Do you suppose that artists of various sorts are more likely to have encounters with ghosts than other people are? (When I first wrote that sentence, it sounded like writers encounter more ghosts than people.)
Last night I had dinner with another novelist who told me the story of her experience with spirits. And that of a writer-friend.
A high percentage of the artists I know have seen apparitions, or had some other physical encounter that they matter-of-factly attribute to a ghost.
In a way, I'm envious. I've never met a ghost--though I did see a ball of light rise off the head of a reiki teacher once. I've enshrined that experience in my memory.
I do love to write about mystical subjects.
In my novel Revelation, a liberal preacher hears the voice of God, seriously, and his skeptical congregation thinks he needs psychotherapy.
In Sister India, an American woman living next to the Ganges develops in a crisis a sort of personal omniscience.
A lot of my interest in this stuff is wishful thinking. On the other hand, when I heard last night about my friend's experience, I was glad I wasn't there.
There's a writers retreat nearby where four novelists I know have independently had extremely spooky experiences. I have an interest in going; and I may do it. I'll certainly take a friend.
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Interesting question -- I wonder too about artists and apparitions. Would make a fascinating nonfic book - interviews with novelists/artists about mystical issues...
I have a wonderful book called Writers Dreaming: Twenty-Six Writers Talk About Their Dreams and the Creative Process. Not quite the same thing, but very interesting.
I've been scared by Hollywood portrayals of ghostly things, but never truly frightened by anything I experienced personally.
In my second novel the underlying energy of the story revolves around "spirits" who haunt the three main characters, and how they transform their perceptions to make peace with those spirits.
It's not a "ghostly" novel per se, but there are many mystical elements throughout the book.
I'm due to spend time at the writers' retreat for 5 or so days in later June or July... let me know if you'd like to coordinate and be there together...!
Gulp! Can't do it in late June, but possibly in July. That has serious possibilities. I'm not sure which would be worse: going and having the ghost not show, or having the kind of alarming encounter I keep hearing about. It doesn't sound like a friendly ghost.
My feeling is that it's a *persistent* ghost, and one who gets a kick out of getting a rise from writers. :)
After the initial alarm on my part, I felt no malicious intent.
The good thing... he seems to limit himself mostly to that one bedroom. I've stayed in that bedroom many times since the first episode and it never happened again. Draw your boundaries clear and strong, and he seems to respect them... I've stayed there by myself as much as I've been there w/ other writers, and never lost sleep. :)
I will say that the atmosphere is wonderfully amenable to writing "mystical" - and the house and grounds are amazingly conducive to taking creative breaks during the work.
Look at July and let me know! Probably good to request earlier rather than later, as summer seems busier than the rest of the year.
I was just reading about Ginsberg's Blake/God encounter since his birthday was yesterday - that of course may have been induced by something other than an artistic spirit! :)
I may have had an encounter (dream?) as a child - a man in a suit - a very not frightening experience - I just rolled over and went back to sleep. Maybe it was Ginsberg?
Julia, that is so intriguing about the man in the suit. I told Peggy the other night about my encounters from childhood on through adolescence with friends waking up when spending the night with me to see a man in a suit standing by me while I slept. As a teen, three friends saw the same man watching through the window. I myself never saw him, but he seemed protective, not meaning harm.
My daughter has mentioned seeing people around me and she and her brother since she was able to talk. She now refers to them as her guardian angels.
Anyway... also intriguing about Ginsberg!
The idea of guardian angels in suits is very appealing. I want mine in a tuxedo.
And I want somebody to teach me how to see these folks.
I should probably confess that I had lots of "visions" as a child, including R2D2 and C3PO coming into my bedroom - I had a very active imagination and/or realistic dreams! But the man in the suit seemed different, and it was right after my Uncle James died. My brother reported to my mother the same day that he saw a man in his closet.
Billie - I wonder why you didn't see the same thing others did/do?
JBR, how was the man in the suit different from the visions?
I think because of the surrounding circumstances: the death in the family, my brother's vision, and maybe the experience itself. I'll have to think about that . . .
When I was younger, friends sleeping over saw the man in the suit when they woke up during the night, while I was asleep.
As an adolescent, there was a sleepover at a friends' house and we were making something in the kitchen - my back was to the window where the other 3 girls saw him, and when they ran screaming from the room, I followed w/o looking to see what set them off!
Other than that, I'm not sure why I never saw him. I've had many "mystical" experiences, but this one is striking to me b/c it was verified by a number of other people who all saw the same thing on different and unrelated occasions.
I heard a lovely TRUE story today about a man whose father visited him in dream-time, as the father was about to die. The son was not ready for his father to die, even though he had been sick for a long time. Having stayed awake with the father for a long while, the son finally decided to take a nap. He laid down, and in his dreaming state his father told him, 'it's time for me to go.' The son woke, went to his father's bedside, and he had gone. Was he a ghost? Almost? But what a gift, to be told goodbye. The man who died was not a writer, but he had worked most of his life with writers.
Did the encounter help the son? Do you know?
Local ghost news bulletin: I just had lunch with another writer who has stayed at the reportedly haunted writer's retreat in Southern Pines.
This woman reported the same experience Billie did--of hearing someone banging on her door in the night. And there was no one else staying in the house that night. She said she felt awake at the time she heard footsteps and the door-banging, but decided that she must have been dreaming.
Wow - interesting that someone else had that same experience!
I forgot this detail - that particular bedroom has one of those door things that you can use as an extra "precaution" in keeping the door secure from the inside - it's always leaning on the wall right behind the door.
None of the other rooms have one. I keep meaning to ask Alex about it but always forget.
???
I go back and forth about whether I want to sleep in the "hot" bedroom or not.
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