I found this sitting on the table beside my bed this morning. As it’s in my handwriting, I imagine that I must have written it at some point during the night.
While I doubt that beloved local historian James Mann is, in fact, a ghost, I do like the idea that he could be.
If you have ever touched James Mann, and can state for certain that he is, in fact, a real, flesh-and-blood human being of our century, and not a ghostly apparition from Ypsilanti’s past, please let me know. Until then, however, I plan to proceed as though he is a ghost… as, if nothing else, it will make his torch-lit cemetery tours all the more thrilling.
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He is rather fluid in his movements…
If he is a ghost, he is a very nice ghost.
If a tortured soul from the past were trapped here wouldn’t “local historian” be the perfect cover?
You’d have to keep moving every few decades though or run the risk of someone noticing that weren’t aging.
With his permission, a short story should be written on this theme.
Frustrated by his true knowledge of the past, his knowledge of his own true nature, ever avoiding personal contact…..
I shook his hand when I met him. He’s real.
Or
I am a ghost, too?
I’ve shaken your hand too, Mark, so then you are a ghost.
This reminds me of the time that I almost died and thought I was really was dead for a bit, and told my EMT driver that I was dead. He said that wasn’t possible because he was alive and he was talking to me. I leaned in and whispered, “You just don’t know you’re dead yet.” It was quite the night.
Maybe you should call and see if he’s okay.
Bad beer.
As far as I know, and I have not yet had the nerve to check, I am alive, I think.
That’s exactly what I’d expect you to say, Mr. Mann.
He does know about every weird and creepy death to take place in town since its founding.
I just had a great idea for a prank… which is to go into the Ypsi Historical Society archives and doctor a photo from the 1840s so that James can be seen in the background.
And, James, we need to have you on the radio program sometime to tell local ghost stories. (And we can clear this question up about your being a spirit at the same time.)
At this point it’s all spookulation.
I was raised to believe that James Mann was Keyser Söze.
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[…] demanding that I touch him while on the air, and confirm for the people of Ypsilanti that, despite the claims of a well-respected local blogger, he is not a ghost. Here he is, making the case that he is, just like the rest of us, […]