Imprinting

I only watch ghost hunting shows to scoff at them. Not three minutes ago, I snorted at the mention of a machine that "scientifically measures human emotional states." The word "scientific" automatically validates almost anything. I swear I could sell a Unicorn Detector if I slapped that word on the box.

Then I heard the explanation of a theory that made me think of our class. It's called "imprinting" or "place memory," a theory that proposes extreme emotions (rage, terror) can embed themselves in the environment where they occurred.

I have always been very honest about the fact that I don't believe in ghosts. There's just no room for them in my concept of this planet. Still, I was intrigued by the theory of imprinting, and whether or not a place carries with it the events that occur within it. It almost knocks the first word off of the saying, "If these walls could talk."

I went to Italy with my senior Humanities class in high school, and as we went through Plaza San Marco, The Pantheon, The Vatican, and the Coliseum, I was flooded with thoughts of what had happened there. Who had died, what decisions had been made, whose paths had crossed. Thoughts like those, not ghosts, are what give me chills.