Ghost Post

by Vanessa Barneveld

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been captivated by the notion of paranormal activity. If there’s a book or movie with a ghost in it, I’ll read and watch, albeit with one hand half-covering my eyes. I blame this fascination on my mother, who loved to tell us kids about her friendly ghost encounters. Spirits who guided her to empty parking spots at the local mall. Dead acquaintances who visited her in dreams and fed her lottery numbers. Mind you, they were never the winning lottery numbers.

The idea of ghosts is so ingrained in me that if a door blows shut in another room, straightway I think, “That was a ghost!” Can’t find my keys, purse, polka-dotted left sock? I cry, “Ghost thief!” TV turns on and off by itself? “It’s that crazy ol’ ghost again.” Those things can’t possibly be explained by a stiff breeze, absent-mindedness, or my cat snoozing on the remote control. Oh, no.

I even wrote a YA novel featuring a ghost. But the truth is...I’m deathly afraid of ghosts. Here’s why.

They can show up when you least expect it. When my husband and I got married at Savannah’s 17Hundred90 Inn, our photographer claimed she saw an uninvited ghost. And I totally believed her. Read about the inn’s resident spirit, Anna Powell, here.
Ghosts can keep you awake at night. In one Manhattan hotel, I swear to you a ghoul dragged me out of bed by my feet while I was sleeping. I woke up with a huge bruise on my foot. (I’m now deathly afraid of hotels, by the way.)
They can be mischievous little souls or just plain wrong. See above about the missing socks and lottery numbers.
Ghosts make things go bump in the night. Of course, this is difficult to prove. Just trust me on this.
Stubborn ghosts are hard to get rid of. Ever seen Poltergeist or The Amityville Horror? I rest my case.

That said, I have had some nice, comforting ghost encounters, and they inspired me to write This Is Your Afterlife:

It’s hard to be a normal teen when you’re a teen paranormal.

High school hero Jimmy Hawkins thought he was gonna live forever. That is, until someone murdered him. Now his ghost is inexplicably tied to Keira Nolan, the girl who’s crushed on him for years. She’s the only one who can see him, hear him, even argue with him. Wherever she goes, he must follow. And it’s a drag. Is this how he’s meant to spend his afterlife? Keira realizes the only way either of them will get any peace is if she tracks down Jimmy’s killer. Dan, Jimmy’s prickly-yet-dangerously-attractive brother, drives her to distraction. If she’s not careful, Keira could end up on the Other Side too...

“Exactly who or what crawled out of this grave?”