Wanted some paranormal input

I've been a paranormal investigator for about 11 years now, though in the last 3 I have been forced to all but abandon it due to the lack of job, moving to a small town that's far from my old organization, etc.
A bummer, indeed.
But on to the oddest thing I have ever asked on this entire forum.

So I started to write a tale about a modern day woman who gets an invitation to go to a medieval aged castle in England. It's all but deserted, some areas are not safe to go to, etc etc. She gets there and meets the caretaker ad a few other folk, right? As she's shown to her room, she sees a portrait above the fireplace of one hot guy from around the 1300's or so. (Bear with me, I do have a point). She meets a few other people in the castle and notes they are dressed in clothing from that time. Figuring it's a nice 'living history' deal, she goes to get something to eat, and finds out basically her long gone ancestors had owned the castle and it belongs to her, and she has the same name as and very similar looks to the daughter of the man of the castle back in the 1300s.

Turns out that daughter was the lover of said man in the portrait in the room the current day woman is staying in. He was killed once the love affair was found out and the daughter died a few months after of a broken heart.

A few days go by in the present day and portrait guy ends up coming to her in spirit form, letting her know she's the reincarnation of his lost love. I have yet to write more of the story and I left out tons of detail as not to bore. But my writing got me to ponder on many things in reality:

Would that even be possible? Could an intelligent spirit actually recognize someone who is reincarnated today and develop feelings for them? I know our souls remain the same and we just get a new body when we incarnate, but would one who was left behind in spirit form actually... could this happen?

Part of me says 'nah, pshaw, foolish, derp.' But the romantic in me says, "Of course, true love never dies; a soul can recognize a soul no matter what." And my paranormal investigator side of me is wanting to break out the equipment, go on an over seas road trip and prove or disprove this - yet logic reminds me I'm broke so I should just save money and ask here xD

reply to post by sarra1833


Hi Sarra,
I see only one problem in your story.
If ghost's stay here on Earth, they fade away.
This process lasts very rarely more than 150 years. Two centuries tops.
Your story suggests the ghost stayed here for 700 years, this seems highly unlikely to me.

reply to post by sarra1833


In your story world anything can happen if you want it to and have a reason for it.

In our world--why not? Anything's possible, right? Whether it's probable or if others have experienced it is something else, but I say hells yes it can happen to someone somewhere. Also, the general theme of the parted souls finding one another via different avenues is the stuff of many romance novels.

reply to post by sarra1833
Hi - the synopsis sounds very similar to a series of books written by Barbara Erskine, nearly all of her books feature reincarnation or soul transfer, usually of lovers/children/family scattered across many centuries. One of her books spans over 700 years, so the time frame in yours would seem to be acceptable to publishers who are interested in this genre of fiction. She is a well known author in the UK but I don't know how well received or widely known her work is in the US. I hope this helps and good luck.

Originally posted by majel42
reply to post by sarra1833

 

Hi - the synopsis sounds very similar to a series of books written by Barbara Erskine, nearly all of her books feature reincarnation or soul transfer, usually of lovers/children/family scattered across many centuries. One of her books spans over 700 years, so the time frame in yours would seem to be acceptable to publishers who are interested in this genre of fiction. She is a well known author in the UK but I don't know how well received or widely known her work is in the US. I hope this helps and good luck.

ah, I never heard of her until now. Thanks! I think I'll check out some of her books if I can find them (in the USA here but books are available online so I"ll search).

I definitely will look into those.

It happens. Not sure about the ghostly half-life formula above. Spirits hang around until they're done. They also see a person's spirit self. It is entirely plausible that a spirit would recognize someone it knew in a past life.