Happy Halloween! 

I'm one of those people who loves a good ghost story. Friday morning as I was getting ready for work, I was listening to the morning show on 89x (88.7 fm) as I do every morning. I was drying my hair so I couldn't hear it real well, but I did hear them say something about a crew staying the night in a haunted building, then I heard the building was in Trenton (a city I cover) and I was instantly excited to come to work and write a story in hopes that some others would find it as intriguing as I did.

Growing up I loved to read books and articles about haunted places. I used to get excited for the paranormal investigation television shows to come on the Travel Channel. A shelf on my bookshelf was dedicated to books about haunted lighthouses throughout the country and haunted buildings in Michigan.

A few weeks ago I was walking through a downtown area in my hometown with an old friend and some others who weren't from there. As we passed an old theater that we used to spend a lot of time in, my friend and I shared our stories of the ghosts we saw in the lightbooth and sitting in the seats. I was happy to share the stories, but then instantly wondered how many people in our group thought I was crazy for thinking I've seen ghosts before...

When I was describing to others what the paranormal teams were doing in Trenton, I found myself continuously saying, "the place is allegedly haunted" and "there are supposedly ghosts in the building."

And that, my friends, was the journalist coming out in me. It becomes a habit to not say things that make people think you're bias in any way, even about silly things like haunted buildings the week before Halloween.

When we posted the story on our Facebook, it asked if people believe in ghosts. Some people said yes. Some said absolutely not. Some said they believe in spirits, not ghosts. Either way, it was a fun story that got some readers' attention.

This morning I made sure to tune in to the radio station for the discussion on what happened Friday night. I wouldn't even dry my hair until after the segment was over because I wanted to hear about it. I listened to the audio and watched the videos. I had goosebumps listening to it and was so interested to hear what they experienced.

So in the spirit of Halloween day, I'm letting go of my journalistic mindset and admitting that I love the stories of hauntings and would be geeked to spend a night with paranormal investigators in a haunted building.

Send me an email (eperdue@heritage.com) or Facebook message me (www.facebook.com/EPjournalist) with any haunted experiences you've had! I would love to read them!

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes, because it's about journalism and being a moralist. It applies here and in my everyday life, honestly. It's a quote that I agree with sometimes and disagree with other times.

"Journalism without a moral position is impossible. Every journalist is a moralist. It’s absolutely unavoidable. A journalist is someone who looks at the world and the way it works, someone who takes a close look at things every day and reports what she sees, someone who represents the world, the event, for others. She cannot do her work without judging what she sees."

 -   Marguerite Duras Outside: Selected Writings