Halloweenie Meme

Spooky! Scary! Halloweenie!

All credit for these meme belongs to OLPP

1. Do you believe in ghosts?

Yes. See answer #2.

2. Have you ever seen a ghost?

Yes - more than once. The first notable time was when I was about ten years old. I was at my grandmother's house - and old Victorian house in British Columbia. I was sitting on the back steps facing a nut orchard and I noticed a man walking through the orchard. That in itself was sort of odd - we weren't far from a main road, so why would someone be walking through the nut orchard? In any case, I'm watching him - he was about 150 feet away. He passes in front of one of the larger trees, and I realize I can see the tree through him. He was translucent, kept on walking until he was on the other side of the trees and then I couldn't track him anymore. I didn't say anything about this to anyone until I was 18 - 19 years old - and I told my grandmother (who by this time was living in a different house). She told me she wasn't surprised - that the man who had owned the house prior to her had died in the house in the upstairs bedroom and her dogs never liked going upstairs - they would sit at the landing and bark up at the stairs.

3. Have you ever experienced something that is best described by the word "paranormal"?

I moved to Japan in August 1995 - and summer in Japan is a horrible, hot, humid affair.. but it is also the time for telling ghost stories. The idea is that someone tells a story so scary that you shiver - and in doing so, cool yourself off. Not long after I moved there, I took the train into Tokyo by myself for the first time to visit some friends. Twice during that trip I distinctly felt someone tap me on the shoulder, and when I turned around to see who it was, there was no one there. And in one case, there was no one near me for a good 15 - 20 feet.

4. Do you watch any ghost or haunting themed shows?

Yes, I occasionaly watch Ghost Hunters - I used to get a kick out of watching Most Haunted, but was not impressed in the least to find out they fabricate the entire show. I used to like watching a series on the History Channel that had titled like "Haunted Charleston' or "Haunted Seattle." The Travel Channel sometimes has some cool seasonal programming like that as well.

5. If so, do you sometimes sleep with the lights on or wake up your partner because the show scared you a whole lot and you can't sleep and don't want to be awake alone?

I have done that in the past... I remember not being able to sleep at all the first time I read "The Silence of the Lambs" when I was a teenager.

6. Have you ever been to a supposedly haunted place? If so, did you experience anything spooky?

Andrew and I visited the Stanley Hotel when we lived in Boulder, CO. It is up in Estes Park, and it is the hotel that Stephen King based "The Shining" on. The hotel itself has an interesting story, but I can't say I felt anything. Estes Park is a beautiful place - don't pass up the chance if you ever get to go there. When I was 12 years old I went to England for the summer with my Grandma (same one as above) and we visited all sorts of historical sites - although there were only two places I got a 'buzz' off of. The first time was in Hampton Court, in Queen Katherine's hallway. It more like a long room with windows down one side. This Katherine was Henry VIII's fifth wife - the teenager who cheated on him. As she was being brought to prison, she broke away from the guards and ran down this hallway in an attempt to beg Henry's foregiveness. She didn't succeed. The second was in the ruins of an old abbey - also with ties to Henry VIII. When Henry stripped the Catholic monasteries and abbeys of their wealth (and land), they fell into literal ruins. This one was a medieval one, and I remember sitting at the top of a stone stairwell and looking around and just being able to 'see' what this was like in its heyday. I think I have a photograph of this somewhere - for some reason Chester is sticking in my head, but I can't be sure that is where it was.

7. How much do you love Halloween?

I love Halloween - but am disappointed in how adults are making it such a sexual affair. We have been looking for costumes for a work event and it is disheartening how many costumes for adults come with a XXX rating. Don't get me wrong - I am not a prude - but do I need to see a cardboard cutout in the mall of a pirate's wench costume with the woman bending over so you can see her panties...? No, thank you.