Boo!

As I write this, I’m watching “Ghost Adventures.” It’s a program that makes me crazy. I don’t believe a word of it, but at the same time, it scares the beejeezus out of me. Why I watch it late at night, I have no idea. (I have even less idea why I watch it at all. At least I don't hate-watch it ...)

I’ve exchanged opinions on the show with a number of Facebook friends, and the general consensus is that Zak, the host, is something of a douchebag. I don’t think he’s that bad, but he is something of a tool. He seems nice enough, but he’s obsessive and kinda dopey. His assistants, Aaron and Nick, are a little less so (I particularly like Aaron; he seems genuinely baffled by all the goings-on), but still the whole thing is a definite bro experience.

One of the reasons I like the show is its mystery. When my mother died, I went through a process of determining what my feelings about life, death, and the afterlife are -- or if I even had any. My feelings are that there is something after death (and a lot of those feelings are based in conservation of energy), but it’s something that we just can’t comprehend. Are there ghosts? I don’t think so, but I’ve had at least one experience with odd noises in a haunted theatre (but aren’t all theatres haunted?), so I can’t totally discount it. (My sister claims to have had an experience, too, and I'm sure we're not alone in such things. I've even had a couple of other odd occurrences -- which I won't detail -- that weren't "ghostly," but certainly seemed supernatural.)

A friend of mine and I made a pact about 30 years ago that, whichever one dies first will try to haunt the other, if such things are possible. I have no idea if she even remembers it, but I certainly do.

This is the same friend with whom I shared a couple of Ouija board experiences. Denise (to use her real name) is a very spiritual person; not necessarily “orthodox” spirituality, but my impression is that she’s a believer in forms of magic and ritual, so doing the Ouija board was a natural for the two of us.

In memory, we did a few sessions, but the one that stands out involves a spirit who told us his name was Karl Klimt. Not to speak ill of the dead, but Karl was crazy. He was angry, paranoid, and egomaniacal. Once we got hold of him, we just couldn’t shake him. He claimed, among other things, that during World War II, he had been the real Fuehrer and that impostor Hitler was a mere figurehead. He went on and on to the point where we had to just give the whole thing up.

Now, one thing to stress here: I wasn’t moving the planchet; I barely had my fingers on it, but it was moving at a mile a minute. (Karl was nothing if not efficient.) Now, Denise may have been moving it, but she swore she wasn’t. She’s a very good writer (mainly, but not exclusively poetry), but it wasn’t the kind of story she would have made up; she would have been more creative.

I was all set to continue this story when I remembered that some of my readers have asked that these posts be shorter. With that in mind, I’m going to leave off for tonight. Not only does it save you time, but it gives me a ready-made topic for tomorrow, as the saga of the Ouija board continues.