ABC Wednesday - G is for Ghosts

It's ABC Wednesday, and G is Ghosts for me.

Blue Girl in the Dark Forest, by Sugwon.

This is a delicate subject for many people. Those who don't believe in ghosts may get enraged by accounts made by the ones who believe them, and those who believe may get mad at those who don't share their belief - although it really doesn't matter, either way, as long as we respect different opinions. I personally love ghost stories, and my family has a few about encounters with them - who knows if they were real or not? ;)

We could go deeper and talk about emotional ghosts, the ones who haunt us from a past we insist on living in instead of moving on, or the ones who prevent us from fully living the present by blocking our self-esteem and balance, or those who haunt us from the distant lands of the future, when fears and insecurities come long before anything happens.

Whether you believe or not in the existence of ghosts, they're here to stay, at least in movies, books, songs and art. They're sometimes depicted with a gentler eye, when characters have an insightful, rewarding experience, but usually it's all about fears, sleepless nights, nightmares, goosebumps, looking-behind-over-shoulders.

I just wanted to share with you guys some favorite representations of supernatural appearances, in varied types of art.

The Ghost of Oyuki, by Maruyama Okyo, is a favorite, because it's lovely, with a peaceful feeling to it - legends say that Okyo once woke up in the middle of the night with the sensation of being watched. And there was this lovely ghost woman staring at him:

Alfred Kubin's art is subversive and maybe too disturbing for some tastes, and this piece always seemed very ghostly to me:

The Brown Lady is a famous supernatural photograph, among others - some are artificially altered so badly they become a joke. Regardless of its authenticity, I always loved this ethereal image:

There are lots of movies about ghosts that I love, and recently I watched a very moving Chinese flick with my sweetheart, called Rouge, about a lonely ghost played by Anita Mui. It's all I can say, to prevent spoilers, but if you like a beautiful, delicate love story, check it out:

Of course, I watched Ghost Whisperer, the TV show starring Jennifer Love-Hewitt, following her hard times trying to help anguished spirits with unfinished matters. I used to cry my eyes out at the end of each episode, when she always managed to send the poor ghosts to the Light in the most touching ways.

And I finish this very long post with a poignant studio version of The Ghost of Tom Joad, performed by Bruce Springsteen...

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To read another cool G entry, visit my dear favorite author at Under An Outlaw Moon.

To read more great ABC entries, and if you want to join the project, visit the meme's main page, and have fun! :)