22 October 2017

Guilty

How do I plead? I plead "Guilty" your honour.

Though I did spend six weeks in Ireland in the summer of 1974, visiting amongst many other places  the youth hostel at Killary Harbour, I did not have a ghostly encounter there. That was all a fignent of my literary imagination. Ludwig Wittgenstein was buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge in 1951 and that is where his mortal remains have remained ever since.

When it comes to ghost stories, there is one fundamental problem. There's no such thing as ghosts. It's all utter balderdash, a legacy of dark medieval nights and the troubled dreams of our ancestors. No genuinely haunted houses, no poltergeists. If you are attracted by such things then I am sorry to disappoint you. It is all utter nonsense. Pure make-believe.

I have a theory that those who claim to "believe" in ghosts find the idea stimulating. Ghosts get the heart racing. They add a delicious frisson of mystery and uncertainty to the ordinariness of everyday life. In other words, many people actively "want" to believe in ghosts. This fanciful desire blinds them to the overwhelming evidence that it's all poppycock but I guess it's a welcome distraction for many.

Writers of ghost stories and makers of ghost films are very fortunate because they are tapping in to a massive audience of would-be believers. This is something I find very disconcerting. To think that I live amongst people who readily lap up this drivel. They are probably the kind of people who might also turn a lecherous reality TV show host into a national leader or blindly allow themselves to be led into a dangerous fantasy world called Brexitland.

Yes your honour, I am guilty as charged.

25 comments:

  1. I don't believe in ghosts but I have experienced 'strange' atmospheres that have made me feel very uneasy. Alcatraz was one such place.

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    Replies
    1. I have also experienced weird feelings like that but I am sure that they come from within me, not from without.

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  2. Ghosts exist but not as ghouls or haunting spectres
    They are imprints on time nothing more

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    Replies
    1. What on earth is an "imprint on time"?

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  3. I do understand your take on this but I can assure you that Tom saw a neighbours cat walk across their lounge and asked them how long they had owned a cat, they replied that the cat died some time ago and Tom was completely unaware that they had even owned a cat. Tom is not a person who would make a story up and I believe him.
    Just saying,
    Briony
    x

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    Replies
    1. What had Tom been drinking? I want some of that. Just saying.

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    2. He does not drink YP, he described the cat perfectly, you're suh an old skeptic, lol

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    3. Less of the "old" grandma!

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    4. Ha ha, I don't think of myself as old, I forget how old I am, lol
      So sorry if I offended you, please dont rub me out of the crowd scene.

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    5. You are in indelible pen, not pencil!

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  4. You write a damn good ghost story, though! More, please!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Jennifer... How about "Marco The Ghost Parrot" or "The Haunted Campsite" (Starring Gregg and Jennifer)?

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    2. Sounds good. We're actually going camping next month and there's an old family graveyard near the campsites!

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    3. I hope you make it home from there.

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  5. I tend to agree, but that may be mostly because I have never experienced what other people claim to have experienced. Be that as it may, I "believe" only in science and in physical evidence and logical causation :)

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    Replies
    1. Seeing is believing. I looked but there was nothing there.

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  6. And you heartlessly, without any guilt, or apology whatsoever, accused me of mocking you! Tsk! Tsk!

    Hang your head in shame...

    Don't choke on your cornflakes!

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    Replies
    1. In my defence
      I was trying to maintain the pretence.

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  7. Now telling us that ghosts are poppycock is like telling us there's no Santa Claus! However you did tell us a very good story. It's not the ghosts but the clever way of telling the story so that we are expecting something.

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    Replies
    1. No Santa Claus? Don't be daft Red! He used to leave presents at the bottom of my bed so he must be real!

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  8. I am hesitant to declare anything non-existent because we don't know what we don't know.
    It was a great story!

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    Replies
    1. I do not hesitate to say that I know that there are no fairies at the bottom of our garden and r that there are no lamps one can rub to acquire three wishes from a genie. It's the same with ghosts.

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  9. Still catching up after a weekend off-line, so I don't know yet what the references in many comments to a ghost story mean.

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    Replies
    1. You will have to read my previous linked posts - a story, beginning with "Memoir".

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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