THE TRIP

Ch 10-Tail Piece (EPILOUGE).

There is a world beyond what our eyes can see. This is the realm of the unknown, or what we call it to be 'PARANORMAL'. This world coexists with ours. It is not only on the purfle, as some of us believe and claim, neither do they come alive only after the twilight hour. Rather, it is right here in our midst, mingled with our elements, and even interacting with our world with the ways we truly can't comprehend. But, there is definitely a peak time for the increase in the frequency of their activities at the dead end of the night, around 3am - 4am. This hour is known as the Devils hour.

The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, though stories of ghostly armies and the ghosts of animals rather than humans have also been recounted.They are believed to haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life. According to a 2009 study by the Pew Research Center, 18% of Americans say they have seen a ghost.

The overwhelming consensus of science is that there is no proof that ghosts exist. Their existence is impossible to falsify, and ghost hunting has been classified as pseudoscience. Recent research has indicated that ghost sightings may be related to degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Common prescription medication and over-the-counter drugs (such as sleep aids) may also, in rare instances, cause ghost-like hallucinations, particularly zolpidem and diphenhydramine. Older reports linked carbon monoxide poisoning to ghost-like hallucinations. In folklore studies, ghosts fall within the motif index designation E200-E599.

The English word ghost continues Old English gāst, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North Germanic and East Germanic (the equivalent word in Gothic is ahma, Old Norse has andi m., önd f.). The prior Proto-Indo-European form was *ǵʰéysd-os, from the root *ǵʰéysd- denoting "fury, anger" reflected in Old Norse geisa "to rage". The Germanic word is recorded as masculine only, but likely continues a neuter s-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been an animating principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation and fury (compare óðr). In Germanic paganism, "Germanic Mercury", and the later Odin, was at the same time the conductor of the dead and the "lord of fury" leading the Wild Hunt.

Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of Latin spiritus also in the meaning of "breath" or "blast" from the earliest attestations (9th century). It could also denote any good or evil spirit, such as angels and demons; the Anglo-Saxon gospel refers to the demonic possession of Matthew 12:43 as se unclæna gast. Also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the "Holy Ghost".

The now-prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" only emerges in Middle English (14th century). The modern noun does, however, retain a wider field of application, extending on one hand to "soul", "spirit", "vital principle", "mind", or "psyche", the seat of feeling, thought, and moral judgement; on the other hand used figuratively of any shadowy outline, or fuzzy or unsubstantial image; in optics, photography, and cinematography especially, a flare, secondary image, or spurious signal.

The synonym spook is a Dutch loanword, akin to Low German spôk (of uncertain etymology); it entered the English language via American English in the Alternative words in modern usage include spectre (altn. specter; from Latin spectrum), the Scottish wraith (of obscure origin), phantom (via French ultimately from Greek phantasma, compare fantasy) and apparition. The term shade in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά, or Latin umbra, in reference to the notion of spirits in the Greek underworld. "Haint" is a synonym for ghost used in regional English of the southern United States, and the "haint tale" is a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition. The term poltergeist is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects. Wraith is a Scots word for ghost, spectre, or apparition. It appeared in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the more general or figurative sense of portent or omen. In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it also applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology; the OED notes "of obscure origin" only. An association with the verb writhe was the etymology favored by J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien's use of the word in the naming of the creatures known as the Ringwraiths has influenced later usage in fantasy literature. Bogey or bogy/bogie is a term for a ghost, and appears in Scottish poet John Mayne's Hallowe'en in 1780.

Despite centuries of investigation, there is no scientific evidence that any location is inhabited by spirits of the dead. Historically, certain toxic and psychoactive plants (such as datura and hyoscyamus niger), whose use has long been associated with necromancy and the underworld, have been shown to contain anticholinergic compounds  as well as histological patterns of neurodegeneration.

A revenant is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied ghost or alternatively as an animated ("undead") corpse. Also related is the concept of a fetch, the visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive.

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Hi !There,

This is Saptaparni Roy (Sam/Sammy in this story). I was barely a teenager when I had first collided with the paranormal realm. This story is my recent experience. Roughly a few years back, by that time I was quite adapted to the paranormal circumstances, as to how they feel and work. I read in class ten, it was the year of 2017, November.I was just 16 years old when I had to face this situation. Now, I am a college going first year student. I am just a simple girl and I am not a paranormal investigator (and I don't even aspire to become one on future). This experience of mine is really very scary and very memorable for me. I stood strong with a height of 5'4". Having a spectacle on the tip of my nose, I was the apple of my teachers as well as my friend's eyes. I might look a brave girl but deep within I am just a shitty scared little puppy. But situations make you act accordingly. I managed to grow daunting and brave when the six of us were in that great trouble.

This quarantine made me relieve those lovely as well as dreaded moments. And it was then when I thought of penning down my experiences here. I have woven down my memories into words. a
And as I dud so, I have given myself a chance to live those happy days all over again.

Whenever someone gets to know about my interest in the paranormal realm, I am always asked,'Miss Roy, Do you believe in ghosts?' I have always answered 'YES' because I believe that there is a life beyond what we see. I believe in the immortality of our souls until it attains salvation. When I have brushed myself through the other worldly people, unintentionally, I have always perceived the sense of something being 'not normal'. Something made me feel that 'WRONG' vibe. I have grown up hearing that I have a strong sixth sense, which dominates the other five senses of mine. And the point that people point out in me, (which is absolutely baseless), is that I don't fear anything. Well, No, this is totally ridiculous. I mean, who isn't afraid to lose his/her life?

I would like to grab this opportunity to thank everyone for reading my most hair-raising paranormal experience. I have never ever been a very good writer. Nor have I given a thought of being one. Here (in this 10th chap), I have just jot down a few detailed informations of the other realm of this world from the internet (which is written in the former part of this tail piece / epilouge). While writing this story here, I have preferred not to unleash the identity of my five friends and the place where I had this vivid experience and the hotel name in which we had spent those nights, 'cause it was a school excursion, neither did I name my school. I have just narrated my experiences in this story.

Thank You,

SAPTAPARNI ROY.