“I do believe in spooks. I do believe in spooks. I do I do I do I do I do believe in spooks.”
~The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.
Today on Huckleberries Online, question was posed based on a poll in the Idaho Statesman. It asked the following question…
Roughly one third of Americans believe in ghosts and UFOs, and a whopping 48 percent believe in extrasensory perception, or ESP. Which of these do you believe in? -- Idaho Statesman.
~The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.
Today on Huckleberries Online, question was posed based on a poll in the Idaho Statesman. It asked the following question…
Roughly one third of Americans believe in ghosts and UFOs, and a whopping 48 percent believe in extrasensory perception, or ESP. Which of these do you believe in? -- Idaho Statesman.
*Ghosts
*UFOs
*ESP
*Ghosts and UFOs
*UFOs and ESP
*ESP and ghosts*
All three
I do believe in ghosts. Or spooks. Or some kind of spiritual energy that we cannot define or pinpoint where it comes from.
Too many people I know have stories or encounters with the spiritual realm. And I use “spiritual realm” in a very broad sense, because some of my Christian friends probably wouldn’t say they saw a ghost, but rather had an encounter with an evil spirit or demon, or perhaps even an angel.
Maybe I run with a very mystical crowd, but I can almost guarantee if you sit down with groups of people I know and start talking about weird, unexplained “ghost” encounters, most people will have a story, either one they experienced first hand, or one someone they know has told them.
This happened to me a few years ago while working as a reporter for the Shoshone News-Press. We were doing a special Halloween issue, and I was told of a woman who lived in town who could communicate with ghosts.
She couldn’t see them, she couldn’t hear them, but she could sense their presence.
One of my colleagues at the newspaper was from Mullan, and lived in two different houses up in Mullan that she said were “haunted”. So I contacted the “ghost whisperer” and we journeyed up to Mullan to hunt for some ghosts.
The first house we visited was abandoned, and was being readied by the owners to be torn down. When my friend lived in the house, her daughter used to see images of someone in the house when she was up in her bedroom. Accompany us on our adventure to this house was the next door neighbor’s daughter who remembers seeing a man’s face in the window when they were young and played in the house.
We started walking through the house, and the ghost whisperer said she felt a presence up in the attic. So she went up there by herself, and was up there for awhile. When she came down, the oddest thing happened. She said there was a man’s spirit up in the attic and she described what he was wearing, and, as she shared with us what she sensed he was saying to her, her whole demeanor and body changed, and she became that man for a few seconds. The person with us who had seen the man’s face in the window years earlier said, “that is the face I saw in the window”.
The ghost whisperer said the man knew something was going on in the house, and was confused. He was the main “force” in the house, but there were others as well, they just weren’t as strong.
But at no part in this whole experience did I ever feel frightened.
Well, by this time the sun had set in Mullan, and the house had no electricity, so we moved on to the current house my colleague lived in, again in Mullan. She again said this house was haunted.
This story again involved her daughter who saw the ghost in this house. (According to the ghost whisperer, some people can see ghosts, some can hear them, and others can sense them. This girl obviously could see them.)
While a student in high school, my friend’s daughter stayed home sick from school one day, and was sleeping on the couch in the living room. She woke up and saw a boy about her same age sitting in a rocking chair by the couch.
For some reason, she decided to look in some old Mullan High School yearbooks, and found a picture of the boy she had seen in her living room. This boy’s sister still lived in town, and she said they had lived in this house in Mullan when her brother was in high school, but he never graduated because he died of leukemia his senior year. There is an unfinished bedroom in this house that was suppose to be for this boy, but it was never finished. They believe that is where he “lives”. So the ghost whisperer and I went in this room so she could communicate with him. We stood in there and were very still. She did communicate with him, and asked him to somehow touch me or make his presence know to me, but, according to her, he was too shy.
Again, there was never any fear while we were in this house. To me, it was fascinating.
I think I am a mystic at heart, and that is why the paranormal, or “spiritual realm” fascinates me. A mystic is a person who claims to attain, or believes in the possibility of attaining, insight into mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge, as by direct communication with the divine or immediate intuition in a state of spiritual ecstasy.
According to this, aren’t all Christians who have some experience with the Holy Spirit a mystic? I do not have tangible proof that I was filled with God’s Holy Spirit during August 1981. But I have faith that God was behind it all. I know in my heart that my whole outlook on life changed, that I now wanted to live my life for God, not see what I could get from God. And I didn’t swear anymore. And I can assure you, this was not done by my own power.
I like the fact that faith is described in the Bible in Hebrews 11:1-3 like this:
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. 3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
There are things that happen in life where we have no tangible evidence, and I like that we don’t have evidence for everything. I don’t have tangible evidence why, out of all the men I dated, that my husband was the one I chose to spend the rest of my life.
I have no tangible evidence why I knew certain people in my life were moving away, even before it was announced, or the thought had even crossed their mind.
I have no tangible evidence why my sister-in-law dreaded going home to her new house until her father, who was also her Pastor, came and prayed away a demon or bad spirit in her home. But once it was gone, peace was returned to her home.
I have no tangible evidence why the night before we were leaving Meridian to move to Kellogg, our car alarm kept going off. Or why, earlier that day, I heard voices talking through the grate in the living room floor, but no one was down in the basement.
But I do have faith….faith in things I do not see. Faith that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Faith that there is a whole spiritual realm out there that we get a glimpse into every once in a while. But I like mysteries. Mysteries are good.
Why does everything have to be explained? (Can you tell I am predominately right-brained?)
We need our mysticm. We need a belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible by subjective experience.
This helps us see outside of ourselves, and experience something greater than ourselves.
I do believe in ghosts. Or spooks. Or some kind of spiritual energy that we cannot define or pinpoint where it comes from.
Too many people I know have stories or encounters with the spiritual realm. And I use “spiritual realm” in a very broad sense, because some of my Christian friends probably wouldn’t say they saw a ghost, but rather had an encounter with an evil spirit or demon, or perhaps even an angel.
Maybe I run with a very mystical crowd, but I can almost guarantee if you sit down with groups of people I know and start talking about weird, unexplained “ghost” encounters, most people will have a story, either one they experienced first hand, or one someone they know has told them.
This happened to me a few years ago while working as a reporter for the Shoshone News-Press. We were doing a special Halloween issue, and I was told of a woman who lived in town who could communicate with ghosts.
She couldn’t see them, she couldn’t hear them, but she could sense their presence.
One of my colleagues at the newspaper was from Mullan, and lived in two different houses up in Mullan that she said were “haunted”. So I contacted the “ghost whisperer” and we journeyed up to Mullan to hunt for some ghosts.
The first house we visited was abandoned, and was being readied by the owners to be torn down. When my friend lived in the house, her daughter used to see images of someone in the house when she was up in her bedroom. Accompany us on our adventure to this house was the next door neighbor’s daughter who remembers seeing a man’s face in the window when they were young and played in the house.
We started walking through the house, and the ghost whisperer said she felt a presence up in the attic. So she went up there by herself, and was up there for awhile. When she came down, the oddest thing happened. She said there was a man’s spirit up in the attic and she described what he was wearing, and, as she shared with us what she sensed he was saying to her, her whole demeanor and body changed, and she became that man for a few seconds. The person with us who had seen the man’s face in the window years earlier said, “that is the face I saw in the window”.
The ghost whisperer said the man knew something was going on in the house, and was confused. He was the main “force” in the house, but there were others as well, they just weren’t as strong.
But at no part in this whole experience did I ever feel frightened.
Well, by this time the sun had set in Mullan, and the house had no electricity, so we moved on to the current house my colleague lived in, again in Mullan. She again said this house was haunted.
This story again involved her daughter who saw the ghost in this house. (According to the ghost whisperer, some people can see ghosts, some can hear them, and others can sense them. This girl obviously could see them.)
While a student in high school, my friend’s daughter stayed home sick from school one day, and was sleeping on the couch in the living room. She woke up and saw a boy about her same age sitting in a rocking chair by the couch.
For some reason, she decided to look in some old Mullan High School yearbooks, and found a picture of the boy she had seen in her living room. This boy’s sister still lived in town, and she said they had lived in this house in Mullan when her brother was in high school, but he never graduated because he died of leukemia his senior year. There is an unfinished bedroom in this house that was suppose to be for this boy, but it was never finished. They believe that is where he “lives”. So the ghost whisperer and I went in this room so she could communicate with him. We stood in there and were very still. She did communicate with him, and asked him to somehow touch me or make his presence know to me, but, according to her, he was too shy.
Again, there was never any fear while we were in this house. To me, it was fascinating.
I think I am a mystic at heart, and that is why the paranormal, or “spiritual realm” fascinates me. A mystic is a person who claims to attain, or believes in the possibility of attaining, insight into mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge, as by direct communication with the divine or immediate intuition in a state of spiritual ecstasy.
According to this, aren’t all Christians who have some experience with the Holy Spirit a mystic? I do not have tangible proof that I was filled with God’s Holy Spirit during August 1981. But I have faith that God was behind it all. I know in my heart that my whole outlook on life changed, that I now wanted to live my life for God, not see what I could get from God. And I didn’t swear anymore. And I can assure you, this was not done by my own power.
I like the fact that faith is described in the Bible in Hebrews 11:1-3 like this:
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. 3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
There are things that happen in life where we have no tangible evidence, and I like that we don’t have evidence for everything. I don’t have tangible evidence why, out of all the men I dated, that my husband was the one I chose to spend the rest of my life.
I have no tangible evidence why I knew certain people in my life were moving away, even before it was announced, or the thought had even crossed their mind.
I have no tangible evidence why my sister-in-law dreaded going home to her new house until her father, who was also her Pastor, came and prayed away a demon or bad spirit in her home. But once it was gone, peace was returned to her home.
I have no tangible evidence why the night before we were leaving Meridian to move to Kellogg, our car alarm kept going off. Or why, earlier that day, I heard voices talking through the grate in the living room floor, but no one was down in the basement.
But I do have faith….faith in things I do not see. Faith that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Faith that there is a whole spiritual realm out there that we get a glimpse into every once in a while. But I like mysteries. Mysteries are good.
Why does everything have to be explained? (Can you tell I am predominately right-brained?)
We need our mysticm. We need a belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible by subjective experience.
This helps us see outside of ourselves, and experience something greater than ourselves.
5 comments:
Great picture and very timely post. Give you much to think about
Wow! I absolutely did not know this about you! I'm really excited! Can you tell from the exclamation marks? I experience ghosts in a different way, not quite so specific or so seeing into the future. I'll have to write about this. Your next sibling assignment,maybe, with yours already finished?
Sooo, did you have a vision of water filling your basement when you were in SoCalifornia? It would have helped a lot if you had called home, if you did!
There are hundreds of tales about ghosts in Mullan. I grew up there and can tell you it is an odd little town that way. I don't know about ghosts per se, but I do know there are some things that go 'bump' in the night there. Just hang out in the morning club for a couple hours after everyone is gone and you will see for yourself. Or just walk up second street (I think they call it mine street now).
Intriguing post. I began to think about my own experiences before I got the paragraph where you mentioned mine.
I found your post very interesting also. I have dealt with the supernatural from God's point of view ever since I became a Christian in 1973. Of course, I am more left-brained and try to understand everything that I encounter in terms of God's Word.
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