Monsters and Mysteries

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
– Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

And, aren’t you glad? Shakespeare undoubtedly did not mean the Lock Ness Monster nor the ghost lights at Etta nor all the stories we’ve heard while sitting around the fire having a case of the delicious shivers. But the truth is, we can’t explain many things that happen in this old world and I, for one, am sincerely glad. I hope they remain that way.

I remember hearing my grandfather, Pappy Latty, tell stories of men who dug for buried gold and were stopped by invisible cobwebs or the sound of an approaching wagon. But, when they stopped digging, the cobwebs and noise of wheels on rocks went away. My older cousins told me about seeing lights at night around Etta that followed them down a dusty road. And people are still hunting for Nessie, the Lock Ness Monster in Scotland.

If you want to hear a lot of really spooky tales that no one can explain but everyone believes, take a trip to Ireland. That lovely land is steeped in ghostly stories.

I like to use as many of the old tales as I can in the Darcy and Flora books. This is not to say that Darcy or Flora actually believe in such things but there was one time when thick, heavy spider webs stopped Darcy from exploring a lonely creek. And everyone had heard about the ghost lights along the river.

With all our technological know-how, our advances in science, I’m glad there are some things that remain unexplainable. It lends a bit of mystery and intrigue to life, don’t you think? It’s nice that this universe contains more things than we could ever imagine.