Many people believe a ghost is an evil entity sent to cause havoc and
scare us to death. This is not the case. There
are many different theories on exactly what a ghost, or spirit, is.
Since we can not sit one down and ask it directly, we must make our best
conclusions based on evidence that has been collected by investigators.
One of the most common beliefs on what makes a spirit or ghost is
energy ie people who have passed on, and non-human entities that share
our earth. When a person passes on to the next life they do not always
leave the earth. Often a spirit will become attached to a place,
person, or object that has had a great emotional significance to them
in life. This does not mean there was some gruesome death or violent
murder that keeps the spirit around.A spirit can also stay to be with
or watch over the ones they loved in life. More often than not a
haunting is nothing more than this. There are times that a haunting is
caused by malevolent and/or non-human entities, such as demons and
fairies, these will be elaborated on in a separate article.
Different circumstances cause different types of hauntings. For
example, soldiers marching on a battlefield over and over, is what is
known as a residual haunting. This can be compared to rewinding and
playing a tape on a VCR. The spirit has no knowledge of what is going
on around them and will continue this pattern for an indefinite amount
of time. These are the most common hauntings and there is no need to
fear them.
Moving on from there, we come to intelligent hauntings. An intelligent
haunting is a spirit that interacts with the world around it. This can
be anything from looking at you to moving objects around. They follow
no set pattern and activity can vary in duration and intensity. Most
often an intelligent haunting is the result of a human spirit that has
decided not to move on or does not know they have passed on. They may
be frightening but that does not make them evil. Usually the bumps in
the night are nothing more than an attempt to get attention from you.
It is important to know that these human spirits are just like us, and
when ignored they get irritated, which can cause an escalation in
activity. Sometimes simply acknowledging the spirit will calm them down
and help to ease any uncomfortable feelings you may have.
Lastly we come to inhuman, demonic, and evil spirits. Since these are
not "ghost" I will not go in to detail in this article. Let me just say
that if you feel that an entity in your home is evil or inhuman it is
best advised to contact NIPRA immediately. You maybe thinking "I'm
going straight to my religion." and there is nothing wrong with that,
however there is the possibility of angering the entity and causing
activity to escalate. Having informed advice from a professional group
will help you in making the decision of what your next step should be.
NIPRA does not endorse any specific religion and will not impress
personal views on to anyone, but NIPRA does have contacts in the
religious community that will be happy to assist clients wishing to
pursue this course of action, at the client�s discretion.
Now back to ghost. We know about different types of hauntings and why a
spirit would choose to linger but how do they manifest themselves? The
most common theory is that a spirit will use electrical and
electromagnetic energy around them to make them selves known. All
electrical devices have an electromagnetic field around them. These
fields also surround our Earth to protect us from the sun. Usually when
there is a high level of activity, EMF readings are higher than normal.
A simple example would be that a spirit is like a sponge and it absorbs
the energy around it. When the spirit uses this energy it can manage to
interact with us.
So, now we have an understanding of what a ghost is. Hopefully, this
will make you feel more comfortable with anything you may be
experiencing, and as always NIPRA is more than happy to answer your
questions or help you with any paranormal problems you may have.
For the believer no proof is necessary, for the non-believer no proof is
possible(Stewart Chase 1929)
