When people talk about paranormal things, it's usually ghosts and apparitions, strange noises in the night, haunted houses and the like.
Let's assume ghosts exist.
(They do. Ask my horse. He sees them everywhere. Mostly disguised as buckets.)
How would you know if you've seen a ghost? Would you even be able to tell?
Wandering ghosts don't really bother me. I grew up in a house that's about 400 years old. Things generally go bump there and you learn to ignore it. You certainly won't explain it.
I admit it gets a little creepy when you're lying in bed, trying to sleep, and you can feel the wall move. What can I say? Buildings live and breathe. My old place happens to flex its muscles occasionally, as well.
People keep seeing ghosts at night, but I think that's more because of folktales and an inherent fear of the dark, than actually being bound to only rattle chains after midnight.
All the paranormal investigation programs on TV seem to rely on night time encounters.
Makes no sense to me. All the stuff I've seen mostly happened in broad daylight. Why would a ghost only show up at night? I doubt they know what time of day it is, and I sincerely hope there are no alarm clocks in the afterlife. That would kinda suck. I also think it might be tricky to wear a watch when you don't have a solid body.
So how would you know if you've seen a ghost? Short of a long-dead peg-legged pirate appearing in your kitchen at lunch time going "Arrr matey!"--I think you could walk right past one and not know. People are out and about during the day. We think nothing of seeing complete strangers walking through our local pub.
It's when they show up in the locked pub after hours, we start to consider them as ghosts. Okay, you might notice someone walking through the bar, as in, right through the wood, but during the day you'd likely dismiss it as a figment of your imagination. After all, that can't happen...right?
Why not?
Why would a ghost only show up after midnight? And why would a ghost only wear period clothing? Surely modern ghosts exist if historical ones do?
I find it intriguing how easily we dismiss something in broad daylight, and freak out over it at night.
What do you think?
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Spooky things
Silke grew up in Germany and is used to things going bump in the night -- and it wasn't always the acrophobic cat, or someone hitting their head on a low beam on the ceiling.
She writes paranormal romance, usually at night, and blames Anne Stuart to this day for all her ambitions and strange stories, after reading one of her books.
These days the only thing going bump at "oh-dark-thirty" is her -- usually when she smacks into the sofa while creeping to the kitchen for another cup of coffee.
Silke likes to hear from her readers. Feel free to contact her via her blog at http://www.evilauthor.com, follow her on Twitter, or become a friend on Facebook.
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4 comments:
I don't know, Silke, but I think it's human nature to get freaked out by things in the dark. The dark is scary because you can't see what's out there or what else is out there...
Yeah, I think we do find comfort when there is light.
I was watching The Dead Files and most of the happenings from the witnesses would occur during the day though.
Conditioning maybe? When you're a child, the darkness seems softer and less real, with more room for imagination to have it's way. During the day, the hard, cold business of life gets in the way of imagination.
I don't think ghosts tell time either. They just appear. Day or night. It's up to us to accept or dismiss.
Makes me think of that movie, The Sixth Sense. But I agree...ghosts are probably around during the day just as much as they're around at night. :)
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