Context:

LB is a 20-year-old female who had a friend in High School, AS, who allegedly could see, hear, and sometimes communicate with the spirits of the dead. AS claimed to regularly be ignoring spirits when engaging in normal conversation and only mentioned that she perceived them after the fact. LB, who is deeply disturbed by paranormal activity and the supernatural, remembers being horrified by AS’s abilities.

Text:

Interviewer: “What’s one time you remember AS having one of these ghost-medium episodes?”

LB: “Once we were at my neighbor’s house dog-sitting at night and we were on a call with another friend. Out of nowhere, AS asked if I could hear knocking and I said no and got super confused. It didn’t take me long to realize what was happening, and I told our friend on the phone that we had to go. AS didn’t like a lot of people knowing about how she experienced this stuff. So she continued to hear the knocking and I still didn’t, so clearly we figured it was a supernatural thing. Then we freak out and get the dogs back into their kennel quickly and book it out of there. I was the one driving us home, but kept noticing AS looking behind us while we were in the car. I told her to stop because it was freaking me out. She didn’t tell me why at the time, but she eventually told me she saw a girl running toward us behind the car screaming for help.”

Analysis:

In those high school years of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, people feel like they are in a very liminal space. Therefore, it is common for youth to take on and be more aware of the liminal realm of the supernatural. Just as college students are more likely to believe in ghosts, the same can be said for high schoolers as they begin to become more aware of their futures and potential as future working members of society. They start to learn to drive, to work a minimum wage job, and as a result, eventually pay their own taxes.

For this reason, it makes sense why AS would be experiencing or perceive to be experiencing these episodes of spirit communication. Whether or not any supernatural activity occurred or if it was mostly in her head, AS’s mind was nevertheless in the bordering realm between childhood and adulthood, making her more superstitious overall.