Our society is fascinated with ghosts. Wait. That’s putting it a bit mildly. Our society is obsessed with ghosts. If you turn on the television, there are countless programs which detail people chasing ghosts, detecting ghosts, communicating with ghosts and even solving murders with the help of ghosts. Although sociologists may dissect this rabid preoccupation with the dead and come to the academic conclusion that man is facing his inherent fear of death and the stark reality of his own finiteness, there is a much simpler explanation: We like to make stuff up.
That’s it. There’s nothing more to this phenomenon than simple, childish desires playing themselves out. The whispering, shaking, astounded ghost hunters are really just taller versions of six year old's saying, “There’s a spider on your head! Gotcha!” The eerie woman who is convinced that she has ghosts living in her house, and has even spoken with them at times? Look again, and you’ll see the shy eight-year old with her imaginary friends. And what about the professionals who claim to communicate with the dead? Well, they just prove that although we realize that no one can actually grab our noses off our face, we are still horribly gullible.
Some may disagree and feel that they are capable of producing irrefutable evidence that ghosts are alive and well (or would that be dead and well?), and roaming the planet in search of an eternal resting place. They may be correct. Let’s just hope that if they are, all the ghosts look like Casper. Or better yet - Bruce Willis.
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