Ghostbusters be gone!

What’s the harm of believing

Maria Simpson / Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

Halloween is just days away, and people are prepping with costumes, decorations and movies featuring all kinds of spooky creatures like witches, monsters, vampires and, of course, ghosts. Ghosts are largely associated with Halloween, but unlike many of the other supernatural creatures mentioned, they also stand on their own as a prominent aspect of cultural curiosity. Movies, books and shows — many of which claim to be based on true stories — share tales of hauntings by ghostly beings. And so, the question remains: are ghosts real?

My personal answer? Yes. I think that believing in ghosts is hardly any different than believing in a god or any supernatural presence. Not to mention, I personally know a number of people who claim to have had supernatural experiences. Cultures across the world also seem to be under the unanimous impression that ghostly spirits exist. I think that although it might be hard to prove that ghosts are real, it’s just as hard to prove that they are not.

It is hard to say exactly what a ghost is, as they are not exactly proven to exist. But the most basic explanation is that a ghost is the spirit of a deceased person who has not “passed on” fully. If someone believes in a god, angels and demons (that’s a whole other level of haunted that we won’t get into), ghosts fit perfectly into that narrative and in many ways are no different than believing in the rest.

We cannot see a god or speak to them directly. There is no scientific evidence of their existence. Yet, the majority of the world participates in some form of religion or spiritual practice, and many religious individuals claim to have had holy experiences of some kind. Religious practice is widely accepted across the globe, so why should believing in ghosts be different from believing in a higher power?

As a Catholic, I believe that our souls pass on to an afterlife after we die. Is it really that far of a stretch to suggest that sometimes peoples’ souls get a little lost on the way and stick around on earth? I don’t think so. I actually find that to be a very human thing to do.

The most concrete proof of the existence of ghosts are the experiences that our own friends or family members share. I myself have known many people who have had ghostly encounters, which is my main reason for believing in spirits. I’ll admit, you can’t always trust people to tell the truth; sometimes events become skewed so they look like something they are not. But many of the stories that I’ve heard are hard to believe that the person telling it just fabricated the whole thing.

A close, trustworthy friend of my mom’s lived in a haunted house for several years. She never suspected anything unusual until her preschool aged daughter began to cry each night. Her mother would go to her room to comfort her, but as her distress continued, she asked her daughter what was going on. She told her mom that she was scared of the little children who would come to her room at night, pulling at her, saying they were hungry. That was only the beginning. Her daughter then began to beg her mother to play music each night when she went to sleep. Again, the mother asked the daughter what was happening. She claimed that if she played music the man in the bedroom doorway would go away.

The mother remembered her son who was a couple of years older asking the same thing in the past. She asked him why he used to ask for music and he gave the same answer about the man in the doorway. This was all very disturbing to the mother, but the straw that broke the camel’s back came one night when her baby started crying. She went to the baby’s room, and the closer she got to the crib the further the temperature dropped until it was almost freezing next to the baby. Suddenly, she heard screams from her own bedroom. She ran in, and above her screaming husband was a glowing orb of green light. After that, they contacted a medium who revealed that their house was built on ground that used to be a well-traveled road. The medium suspected that the hungry children and the man in the doorway were travelers who had died on that road. She then gave the family instructions to rid their house of the ghosts.

This is just one story of many that I have heard where friends and family have confessed to ghostly experiences such as floating mirrors, unplugged appliances suddenly turning on and hallucinations of family members among other unexplainable spine-chilling experiences.

Ghost stories are a long and lasting part of cultures around the world. Every culture has their own unique myths of ghosts and spirits, and although everyone might interpret those beings very differently the basics are similar and most cultures do feature them. I think this says something about the reality of ghosts. If people around the world and across time share such similar stories, especially when they do not have consistent communication, this raises some eyebrows. Why else would these similar ideas exist except that they are not simply ideas, but the universal truth.

Ghosts are also very popular within the folklore of various cultures. They are present in literature from centuries ago until now. Not to mention, there is a big industry around ghost hunting from television shows like “Ghost Hunters” and internet shows such as “Buzzfeed Unsolved.” Sure, most of these come up with zero concrete results, but there is a huge intrigue and curiosity surrounding ghosts. This even brings the thrill and draw of haunted houses and ghost tours to mind, such as the Whaley House in Old Town, which is supposedly the “most haunted house in America.”

Ghosts will probably never be undoubtedly proven to exist. But can we really discount the possibility of ghosts existing? I think not. At the end of the day, I believe talking about, searching for and believing in ghosts makes the world we live in a little more exciting and mysterious. What’s the harm in that?