Do You Love a Good Ghost Story?
Among the vampires, witches, and werewolves remains the lowly ghost -- but ghosts have been around, well, forever. Are ghost stories too tame for the likes of current fiction, or do they have the same attraction as they always have? For myself, nothing can hold my attention more than a good ghost story.
I have only had one experience that made me think I’d seen a ghost. I was living in the house we rented before buying this one, and I was waking up one morning when an older man poked his head through the bedroom door. I can still see him, in my mind's eye. I watched him look around the corner of the door and peep around. He turned his head and saw me, and we saw each other, and it was one of those “ET” moments where I kind of gasped and he kind of gasped and then he disappeared.
A dream? Maybe. Though I don’t know why I’d be dreaming about this guy peeping in our room. I had the distinct sense he was wondering what was going on, who was there. It seemed real enough. I woke my husband up and told him I thought I’d seen a ghost of someone who used to live in the house. I wasn’t fearful, and had no eerie feelings, but it stuck with me. My sister and her family have several ghosts up in Maine (New England seems ripe with ghosts). There's a local hotel in our area which says it has a ghost, but in the hundreds of times I've passed by (supposedly a woman looks out a window, classic), I've never seen it.
How about you? Have you ever seen a ghost?
I was thinking about this because I’ve been watching The Ghost Whisperer recently, picked up watching that since the writer’s strike and I was trying to find new TV shows. In some ways, it’s a little too “Disney” for me, so wholesome I expect little birds and butterflies to flutter around Jennifer Love Hewitt’s head in every episode, but the plots (and her hunky hubby) compel me to keep on watching, nonetheless. I just wish it was a little more edgy, and that her husband would take his shirt off more often. ;) Buffy, by contrast, had several episodes with ghosts, some very scary, such as "Conversations With Dead People." Gives me the shivers just thinking about it.
Recently, I’ve read two books with ghostly themes, Wendy Roberts’s Remains of the Dead, and Kate Marsh’s Ghost of a Chance. Of the two, I preferred the Roberts. Kate Marsh was fun and kind of goofy, but I like the grittier, edgier tone better for a ghost story. I can’t think of any ghost romances (feel free to suggest some). When I went to the bookstore the other day, the nonfiction section is awash with ghost books -- ghost hunters, ghost stories, ghost encyclopedias... I don't think that people have lost their fascination with ghosts because among all of the other paranormal creatures, this is the one that maybe we can feel the most connection with. Maybe ghosts, unlike vampires, werewolves, and the rest, really are real.
Back in the day *G* there was The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and of course, Casper. What other ghost TV shows am I missing? There’s the famous Demi Moore/Patrick Swayze movie, Ghost, and the scary Poltergeist, and the hilarious Ghostbusters. A good ghost story never goes out of style, though I don't think Hollywood has put out a good one in a while.
Do you like ghost stories? What’s your favorite? Do you believe in ghosts, and if so, do you think they wander around like the ones in The Ghost Whisperer, or do you have different view of ghosts? Why are they so scary, and so fascinating?
Sam
Oooh....breaking out the
Oooh....breaking out the s'mores and wishing we had a campfire!!
The house I live in was built in the early 1700's. While I've never actually seen a ghost in our house, I think we do have a couple although they haven't been active recently. When we first moved in, 13 years ago, I was wallpapering the kitchen and it was getting pretty late at night. I was standing on a chair and smoothing out the paper, when my husband leaned over my shoulder to inspect my handiwork. I felt his breath on my neck! Then every short hair I had stood on end, and I whipped around, practically fell off the chair, and realized I was completely alone in the kitchen. Even if my husband had come in, there's no way he would have been tall enough to look over my shoulder, since I was on a chair. Totally creeped me out.
On another night, I put our infant daughter to bed upstairs and about an hour later heard these strange noises coming from her room. It sounded like someone whispering. So I listened at the foot of the stairs, and the whispering seemed to be accompanied by some sort of creaking, and rustling of paper (?). I crept up the stairs and the whispering grew louder; it sounded like an old woman. At the time, the baby slept in an heirloom cradle that stood about two feet off the ground and you could rock it gently. The whispering and creaking continued right up until the minute I stepped through the bedroom door, and then it stopped. The baby was sound asleep, but her cradle was swaying ever so slightly. I snatched her up and practically ran back downstairs, and refused to sleep up there for a long time. I don't think whoever it was was malevolent, but it still freaked me out.
There was a good ghost romance that I liked with Reese Witherspoon, but I can't remember the name of it.
Just Like Heaven
The movie is Just Like Heaven, with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffolo.
I did see that!
Yes, thanks for the reminder. Now I remember. I have some image of them racing her out into the halls at the hospital on a gurney? -- she didn't die, did she? it was a coma or something? Maybe I have the wrong one?
I like your story about being on the ladder, and feeling the breath on your neck... that was spooky, but also kind of cool.
I read in a book at the store that ghosts need energy to exist, so that's why they scare people or do things that cause reactions, because those emotions give off energy that they absorb...
or maybe they're just having fun! :)
Sam
Karen--I'm really glad I
Karen--I'm really glad I won't be alone tonight, as I'll be thinking about this story, lol.
House hauntings, that
House hauntings, that reminds me lol I am so use to my house that I don't even think twice. I know there are beings in my house, harmless ones. I can see "things" out of the corner of my eye, and at night I can sense if they are around. Also some of them like to mess with me when I am going to sleep. Kind of like a shouting in my ear, but not really...I don't know how to explain it lol
I have also seen my dog, he passed away just over a year ago. Sometimes if I am alone at night, I can get glimpses of him walking in the kitchen.
Ashley
Ash, you are like ghost-central!
I sometimes call my new cat by my old cat's name, and wonder if she's still around the house. ;)
Sometimes our dogs stare at spots where there is nothing there, and we always wonder. 'Course, then again, I do that too and doesn't mean I'm looking at anything! LOL
Sam
lol I think it also has to
lol I think it also has to do with the fact that I am very open and aware. Ever since I was little I've felt things.
Ashley
Never...
thank goodness!
I think your brain can do funny things, though. I remember one really vivid dream...I was running through a garden and grabbed a section of wrought iron fence to climb over and escape someone. When I woke up I could feel the imprint of the rectangular bar in my left hand, as if I was actually gripping a section of fence, not lying in my father's guest room. It was bizarre.
ooohhhh. :)
Creepy. So how do you think the imprint got there? Sleepwalking?
Sam
Hmmmm....
No idea, actually. I knew I was dreaming, knew I was in bed, knew I was taking a nap, and felt that bar as plainly as if I were in the garden, trying to heave myself over the fence. I've never had anything like that happen before; usually I only remember nightmares, LOL.
Oh,
maybe an out of body experience! :)
I'm just determined to make it paranormal. ;) I have a problem with nightmares, too -- sucks. One of the worst, which I have had over years and years and it's kind of ghostly, is when things move or turn on by themselves -- those dreams are so scary! I bought Mike a remote control helicopter once, and those things will sometimes pick up radio frequencies from fire houses or whatnot, and rev up a little on their own, and it drives me nuts! LOL I had to put it where I couldn't see it, LOL.
Sam
Finally, a ghost post!
Ah, a subject near and dear to me. My complaint is that with all the paranormal books, there are very few ghost stories. It seems like other 'creatures of the night' make for better fiction. Or, writers are more willing to use other creatures for their stories.
I love a good ghost story. Actually, I collect them. When I travel, I try to find local ghost stories. Oral or written, I think it says a lot about the community.
I think part of the reason for the lack of ghosts in fiction is that there is a clearer history as to how other creatures came to be. There is a lot of debate as to what a ghost is and how they were created. (tragic death, unfinished business, echo, time bending)
I worked with a paranormal investigation group a few years ago. The group was made up of psychics, sensitives and me. I carried the equipment during the actual investigations. No, I've never seen a ghost.
very cool!
Actually, would you mind dropping me an email at samhunter@samanthahunter.com? would like to ask you some questions about this...
I think you're right about the origins of other creatures, which are largely in myths or legends, but with ghosts, there's almost a pseudo-science there, though that's not to say people don't get wonky with it -- Kate Marsh really stretches some of the traditional ghost stuff in her book, but maybe that's why it didn't speak to me as much. I guess I'm kind of a traditionalist. :)
So having been out with the real thing, how do you feel about things like The Ghost Whisperer? I like the show, but I don't know that I buy all the way the stuff works with the ghosts...
Sam
Ooh, Sam! I'm not sure I
Ooh, Sam! I'm not sure I ever saw a ghost but I think I have. I went on vacation with my h.s. boyfriend's family and had to sleep out on the sofa bed with his mother (long story haha) and in the night I woke up to see what I thought was their dog leaning over to look into my face. I pushed my hand up to push the dog away...nothing there. SCREAMED my head off and thoroughly embarrassed myself. Another time I was sleeping at my husband's parents house in the room where his grandmother passed away. My daughter was an infant and I felt, very strongly, a presence leaning over the bed looking at us. But I thought it was just his grandma looking to see the baby so I kept my eyes squinched tight and sort of rolled over to show her off, and then it went away. :)
My upcoming release from Spice, Second Verse (working title) is a ghost story. And I have a short story from Amber Quill Press called Sand Castle that's a ghost story, too, and one of my favorites.
M
Oh! A Sexy Ghost Story!
I actually started a ghost erotica, but even though I write Blaze, the erotica slant just wasn't working for me -- enjoy it as a reader, though, and can't wait to see yours!
I saw entire books on Pet Ghosts in the bookstore, and how sweet the gram wanted to see the baby. I think it's comforting to have spirits looking over our shoulder, helping us along or watching over, as long as they don't mind. :)
Sam
Hi Sam-- I've never seen a
Hi Sam--
I've never seen a ghost, but did have a candle light itself in the middle of the night. Very creepy to wake up at three in the morning with a candle burning brightly on the windowsill. A candle that had not been lit in days and had a minute wax pool, so it hadn't been burning for very long when we awoke.
To me one of the best ghost stories ever put on film is The Uninvited. It's a classic from the 1940's. Eerie, with a nice mystery, touches of wry humor and a ghost. I love watching it. It's not going to scare the pants off anyone, but it is so entertaining.
Ghosts
Hail to the Redskins!
Working in Hospice, I feel a lot of presences(sp) in the rooms when people first die, or are near death. When my pets died, I would often dream about them or wake up at night sensing their presence near me soon after their deaths. So in that sense, I believe in ghosts. Never actually seen one, though.
I've been on ghost tours of towns, we live near Gettysburg and have heard the stories, and they are interesting.
If you're looking to write a good ghost story, go ahead Sam, us readers are interested.
LOL Teresa
Well, we'll see how it goes. I would like to write a ghost story, and it does seem like people are as interested as I am in them! :)
The thing I guess I have noted the only time I really was around someone who died (my mom), was that it's true how you feel something "leave" them and the body "feels" different -- familiar, but not like the person you knew. You know something has changed on a deeper level. That always stays with me, how that happens, and it seems to be a universal human experience, that feeling.
Sam
Well, that is creepy!
I'm trying to think of the ways a candle night light itself, but you're the scientist, so I'm sure you would know before me... Someone wanted some light in the window, maybe a signal, waiting for someone to come home?
I've never seen that movie; have to look it up.
Sam
Well I am sitting here
Well I am sitting here anxiously waiting for the new Ghost Hunters episode :D So yea I believe, and I have seen. A few months after my mother past away, I saw her looking out the sliding glass door...I of course thought it must have been my father (the only other one home) and it was just wishful thinking but then I walked past his room and saw him in there. I saw her again while I was leaving to go out with friends, we all saw her watching us out the window. I have also seen the local cemetery ghost, the White Lady (original, I know lol)
I feel like with my mother, she was sticking around to see if we would be ok. She was the backbone of our family...other members also had experiences that they believe have to do with her. Eventually the experiences stopped, so I think she moved on.
Ashley
What amazes me...
Is that ghost stories have been around forever, and yet science, in the traditional sense, denies the possibility. Maybe because it's wrapped up in religion, to some extent, because you can't have ghosts unless you have life after death, but with Einstein and quantum physics and all the things that could be true about the universes, how can we count out that some form of human energy, after known life, exists? William James, Henry's James's brother, made a similar observation, and said it wasn't exactly right to deny the stories were true, but to find out why they existed, and what it was people were seeing (William is known as the father of modern psychology). He absolutely had an open mind, but was completely closed down by his colleagues.
Of course, so were so many scientists who posited new theories and then were later proven right.
Though in a way, I'd rather leave it mysterious-- it's more fun that way.
Sam
Ooh... never!
And maybe it's as Ashley said, whether there's an openness to the experience--for me that would be no!
Karen, I saw that Reese Witherspoon movie, too--cute, and Mark Ruffalo--mmm :)
Sorry, back on topic, Sam, I've always liked reading ghost stories but realize that they also potentially creep me out, so in general I tend to avoid them in case I can't uncreep myself. I think ghost stories can be scary because it's so possible, yet there's that uncertainty and it isn't known. It's that whole world of mysterious possibilities... eeeeek!!
LOL Fedora
I know, I get creeped out, too, and then I think it's funny. But I was reading some stuff yesterday, and thinking about this blog while I was up in the shower. When I got out and was drying off, the door creaked a little and I jumped out of my skin! LOL It was my little dog, checking in on me to make sure all was well. *G* Doesn't take much to get me jumpy either -- believe me, while I was semi-mocking the Ghost Whisperer, that show has given me the creeps a few times, for sure.
Sam
I've never watched The Ghost
I've never watched The Ghost Whisperer but in trying to think of a new title for my paranormal Spice I came up with "The Ghost F***er*...
haha!
ROTFLMAO!
Ah, Megan, only you.
That was a good laugh for the morning. Reminds me of an ST that our own Sarah Mayberry (who's out there, has been emailing me, has a guest spot in June, and yet hasn't been around to comment -- what's up with that Sarah, HUH? Yes, I am trying to make her feel guilty if she's reading this...)... had for an ST, which I don't know if she'd want me to share, but on a similar vein. Got such a kick out of it...
Maybe one of the reasons ghost erotica/romance is rare is because the people have to be dead, at least one of them, which makes HEA difficult, and working the whole physical thing is kind of tricky to, to an extent, if you are working with traditional ideas of ghosts.
Sam
LOL!
Megan, I just might have to read a story titled that, even though I'm such a scaredy cat!
And Sam, so Sarah's got a similar idea floating around? Hilarious! I hope she's doing well--been thinking about here but haven't been in touch with her since her move.
And yes, excellent point about the whole HEA thing... hmm... don't quite know how that would work out!
I have never seen a ghost,
I have never seen a ghost, but I love to read about them.
Doggie Ghosts
When I was a little girl and our dog passed away, we used to hear her toenails clicking on the kitchen floor at night. It wasn't just me, either -- we ALL heard it! When I was in college, my parents moved overseas and couldn't bring our dog. My aunt & uncle took him in, but he got very ill and died shortly after. I was devastated and wracked with guilt about it, but then I had this amazing dream about him, where he was talking to me and telling me not to be sad. He said he was really happy in his new place, and wanted me to know that. I woke up feeling very comforted and peaceful about him, and really felt that I'd had a visitation!
Mrs Muir
Sorry, Sam, I am a dull prosaic in this area. Not really a believer in the spiritual world. Possibly because to admit that would mean that my deceased grandparents may have seen me do a lot of ... well, let's just call it "undignified" stuff over the years, and that kind of creeps me out. But I do love The Ghost and Mrs Muir, both the original movie and the TV series. In fact, me and my man were wondering how you could modernise that idea - and then along came Just Like Heaven with Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon. They actually managed to solve the problem of getting them together in that movie, too. I watched Ghost the other day on cable, and the special effects in that thing are HILARIOUS compared to today's movies. Someone needs to fix it up, because it doesn't even work the nostalgia level, just looks goofy. I'm all for a decent ghost movie. The Others was cool. Great twist. So was The Sixth Sense. See? Ghosts are alive and well!
Sorry, just wanted to say hi!
Should have read all the comments before commenting! Glad to "see" you! :)
Hey Fedora!
Hope all is well in your world. I am all settled into my new house, loving the nesting, loving cable tv, and loving having my special ergonomic chair to write in again. Bliss! And looking forward to a busy, busy writing year!!
Hey Sarah
Yes it is good to see you back. :)
LOL on GHOST -- I could never get past the whole Whoopie Goldberg thing with the love scenes... that was just... wrong. Oh so wrong. LOL
I never saw The Sixth Sense because by the time we would, we knew the ending, and the whole "I see dead people" thing had kind of become a joke, so we never bothered...
Sam
I've never seen one but my husband has
He totally denies it now: "I don't believe in ghosts" (yeah, right, that's why we couldn't buy that house near the cemetary) but I'll never forget when he came in from putting out the garbage and said he'd seen a white figure walking down the road in the dark. When he said "Hi," it disappeared. Our neighborhood is notoriously haunted by the man who owned the farm that emcompassed it around 1900. Everyone who lives in the original farmhouse seemes to get divorced....
Otherwise I'm like Fedora and avoid ghost stories as I'm VERY easily freaked out. Especially with this guy wandering around the neighborhood ::::glances over shoulder::::
Jen
http://www.jenlewis.com
Hey Jen, good to see you :)
LOL on hubby -- maybe "I don't believe in ghosts" is just second to "Men don't ask for directions?"
Sam
I love ghost stories!!
Seriously. I'm addicted. I can listen to people tell their personal paranormal experiences all day and never get bored. :-)
I have a few myself but nothing as exciting as a candle lighting itself.
Kim
Congratulations
Hail to the Redskins!
Just wanted to say Congratulations for your RITA nomination for Untouched.