This week: Long distance call to the afterlife Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.
~Isaac Asimov |
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Throughout history, people have been fascinated by the mysteries of the afterlife. What happens after we die? Will we see our loved ones again? Do ghosts exist?
Most scientists consider paranormal investigation at best a pseudoscience and at worst, fraud and trickery. However, since your characters are in a horror story, anything can happen! In the old movie, "The Manitou," a phony psychic is drawn into a fight with an actual malevolent spirit from the past.
Your characters might want to try and contact the spirits of the dead for reasons such as communication with a dead loved one, learning a secret the deceased has taken to the grave, or just to learn whether life continues after death at all.
Some well known stories that involve someone who can see and speak to ghosts include Dean Koontz's "Odd Thomas" series, the movie "Sixth Sense," and the TV show, "The Ghost Whisperer."
Here are some methods of attempting to contact the spirit world that have been tried in real life as well as fiction:
Automatic writing
Automatic writing is a method of holding a pen or some other tool and asking the spirits to take control of the user's arm and write a message. Earliest mentions of some forms of automatic writing were found in Chinese historical documents approximately 1000 years old. While in many cases, dishonest users have simply written the message themselves, occasionally an honest person reports seemingly unconscious movement of the pen. Psychological researchers explain automatic writing by anyone who isn't attempting to deceive as a process by which thoughts trigger an unconscious physical response. In other words, when a user expects or wants a certain response, their muscles and nerve endings might unconsciously react to give them what they expect.
Talking boards
A talking board is a form of automatic writing done with a flat surface on which numbers and letters are printed. Participants place their fingers on a planchette, or heart shaped pointer, which slides around the board to spell out messages. The most familiar talking board today is the Ouija board, which was initially marketed as a parlor game in the 1890s. Elijah Bond, who owned the initial patent on the boards, claimed that the name "Ouija" was an ancient Egyptian word for "good luck." Later manufacturers explained that the name was actually a combination of the words for "yes" in French (oui) and German (ja).
The Ouija board was initially used in a similar fashion to the Magic 8 Ball, with participants asking questions about their future. Later, it was co-opted by spiritualists and mediums who attempted to use it to contact the dead. Many religious groups and others forbid the use of Ouija boards, believing it might be a gateway to possession by demons or malevolent spirits.
Seances
A seance is a meeting in which people gather and attempt to contact the dead. The word seance is based on an old French word meaning "to sit." People might gather in a darkened room and sit around a table holding hands and using their collective energy to try to make contact with the spirit world. Different accounts tell of ghosts communicating by actually speaking through one of the participants or by physical manifestations such as knocking or blowing out candles.
Mediums
A medium is a person who claims to have the ability to facilitate communication between the living and the dead. In some cases, the medium might claim to hear a message from a spirit and repeat it, while others claim to actually "channel" the spirit and allow it to speak through them. While researchers have never found any scientific basis to conclude that mediumship actually exists, many people swear that a medium has helped them contact spirits of loved ones. Some mediums, such as Daniel Dunglas Home, maintained a loyal following in spite of being repeatedly proven a fraud.
Smart phone apps (yes, there is an app for that!)
For modern ghost hunters, communication with the spirit world is as easy as reading a text message (well sort of). A range of ghost hunting apps exist, both for Android and iPhones. With names like "Ghost Hunter" and "Ghost Radar" these apps claim to show users whether ghosts are nearby, and some even claim to relay messages from them. These apps claim to contain electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors. EMF detectors are used to detect problems with electrical wiring and power lines. Ghost hunters believe that ghosts can manipulate electrical fields, so the detectors have become a popular tool of paranormal investigation. While many paranormal investigators spend lots of money on expensive EMF detectors that may or may not have anything to do with spirit activity, at least the phone apps are cheap!
The main characters in Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" series use cell phones to detect supernatural entities in a different way. In these stories, paranormal activity actually destroys cell phones and any other technology with a microprocessor, causing the silicon chips to turn to sand. Because of this, the characters are able to use cheap cell phones and calculators to detect the presence of magic.
Different cultures have unique folklore and may have different ceremonies that were traditionally used to contact the spirits. If your story involves the folklore and customs of a culture different from your own, do some research to make sure it is accurate and believable.
An interesting twist might be to have a ghost as main character. The novel and movie "The Lovely Bones" is centered around the ghost of a murdered girl who attempts to bring her killer to justice and help her family and friends move on.
Something to try: Write a horror story that involves communication with ghosts. |
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Horror/Scary: October 17, 2018 Issue [#9175]
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