Ghost Stories

by Beth Alexander Walsh

Have you seen the ghost of Tom?
Long white bones with the skin all gone.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?

I have always loved a good ghost story.

 I recall the stories told around the campfire at Girl Scout camp, where each story teller tried to out scare the one before with a flashlight lit under our chins for dramatic effect. TV was also a great place for ghost stories. Scooby Doo never disappointed and I loved watching reruns of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and the Twilight Zone. As a teenager, candles would be lit and the Ouija Board would come out as we called upon spirits to answer our questions, i.e., is Elvis really dead?

The movie theater was also a great place for a good ghost yarn. I’m not talking slasher horror movies or the adaptations of Stephen King novels (with the exception of The Shining). I’m talking real ghosts; spirits from the past trying to connect with humans in the present or disrupting the lives of a family living in a house, like the Amityville Horror. I loved watching Barbara Hershey being chased in The Entity and Carol Ann disappearing into the closet in Poltergeist. Shoeless Joe walking out of a cornfield in Field of Dreams is an image that has stayed with me.  Then there are poor Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense and Nicole Kidman in The Others whose characters don’t realize that they are dead. Some ghost stories could make you laugh like iconic films Beetlejuice and Ghostbusters. Let’s not forget Whoopi, Patrick and Demi in Ghost. No one would ever look at throwing a pot the same way again.

Literature is also full of great ghost stories.  Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart gave me chills the first time I read it. We will never know what happened to Ichabod Crane after being chased by the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The most famous ghost of all, in my opinion, is Jacob Marley wearing the chains he forged in life. This Halloween I have decided to add The Turn of the Screw by Henry James to my ghostly reading list.

The last decade I have become more existential and my ghosts have become spirits. I am more thoughtful about what happens when we die and where that energy goes, drawing me to watch John Edwards, Theresa Caputo and Tyler Henry work their medium magic, connecting with loved ones that have passed. These shows command eye rolls from my husband, but I believe that the presence of spirit is around us, especially when we need it the most.

The most wonderful thing about ghost stories is that everyone has one.