Adrian Phoenix Writes About Ghosts - Part 1

GHOSTS

Today Adrian Phoenix, author of Rush of Wings (Pocket, 2008) and the sequel In the Blood (Pocket, January 2009), treats us to part 1 of her articles on Ghosts. This is spooky stuff! Deep down inside even the most skeptical among us wonders if maybe there might be something to this. At the end of this article look for contest information.

Welcome, Adrian and thanks for guest blogging today!

Thanks for inviting me to your Vampire Notes, Patricia. I love this site and its musings on the paranormal, and I appreciate the opportunity to toss in a few musings of my own.

What follows is part one of three; an inquisitive and spooky lead-in to Halloween – Samhain – the night the gates between worlds swing open and the dead mingle once more with the living.

What is a ghost? The soul of one who has died? A memory seared into the fabric of time by the raging fire of emotional intensity? A person in another time, living still, but seen through a thinning veil? Parts of our darkest and most primal selves, lashing out as poltergeists?

All of these and more – so I believe. Of course, these are only my reflections, my musings, my experiences.

Part One: Souls of the Dead

I believe in ghosts, even though I’ve never seen one. (I‘ve felt them, however, heard them and, sometimes, smelled them.) But I’m not always sure that what is seen is the departed spirit of a dead person. Sometimes, yes. On other occasions, I believe the veil of time thins and two periods hundreds, even thousands of years apart, parallel each other briefly. And on both sides of this translucent veil, each side believes the other to be ghosts.

The question of ghosts isn’t a simple one. Nor will the answers be, if found. But I can tell you this, I love the possibility of ghosts and what their presence represents: We go on in some shape or form. And the world is yet full of mystery and magic and always will be.

My father bought a series of Time/Life books when I was a kid and the one that fascinated me the most was one on the supernatural and unexplained. I’d study the photographs of supposed ghosts, fascinated and just a little scared. Reality would seem to ripple as I imagined looking up from the book to see a transparent figure glide past, its face nothing but darkness beneath the cowl of its hooded black robe. (A photo taken in a church, I believe.) Looking at that picture always goosebumped my arms and chilled my blood.

I realized then that we lived in two worlds – the seen and the unseen. The unseen flowed around us like water around rocks. But sometimes this stream pooled in shadowed, quiet spots. Sometimes it sieved through rocks scraped thin by time or pocked full of holes like hardened lava.

And in these quiet places and pocked rocks, the seen and unseen entwined, shaping mystery and magic into our world, our lives. And even into our deaths.

The question is: why do the souls of some people remain after death instead of moving on? Do they wish to stay? Are they trapped somehow?

(Perhaps they didn’t receive a Now that You Are Dead primer once they kicked the bucket. Damn UPS!)

During times of violent death, murder, or even unexpected death – an accident, a sudden illness – the spirit remains in his home or returns to it if his death occurred elsewhere (as if not knowing where else to go). Often the spirit will linger at the site of her death. Some flit between the two, home and death-site.

In the case of accidental death, perhaps they are not even aware they’ve died. They slip from their bodies and return home as if everything was normal. Except now, no one sees them or hears them, and all attempts at communication fail.

And some are lost, frightened, and alone. Others are merely stubborn – refusing to accept either their death or the need to move on. Or so we imagine. I’m not sure if a ghost has ever revealed exactly why or how they haunt the living world. I wonder if they even know.

A few, I think, are not aware that they are dead and carry on in a dazed fog as though all was as it had always been. Think of the movie The Others starring Nicole Kidman. Better yet, watch it. A creepy and chilling story. And one, in my opinion, brimming with truth.

Another example: A young man who worked with his father and brothers at a lighthouse, was killed on his way to the lighthouse when a rock tumbling from the cliffs above struck his head. Shortly afterward, his father (unaware, of course, of the young man’s accident and death) saw his son open the door and enter the lighthouse, a dazed look on his face, his head bloodied, his mouth open as though he was trying to speak. When his father rushed to him, the young man vanished. His body was discovered later. I’ve read and heard many variations of this story.

It seems that the young man, knowing he’d been hurt, was seeking help, unaware that he’d died. I’ve also heard many instances of visitations from the recently deceased attempting to soothe their loved ones – very aware they were no longer a part of the mortal world – their words full of regret and love.

Does our grief sometimes bind the dead to the physical world and to us? Keeping their spirits sorrow-caught like autumn leaves upon thorns? Or is it that death doesn’t sever the ties and relationships between us? A mother still wants to comfort her son, a husband, his wife. A child still seeks his father’s strong arms.

With violent crime or murder, it often seems that the death site is haunted by both victim and killer. Fascinating, if true, because they would’ve died at separate times, probably decades apart. What would summon a dead killer to the place where he murdered his victim? Is he seeking the spot out of nostalgia? Because it was a time when he’d wielded the ultimate power over another? Could it even be regret, a desire to turn back time and undo his murderous act?

Is it because the murder victim still seeks justice? Or did the violence forge psychic chains binding both victim and killer to the bloodstained ground? Sometimes, the crime and the body have been hidden, and the victim wants to reveal both and point a finger at the guilty party.

Here’s another intriguing thought: When an ancient castle, hold, or manor house is haunted by more than one ghost, are they aware of each other? Do they interact? Fall in love? Even if they’ve died centuries apart?

I heard a story about a manor house in the UK that was haunted by ghosts from several eras. Glowing orbs, moving objects, and apparitions had been recorded over the centuries. But one thing had been constant – a chair that’d move from a sitting room to a position at the base of a staircase. It’d be easy to imagine that the chair had once, indeed, belonged in that spot and that whoever/whatever moved it was returning it to its rightful place.

Easy, yes, but wrong. A chair was always moved to the same spot at the foot of the staircase, but it wasn’t always the same chair. It seemed to be whatever chair was handy. A chair mysteriously moved. For what purpose? The answer intrigued me.

A man who’d lived in the manor house as a servant several centuries before apparently still tended to the house and its occupants. And a young woman who’d died from an illness a century later walked it’s upper floors. The dead servant was moving the chair so he could sit and wait for the young woman to step from her room. He watched her every day.

Was it possible that a spirit from one era had not only seen a ghost from a later period of time, but had fallen in love with her? Did she respond to him? Did she descend the staircase to join him for a walk in the garden?

Did either of them know they were dead?

And what happens during those long and quiet and dusty years when the manor house is empty? Do its ghosts wander its stone and timbered halls, rock empty cradles, move a cup from a cabinet to the sideboard? Do they glance at one another as they pass? Or do they divide their domain into territories? And if their deaths are separated by centuries, how do they view each other and their world? Do they each see it as it was during their time? Or are they silent witnesses to the changes each new generation of living bring to their world?

One of my favorite shows (even as cheesy as it can be at times, adding to its charm – for me) is Most Haunted. They are doing what I would love to do – traveling to ancient locations in the UK to verify their haunted histories. And, even more importantly, trying to prove the existence of life after death. Hoping to communicate with those who still linger in the dust and cold shadows.

In one episode of Most Haunted, a medium described a “spirit-person” walking briskly through the room, then disappearing into a wall. A check of historical records revealed a door had once been in that wall. For that particular “spirit-person”, the building was as it’d been during his time.

Now here’s another thought I’ve mulled over: When the house or castle or whatever is empty, do the ghosts hibernate like a computer monitor or a slapped snooze button? Do they switch off? When there’s no living person to witness their ghostly actions, do they carry on as usual? Is a place still haunted if there’s no one to witness it?

I believe our living energy awakens ghosts, sparks them into action. Batteries often fail in heavily haunted locations, drained of all power, and intermittent problems with electricity in the same locations aren’t unusual. But most ghosts aren’t just mindless apparitions feeding like vampires on energy. Some are aware of their condition, their surroundings, and even the mortals in the room trying to communicate with them via rappings, Ouija boards, (My advice? Don’t.) table tipping, etc. Some even manage to swallow enough energy to become partially visible or to make sounds, even words. And some use a medium’s body like a meat puppet.

Note: I find some mediums to be dramatic (and sometimes amusing) frauds and I find others to be genuine. Now, back to the meat puppet.

And what does a ghost convey through a medium’s mouth? The things that had happened to them centuries ago, the emotions as raw as if the death/murder/illness/rape had just occurred. And maybe that’s why they haven’t gone wherever the dead are supposed to go – time hasn’t diluted their anguish or rage or sense of abandonment or loss. It’s as sharp as thorns in their hearts and restless souls.

Souls whirling around an astral roundabout, unable to exit into the afterlife.

Some have revealed that they stayed behind to care for others – a nanny for a child, a mother with her baby, a man for his lost love, always searching and calling for her – choosing to remain in the mortal world.

Skeptics ask (understandably) why the dead never tell us anything useful, never reveal anything new, never offer any convincing proof of life after death.

I believe the only spirits we can contact are those who are stuck here, by choice or by accident. (Other things might respond pretending to be spirits of loved ones, but that’s yet another subject.) The souls that have passed on, can’t answer us. They are gone forever, hopefully well on their way into the next part of their journey. They can’t be summoned back by medium, Ouija board, or spirit cabinet. And they are the ones who know the answers to some of our questions. Maybe no one, living or dead, knows the big picture, just parts of it.

For the spirits remaining behind for whatever reason, their world consists of the walls surrounding them, their slice of frozen time, the events of their ending or of their happiest time. They don’t know any more than we do about the afterlife. If they did, they wouldn’t be here.

After decades or centuries of being isolated in a twilight world with no true way to communicate to the vibrant beings whirling through and past you, just how sane and coherent would you be?

It’s also possible that we are nothing more than shadows in their world, annoyances disturbing their routines as our worlds intersect and we brush past one another.

And I believe it happens all the time. The seen and unseen swirling together.

Think back on all those moments when you felt watched, the hair prickling on your neck. Think back to those moments when you heard someone walk up behind you and turned around to face an empty room.

Ever awakened abruptly at night to the sound of your own name and thought maybe you’d only dreamed someone was calling you even as the echoes rippled away into night’s black stream?

Those quivering movements you catch from the corners of your eyes – vision disturbances or a shadow’s stealthy slide?

Ever see a person in a place they didn’t belong? A person no one else saw? Or a tall shape at the foot of your bed?

Even when we’re by ourselves, we’re never alone. Whether that’s a chilling or comforting thought depends on you. And whatever’s standing just behind you.

___________________________________________________________

Contest Information

At the end of the article Adrian asked some provocative questions. Can you answer any of these? Do you know a "true" ghost story?

*Each answer to a different question will count as an entry.

*Ask Adrian questions. The first two questions each count as an entry.

*Link to Patricia's Vampire Notes and send me the URL. Each link counts as an entry.

Be sure to include enough email information so that I will be able to contact you.

The contest runs from 8am on Sept 25 to 11:59pm Sept. 26