Part 4 in the About the Dark Series

I heard that a guy I used to work with had an obsession. He and his wife loved the paranormal. I can understand because I have it too. I love paranormal stories. They give me a sense of awe. For most people, listening to the stories, watching the TV episodes of paranormal investigators, and maybe heading into a haunted house event during Halloween or seeing a horror movie is the limit of how much they choose to involve themselves in the paranormal. They might even go on a ghost hunt. There are some who dive in and decide to take on a paranormal investigation. When done with some common sense, all these things can be a safer way to get the chill up your spine and the boost of adrenaline you’ve been looking for. This is as far as most people will go to dance with the dark. All good.

What’s not good is when people choose to deviate from the safer ways of exploring the paranormal.

Notice I said safer, not safe. Anytime you choose to dance with the dark, there is risk involved, but like all things, some things are more dangerous than others, and most of the things previously mentioned, with the exception of investigation, are pretty safe.

Investigation can be a crap shoot on safety. It depends on the investigator. I’ve watched some of them do really stupid things like provoking. It’s a technique meant to piss off whatever is there into manifesting a reaction that can be captured on video or audio. While it can be effective, it’s also not smart considering most don’t know what it is that they are annoying. Depending on what it is, you could piss it off enough that it decides it wants to attach to you and go home with you to destroy you. There have been several stories of people who ended up with fractured lives after behaving in such a way during investigations. A few famous paranormal investigators have fallen hard after engaging in daring techniques that make for good TV but not so good for when the cameras are turned off.

Back to my former co-worker. He was always nice to me. Always polite, we had a good working relationship. With other people, not so much. It wasn’t long after he took a swing at his boss that he was let go. Before that, he made it hard for others to work with him. Some days he was hardworking, did his job well, and accomplished a lot. On other days he was argumentative and problematic. Someone suggested he was coming to work drunk. Keep in mind that I never saw any of this kind of behavior. Whenever I saw him, he had his stuff together.

What I did notice about him was that he was tattooed all over. Not that I cared about that. Pain is not my thing, but if other people are willing to go through it, go for it. What I was interested in was the symbolism he chose. Symbols have meaning. The first languages humans had were in pictures. Things that have meaning have power. They can draw on the power of the things they represent. I can’t quite remember, but I believe he had the face of a demon on his arm. It wouldn’t be my first choice for skin art.

If I were going to go to the dark side, having a demon tattooed on my arm would allow me to draw on that energy anytime, anywhere, for anything. It would be handy dandy if I were working on cursing someone or casting a spell to send a demon to one of my enemies to wreak havoc in their lives. It would also be a good way to let the dark know that I might be a willing vessel for something that wanted to take over my body. This is the kind of thing that people do who don’t understand what they’re doing, even if they think they do. This is something a dabbler might do.

Dabblers are the worst because they know just enough to do all the wrong things while thinking they know what’s right. They refuse to listen when others try to warn them to be cautious. My co-worker and his wife were dabblers. I heard they got married in a cemetery. They drank a lot and fought frequently. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that some people choose to live life a little gritty. God bless them. I prefer my life to be as smooth as silk as possible.

People who dabble think that they have everything under control. That what little research they have done is more than enough to make sure nothing goes wrong. The problem is that we, as humans, are never in control of a paranormal situation. Sometimes we can solve the issue, and sometimes, all we can do is damage control.

Before he was let go, my co-worker spent very little time talking to me. I suspect it was because whatever was attached to him recognized what might happen if he and I really talked, so it made sure he was elsewhere or risk that I might ask him if he wanted his ride-along removed. He dabbled so much that it infiltrated his life and ended up getting him fired. I don’t know what happened to him and his wife, but I suspect that things got worse. Unfortunately, it’s what usually happens. I hope he found a way to bounce back from all that and is doing well. He was a smart guy who wasn’t afraid of hard work. I hope he got a handle on his obsession and found a safer way to dance with the dark.

If you missed the first three parts of this series, start here.