Photo courtesy of photos8.com.

The phone call comes in late last week. A friend. A friend who wishes not to be named.

“I’ve got a great story for you,” he says.

Let’s call my friend Steve. Steve tells me that he’s on Craigslist, poking around when he sees this headline:

Beautiful Olde Mirror with Ghosts! – $65

I laugh and tell Steve that I think this is great. What a clever way to get rid of that old mirror hanging around the basement. I think you can sell anything a lot easier if you say it’s haunted or cursed.

In other words, I’m pretty skeptical about ghosts and goblins residing in mirrors and Steve knows it.

“I’m a pretty good judge of character, and this women seemed really credible. I believed her,” Steve says.

I believe Steve believing this woman. I think people really do believe they’ve seen stuff. Somewhere between seeing the stuff and processing what the stuff means, there is some distortion and the stuff gets turned into ghosts, ufos and chupacabras.

I recently heard a great saying, “It’s not really ‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’ but on the contrary, ‘I’ll see it when I believe it.’”

Regardless of the boring science skeptic explanations, I love the stories. I love the way people create these mythologies around objects and places. The story is the thing. So I’ve reprinted the rest of the ad Steve sent me below:

Beautiful Olde Mirror with Ghosts! – $65
I purchased this mirror from a dealer in Oregon about 15 years ago. The
story I was told is that a woman came to own this mirror from her
grandmother’s estate. When she walked by it one day she saw the image of her
grandmother glaring at her. The images in the mirror became so upsetting,
she decided to replace the failing silver in the glass. Convinced the
disturbing images would stop, she re-hung the freshly repaired mirror in the
parlor of her boarding house. After the mirror had been repaired, each of
the tenants began to see images of people from their past. After the owner
of the boarding home was found dead in her parlor one morning, the tenants
relocated, the boarding home was closed, and its contents were stored.

The dealer I purchased the mirror from, bought a barn-full of unseen items
stored in boxes and old chests. When she removed the mirror from a dusty old
chest, there was a poorly written letter with a story about the images
inside of an old, tea-stained envelope–wrapped inside a tattered fabric
napkin. The dealer could not produce the letter claiming it became a handful
of dust, but she did have the napkin the letter had been folded in.

A friend of mine and myself ‘have’ seen an imagine, but of no one we knew.
We each saw the same image of a woman in a high collared dress(?) with grey
and cream pinstripes’, with 3 tiny buttons on the collar. Her hair was kind
of pulled back with lots of graying strays framing her face. I’ve had the
mirror stored for 12 years until we recently moved. I don’t look directly
into it cause it’s kind of disturbing if I am alone! Who will you see?

Some of my favorite parts:
After the owner
of the boarding home was found dead in her parlor one morning, the tenants
relocated, the boarding home was closed, and its contents were stored.—> This happens all the time. People die, houses are sold and stuff is stored. By putting this bit in a story about dead people in a mirror, it seems a lot more ominous.

The dealer could not produce the letter claiming it became a handful of dust, but she did have the napkin the letter had been folded in…..—>As if a dirty old napkin proves any of this. I love the tenacity of the storyteller.

I don’t look directly
into it cause it’s kind of disturbing if I am alone!—>This may have more to do with the recent owner’s appearance than any ghostly apparitions. Quit telling stories and put some make-up on!

Normally I would just chalk this up to a crank pulling one over on gullible Steve. As a joke, I say to Steve, I say send me that mirror and I’ll put it up on my wall and try to coax any spirits out into the open where they can be interviewed and pose for photo-ops. Since Steve is kind of spooked by the thing, he’s currently keeping the mirror in his garage because he doesn’t want any apparitions getting into his house.

Steve has agreed to send me the haunted mirror with the wish that I properly investigate the claims made by it’s previous owner. I will gaze into the abyss. I hope to see a ghostly image (and that pimple on my chin start to disappear!).

I suspect not much will happen. But if it does, you can be sure I’ll be writing about it here. There will be photos. And video. Because if there aren’t pics, it usually didn’t happen.

Part of me would love for this to be true. To peer into another world full of unseen wonders. I’m open to the possibility. But if I had to bet, I’d bet against it. Still, you never know. Besides, it will make a great story….

Until then check out my exclusive line of haunted t-shirts coming soon to Ebay!