As the sun sets on Halloween, cities across the country are alive with people celebrating the occasion. Trick-or-treaters take to the streets and strategically scavenge for sweet treats, while older kids and adults choose to settle down to watch a horror movie or attend a Halloween gathering. Among the celebrations, thoughts of spooky apparitions and demons often come to mind. Even though the monsters and goblins are actually people in costume, many may speculate the eerie question: Do these creatures actually live among us?
 
BearingNews asked students:
Do you believe in ghosts?
 

“I believe in spirits, like when you die you go to heaven, but not the ghosts that haunt people.” – Freshman Eli Gaffney

“I don’t really believe in a god, or a hell, but I do believe that there’s some kind of existence of some people afterwards.” – Sophomore Vaughn O’Gorman

“There must be a logical explanation, like if something moves wind must have come in, or a gust of air. It’s not like a spirit” – Junior Maha Hamed

“I’ve had personal experiences with things when I was little.” – Senior Javier Shocks

All year long, kids wait for Halloween, the one day of the year where they may masquerade around their neighborhoods and eat candy, bestowed upon them by loving adults who buy the candy and decorate their houses just for the trick-or-treaters. But lets not forget where this came from; old superstition says that you must offer up food gifts for demons so that they may not haunt them, and would allow the food harvest of the next year to come.

Moving back even further, “All Hallow’s Eve” was a day dedicated to dead people, and came before “All Saint’s Day” in the Catholic faith. It was a time of the wandering dead, also known as demons, evil beings, and ghosts, but did people really believe in ghosts? And even if they did then, do they still hold such beliefs as we prepare to celebrate this Halloween of 2013?

Junior Marcus Wilbanks doesn’t believe in such stories.

“I do not [believe in ghosts],” Wilbanks said. “Because I haven’t ever seen one.”

A lack of evidence seems to be a big problem with more than just Wilbanks. Sophomore Quinn Miller said that he doesn’t “have any proof or actual experiences to prove it,” so it’s hard to hold blindly hold onto such beliefs.

Senior Justice Stoffer, however, holds a different opinion on the supernatural. When asked if she believes in ghosts, she says that she does, “because of TV shows that show it.” But in a more sentimental way, she said believing in them helps her because it provides her much comfort.

I “like knowing that my loved ones are still with me and can watch over me,” Stoffer said.

Although Wilbanks might not believe that ghosts are indeed real, he agrees with Stoffer. Even though he doesn’t have solid proof, the thought of spirits sticking around in the living world provides him with the same satisfaction as Stoffer.

“It makes me comfortable to at least think my grandma is still watching over me,” Wilbanks said.

By Sam Mitten