Ghosts

Ghosts are something that almost every person has come in contact with either one way or another in their life time. Whether by means of the media, religion, or personal experience, ghosts have become a favorite mystery of our society for years. The media glamorizes ghosts through movies and television and has created an entire industry revolving around ghost hunting. Popular movie favorites such as Casper, Ghostbusters, and Ghost, are good examples of the different contexts ghosts can be put into from Ghostbusters, being a comedy revolving around fighting evil ghosts, to Ghost, a film examining the afterlife and other common beliefs about ghosts. Some of these movies, coupled with t.v. shows such as Ghost Hunters or The Haunted, have created an industry revolved around "ghost hunting". At http://www.ghost-hunting-equipment.com/ you can go over your own personal check list for all the equipment you need for your own ghost hunt. Or for a mere $200+ investment you can purchase a ghost hunting starter kit. Either way the popular media has definitely found a way to make money off of this mystery.
Even though I do, honestly, find these shows and movies very entertaining, I also find it funny every time I watch how much every single piece of "evidence" is left incredibly up to interpretation. I believe that watching the same show without the commentary, people wouldn't see the same "evidence" that is explained during the shows. Although they do try and dismiss as many paranormal events as possible there are still some that they cannot (or maybe just do not) explain. This is part of the allure of these shows. People in general are fascinated with the unknown, and maybe more specifically are afraid of the unknown. One of the biggest "life questions" is what happens to us after our death. That uncertainty, along side the fact that people are afraid of the thought that there may not be an "afterlife", can be one of the main factors that sparked the ghost phenomena. Between religion, belief, and the media many of these great life questions are "answered". Whether or not you choose to buy into that "answer" is a personal decision.
My father is a general contractor. When I was much, much younger I used to love when he would take me to work with him. He would make me feel as if I were helping out, even if I was just standing there with my plastic work belt and tools filled with red, blue, and green hollow, bendable, tools. A client of his went on vacation and left a key in a fake rock outside their house so he could still get his work done. This was one job I was lucky enough to be able to actually help him out with. As we pulled up to the house I was as excited as ever (I guess going to work and not getting paid for it is an exciting thing as a kid). My dad quickly located the fake rock and flipped it over and opened the little trick door just to find out that there was no key. Excitement quickly turned to sorrow as my father began to get angry after wasting a day to drive out to the job and not being able to get anything done. To this day my father still tells this story. Being young and naive I told my dad to just use his key in the door. He brightened up a little at my attempted help and tried to explain to me how keys work. I looked about as he continued frantically looking for a key and turned, stopped, and just looked at him. He had given up searching and now was looking back at me. I than told my father that he was wrong about the keys. I went on to explain that while he was looking I had just seen an "angel" who had told me to use his key. My dad now had a smile on his face and just to amuse me walked up to the door to show me that it does not work like that. He inserted his key and it clicked through each locking barrel. He turned the key to a point which must have seemed like a full 360 degrees further than he had imagined it would go. To his disbelief the doorknob turned freely and we were able to enter the house.
I am, by nature, a skeptic. I do not believe anything that I am told, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. For this reason I do not believe in ghosts. I do, however, believe in the unexplainable. What happened that day, at work, so many years ago I cannot explain. Whether it was a ghost, or an "angel", a coincidence, or any number of things, I will never know. I do know though that at times in every one of our lives something will happen that is unexplainable, and it is left up to us to put whatever "answer" seems fit into place to explain it.