Is There a Ghost of a Chance Halloween Spirits Exist?

Halloween takes place Monday night, and with it comes trick-or-treating, jack-o’-lanterns, bobbing for apples, ghosts and goblins.

The festival is associated, through its name, with Allhallows’ Eve, according to Collier’s Encyclopedia. This popular secular observance, falling on the night of Oct. 31, is derived from the 2,000-year-old rites of the Druids “celebrating the day of Saman, when the Lord of Death called together the souls of the wicked who had died during the past year.”

Hot Topics wonders: “Do you believe in ghosts or evil spirits? Why or why not?”

“I don’t believe in ghosts, but I believe Satan is very real because he tempts us every day.”

Jennifer Peters, 15,

sophomore, Bethel Baptist

“Examples in the Bible of spiritual forces include ghosts, evil spirits and demons. My personal relationship with God cancels out fear of these beings because God is more powerful.”

Marcus Endert, 16,

senior, Bethel Baptist

“I do--I’m a Buddhist and we believe in such things as reincarnation, so I believe in ghosts and evil spirits.”

Emma Lai, 16,

junior, Cypress

“No--they are too unreal. I stopped believing in it about 7 years ago when I got involved with Christianity.”

Mi Shin, 18,

senior, Cypress

“I don’t believe in any ghosts, but I believe there is an evil spirit, Lucifer, and there are people that do evil things influenced by him.”

Jason Morton, 16,

junior, El Modena

“Yes, I believe in ghosts, but I don’t believe they’re dead people. Dead people go to either Heaven or Hell. Ghosts are demons impersonating people.”

Jonathan Stiles, 17,

senior, El Modena

“No, I think it is absolutely ridiculous.”

Erica Dunn, 15,

sophomore, El Toro

“Yes, I believe in them because they haunt me in my sleep.”

Cathy Silvers, 17,

senior, Esperanza

“I believe in demonic possession and exorcism because I know too many people who are clearly not responsible for what they do. Also, because of scriptural evidence.”

Sonali Perera, 17,

senior, Magnolia

“I have no belief whatsoever in ghosts or evil spirits. I think what is termed as phenomenon should be termed as paranoia.”

Silvia Aliaga, 17,

senior, Magnolia

“Yes, ghosts are the unknown. They can do anything to you and you won’t know who it is.”

Keisha Pierce, 17,

senior, La Quinta

“Yes, I am totally terrified of ghosts. You can’t see them and things just move from nowhere.”

Katie Turner, 17,

senior, La Quinta

“Yes, because they remind me of my mother. . . . She terrifies me!” Mike Landgrave, 14,

freshman, La Quinta

“No, because it is in your head. People force their imaginations to see ghosts or evil spirits.”

Jennifer Edwards, 15,

junior, Laguna Hills

“Yes--didn’t you see ‘The Exorcist?’ ”

Mike McNeff, 17,

senior, Estancia

“Yes, I believe in spirits because strange things happen all the time such as a door slamming by itself.”

Stephanie Bialobzeski, 14,

sophomore, Marina

“Yes, I believe in ghosts because I truly think that the ghost of my cat is in my house and I like him there.”

Jennifer Turner, 16,

junior, Orange

“Yes, I believe in ghosts and evil spirits because of some strange happenings I have witnessed. Recently, I’ve had a recurring experience when I’m half-asleep. I hear what sounds like screaming and moaning people, trying to say something. In these experiences I can’t move--it seems like a kind of force is holding me down. A white blotch passes in front of my eyes, and though I have a hard time awakening from the dream, I always do, only to hear more screaming voices. Strangely enough, my sisters, who sleep in another room, have sometimes reported experiencing similar incidents on the very same nights I do. “In a more recent experience, again when I was half-asleep, a being in a dark cloak appeared at my doorway. Every time I woke up just to get rid of the image, the figure seemed to come closer and closer as I fell back asleep. Finally, it stood in front of me, but it had no face. Not so coincidentally, the previous owner of my home died of a heart attack in my bedroom.”

Rosanne Agatet, 16,

junior, Pacifica

“No, because there is no living thing other than us on Earth.”

Scott Cross, 15,

sophomore, Santa Ana

“No, I don’t believe in ghosts or evil spirits because I feel once you die you die. I think ghosts and spirits have just been invented by the media to create another area for them to make money off of people.”

Marissa Hatchett, 17,

senior, Sunny Hills

“I don’t believe in ghosts because once a person dies, that’s it. I don’t think dead people are capable of coming back to this physical world as some sort of apparition.”

Jonathan Han, 17,

junior, Savanna

“No, I don’t believe in ghosts mainly because I’ve never had any personal experience with them. I’ve never seen anything to make me believe that they exist.”

Robert Chalmers, 17,

senior, Troy

“No, I don’t because they are a figment of your imagination. They’re done with special effects in movies and none of that is real.”

Michelle Derose, 14,

freshman, Troy

“No, I don’t. The theory behind ghosts and spirits was basically an attempt by the ancient civilization to explain post-mortem events.”

Adam Kadri, 14,

junior, Troy

“Yes, I believe in spirits, but not necessarily good or evil ones.”

Heather Mackenzie, 16,

junior, Troy

“All spirits are evil . . . There is whiskey, vodka, etc.”

John Hlavac, 17,

senior, Valencia

“I believe that there are spirits in another dimension that coexist with us, but I don’t think they are evil.”

Jason Taylor, 17,

senior, Valencia

“Yes, I saw them on the TV show ‘That’s Incredible.’ ”

Ralph Castro, 15,

sophomore, Valencia

“Yes, I do, because there are too many unexplained occurrences. I believe in afterlife as well.”

Debbie Addy, 16,

junior, Valencia

“I think it is a possibility that ghosts and spirits exist. I have heard stories that make it seem that it could be a possibility.”

Jennifer Fiscus, 15,

sophomore, Valencia

“Yes, because everybody has a soul and some aren’t put to rest yet. Anyway, it makes life exciting.”

Debbie Leiva, 17,

senior, Villa Park

“No, because there is no concrete evidence of them.”

Holly Deibel, 17,

senior, Villa Park

“No, I don’t believe in ghosts, but I believe in evil spirits if people practice things like voodoo or Ouija boards.”

Heather Bjorklun, 17,

senior, Villa Park

“I’ll believe in ghosts if I happen to see one again. When I was a little girl, I saw one, but it was probably just my imagination.”

Leilani Reyes, 16,

sophomore, Western

“No, I don’t believe in ghosts or evil spirits. Many people do, however. I feel that when you die, your soul goes to heaven or hell. Your body stays on earth to decay. Therefore, I feel people imagine evil things. It’s all in the mind.”

Lea Schmidt, 15,

sophomore, Western

“Yes, I do, because when my grandmother died, all the windows in my room were closed, and I got this cold sensation like she was there.”

David Wolf, 14,

freshman, Western

“I believe in them because there are many things that are unexplained. The only way to explain them is that there are other things out there that aren’t human.”

Michi Quick, 16,

junior, Western

Next Week’s Hot Topic: Who would you vote for in the presidential election?

Hot Topic responses gathered by Connie Alcaraz, Angela Conner, John Coxford, Cynthia Dewell, Roxanne Dyrud, Crystal Fu, Jenny Kaplan, Lynda Kim, Kyra Kirkwood, Stephan Lee, Tabetha Nakasone, Monica Neal, Heather Orey, Lori Ortega, Hai Pham, Gabriel Saldivar, Dawn Stone, Jana Swail, Thoy Yann.