Reading and Writing About Ghosts

I probably read at least four true ghost story books a year, sometimes (a lot) more, and sometimes less, depending on what I can find. I've been reading this material for so long that it can be difficult to find books with stories that I don't already know. For that reason, I now look for collections of tales shared by those who have experienced something paranormal, since those stories will be new to me.

Lately, though, I've been struggling to get through my beloved books, and I've been trying to figure out why. I think I might have an idea. If you have ever read any true ghost stories, you will know that they center around a place or an incident -- or even series of incidents-- that happened to someone. The story will include all the details that can make your hair stand on end or give you chills. That's the fun part! I think what's been on my mind is that most of these stories don't have any kind of resolution. Most of the time, no one ever finds out why this is happening. Why does this particular ghost haunt this place? Or person? Why does it disturb one special room, or do one specific action every night at ten o'clock? The details are always fascinating, but there are never, or rarely, any kind of explanation behind the haunting.

I think that may be why I write what I do: it lets me gather all the untidy and unexplained bits together and resolve them into one nice coherent story. By the time a reader finishes one of my books, if she or he doesn't understand the story behind the ghost, then I haven't done my job. 

I am currently reading a book of shared ghost stories that was put out by podcasters Tony and Jenny Brueski. Their podcast is called Real Ghost Stories Online and is centered around supernatural experiences that are called in by listeners. And the stories are both fascinating and frightening. But of course, for the majority of the tales, there is no explanation that can be shared. People move into houses and start experiencing unworldly occurrences, and who knows why that is happening?

The Dead Files, my favorite reality paranormal TV show, usually resolves the story, or at least a great deal of it, by the end. So did The Haunting of... with medium Kim Russo. And so did The Haunted Collector. Those shows are always at the top of my list and I think it's because they usually had some sort of conclusion. Don't get me wrong, though. I do still enjoy stories that investigate but do not present an explanation for what is going on in a haunted place. I liked Ghost Hunters and Celebrity Ghost Stories. I like Ghostly Encounters. And on a lighter note, I totally loved The Lowe Files! Those are sort of like "The-Journey-is-The-Point" kind of narratives and are fun in their own right. But I think that the ones that also have an explanation hit a different note with me, and so I go from "That was fun!" to "That was fun and really, really satisfying!" Since we're talking about the supernatural here, even I admit that sounds ridiculous, but there it is.

And so I guess I write my own stories so that there is a known beginning, middle, and end to the main haunting in my novel. (I qualify that because the ghost stories that my characters tell on Thursday night are closer to reality and frequently have no explanation.) But the novels I write will include a resolution to the ghost story. Cassie Valentine and Michael Penfield make sure of that.

And I guess that's the beauty of fiction. It lets me resolve, tidy, satisfy, and complete the story so that everyone goes away with a sense of completion. Unfortunately, life just isn't quite like that.

Going Back. Or Not.

I mentioned in last week's post that I really enjoyed the TV show "Celebrity Ghost Stories." I watched it faithfully until the network decided to cancel it (boo, hiss.) But during that time, I became hooked on its sister show, "The Haunting of..." starring Kim Russo.

Kim Russo describes herself as a psychic medium and I was able to see her in person (with Jim in tow, of course) at one of her presentations. She's funny and warm and very New York. I've learned a great deal by watching her. "The Haunting of..." featured Kim meeting up with one of the celebrities from "Celebrity Ghost Stories" at the place where said celebrity experienced her or his paranormal experience. She would walk through the site with the famous personality at her side, and discuss what that person experienced. And then she would talk about why it probably happened. Some of the stories were outright heartbreaking. When she worked with the late (great) Rowdy Roddy Piper, for instance, she determined that the haunting was being caused by a friend who had passed years before and was reaching out to let Mr. Piper know that he was watching out for him and for his family. This friend was someone who had helped the famous wrestler through some of the worst times of his life, and had passed away at a young age in a car accident.

There was also the rock star whose daughter came back to comfort him when his grief threatened to derail his entire life. She came to him on several occasions and stayed for a little while each time, to help him understand that she was still close to him.

Some of the entities, however, were less than benevolent, and Ms. Russo did help take care of the problem for several of her well-known clients.

The point of the show was to go back and confront personal fear from a specific incident, and to resolve it so that the person could move on. The part of that I find the most interesting is the idea of going back.

Would I? I think about the house I grew up in. I have tons of wonderful memories from that house since I lived in it from the age of three, got married in it, and moved out of it as a young wife and mother. On the other hand, while I was in college, I had recurring nightmares (I mean the kind that give you cold sweats) that I would wake up in an empty house to find a note from my parents explaining that they had retired to Spain and that the house was now mine. NOOOOOO! I seriously used to freak out at the idea: growing up there with my large, extended family was one thing. Living the rest of my life there? No, thank you.

So would I go back? If I had the opportunity to take Kim Russo into that house with me and say "This is where I felt that bony hand resting on the headboard of my bed one night" or "This is where we heard the baby crying" or "This is where the son of our dinner guests saw the old lady standing" or even "This is where my clairaudient friend heard those nightly footsteps originate before they climbed the stairs to the second floor and stopped outside my bedroom" (for the full story, scroll back and see blog post from April 26, 2018). Would I have the courage to hear the answers to my questions? Like why is there a bricked-up staircase and room in the coach house apartment in the garage? Or what is the malevolent-feeling presence that could drive everyone from a given room at random times? Or why did there seem to be a nightly haunting that started at about 10:30 every night and ended at around 1 a.m? Or who was the ghostly figure that both my husband and our cat saw at the bottom of the stairs one night?

Part of me would LOVE to have her walk through that house and explain everything. And part of me says, I'd really rather not know.

Weird things happened in my childhood home: objects disappearing and then coming back weeks later; disembodied voices; lights and radios going on by themselves; unexplained and loud noises in the middle of the night. There was a quality of strangeness to that house, and I always found it interesting when my childhood friend, who became a real estate agent, would call me up and say, "Hey, your house is back on the market again." That happened frequently after my mother sold the place and moved away.

If you've had a paranormal experience and had a chance to go back with a true psychic medium to find out what was really going on, would you do it?