Do You Believe In Ghosts?

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Ask me that in the bright light of day and I’d scoff, “Of course not!”

But in the dark, late at night?

My parents live in a house that is 180 years old. My mother is the third generation of her family to live there. We know people have died in this house and their wakes held here.

And whenever a girl, teenaged or younger, sleeps in a certain bedroom, she will dream of being pulled towards the door that leads to the attic.

Both my nieces had these nightmares and, last time we were here, my 17-year-old daughter had them.

So I, ostensibly a grown-up, said I’d sleep in that room. I told myself that I was doing it to make my daughter feel better. I thought to myself she must have heard stories from her cousins.

But that night, I lie stiff as a board and wide-awake.

Now, the people we knew who died here? Maybe one wasn’t the nicest. Another was, shall we say, a bit eccentric and prone to making bad decisions. Uncle Tom would totally think it was funny to drag someone toward the attic. But none of them were dangerous alive. Why would we be afraid of their ghosts?

Interestingly, Halloween was originally not a scary holiday. People left out lights (jack o’lanterns) and food (the origin of handing out candy) to help the ghosts of the people they knew find their way in the day when the divide between the real world and the spirit world was at its thinnest. It wasn’t until the introduction of Christianity into Celtic regions, such as Ireland, that those ghosts were considered frightening.

Still, Uncle Tom, knock it off. You are scaring the kids. (And me.)