At Chamblee High, students can learn about a variety of different topics, but one area that remains a mystery is whether or not ghosts are real. Students throughout the school have differing opinions that range from having experienced the paranormal first-hand to not believing in them at all.

Whether ghosts exist and what role they play in your life can vary differently depending on your beliefs.

“I think it’s a very Western view. […] A lot of Westerners view ghosts as scary and haunting, whereas in a lot of Eastern cultures, you see ghosts as being more comforting because it’s your family visiting you and such,” said senior Francesca Mariano (‘22).

Junior Ileana Depner’s experiences seem to fall into the Eastern view on ghosts.

“A part of me kind of does [believe in ghosts], but not in the way that people think ghosts are real, in the way that there’s some kind of corporeal, fully functioning, beings who think and do things,” said Depner (‘23). “I always think of ghosts as kind of feelings or memories or someone who dies when they’re kind of just a memory.”

Many students, including senior Carmen Bays (‘22), claim to have had first-hand experiences with ghosts.

“I used to live in an older house a couple of years ago, and we had a lot of paranormal activity. You would see shadowy figures in doorways. […] My family would get poked in the middle of the night and we would hear tapping on walls,” said Bays.

Some students even claim they were able to record their encounters with ghosts.

“We were at our old house and that house has been haunted for a while. So it was me, my sister and my stepbrother, we were all dancing and while we were dancing, my dad took a video of us. We looked at the video later on and we saw […] a white figure hiding behind us,” said sophomore Micah Walker (‘24).

Some experiences remind students of a typical horror movie.

“When I was at home alone the TV randomly turned on and I was really scared,” said freshman Harrison Farris (‘25).

Junior Kylie Morad (‘23) is not the only one in her family who claims to have had encounters with ghosts.

“I do have a ghost living in my house; my cat sees it. I genuinely believe that my cat can see the ghost that lives in my house because he’ll chase it. He’ll look in the distance and just yell at it like he’s having a conversation,” said Morad (‘23).

Some people think that ghosts must be real due to so many people having stories about encountering them.

“I believe in ghosts because I think it’s naive to think that the story of ghosts was made up without any evidence in the past to back it up,” junior said Ava Deljou (‘23).

Others have a short reason as to why they don’t believe in ghosts.

“I’ve never seen one. Why should I believe in them?” said senior Nick Hirsch (‘22).

Even those who are skeptical about ghosts sometimes feel uneasy when scary things happen.

“When I’m in my room, when it’s dark, am I scared of what’s lurking in the shadows? Yes. Could it be a ghost? Yes, but they’re fake and I know that,” said junior Sasha Kropac (‘23).

Other students believe that when people die, becoming ghosts seems unlikely.

“I just don’t think that’s the way the world works. I think that when things die that’s not what happens to them, other things definitely happen, but just not ghosts,” said Jonathan Sneh (‘25).

One student questioned the motivation of ghosts.

“Most of the time. I feel like they’re haunting people. I don’t think that people will waste their time when they’re dead to harm other people,” said freshman Moises Ocando Hernandez (‘25).

For those who have never experienced anything that could be ghostly, there could be other reasons ghosts are popular.

“I don’t believe in ghosts because I just have to see some proof. […] The ghost hunter shows I know are really funny, but I think the people just make it up for fun and for entertainment value […] It’s supposed to be a humorous thing and it’s not actually real,” said senior Andrew Pietkiewicz (‘22).

It seems all the students at Chamblee have different beliefs as to how the rules work.

“Definitely not all ghosts can interact with people. I feel like you have to have a connection with the person to be able to interact with them, you can’t just interact with anyone,” said senior Will Johnson (‘22).

Students seem to have much to discuss on the rules of haunting, motivations behind the supernatural, and reality behind the ghosts we see in the media.