Ghosts, Ghouls, and Goblins

A recent and continuing occurrence, which happens to someone close to me, set me to thinking about the supe
atural world. She claims to see dark apparitions of human-like figures lurking in the shadows of their house, sporadically appearing on no particular occasion, whether other persons are present or not, threatening enough to appear in her dreams. Except for wanting not to be left alone in odd or rarely frequented places of the domicile, she remains the vibrant and lively and strong-willed girl she has always been.

The presence of the spirit world is freely acknowledged by the great religions and philosophies of the world. A distinguishing division is then usually made whether it be good or evil, angel or demon, of the light or of the dark, (astonishingly enough, there are no in-between). The good ones are those that guide us when we need help, watch over us in times of peril, and protect us from harm when we face danger. Some even reward us for correct choices or righteous deeds. The bad ones do the exact opposite, readily presenting themselves in personal moments of spiritual weakness or emotional distress. They are the ones that give us all the tribulation.

Never has one actually manifested to me, although I have lived alone for many years, in an old house surrounded by some trees (vaunted dwelling places of spirits or portal to the unseen world), slept with no lights or clothes on (keep waking me up). Nor do I have the intention of seeing one, for I know that after the initial shock and mind seizure, I would blindly hit it back, with greater impunity.

An interesting thought occurred to me about these beings: they appear differently to peoples of different countries. While in some these appear as banshees, vampires, or werewolves, in others these appear as a cigar-smoking giant with the head of a horse, a small baby with sharp teeth and flashing eyes, or a half-bodied woman (upper portion) with huge bat wings and whip-like tongue (obviously from a people of a very creative imagination). Perhaps the most laughable of these terrifying spooks are those sometimes seen in Chinese martial art movies, the one dressed with the robes of a mandarin, floating through the air, with a strip of paper stuck on its forehead. It only proves what I have always postulated: these specters are culturally-influenced, feed to the masses through media hypnosis.

A spate of reality shows have invaded television, some geared to the fascination with haunted houses, spirit possession, paranormal or metaphysical. Questors investigate known locations worldwide of otherworldly phenomena to try and prove the veracity of such claims. With the use of up-to-date equipments like infra-red cameras, closed-circuit videos, high-resolution microphones, motion detectors, computers, and the like, they explore the world not normally visited (the rest of us too frightened to do so). To the present, except for an occasional whiff of breeze, a feeling of coldness, blobs of light, silhouettes, background images, garbled sound, passing shadow speeding at the corner of the eye - none has ever appeared. Another theory proven: they are afraid of us!

Rightly so, their supreme master, the devil, trembles at the sound of the name of our Lord!