#GhostInsideMyChild - #Paranormal Posts #GhostInside

I'm fascinated by ghosts, so when I saw the title of this show airing on LMN, I knew I had to tune in.  I was immediately hooked and a little bit creeped out!  The ghosts I write about are separate entities, lingering forlornly among familiar places until their unfinished business can be completed--usually, this involves my characters unraveling the mysteries behind the restless spirits' deaths and locating their earthly remains.  The Ghost Inside My Child involves a different type of ghost...one that resides within a new body: i.e., a reincarnated spirit who suffered a violent or sudden death.

Chills, right?  If you've watched the show, you'll see that the memories, facts, and details of past lives surfacing in these children's minds are incredibly accurate.  While there may be other explanations, mere coincidence or active imaginations don't seem likely. 

I maintain a Pinterest board specifically for spooky stories and photos to use as inspiration, and one mystery I found there reminds me of this LMN show: the story of the Pollock twins.  These identical twin girls were born a year after their older sisters died in a 1957 car accident.  One of the twin girls (who should have had identical markings) had two birthmarks that matched one of their deceased sisters'.  Both girls had memories that seemed to belong to their sisters...for example, they asked for toys they'd never seen that had belonged to their sisters.  The parents moved the family after the accident, but when they returned to visit the English town, the girls were able to request a visit to a park they had never been to...and describe it in detail.

The word "reincarnation" is derived from Latin and means "entering the flesh again".  There are, of course, a lot of religious beliefs surrounding the existence of this phenomenon, but that's way beyond the scope of this blog.  I'm a fan of anything paranormal, and even non-believers will find the show an interesting source of historical periods and events. 

My first introduction to the concept of reincarnation came about, like most things in my life, via the pages of a novel.  Library trips came once a week when I was a kid, and although I always brought home a huge stack, it was never enough.  I'd reread my favorites, and I often went back to the old standbys lining my bookshelf: Charlotte's Web, Summer Pony, Winter Pony, Benji, The Incredible Journey, and my favorite ghost story, Jane-Emily.  When I needed a fresh, never-before-read story, I raided the bookshelf in my parents' room.  Of course, these choices were rarely age-appropriate, but I was a mature reader and my mom was too busy with my younger siblings to worry about my reading habits.

I went through all the Phyllis A. Whitney and Mary Higgins Clark, and even a few David Morrell.  Even then, I had a passion for gothic and spooky, and there was one paperback with a terrifying cover: Audrey Rose, by Frank De Fellita.  It was about--you got it--reincarnation--specifically a couple with a daughter, Ivy, displaying odd behavior.  This coincides with an alarming visit from a man claiming Ivy is actually his daughter Audrey Rose, who died a horrific death, trapped in a burning vehicle with her mother.



A quick look at the book's Goodreads page shows I am not alone in having been impacted by the frightening cover.  While there were a couple different editions, the cover to the left is what was in our bookshelf at home.  From what I remember, this was actually more of a supernatural drama than a horror book, but I'll never forget that cover...or the ending of the book, even though I read it too many years ago to reveal here!  I'll leave out the spoilers, in case anyone wants to check it out.  For more spooky and suspenseful reads--with romance, which guarantees a happy ending--check out ghost stories SILVER LAKE and GULL HARBOR, or my new YA release about a dangerous fallen angel, DIVINE FALL (only 99 cents this week on Kindle and Nook!).  After all, it is the perfect month for paranormal!