Is it possible that we limit the scope of our imagination and understanding when it comes to the ghost world?
Could it be that the book-and movie-inspired haunted stories we carry around in our heads of what the paranormal world looks and sounds like are actually much narrower (and maybe even less scary) than what we have the imaginative power to concoct on our own?
Photo credit left: google right: tumblr/deviants-wonderland
Updated 9/23/2019 – Take, for example, the terrifying Chualar Road in Chualar, California…
One Of The Most Haunted Places in California?
This road comes to an end, and there have been a lot of stories over the years of people seeing a ghost walking out there at night.
She is always – or almost always – described as a woman, and she disappears when you drive past her.
So the story goes, and so many people believe.
There are even a few people who have had close-up encounters with her, and most come away with a frightening story of her huge, jet-black eyes.
One such story comes from a man I meet named Rodrigo.
He is polite, well dressed, and is a doctoral fellow in criminology at a major university which he prefers not to name.
He is also a ghost hunter.
“I saw the ghost out on Chualar Road multiple times before I figured out what was going on with her,” he says, lighting one of the cigars which he claims to love but says are taboo on campuses these days.
“I mean she really had me intrigued.
“You know, a lot of ghostly encounters involve some kind of feature that the ghost has which the person finds terrifying – it usually boils down to us seeing something asymmetrical in a face where we’re used to seeing symmetry, or something like that.
“The first time I saw her, it was really quick; I just drove past her like people do, got a good look, and watched her disappear.
“Before she did, I noticed the big black eyes, and I got the same chill down my spine that everyone does.”
Unlike most people, however, Rodrigo had a plan for finding out more.
“A lot of ghosts like that, if you’re brave enough to approach them, they’ll actually come out and you can have a face-to-face with them.
“It takes some balls, believe me, but you can do it sometimes, although you have to be careful.
“This girl…well, let’s just say she cured me of that habit.”
I ask why that is.
Sinister Intentions
Photo credit: tumblr/deviants-wonderland
“Because she tried to eat me alive,” he says.
“And I mean that literally.
You see, they eyes being all big and black and shiny?”
“That’s because in life she wasn’t fully human.”
A beat of silence descends, and he laughs.
Not fully human?
“Nope, she was half fucking alien!
Her father was a human, and her mother was from some planet where when they visit Earth, they either eat you or screw your brains out.
“Her dad got lucky in every sense of the word.”
How did she die?
“How the hell should I know?” Rodrigo says, puffing on his cigar.
“She got three paragraphs into her story and then lunged for me.
I ran like hell, and it wasn’t until I got home that I realized I was missing a chunk out of the back of one of my legs.”
He shows it to me.
“That’s the price I paid for being arrogant.
“You see that chick on that road at night, do yourself a favor.
Keep driving.”