All of us wondered at some point in our lives about spirits and if they actually exist. Who, as a child, was not afraid of the dark? Who never heard spooky stories about how so and so’s friend encountered strange events when they were on vacation or in their country home? What about movies? Even Hollywood uses our fear of spirits to scare us…and we pay for it.
The mystery of spirits exists since humankind came to be. Our beliefs in something ‘higher’ and the invisible has been instilled in us in every religion. Many ethnic groups and cultures use the fear of spirits to control or punish. According to the book “Life after Death” by Deepak Chopra, many believe, and even proved, that spirits walk among us every day. In fact, there are different planes of life after we die: some higher than others, some spirits are even unable to leave the earth, especially when their lives abruptly ended.
I’m afraid of spirits, thus, I’m afraid of the dark at times. It even occurs that I sleep with the lights on when my girlfriend is out. Do you? Why? Where does this fear come from? The subject of spirit is, in my opinion, like sex, religion, and money. Though everyone thinks about it, it’s taboo to mention it in public. We’d rather avoid it at all costs for fear to attract them.
Like an addiction, however, my favorite type of movie is horror. Not the gory ones, but those filled with mysterious, inexplicable spirit-related events. Where does this odd, human perversion come from? Why do we enjoy to suffer so much? Why are we addicted to it? Ghost movies or life after death movies like The Sixth Sense are some of the biggest grossing movies in Hollywood. Are we masochistic? Every time I tell my girlfriend that I want to play ‘Ouija’ I’m met with an abrupt, commanding "no." Being from the Caribbean their belief of spirits is ingrained in them since childhood. I came to accept that I’ll never play this game and quite frankly, I’m afraid of playing it.
It's mostly in African and Caribbean countries that I've been the most intrigued by spirits. When I visited my family in Gabon I had to be careful not to eat at a stranger's home, especially if she was woman, because she could put the 'magic potion of love' in the food. And they were dead serious. Another time we saw a man talking to himself punching a wooden post in the middle of the street, a friend mentioned how someone cast the 'boxer' spell on him.
It seems that we explain the unexplainable through the invisible world.
Though I’ve never encountered strange, frightening, spirit-related events, I believe there is another world we are unaware of and that spirits surround us. I believe in the power of prayer and that we all possess a soul, and that even though we physically die our spirit lives on afterwards.
Do you have a spooky story to tell? I’d like to hear it.
With Purpose, Passion, and Love,
Frédéric Byé
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