My Favorite Halloween Story Turned Out to be Quite a Shock!

 One of the surprising things they never taught me in college regarding my journalism and photojournalism career, is that the story you pursue is not always the story you will ultimately write. I learned to be open minded, never give up, and what surprises you, will end up surprising your readers.

That actually happened several times to me, and it was a wake-up call.

There's a couple that stick out as the ones that were a total surprise, and received a healthy number of hits, creating a win win for all.  Since it's mid November, it seems the perfect time to blog about my pursuing a Thanksgiving story about Native Americans. Those of you who know me a little better, know I am always interested in something unusual and out of the box, so putting the pilgrims and puritans aside for something different, sounded fun and intriguing for both my readers and myself. 

For this particular story, I wanted to photograph Pueblo ruins and talk about Native Americans for a Thanksgiving piece. They are so often included in stories about the First Thanksgiving, specifically, but not to the point I was interested in presenting. I headed out west to find ruins in the desert that I could weave into an historic saga of adventure and intrigue. I did the usual research, picked a few possibilities I thought would make the most intriguing and comprehensive shots, and hiked 2 miles through the desert to one that still remains a favorite today.  

Surprisingly, what evolved was nothing like what I had imagined.

Personally, my photographs often lead me to the story, as opposed to the story dictating the photographs.  Recently, I explored this theory with my first publisher, Dan Smith who has become a good friend and even more of a mentor over the years.  He agreed that it's important to keep your mind open to surprises and surprise endings.  I'd recommend that for everyone if you are fortunate enough to be a journalist and a photojournalist and you can swing it with your employer.  I'll explain more about that later.  

On this occasion, I began taking photographs of the ruins and petroglyphs and everything I thought would be of interest for my Thanksgiving story.  What appeared on my finished photos however, contained a lot more.  Not sure of what I was seeing, I shared the photos with several park personnel and workers there, who happily enlightened me that my shots contained orbs and ghosts.  

Not convinced, I cleaned my lenses, cameras, and retook the photos standing in different spots, taking the shots with different lenses and at different angles, thinking they were merely skewed reflections from dust or the bright desert sun.  I even reverted to using my old Sony, vs the Nikons I had tried first.  Nothing changed.  The orbs, portals, and what the employees and visitors informed me were evidence of spirits and the paranormal remained in my shot. 

Still not convinced, I interviewed descendants of these Native Americans, and shared my photos.  Surprisingly, they agreed that a few of their ancestors probably never actually passed on, having led not such an exemplary life on earth they said, and smiling, gave names and human identities to some of the phenomena that had photo-bombed my shots.

Most traditional believe that their departed have a few days (usually 4 depending on the tribe) during which time it will be decided whether they have earned the right to go to the spirit world.  Others believe they resurface as clouds and give life back, ultimately in the form of rain. 

Some named names and with a chuckle told me who was most likely attached to what they believed was a certain orb or portal or whatever the object was that had photo-bombed my shots.

It was a fascinating discovery, and turned into what my readers and I found to be a great story just in time for Halloween vs the Thanksgiving story with the historic twist I had originally planned.  

Whatever you believe, it's a great time to ponder your belief in ghosts, orbs and all things metaphysical.  When my computer unfreezes, I'll post them here. Here are some of the photos and you decide.

Above all, enjoy my epiphany, enjoy wherever life takes you, and smile at the thought that, if it is in fact spirits of the departed, they are getting their few minutes of blog fame. 

The photo was taken close to Halloween at Wicked Tuna, one of my favorite restaurants on "seafood row" in Murrells Inlet, SC.