Behind The Blog #37; Haunted Moments

I had an idea for this post all sorted in my head when I came up with this topic but then I got busy and now I’m sitting here not really sure what it was I wanted to say. I’m also incredibly tired and so I am certain that a lot of this post may not make sense and for that, I apologise. I will try to make myself coherent and this at least mildly entertaining but if you fear it will not be the case, you can probably just close the browser and walk away.

When it comes to ghosts, I’ve always been in a bit of two-three-mind-thought-process-thing about them. On the one hand, I love the idea of ghosts and the idea of hanging around once we’re gone and being able to haunt others. I also think their “existence” does help make fun ghostly stories, but on the other side of things, I struggle to actually believe in ghosts. In my mind, once you die that’s it. It’s over. So if it’s over, how could you possible stick around? I feel like this is a good way of thinking because the idea of being stuck as a ghost for eternity is really unpleasant, and if everyone stayed as a ghost, there would be too many to fit in the world – I’m sure! But, as mentioned above, ghosts do make for great stories and the rest of this post will be me sharing a few of the stories I heard or experience when I was younger.

The first ghost that comes to my mind whenever I think about them is the one that “lived” in my friends house. Whenever I went round hers she’d always be saying how haunted her house was but I really didn’t believe her or her stories. But then one night I was staying over and her mum was already in bed, we were downstairs in the kitchen when we both heard a floorboard creak. We looked at each other and she nodded at me. Then, we took a breath and went to go investigate but nothing was there. We both just stared at the empty hallway before running into the kitchen again and trying to calm down. It was a surreal moment but looking back I was believe the creak was probably a pipe as opposed to a floorboard and that I was just all scared by the darkness. But who knows?

This next story actually doesn’t involve any actual ghosts but rather some nasty ghost stories that led to us being scared out of our wits. It was a sleepover, it was probably three in the morning and me and a friend were sitting looking out at the eerie looking garden. We were swapping ghost stories we knew about when I decided to make one up about the very garden we were looking at. How the ghosts would be trying to get into the house, rattling windows and screaming but it was never any use. When my story was over, my friend told another featuring the things she saw in the garden as well. Lo-and-behold, we both ended up staring at the garden in horror before quickly closing the curtains and returning to the room to try and calm ourselves down. We had managed to scare ourselves with our own imaginations. It was pretty wild.

In my mind, the most horrifying depiction of a ghost are the ones that you see inside a house while you’re outside. The ones simply staring out the window either off into the distance or looking directly at you. Most ghost stories I can shrug off as some fun entertainment, but the simply idea of someone staring at something so intently like that, as though it has a purpose, just really freaks me out. Lord knows I would run a damned mile (if not more), if I ever experience anything quite so startling! Fortunately I haven’t, but I have heard a story of someone who saw something like it in an abandoned house – but my sceptic mind simply tells myself it was probably just a squatter.

So there we have it, some possibly true ghost stories and one that really wasn’t! What about you? Do you have any ghostly memories from when you grew up?

One of my favourite genres to read is paranormal and so I have read a wide range of different stories involving ghosts. Here are three YA novels; one is a romance, one a horror, and one is a lighter-romance. They’re three of my favourite YA’s with ghosts in at the moment!

Hereafter by Tara Hudson; I loved this story from the first word until the last. It was such a lovely story. I loved the dark edginess it had to it while also just being a nice story between a girl and a boy. There were small issues with it, but none that could stop me from truly loving the story!

Unrest by Michelle Harrison; This story took my by the hook of the arm and guided me through. It was the first book I read as an audio-book and it was just absolutely fantastic. Gripping, horrifying, and just had a truly interesting storyline that had me hook and sinker.

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake; I have loved Supernatural for years and this book hit the nail right on the head for me. Straight from the first chapter I was hooked and I couldn’t do anything but devour the words on the page. A truly interesting story that has a very complicated romance in it!

Just like with books, I love watching ghosts in films as well. Some ghost stories I find ridiculous and can’t find the strength to really get into them, but there have been some really great films (and television shows) to do with ghosts. Here are three films that I have actually enjoyed. One is deeply terrifying, truly invigorating stuff, one is a comedy that I adored, and the other is a more modern day horror which didn’t scare me as much as some but was still quite shocking.

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003); Truly spectacular film. This one blew me away and made me just fall in love with Korean films all over again. They know how to make horror films. Yes they do.

Ghost Town (2008); It may not be the BEST comedy in the world, but it made me laugh and there were parts of it that I still laugh about regularly and therefore, it deserves it’s spot here as my favourite paranormal comedy – though Ghostbusters is a very close second!

Paranormal Activity (2007); I wasn’t effected by this film like some people – I wasn’t bothered enough to see the sequels for instance, but I did really like this film and found it to be entertaining. And there were a few moments that had my blood racing a little faster than normal.

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