My family might not have one, but my friend’s dad is a very religious guy and he believes that he was slapped by a ghost. Would that work for what you need?
Do you think you could give me more about that, like who did he think was slapping him, why, what he thought after it?
Well here is the whole story…
It’s going to sound really ridiculous. But, I mean, what ghost story doesn’t?
The story didn’t say whether the ghost was malevolent or anything, but he came up with the conclusion that my friend’s dad needed to climb up this “holy” hill in order to get rid of his like numb/paralyzed state so his family took him there and he crawled up the hill really slowly until he reached the top and miraculously. He was able to stand when he reached the top and to this day he actually believes that this happened.
So he didn’t know if it was an evil or holy spirit? He just thought that a ghost hit him?
Yeah basically. I mean I’d guess he’d think it was malevolent by the way the story was told and ghost was used.
I personally cannot express much belief in this experience either, since it seems objectively just crazy. He even expresses a disbelief himself, and the circumstances of it – a ghost hovering over a guy making stink until it decides to smack him, which obviously calls for the involvement of clergy – don’t help any. The informant is not deeply religious, but has religion. If anything, I think that this showcases a movement towards more secular, scientific thought in regards to experiences once believed to be physical manifestations of religion. This also shows a divorce from the “Old Guard” of Eastern Europeans, as the informant is an American-born Armenian. The informant confirmed later that many of his relatives in Armenia believe in some form of ghosts, while his immediate, Americanized family does not.