One of my less-secretive guilty pleasures is watching a few of the many paranormal shows on television. I really enjoy Ghost Adventures more than the rest, though it's pretty embellished and clearly unnaturally dramatized for television. I find the brief moments of seeming paranormal activity to be very intriguing and though I doubt I'd ever become a paranormal investigator, I do have to admit these shows pique my interests in something that, surprisingly, is very relevant to teaching.
When I say this, I don't mean that I preach about the quest for ghosts in the classroom, but certain stories, especially Shakespeare, are riddled with mentions of ghosts: Hamlet, Macbeth, Harry Potter and of course, The Crucible. While it doesn't specifically mention ghosts, the girls do swear they've seen "spirits" and other manifestations of evil or demonic entities. And while I can't help notice the interest in the paranormal is surging, I wonder when there will be definitive "proof" discovered.
One can argue every orb is a dust particle or a bug or some type of life refraction or reflection. One can argue that "shadow figures," noises, disembodied voices, etc. are all photographic blemishes or echoes from something nearby. And one can certainly argue that no one will ever know what exists on "the other side" because no one on earth can teach us how to die (thanks, Franz Wright). But certainly we can dream. We can pretend and we can strive to discover, prove and compile. I wonder, though, in our current technological age, why no one has found this incontrovertible proof if, in fact, there is an afterlife.
Regardless, I'd love to do an investigative session just once. I'd love to set off with a group of friends, armed with paranormal researching equipment, a haunted, spooky or notoriously mysteriously location, and hunt for any signs that there's something else after we inhale our last breath here on earth.
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