Before you think that I have discovered strong indications of the existence of any luminous figures or ghosts during my research, for example non-manipulated photos or video recordings, I unfortunately have to disappoint you: I do not have such material.
But what I do know are people who say they have either seen or otherwise perceived ghosts.
There would be a young woman seeing figures with cadaveric faces invisible to others;
a man who heard a child sing every night, although he lived all alone in his house;
an elderly woman who told me that she kept seeing her husband standing at the end of the bed – even though he had died in a mining accident four decades earlier.
I don't presume to judge and I'm not very familiar with psychology, but the three of them all came and still seem to me to be quite cheerful.
However, I can imagine that something weighed heavily on them - possibly as a result of traumatizing events or because they simply did not want to be able to get over the loss of a loved one.
The ghosts they saw or heard probably haunted them only in their heads.
But I would find it impudent and negligent to say the same thing to the three believers in ghosts as my daughters did after hearing »Hui Bui – the ghost of the castle«: »There are no ghosts!«
Last week I had to think of the three cases from my circle of acquaintances when I read the article "Is the spook never over?" by my colleague Julia Köppe.
It's about people who reported paranormal experiences.
The physicist and psychologist Walter von Lucadou, founder of the parapsychological advice center in Freiburg, which has received up to 3000 calls a year in the past, has his say as an expert.
The state of Baden-Württemberg has now stopped providing financial support.
I think that's a big mistake, because the offer that the institution makes is low-threshold - and therefore exactly what many people want.
Ten years ago I wrote about the counseling center myself and met an interesting psychologist, Franziska Wald.
The young woman told me at the time that she was "not at all" interested in ghost or ghost stories, but was very interested in the vulnerable human soul.
At the counseling center, she does exactly the same thing that her colleagues do in "normal" practices: listen, empathize, think about solutions.
"People feel that we take them seriously," said Wald.
»Many of our callers are lonely and just need someone who will listen without prejudice when they talk about their ghosts.«
It would make sense to resume support from the counseling center.
It might even be cheaper for the healthcare system in the long term.
Because ghosts that no one takes seriously can get bigger and bigger.
Possibly so big that they also harm others.
Heartfelt
Yours, Guido Kleinhubbert
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