Whenever one shows up, they bark like hell (without getting too close) and then expect ME to do something about it.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2000

I've always heard that ghost's are people who die suddenly, like from an car accident or murdered. They don't realize they are dead and that's why they hang around.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2000

a car accident, not an car accident. Oh, how I wish I could edit my posts...

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2000

i once thouhgt i saw a ghoast once but im not sure cuz i kept seeing this shdowey figure in my bed room late at nite. the more i think about it the more i think it was ma's 4th hubby. he was kind a of a prevert.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2000

I believe that once someone dies they go immediatly with God or that "other guy" (could it be SATAN)? I believe that so called "ghosts" are really demons that appear as people or loved ones. Demons can manifest in many different ways ("appearing as angels of light"). It's not a good idea to call upon these "spirits/ghosts" because you're definitly opening a door to the unknown and could be letting in some pretty evil stuff that you might not beable to get rid of. The Bible has alot of references on this.

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2000

Stacey, if spirits are evil or demons, in what manner can they harm the living? I'm not being sarcastic...I'm sincerely interested.

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2000

Shelly, I live in a city that was once the Capital of the Confederacy so there are lots of lingering spirits around. So many, in fact, there have been books written about them. See Nicole's entry up top. In one apartment (originally a house), I looked up from my bed one night (I was reading), and saw the dense gray silhouette of an 1860's era woman--big hoop skirt, the works. She stood there and then went away. Perhaps she lived there once and likes to check out who's around? I guess I passed.

As a child I once heard the pacing of large heavy work boots above my head. It was Easter morning, probably like 5am (remember getting up so excited you couldn't stand it and being told it wasn't morning yet?). Our house had no attic--just a crawlspace and it wasn't a workman or an escaped criminal. They don't pace back and forth.

In another apt, also once a three story house, I lived in the top floor that had been a servant's quarter or nursery. The kitchen had been a hallway and had a flight of stairs that were blocked off but had gone down to the 2nd floor. At night, as I ran from bedroom to bathroom to pee, an unhappy angry presence would hover at the top of the stairs. This happened every night for years. Then it disappeared one day. It was NOT my imagination. Maybe somebody got pushed down the stairs and was awaiting revenge? In the same apt, a ghost cat came to visit me in the bathroom during one of my middle of the night pees (I have a small bladder).

There's a house in town that belonged to a fin de siecle writer. She can be heard typing at night. I've been in the house (once used for art classes) at night and have heard it.

So, there are my ghost experiences. I'm disappointed that my current house has no ghosts but I hope the next one will. They're creepy but harmless. (So far)

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2000

I lived in one small town and my girlfriend lived in another small town about 15 miles down the road. Returning home from her house late one evening I saw several lights up ahead in a dip in the road. It was kinda foggy, not dense, just lightly foggy. Looked to be maybe 10 or so people standing around holding lights...(lanterns). There were several dips (rolling hills) in the road, one after the other, along this stretch of the road and I figured somebody had launched their car off of one of the dips and wrecked on impact with the next dip. I slowed to a safe speed expecting the worst when I topped the next rise to find nothing but empty road ahead. No lights No people Nothing at all out of the ordinary..... A few weeks later at work someone that lived in the area all his life was telling a few of us about how the "underground railroad" for slaves used to travel through here. Then he proceeded to tell about how this group of escaping slaves were being chased through the valley where all the dips in the now paved road runs. They wrecked the wagon in one of the dips. The ones not killed when the wagon flipped over on them were hung, shot, etc. by the people that had been chasing them. I hadn't mentioned my experiance to anyone at the time. I just blew it off to being out late, car lights, and fog all working to play tricks on my eyes. I chose a different route home for quite a while after that. :o)

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2000

&^er7d8(*& how do you pro nonce your name??????

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2000

еdë §téè£

pronounced

Dude Steel

I just like the funky letters for my nick...

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2000

YES !!!! i do believe...I have many stories from red eyes looking in windows ,door slaming shut on my sisters hand on a still day , to writing in the snow with no footprints around them,on this occasion we had several pastors come and look and they turned white as a goast .. no pun intended!!If you want more info on my stories e-mail me.here in central MO we have alot of hauntings that have not been explained !!.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

I grew up in Savannah, Georgia. I've been visited by ghosts. I'm a cynical person, but found it hard to find a more rational explanation for what had happened.

One happened to be my old pediatrician!

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

So, has anyone had any recent spooky stories?

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2001