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| Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunters Society |
| Types of Hauntings There are several different types, or classifications, of a haunting. The definition of a haunting is: It is the repeated manifestation of strange and unexplainable sensory phenomena at a certain location. We will now take an in depth look at some of the different types of haunting! Traditional Haunting - A traditional, or intelligent, haunting is caused by an actual ghost or spirit present in the location that is being haunted. The ghost or spirit will show signs of intelligence and might try to interact with you. This type of ghost will try to get your attention and let you know they are there. If a ghost or spirit decides to become visible and interacts with you then that is a good sign you are dealing with an actual ghost and not an impression or residual activity, which we will talk about next. For example a ghost might become visible and turn its head to look at before it walks away or vanishes. That ghost or spirit is interacting with you because it turned its head to acknowledge that he or she had seen you. When interaction takes place between you and the ghost it is definitely the energy or life force of someone who has passed on. An intelligent, or interactive, ghost might try to communicate in some way or another. They might do this through Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) or even knock on the wall to get your attention. They might also move things around the house or any other place that is being haunted by the ghost or spirit. Residual Haunting A residual haunting does not necessarily have to have a ghost or spirit responsible for the activity taking place at a particular location. A residual haunting is more of an impression made or imprinted on a certain location over a period of time. When a series of events takes place over time, whether it is negative or positive, an imprint can be made on that area. It is kind of like comparing the location to a rechargeable battery; it absorbs energy over a period of time and slowly discharges this energy at the location. This discharge of energy can be in the form of voices, footsteps, apparitions, or other sounds and paranormal events. It is somewhat like a movie or series of events continually looping and playing itself over and over again. An actual spirit or ghost does not have to be present for this type of haunting to take place. The events that take place at these locations do not have an actual soul or consciousness. In other words the location does not have an intelligent entity that is responsible for the activity being experienced there. The ghost or spirit will not interact with you or show any kind of intelligence like you would see in a traditional haunting. If a ghost is seen it will look more like a movie replaying its self right in front of your eyes! It will do the same thing most of the time and the activity will sometimes be at the same time every day or night. At a residual haunting objects are not moved and they do not come up missing like in a traditional or intelligent haunting. This residual type of haunting might explain why sounds like cannons firing or gunshots are still reported at Civil War battlefields. The sounds do not have a soul, life force, spirit, or whatever you wish to call it so how can they still be heard today? The residual haunting explains why these events take place. The area absorbed all of the negative and emotional energy from the war and is still releasing it to this day! It could be possible for these types of haunting to burn themselves out over time but they can also be recharged if similar events take place at the location or the same type of energy gets absorbed by the area. Portal Haunting A portal haunting takes place when there is an active portal in the location experiencing paranormal activity. This could be a cemetery, house, or any other location. A portal is a doorway to the spirit world where spirits of the dead cross from their world to ours. Portals are usually located at certain places and may or may not change locations. They can open and close at certain times. Some portals may only open on certain occasions or special time periods. Many people believe they are doorways to another dimension. When multiple ghosts and spirits are found in one place such as a house or other building, then you might want to suspect a portal haunting. One spirit might cross over and another might take its place in these locations so its hard to tell how many ghosts are haunting an area that might contain a portal. Poltergeist Haunting The word poltergeist means noisy ghost. Poltergeist hauntings are very rare and usually are not caused by an actual ghost or spirit. Objects flying around the house, windows breaking, and other strange occurrences take place with this type of haunting. The location where this type of haunting takes place usually involves a teenage girl and is sometimes related to psychokinetic (PK) energy. The teenager is moving things in the house with their own mind and they do not realize it is actually themselves causing the activity. This might happen because the brain is generating energy and moves the objects in the house or other locations in which the subject travels. This type of kinetic energy remains unexplained by modern day science. |
| (c) Copyright 2009 by Jason Snider All Rights Reserved |