InsaneJournal

Class 001 : Day 214 : Ghosts — Woman in White
[Sam looks out over his fellow inmates, now students, wondering—again—if this was a good idea. He wanted to increase his stream of rehabilitation points "income" and this seemed like a plan. Good or not, here he comes. He clears his throat and gives them a smile.]

I should probably start by explaining what this class is about. It's Paranormal Studies which can include a lot of different things, and I'm going to be using my own world and experiences as a base. I know things can work differently in different [Micropause] versions of the world and on different worlds [For all you aliens in the audience.] so we'll talk about that too.

Some of the topics we'll cover might go into sensitive territory. There are people here who might fit into the subject of paranormal activity. That doesn't mean everything I'm going to say will fit those people. If there is one thing I've learned it's that there is always more to know, and life can always surprise you.

This class isn't about hunting. It's about education, and I think we can all learn. You'll probably have a lot to teach me too. [His eyes may linger on a couple of students before he turns around to write, "Ghosts" on the board.]


Overview : Ghosts

Where I'm from some people believe very strongly in ghosts even without ever seeing one, and some people are very sure they're just the stuff of blockbusters and bedtime stories. I know they're real. I've tracked them and when necessary [which is pretty much always, but he's being cautious] I've protected people from them. [By destroying them.]

Ghosts are people—humans—who have died and instead of passing on they stay because something is holding them to the living world. It might be unfinished business like an unsolved murder or someone they are trying to watch over or it could just be stubbornness and sheer force of will. Early on they might not even be dangerous, but years of existing without really living can change them or intensify what's already there.

They can make themselves visible—disappearing and reappearing. Sometimes they look completely alive and sometimes they look like they're in a state of decay or semi transparent. Some might have more control over that than others. They might be able to move objects by touching them or not and even kill people. There are different kinds: poltergeists, vengeful spirits, and the one we'll talk about today.

[ GHOSTS ]


Topic : Woman in White

The woman in white is a type of spirit where a woman is seen—usually dressed in white—maybe to represent purity or innocence. They tend to appear to men and usually have some kind of backstory where they were a victim in life. Maybe they were murdered or maybe it was just bad luck, but whatever it is keeps them locked in a cycle of luring men, sometimes to their deaths.

[ WOMAN IN WHITE ]


Case Study : Constance Welch

Constance Welch was a 24-year-old who drowned after she jumped off a bridge in Jericho, California. [Look at the memory on this one.] On a 911 call before that she claimed her two children drowned in the bath. Actually, she had drowned her own children after finding out her husband had cheated on her.

She spent her afterlife near the bridge she killed herself on. She'd appear to young men and ask them to take her home. They'd take her to the abandoned home she killed her children in and she'd say she could never go home. If they've been unfaithful, she kills them. If they haven't, she tempts them. [Suspicious how he knows all this, right? He even pauses a little at the memory of the ghost on top of him.]

She managed to kill ten men in addition to her two children. [He skips the part about how they killed her in this case. Or at least how they facilitated her death.]

[ CONSTANCE WELCH ]


Practical : Understanding and defense of ghosts

Some things to remember with ghosts is that the air temperature usually lowers when they're around. You might see your breath. It's also common for lights and other devices to flicker on and off. They also give off an electromagnetic reading which can be picked up with an EMF reader.

Ghosts are already dead, but they can be dangerous so it's good to know that iron will repeal them. If you're being attacked you can swing anything made of iron through them and buy yourself some time. You can also make a salt ring to keep them from passing inside it. Rock salt in a shotgun can disperse the ghost for awhile too.

The only permanent method for dealing with them is to find their body, salt it, and burn it. In some cases it gets more complicated, and you have to look for personal items they might have been attached to, but that's probably a lesson for another day. [And this would be that more dangerous territory where he is slipping into hunter mode.]

[ EMF ] [ SALT ] [ IRON ]

Questions & Discussion
That was already a lot, so who has questions and who wants to talk about their experiences?

(OOC: Mingle style. Notifs are off so tag Sam during class with questions or catch him before or after. Use your discretion with the links provided. Sam didn't necessarily cover every detail, but feel free to bring more into it. He will have additional ghost lectures though, so he wouldn't have gone into detail on poltergeists for example or given multiple case studies.)