When I talk with people in the paranormal field, especially those with a large number of investigations under their belt, I find that the topic of dark energy comes up at some point in virtually every conversation about paranormal investigation.

Evil spirits, demons, negative energy – different people call it different things, but they all agree that it exists. And so, inevitably, I wind up asking them, “What is this dark energy, and where does it come from?”

Nobody knows for sure, but people certainly have ideas.

I’ll freely admit that I came into researching and understanding the paranormal with a very definite opinion on demons. They didn’t exist. Period. No such thing. No Devil. So Satan. No Hell. Darkness only existed in the hearts of men.

But then I started to hear from respected paranormal researchers about places like Bobby Mackey’s Music World. Almost anyone entering the place agrees that there is something dark and malevolent there.

So what is it about a place like Bobby Mackey’s? Why do people feel darkness there? The theories range from psychological theories (it gets a lot of press about being dark so people expect and therefore experience darkness) to theological (it is a portal for demons).

I know, on a human level, that evil exists. I think that we can all agree that there is evil involved in the atrocities of genocide, for instance. But is the evil of human origins, or is it something more spiritual? I don’t know – I don’t have answers. In my life, I have never personally encountered something that is truly evil.

Someone once suggested to me that we could never really explain evil unless we attempted to understand it from a totally different perspective. This is a difficult one for me. I freely admit that I am a Pollyanna – my mother used to call me that. I want to believe that ultimately, there is only good, there is only light, and there is only love, and that evil is simply something (or someone) that lost its way as it was heading in that direction.

Darkness is scary – because that is where things hide. It brings to mind the opening to the old radio show, “The Shadow”.

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”

Even as a kid, I found that statement very profound. The Shadow is something that is part darkness; however, a shadow can’t exist without the presence of light. And so, in the Shadow, there is a mix of the yin and the yang – the light and the dark. Who better to understand the evil that lurks in darkness than someone who is made up of both darkness and light? (Yes. I truly thought like that as a kid. But that’s another story for another day.)

It is a common theme in literature and entertainment – the duality of man. Equal parts of darkness and light. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde comes to mind. Certainly, in each and every one of us, the capacity exists for darkness and for evil.

Maybe it is a matter of focusing attention. Maybe evil in the living or the dead is a spirit who has chosen to focus on the darkness inside instead of the light.

Are evil and good – darkness and light really the same thing? For instance, heat is heat. We experience heat as hot and cold – but really they are the same thing at different points on the spectrum of heat. Darkness is really just an absence of light. And evil – is it an absence of good? In each of these things, we need one in order to define the other. We would have know clue what hot was without cold. We wouldn’t have an experience of light if we’d never experienced darkness. And how could we define ourselves – or anything else as “good” without knowing that evil existed.

Where am I going with this?

I don’t know.
I don’t know.
I don’t know.

What I do know is that nothing is so cut and dried as my previous position on evil spirits, demons, dark energy – whatever you choose to call it. I have no idea what it is or where it comes from. But I do know that, as a being who embodies in me the potential for darkness and light, I can focus on the light. I can only choose for me. Maybe in the end, that’s all I need to know.