Alive: The Ghost of Cambria - Book One

Chapter Nineteen

Kirsten had jogged more in the past three days than she had in the preceding three years. After her body had fallen to pieces on the third day, she'd found that Penelope was the most unforgiving trainer in the world, pulling Kristen's body up the Cambrian hills with little sympathy for her splitting shins. The silver lining had been a Husky who slept like the dead all through the night, cuddled up against her human in perfect bliss. In fact, Penelope was already asleep as Kristen searched through the ProQuest library search engine on her tablet, stretching out her last minutes of consciousness for the day.

Kristen browsed peer-reviewed "white papers" on paranormal psychology. Despite the stigma associated with the field, as it relied upon hypotheses that violated the core law of scientific research and discovery, Kristen found mountains of allegedly scholarly texts on every subgenre.

Though Kristen would never admit it, she was looking for more evidence to support the point of view she'd discussed with her therapist. It was a method known as Confirmation Bias, a derided practice used by scientists who would perform research and abandon any data that didn't support the end conclusion they wished to prove true. Unfortunately, everyone was guilty of it, whether they were conscious of it or not. As a therapist, Kristen reviewed herself and her patients with laser focus for any hint of Confirmation Bias, hoping to prevent it from leading to a misdiagnosis.

"If I am to be fair to the process," Kristen whispered aloud, "I must research paranormal phenomena from the position that ghosts do exist."

In many of the research publications, a Dr. Joe Nickell showed up repeatedly as a source. Dr. Nickell was the author of several books on the matter of spirits, and some of his works focused on ghost sightings during the past two hundred years.

"Because all the accounts that come earlier are considered religious in nature," Kristen rolled her eyes.

Dr. Nickell had made a name for himself by exposing why hundreds of purported sighting or disturbances were hoaxes. His critics described him as 'a modern Sherlock Holmes.' He purportedly delineated why some ghosts haunted specific places, and other ghosts haunted particular people.

The notion caught her attention.

Kristen searched his work, finding publications on UFOs, conspiracy theories, and creatures like vampires, werewolves, and other monsters. To Kristen's agitation, few if any of Nickell's books were downloadable. Pondering whether to order paperbacks and wait for them to arrive when she drove home in two days, she decided against pressing the button on the Amazon sales page.

"Yep, after researching a single thesis for four years, I'm now that person," said Kristen quietly to her sleeping pup. "Instant gratification only, please."

Tired of reading, but unwilling to give up consciousness just yet, Kristen turned to the podcast application on her iPad. More than a few came up on the search engine, but one stood out because of the cover art depicting two insane looking women under the program title, Wait, Whaaat? Scanning through their episode titles and descriptions, Kristen surmised that these talk show hosts were comedians. She selected an episode entitled, Don't Go Dumpster Diving for the Devil, which promised a health chat about ghosts.

"Perfect," said Kristen, and she closed her eyes.

The show was simple: two girlfriends, both high on overly-caffeinated beverages, having a chat about whatever stories they found that week on a paranormal subject. Naturally, the accounts didn't take up nearly as much of the program as did their humorous commentary. The first story came from San Diego, which the hosts pointed out was the most haunted city in America.

Kristen remembered how in the Paranormal Activity film series the demon showed up wherever the main character ended up living.

"Well, that explains it," Kristen mused. "Obviously, I brought it to Cambria from home."

One host, Paula, recounted how a San Diegan man woke up in the middle of the night to see his dead mother sitting at the dining room in her dressing gown. The notion amused Kristen, but she would've been only too glad if her father appeared at the bathroom sink to brush his teeth.

The other host, Elaine, relayed how she experienced the ghost of her dog walking through her new home, one she purchased after he died. She discussed the stamp of energy that some leave when they die. Sometimes the energy or spirit moves on, but sometimes it remain, or an imprint of them remains.

Kristen moved her hand to touch Penelope on her white underbelly, feeling it heavily rise and fall.

The hosts then discussed the history of the Ouija board, from its creation during the Middle Ages, its eventual evolution into a parlor game in the 19th century, and then how it became a kid's board game in the 20th century.

Kristen remembered how the little girl in The Exorcist opened the door to her infestation by communicating with her invisible friend through a Milton-Bradley Ouija board.

One man named Steve found a Latin Ouija board in a dumpster, and it began to speak to him. He woke up at three-thirty in the morning to find his hand on the plastic indicator, which moved of its own accord. From the corner of the room, he heard a voice say, "Why are you hurting me?" The man quickly found Jesus and needed to read several Bible passages before he felt safe again.

"I don't know, Steve," said the host, "you're just making bad decisions all around. I'm thinking Jesus would be like, 'First of all, you dug the Ouija board out of the trash and decided to play with it. So, frankly, we're done, dude. I have other things to worry about, like orphans in Calcutta.'"

They continued to tell of a fifteen-year-old boy who played the game with his buddies one afternoon. That night, he woke up at three-fifteen and noticed a shadow on the wall of his darkened bedroom.

"What is it about that fucking hour?!" the host interrupted herself.

The boy couldn't understand how the shadow was being made, but after inspecting it, he returned to bed and found sleep. The boy continued to wake up all that week, shortly after three o'clock, to find larger shadows on his bedroom walls. Finally, the boy was woken by the whimpering of his dog, who eventually barked at the shadows in the bedroom as if they were all around him.

"See, and that's when you know you need to get the fuck out," said the host, evoking laughter from her partner.

Kristen smiled as she continued to feel her Husky's abdomen, it's fearless relaxed breathing that certified all was perfectly fine.

You just let me know, babe, Kristen thought in the moments before she too fell asleep.