Do You Believe . . .

. . . in ghosts? With Halloween approaching, my thoughts somewhat naturally turn to the supernatural. Okay, I'll confess that my thoughts turn that way occasionally no matter what the time of year. Since I like to have the TV on while I'm quilting, weekends are often spent hunting down reasonably entertaining cable TV shows, and some of my favorites deal with ghostly subjects.

Every now and then, I'll catch a marathon of Ghost Hunters. I also like watching Dead Famous, although my husband thinks the show is pretty dumb. I'll agree, more or less, but I still like to watch. John Edward's Crossing Over and Cross Country are also on my viewing agenda when there's not much else on. Then there are several shows that purport to tell the stories, in dramatized fashion, of real people who have had ghostly experiences, like A Haunting and a few other similar shows that have popped up recently. Oh, yeah, and then there's Ghost Whisperer--another fun one to watch on Friday nights, although it doesn't claim to depict true stories.

Seriously, though, I can't say I fully believe in ghosts, although I don't disbelieve either. I did wonder whether I'd "hear" anything from my dad when he passed away several months ago, but nothing so far. Heck, he didn't really come to visit when he was alive, so I guess there's no reason to think he might visit now that he's passed "over."

When we first moved into our house in 1986, we had--or I should say my husband had--an unexplained experience. We have a hallway with two overhead lights and a light switch on either end of the hall--the kind of switches you have to toggle up or down. At least twice he woke in the middle of the night to find the hallway lights on, and no one was up to turn them on. Yeah, those things can be explained in other ways and so we didn't pay too much attention to it, although I did wonder--it was kind of eerie.

There's a guy whose blog I read every now and then. It's called Somewhere on the Masthead. In "real life," he writes for a magazine, although he remains fairly anonymous on his blog. No, he doesn't write stories of the supernatural--just every day life with his wife and three kids, but he writes well and his blog is usually enjoyable to read and sometimes thought provoking. I don't remember how I found him, but you know how that happens--hopping from one blog to the next one listed on someone's side bar. Eventually I found this guy and thought enough of his blog to overlook the fact that he has absolutely NO QUILTING posts and add him to my list of favorites.

When I first began reading his blog back in the spring, he and his wife had just had their third child. His parents, who were both retired I believe, had made plans to drive out and stay for a few weeks and see their new grandchild for the first time. On the drive, they were involved in a horrific multiple car/truck accident and were both killed instantly. Not only did this guy have a new baby at home, but he and his brother had to deal with taking care of things in the aftermath of the accident and settle their parents' estate. One of his posts that moved me perhaps the most was when he and his brother traveled to the wrecking yard and had to go through their parents' care and what was left of their belongings.

Anyway, I digress. Recently he's written a few posts entitled "October Moments." The posts deal with odd and/or unusual and/or unexplained happenings he and his family have recently experienced. Personally, I find this stuff fascinating. I don't think he's a sensationalist--at least not in that way. If stories of this sort capture your attention, check him out.

So what do you think? Ghosts? No ghosts? Reserving judgment? Born in Missouri, the "show me" state?! Have YOU ever had an experience you can't explain? (No, I'm not talking about looking for your scissors while holding them in your mouth or any other "unexplainable" events of that nature! You know what I mean!) I'd like to hear about them!