As Halloween approaches, all things ghoulish and ghostly are prevalent in stores, front yards, television, movies and, well, everywhere.

I was recently asked, "Do you believe in ghosts?"I guess I'd have to say, "yes."When I was a kid, why else was I scared to walk by the cemetery behind my house when it was dark? It made sense to me that if there were ghosts, they'd be hanging out in a cemetery and I didn't want any part of their shenanigans.Every day after dinner, my mom sent me over to my grandparents' house next door to get the newspaper they shared. During the fall and winter months, it was always dark outside. I quaked in fear. I knew ghosts were lurking out there just waiting to pounce and scare the heck out of me.I was one of those kids who believed something not of this world lived underneath my bed. I always made sure no part of my body hung outside the covers for fear of it grabbing me.I'd like to tell you that I've outgrown all these silly fears, but ... well, let's just say I have a vivid imagination. Yes, I am a fraidy cat and scared of the dark.Now I'm not a big fan of those "Halloween," "Friday the 13th" slasher movies. Hate those. But I do like a good ghost story movie, like, well, "Ghost" starring Patrick Swayze. Some of my other favorite ghost movies are: "Blithe Spirit," "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (Love that one!), "Beetlejuice," "Christmas Carol" and "Topper." I can't explain why, but I become spellbound with "The Haunting," "The Uninvited," "The Others," "The Sixth Sense," "The Legend of Hell House," "Poltergeist," "The Amityville Horror" and "Ghost Story." My all-time favorite ghost story and my second all-time favorite movie, (a double header) is "Field of Dreams."I told you before that I go to painting classes and my teacher, Sandy, lives in a haunted house. I've only ever had a couple of kind of freaky experiences years ago, much to my disappointment. No apparitions, no flying items through the air. But once we heard footsteps upstairs when there was no one at home except us in the basement studio. Another time, we felt a coldness drift from the front of the room to the back and then disappear.Last Tuesday night, we might have experienced a "happening." Since no one could come up with a logical explanation, we'll chalk it up to a ghostly visit.Sandy sits in the front of the room. She has a video camera fastened to a ceiling beam that focuses on her hands painting on the project. The video is projected on a television that faces us so we can see what she is doing.So it was the beginning of the class last week. No one was home upstairs."Take your brush and water your paint down to a watery mix," she said, demonstrating for us. Then she painted a leaf on her palette paper to show us how she wanted us to paint it.As she pointed to the sample leaf with the tip of her paint brush, the picture on the television screen began to shimmer and shake. The leaf started to look like a paint blob."Look at this!" Sandy exclaimed. We all sat and watched this new and fascinating show. She tried adjusting the picture with a remote control but it continued to shimmer and shake. Her future daughter-in-law, Lori, who is a computer tech, got up and checked to see if the camera was loose. It was not. She checked to see if the lens was going in and out of focus. It was not.She put her hand between the camera and the palette. The picture on the television showed the leaf in perfect detail, no shimmering or shaking. As soon as she took her hand away, the picture shimmered and shook. She put her hand under the camera ... stillness. She did this several times and we watched in fascination the "now it shimmers, now it doesn't" show.Lori shrugged her shoulders and sat down.Finally Sandy shouted, "Now cut it out. That's enough! Now go away and let me teach!"And, with one final little shimmer, a quick little shake, it stopped.I think we had all been holding our breaths. When it ceased, we all kind of laughed in relief. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully.I always say, if you're going to have ghosts in your house, it's nice to have obedient ones.(If you have ever had a ghostly experience, let me know.)