The
fourth season of Dark Winds, Tony Hillerman's story about the Navajo
Reservation Police, deals with Ghost Sickness – a belief that the dead can
leave behind a malevolent spirit that can harm the living.
Almost all
religious cultures believe that humans alone have souls that, after death, can manifest as ghosts. Of course, all religions require a leap of
faith; that is why religions are referred to as faiths.
If you ask
around among your friends, you can find some who claim to have witnessed a ghost,
but many also believe in Bigfoot, Angles, Astrology, the Devil, a human God, the
power of crystals, and that aliens walk among us…
The optimal
word is that they believe in ghosts, because there is no proof of
ghosts or a life after death.
There are
numerous ways to question the appearance of a ghost. Let's consider just one:
Why are ghosts always clothed? We are born without clothes; clothes are optional, not a part of us. Why aren’t ghosts naked?
The ghostly
woman wearing a gossamer white gown who haunts the hotel; the soldier in his
uniform: is there a ghost wardrobe available for the spirits of the dead?
When I was young, many decades ago, there was a legend about a Confederate officer on a white horse, in full battle gear, supposedly seen at night riding through the Confederate cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I believed it, but I was young and gullible, and cemeteries are spooky places.
A ghost horse, uniform, saddle,
sword, and no one asked the question? Wouldn’t
that also require that horses have souls?
The
appearance of a ghost would be so much more interesting if he or she were naked
– and in some cases more frightening.
the Ol’Buzzard
I have questions. If ghosts have a ghostly wardrobe, do they do their own laundry? Do they have a service to do it for them? Do they use softener during that cycle? Do they hang them or use a ghostly dryer? Asking for a friend.
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