The Mysterious Afterlife

Einstein’s theory of the conservation of energy is summed up in a phrase which is familiar to most of us, “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed.” In the human body, two types of energy exist. The first is chemical energy, created by the process of digestion and nutrient absorption, which turns our food into useable fuel, much like burning wood in a fire. The second is electrical energy, created by the beating of our hearts, which tell our legs to move, and our minds to dream.

According to Einstein’s theory and the First Law of Thermodynamics, the energy that courses through our body is not snuffed out when we die. Most traditional scientists believe that it is converted into energy for plants and other living things during the process of decomposition.

But what if it isn’t, or at least not all of it? What if those electrical impulses, which cause us to think and dream, continue on in a very similar state to how they existed when we were alive? What if these now homeless electrical impulses become ghosts?

Despite the massive number of people who have had experiences beyond the normal, and the investigators who have amassed piles and piles of carefully gathered, scientifically examined data, no one has proven that ghosts exist. No one has been able to follow the transfer of energy from a person to…well, wherever it goes. But then again, no one has been able to prove they don’t, either. And honestly, I don’t know if I want to.

Imagine you have your friends over for a sleepover. You’re sitting up late, whispering in your bedroom, when suddenly, the temperature drops twenty degrees, and you suddenly know that you and your friends are no longer alone in the room. But rather than freezing in terror, you explain, “Oh, that’s just the ghost. He does that every now and then.” Your friends nod, and you continue your conversation as if nothing had happened.

No more ghost movies. No more ghost books. Nobody dressing up as a ghost for Halloween. Because if the mystery is gone, if the thrill of fear is replaced by nonchalant acceptance, then where is the magic? And what can we dream about if we know everything?

Jacquelyn Sylvan is the author of Surviving Serendipity, a YA fantasy novel. Click below to purchase on Amazon!

Driving as a Haunting Experience

I must admit that cars are not as interesting to me as they are to most people I know. I love my car because it gets me from point A to point B, and I can listen to music at the same time. As far as that goes, I'm easy to please.

But if you're going to talk about cars and scary stories? Hey, I'm all over that. And I'm not alone.
One of Stephen Spielburg's first movies was a 1971 made for TV suspense tale called Duel. It had about two lines of dialogue and featured a demonic black trailer truck chasing down a mild-mannered commuter.

Then Stephen King introduced the idea of a very disturbed car when he unleashed Christine on the public back in 1983. And he didn't stop there, either. Check out Dolan's Cadillac or From a Buick 8. Mr. King figured out a long time ago that cars and tales of horror can go hand in hand quite nicely.

Nothing makes a car more interesting to me than the idea of it being haunted, and there's any number of tales involving just that concept. Like the story of the driver who glances into her rear view mirror one night and sees the face of someone who is sitting in her back seat. Even though she knows she's alone in the car. Like the shock of the trucker who picks up a hitchhiker only to find that further down the road, his mysterious passenger has vanished into thin air. Or like all the drivers who pass a particular cemetery, who swear that at certain times their cars will lose all power as they pass the cemetery gates. Their lights will go out. The sound system will refuse to play. The horn won't work, and neither will the power windows. Fortunately, though, the engine keeps running. That way they can drive on down the road and find that the lights, the radio, and the windows work just fine once they're away from the graveyard.

I love scary stories, so when I was asked to blog about driving, I figured I'd throw a few ghosts into the mix to make it more interesting for myself. And hey, right now one of the best scary shows on TV features a 1967 Chevy Impala. Although as the picture at the top of this post suggests, I'm not sure the car is the only reason so many people are watching Supernatural...