Me and My Ghosts

October 5, 2012 sexyknees
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It has always been a ritual of mine to offer a small bite of food out of every meal for friends and relatives whom have passed away, and I do so without thinking twice. On Halloween, however, I pay particular attention to see if my gesture is noticed. Though in direct conflict with my Irish ancestor’s preference to build bonfires to ward away souls trying to return home during the time of Samhain (Celtic celebration of autumn’s end: http://www.chalicecentre.net/samhain.htm), my Japanese half is inclined to celebrate the presence of ancestral spirits, especially during the festival of Obon (festival of lanterns: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2286.html).

Yes, I believe in ghosts, and at the risk of repeating myself I will tell you why. First, I have had friends and relatives who had passed away under abnormal circumstances such as suicide, car accidents, etc, visit me in my dreams and tell me things which I did not know about their demise, only to discover that their revelations were absolutely correct. Second, I have seen things which defy explanation and can only define them as paranormal events. For instance, my apartment was quite haunted at one point – so much so that my friends and relatives refused to stay overnight – and was normal to see human-shaped, flesh-colored figures and large black orbs moving through the room. Carefully

placed items would vanish never to return. It got so bad that me and my girlfriend had to call the local ghost hunters to intervene, and they did so successfully. Since their visit all has been normal – seems like whatever was here just needed someone to pay attention to it for a moment or two.

The part I did not tell the ghost hunters was the scariest: none of these paranormal events occurred until I announced that my home was a safe haven for anything wishing asylum – an act which I did not take seriously and engaged thoughtlessly with obviously detrimental results. What broke the camel’s back during the height of activity was when we were watching TV late one night and I passed out for no reason, immediately followed by the screen door blinds rustling violently as though something ran through them. My girlfriend screamed and demanded that everything must leave, and that was when activity decreased significantly. The appearance of the ghost hunters finalized the exodus of paranormal house guests from our apartment.

The above events forced me into believing that the spiritual realm and ours exist on the same plain, and that we must be careful what we do – there are malevolent beings who inhabit our world unseen and these unwanted visitors can and will fuck up your day! That being said, I believe that most spiritual activity is benign and in most cases just a repeating cycle like a glitch on a DVD. I have lost a lot of friends and relatives – many in recent years – and welcome any opportunity to see them again. All I want is a moment…just a second or two…to see them smile and to tell them that they are missed. So yes, I want to believe that the dead walk with us on Halloween, but you will not see me camping out in a graveyard or holding seance to prove it to myself!

By the way, a good site comparing various festivals of the dead can be accessed through the following link: http://edsitement.neh.gov/not-just-halloween-festivals-dead-around-world

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