LEDGER COLUMNIST

Do you believe in ghosts?

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger. Well, maybe not ghosts, but inexplicable happenings?

At a New Year's Eve party, I was listening to a friend describe in detail some strange "goings on" in her place of business.

Messages spelled out on a sign that was blank when she left work the night before. Numbers on an adding machine tape that was blank at closing time the previous day.

That sort of thing.

The story was exactly the same one I was told privately a few weeks ago, so I know it wasn't the "festivities of the night" talking.

The person telling the story is absolutely convinced something is going on. What's happening is not scary, she says and she doesn't feel threatened by whatever "it" is. Just a bit unsettled.

She's bound to get to the bottom of it and is doing all types of research about the history of the building the business is in.

Now some skeptics would write the whole thing off as it all being the result of a vivid imagination.

Not me. I believe weird things happen, but deep down inside think there's probably a perfectly logical explanation.

I must tell you, though, I've never had anything quite as strange as this woman's story happen to me, but have heard enough "unexplained" stories told by apparently stable persons to believe that there is an outside chance there are forces at work we just don't understand.

Same thing with UFOs.

I've never seen one, except maybe that night a few years ago at the intersection of Old Post Road and Hwy. 105.

It was probably just a low flying BIG airplane. Really LOW flying and if you didn't catch the capital BIG, really BIG.

It didn't make any noise either.

HMMM.

I never told anyone about that because people think you're crazy when you do.

Just like the person above. She doesn't go around telling everyone she sees about her experiences because she doesn't want others to think she's off her rocker.

I wonder how many UFO sightings and ghostly encounters have gone unreported for fear of being labeled a nut?

I suppose the only ones who TRULY believe in these things are those who have had firsthand experience.

As I was writing this, I got to thinking about one particular "ghostly" encounter a few people had about 2,000 years ago.

When the disciples started telling the story of Jesus rising from the dead, what do you think people thought about them?

Can't you just imagine the ridicule they withstood?

But because of their passion and unrelenting testimony, that event is now believed by millions and millions of Christians.

I didn't mean to get off on a religious tangent, there, but really, that must have a been a hard story to swallow.

That just goes to show you that if you believe in something and are committed enough to the cause, you can change the world. (It helps, though, if you have a a good cause.)

That being said, with a new year just beginning, my hope for everyone is that you have, or find, something in your life to be passionate about.

That's what makes life worth living. Happy New Year!