It’s Halloween, the time of the year when children dress up in spooky costumes. Pumpkin carving. Time for ghosts.
Why do we talk about ghosts now, at the end of October? What is it about this time of the year that makes ghosts seem more real?
Perhaps it’s because the veil between the worlds is thin at the end of October. Halloween was originally based on a Celtic celebration to scare away the evil demons. In Mexico, people remember their ancestors on November 1, Día de los Muertos, offering food and gifts at the cemetery to their loved ones. Around October 31, the fog rolls in—even in land-locked Kansas. It’s as if those beyond the veil are reaching out to us mortals. A telephone call from the Beyond.
Are these ancestors ghosts? I don’t think so. To me, our ancestors who lived full lives and have no unfinished business go to a beautiful place in the Spirit World. There, they are vibrant and happy, living a blissful existence in whatever sort of paradise exists outside of this reality. From what I’ve experienced, I truly believe that almost every soul gets to go back to that Great Cosmic Bliss, back to the stardust from which we are made. We humans can contact these helping and compassionate spirits for help and guidance. Because they are not in pain and can understand so much more than we mortals, they can help. And they often do.
I don’t believe for a minute that Hell exists, not in the form touted by the Catholic or Christian Churches, nor do I believe in eternal damnation. That seems to be a bunch of poppycock dreamed up by some men in scratchy robes who had too much testosterone and not enough pleasure. Only a person whose soul was tortured because they weren’t living their best life would dare to imagine such a miserable concept, let alone preach it a truth to young children. These priests are trapped in a demonic world of their own making.
But the ghosts. Where do they fit in?
I’ve been in houses where I’ve heard women singing in empty rooms. I’ve seen kitchen cupboard doors open and close by themselves, and felt the presence of something not-quite-human skulking around.
While driving through the former DDR, unknowingly past a place of torture, I burst into tears and shook with utter terror. The panic subsided when we crossed the unmarked border into the West. While this might seem silly, there were no signs saying where we were. My companion knew the area’s history because he’d grown up nearby, but he hadn’t explicitly told me “we’re passing a former camp” as he didn’t want to frighten me.
Another time, a friend and I were hiking up in the high country in the Rockies. We came across an abandoned cabin. We both saw some blurry white apparition, and heard a child’s cry in our heads…at the same time. That raised the hair on the back of my neck!
These experiences—and others—convinced me that ghosts do exist. They are the trapped spirits of people who haven’t yet crossed over to the Other Side. They might have unfinished business. Maybe they’re lost. Perhaps ghosts are ambassadors of the Spirit World; maybe they’ve chosen to remain to remind us of terrible events that happened in that spot.
The house where I heard invisible women singing, and saw cupboard doors opening and closing by themselves, was a former brothel in the mountains. Certainly terrible things happened in the former “crib.” But its current human resident was a single, elderly woman, who talked to the ghost, and was content to have her as a companion. She even set out flowers for the ghost. Maybe that’s why the ghost stayed—maybe she wanted to be appreciated and respected, and found that peace with this person. Who knows? Perhaps the ghost will depart once her companion eventually moves on.
The abandoned cabin was also perched in the mountains, at the site of an abandoned mine well over 10,000 feet elevation. Maybe something horrific happened in the mines—children didn’t have a good life in mining camps—and this ghost remained to remind us adults to take care of our precious little ones.
Sometimes when I visit my mother, I think I hear our family dog barking or trotting around the house at night. But Bailey’s been gone for over 20 years. I don’t think it’s Bailey’s trapped ghost, but rather her spirit come down to protect us. After all, the spirit world can see things that we humans can’t.
Ghosts. Are they real? I think so. I think these apparitions of the deceased stuck around because they are in pain. Or they want us to know something about a particular geographic spot. If you meet one, maybe ask it what it wants, if you dare.
I hope you are visited by a ghost or two tonight. Especially if the ghost is a neighborhood child dressed up for Halloween. More so, I hope that helping, compassionate spirits cross the Veil to this side tonight, and their presence brings you sweet delight.