About Ghosts: Needy Ghosts

(from About Ghosts: A Useful Handbook by Jan Olandese  https://www.amazon.com/About-Ghosts-Handbook-Jan-Olandese-ebook/dp/B072Z36R8H/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

about ghosts cover

Like people, ghosts can be needy.

In Okinawa, it is customary on Obon holidays (the lunar New Year celebrations) to go to the family tombs and place offerings of food, drink, and money there, so that the departed have what they need.  Of course, people only leave play money, so maybe appearances are what counts on the Other Side.  (It is generally believed that if people don’t appease the ghosts in this way, they’ll be very sorry).

Similarly, the tombs of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt were well-equipped with things for use on the Other Side, from gold chariots to the organs of the deceased, which were preserved in jars for future use.  Also, the remains of many slaves: it’s hard to get good help.

Many ghosts seem velcro’d to the land of the living.  They can’t detach.  Like people, they become attached: to places, people, mindsets or things.  These are the kind of entity portrayed as repetitively wandering about a place, as if lost.  They may not know they’re dead.  They may be obsessed with some issue which has ceased to matter, but which ties them to a place and certainly prevents them from moving on.  (They resemble the living in that way).

The behavior of these needy ghosts, could be described as obsessed and compulsive.  They keep repeating themselves, doing the same thing, unable to break out of prisons of their own making.  Whether anger or frustration or loss ties them to a spot, there they remain.

https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Olandese/e/B071FK9L75

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Mob Haiku: Filler Up

The girls got fine lines

botoxed, nose jobs, the works:

facial erasures.

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Photo:  By Alinamusic (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Ghosts: Was It A Ghost, or Something Else?

This month, I facilitated an online seminar about the spirituality of the ghost story.  Something came  up that’s worth sharing here, because it ties in so well with our conversation about ghosts.

One story (The Lawn Jockey, from my book Death Be Not Loud) was about a small statue which appears to be evil and which gradually gains power over its owner.  In reviewing this story, one of the very clever participants opined that the lawn figure in the story wasn’t a ghost, but instead, the repressed nature of the character who purchased it and was drawn to it.

This resonated for me in terms of our ongoing discussion here about ghosts. I’ve talked about ghosts as dysfunctions – what a great example!

In the abovementioned story, each time the main character is injured or harmed, the statue/monster gains strength.  A very interesting  juxtaposition, no?

If you think in terms of wholeness and health – whatever the ‘disease’ (dis-ease) is, as it progresses, one becomes less whole, healthy, integrated. It takes recognizing the disease (or cause of your dis-ease), acknowledging it, and addressing it in a therapeutic way to return to wholeness/healing/health.

Perhaps if the character in the story had faced the issues, about which his subconscious was screaming at him, he might have found safety and redemption. Instead, he puts his emotional earplugs in tightly, ignoring the warnings.  This only served him in the present (as do our dysfunctions or addictions) but in the long run, it led to a bad outcome.

This motif appears to be a common thread in the cautionary stories in legend and lore, and in many ghost stores.  The big takeaway:  “Pay attention! Listen to your gut!”

https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Olandese/e/B071FK9L75

Mob Haiku: Suiting Up

Margie wears Prada.

Connie’s in stripes: the It Girl

at the federal pen.

 

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Photo:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kheelcenter/5279692346

Ghosts: Small But True Accounts

(Excerpts from About Ghosts:  A Useful Handbook©  by Jan Olandese)  https://www.amazon.com/About-Ghosts-Handbook-Jan-Olandese/dp/1521535531/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

about ghosts

I know of an old home in an American Midwest city that was quite haunted when I visited.  I had heard nothing of its reputation, but when I went up the stairs, I felt a strong push at the top, and nearly fell backwards.  The creepy feeling left me when I got away from the stairs, but I was always very careful after that.  Later, I asked others if they’d noticed anything there.  A reliable source who had spent a great deal of time at the house said that there had been sounds of activity and people downstairs at night, when no one else was present.  And that water faucets would turn on by themselves.  Many others said they felt something strange at the house.

***

I attended theological college in England.  The parish church across the lane from my house there was definitely haunted.

Nothing ever happened when I was there with others.  But I had to go alone very early one day.  It was still quite dark out. I was sacristan, and it was my job to prepare for the morning service.

While I was laying things out, I heard heavy footsteps.  They were not echoes of my own as I was wearing rubber-soled shoes which made no noise.  The church was a typical English Norman church, built in the early 1200’s.  It was all open inside, so you could see the whole place.  So, there were footsteps, but no one to go with them.

I finished my tasks and left as swiftly as possible.  I never had another negative experience there; but I was never there alone after that.

https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Olandese/e/B071FK9L75

 

Mob Haiku: Vito’s Bad Dream

The ‘burbs: no action.

Overcooked pasta, poly-

ester, smile pins.   smiley-163510_640

 

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Photo: Wikipedia Creative Commons (South San Jose)