I was one step away from becoming completely obsessed with the supernatural and stepping into the world of Ghost Hunter (actually, I am always one step away), but fortunately, I didn’t take that final step, and went into teaching instead. No longer do I dream about spending my days at home recording ghost voices on a recorder or playing with a Ouija board. Some days though I find myself close to executing this fantasy because my avid fandom for the strange is only surpassed by my love for a stable home, family, and friends to talk to when I’m lonely (ghosts and contentedness don’t really coexist in my book).
Despite my inclination to the supernatural, I had an unusual upbringing in a secluded part of America known as Michigan, and furthermore known as BFE. As such, I’ve encountered people who believe the strangest things, from demons taking over bodies, to levitating beds, to Dogmen from Wessex County.
Not that I’m one to judge, because, as it was, I grew up with ghosts myself…and I may or may not have seen one when I was a little kid.
Nevertheless, I have fond memories of growing up in a one-hundred-year-old farmhouse with my siblings–and some memories that are not so fond (many memories, in fact). Yet, my siblings and I had a lot of fun telling stories to each other–especially scary stories. These stories often involved ghosts and monsters, which lingered in my thoughts long after they were shared.
Here are a few that I remember hearing or repeating:
The Hunter
Down the family line, an ancestor, at least as far back as when the Mackinaw bridge didn’t exist, encountered a local hunter while out hunting in the U.P. They shared food and conversation, only for my ancestor to discover, upon returning to town, that his hunter friend had been dead since the evening before. Cue the Twilight Zone music.
Wendigo (or Abominable Snowman)
My father claims to have seen a Wendigo in the woods behind our house. I’m 90% sure he was teasing us, but the image of him in the woods with his dog, pondering his final moments with a horrific creature is amusing. The story goes that it was early morning–or was it late at night?–when he was out walking his dog and then there it was–a real live wendigo. It was covered with hair and was snarling something fierce…at least in his interpretation.
The Child in the Window
My mom swears she saw a small ghost child in one of our upstairs windows while we were all at the park. According to her, no one could have been upstairs, yet she distinctly saw the apparition while she was standing outside of our garage. The icing on the cake is that we all returned from the park just as she was calling for the girl in the window.
Ghost Chairs
Fairly simple. One morning my dad made his coffee, sat at the dining room table, and did whatever it was that he did in the wee hours of the morning. After a brief bathroom visit, all the chairs were no longer neatly pushed under the table–but were now neatly sitting atop it as though they had been placed there by a cleaner.
My own ghost story
I was very young and was sleeping with my brothers in one bed as was per usual in a poverty-stricken house–all of us flopped in one small bed like Charlie Bucket’s grandparents. One night, I woke in the early morning hours when the night was still pressing and looked toward our bedroom door, which was open and had light pouring in from the hallway. There stood a short man with a tall hat and coat. I could not see him at all as he was shrouded by darkness, and the light behind him kept me from seeing his face. I put my head back under the blanket and fell back asleep. Don’t ask me how.
What I’ve learned about growing up with ghosts
I believe there’s catharsis in the supernatural. It helps us cope with the tragedies of our lives, a universal experience as everyone goes through some kind of pain. Individuals grappling with trauma might turn to supernatural explanations. For instance, a lady possessed by a supernatural force may have struggled with the agency of her own life. The person witnessing a bed levitate might have sought contact with someone from the other side to assist her own understanding of death.
There are are other reasons people engage with the supernatural.
As Michael Shermer, author of “The Believing Brain,” argues, humans tend to see casual, intentional relationships, even when they don’t exist, due to evolutionary advantages and the tendency to perceive patterns as deliberate. Furthermore, author Christopher Hitchens pointed out that humans are “pattern-seeking mammals,” which helps us make sense of our surroundings.
Therefore, believing in ghosts, in my opinion, is no worse than believing in many other things—it acts as an escape, akin to a book or a movie, and it also acts as an explanation when more scientific study is too abstract to understand.
However, it is always unacceptable when belief passes into violent behavior, as that’s dangerous and can lead to radicalization and zealotry. Nonetheless, most ghost hunters seem to be having fun exploring deeper questions about themselves or the world rather than murdering people for personal belief. As such, whether my father saw a wendigo, my mom a ghost child, or my ancestor a deceased hunter doesn’t really matter, as I’m fine with the uncertainty, and I am certainly fine with the story.
Works Cited
Wen, Tiffanie. “Why Do People Believe in Ghosts?” The Atlantic, 8 Sept. 2014, theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/why-do-people-believe-in-ghosts/379072/.
