Have You Seen My Ghoulies? (Are Ghosts Real?)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Are Ghosts Real?
Date:	08/04/06 (190 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's nice to believe...

Disadvantages: ...but there ain't no real evidence to prove it

It pays to have an open mind methinks. Well, that’s what I tell myself when I think I’m making the wrong decision about something and subconsciously want to change my mind. As far as the world of ghosts is concerned then this seems to have been a particularly pertinent subject in my life over the last few years. The reason I say that is because my good lady is into all things spiritual. No, not the vodka type although you may expect that being married to me but she actually firmly believes in the spirit world and the existence of ghosts in general. As she is a believer then it makes it pretty difficult for me to avoid the torrent of TV programmes, books and other paraphernalia that inhabits the house and infiltrates my viewing schedules. It’s a darn good job that we have Sky Multi-room upstairs, I can tell you.

There are plenty of advantages in believing in ghosts. You get to take the Michael out of the camp Scouser that is Derek Acorah as he, once again, becomes possessed in a non-descript, dark, damp room somewhere. You can jump with the best of ‘em as Yvette Fielding screams “Did you hear that?” on the latest “investigation” of Most Haunted or you can even contact the spirit world if you have the skills to see what happened to your once, active love life. These days there is no shortage of ghostly programming to satiate the appetite of the viewing public. After the obligatory searches for porno and sex, the second most popular search on the Internet is for spiritual, ghostly things would you believe.

Over the years, there have been plenty of Mrs Merton-like heated debates around the authenticity of ghosts. You many not know but Arthur Conan Doyle was a prominent spiritualist as well as being the world-famous author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. He was a firm believer in the world of the Occult. Other notable believers that spring to mind include Adolf Hitler and Peter Sellers. Both looked for inspiration from the world of the Occult whilst both were supposedly haunted by the spirits of their respective death mothers. Needless to say, their agendas differed slightly in that one wanted to take over the world and rule with an iron fist while the other just wanted to find a rhoom (Pink Panther gag). Maybe it’s no coincidence that the common link appears to be mothers and perhaps we are all destined to be joined by an invisible umbilical cord for all eternity – not a pretty thought if your mom happens to be Anne Robinson or some other winker.

Maybe it would help to consider what a ghost is? The accepted theory is that ghosts are spirits that have suffered some significant trauma at their time of passing (or death) and cannot move onto the next world because of this event. This doesn’t tie in with the ectoplasmic world of Ghostbusters but then who you gonna call? However, the Spiritualist Church takes this much further to suggest that we do, in fact, move to a different spiritual plane at our time of passing and it remains possible to contact our dear departed in this other world via mediums. The best explanation I’ve read is that these spirits resonate at a much higher frequency than ourselves and so we can’t see them but they are there on a parallel plane. Well, it kinda made sense when I first read it. So from a simple Slimer ghost grinning inanely in a Hollywood Blockbuster we move to a serious world where we deny the concept of Heaven and Hell and even death in the conventional sense and start to ponder the world of mediums so apparent through TV programmes on Living TV such as John Edwards’ show or Colin Fry’s UK equivalent to name but two.

If I wanted to become an expert on the subject then there is plenty of material available at my fingertips. My good lady has only just finished reading Derek Acorah’s very badly written “Ghost Hunting” featuring another camp photo of the book’s inspiration on the front cover. Including his own frightening encounters with ghosts, you can read all about certain types of ghost, ghostly locations, tips for budding ghost hunters and much, much more. In my own case, I opted to read the latest story in my lad’s “Spongebob Squarepants” comic instead but then Patrick Starfish did have a white sheet with two holes in it on the front cover. Please don’t read this as me knocking Derek as I found the chapter on ghoulies very interesting as, yes, I did read some after all.

I’d love to stop the show and say that I’d seen a ghost but I haven’t. I’ve seen plenty of strange things over the years, especially after a few beers but the closest I’ve come is when I was in Ireland last year. My wife was adamant that there were the spirits of soldiers present in the bungalow we stayed in. As ever, I just nodded and went along with it but one night I did open my eyes to see the outline of a woman standing by the bed. The image remained for a few seconds before fading away and, for a while, I was spooked. Of course, it may have been something present in my conscious/sub-conscious as I opened my eyes but I’m not sure at all. It was dark and nothing is certain. Maybe it was my imagination telling me that I was going to get waitress service at some stage during the holiday (fat chance!). What this woman had to do with soldiers is another question that remains unanswered to this day.

In terms of making a call about ghosts then I’d have to say that there is absolutely no evidence at all to suggest that they are real. With all of the TV programmes, special groups, parapsychologists roaming about the place and all the numerous books, audio-tapes, VHS and DVD, not one person has managed to ever capture anything definitive on a medium that actually unequivocally proves their existence. Maybe one day, who knows, but until that day I remain sceptical (but not cynical). I honestly believe that ghosts are like anything else, an exciting distraction from the mundane nature of the world around us that makes people want to believe. Then again, I’d like to think that Aston Villa will, one day, win the FA Cup or that England will lift the World Cup – I can believe but it doesn’t make it real *sigh* Ironically, I do love a good old ghost story. There’s nothing quite like a horror flick to while away a few hours and yet I find it so hard to actually turn this fiction into possible fact. I suppose it’s on a par with wincing at genuine medical programmes that feature operations and stuff and yet I’ll happily sit there and take in a gore-fest that’s just scraped through the censors as a certificate 18.

Well, there you have it. Hardly definitive, hardly authoritative, simply my thoughts. If I was you I’d give up at this juncture and go and watch “Casualty”. And with that ended all of our hopes of ever getting a decent Saturday night TV schedule and the ghost of the DVD shop came to our rescue once more.

Thanks for reading and have a spooky weekend.

Mara

Summary: Thoughts on ghosts