Wednesday, 19 February 2020
The observationist: Ghosts and the Supernatural
The observationist: Ghosts and the Supernatural: I feel pretty well informed on this particular subject as i've written many a spooky based script but what exactly is the supernatural? ...
Ghosts and the Supernatural
I feel pretty well informed on this particular subject as i've written many a spooky based script but what exactly is the supernatural? I'll tell you...it's a manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. This covers the paranormal, vampires, werewolves, demons, angels, gods, extrasensory perception, witchcraft and occultism to name but a few. It's basically a departure from what is the norm so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature.
Shakespeare once said 'there are more things in Heaven and earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'. Well enough of that crusty old bollocks, when or if you have a supernatural experience it will unnerve you some what. You might even let out a small involuntary noise you've never heard yourself make before and probably never will again.
When i told a friend of mine my next blog was going to be on the supernatural and ghosts he said 'oh, that's brilliant because you were touched weren't you'. It was a catholic school, dear reader, everyone was doing it! What he was actually referring to is i was touched by an unseen hand one night very recently on my way home, after 3 pints of Guinness, from our local village pub. I was tapped on the shoulder from behind three times. I swung round with my torch expecting to see my mate and there was nobody there. Cue small amount of wee and involuntary noise. Needless to say i broke some kind of land speed record getting back to the safety of my house. I say relative safety because we have a few active spooks at home. I don't mean the MI5 kind, because that'd be the worst cover story ever, but the dead kind-which isn't weird at all...It might be worth noting that the incident on my way home was not my first encounter with a ghost. I seem to attract them. The only way i can describe it is they know i know they're there and word has got round the spectrel community (if there is one). It doesn't scare me because it's been a thing for as long as i can remember and i largely ignore it but it does tend to unnerve other people i spend any amount of time with. For example a friend of mine came to my house over the christmas period who was a staunch non-believer. Notice the 'was' because while at my house and chilling out on the sofa watching TV he saw a tall human shaped shadow appear on the wall near a door way. I told him to ignore it because it was just showing off and he put it to the back of his mind. Then half an hour later it did it again. There was nobody else around to have cast the shadow. My friend's walk home was frought to say the least.
In our current home we have several active spooks but they don't bother me. Most of my guests have experienced some kind of weirdness when in my house such as cupboard doors randomly opening, door handles rattling, tapping, footsteps, hair pulling, shadows and cold blasts. When somebody new visits that tends to be when something will happen. I'm not sure why. I'm used to it and so are most of my friends and family. Spirits do tend to put 'the willys' up most people-ask my husband after i've had a few gins-but what actually are they? Echoes of the past? Manifestations? Nobody has a definitive answer. My great nan once told me that the living usually won't see the dead. WON'T as in WILL NOT. Like a refusal to accept. Many of my friends and family have had some kind of ghostly experience but in equal measure many haven't. I don't know anyone who has had an encounter with a vampire or a werewolf or anyone who is one. Life would be so much more interesting if they walked among us. It would be a case of unnatural selection. Survival of the fastest. As long as i can outrun Barbara from next door i'll be fine. She is 87 so i reckon i stand a good chance. I used to play a car game with my kids called 'vampire, werewolf or zombie'. I'd point out various pedestrians and my kids had to say whether the unsuspecting potential supernatural was a vampire a werewolf or a zombie. There are a surprisingly large amount of vampires in North Yorkshire. I still play this game in my head while out and about driving. Try it yourselves. It's great fun and makes you look at the general public in a totally different light.
I love to watch ghost and paranormal programs on the TV because i find them interesting and frustrating. Interesting because other people are curious but frustrating because nothing is ever really seen. In particular 'Ghost Adventures' hosted by Zac Bagins is a favourite because you can play the 'demon drink game'. Every time Zac Bagins says the word Demon take a drink. I've been known to drink half a bottle of gin in an hour because of him. 'Most Haunted' should be called 'least haunted' as nothing happens. EVER. Yvette and her team should come to my house.
Witchcraft is a broad term that varies culturally and societally. James 1st was obsessed with witchcraft and demons and even wrote a book about it. Practising witchcraft has been banned then repealed several times over the centuries as recently, through parliament, as 2008 under the 'fraudulent mediums act'. Once viewed with hostility and suspicion it has now transmuted into a mainstream phenomenon and is practised around the globe. Around 500 people were tried and executed for being witches in the UK alone so how is my ex mother in law still alive? Surely the pointy hat and broom are a dead give away.
Ghost hunting tourism is big business these days. People will pay a small fortune to do ghost tours, escape rooms, haunted walks and all manner of crap just to scare the bejesus out of themselves.
Me and the husband regularly stay at the renowned haunted castle, Tulloch castle, in Dingwall, Inverness, Scotland. We go once a year for a well earned break from the kids and have an absolute ball. We've stayed in 3 of the most haunted rooms in the castle and experienced very little in the way of spirits unless you count the top row of the amazing whisky collection. The castle do their own free ghost tour every night which are a lot of fun and include a lot of historical content.and we love it. The rooms are amazing, the staff are brilliant and the food in the restaurant is fantastic.
Whether you believe or not is irrelevant. Most of us are curious about life after death. To some of us it's a comfort and to others it's an impossibility. Regardless of what you believe we don't know for sure what awaits us once we've shuffled off this mortal coil but we all hope it's not just lights out. Endex.
Shakespeare once said 'there are more things in Heaven and earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'. Well enough of that crusty old bollocks, when or if you have a supernatural experience it will unnerve you some what. You might even let out a small involuntary noise you've never heard yourself make before and probably never will again.
When i told a friend of mine my next blog was going to be on the supernatural and ghosts he said 'oh, that's brilliant because you were touched weren't you'. It was a catholic school, dear reader, everyone was doing it! What he was actually referring to is i was touched by an unseen hand one night very recently on my way home, after 3 pints of Guinness, from our local village pub. I was tapped on the shoulder from behind three times. I swung round with my torch expecting to see my mate and there was nobody there. Cue small amount of wee and involuntary noise. Needless to say i broke some kind of land speed record getting back to the safety of my house. I say relative safety because we have a few active spooks at home. I don't mean the MI5 kind, because that'd be the worst cover story ever, but the dead kind-which isn't weird at all...It might be worth noting that the incident on my way home was not my first encounter with a ghost. I seem to attract them. The only way i can describe it is they know i know they're there and word has got round the spectrel community (if there is one). It doesn't scare me because it's been a thing for as long as i can remember and i largely ignore it but it does tend to unnerve other people i spend any amount of time with. For example a friend of mine came to my house over the christmas period who was a staunch non-believer. Notice the 'was' because while at my house and chilling out on the sofa watching TV he saw a tall human shaped shadow appear on the wall near a door way. I told him to ignore it because it was just showing off and he put it to the back of his mind. Then half an hour later it did it again. There was nobody else around to have cast the shadow. My friend's walk home was frought to say the least.
In our current home we have several active spooks but they don't bother me. Most of my guests have experienced some kind of weirdness when in my house such as cupboard doors randomly opening, door handles rattling, tapping, footsteps, hair pulling, shadows and cold blasts. When somebody new visits that tends to be when something will happen. I'm not sure why. I'm used to it and so are most of my friends and family. Spirits do tend to put 'the willys' up most people-ask my husband after i've had a few gins-but what actually are they? Echoes of the past? Manifestations? Nobody has a definitive answer. My great nan once told me that the living usually won't see the dead. WON'T as in WILL NOT. Like a refusal to accept. Many of my friends and family have had some kind of ghostly experience but in equal measure many haven't. I don't know anyone who has had an encounter with a vampire or a werewolf or anyone who is one. Life would be so much more interesting if they walked among us. It would be a case of unnatural selection. Survival of the fastest. As long as i can outrun Barbara from next door i'll be fine. She is 87 so i reckon i stand a good chance. I used to play a car game with my kids called 'vampire, werewolf or zombie'. I'd point out various pedestrians and my kids had to say whether the unsuspecting potential supernatural was a vampire a werewolf or a zombie. There are a surprisingly large amount of vampires in North Yorkshire. I still play this game in my head while out and about driving. Try it yourselves. It's great fun and makes you look at the general public in a totally different light.
I love to watch ghost and paranormal programs on the TV because i find them interesting and frustrating. Interesting because other people are curious but frustrating because nothing is ever really seen. In particular 'Ghost Adventures' hosted by Zac Bagins is a favourite because you can play the 'demon drink game'. Every time Zac Bagins says the word Demon take a drink. I've been known to drink half a bottle of gin in an hour because of him. 'Most Haunted' should be called 'least haunted' as nothing happens. EVER. Yvette and her team should come to my house.
Witchcraft is a broad term that varies culturally and societally. James 1st was obsessed with witchcraft and demons and even wrote a book about it. Practising witchcraft has been banned then repealed several times over the centuries as recently, through parliament, as 2008 under the 'fraudulent mediums act'. Once viewed with hostility and suspicion it has now transmuted into a mainstream phenomenon and is practised around the globe. Around 500 people were tried and executed for being witches in the UK alone so how is my ex mother in law still alive? Surely the pointy hat and broom are a dead give away.
Ghost hunting tourism is big business these days. People will pay a small fortune to do ghost tours, escape rooms, haunted walks and all manner of crap just to scare the bejesus out of themselves.
Me and the husband regularly stay at the renowned haunted castle, Tulloch castle, in Dingwall, Inverness, Scotland. We go once a year for a well earned break from the kids and have an absolute ball. We've stayed in 3 of the most haunted rooms in the castle and experienced very little in the way of spirits unless you count the top row of the amazing whisky collection. The castle do their own free ghost tour every night which are a lot of fun and include a lot of historical content.and we love it. The rooms are amazing, the staff are brilliant and the food in the restaurant is fantastic.
Whether you believe or not is irrelevant. Most of us are curious about life after death. To some of us it's a comfort and to others it's an impossibility. Regardless of what you believe we don't know for sure what awaits us once we've shuffled off this mortal coil but we all hope it's not just lights out. Endex.
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