By Danielle Pajek

It’s Halloween night. You’re sitting on your couch watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre, eating the Tootsie-Rolls that you intended for little kids dressed up as witches, goblins, and superheroes.

Suddenly out of the corner of your eye you see a shadow hurry by.

What was that?

You pause the TV.

You turn on the light.

Nothing is there.

Maybe it was the flash of the television light or your curtain billowing in the breeze.

Or maybe, as 62 percent of the La Roche community would say, it is a ghost.

Do you believe in supernatural beings?

A survey asked 100 La Roche students, faculty, and staff this question. People completed the survey in September 2023.

The survey defined supernatural beings as ghosts, angels, and demons.

There were 39 males, 59 females, and two individuals who identified as other surveyed. Eighty-two percent of the La Roche population said they fell into the 18-to-25 age range, 17 percent said they are over 25, and one person wrote that they are under 18.

Eighty-five percent of the respondents said they are students, the rest said they are faculty or staff. The majors and departments of the survey-takers ranged from Student Development to biology.

It appears that the majority of the La Roche population does indeed believe in supernatural beings as defined by the survey. Not only did 62 percent say they believe in ghosts, but 76 percent filled in “Yes” to indicate that they believe in angels, and 63 of 100 responded that they believe there might be a demon lurking on their left shoulder.

“The only way I’d ever believe in these things would be for me to experience them on my own with no other explanation. It is much too easy to fake things and there is always a logical explanation for everything,” an Information Technology major, and a proponent for the other end of the belief spectrum, said.

Another fellow student and skeptic said, “I have seen questionable things, but not solid proof. I went to the Zak Bagan’s Museum of Haunted Artifacts, but it all seemed fake.”

Though these students admitted that they have not seen a supernatural being, 21 percent of the others surveyed reported having seen a supernatural being.

Of this 21 percent, nine people said they saw a ghost, two said they saw a demon, two reported they saw a ghost and a demon, one wrote that they saw a demon and an angel, and two said they saw all three of the supernatural beings. Five people reported that they did not have any clue what exactly it was that they witnessed.

NOTE: These percentages are based on the 21 percent of the La Roche Community that said they have seen a supernatural being.

One Criminal Justice major said they have a unique perspective. “I was born with the ability to see spirits (ghosts) and they are around nearly everywhere I go,” he said.

Is this ability a gift or a curse?

Fourty-four of 100 La Roche inhabitants would say it is a curse, as they reported that they did not want to see a supernatural being.

An 18-to-25-year-old marketing student, though they reported that they have never seen a supernatural being, said, “In many occasions, I feel like someone is watching me in my sleep.”

Of the other 56 people, nine said they want to see a ghost, another nine said they want to see an angel, three selected an angel and a demon, and 17 reported that they want to see an angel and a ghost. Six of 56 said they want the opportunity to see all three of the supernatural beings.

NOTE: These percentages are based on the 44 percent of people who responded “Yes” to wanting to see a supernatural being.

Whether or not they said they want to see a supernatural being, the survey asked respondents if they were afraid of ghosts, angels, and demons.  

The Criminal Justice major who wrote about their ability to see ghosts added, “Ghosts are not scary because they are simply the spirit that exists inside humans, but during a time that they are not alive. If anything, they are annoying because they want attention.”

Not everyone at La Roche would agree with this student. Thirty percent of the university reported that they are afraid of ghosts.

After the surveyed asked respondents if they are afraid of demons, a psychology major said, “They are extremely dangerous, and no one should ever wish to see one.”

This student is not alone. Fifty-one of 100 of the La Roche community said they are afraid of demons.

Though 51 percent of the survey-takers at La Roche can agree that they are afraid of demons, nine percent admitted that they are afraid of their winged companions.

The remaining 91 percent of those surveyed said they are not afraid of angels.

Roger Healy is a La Roche Student and retired soldier for the United States Army. Healy shared his ghost story on the back of his survey. Take a look.

“Halloween day, 2011. Kandahar Afghanistan. This is one hell of a day and a lot of terrible things happened. As we drove back from base from a day of chaos, I was manning the remote weapon system in thermal vision. I scanned over a small cemetery and a large black mass swept up from the ground. I was kind of bat-shaped and had a wingspan of around 12 feet. It popped up, hovered for a second, and flew off into the pomegranate orchard. My weapons automatic tracking system had even locked on to it and tried to follow, but the being was too quick. Minutes later, that orchard erupted in gunfire.”