churches, ghosts and graveyards

I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks, I do I do I do I do I do believe in spooks. So chants the cowardly lion in the land of OZ. Do I believe in spooks? Not really. But I believe in the ability of a tale teller to spin a story so completely enthralling that I might wake at night thinking there is something lurking in the corner, or imagining that a cold chill creeping down my neck might be more than just a passing breeze.

I was accused as a young child of having an active imagination, and though it perhaps does not extend into adult hood (being much more practical now than all that) I do love a good ghost story, and I seek out those ghost tours in haunted cities the way a crack addict seeks cocaine. I love to hear the history, see the sites and imagine that a flitting shadow does indeed have an inhuman form. It's a fascination, but not a real one. I've never seen a ghost, heard voices in my head, or otherwise encountered anything resembling the paranormal. I have, once or twice, felt strongly connected to a place based on its history (as revealed in my previous blog) but, no, sad to say, I've never come face to face with anything other than a real live person.

Do I believe in ghosts? I'm not sure how to answer that. I believe that we have a spirit, a spirit that can be tangibly detected in the body. but I don't know if the spirit can be trapped between here and eternity and so haunt the living. The tour guide for the Charleston Pub Tour Aaron and I took was a firm believer in the paranormal. An educated man, he claimed proof that ghosts did indeed exist and had succeeded in even convincing the Smithsonian (or so he said) to not eschew the idea altogether. If you ever get a chance and want to pay $25 to have someone to drink with in Charleston while learning a great deal about history and current climate, take the Charleston Pub Tour. You won't be disappointed. We weren't as we ambled back to the hotel at 2 AM. But I digress...

The point of this blog is that there is probably not another city more historically rooted in the potential for ghosts than Charleston - with its abundance of churches, graveyards and tall tales. Though you may not believe in spooks, at least walk with me as I show you some of the major landmarks of the area in this tour of churches and graveyards.