Paranoid by the Paranoia

    I have always had a hard time figuring out if ghost stories are real. I hear different tales and it makes me question what stories are fake, and what stories are true. I think people also use spiritual story's to make themselves and others comfortable and it gives them hope. I personally think if I had an experience with a spirit I would be very scared because being able to see ghost isn't something that makes me comfortable. William H Mumler's experience is something that would freak me out. It feels like the spirits are held back because they have unfinished business. In some scary movies like "The Conjuring" they have warnings at the start of the movie saying that "This is based off a true story," which steers me to believe they could be real. But they definitely have satanic backgrounds behind it. There has to be a reason they are being brought back and people who are still living are able to see them. It is not normal at all and would be a very scary sight, especially if it was a loved one that I saw.      

Back in the 1800's it was very common for photographers to edit in loved ones that have passed away. Especially after they passed away in the Civil War, the families were finding the pictures comforting and making them feel like the solider was still there with them. I think this was a really cool way for people to coup with losing their loved one. The picture below was shown in my English class today, it stuck with me. The women appeared in the picture was his secretary. She is standing over him in a comforting and relaxing way. A lot of people look at sprits in a negative way. She is not hovering over making viewers think that she is going to haunt him, but she's resting her head on his which gives the viewer good thoughts. The picture almost looks like a portrait if she was actually there. At the same time, this makes me want to be comfortable and fully believe in ghosts. This gives me happy thoughts and makes me think that spirts shouldn't be thought in a scared or bad way, but in a positive and happy way. 

Overall, after listening to the difference in peoples point of views and different stories, I think I would say I believe in ghosts more now than I ever have. The stories of paranoia have been made up a lot of my life, causing me to believe it's not real. The older kids in my neighborhood used to make up scary ghost stories at the fire, which scared me and my friends. Looking back at it now, there was never "a scary man sitting in my closet watching me sleep." A lot of it is played in your head and based on what you choose to believe. Once I started watching ghost hunting shows, I realized more and more that this stuff isn't made up. If I was living in the age where these photographs were popular, I think I would have believed the picture was real and truly believed that ghosts were 100% real because they didn't have the technology that we do now to prove different things.

                                                            

                                                           Picture of an edited photograph