Not only on Halloween
FOR as long as I can remember, every All Saints’ Day I get calls for interviews from radio and TV about ghosts, witchcraft and other mystical phenomena. This has become so regular and predictable that my children and their friends have labeled me the “Halloween Personality.”
Last week, a friend of my youngest son told him, “Oh, Halloween is coming. We will see your Dad again on TV.”
I used to be merely amused with mass media’s preoccupation with ghost stories, witchcraft and the supernatural every time Halloween came around. But lately, I have become bored and tired—even cynical about it.
The media keep on repeating the same worn-out stories. The same questions I’ve been asked the last 20 years are being asked me this year. So I have declined most requests for interviews, unless they want to know something new.
One of the most often-repeated stories this year is about the ghosts in society columnist Maurice Arcache’s house in Sta. Ana.
The story had been told and retold so many times that poor Maurice had to hide from reporters every Halloween. The latest I heard was that Maurice finally sold his famous (or infamous) house and the new owner had it demolished.
Although he lived alone in that house for a long time, Maurice said he was never afraid of them. He went about his business without minding them at all.
Horror stories
Most articles that come out at this time are horror stories or scary encounters. The scarier these are, the better.
One TV network researcher texted me, asking if I knew of “a love story that developed between a ghost and a living person or about a ghost and a living person writing to each other, or a wife who was embracing her departed husband, but when she realized he’s dead, he’s gone.” What is really the value of repeating such stories?
They are not really new. There are hundreds of documented cases in the history of paranormal phenomena around the world. People don’t seem to tire of hearing them year in and year out.
Evidence
Celebrating Halloween or the “Day of the Dead” on November 1 is not indigenous to our culture. It was introduced by the Spaniards and the Americans. Halloween, in the West, is one of the year’s most important “festivals of the witches.” It used to be a sinister occasion linked to the pagan Sabbath and the Black Mass.
Today it is celebrated principally by children. And yet, for the most part, people still associate it with ghosts, witchcraft and scary encounters.
For years, I have refused to succumb to the temptation of writing about Halloween ghost stories because everybody will be talking about the same topic anyway. But the other reason is that it is not true that ghosts appear and make their presence felt only at this time. Truth is, they may, and do appear, any time, day or night.
What I can’t understand is why, despite so much incontrovertible evidence of the existence of ghosts and other spirits, people still ask: “Do ghosts really exist?”
Let me say this much for the last time. Spirits of the dead not only have been seen by so many people since time began. There is enough evidence to prove they have been photographed, appeared solid to some people, wrote letters, sent fax messages, texted loved ones on their cell phones, fried eggs, flushed toilets, turned on and off TV and radio sets, photo copying machines and computers, called and talked to loved ones on the phone, signed their names on vouchers and delivery receipts, drank soft drinks and wine, saved people from accidents, or even had sex with the living.
On a more positive note, some “ghosts” have even healed the sick. Ghosts have been known to be able to do everything a living person can do, except beget or bear children.
Note: I’ll be conducting seminars in Poland the entire month of November, so I may not be able to answer e-mails immediately.
Source: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20081028-168784/Not-only-on-Halloween
Last week, a friend of my youngest son told him, “Oh, Halloween is coming. We will see your Dad again on TV.”
I used to be merely amused with mass media’s preoccupation with ghost stories, witchcraft and the supernatural every time Halloween came around. But lately, I have become bored and tired—even cynical about it.
The media keep on repeating the same worn-out stories. The same questions I’ve been asked the last 20 years are being asked me this year. So I have declined most requests for interviews, unless they want to know something new.
One of the most often-repeated stories this year is about the ghosts in society columnist Maurice Arcache’s house in Sta. Ana.
The story had been told and retold so many times that poor Maurice had to hide from reporters every Halloween. The latest I heard was that Maurice finally sold his famous (or infamous) house and the new owner had it demolished.
Although he lived alone in that house for a long time, Maurice said he was never afraid of them. He went about his business without minding them at all.
Horror stories
Most articles that come out at this time are horror stories or scary encounters. The scarier these are, the better.
One TV network researcher texted me, asking if I knew of “a love story that developed between a ghost and a living person or about a ghost and a living person writing to each other, or a wife who was embracing her departed husband, but when she realized he’s dead, he’s gone.” What is really the value of repeating such stories?
They are not really new. There are hundreds of documented cases in the history of paranormal phenomena around the world. People don’t seem to tire of hearing them year in and year out.
Evidence
Celebrating Halloween or the “Day of the Dead” on November 1 is not indigenous to our culture. It was introduced by the Spaniards and the Americans. Halloween, in the West, is one of the year’s most important “festivals of the witches.” It used to be a sinister occasion linked to the pagan Sabbath and the Black Mass.
Today it is celebrated principally by children. And yet, for the most part, people still associate it with ghosts, witchcraft and scary encounters.
For years, I have refused to succumb to the temptation of writing about Halloween ghost stories because everybody will be talking about the same topic anyway. But the other reason is that it is not true that ghosts appear and make their presence felt only at this time. Truth is, they may, and do appear, any time, day or night.
What I can’t understand is why, despite so much incontrovertible evidence of the existence of ghosts and other spirits, people still ask: “Do ghosts really exist?”
Let me say this much for the last time. Spirits of the dead not only have been seen by so many people since time began. There is enough evidence to prove they have been photographed, appeared solid to some people, wrote letters, sent fax messages, texted loved ones on their cell phones, fried eggs, flushed toilets, turned on and off TV and radio sets, photo copying machines and computers, called and talked to loved ones on the phone, signed their names on vouchers and delivery receipts, drank soft drinks and wine, saved people from accidents, or even had sex with the living.
On a more positive note, some “ghosts” have even healed the sick. Ghosts have been known to be able to do everything a living person can do, except beget or bear children.
Note: I’ll be conducting seminars in Poland the entire month of November, so I may not be able to answer e-mails immediately.
Source: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20081028-168784/Not-only-on-Halloween
posted by Misteryo Philippines Network (MPN) at 2:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home