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Essays on superstition
Essays on superstition
Essays on superstition
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Ghost Sighting
Elements of the supernatural have long enhanced the folklore of many cultures. Stories of ghosts, magic, and so-called aliens are transferred from generation to generation, sparking our imagination and uncovering our deepest fears. While some stories are clearly fabulous, others are believed by those who tell them. The story I wish to report is of the latter kind: an experience that generated real fear in the teller. Although the story is completely original, it contains ideas reflected in much other folklore, including similar tales from similar locations. And like all folklore, the effectiveness of the story depends upon the performance of the teller and those to follow.
First, it is important to include an in-depth description of the storyteller in order to fully analyze the meaning of the tale. My story was narrated by an 18-year-old woman. She was born in Poland, and at the age of eight moved to the Frederick. She is from an upper-middle class family; both her mother and father are chemists. The story was obtained late one night while working on homework and casually conversing. The topic of ghosts and the supernatural arose, and she informed me that she once saw a ghost firsthand. I inquired about her experience, and she willingly explained what had happened.
“At this time in my life I lived in a very old town house, where I often heard unexplainable noises in the attic. One night, when I was about 11, my parents went out to a party, leaving me all alone. The night was stormy, with crashes of lightening and thunder outside. Having nothing to do, I fell asleep after eating too much ice cream. All of a sudden, my alarm clock goes off in the middle of the night, reading 3 o’clock. I’m wondering why ...
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...in the story--she believes she saw a ghost. This allowed her to tell the story confidently and seriously, making the events very convincing. She also spoke slowly and thoughtfully, as though she was reliving the entire experience. This behavior supports the social implications of the story, showing that the teller herself held the fear of being alone and of darkness. She also spoke of the soldier’s image respectfully, while admitting to a fear of the apparition. Overall, the performance of the tale ultimately made it a ghost story while supporting its connection with societal ideas.
Works Cited
Cannon, Timothy L., Nancy Whitmore. Ghosts and Legends of Frederick County. Frederick, Maryland: Studio 20 Inc., 1979.
J., Danielle. “The Soldiers’ Ghosts.” Your True Tales. Aug. 2004. 15 Oct. 2004. .
When asked, the storyteller elaborated that the old man was no longer outside the Wawa when his gym teacher went back outside. The teller had slight pauses in several places in his story, most notably before explaining that his gym teacher could see ghosts and after the elderly woman confirming it was her late husband.
I was told a story about one of Cloudcroft's more famous ghosts when casually lounging in the undergraduate student physics lounge at the University of Maryland, College Park, with a group of students during a lunch break before class. This occurred during early April, 2005. I inquired whether anyone knew any ghost stories or folklore. A friend of mine volunteered that she knew several ghost stories from her travels. The storyteller was a 23-year-old Caucasian female from an upper-middle class family in Baltimore. She currently lives in Crofton, MD, and is a physics and astronomy major.
Ghost- a vision of a dead person that is believed to appear or become visible to the living as a vague image. There have been many cases in reality where one sees the ghost of their deceased loved ones or encounter some sort of paranormal activity in their life. “Proof” by David Auburn plays around with the “Ghost story” in his play to represent identity, memory of Catherine.
The book, What’s So Super About the Supernatural tells of well known stories about poltergeists. A poltergeist is a noisy or high energy ghost who might perform violent activity. A young girl by the name of Tina Resch lived in Ohio and is known to be a poltergeist. “No ghost was ever seen or heard on camera; however when the camera was inadvertently left running, the tape showed Tina surreptitiously pulling over a lamp” (Gardner). The evidence was found after people were reporting the activity. Newspaper reporters went to the scene to check out the action only to find evidence of Tina throwing objects violently around the house. Another example of proof that ghosts exist goes back to a case involving a poltergeist in England. An eleven-year-old boy by the name of Matthew Manning performed several violent actions that his dad had noticed and reported. Gardner writes, “ On one occasion, Matthew’s bed was thrown about and left leaning at an angle against the wall” (Gardner). These examples are not the only reported cases regarding ghosts and paranormal activity. Many stories about the supernatural have been told and passed down for several generations. Spirits are even mentioned in well known religious books that have been passed down for hundreds of
The University of Maryland has a rich history dating back to its founding in 1856 as the Maryland Agricultural College. Built between 1804 and 1812, The Rossborough Inn is the oldest building on campus today (Ghost Tour, 2). With its history, it is no surprise that the Inn has been a hotspot for ghost activity. Knowing that there have been numerous reports of ghosts at Rossborough, I visited the Inn to ask current employees at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, located in Rossborough Inn, if they themselves had experienced anything bizarre or if they had known others who had. I entered the small office where three women were talking and with their permission asked about their experiences with ghosts at Rossborough. Upon asking my question, all three smiled, although shaking their head, they indicated they had not. However, they all had heard of the stories, and one of the women replied and told me to speak with the University Archivist. She told me that she has spoken with the archivist, and upon learning the stories, she said that she “got freaked out and really wanted to go home.”
There’s this really small highway town in New Mexico called Cimarron, and it’s small now but in the late 19th century it was a bustling crossroads for all sorts of people – gold speculators, ranchers, oilmen, and especially those vagrant characters, like Billy the Kid, seeking refuge from whatever lawman was on his tail. In Cimarron is this hotel, the Santa Fe Hotel, and they say that this place is the most haunted hotel still in operation, in the west. The lights flicker on and off, and people, visitors just say they encounter really weird things – like if you go in this one room, you might see a woman out of the corner of your eye, sitting on the windowsill and looking out for someone. And when you turn to face her, she disappears, but all of a sudden you smell a subtle waft of strawberry-scented perfume. Weird – yet you still not sure if this is true? Sounds sketchy, I know. Oh – I should say this hotel is haunted because 23 people have been shot to death in the hotel, either from a bar-fight or card-game or something. Well I went to stay at the hotel for a night, before I headed on to a nearby Boy Scout camp. I went with my troop, and we all got our own rooms. Guess what room I got – the strawbe...
Like all the best ghost stories, this begins with the most innocuous of introductions: “…life is complicated”, a quote by Patricia Williams that Gordon will remind us repeatedly is “the most important theoretical statement of our time” (3). What obscures, obfuscates, thwarts and yes, haunts us and our work, she argues, is not what is seen but what isn’t, the notable absences out of the corner of our trained eye, those ghosts who may be invisible (especially to the discourse) yet still exact attention from their hidden presence. Perhaps anticipating the confusion of my book’s previous reader, Gordon patiently (and poetically) expands on her conceptualization – ghosts are those whom, through the “complicated relationship between reality and its mode of production” (11) have been relegated to that void between the s...
Our encounters with the ghastly and glorious ghosts of St. Albans are fairly typical of the experiences of the other paranormal investigative teams you will read about in The Ghosts of St. Albans Sanatorium. So, sit down with me and read a spell.
Stacy’s Journal of the Paranormal. Pages 32-35. Volume 31. Issue 4. Published by Awesome Publishing. September 2011.
Urban legends are the supernatural folklore of our modern society. From one generation to the next, they orally travel throughout the world, constantly changing from one region to the next. Although cultural variations exist, the core of all these urban legends remains the same, to unveil the universally known individual and societal fears. “The Graveyard Wager” is a timeless urban legend told again and again, and the one of which I will explore more in depth.
As they scrambled to be near each other for warmth and security against the tingling feeling arising on the backs of their necks, and the fear of their impending doom, what jumped out at them was a horrifyingly great big... just kidding. This all started with two teenaged girls telling stories one night, but it was spring, not summer, in a dorm room, not at a camp site, and completely calm, not alarming in the least. For this assignment, I chose to ask a friend to tell me a story regarding ghosts, magic, or the supernatural, and what she came up with I considered to be very helpful for this project.
Have you ever experienced an unusual phenomenon that you can’t explain? A paranormal occurrence that left the hairs on the back of your neck chilled for days? Most explain it aside, but the possibilities of why you feel so uneasy are limitless. Especially if you experienced this at Waverly Hills, also known as one of the most haunted places in the world. Most think it’s just a Haunted House set up for Halloween, but the harsh truth is this; every pondering individual that has courageously walked through this Sanitarium during anytime of the year has experienced doors automatically slamming shut, visible orbs, shadows, mists, so-called ‘hallucinations,’ scratching noises, footsteps, barking, and other various spooky noises. They each left with a
The Nelly Butler hauntings is referred to as the first recorded ghost story in American history (LiBrizzi 5), and possibly the most exciting hauntings to date as there are still many unsolved mysteries. The apparition appeared on more than 30 separate occasions to over 100 witnesses in Sullivan, Maine, just over fifteen years after the American Revolution (5-6). Although the Nelly Butler apparition is one of the most convincing ghosts of all time, it was subject to suspicions of fraud. These claims turn out to be groundless as the evidence reveals the ghost to be genuine.
Boo! Get your attention? Although, a ghost is not likely to use this form of language (if they exist) but, most paranormal investigators would love to hear some form of communication from a ghost. The topics about ghosts are still as popular today as they were several years ago. People often sit around and tell stories about the unexplained bumps, footsteps, dark lurking figures experienced in many of their homes or hotels. Never mind that the house is probably settling, or an appliance is malfunctioning. The easiest explanation is to cast it off as the occupant that used to live in the house, and died a violent death, is now causing misery for the entire family. For years, movies and television have gained popularity from the tales of the other side. There are even television shows currently running where paranormal investigators are going to popular haunted venues and recording the paranormal activities.
had not been told about the ghost story at all by the old people. This