Although the Halloween season has come to a close, spookiness can still be spotted all year long. Ghost sightings or paranormal experiences infiltrate many members of the BSM community, and these stories deserve to be told. The question that keeps being asked is “Are ghosts real?”
A common fear across the board is being scared of the dark. Even those who might not be convinced of the fear often associated with the dark yet will be soon enough. A few years ago, sophomore Fiona Lealos woke up from a nightmare where she was being chased, causing her to feel great distress. “I immediately sat up, and then at the foot of my bed there was a girl who had white clothes on and dark hair, and I was staring at her for probably a minute. Then I walked to turn on the light, and once I looked back, it was gone,” Lealos said.
History teacher Dan Murray worked in the Peace Corps on a small island in the South Pacific, which led to some exciting and confusing ghost stories. In the 1950s, some men went to this island to see if it would be possible and suitable for the rest of their people to move there, as they were forced to leave their native island. In 1985, one of the men drowned and his body washed ashore, so they had a burial for him. Three years later, Murray arrived on this island for the Peace Corps. It was a small tight-knit community where it was common to never have surprises. “I saw this man walking down the path, and it was a full moon, so he was pretty bright. And I sat there, and I looked at him, and I realized I didn’t know who this man was, and he was walking very slowly, looking at the different houses, and I’m thinking, did a boat come that I didn’t know about,” Murray said.
Murray asked his host parents about the man and gave them a clear description of what he looked like. His host mom had a fearful look on her face, and she didn’t talk to him for three days after, but his host dad told him about the man. “You saw Shalomi. He’s the man who died, and he’s walking around the island looking for his family,” Murray said.
His host dad also told him not to talk about it, and Murray realized that they don’t usually talk about the dead on their island, which explains why his host mom was so disturbed by it.
Freshman Jade Lockhart lives in an old house across from a cemetery. One time, around midnight, Lockhart’s house went silent and she felt like something had touched her nose. Another time, she was about to leave her room, which felt eerie with the hue of her light, but was frightened by a mysterious figure. “I turned around and I saw this man-looking thing hiding behind my door. I was really scared, so then I kind of blinked, and then it was gone,” Lockhart said.
No one really knows if these ghosts, spirits, or paranormal figures are real, but all three of these members of our school community now believe they are due to their experiences.