7 p.m., down Arbor Avenue in West Chicago, Illinois…

Driving home, somewhat conscious, in complete silence. No birds chirp, no squirrels cross the street, and there is no car in sight. Afar, the skies of ebony line with slight orange hues separate the earthly matter and beyond. Much closer, however, within the bright radius emitted by the tail lights of a strolling car, are black outlines of the surroundings. The curbs, rounded on its corners and turns. The trees stemming, from trunk to branches to twigs of darkly-silhouetted oak. Street signs are the few pops of color on the road, but then, at the intersection of Hawthorne and Arbor Avenue, the House on Hawthorne glows.

It is customary, in the spirit of Halloween, to bring up the discussion on whether or not the paranormal exists and, on this particular house on Hawthorne, it is quite convincing that ghosts do in fact exist… just not in the way most people will think. Why?

Well, only an interview with an actual ghost would put a nail on this ever-supernatural conversation. 

Meet Ghost, or Jesus Jimenez, a resident of the House on Hawthorne. The frightening aspects of the house do not haunt him, as he and his family embrace Halloween.

“It’s our favorite holiday [and] favorite month of the year,” Jimenez said. 

A house next to the cemetery is not for the faint of heart, but it is “one of the reasons we picked this house,” Jimenez said.

With the many changes in ownership over the years (speculated to be because of the haunted nature of the house), Jimenez claims that, so far, neither he nor his family faced any paranormal.

“I’m the only Ghost that lives here,” Jimenez said.

Still, as a die-hard for all things Halloween and, a ghost himself, Jimenez firmly believes, just as anyone should, that the supernatural exists. 

To the non-believers who may oppose the paranormal belief, it is important to remember that the mind is a powerful thing. Even if the idea of ghosts (the phantasmal kind) seems physically impossible through the movements across walls and what-not, the imagining and conjuring of ghost figures are what make (or rather haunt) a person real. If spirits, or the spiritual, impact a person in behavior, actions, or future endeavors, then should the concepts not become physical and thus real?

Ghosts are real, at least in that they cause little kids to become pale and wide-eyed in reaction, or, alternatively, in the way, ghosts haunt someone of a heavy, frightened conscience to shiver and peak slowly around every corner in paranoia.

For the family in the House on Hawthorne, there may not have been any paranormal activities because they view Halloween as a joyous occasion, rather than a scary one. 

Perhaps the previous owners, whoever they are, believed in all the House on Hawthorne’s bad omen, giving just enough to evoke a sense of hauntedness that the house is so infamous for. If there is one thing to take away from this article, it is that ghosts are real if one makes them out to be true…

To conclude on a more positive note, however, be sure to stop by this house on Halloween, at the intersection of Hawthorne and Arbor. At night, the seven years’ worth of decoration lights up in purple. Their newest decorations include “the werewolf, two tall skeletons, and the witch,” according to its resident Ghost.