From ghostly sex stories to haunted tube lines, the human race is no stranger to spooky spirits.
One woman, Chloe Smith, from Ashbourne, Derbyshire, says she is visited by spirits year-round, but things get intense around Halloween.
Chloe is a psychic medium, and she told What’s the Jam that she ‘feels the presence’ of past loved ones and pets. ‘They make themselves known with the creeks in the night,’ she said.
But, while the mum-of-three claims she is always surrounded by spirits, she said that the heightened energy around Halloween makes the ghosts more forthcoming.
‘Halloween is the awakening to the dead and I feel it,’ she said.
She added: ‘For me, more and more spirits surround me because I am naturally more open to listening to the dead on Halloween.’
Why we all love a good scare
The thought of coming face to face with a ghost is tantalisingly scary.
What is it about being frightened that feels so bad yet so good?
Turns out, the brain processes fear in the same way it processes excitement.
Dr Dean Mobbs, a California Institute of Technology neuroscientist and expert in fear, previously told that our body responds to fear by producing opioids to prepare for pain.
‘When we enter horror houses or watch scary movies, the knowledge that we’re safe but simultaneously in danger causes the release of neurotransmitters that excite us,’ he said.
Not to mention, as Niloufar Esmaeilpour, a registered clinical counsellor, approved supervisor and founder at Lotus Therapy and Counselling Centre, told us, while our fight or flight response is subconsciously activated, the fact we know it isn’t real allows us to enjoy the fear.
‘The prefrontal cortex of the brain regulates this fear and enables us, if we choose to, to enjoy the experience rather than being consumed by it,’ she says.
This triggers the release of dopamine – a hormone responsible for pleasure and motivation – which can keep us coming back for more.
Chloe believes she has been followed by ghosts and woken to spirits at the foot of her bed.
She believes they come forward to prove that there is life after death, but she isn’t afraid.
‘It’s okay because they can’t hurt me,’ she said.
‘I just turn over and go back to sleep or ignore them.’
In fact, she said, spirits can even be playful.
‘One Halloween, I started packing the Lego off the floor that the children had been playing with the night before, only to walk back in the room five minutes later and find the Lego had been rebuilt into a house.
‘The ghosts sure love to play, that’s for sure.’
While people can become ‘anxious’ as ‘the whisper of the dead comes closer and the signs become stronger,’ she said, there is no need to be scared.
‘Nothing can do anything to you,’ she said.
‘If anything, they just miss you and want to make you aware that they are okay.’
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