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Has Michael Jackson's Ghost Come to Your Town?

Tue., Jul. 28, 2009 1:35 PM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

AP Photo/Jockel Finck, File

Is it true that a Mexican news crew saw Michael Jackson's ghost on the day of his Staples Center memorial service?
—Dalia, via the Answer B!tch inbox

Oh, don't stop there. You're forgetting the spooky apparition that apparently moonwalked through a wall at Neverland Ranch before appearing on tape in front of millions of bowing and scraping CNN viewers.

For those of you wondering, yes, M.J.'s ghost can indeed appear in two places at once, Our Lady-style. Has he come to your neighborhood? Maybe...

There was the lady in London who apparently credits the ghost of Michael Jackson for saving her life; apparently Jackson smiled at the lady just as she was about to rush in front of a speeding car. That tale is not to be confused with the guy in Stafford, England, who insists he spotted the ghost of M.J. in a photo of his car hood.

I was unable to pinpoint a specific M.J. sighting in Mexico, though several reports say M.J. ghost-hunting is rapidly becoming a worldwide pursuit.

Why so many, and why now? There's a sociological reason, I am told.

"It's just a projection of a profound desire that many of us have that there is such a thing as an afterlife," says Joshua Gunn, an assistant professor at the University of Texas, Austin. (Gunn is writing a book on ghosts, see.)

Not that the spooky Jackson o' lantern is the only famous apparition around. After Princess Diana's death, thousands of hysterics claimed they saw her ghost. Marilyn Monroe reportedly haunts her old house in Brentwood, outside of Hollywood.

And both Fat Elvis and Young Elvis have apparently made themselves known, the former at the Las Vegas Hilton and the latter at a recording studio.

"Celebrities are our surrogates in a way, and so seeing his ghost is confirmation that when he die it's not the end," Gunn says. "Celebrities have always been lightning rods for our deepest desires."

Don't look now, but I think that's Anna Nicole Smith wafting around on the top left of your computer screen.

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The world says goodbye to the pop superstar in our Mourning Michael Jackson gallery.