RE: Ghost Stories

I know I haven't written on here much, but I intend to more hopefully once life starts to settle down. Job hunting is extremely long and painful... especially when I want to get into somethng I do not have the experience for. Looks like my school days are NOT numbered afterall! It WILL be for something I REALLY want to do though so I won't mind going back... FYI --- its for design. I don't know what kind of design yet but I love art SO MUCH! Not necessarily art history and that whole shi-bang but creating it. I wish I would have majored in it. And I wish I had more time in my day to randomly draw or create my own projects, but school assignments, work, etc. take up my free time. I think I have bitched about my non-existent spare time enough though so I will "go on with the chlorophyll"...


Inspired by Ms. Megan "and" Mary the Shamrock Princess, I have a story from when I studied abroad in Australia. It isn't an actual "ghost story," I suppose, but more of a "freaky thing" or concept an aboriginal told us that made me believe in ghosts. Well, I will first start with a story that happened when we went on our road trip up north to Coral Bay. We drove for a LONG time, in the dark (which you aren't supposed to do due to the huge wild kangaroos and goats), in the Bush, which looks like this the whole way:


Anyway, while we were driving at night we saw these odd looking lights to the right in the distance. They looked like headlights. So, thats exactly what we assumed they were. But we thought it was weird because the lights never got closer and they didn't really move, so we knew it wasn't a town or anything because towns in that part of AU come few and far between and well, the lights would have moved. We kept seeing it throughout the night until we arrived to Coral Bay.


Well, after our spring break, we spent a week with the aboriginals in Broome, Australia. It was an amazing experience, but that's another story, another time. Every day we would spend an hour or so listening to one of the main Aboriginies, Colin, talk about their culture and life in the outback. He strongly emphasized how spiritual their people and culture are. One day, he started talking about these things called the "Bush Lights." He starts to describe them as these balls of light that look like stars burning that appear in the middle of nowhere in the Bush. He said many people mistake them as cars, etc. but they are actually either good and evil spirits!!! Molly and I got so freaked out after that cause we realized we had seen them! But we were almost convinced they were good spirits. There is more on that below.


I am just going to open up my journal from when I was there, and take out some of the exerpts because there were a lot of stories about spirits...


"We went over in a circle in the shade, called the "College of Colin," and Colin talked a lot to us about the aboriginal culture. We learned why the land is sacred and why it is important not to walk on particular parts of it. (He told a story about a woman who did walk on it and died a year later--this has happened more than once apparently.) He said it was because the powers of the spirits of their ancestors. The aboriginals don't believe in God but believe in good and bad spirits and in reincarnation. They were animals in another life. Colin's "todem" is a kangaroo. Changing subjects, Colin gave us a tip today "Don't every leave your baby alone in a room because they can see (evil) spirits and so can dogs."

"We had a lot of downtime -- showered -- and listened to Colin some more. Another belief of theirs: If you see a shooting star - a red tail means someone in your family or life will/has died, and a blue (white?) tail means someone will be born into your life and you're never supposed to point at them but I don't know why - I wasn't there to hear it.....but I guess, don't do it!"


"Then we all sat around the campfire again and Colin, etc. told us stories about the spirits in the area and around aboriginals. He told us about the bush lights (minmons) which are ligths that appear in the middle of the bush - people think they are headlights - but they are spirits that can be evil or good. We are almost positivve we saw them when we were on spring break. We kept thiking they were cars, but there was nothing around. Molly and I decided they must've been good spirits because they kept the roo's and goats out of the road for us. (our house cleaners warned us NEVER to drive at night in the bush because the animals cross the road a lot and could kill us easily.) There was another story about spirits -- one about a group of people/students gathered around the campfire playing the digeridoo. A girl took a picture of the kid and later, they noticed a spirit floating above/behind him in the picture. Colin also warned us not to shine our flashlight in the bush when we see a light in the distance (bush) because they are evil spirits and by shining lights - that is inviting the spirtis in."


Hah - Megan - I found a part I wrote about you. Every night we would sit around the campfire and answer a series of three questions. One of the questions was: If you could have brought one person on this trip, who would it be?


"3. Megan McTeauge and I really mean that. She is like my 2nd half. She would really benefit from getting away from home for awhile and would give her a chance to relax and really think about who she is and what she is meant to do in life -- especially since she is so confused emotionally right now." (This was during... well, you know what hard time was happening...I was sincerely concerned you see! :) Seriously, though, there is no such thing as time or committment when you are in Broome! It was so relaxing and gave me a breath of fresh air! I thought it would have been good for you too)


Ok, that got sentimental, let's get back to freaky-deaky dutch... here's some more:


"Then Colin sat down and started telling us stories again. A couple of them were really freaky! One had actually happened today with Neil (a camera guy that came on our trip). When we went to go see the old aboriginal footprints today, Neil started taking pictures of the landscape without permission (it is a rule that you MUST get one of the aboriginal's permissions before snapping pictures because it could be sacred land) Anyway, he took pictures with permission. Then he remembered he wasn't supposed to and told Colin what he did and apologized right away. Colin said it was okay. Neil turned his camera on and deleted the picture he took of the sacred land and turned it back off again. Ever since that moment, his camera hasn't worked. Supposedly it was the spirits punishing him.Talk about wierd!!"


[As a side note, this actually happened to me. We were at a beach in Broome and the told us we could take pictures of the side with the ocean but nothing behind us. Well, a lot of us started writing words in the sand (such as I love Australia on the right) and taking pictures of it. Since it was sort of on a hill of sand, and I had to take pictures facing the way we weren't supposed to but I was really careful not to get anything but the words in it. I was having a hard time getting all of the I love Australia in my camera though and well.... a little while later I was looking through my camera I realized I had accidently taken a picture with the sacred land behind it... I deleted the picture and ever since then, my camera wouldn't turn on. I had to physically take the batteries out and put them back in for it to work. Eventually, my camera stopped making me do that, but I honestly think I was being punished. It was the STRANGEST thing ever to happen to me. That and the bush lights....]


"The other story that really freaked me out dealt with Simon Adams [a prof at our school who would take students to Broome] and happened only a couple years ago. The students all went swimming at a beach (the one below), just as we had, and Simon disappeared behind the Mangrove trees (on the right) by the ocean beach (to the left). An aboriginal tried to call him back but he said he was fine and started taking pictures. The tide of the ocean started to rise so people told Simon to come back to the car before he got trapped in the trees, because Mangrove in the area are almost covered by water when the tide is normal. He started acting really confused and actually thinking/believing the car was in the opposite direction than it really was. One of the aboriginals had to come help him.... He was at the beginning of his punishment. Apparently he disturbed an evil spirit in the trees - a spirit of an extremely hideous woman. When he left the next day from Broome, he was supposedly okay, but for a whole year, this spirit would bother Uncle Vinnie [the oldest aboriginal from the trip we were on who lived there] trying to find Simon to punish him. A year passed. And Simon came back with another group of students. While Simon was sleeping, the spirit came and choked him. He just thought was was having another bad dream, but he was being punished by this ugly woman. It happened a couple more times. He eventually told Vinnie and found out why it was happening. He was eventually cured when Vinnie sent a doctor to fix him while he was sleeping (So through his dreams, the doctor visited him and drove the woman away)... "


Anyway, that is all I have right now. That was a pretty good post. I am proud of myself. That took me forever though so appreciate it! That is some good stuff! Haha... Until next time...