Overheard at Booth 4

and so Edmiston was telling Rachel, "it's a rip in time, essentially, at least that's what our research is leading us to understand. There essentially are no ghosts, in the sense of souls trapped in a certain location and just there to scare the daylights out of the living, no . . ."

". . .and nothing for anyone to say, 'you need to move on, go! go into the light!'?"

"right, nothing like that. But I love that show, by the way."

"I know what you love about the show."

"well, anyway, we know there's a soul, and we know the soul leaves the body when the body stops. Sometimes it even leaves the body before. Especially if you're an attorney, but that's another story . . . "

"ooh, I hope nobody's recording this! You could get sued!"

"anyway," Edminston continued, "really what we think of as ghosts are really nothing more than a ripple in time. Same as when you drop a stone into a pool of water, the ripples are reflected throughout the entire pool. We think that's what we think of as ghosts. Something traumatic happened at a specific place at a specific time, and we think that perhaps the psychic energy was so strong, so intense, that it actually caused a rip in time, so that incident, if you will, is replayed throughout time. These are not ghosts in the sense that they have any intelligence, will, memory, consciousness, no - they're simply reflections, ripples, of some tragic event."

"so," Rachel said, "you're kind of saying that they're like just a reflection of the thing that happened, rather than the person themselves."

"right, the person is gone. The soul is gone, it's moved on, Heaven, Hell, wherever, but there was something about the incident that caused such an intense amount of energy from the person that experienced it, that a reflection of them, however faint, remains - and can be felt and experienced."

"well, what about the spirits from 'beyond' when someone goes to a fortune teller or whatever?"

"oh, man, that's a totally different thing altogether, we know those aren't ghosts. Those aren't even souls, those are demons pretending to be your long lost loved ones. We shoot those goons back to Hell pretty much on a daily basis. No, we're talking about haunted houses, pure and simple here. We're talking about psychic energy that has the power to touch people all across time . . . .

"and let me tell you," Edminston continued, "what really makes me stop and think, about all this, about these conclusions we're coming to - what really makes me sit up late at night is to think, 'how strong did God make our souls that they can actually TEAR A HOLE IN TIME' ? Think about it - that's defying the laws of physics. And if we're right, and we have that power - it just blows the mind."

"well, the Bible does say He breathed into us, right? Made in His image, and all that. That's gotta mean something."

"yes, it does. That's what we're trying to get to the bottom of."

"so what do you need from me?" Rachel asked.

"we need you to scout a new location. One for testing. A haunted house."

"there are millions out there, why don't you just open the phone book?"

"no. I'm talking about one that no one's ever been to before, one that no one ever talks about. Nothing that's ever been documented. We think you can find it."

"thanks for the faith . . . well, let me do some checking and get back with you."

"okay, then."

"okay. Thanks for the cappucino."