Furth and Fortune blog by Will Murray

Since it’s almost Halloween, I thought I’d share a little ghost story with you.

I’m no “ghost whisperer” (thank goodness), though that is the name of one of my favorite TV shows. However, I’ve always been open-minded on the topic. After all, Einstein and other scientists proved that energy can’t be destroyed. When we die, our energy (our essence, spirit, life force, or whatever you want to call it) isn’t destroyed. It is released, and it seems plausible to me that it could remain structured in a way that is still us even without a physical container to carry it.

One night, I became forever convinced of the existence of ghosts. This is the story of that night and my brief encounter with something unexplainable.

I remember the thrill of watching the dancers at the Tahitian Terrace at Disneyland (before it was dumped for an Aladdin show in the same location) from a front-row seat as they spun burning batons around. It was very exciting–especially being so close to the action.

Today, I stumbled across a related form of entertainment called, poi. Quoting from PlayPoi.com:

Poi is a form of dance, where balls on the ends of ropes are swung through rhythmical patterns. It is rooted in the History of the Maori people of Aotearoa (aka New Zealand). It began as a physical exercise, used by the women to develop grace and flexibility, and by the men to develop strength and coordination. Today it is mostly practiced by the women, who combine the poi movements with songs and physical actions in traditional performances such as the Kapa Haka.

Here is the beautiful and entertaining YouTube video that led me to the PlayPoi site. It even includes a little fire spinning in the middle. Very cool stuff (ignoring the irony of calling fire spinning “cool”).

Tags: art, dances, design, Disneyland, entertainment, exercise, fire spinning, fires, PlayPoi, videos, YouTube