Not Afraid of Ghosts

I ain’t afraid-a no ghosts!

Remember that refrain from the 1984 movie“Ghostbusters”?

Hollywood would make more Ghostbusters movies, though only the first one is probably worth re-watching.

But making three successive movies about ghosts — all of whom being somewhat nasty apparitions — showed a public fascination for ghosts that was very much alive in the 1980s.

Today, we rarely see a movie about ghosts. Zombies, monsters, aliens, yes. But ghosts?

Not so much.

Yes, a fourth Ghostbusters movie did come out in 2016 with an all-female ghost-busting crew, but people apparently stayed away in droves -- as they used to say -- and it kind of bombed.

I guess all things tend to go in and out of fashion, and maybe that’s the deal with ghosts, too. Remember “The Shining,” “Amityville,” “13 Ghosts,” “The Lady in White,” etc., etc.

Even “The Lord of the Rings” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” had their ghosts.

It seemed like we couldn’t get enough ghost-related stories. But today, I’d say Zombies — you know, the Evil Undead — are what mostly scares people.

Throughout movie history, ghosts have mainly focused on scaring the living.

But there have been occasional exceptions -- most notably the 2017 movie “Coco” -- which tells the tale of a boy able to interact with the ghost of his great-great grandfather and others during Mexico’s annual “Day of the Dead.”

The beautiful thing about “Coco” is it doesn’t in any way try to scare us or demonize ghosts. Rather, they are the gentle spirits of family ancestors and worthy of respect and -- yes -- love.

The Day of the Dead — Dia de los Muertos — is celebrated each year on Nov. 1-2 — right after our silly Halloween. Mexican families gather to remember their dead in a celebratory way — not in a depressive, weepy, American-style way.

I kind of envy Mexicans for that. They seem to understand — much better than we Americans — that Life is finite and we all will die and — what’s most important — to remember those who have gone before us to.....well, wherever or whatever comes next.

If anything.

I don’t know. I’d kind of like to believe in ghosts. I’d love to see a ghost, because it would tell me that something lies beyond this short lifespan we’re given.

I think it's far scarier NOT knowing what happens when we die than to see a ghost while we're still alive.

No one has ever taken a photo of a ghost (not really) and no one ever will. It's because they don't exist.

Except in our minds.

BOO!