Things that go "bump" in the night...

Maybe it's due to all the Scooby Doo I watched as a kid, but I am so intrigued by the paranormal.  Ghosts, spirits, haunted houses, monsters, you name it, I love reading about it or watching movies about it.

I remember hearing about a few "hauntings" or just plain weird phenomena growing up.  One of the stories was that of a "Ghost Light" around Joplin - a spooky light that appears occasionally, seemingly floating through the fields outside of Joplin, around Quapaw, Oklahoma.  Several people I grew up with apparently have seen this light.  There are also lights like these allegedly seen in a small town not too far from Joplin called Hornet, Missouri, and one in northwest Arkansas.  Maybe it's the same dude, and he just really gets around! :-)

I also remember hearing some story about a certain bridge down there in Southwest Missouri on which you could drive halfway across, turn the engine off and put the car in neutral, and the ghost of an indian would push you across the rest of the way.

I never saw any of this stuff - guess I was too busy hanging out on the Square in Cassville with my friends to go out to the middle of nowhere to have the peewoddin scared outta me.  There does seem to be an abundance of paranormal activity happening in the Ozarks, though.  In fact I just read a little book called "Ozark Tales of Ghosts, Spirits, Hauntings, and Monsters" by W.C. Jameson that's just chock full of stories of weird stuff going on down there.

In addition to stories about the ghost lights being featured in the book, there's a pretty cool story about a "haunted gravestone" in a cemetery in Southwest City, Missouri.  Apparently on the top of the headstone there's a small statue of a woman - possibly an angel.  While that's not unusual, the weird thing is that there are multiple pictures of the same headstone, and the woman is in different positions - despite the fact that the figure is carved into solid marble!  Ooooooh, spoooooky!

Anyway, I just think stuff like that is cool.  It's one of those things I can spend hours and hours checking out on the internet, although most of it, especially with the youtube videos, I'm still very skeptical.  It's not that I don't believe in stuff like that, it's just that I know that there's a lot of "video trickery" and stuff.  I'd love to see some actual proof for myself. 

For this, my second-to-last stroke, I did a little "silver ghost" streak.  Hopefully he doesn't come off the canvas and start roaming around our 140-year-old house!  Well, I guess if he does, it's better him than any "real" ghosts! :-0  BOO!