I am so impressed by the scientific breakthroughs that I read about in the news. Recently, scientists detected a particle that travels faster than the speed of light, something Einstein said was impossible. I haven’t gotten my arms around that one yet; it appears that same particle can even travel through matter. Then there are anti-matter, dark matter, dark energy, worm holes, and even other dimensions besides the three I know. Wow! This is so incredible. Over the last few decades scientists have been working on an idea called the “Grand Unification Theory” which would explain some of the fundamental forces of the universe as a basic theory (and now they have moved along to develop a concept called “String Theory”). Personally, I agree that a premise exists such as the Grand Unification Theory, albeit one by which someday all phenomena, scientific and religious, will be understood as parts of a grand scheme and they will cease to contradict each other. That is my theory.

Anyway, I am not a scientist, although I do like reading about their findings, and I haven’t done any scientific studies (well actually I did do one not so scientific study at a party not too long ago) about how many believe in ghosts; I think you would find that a lot of people do. It’s amazing the number of people that have had some sort of supernatural experience, or have known someone who has. I know a good friend of mine who is a professional in a field that is based strictly on facts and the story he told me about a house. He won’t say it was a ghost; but, it was something… I know others who have had similar experiences and I remember a story about a neardeath experience when I was a child and I won’t go into details here; but, I WILL NEVER, EVER use a Ouija Board again.

So, although I am not a scientist, I do allow myself the latitude to ponder. I was thinking the other day what are we? A human body –yes. Animated – yes. Cells and muscles, neurons and electrical impulses – yes. We are natural, living machines. Yet, what is the difference between my body which is a machine and uses electricity and say, my car which runs on a twelve volt battery or my cell phone (well, if I owned one) which is a machine of sorts with a battery? The difference is that our creator imbued us with something called consciousness. Hmmm (I always say “hmmm” when I’m pondering)…now some of the ghost stories that I have heard about include sobbing and wailing ghosts. In my book, The Years of Magic, the ghosts that inhabit the Judge’s property show emotions. So, if this spark of consciousness we possess is able to survive the destruction of the physical body that we inhabit, could it still exist as energy (another scientific fact that I learned in school is that we cannot create or destroy energy, we can only transform it). And if that is the case and that consciousness is an energy made up of, say, will, determination, emotion, and possibly that quantity of the mind called the Id, could it exist and what could we expect from such an entity?

Well, the ghosts that I have heard about can open windows and doors and perform other physical acts and if they possess the consciousness of their former selves, then I would certainly take caution. Or, you could end up like the Judge in my book whose victims’ ghosts exact gory vengeance upon the guilty party. You know, with dark energy, other dimensions, worm holes, and such, scientific theory may not be that much different than our legends and beliefs. And just to be on the safe side I always say treat people, the living and the dead, how you want to be treated (that large knife that just flew across the room may be more than an attraction of dark energy). Think about it.

Supervisor for the Town of East Fishkill, New York, happily married for seventeen years and step-dad to a wonderful stepdaughter, J. Lyndon Hickman is a former motorcycle racer (scrambles, motocross, short track). He is now an emerging horror writer who obtained his Master’s Degree from Marist College. Although this is his first book, J. Lyndon Hickman loves to write and hopes this old time scary story will grab people’s imagination.

The Years of Magic is available for purchase as an e-book and hard copy at www.lulu.com, www.barnesandnoble.com and www. amazon.com.