Not a Halloween Story - A Pant-Crapping Warning From Beyond

My brother started fooling around with the occult when he was in his teens, and if something strange hadn't happened that stopped him, he probably would have continued along that path, getting ever deeper into that whole satanic bull-crap. Or maybe he wouldn't have. That's the problem with genius level intelligence; people born with it are like swamp gas and fireflies - beautiful, yet highly combustible. And, I assure you, if anyone could figure out a way to use fireflies in triggering swamp gas explosions, my brother could. Don't waste your time wondering why he would; the answer is simply 'because he could'.

In many ways, my brother fit the stereotypical profile of someone who gets drawn into the occult: a person with an inherently rebellious nature, and a too high opinion of himself. In his defense, I have to say that being legitimately hyper-intelligent in a world where stupidity reaps all the rewards, and where possessing genuine intelligence is seen as some sort of punishable offence, he didn't have much of a choice but to rebel. The only real question is in which direction to take that rebellion? When adrift in a sea of stupidity any direction might look good, and it simply becomes a question of choosing the route that best suits your own goals, ambitions, and temperament.

Mucking around with the 'dark arts' perfectly suited my brother's temperament. Being the natural ring-leader that he was, he also brought his friends along with him for the ride.

The incident that caused them to collectively crap their pants, and swear off fooling around with occult things, happened one day when they were gathered together at my brother's girlfriend's house. June (not her real name) was sound asleep, with her head resting on my brother's lap. The guys were doing whatever they did when they hung out together. Suddenly, she turned her head and looked right at them. Her face appeared extremely odd, nothing at all like it usually did. In an even weirder voice she warned them to stop messing around with the things they'd been messing around with. Then she went back to sleep.

When June woke up a few moments later, she found everyone in the room staring at her, their faces completely drained of color. If it was possible, their color drained even more after they found out that she had absolutely no recollection of what had just happened. From that day on, every last one of them swore off the occult. It was a warning they took seriously.

I know that there are a lot of people who would scoff at such a thing happening, but the most obvious fact of all is that just because you can't see something, it doesn't mean it isn't there. The existence of the invisible can only be proven by the evidence it leaves in its wake, or the impression that it makes on our other senses. The wind is invisible, but we feel it on our skin, or see the evidence of its presence in the movement of leaves on a tree, or as a piece of rubbish being blown across a street.

There is undoubtedly an invisible world around us, whether we want to believe in it or not. Sometimes, something in that world manifests itself here in ours, and does so in a very convincing manner. But, when all is said and done, the credibility of the witnesses is what really matters. In this case, I heard the story from more than one person who was present at the time. Most importantly, I heard it from June herself, who is one of the most reliable witnesses there could be.

This is not a Halloween story; if it was, I would have told it on Halloween. The moral of this story is to be careful what you involve yourself in, because most people don't get as elaborate a warning when they are about to cross a dangerous line as my brother and his friends did. People tend to mess with a lot of things that they believe to be harmless, or even beneficial, without really understanding what it is that they're tapping into. Doctrines such as the one outlined in 'The Secret' are occultism lite, whether its adherents want to believe it or not. So my final warning is to be careful what you mess with, particularly when it promises you wealth, love, happiness, power and whatever your heart desires. If it looks too good to be true, it most definitely is.

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