What is a ghost to you?
An essay.
One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the ghost. What is a ghost? Well, for most people, a ghost is a lonely specter who roams the night, a weeping woman crying for her children. A simple urban legend meant to scare children into behaving.
For me, however, a ghost is something that has yet to be forgotten. A long walk with your best friends on a quiet moonless night to an old home that once held so many memories.
A ghost is the cute girl at the bookstore you never had the courage to talk to. Maybe it’s a lost friend that still remains etched within the back of your mind, haunting you each and every night. It’s the rainy night where, unbeknownst to you, you would witness somebody lose their life.
There are so many different interpretations of the ghost and so many great stories about the subject. Yet, I believe that as a culture, we have somewhat diluted the ghost into something that is physically present and something that is meant to be scary.
For example, look at films like The Conjuring or Insidious; really anything done by Blumhouse is a great example. While yes, those types of movies are made to be more of a demonic cash grab with decent scores and less than stellar jump scares. These are my least favorite kind of horror films if that wasn’t abundantly clear.
Though, don’t get me wrong, they have produced some pretty great ones like the adaptation of Joe Hill's short story, The Black Phone. Even then, they don’t make me think of ghosts the way I’ve come to think of them.
Then there exist a multitude of ghost stories that are more about the metaphorical horror of a ghost, the hauntings that are not physically terrifying but mentally devastating. Things that are more psychological in nature. If there’s one creator who I feel really understands this the best, it’s Mike Flanagan.
If you know me, you know that I love Flanagan. Everything he works on is incredible, especially his adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s famous novel, The Haunting of Hill House. I use the term adaptation very loosely as it’s extremely different from Jackson’s novel. Though this stems from Flanagan’s understanding of how what haunts people may not be the physical manifestation of a ghost but more so the metaphorical sense of the word. (I’m not saying much about The Haunting Of Hill House as I plan to write an in-depth post about it eventually)
Another example is a wonderful short story by Joe Hill called 20th Century Ghost, included within his first short story collection aptly titled 20th Century Ghosts. I bring up this story in particular because, to me, it actually does a great job of executing both versions of a ghost story. On one hand, it's an urban legend ghost story, and on another, it’s a more metaphorical tale. The story tells us of an old movie theater that is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young nineteen-year-old girl whose life was cut short by senseless gun violence. A young man named Alec first witnessed her ghost after the death of his brother, who was killed in WW2. Seeing a “ghost” of a young girl who was murdered the same way his brother presumably died, a gunshot wound. He first witnessed her in the movie house that he and his brother used to visit every time he was on leave, ‘The Rosebud.’ It’s only here in the theater where he used to go with his brother after wandering the streets still in shock of his death that he sees this ghost. You see where I’m going with this? The ghost could very well be a figment of his imagination, using her the way others may use an addiction as an escape from reality. An escape from his own grief. Or maybe, just maybe, she is real. Maybe she is the spirit of a young girl whose life was cut short, forced to spend the rest of her days doing what she loved most: watching movies. You know that’s really the beauty of the ghost story; it solely relies on the interpretation of the viewer, the reader, or even the writer in some cases.
My point being, everyone in life is haunted by their own ghosts, whether it’s the constant lingering reminder of one’s mortality. The embarrassing things once said, or even the trauma you fight through each and every day, a ghost is but a memory. Or maybe the ghost is a real physical phantom that follows you around day after day. (Contrary to what this essay may lead you to believe, I am a huge believer, and I’ve had some truly incredible experiences with the paranormal)
Either way, it’s something or someone that is not forgotten. From old friends to lost teeth, I know I have many ghosts. But then again, don’t we all? Don’t we all have some ghosts in our lives? Learning to accept them in a healthy way may lend itself to bigger and better stories about the ghost, about the things that haunt us, and the lingering memories that come from them.
Well, thanks for reading my essay/rant about ghosts. The idea of ghosts has been on my mind a lot lately, and if you’re my friend, you’ve definitely gotten a text from me recently asking, “what is a ghost to you?”
I’m not sure why, but during the spring, I always think of them a lot more. I really wanted to write about it, but not in a prose story or even a comic. I just wanted to share what a ghost is for me and the meaning I hold to the word. But a ghost to me is not a ghost to you, so I’d love to hear what everyone’s interpretation is. Let’s have a conversation down in the comments. What is a ghost to you? Big shout out to my good friend Rylei for drawing the cover art for this essay. Check out her Instagram here. She’s a great artist and a great friend.