{"id":6253,"date":"2014-02-11T16:36:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T23:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6253"},"modified":"2014-02-11T17:04:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T00:04:41","slug":"back-to-blogging-short-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6253","title":{"rendered":"Back to Blogging, Short Version. Also Ghosts."},"content":{"rendered":"

Short version: I was real busy and then I picked up a nasty cold. Savor the irony: I think that I got it at a National Outdoor Leadership School Wilderness First Aid clas<\/a>s (two intensive eight-hour days).<\/p>\n

I have all these links to comment on and books to review and, basically, I have done zilch. Expect a lot of short posts-with-links.<\/p>\n

So let’s talk about the dead<\/strong>, specifically those from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Rod Dreher links to an article about a man whose visits to the area apparently led to possession <\/a>\u2014 at least, that is how the Buddhist priest responded.<\/p>\n

His wife had already left the house when he woke the next morning. Ono had no particular work of his own, and passed an idle day at home. His mother bustled in and out, but she seemed mysteriously upset, even angry. When his wife got back from her office, she was similarly tense. \u2018Is something wrong?\u2019 Ono asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m divorcing you!\u2019 she replied.<\/p>\n

\u2018Divorce? But why? Why?\u2019<\/p>\n

And so his wife and mother described the events of the night before, after the round of needy phone calls. How he had jumped down on all fours and begun licking the tatami mats and futon, and squirmed on them like a beast. How at first they had nervously laughed at his tomfoolery, but then been silenced when he began snarling: \u2018You must die. You must die. Everyone must die. Everything must die and be lost.\u2019 In front of the house was an unsown field, and Ono had run out into it and rolled over and over in the mud, as if he was being tumbled by a wave, shouting: \u2018There, over there! They\u2019re all over there \u2013 look!\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is more, much much more. Processions of the dead. Vanishing hitchhikers. And stuff like this:<\/p>\n

A fire station in Tagajo received calls to places where all the houses had been destroyed by the tsunami. The crews went out to the ruins anyway and prayed for the spirits of those who had died \u2013 and the ghostly calls ceased.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That would get my attention, since I have to drive past the ruins of neighbors’ homes every time I want to get out to the state highway. Luckily no one died here, no one human.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Short version: I was real busy and then I picked up a nasty cold. Savor the irony: I think that I got it at a National Outdoor Leadership School Wilderness First Aid class (two intensive eight-hour days). I have all these links to comment on and books to review and, basically, I have done zilch. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[104,97,139,60],"class_list":["post-6253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-buddhism","tag-ghosts","tag-japan","tag-shinto"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1CR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6168,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6168","url_meta":{"origin":6253,"position":0},"title":"Gamers and Ghost-hunters","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"What gaming I do has been on computers rather than consoles, so this is a development I missed\u2014using the new Xbox for ghost-hunting. Ever since the release of the Kinect motion sensor controllers in 2010, gamers have been posting videos of \"Kinect Ghosts\" detected by their Xbox 360. The Kinect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ghosts\"","block_context":{"text":"ghosts","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=ghosts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":521,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=521","url_meta":{"origin":6253,"position":1},"title":"The National Guard as exorcistsFrom\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The National Guard as exorcistsFrom The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire via Relapsed Catholic, a cheesy local TV news report on National Guardsmen exorcising \"little girl\" ghosts from an abandoned New Orleans school. Think of it as the military version of \"the priesthood of the believer.\" (Fast connection needed)\"Voodoo, cannibalism,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4374,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4374","url_meta":{"origin":6253,"position":2},"title":"The Wizard and the “Reality” Ghosthunters","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Oberon Zell, co-founder of the Church of All Worlds and headmaster of the Grey School of Wizardry, looks to have a bit part in a reality TV series, Ghost Girls. Its Facebook page calls it \"an off-beat Supernatural\/Reality Based TV show pilot about three 'Real' claravoyant [sic], beautiful women, who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ghosts\"","block_context":{"text":"ghosts","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=ghosts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4944,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4944","url_meta":{"origin":6253,"position":3},"title":"Sex with Ghosts, Vengeful Mummies, etc.","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At The Hairpin, A Q&A with author, photographer, and ossuary expert Paul Koudounaris. Two quotes: Back in grad school I was known as the Fox Mulder of the art history department. Everyone else was working on Rembrandt and I was looking at woodblock prints of witches. . . . If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Egypt\"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=egypt"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=62","url_meta":{"origin":6253,"position":4},"title":"‘Ghosts’ in print","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 6, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"My essay \"Ghosts\" has been published in the November issue of Colorado Central magazine. Naturally, I'm delighted that the editors, Ed and Martha Quillen, liked it, even though it is probably more \"literary\" than their usual editorial mixture.I wrote it last May, composing parts in my head while driving the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"writing\"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=writing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9681,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9681","url_meta":{"origin":6253,"position":5},"title":"UFOs, Bigfoot, and Economic Development in the Coal Camps","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Three little towns in Fremont County, Colo., are referred to collectively as \"the coal camps.\" Rockvale, Coal Creek, and Williamsburg all housed coal miners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I don't know when their populations originally peaked \u2014 maybe in the 1920s. They had a reputation for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/welcome-to-rockvale.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6253"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6257,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253\/revisions\/6257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}