My sister Christy spotted Ted Danson in the lobby of the Stanley Hotel this past week and I couldn't help wondering whether he'd pop up somewhere thereafter.

The occasion was my parents' 50th year anniversary. My extended family is scattered in different parts of the country and every summer, my parents bring us together for a family reunion, this time in Estes Park, CO.

It's a beautiful place surrounded on every side by the Rocky Mountains. We stayed in a house behind the Stanley Hotel, a place made infamous by the movie The Shining. Every day I'd go sit in the lobby and pick up my email. And I'd hear these tour guides passing thru the lobby with their little cluster of people, many of them apparently paranormal enthusiasts. It costs $10 to hear the tour guides talk about the ghosts still bopping around in the Stanley Hotel.

The deal is that some TV show about ghosts has caught evidence of poltergeist activity in the Stanley Hotel. Hearing the tour guide spiel caused me to reflect that many people have an insatiable thirst for information about ghosts, but often are paradoxically resistant to spiritual issues. Why is that?

What is it in us that is fascinated by werewolves but won't talk about demons? Why is it that we're titillated by ghosts, yet run from the Holy Ghost? Why are people interested in spirits, but put off by the spiritual?

Maybe if I can track down Ted Danson he could help me understand.