I See Dead People

(Disclaimer: This picture is a hoax from Britain. It is meant to be taken as a joke.)

Whether you believe or not is irrelevant, everyone at one point or another in their life either has or will see a ghost, spirit, etc. Each culture has its fair share of ghost stories, haunted places, and oddly most are rooted in some sort of lesson to the young. If you look back at all the Freddy and Jason movies, the only time the demons came out was when the children were neglecting duties and engaging in sexual behavior or abusing drugs. The story of Jason comes from him drowning in a lake at summer camp while camp counselors were busy getting high and doing other things of the like. For as long as I can remember, Ma has been using Jinn as a way of getting me to clean my room and eat spinach and present day to try and get me to keep my apartment and car clean.

I cant say ghost talk doesnt frighten me or that I'm above reading a scary book with all my lights on, but I can say that I find the topic of the unseen very fascinating. My first interaction with ghosts was in fourth grade when I checked out a ghost story from the school library. There was this one kid in my class who had checked it out before me. He made it his mission to go through it page by page with me highlighting all the stories that were true. My 'fraidy cat' behavior annoyed the hell out of my family. I refused to be on any level of our house by myself. I had to be tucked into bed at night to ensure that I was sleeping. I heard all kinds of noises and imagined all kindds of child-eating, snake-eyed, grotesque creatures in my closet, which I kept open at all times. My sister pulled me from my own demise by going through the book with me and making fun of all the ghosts. I kept telling her to shhhhush and she kept laughing louder. The more she laughed, the more I began to relax until I couldnt even pretend to be afraid anymore. My sister used to read ghost stories for fun. I was in awe of her for being so brave.


Since then I have been told several accounts of people seeing ghosts and things they cannot explain. Most of us probably would not say we've seen a ghost amongst intellectuals, but we will say we've had things happen or seen things that we couldnt quite explain. Periforal vision is a funny thing. Have you ever been engrossed in an activity, reading a book or watching tv or whatnot, and from the corner of your eye you think you saw something move only to look up and see its nothing?

Our eyes see things, our ears hear things, our skin feels things but our minds take over and explain or rationalize what we think we saw. Its the mind's job to make sense of the nonsense to keep us from beig locked up in a padded facility.

The time I knew for sure I saw a ghost was at this wedding of one of the Uncles in our community. His wife, maybe 6 months to a year prior, died of breast cancer and he was getting re-married. I remember being really angry and upset at him for taking on a new wife as if it was that easy to replace memories. I refused to go at first, but then due to circumstances beyond my control I went. My mother explained to me who the Auntie was that he was marrying. Her parents had passed away at an early age and she raised her 6 siblings by herself, being the eldest. She educated and married them off, but never herself got the chance to marry. Finally, she was getting her chance at 50. I felt happy for her and wanted to meet her. At the reception, I walked over to the couple and gave my greeting and well-wishes. On the way back, I remember scanning the room and I noticed the deceased Auntie standing a few feet from me. Its eerie to look back but I will never forget her face. I didnt think anything of it, I'd seen her at parties many times before. I walked past a few feet thinking, Wait a minute. What's she doing here? Not, OHMYGOD I just saw a ghost! That never occurred to me until I was about to tell my youngest sister, "Oh, wow, Auntie (Blank) is here too".

I told my mom what I saw and she dimissed it as my vehm or feeling because obviously I'm remembering her and I'm placing my own feeling of being replaced by another woman as Auntie's fear. Ma was right, but I wasnt the only one who saw Auntie at the wedding. There was another lady who claimed to have seen Auntie sitting in a corner of the room, crying.

Do we personify ghosts sometimes? Do we give them our own feelings? Isnt it scary somtimes to think your mind has total dominion over you? Who is our mind? Our mind can make us believe or not believe in just about everything. When we're in our mind, all is well. It's when our mind leaves us that all hell breaks loose.

Have you ever argued with your mind?

Eyes: That cup just freakkkkin moved by its damn self!
Mind: You know you be forever buggin me with this shit. Just cuz you can see dont mean you know whats up.
Eyes: Man shut yo over-analyzin' ass up! I know what I done seen.
Mind: You aint seen nothin' punk.
Eyes: Mind ya bidness
Mind: This is my "bidness"
Eyes: Will you listen to me?!
Mind: I cant hear you. La la la... la la la
Eyes: Im telling you it moved.
Mind: It didnt. You need to get your eyes checked. (Mental note: Schedule eye doctor appointment after oil change Saturday afternoon.)
Eyes: I see myself going crazy
Mind: You don't know crazy and you aint seen nothing yet!

Ears: Yall hear something?

Mind & Eyes: Shut up!


...and sadly sometimes this can go the other way if you're sick or just lucky enough to have eaten the wrong type of mushroom.

Mind: They hate me. All these people hate me. Dont you see?
Eyes: Uh, no. They look normal to me.
Mind: You dont know what I know. I know they hate me. They want me dead. They're trying to kill me.
Eyes: They're little children! In a playground. On swings and in diapers for God's sake. Pull yourself together! What the HELL is wrong with you??
Mind: Look, that bastard just gave me the finger.
Eyes: No he didnt. Would you kindly leave seeing to me. Are you PMSing? How many of those mushrooms did you eat?
Mind: Thats it. That kid's going down for looking at me funny. Who he think he is?!


There's so much about us that is yet to be unlocked. Theres more to humans than meets the eye. Have an open mind but don't let it reign over you all the time. Next time you think you saw something don't be so quick to rationalize it. You might just bring yourself to a higher level of awareness.

:)