3. It must have been Casper...

I consider myself to be a realist. When faced with the unknown I usually side with the scientific explanation as opposed to any sort of supernatural or other-worldly explanation. I practiced religion growing up but as I've gotten older I've grown away from the ideology of it. I understand the concept of religion and can see how it can be useful and beneficial to people at times, but I don't really believe any of the things that religion claims. I honestly don't believe that there is an almighty being that is everywhere and controls everything. I don't really believe that a guy held up his hands and parted the red sea, or that another guy could walk on water and turn water into wine. But this purpose of this post is not to discuss the existence of God and to bash religion in general. It is about something way scarier...

 GHOSTS

Obviously no one knows what happens after you die. I do not actually think that there is a heaven and a hell and that you go to one of these two places and spend the rest of eternity there. Besides, if they were real they're probably pretty packed by now. But it's still hard for me to wrap my head around the concept of death and the 'afterlife'. I try to think of it as being the same as the time before I was born. But now that I am a conscious being and understand the concept of time and whatnot its hard to conceive of everything just going to nothingness. My 'logical' self finds it hard to believe that there are spirits floating around haunting places and people and just causing chaos... but I have never completely thrown out the idea.

I'm what some might call a 'night owl' (as you can tell by the hour at which I'm posting this). I have never had a problem staying up late at night, in fact I often do it for no real reason whatsoever. Anyway, every now and then when you're up late, and everyone else in the house (if any) have long since gone to bed, and all the lights are off, you'll hear a noise or two that make you question where in the eff they came from. 90% of the time I don't think of ghosts as being the source of said sounds. Most of the time I just disregard it completely. If anything I might consider that there's an intruder in the house who's either come to kill me or steal all my possessions.

But every now and then I'll watch some tv show about the paranormal and it'll spook me into believing that ghosts are real. The worst was when I watched the movie 'paranormal activity'.

Side Story...
About a year ago I got a copy of Paranormal Activity on DVD. My roommate and I decided to start the movie around 11pm and obviously decided to turn every light in the apartment off. About 20 minutes into the movie he was sound asleep on the couch and I was left all alone in the darkness. Then the scary shit started happening. Right in the middle of all the scary shit my roomate started moving and making weird sounds in his sleep as if possessed. By the time the movie ended I was sufficiently freaked out. I honestly didn't think I was going to see the light of day ever again.

Back to discussion...
I've heard enough ghosts stories and seen enough things on tv about people having experiences with the paranormal to not discount the idea completely.

Well... I had one of those experiences tonight, and can now say for myself that ghosts are REAL.

Like most nights I was the last one up in the house. As I headed to bed I turned off all the lights in the house. Once I got in bed I laid my head down on the pillow and prepared to drift away into dreamland.

Suddenly I heard a noise in the darkness of my room. My eyes shot open but I wasn't sure if I had actually heard something or if it was just my subconscious as I drifted to sleep. Then I heard it again. I shot up in bed and immediately turned my bedside light on. I didn't see the figure directly but was able to catch a glimpse of it in the mirror above my dresser. It was hard to make out what it was but I was able to snap a photo with my phone before it disappeared.

DEFINITELY a ghost.