Do you believe in ghosts? Or do you figure there is "something" behind all the scary stories, but it's some type of phenomenon we don't yet understand? Maybe you're one of those folks who believes everything has a logical, rational explanation.

Whether you're a true believer or a skeptic, ghost stories are part of the human gestalt, probably going back to the days when primitive man huddled around the fire at night and wondered what might be watching from the darkness outside. Ghosts star in our legends, our myths and our history. Every culture on Earth has its supernatural tales, so I suppose something about the idea serves a purpose in human psychology.

Me? I love scary stories, so imagine my joy upon finding numerous Internet resources for ghost tales from Cape Girardeau and the area.

A writer by the name of Jim Longo wrote some books in the early 1990s, "Ghosts Along the Mississippi," "Haunted Odyssey: Ghostly tales of the MIssissippi Valley" and "Favorite Haunts: Haunted Odyssey III" about regional hauntings and ghost sightings.

Apparently Longo went to cities and towns along the river and just knocked on doors, asking people for their ghost stories. In one of his books he visited Cape Girardeau, writing down several spooky tales from here. In one of them he describes Bloomfield Road as being the most-haunted road west of the Mississippi River, with three different ghostly legends attributed to it. Wonder if we still hold that record?

But back to the web. Here are some sources for your Halloween tale-telling:

Ghosts & Haunts in Missouri is a paranormal investigative group out of St. Louis. Their site features not only individual pages for area towns and cities, describing their legends, but video footage, a photo gallery and reports of their investigations.

Cape Girardeau County Haunts is part of Missouri Haunts, a group on msn.com that lists many of the area's better-known spirits. Other counties are listed at the left of the web page, so there's a lot of browsing here.

Paranormal Task Force has a page that covers some of Cape's known spirit hotspots. The site has accompanying music.

The Shadowlands is a popular site for ghost reports, although it has been criticized for basically posting any ghost story submitted, so what you read there is probably a mix of fact and fantasy. However, it covers the old reliables — the Heartland Health Care Center, the Pike Lodge and Rose Theatre.

For a change of pace, here's a forum on Topix.com that discusses area ghosts and legends from around here.

There are a few places I've heard of as being haunted that rarely get mentioned on these websites. The old Mother Earth store (now Broadway Books & Roasting Co.) was one. A friend I trust absolutely has told me of her experiences there. And of course, the Port Cape Girardeau restaurant (which IS mentioned in the forum listed above). I've heard second-hand that the Royal N'Orleans is haunted.

And many local people know about the "green eyes" at Lorimier Cemetery (not Old Lorimier Cemetery — this one is across Caruthers Avenue from the former Notre Dame High School). The green lights were shaped like eyes and could only be seen at night from a certain spot, where they appeared to reflect off the edge of a grave marker. Sadly, I've heard that the eyes can no longer be seen. Although I can't explain their cause, I had seen them more than once back in the late 1970s. I'd love to go back there some night and see for myself if they're gone, but I'm a little worried that a police patrol may wonder why I'm loitering!

There is plenty of spookiness outside of Cape county, of course. You can look up a lot of other hair-raising reports on these sites:

Haunted Missouri Paranormal Studies

Southeast Missouri Paranormal Research (based out of Cape Girardeau) is a website under construction, so there's not much to see there yet. Still, I thought I'd include it for the sake of being thorough.

Paranormal Investigators has a directory of "ghost hunters" categorized by state. Scroll down to find the links to Missouri groups.

Ghosts of the Prairie has a page titled "Haunted Missouri."

Here's another group of investigators, Haunted Missouri Paranormal Studies, possibly based in Farmington, Mo.

Realhaunts.com offers a few Missouri reports.

Missouri Ghost Hunters Societies can be found here. This site has music.

Lastly, I've always wanted to nose around Alton, Ill. This town of about 34,511 (living) souls is about 15 miles north of St. Louis, and it's reputed to be a quite a ghost-filled place. Wikipedia mentions that Alton has the reputation of being one of the most haunted places in America, and ghost-story writer Troy Taylor published a book called "Haunted Alton."

These websites explore the town's legends:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/alton.html

http://www.ghosthaunting.com/html/altonil.html (beware the music)

http://www.mcpikemansion.com/

"One need not be a chamber to be haunted;

One need not be a house;

The brain has corridors surpassing

Material place."

— Emily Dickinson

"Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love. But always meeting ourselves."

— James Joyce, Ulysses