The Daily Times

We’ve all had those experiences where we feel someone is watching, yet no one is there. We can almost feel the touch — soft as a sigh, just enough to know we aren’t quite alone. The very air tingles with that slightest bit of electricity with no source, no explanation. The uneasiness builds. We check the doors, the windows, the closets, uneasily trying to laugh at ourselves and our active imagination of things that go “boo” in the dark. We sheepishly crawl into bed with a shotgun beside us, blankets to our chins, eyes constantly scanning the darkened room for ... what?

I’ve had my imagination — imagination? — get the better of me many times. Foggy nights are the worst. Who knows what lurks beneath that gruesome veil? The little tendrils of undulating, swaying mist look like foggy fingers waiting to reach out and grab their prey. In my mind, they are reaching out for me ...

At last week’s luncheon with friends, the conversation turned to otherworldly things. One friend mentioned photographs taken at her sister’s grave in a local cemetery in which a face that was not present at the time of the photo appeared in the printed version. Her aunt saw the face and immediately recognized it as her recently departed husband. Orbs, which some paranormal experts define as spirits appearing as balls of light or energy, are thick in other photos taken at the same time.

This same friend and I had an experience at a different cemetery, a very rural, lonesome cemetery tucked into the side of a hill. I was helping her with genealogical research, and our plan was that I would start at the top of the hill, she at the bottom, and we’d work ourselves to the center. The longer I was at the top of the hill, the more uneasy I felt. I hurriedly snapped the photos of headstones and made my way back down the slope. I told my friend I’d never be back in that cemetery. In the six or so intervening years, I have not. Two different stories have now been told about what tragic or evil events linger in the air around that upper area. I don’t know which is true, or if both are true. I only know I won’t be going back.

Another friend acquainted with the unseen world explained that there is a difference between a spirit and a ghost. A spirit knows he’s passed on; he comes back for whatever reason and is cognizant of what’s happening. A ghost doesn’t know. He thinks the living are the ghosts ... Who’s to say he isn’t correct? Perhaps we are the wraiths ...

Have you ever had the sensation that a bug is tickling your arm but nothing is there? That an unseen hand is tugging gently at a curl? That someone is brushing by as you walk through a door? It’s just your imagination, right?

When the goose bumps travel up and down your spine, when the tiny hairs on the back of your neck stand up, remember these tales. Are the haints and goblins for real? Or are they merely suggestions for a deliciously ghoulish Halloween scare? Make up your own mind but remember: There is much, much more to this world than what is visible to your naked eye.

Have a hauntingly happy Halloween ... If you dare.

Linda Albert is Sunday Life editor and a staff writer for The Daily Times. Her column runs every Sunday in the Life section. You may contact her at 981-1168 or (linda.albert@thedailytimes.com)