Are Ghosts Real or Just a Heightened Sixth Sense?

Ghostly figure

Ever since I was a child, ghosts have intrigued me. Do they exist in reality, or are they merely constructs of the human mind?

Over the years, I have been witness to a multitude of paranormal events that have left me completely mystified. In my mind, the jury is still deliberating on this question, weighing the evidence back and forth. 

Haunted Painting in Swartberg Hotel

In Black Pearls, Lucy's curiosity sparks when she hears the eerie tale surrounding the haunted paintings that grace the walls of the Victoria room. The mysterious artwork that decorates the walls of the Swartberg hotel in Prince Albert inspired these paintings in the novel. During a road trip through the Karoo, I stayed at the Swartberg hotel, and the haunting tales of the strange paintings fascinated me. Despite my close inspection, I witnessed nothing paranormal about the paintings.

Lonely road to Uniondale

The Karoo is home to countless spine-chilling ghost stories that will leave you

captivated. The Uniondale ghost is a legendary tale that is bound to make your hair stand on end. At the police station in Uniondale, people in the past have reported sightings of a ghostly woman hitchhiking on a deserted road between Willowmore and Uniondale. After accepting a lift from a Good Samaritan, she mysteriously vanishes, leaving behind only the sound of her eerie laughter.

The description of the ghost apparently fitted a student nurse who met a tragic end when her fiance's car veered off the road in 1968.

Ghost or Sixth sense?

While on one of my road trips through the Karoo, I took a detour to Uniondale, drawn in by the captivating stories I had read over the years. As I journeyed with my mother along the road between Willowmore and Uniondale on a sweltering summer's day, an unexpected blast of cold air engulfed the car. Wondering if the cold bothered my mother, I posed the question, but she dismissed it, claiming she felt nothing. I found it odd and jokingly attributed it to the ghost. My mother, a total non-believer in ghost tales, joked back and said what is the ghost saying to you?

Out of nowhere, a mental message materialized, as though someone whispered into my thoughts, advising me to decrease my speed and find a suitable place to pull over. After quickly relaying this to my mother, I wasted no time in following through with the instruction. Suddenly, a vehicle appeared, speeding over a blind rise and careening towards my side of the road. By pulling over, I narrowly avoided a fatal head on collision.

Here are some intriguing snippets. As we traveled along the road between Willowmore and Uniondale, there was not a single car in sight. Strong cross winds added an element of danger. Neither my mother nor I saw the other vehicle coming from the opposite direction till it was on us, so there must be blind rises and bends on that road.

Only I felt the sudden cold in the car which seems bizarre as my mother was next to me in the front passenger seat.

The question is:- Was it the Uniondale ghost I encountered, or was it my heightened sixth sense?