Still no repeated photos. The weather is grey with random frosts, and when the sun does appear, clouds move across it so fast it's like living under a strobe light. One day, those clouds have to break.
So here's a thought for today, inspired by this link, sent to me by Southern Writer.
The easiest way to search for ghosts is to live with them. That is, buy a house with resident spirits. The link is to an article on a particularly famous haunted house that's for sale.
Before you all rush in with bids, there are things to consider. The present owners won’t sell to just anyone. They have to approve of the buyers.
So do the ghosts.
Ghosts might be invisible, incorporeal and mostly silent, but never forget they are dead people. You are not buying a house with novelty-value. You are buying a home with sitting tenants, and if you don’t get along with them, you can’t get them out.
The present owners of the house in that article have lived peaceably with their invisible co-occupiers, but that doesn’t mean the next owner will. There are those who classify ghosts as ‘malevolent’ or ‘benevolent’, and would say that this house is haunted by benevolent spirits but it’s not always that simple.
There are a few people in this world I would share a house with, or at least tolerate their presence. There are many people that infuriate me. Some can do this with an expression or a single word. Sharing a house with them would be hell, and, assuming I was not in a position to physically throw them out, I would do everything I could to make their lives miserable until they left.
Does that make me malevolent? It would certainly seem so to the wretches who moved into my house. Yet, if someone tolerable moved in, I would appear somewhere between benevolent and benign. It depends as much on them as on me.
So it is with haunted houses. The dead people occupying the house will have a say in what goes on there, like it or not. They are not going to be happy to perform for dinner guests. They are not going to be delighted to have wave after wave of amateur dead-detectives shouting demands for raps and asking puerile, pointless questions. Just imagine how you’d feel in that situation. You might well change from Caspar the friendly ghost into Beetlejuice within a very short time.
Think very hard before you make a decision to buy a house that’s already occupied by the dead. Ghosts are not a novelty appliance you can turn on and off at your convenience. You’ll be sharing that house with them 24 hours a day, and you never know when they’re around. Be very, very sure you’re comfortable with that.
Most importantly, visit the house first. Don’t try to contact the ghosts. Let them see you, let them hear you, let them know what you’re like. If it’s possible to visit a few times, for extended periods, do so.
If they don’t like you, they’ll find a way to let you know.
10 comments:
Nice post. I was rather hoping you'd consider making a bid on it. It would be perfect for you, and I'm sure you'd be their ideal tenant. I think it's also in the parish that's considered the most haunted in the U.S. Lots of old antibellum homes and a rich Civil War history. Of course, I'd be begging for an invitation to visit once in a while. Could I come if I promised to do all the cooking and make my own bed every day?
I have to get offline now. We're due to have severe storms here any minute.
I'd love to try bidding for it, but for me it would mean emigrating, not just moving house. I'd definitely want to visit first, to make sure I'd be acceptable to the 'tenants'.
I won't rule that out for the future, since the UK's government is passing beyond the stage of 'funny silliness' into the downright dangerously insane. So I might well flee this country in the not-too-distant future.
There are still a lot of PC people here I haven't personally annoyed yet. I'd better get a move on.
If I do move to the USA (if they'll let me in) and if I do find a house occupied by an accomodating ghost or two, then you'll definitely be invited. I won't forget your offer of cooking :)
Me be wonderin. Iffin the ghosts live there, do they pay rent?
Or could they be asked to perform a bit to help defray the cost of maintaining the place?
What exactly pisses off a ghost? If me knew then me would do me best to avoid angering them...
STOMP!
Hi Scary
I don't think 'rent' has any meaning for the dead. Some of them might prove helpful in small ways, but I doubt they feel obliged.
They've lived in that house for a long time and in most cases, we living people are the interlopers from their point of view. They won't feel they have to accomodate us, more likely they'll feel the reverse.
What annoys them? Well, they're dead but they're still people. They'll be annoyed by the same things as living people - being treated badly, being ignored, being ordered around, things like that.
I wouldn't be too worried about ghosts. They're far less dangerous than a burglar, for sure, even if they can walk through walls. If you ever plan to buy a house that already has residents, just make sure you get along with them first. They might even scare those burglars off for you.
Just testing here, Rom, please indulge. Having trouble accessing Blogger blogs. Will this comment go through?
Meaningless to you if it does. Meaningless to all if it does not.
sonovagun. it did go through. i didn't think it would. now why can i not go on other blogs????
Blogger has done something different, I think, and I can't figure out what. Or is it just me?
tom sheepandgoats - it's just you. How many other blogs haven't let you comment? At what point in the process did it not work?
Ver word: Vumpa
Should be a real word.
Yeah, you may be right. I hadn't thought of that.
Actually, I think I figured it out. Well....no, that would be too optimistic. But I have figured a way to get around it.
It is some change that Blogger has made, I thought at first, to keep all comments in their proprietary family.
Did I ever tell you what a pain in the neck computers are?
I also sympathize with your sick feline, SW, which I was reading about the other day. We have two cats in our house. They become real family members. Hope for the best in your case.
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