phantom menace

Currently listening to: Better Now – Post Malone

20 candles, blow ’em out and open your eyesWe were lookin’ forward to the rest of our livesUsed to keep my picture posted by your bedsideNow it’s in your dresser with the socks you don’t like

Do you believe in ghosts?

Prompt snagged from: NY Times

I’m not sure. I don’t have a strong yes or no—I guess I’m somewhere in that murky middle space of maybe. Some of my coworkers swear our building is haunted. Lights flicker for no apparent reason, a sudden wave of cold air blowing, and the vibe in certain rooms just feels… off.

A few of them keep crystals at their workstation or say a quick prayer before starting the day, just in case. Me? I usually just get on with my work. It’s busy enough without worrying about the supernatural. If there is a ghost hanging around, I hope it’s chill and not out here trying to stir shit up.

It’s funny that I can’t handle horror movies—jump scares, creepy music, any of that, I’m out. If I’m with my friends, I’ll cover my eyes and ask them to tell me when the scary scene is over. But true crime? I’ll watch hours of that. Make it make sense.

I’ve had friends who fully believe in ghosts, especially after using ouija boards and having what they swear were real encounters. And I’ve had patients tell me they hear their loved ones after they’ve passed—things like a child’s laugh echoing down the hallway or footsteps on the stairs when no one’s there. Part of me wonders if it’s something spiritual, and another part wonders if it could be auditory hallucinations or the brain trying to cope with grief.


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22 responses to “phantom menace”

  1. Hazel Avatar

    I’m with you on your answer, Rojie.🤭 I, too, can’t handle horror movies, but I can read horror books and crime novels.

    I think it’s just the mindset if you believe in ghosts. If we think there is, there is. I think it works like that. Or yes, hallucinations.

    Good thing I don’t have third eye as what their definition of it.🤭🤩

    1. justrojie Avatar

      😆 if I had the third eye than it would probably have horrible vision

  2. Jesse Pallante Avatar

    Fabulous picture Rojie! I love true crime stories and horror flicks. I believe in ghosts. I saw a ghosts when I was younger. Maybe i will write about it. It was freaky.

    1. justrojie Avatar

      Write about it!! I’d love to read about your experience

      1. Jesse Pallante Avatar

        Yes it will be interesting

  3. ibarynt Avatar

    You’re similar to my sister, she works at the lab and have shifts. Her colleagues say they hear stuff but she’s not bothered.

    1. justrojie Avatar

      Hahaha yeah one girl at work was bringing holy water to work

      1. ibarynt Avatar

        I hope she wasn’t disappointed if it didn’t work 🤫.

        1. justrojie Avatar

          🤣

  4. Maddie Cochere Avatar

    I suppose I believe that spirits of loved ones can be around for a while – especially after their recent passing. I am like you – I don’t want anything scary or in the horror realm in my head. And just on the off chance that there are evil spirits in the world (probably), I don’t want to do anything to bring them around me. Yikes!

    1. justrojie Avatar

      Hehehe yes give me the benevolent ones and forget the others

  5. Michael Williams Avatar

    i like how you nuanced it with neither a hard yes or no. i think that’s where a lot of people intuitively land. to me there’s just no conclusive evidence. but i believe the spirit of my loved ones are always near me.

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/mZnrWkurZ2atE1Zp8

    lol 🙂 Mike

    1. justrojie Avatar

      lol the pic is too funny! Thank you for sharing

  6. Violet Lentz Avatar

    I am with you. i do not know what to believe and honestly neither belief style would alter my daily life.

  7. April Avatar

    oh..! Last year I was quite obsessed with one true crime series podcast called “Three”..later I was on a route to see some of doc series only and I was like …. enjoying too lol…at the moment, have lowered down the consumption..

    Which one are you watching right now?

    1. justrojie Avatar

      Right now I’m not watching anything but I’m gonna try starting “you” the last season!

  8. Nicholas K F Matte Avatar

    Very smartly said! I believe a bit! There was a dark matter (not the space theory where W.I.M.P. tech is used to distinguish matter) made thing once that haunted me one night, it was hell. I woke up to see it all escape through a window, this black thing, way before having watched any MCU stuff about symbiote. Was I still dreaming?? Not sure.

    1. justrojie Avatar

      It’s hard to say, sometimes the mind plays tricks on people and other times it could be real

      1. Nicholas K F Matte Avatar

        YAAAA!!! Exactly, that’s it, I agree

  9. Joe Avatar

    The brain surely has its own way of constructing reality, no? If we’re talking about how the brain copes with grief or loss or trauma, then I definitely believe in ghosts! As I used to tell my students every time I taught “Hamlet,” everyone sooner or later gets visited by the ghost of their father. Thanks for this post!

    p.s.–I can’t handle horror movies either.

    1. justrojie Avatar

      Omg yes that is the perfect! To be, or not to be, that is the question

      1. Joe Avatar

        I saw what you did there

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