Saturday, October 25, 2014

No, but thanks for asking


Robert Bell shares his home with decorative skulls and skeletons and, he says, real ghosts.
The ghosts have inhabited the western Henrico County rancher for years, Bell said. He even suggested that visitors on a recent night might see one.
Yes, I'm sure he did.

... A self-styled “paranormal investigator,” Bell said he has checked hundreds of homes, buildings and battlefields. He sometimes charges travel expenses, but overall the work is not profitable, he said. He does it for the enjoyment.

Could we offer a mild suggestion here? If you don't want to devote half your story to the other side:

Polls show about a quarter to a third of the public believes in ghosts. But skeptics say those beliefs are not grounded in fact.
... and you really don't want to raise, erm, even less comfortable questions about your readers:

... “There is no credible scientific evidence for ghosts,” Nickell said. “Scientists have not found any ghosts, not one.”
Some people who push ghost stories are charlatans, he said, but others are decent, sane people who truly believe they have seen the dead.
 ... maybe we should just decline to send a writer and a photographer out next time someone calls in to tell you he's got a recording of a ghost standing next to Robert E. Lee. Or, should someone go ahead and write the thing, maybe some editor could quietly dispatch it to a better place.

It's almost Halloween out there, you guys. Don't.

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