‘I’m not afraid of no ghost’ or are you?
By Argus Observer staff
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 11:20 AM PDT
Ontario — Ghosts. Goblins. Things that go bump in the night.
Halloween personifies a secret, dark aspect of our culture, bringing those items that can spark fear out into the open for one night every year.
But the fear is often laced with a healthy dose of fun and candy as the young and the young at heart journey from home to home in search of treats.
How serious do people take the themes whirling around Halloween? A good question. So the Argus Observer hit the streets last week to see what area residents thought about two questions: Are you superstitious, and do you believe in ghosts.
“I’m not superstitious, no,” Treasure Valley Community College student Thomas Auw, 19 said.
Alex Derr, 16, said he wasn’t either.
“I don’t believe in bad luck,” Derr said.
At the other end of the spectrum, though, was TVCC student Daniel Burnham, 20.
“I guess, a little bit. Yes, sometimes,” Burnham said about his superstitious inklings.
Area resident Sabrina Poston, 29, said she, too, sometimes was superstitious.
“Not too much, but a little bit,” Poston said.
Alayna Hines, though, said she is not troubled by folklore. When it came to ghosts, though, opinion was not so divided.
“I believe in paranormal phenomenon,” Derr said.
Auw said he believes there are some strange things out there.
“I’ve seen things that are not normal,” Auw said. Poston said she is firmly in the “believe” category when it comes to ghosts.
“I believe in spirits and stuff, like people coming back after death as animals,” Poston said. For Burnham, the question unfolded over a broad landscape, but he conceded Halloween can be a little spooky.
“I believe in angels . . . like the movie ‘Angels in the Outfield.’ Halloween time gets pretty scary for me,” he said.
Hines said she definitely believes in ghosts.
“I do, yeah. I read this thing on the Internet that if you see things in the dark it could be that you are seeing something supernatural. I always see things in the dark, but it could be because I’m blind. Or, maybe, because I’m psychic. It’s pretty creepy.” Hines said.
