“The nebulous form of a blonde-haired woman has appeared on the spiral staircase in this saloon so many times that patron named her ‘Lena.’ Lena ghost has also appeared in front of the wall across from the bar. Also, the apparition of an old prospector has materializes on one of the stools at the end of the bar, and the ghost of a 13-year-old girl, thought to have been murdered in the basement, has appeared in the second floor bedroom. Owners Doug and Sharon Truhill have reported a number of other unusual manifestations, including moving chandeliers and the presence of an ‘angry spirit’ that breaks glasses” stated from Haunted Nevada a paranormal investigation crew in Nevada. That is just one of the many haunted locations that are located throughout northern Nevada. Many people located throughout America wonder, do ghosts really exist in our world today? Reality is; they do exist in our world today. There are many television shows based on true ghosts’ stories, ghosts’ hunters, and there are even tours of haunted places. The major sub topics that many people are controversial on are do ghosts really haunt houses and places, personal experiences, and expert opinions. But the truth is most people don’t believe in ghosts and spirits until they have an actual experience themselves.

Do ghosts and spirits really haunt houses and locations in our world today? That is a question many people wonder in today’s society. Well, after conducting some extensive research I have learned that ghosts and spirits do haunt houses, but many experts believe they only haunt houses that have a special meaning to them weather it is their death place or a old place they use to live in. A quote from a ghost hunter expert who is based in California states, “Ghosts tend to haunt places where they died as a result from a miserable death or anything to that effect.” For example, there are many haunted places on Oahu and many believe that Aiea High School is the most haunted place in Aiea, Hawaii. The claim is that the school was built over an ancient burial ground and their have been many reports from the faculty and students of strange figures in R building and weird unusual voices that can be heard throughout the school. On February 8, 2010 I interviewed my old teacher Mrs. Wago from that same school and she told me her story. “In 2005 I came to school around 4:30 am to grade final exams. Once the office opened at 6 am I walked down the stairs with Mrs. Nakimatzu to go pick up my mail from my box. When all of a sudden my door just opened out of nowhere when I was absolutely for sure that it was closed. Then when I walked down the stairs it felt as though someone pushed me down the stairs and Mrs. Nakimatzu was walking next to me so it couldn’t be her. Then when I looked up at the top of the stairs their was this big black figure standing their. After this incident Mrs. Nakimatzu and I nearly died from heart attack from this horrific experience.” But many people would believe that what she was experiencing was fake and she was just making it up. I could understand why since you would have to believe what she is telling you and it sounds like a lie. You would also think that what they are experiencing is all in their head and could be a mental illness. Well after her experience she took some physiology therapy because she was very freaked out and they found nothing wrong with her. Since that happened as well as several other experiences from other different teachers they have been attempting to hire a ghost hunter to see if what they are experiencing is real.



Furthermore, there are many people who claim to have had ghost experiences but many people would not believe what they had to say. The first story is from one my friend’s mom who used to teach at Aiea High School and lived with us at Hickam Air Force Base. One day when she was dropping me off at school she was telling me one of her scariest ghost stories that she had experience back in Texas. She said that her sister, their three friends and I went to this graveyard. This one psychic told them they must where this cross and all five of them must be blessed before they stepped foot into the graveyard. When they went into the cemetery they were joking around with the graves and were flashing lights throughout the cemetery and she personally believed that they angered the dead souls laid to rest there so she convinced her sister and her friends to leave because she was getting spooked out. When they got into to the car the car lights just switched off and the car had a hard time starting. As they started to drive off they saw that this weird kind of black figure was following them out of the cemetery. So out of fear they start to chant a prayer several times that they had receive from the psychic and it eventually worked after five minutes of hell in a car being chased by a ghost. After the incident they told the psychic about what just happened the night before and she said that they had some kind of guardian angel watching over them so those souls were not accounted for when they went in to the cemetery, so that is why the weird figure was following them out. The psychic told them that next time you do a blessing before you go to some haunted place you should bless your souls as well as all the other souls with you before going in. I also have another story from my friend Joy. She said that when her grandpa passed away she was very sad that one night. She was the first one to wake up and be downstairs that morning and went downstairs to get some breakfast. Once downstairs she swears that she saw her grandpa just sitting at the table appearing as if he was doing nothing. Joy said she had to blink several times before the figure of her grandpa went away. Many skeptics would say she had a waking dream. A waking dream is a common type of hallucination which can take place while you are fully awake or asleep. And in this process you will experience some bizarre imagery such as ghosts, demons, spirits, aliens, etc. But after conducting more research on waking dreams, J. Michael Krivyanski stated it should only take one to two blinks before that bizarre image would go away, but is should be no more than several times.
Imagine going just sleeping bed and all of a sudden you hear someone is whispering your name and then all of a sudden the door slams and you jump out of bed to see this dark, black, tall scary figure just standing their at the end of your bed. This is just one possible experience that could happen to you when you are sleeping in a house with ghosts, but many experts have mixed opinions on weather ghosts do or do not exist. Some experts do believe that ghosts are real. One of these many experts are J. Michael Krivyanski believe that ghost’s do really exists because when people go in to investigate, such as MVGRS, investigate using EMF, cold spots, electronic voices, and orbs. Ghosts investigators and ghost experts say that when ghosts or spirits are present they give off electric magnetic fields on EMF detectors, leaving electronic voices on voice recorders, and flying in as orbs in when people are taking a picture or filming something. But some experts such as Joe Nickell feel that there is no proper existence in the discovery of ghosts. He thinks that waking dreams, illusions, mental images, and a chance to make money. He honestly feels that there is no proper evidence since thousands of Americans across the country suffer from waking dreams everyday, everyone is seeing crazy illusions and mental images everyday but will not say anything due to the fact that they think they are just seeing things and refuse to accept that that might just be a ghost, and that many people just get into the business of ghost hunting or ghost tours since they know many people would pay or see that kind of stuff. I personally believe in ghosts because when I was in the 9th grade my cousin passed away from a rare type of cancer while we were their visiting him. After he passed away from the house a lot of weird things started to happen like there started to be cold spots in the house, we started to here weird things in the house, and when I was making his memorial video something crazy happened. The first crazy event was when I was making his memorial video, I needed a brake so my dad took my cousin and my family to the mall to go shopping. When we came back all the pictures and videos were inserted exactly where I wanted them all I had to do was insert the transitions and the music. The other crazy event I experienced was when I was home alone I had to go upstairs to get something out of my suitcases and as I walked up I saw my cousin just standing near the entrance to his room, just standing their and it seemed so real. I had to blink for several minutes before he went away. So ever since then I have always believed in ghost.


All in all, there are many skeptics in this world that don’t believe that ghosts exist. Even after providing the necessary evidence proving that ghosts do exist, many would still be skeptics because they are single minded people. The sad thing is though that many of these people won’t believe in ghosts and spirits until they come to an actual experience of their own. So for all of those people who do not believe in the existence of ghosts, just go out with a psychic and go into a haunted house with them or go on a ghost tour and after that experience you have, you may become a believer. So while you skeptics go on a little ghost hunting adventure to see if the existences of ghosts really do exist, we believers will hold our breath until our face turns blue.









Works Cited
Denning, Hazel M. True Hauntings: Spirits With a Purpose. New York: Llwellyn Publication, 2005. Print.
HAUNTED NEVADA. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. <http://hauntednevada.com/>.
"Reno." Web. 10 Feb. 2010. <http://www.haunted-places.com/reno.htm>.
Wago, Robyn. Telephone interview. 10 Feb. 2010.
Wilde, Stacy. Telephone interview. 10 Feb. 2010.
William, Mary E. Paranormal Phenomena. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2003. Print.