Halloween is all about dressing up as ghosts and
goblins, favorite movie stars, sci-fi characters, and other fun costumes. For
children it’s going from door-to-door shouting “Trick or Treat,” and then
loading their bags with candy from generous homeowners. But this blog isn’t
about creative costumes or sweet treats. It’s about ghosts—a different kind of ghosts.
Ever thought you were alone, but the
chill down your spine begged otherwise? Ever told yourself the noises in your
house at night are just the walls “settling”?
Do I have your attention?
Here’s a question for you dear readers. Do you believe in ghosts? Once upon a time
ghosts were considered scary, supernatural specters. You know something that goes bump in the night.
If you don’t believe in ghosts you’re not alone.
These days, most people do not believe such spirits exist. Two hundred years
ago, or perhaps longer, when a person passed away the only images left of the
deceased were mostly in the memories of those who knew them. Only a few rich
and famous people could afford to have their portraits painted in those days,
so most people’s features and images vanished without a trace once the
generations who remembered them died, too.
Okay, so whether you believe in ghosts or not, flip
through an old family photo album and reckon with the images staring back at
you. They are not frightening images. Most likely that old photo album is
filled with pictures of people long gone, possibly greatly missed, and greatly
loved.
Today, photographs capture snapshot images of people
gathered at play, acting silly or completely unaware they are being captured in
various stages of life; and when we flip through the photo albums we are
forever reliving certain moments of life-time like some spirit in an old ghost
story. You are looking at relatives that many living family members never met.
Yet, images of these faces remain affixed in the album, their names often
written in fading pencil on the back of the picture. And, sadly, in some
instances, no names were written to identify these people, leaving them mere
ghostly reminders of forever lost descendants.
When I look through old photo albums of ancestors
that lived long before I was even thought of its like reaching into the past,
and maybe that’s why old photos sometimes inspire a certain haunting feeling
whenever we touch them. After all, these family members are strangers, beings
we have only heard snippets of stories from great grandparents or aunts and
uncles who maybe know nothing of these folks at all, but here is their image
staring back at you from an old black and white or sepia toned photo in a
tattered family album.
Beyond old photographs, we’ve advanced to motion
pictures where movie stars like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Laurel and
Hardy, from the early time of silent film remain alive in old motion pictures
though they have been deceased for decades.
As we advance forward in time and with the push of a
button the television flickers on and with the click of a remote, dead people
such as Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Doris Day, Maureen O’Hara, and a host of others,
move and speak across the screen. Still we can see these people repeat their
actions from decades ago and possibly on into the future.
Perhaps, people no longer talk about ghosts because
in many ways we are surrounded by them. Perhaps, people no long fear ghosts
because we have grown accustomed to them.
In my humble opinion, ghosts are things of memory.
Humanity has always had memories, dreams and nightmares. Ghostly memories have
long haunted and visited people in their sleep and in their thoughts.
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, belief in ghosts and unearthly spirits seem to be as old as humans, just like our uncomfortable relationship with our own mortality. Incidentally, while paranormal experiences may provoke fright or adrenaline rushes, they can also provide comfort as proof for life after death. Remember this the next time you open old family photo albums.
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