Post by Lady Winter Wolf on Aug 2, 2007 22:18:47 GMT -5
Types of Hauntings
General Hauntings
Hauntings occur with no regularity and for no particular reason. Some weird occurrences may manifest on occasion or even continually for a few days or hundreds of years; others may only occur on certain anniversaries; and others may be totally random.
It is generally assumed that hauntings involve apparitions, or ghosts, of the deceased. In fact, apparitions are seldom seen. Most hauntings involve noises like footsteps, a tapping or knocking sound, strange smells, sensations like the cold prickling of the skin, cold breezes, and the feeling of being touched by an invisible hand. Other hauntings involve poltergeist-like activity such as solid objects being moved, broken glass, doors that open and close by themselves, and manipulation of lights and electrical devices.
People who visit haunted locations also report a variety of emotions, including anger and fear. Many cases like this are mistakenly called "evil" or "demonic." Other places seem to involve friendly, or at least harmless, emotions.
Poltergeist Activity
A variety of phenomena can be connected to poltergeist activity: knocking and tapping sounds, noises with no visible cause, disturbance of stationary objects like household items and furniture, doors slamming, lights turning on and off, fires breaking out, etc.
The widely accepted theory behind poltergeist phenomena is that it's usually caused by a person. This person is usually an adolescent girl who is going through an emotionally troubled time. The theory is that this person may be unconsciously manipulating the items in the house by psycho kinesis, which is the power to move things by energy generated in the brain.
Kinetic energy remains unexplained, but even mainstream scientists are starting to admit that it may exist. It is unknown why this energy appears in puberty-age girls, but it has been documented. When the activity begins to occur, the girl is usually in the middle of emotional or sexual angst. It is also possible for young boys, and even adults, to manifest this odd ability. The majority have no idea they're causing the activity.
Of course, not all hauntings can be so easily explained. In some cases, people aren't the cause of the situation. Sometimes it's possible that the source of the activity is an intelligent spirit. These entities try to make their presence known by moving objects. (If this is the case, then it's time to think about moving).
Residual Hauntings
This type of haunting is much more common than people realize.
The easiest way to explain this type of haunting is to compare it to an old film loop. Imagine an old movie tape is stuck in the VCR and the same clip keeps repeating itself. In locations where these hauntings take place, a powerful event or a series of events may be imprinted on the atmosphere. It can then suddenly pop up and play itself at random. But it's not necessarily visual; they are often replayed as unexplained sounds. The famous "phantom footsteps" reported in many haunted locations are a perfect example of this.
How does this kind of thing happen? The sounds and images are related to traumatic events that took place at the location, causing some sort of disturbance sometimes called a "psychic impression." This is the reason why so many battlefields have become famous for their hauntings over the years. In other situations, the images have been created by events or actions that were repeated, which caused an impression. Reputedly, that is why so many haunted staircases exist, because of the number of times people go up and down them and the amount of energy that is expended in doing so.
These kinds of haunted places act as giant storage batteries, saving up the impressions of sights and sounds from the past. As time goes by, these impressions appear again as if the VCR had been turned on. While apparitions are most commonly connected to these types of hauntings, much of the activity may be in the form of sounds, and even smells.
Portal Hauntings
The idea of a "portal" or a "doorway" to another dimension is not a new one--though it may be a wild one. These doorways may provide access for entities to enter our world. They may be the spirits of people who've died, or they could be something else altogether--perhaps otherworldly beings from another dimension? Hmmm...
One of the most common locations for these "doorways" seems to be in cemeteries. As a rule, most cemeteries are not haunted, but recently, ghost hunters have collected dozens of anomalous photographs taken in graveyards. There seems to be no explanation why many of these cemeteries would become haunted unless they provide access for spirits, or entities, to pass from one world to the next.
It is possible that these sites were "haunted" long before a cemetery was located there. It is also possible that the psychic draw of the area was what caused our ancestors to locate a cemetery there in the first place. Native Americans chose their burial grounds in this manner, although they did it consciously. They found a place to bury and honour the dead that they felt was more closely connected to the next world.
Traditional or Intelligent Hauntings
This type of haunting is perhaps the most widely accepted kind of ghostly activity, although it's not as common as you might think. Here, the spirit or entity involved is an "intelligent" presence in a haunted location. It is there because of a connection to the site or to the people in the location. This ghost is best (and most simply) described as the personality of a person who once lived and who has stayed behind in our world instead of passing over to the other side.
This sometimes happens in the case of a murder, traumatic event or unfinished business. At the time of death, the spirit refuses to pass over because of these events. The spirits often linger because of emotions that tie them to the earth, from anger to love. Or perhaps the person does not pass not because they couldn't, but because they did not want to. In other cases, there is the chance the spirit does not even realize they are dead (like Patrick Swayze in Ghost). This can occur when the death is sudden.
These spirits are made up of the energy that once made up the personality of a living person. These intelligent spirits are not evil or demonic, as some would have you believe. Spirits are simply human personalities, or souls, and if the spirit was a kind and caring person in life, the spirit will most likely be in death. On the other hand, angry and cruel people will also keep those same nasty qualities as spirits. These negative spirits can be frightening, especially to people not trained in the paranormal. In very rare cases they have been able to harm the living, but that is generally not the case. It is much more common to hear of an encounter with a benevolent spirit than with a negative one. That's a relief, isn't it?
Sources: “The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits” by Rosemary Ellen Guiley & “The Enchanted World of Ghosts” by Time-Life Book Series
