Okay so this post is going to be part brainstorm, part random thought that I had, but we'll see how it goes.
So I watch Buzzfeed Unsolved and love it dearly. But it, like many supernatural hunting shows, seems to only investigate at night. Now Buzzfeed Unsolved could just be doing it because it's become what is expected of the genre, but we have to think about why this is the norm. It could be because we find night scarier as we literally can't get a sense of our surroundings and so our brain can fill them in with whatever we fear. It could be traditions of telling stories around campfires and those tend to be at night. I'm sure psychologists and anthropologists have some more complex theories though.
For whatever reason, it also seems that most ghost sightings happen at night. Now as a non-believer I'm inclined to say this is because it's easier for your brain to trick you into seeing something when there isn't a clear light source. Regardless, ghost hunters seem to have made the assumption that ghosts are nocturnal.
I posit that it is the opposite. First off, ghosts used to be human right? Why would their general habits change after death? Isn't some of ghost lore related to the dead not knowing they're dead? If you don't know you're dead, wouldn't you try to sleep at night?
Let's look at some of the typical aspects of ghost sightings. One is general moaning, right? What if this is just that they're annoyed that you've woken them up? I know I definitely get annoyed if people wake me up. Imagine you've been asleep and then there is some jerk who has moved into your house fumbling around at night and wakes you up? You might moan too. Then, then, that jerk is going to scared of you and now you have a whole other identity crisis to consider (Are you meant to be scary because you're dead? Should you be scary because it meets their expectations and who are you to try and overturn centuries of ghost lore? Or should you try and make them not scared of you so they know you and death aren't so bad?) so you're probably not going to get back to sleep and then you're going to wander the halls and do all the other sorts of creepy ghost things.
It's possible all of the creepy ghost things of banging cabinets or slamming doors is just the ghost being a passive aggressive roommate. You woke them up, now they're gonna wake you up. HOW DOES IT FEEL? Or maybe they know that having all of the cabinet doors opened just drives you up a wall so they do that and just leave it like that so maybe you'll get annoyed enough to leave and the ghost can get a roommate who respects sleep schedules.
I think this all goes double for when it's a ghost hunter banging around. Now if you know you're a ghost, you already have to put up with whatever humans live in your home, but you hopefully get used to them after a while. But now, no, turns out you and your human roommate aren't on the good terms you thought and they've brought in people to HUNT YOU. And all of this will happen, again, when you're trying to get some sleep. Why wouldn't you play tricks on people whose title suggests that they have come to kill you and mount your head on their wall (if that were possible)? Really, ghosts seem pretty reasonable there. Maybe we should just let them sleep at night and try to talk to them during the day, like normal people,.
Anyways, maybe I'll turn this into a story somehow or maybe I'll just leave it as a random thought I had while watching the latest supernatural episode of Buzzfeed Unsovled.
(Prompt by me)
Photo from the National Science and Media Museum
So I watch Buzzfeed Unsolved and love it dearly. But it, like many supernatural hunting shows, seems to only investigate at night. Now Buzzfeed Unsolved could just be doing it because it's become what is expected of the genre, but we have to think about why this is the norm. It could be because we find night scarier as we literally can't get a sense of our surroundings and so our brain can fill them in with whatever we fear. It could be traditions of telling stories around campfires and those tend to be at night. I'm sure psychologists and anthropologists have some more complex theories though.
For whatever reason, it also seems that most ghost sightings happen at night. Now as a non-believer I'm inclined to say this is because it's easier for your brain to trick you into seeing something when there isn't a clear light source. Regardless, ghost hunters seem to have made the assumption that ghosts are nocturnal.
I posit that it is the opposite. First off, ghosts used to be human right? Why would their general habits change after death? Isn't some of ghost lore related to the dead not knowing they're dead? If you don't know you're dead, wouldn't you try to sleep at night?
Let's look at some of the typical aspects of ghost sightings. One is general moaning, right? What if this is just that they're annoyed that you've woken them up? I know I definitely get annoyed if people wake me up. Imagine you've been asleep and then there is some jerk who has moved into your house fumbling around at night and wakes you up? You might moan too. Then, then, that jerk is going to scared of you and now you have a whole other identity crisis to consider (Are you meant to be scary because you're dead? Should you be scary because it meets their expectations and who are you to try and overturn centuries of ghost lore? Or should you try and make them not scared of you so they know you and death aren't so bad?) so you're probably not going to get back to sleep and then you're going to wander the halls and do all the other sorts of creepy ghost things.
It's possible all of the creepy ghost things of banging cabinets or slamming doors is just the ghost being a passive aggressive roommate. You woke them up, now they're gonna wake you up. HOW DOES IT FEEL? Or maybe they know that having all of the cabinet doors opened just drives you up a wall so they do that and just leave it like that so maybe you'll get annoyed enough to leave and the ghost can get a roommate who respects sleep schedules.
I think this all goes double for when it's a ghost hunter banging around. Now if you know you're a ghost, you already have to put up with whatever humans live in your home, but you hopefully get used to them after a while. But now, no, turns out you and your human roommate aren't on the good terms you thought and they've brought in people to HUNT YOU. And all of this will happen, again, when you're trying to get some sleep. Why wouldn't you play tricks on people whose title suggests that they have come to kill you and mount your head on their wall (if that were possible)? Really, ghosts seem pretty reasonable there. Maybe we should just let them sleep at night and try to talk to them during the day, like normal people,.
Anyways, maybe I'll turn this into a story somehow or maybe I'll just leave it as a random thought I had while watching the latest supernatural episode of Buzzfeed Unsovled.
(Prompt by me)
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