The Truth about Ghosts: a short story for Halloween

In which Jeremiah Dobbins decides to prove that ghosts are real.

Jeremiah Dobbins knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. Like many boys who dream of becoming an astronaut or a fireman or a train driver, Jeremiah was obsessed with his field of interest and extremely knowledgeable about it. His bookshelves sported novels, magazines and scholarly works in the field. He had seen every TV series and movie related to it and even kept a journal in which he recorded his observations and carefully thought-out theories.

Jeremiah Dobbins was determined to become a Ghost Hunter.

Miss Callaghan widened her eyes in surprise and considered her response. In her many years as a school careers counsellor, she had encountered some weird aspirations, but this was a first. “Well, Jeremiah, tell me why you are interested in this field.”

“Can you believe that in all the centuries of ghost stories and reported hauntings, there has never been one totally conclusive photograph or videorecording of a ghost?” Jeremiah was in full flight. “Even with all our sophisticated modern technologies, we have never been able to provide irrefutable proof that ghosts exist. I know that I am the man to achieve it.” Mrs Callaghan regarded him thoughtfully. What subject choices would be useful for a ghost hunter, she wondered. “If you are set on this, Jeremiah, I will look into the training and employment opportunities. Come back and see me on Monday.” Little did either of them know that by Monday, Jeremiah would know the full truth about ghosts.

Saturday was a busy day. Jeremiah made his preparations; rechecking the charge on his cameras, testing the temperature-monitoring device he had invented, and reading over the notes he had compiled on the haunting of Cloverfield House. Maleaviant Grint had indeed been a cruel master. At least two of his servants had experienced violent deaths at his hands, and there were rumours of several more. In 1817 Grint’s pregnant wife fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Or perhaps she was pushed, as Grint married his equally pregnant mistress with indecent haste.

Definite possibility of ghosts wanting revenge or lingering because of violent and wrongful death, Jeremiah recorded in his case diary.

Reported hauntings, he added. September 2014 potential buyer of the property reported chilled patches on the main staircase and the master bedroom and an intense feeling of uneasiness.

March 2015 electrician working on the renovation of the property reported seeing a figure in the corner of his vision, moving along the top corridor and along the landing. When he turned to look directly at it, there was nothing there. On returning to the worksite the next day, he found his tools in disarray, tipped all over the floor.

Jeremiah switched on his flashlight and set off through the darkened woods. If any paranormal activity were to occur in the Manor, it would almost certainly be at night. He was quite proud of his artifice. Mum was on night-shift and thought he was sleeping over at Jason’s.

Jeremiah was sure that a ghost would reveal itself to him. The estate agent and electrician were more interested in fleeing than communing with them. Jeremiah would come in the quiet of the night, seeking out the tortured spirits, opening his mind to them. He would soon know the truth about ghosts. He felt no fear. This is what he was born to do.

Of course the ghosts came. How could they not respond to one who seemed to call to them, whose mind was open to them and who glowed with a warm aura in the cold, unquiet house?

First the little maid-servant, wide-eyed and timid. Jeremiah was engulfed with powerful feelings of pain and anguish and he understood that her master had abused her in unspeakable ways. She hovered on the corner of the landing, eyeing the intruder with pleading eyes. A shaft of moonlight illuminated the silver tear as it coursed down her cheek.

Jeremiah took a deep breath. A ghost hunter must remain calm at all times, lest he spook the ghost, or even himself. This was it. He had seen a ghost. All he had to do was take photographs and prove it to the world. It seemed pretty straightforward. Why has nobody else been able to do it?

As he raised the camera to his eye, another spectre caught his attention. A weeping lady, huge with child, clung to the bannisters at the top of the main staircase as if for her life, a hand raised in entreaty. She turned her head and looked straight into Jeremiah’s eyes.

He could not look away. Bizarrely, his analytical mind continued to dictate journal entries in the background:

Fact 1: Accounts of cold and chill spots around ghostly presences are correct. I am shivering and my heart is an iceberg.

Fact 2: I am afraid.

There was an awful tension between the three figures, one solid and rooted in the present day and the two who had clung to this pile of crumbling stone for nearly two hundred years. Jeremiah felt they were competing for his attention, each with her compelling eyes.

Like a vice, something suddenly gripped his chest. It felt as if his innards were being sucked from his body. With an awful certainty, he saw the truth about ghosts. When an unjust or cruel death is suffered, the soul is lost, separated from the body by the act of violence. These spectres cannot pass over to the place of death until they regain a soul, that of another living being. They remain, trapped in the place of their passing, waiting down the long years for a vulnerable being, from whom they can steal a soul. In his last awful moment of lucid thought, Jeremiah felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He had discovered the nature of ghosts. He felt his body begin to plummet down those fateful stairs.

The little maid won out this time, against her former mistress. She took no pleasure in the deed, and looked with tears at Jeremiah as she called the soul from his body. He felt a whoosh of air against his cheek as she passed over to eternal rest. The pregnant lady faded out of sight. She would have to hunt another night, as she had for two hundred years.

He had discovered the truth, but would never be able to tell it. He now understood why there were no definitive stories of real encounters with ghosts. No one survived to be able to tell the tale.

Jeremiah Dobbins prepared himself for the long wait for another vulnerable being to appear. He understood everything about ghosts because now he was one himself.