Eidolism

Shadows, footsteps, scents

are their way to say goodbye

after they have left.

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Eidolism is a fancy word meaning a belief in ghosts. The roots of the word are in ancient Greek. Let us have some more spookiness even after the Halloween because why not?

My connection: Belief is not the right word in my case. I would love to have a straightforward, scientific explanation of what I have been experiencing since childhood. Where do I even start? Okay, a long story ahead. Sorry (not really).

How about dreams: like when I dreamt I was in our family house and everything looked ordinary, except for an elderly man in striped pajamas who came out of the bathroom and entered one of the bedrooms. Years later, I saw the same man in an old photo. He lived and died in that house when I was a little girl.

Or the dream in which I talked to and hugged my father roughly a year after his death. My mother confirmed that what I had learned in the dream was true.

How about all those times when I wasn't asleep... I'll share just one and swear that every word is true:

In my mother's house, my 2 yo daughter and I slept in a small room in the attic. You could access it from a study on the first floor, via very steep and creaky wooden stairs. My mother's bedroom was on the ground floor. That evening, she had already retired for the night and my daughter was asleep in the attic. I climbed the creaky stairs and started settling on my meditation cushion when I became aware of noises in the room below. They sounded like footsteps. First they moved around the room, approached the stairs, then started slowly ascending, getting closer and closer. My rational mind knew very well that there was no one there, my body started feeling more and more afraid. I had a thought: what if this 'no one' can harm my child? With this, my mind just stopped, became completely empty. I felt fear rise like a rushing stream from my pelvis through the middle of my body, to the head, and coalescing into a single thought: NO ENTRY! Something in me grabbed that thought like a ball and hurtled it with all my strength towards the noise.

Silence. After several seconds, I heard soft creaking at the foot of the stairs that literally made me think of hesitant footsteps of someone uncertain or dazed. They soon stopped and I knew that we were alone again.

Next morning, I got a text: 'have you heard about B.? She passed away the day before yesterday.'

B. was my friend in the primary and secondary school. We sat next to each other for four years at school, met several times as adults.

I hastily contacted her in my mind, apologised for shoving her down the stairs, and wished her a good journey.

So, what do you think: should I believe in ghosts?

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As usual, here is the link to Penny's challenge: https://vocal.media/writers/part-e-the-a-z-of-unusual-words