Fluff Piece

With Halloween behind us it's time to exorcise our demons, lock away our Necronomicons, and return to walking in daylight once again. Pretending we live in a Demon Haunted World is fun for a time, but I prefer the real, tangible world any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

I'm sure you know people who believe in a lot of whacky stuff. Maybe you have some whacky beliefs yourself? What's the harm, right? Without getting all serious lets just leave it at "I've seen this kind of thinking make victims of people" and get back to the levitude.

Today we're spotlighting a story that aired as one of those fluff pieces at the end of the "news" and subsequently went viral: The Gas Station Ghost. Only we're paying no attention to the original cut. We're going with the RECUT! version. Because its way funnier.

The original story, as you'll soon figure out if you haven't seen it already, was about a ghost caught on a gas station security cam. It's your typical non-news news story where the reporter lets "you decide." Which is always code for - everything you just saw and heard is complete rubbish but if we came out and said that we wouldn't have a story now would we? *wink*

Anyway, The Gas Station Ghost Recut is the handiwork of a real life superhero who goes by the name Captain Disillusion. Captain D likes to take all sorts of hokey videos on the web and break them down for us, showing how they were faked. It really is an entertaining production for something free to the web. I promise you'll have loads of fun catching up in his channel. I give it 5 bugs. Highly recommended.

Spooks

BOO!

Did I scare you? Did I? Hmm?

No?

Well crap.

I got an excuse. I come from a land Down Under. Where Halloween never caught on (and men plunder?). Oh, they tried it a few times. But people just weren't ready with the candy and the kids didn't come prepared with any tricks. So trick or treating was a bust from the get go.

Due to this glaring hole in the litany of holidays we observe here in Oz, we're just not up to speed with being scary. And there you have it. But I will endeavor to get with the program, seeing as how I love ghosts.

Did you just think of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore? Dude, you should see a doctor about that.

I'm talking about ghost stories in general. The entirety of ghost lore. The idea of restless spirits, unable to leave this plane. Earthbound souls trapped due to some incomplete task. Like, say, employing Whoopie Goldberg to help you get back at the guy who murdered you.

Shit! I knew this would happen once you mentioned Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. What? I did not bring it up. You did!

Moving on. Because I'm tired of your bullshit and I wants me to go to bed. I got a video for you. Relax. It's not what you're thinking. It does not feature Unchained Melody or clay pot sex. It contains no Rick Astley as far as I'm aware. And its not a screamer. I wouldn't do that to you. I rely too much on your continued patronage.

What we got here is a spooky little ghost video. It's subtle. There's no shrieking violin strings, no dischordant piano stabs. No running from a vague humanoid figure whilst shaking the camera and yelping like a kicked dog. It's just someone's footage they took at night, in a field, at some civil war site. That's all you really need to prime your imagination. Because that's what you'll be using when you see what goes down.

The question is: What is it you are really seeing? Civil war ghosts? A well choreographed hoax?

Matters little to me. I don't actually believe in ghosts. But I love them just the same. So this footage is a fave simply because of its vague subject and unexplained spookfulness. It isn't set up to be a cheesy shock. It's believable. And that's why I think it's so damn effective.

Happy Halloween, my Halloween celebrating friends!