The 'secret' to Finding Ghosts

The 'Secret', a new movie about the 'Law of Attraction' is very popular right now. What it says is that we are always attracting things to ourselves either consciously or unconsciously, and the movie makes a persuasive case for that premise

What we talk about we attract into our lives. What we think about we are inviting into our lives. That's it in a nutshell.

When I saw the 'Secret' it made me wonder about Ghosts and Hauntings, because, hey, if you are thinking about Ghosts, and talking about Hauntings, then aren't you inviting them into your life too?

My son, Brian, runs a hobby site called Scareo.com and we spend a lot of time visiting haunted places to document what we can of Ghosts and Ghost stories. We are planning some big trips next year, like Waverly and Gettysburg. On those occasions we will lay out a sleeping bag on the battlefield, or in a spooky looking room, and spend the night, talking and taking pictures and recordings.

During these visits we think about Ghosts, talk about Ghosts and what indication there may be that they exist, and that they are near us.

Some evidence exists that people see what they expect to see, and as far as spiritual and mystical phenomena go, there was an interesting movie from 2002 called 'Mothman Prophecies'. In it the lead character visits an expert on the creatures visiting Point Pleasant West Virginia. He asks what causes the strange things happening to him and the expert says.

"You noticed them, they noticed that you noticed them".

It was a very eerie line, and it got worse as the expert outlines the possible future for the character from the movie, John Klein.

It seems that for a while, the whole town of Point Pleasant had Ghosts in mind, and they all reported seeing the 'Mothman' creatures for several years.

It's common in the urban legend type of haunting we find, too. These are the volunteers in restaurants, or on airplanes who want to tell us about the old house they lived in. Some people love to share their scary stories, and it's one of the most fun things about the hobby.

Lots of these stories sound familiar:

At first it's merely a cup that got displaced, later it's a shadow in a window, a few weeks later they have apparitions haunting the whole dwelling. Sometimes the Ghost will move a doll, or turn off a light, and the (human) resident will notice it, and even talk to the spirit.

There was a painter, I wish I could remember his name, wrote a book about his experiences. He went from town to town painting the local haunted houses, the owners would walk out to see the painting, often offer to buy it, and tell the story of the home. In the painters' book he related the same phenomenon, that the more attention you give the spirit, the more likely it will come.

So, after 15 years of looking, perhaps I can look forward to my first real encounter with a Ghost. And since I've heard it can be extremely terrifying the first time, maybe after it happens I'll quit looking.