03/19/2020
What makes your ghost story a "story?"
Is it a brief encounter you or a friend had with a ghost? Is it a full-fledged story complete with beginning, middle, and end? Or is it something in between those two extremes?
What comes first? The chicken or the egg? The horse or the cart? Sometimes a ghost story with a beginning middle and end appears way after, if it appears at all, after years and years of people reporting a similar occurrence in one place. Really good ghost stories, the ones that endure, the ones that cast a deep impression, are ones that emerge from an authentic experience. Even the "ghost story fragments" you report in one or two sentences.
Something about the description of the original experience produces a chill in the listener or the reader, no matter how slight that chill may be. The chill is a recognition of authenticity --from the beginning.
The ghost "stories" we will all be sharing that emerged and continue to emerge from Washington-Wilkes county, (and surrounding counties) are sometimes no longer than a few sentences. A small few of them are longer and have been around longer. Most of them are what you might call stories in development. They may originate from real sources. But no one can prove or disprove them. Ever. Thats what makes them "a story."
Stay tuned for the first installment ..'The Haunted Doll' of Washington Historical Museum, tomorrow night. And dont forget..sharing is caring.
Happy Haunts.
Your Washington-Wilkes Ghost Stories
