Understanding Ghosts….
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Introduction
This booklet will give the reader a chance for them to understand the supernatural world, there have been too many description and thoughts to ghosts and some have been wrong and misleading. This booklet will be a guide in understanding spirit behaviour and why they cause hauntings and their connection to the living.
For the past 25 years I have had a huge fascination towards the paranormal, I started researching in early high school and conducted my first investigation (with out equipment) at the age of 18, though I realised after 3 investigations I was not mature yet for investigating and had no equipment to continue, so this was where my foundations started…. I spent the next 10 years trying to uncover facts about ghosts, researching from respected investigators publications and trying to uncover more about Tasmanian ghosts.
There are those who dramatize and falsify ghosts as they don’t really understand the subject, most believe their words the truth and that they offer the honesty the public are looking for…. But the hardly do any investigating and will never listen to other opinions.
When Team Strigoi started in July of 2004, we decided to offer the truth and be honest in our findings and how we communicate with the public. We decided to be real and under no circumstances would we rip off or deceive the public.
Over the journey we have chatted with people who stories sound to fantastic to be real…. One thing we learnt is all fantastic stories could be real.
During this booklet one will understand how ghost haunt, what’s their connection to the living, there are myths about ghosts that we have broken, there is an in depth look at how to ghost find, plus other facts and ideas into ghosts.
Tasmania is without a doubt the most haunted state in Australia and is one of the worlds 20 most haunted places.
We at Team Strigoi have a dedicated passion and respect to this wonderful but terrifying subject. This booklet is for the reader to decide for them selves if ghost exist…. We don’t have all the answers as we will never be able to understand or uncover every single element to ghosts, research does help but majority of understanding is through investigations.
We hope we can offer some basic information that’s not to confusing, we hope it can be helpful in the sense of helping those encounter spirits and be at least a little comfortable living with them.
What are Ghosts?
A question that will never have a correct answer, we will never know exactly what ghosts are and we will never really know unless we pass on to the other world. There are all sorts of answers and no one really has the truthful one…. The most honest answer to give is “We Don’t Know”.
There are a few different spirits in this world and 99% are not full apparitional types, not all spirits are seen in full detailed views, most spirits are of circular spheres called “Orbs” or streaky lights caught on camera called “Ghost Lights” there are ghosts called ectoplasmic ghosts, these are white misty forms or smoke that appear in photos. There are ghosts that are residual, and then there are the known ones… Poltergeists and Entities are the nasty violent forms of spirits.
Orbs
Round balls of light, this little phenomenon has divided the paranormal community in half, there are those who believe they are paranormal and there are others who find them to be dust or cause from something natural or camera. We still have to remain open minded to the fact they might not be ghostly and they could be a natural cause for them… We also have a rule in our team and that’s for the public to make up their own minds about this subject, no matter how much we believe.
But what are they exactly, well this is a question we have asked for a long time, there are some investigators who believe that orbs are a transport for the spirit, some believe that they are the spirit itself condensed down into this ball, some believe that there is a natural explanation to them, some even believe they are universal in nature (ufo phenomena). The orb phenomena is not a modern finding, in fact there are orbs captured on camera back as far as 1918, there are even pictures of orb like images on ruin walls and wood carved pictures.
Orb Design
The basic orb has a distinctive look about it, there will be a shell like crust around it and a nucleolus to the centre, with in this also of formations can be seen faces, hands etc, these orbs are captured in great detail. Some orbs have a density to it and are hard to see through (when captured) others remain semi transparent and you are able to see through them. The main basic colour for orbs is white and sometimes it may have a slight blue tinge to it. When they move there is normally a trail, which is meant to represent its speed. There are a few colours to orbs and some can appear in very bright colours. We have been trying to understand the colours and if they mean anything, do they represent they way they departed this earth? Does they colour represent the strength they possess and how fast they can manifest? These are questions that we need to study.
The movement of an orb is some times spectacular, as they seem to put on a show for the person who captures them. The majority of orbs captured are in a motionless state, it’s as if they are floating in the air, other times you may capture them in motion (this is where they become spectacular) they have a trail that follows them and it can look very snake like at times, plus the trail is the same colour as the orb itself.
Ghost Lights
This is one of those phenomena’s we still don’t have a full grasp on, but we do have some theories about them though. What are they exactly is really hard to tell, we have studied these interesting phenomena for a while now and it seems they have little similarities between them but have some very different movements and density to them. We will explore more on this as we go along and hopefully have some sort of rational idea to them?
There are ideas and thoughts into what are ghost lights or streaks, the one that we are interested in is… could ghost lights be spirits trying to manifest physically? Another one idea is… could ghost lights be orbs stretching out? Another is… could ghost lights be not just one orb but a few locking together? This is why it’s hard to determine what ghost lights are.
Ectoplasms
This is a substance that is produced when a spirit medium expelling a spirit from their bodies, it forms a mist or a thick cotton fog. We recently learnt that ectoplasm is produced from the stomach region, what the definition of it is remains a mystery. But in the paranormal field any kind of misty form that’s captured on camera is called an ecto or in simple terms a ghostly mist. We are still trying to figure out what ecto mists are? Are they the energy from a spirit that is captured but unseen to the naked eye?
Though some mists have been captured with facial features or body parts within them, the mist seems to be forming something or maybe a figure or just apart of the spirit or is it just an optical illusion? It hard to clarify what ecto’s are but the more we investigate and study the answer may come one day.
Residual Ghosts
Have you ever watched your favourite scene in a movie over & over, well what you were doing is called residual watching. Well there are ghosts on this planet who are called residual spirits for the activity they cause or are seen doing. One thing about residual ghosts is that they are not malicious or violent in anyway, in fact they can become a great source of study.
The residual sighting can be a frightening experience they first few times witnessing but you’ll soon discover that they don’t even interact with you, to them you don’t exist. You may see them walking through walls or furniture, to them the room still looks the same as it was in their time… no matter where you place furniture or put up a wall it won’t matter to a residual spirit, they will still be oblivious to it. Some people may witness the spirit descending down stairs only to disappear but reappear at a later date doing the exact same thing.
There have been reported accounts of a full roman army walking through a residential home (the place was built over an old roman army road) but they also don’t have to appear to be noticed, some spirits may open doors at an exact time of day or night, the smell of cooking may be noticed at the same time each morning, turn lights on or off at specific times over and over… there are plenty of things they can do but its what you take notice in, if its some thing you encounter over and over its only residual and remember its nothing to be fearful of.
Intelligent Ghosts
This is the panicle for investigators to encounter, nothing brings satisfaction in communicating with a responding spirit, and to have a question answered is phenomenal to say the least. What is an intelligent spirit, it’s a ghost that will respond to questions you ask it this is a major indication to the case. Though not all intelligent spirits will respond straight away or at all, this is why it’s so important that communication is made between the two worlds… so to speak.
These spirits do have the capability to move objects, appear when they want, some times even speaking in a different language which they didn’t use when alive, they don’t seem to be ghostly but more human in ways they do things.
Mischievous Ghosts
The prankster of the spirit world, the causes of this usually comes down to children spirits wanting to be noticed. These naughty spirits seem to enjoy playing games with us by hiding keys, important bills, wallets and mobile phones seem to be the choice of objects they love to hide. This causes us for a time to think we are going crazy… “Didn’t I just put my keys there where did they go?” then you start frantically searching for them only for them to be found in strange places. I once had my wallet mysteriously moved only to find it in the fridge and I know I didn’t put it in there. Do think folks that it’s all in your head and you’re starting to become forgetful, this is the object of these ghosties and how do they love it. The activity will mainly cease after you become aware of them and then for them ghosts it’s no fun anymore. But they can become a pain after a while and you will find them a nuisance, you will scowl at them like you would with children being naughty.
Ghost Protectors
To some guardian angels, to others passed on loved ones, no matter what they are there purpose is to protect you from harm when encountering dangerous spirits. These spirits become like another six sense in away, helping you to stay away from dangerous areas of activity… It’s hard to say if these spirits are there, as we have never captured ours that is if we have one?
Forlorn Ghosts
These spirits are very noticeable when they are about, the whole atmosphere in the room will change to a deep sadness, sometimes you may even find yourself shedding a tear for no reason… how can that happen when you were feeling fine just a moment ago. The atmosphere in the home can become depressive, heavy, to the point of you leaving the room to escape the feeling. Though some forlorn spirits are seen, they maybe seen standing at a window looking hopelessly lost, you may witness them even crying or hear them, these spirits are trapped and are unable to move on until their sadness can be lifted. This is hard as most forlorn spirits are waiting for a loved one or have died without family; most times the loved ones have passed on aswell.
When one see’s a weeping spirits it will play on your mind for years to come, the moment will very powerful and very saddening.
Trapped Spirits
Not all spirits are able to go through into their next phase; some become trapped and are unable to leave due to certain reasons. We have this theory that those who pass on in peace and full of happiness and that they have achieved all they could whilst on this planet; they will move on and will never return. Others unfortunately become stuck here; their reasons are sometimes a little baffling and others are so obvious. So below is a list of reasons for spirits to become trapped and are unable to move on until it’s their time or deed is done.
One… Unfinished business seems to be the main one and there are a few factors to study, most spirits don’t like to leave until a message is passed to the loved one still living, this could mean telling them they loved them, not to worry as everything will be fine. Once the message is heard the spirit will go in peace and the person living will rest easier. But there is a flip side in emotional stakes, some people don’t get a chance to say what they really need to say and then they pass and they remain here and may never leave because they couldn’t say what they needed to and its so much harder to tell someone from the other side what you need to. These spirits become forlorn in their ways and activity and the living will feel the change around them, there needs to be more done to help these souls to move on, one can use a psychic to help, others use priests or other religions to help, but the spirit won’t leave until its feels its said what it needs to.
Two… An item was not buried with them and they cannot rest until it’s placed in coffin with them.
Three… Revenge and will not rest until their crimes are paid for, sometimes a crime conducted back in 1700’s can cause the spirit to be restless due to they accusers are delt with and by then the person responsible for the crime is long gone… but the restless spirit will not know this and continue searching for that person.
Four… A spirit can become so attached to their home that they will never leave and will keep a close eye on their cherished home. These spirits are nothing to be afraid of, that is until you renovate or demolish the spirit will make themself known.
Poltergeists
Poltergeist is a German word for noisy spirit and do they live up to their name. These spirits can be confused at times with entities but these spirits have a whole other reason for haunting a person or family… they love to screw with your mind, send you crazy and how they enjoy it. The great thing about poltergeists is that they only last for a short time, the activity will cease after a week or a couple of months, but in that time your world will be turned up side down. These spirits are powerful in the sense they can move objects about and not just small items… they have been known to throw beds, move couches, stack dining room chairs in a pyramid formation. They can also move heaps of items at once… like open doors, drawers, windows, turn on and off lights, scatter paper about etc, though they possess a strength that can sometimes be harmful to the living, they rarely hurt people… their main goal is to torment you insane, but you gather enough strength and confront them usually they retreat and the activity will stop, sometimes it doesn’t work and the activity can increase before stopping, this can be the most frightening part about poltergeists but once you start to understand them and even acknowledge them, they seem to slowly stop what they are doing… maybe it’s because you wised up and become less afraid of them, and the power they thought they had over you has softened quiet a bit.
Entity Ghosts
The one spirit you never want to encounter is the entity; this due to how powerful and dangerous this spirit is… not could be but is. The cases of entities are rare in the sense of hauntings, these types of spirits usually generate around a family home and innocent families have to content with this ghost.
To give you a understanding into how powerful entities can be, they have been known to throw people around like rag dolls, they have even raped people… man or woman no one is safe, deaths have accrued but this is due to people taking their own lives to escape the misery and torment of extremeness. These spirits don’t muck about with what they want and when they attack it out of the blue and very physical. The worst thing about these ghosts is that they are there forever; you can not rid a house of an entity… in fact if you try to the activity increases ten fold and the consequences are deadly.
The entity can appear in three forms to a living person… one: they can look like a withered, menacing old man, two: they can appear in what they call the old hag sighting… an old haggard, straggly hair and sometimes fat, three: is the black misty cloud or form. Either one of these are deadly.
The saddest part about these hauntings is they mostly happen to women, entities view women as a weak target and will strike them first. They will do sometime unimaginable things and this will isolate the female from everyone around her, as people will think she is going crazy… a ghost raping someone seems silly doesn’t it, but its fact entities do rape. The female will start losing all sense around her as the more activity happens and without help and support… the end is sometimes drastic.
The males are not safe either, there have been a few stories about men being pinned down and raped by a woman spirit. This usually happens when the male starts to believe the female and witnesses a few things himself and they normally target the man when he is alone and others are asleep. To some these spirits are demonic, others thinks they are violent offenders who were put to death or were murdered them self and they are seeking suffering to anyone they come in contact with.
Apparitions
In basic understanding into what are apparitions? The simplest explanation is the ghosts that are seen in full detail and you are able to describe them, they can pass for being someone of a human likeness, some have seen apparitions wearing old roman clothing, in Scottish war clothing etc, here in Tasmania we sometimes see them in convict uniforms. Apparitions are world wide sighting… though not every investigator will see one but it’s a sight for sore eyes when one does. But what other apparitions are there? Are they frightening or can we live with them? We make it clear to those who have seen these types of ghosts… that its rare thing to encounter and 99% of the time they are non violent.
Crisis Apparitions
When one sees a crisis apparition one will be looking into the face of a loved one, these sightings happened a lot during world war one and two, wives would be doing daily chores and look up to see their husband or son standing there, then they disappear.
This phenomenon is one that can be heart breaking for the person witnessing the spirit or it could be frightening until they learn the reason for the loved one to appear. A crisis apparition is a person about to or on the moment of death, they somehow manage to project their image to their loved one as a final goodbye, or to let them know they have passed on… either way its not good to see one.
Partial Apparition
A partial apparition is when your only able to make out some of it… for example you may see an arm holding a candle but that’s all you see, or it maybe just the lower part of the apparition, you only see the legs but not the torso or head. These parts you see will be solid and non transparent.
Transparent Apparition
The transparent apparition is the most common captured on film, the spirits will be seen in out line detail but you will be able to see through them, they resemble wispy human shapes but because they are see through, it’s hard to make out any detail of the clothing or face.
Clothed Apparition
The simplest way to describe them is they will be seen in cloth form but without hands, feet and head… but you should be able to find what period they come from but the clothing they are wearing.
The Ghoul
Described as a grotesque, flesh ripping, blood drinking demon, which robs graves at night and consumes the decaying flesh of the buried. They are described as long arms, sunken face grey in colour, bulging eyes, sharp pointed teeth and long nails.
Elemental Spirits
To some dangerous and deadly to others protects of the earth, elementals are the four natural elements… earth, fire, water, and wind. These spirits have the strength to over take a persons mind or inhabit their body. These spirits seem to have the ability to turn themselves into solid matter and change back at will, some cultures call them by other names… western societies call them entities, Ireland call the fairies, Romania calls them Strigoi. The elemental spirits are indeed nasty and will cause harm if they wish to inflict it.
Vortex
A swilling funnel shaped anomaly that appears mainly on still cameras, to the unseen eye one can notice when they are in vicinity of a vortex… icy cold spots are felt, colder than anything felt under normal elements, its as if you have walked inside a chiller room. The colour of a vortex is usually white or light blue.
Vortexes are stationary anomalies and if found in one spot of the location, that will be the spot its allways found in. As vortexes don’t move and will never be found in any other part of the location. The vortex has been called the doorway to the other side and it’s an easy access into our world, though it can be a door way for dangerous spirits to enter and start a whole new addition to your hauntings, but fear not to much as they are a rare finding, out of the 100.000’s of thousands of photos vortexes have only appeared in a 1000 or less.
We don’t know what creates a vortex, we don’t know how exactly it allows spirits to come and go through or if it’s a separate spirit in itself.
Coming in contact with ghosts, what are the sign to look for?
Coming in contact with the spirit world is a common occurrence, to the everyday person encounters happen regularly but they go un-noticed to the untrained eyes and ears.
The last thing on a persons mind as they go about the daily routines is encountering ghosts, this only happens when someone has had a incredible encounter that unexplainable to them, there are plenty of signs to look for but like every thing else you must eliminate all natural possibilities. So what are the signs to look for, some are very noticeable and others are hard at times to determine. The one element that can be hard to decide from is when a house settles down and starts creaking and groaning, banging and bumping. To get use to this for a first time investigator is a hard but with a few investigations under the belt at the same location it become easier, plus those who have lived in a place that creaks will know all the sounds it makes, to the point when you can decide if its house or unnatural?
The signs for ghost contacts are
Cold Spots in certain areas of the building, make sure you have checked for drafts in and around windows, no breeze is able to get through doors or under it, check any gaps in the walls and the ceilings so that air cannot get through. If a room remains cold and unable to become warm ther has to be something supernatural to it. Spirits have this ability to suck out energy for them to manifest, and this creates coldness from person or room.
Footsteps that are heard but nothing that makes them, unseen footsteps by unseen spirits.
Doors opening and closing by themselves
Lights that turn off and on by themselves
Faint music
Voices
Uneasy feelings, the feeling of being observed, the feeling of being unsafe for no reasons, the feeling of someone else with you, even though you cannot see them.
House hold objects being moved or disappearing.
Glimpses of movement from the corner of the eyes, you turn and find nothing.
Strange sensations over the body as if you were being brushed against, the feeling can be like a cobweb touching skin it very unnerving.
When coming in contact with spirits it is best to use our sixth senses, we all have one but not every one really uses it. When using our sixth senses you will notice one thing major difference, your mind will become in tune with haunted areas, this will enable you to feel the atmosphere in the room or area, you start using your intuitions better able to rely on them more, sensing if the night will be comfortable or uneasy…. It’s the same as walking into a party and feeling that the night will be fun or a night of unpleasantness. Our sixth sense is one of the most powerful tools to use while exploring haunted areas, it takes time to figure it exactly out but it will become easier to understand. I always say to people always go with your gut instinct it mostly turns out to be right. The more you use the sixth sense the more calmer one will be, and this will go towards a successful night in communicating with spirits.
The hardest thing to over come is one’s own fear of the dark, its hard to keep oneself calm when shadows are moving, the places is making all kinds of sounds or your eyes see images you cannot explain. We always tell folks to take a deep breath, concentrate on your tasks at hand, go through all manner of thoughts before concluding it’s a ghost…. You may be frightened yourself for nothing, remember two things about ghosts, one they wont steal your wallet or knock you out, secondly ghosts are able to hide more in the dark it’s a safety thing for them as well. The one thing we have learnt is that ghosts are just as inquisitive towards the living as we are to the departed. They will observe us before making them selves known, some spirits have been known to attach them self to a living host but its rare thing that happens. When a spirit has made contact with the living certain things will happen, for a spirit to manifest it needs energy and the best source of energy comes from the living… spirits have been known to drain a person so that they feel tired for no reasons and cold. Though the more you understand about ghosts the more you will notice their habits of hauntings.
What is a haunting?
To classify a place haunted there are a few factors to look at before labelling it haunted, there are different elements in range of hauntings. Some hauntings have been unnoticed by those who either lived there, visit or work there, the activity is so small one would brush it off as something naturally caused. Others are so noticeable that they can cause different feelings from those who have encountered it, from excitement or absolute fear, there are even cases of people being so traumatized that they go insane and end up in some lunatic asylum… but these are ultra rare cases. Most people are so level headed that they would rationalize it before concluding it is a haunting.
Around 90% of noises that come from the home (which is where most hauntings happen) are natural.
Understanding the sign of a haunting and are you safe?
This really depends on how active the spirit is? Some hauntings are easy to live with, while some can make families flee their home and never return for their possessions but this is rare in cases. But the question remains will I or my family be safe during a haunting? The answer is sometimes… First off one has to determine if there is fact ghosts present, then to make some sort of communication with the spirit and find the reason for the hauntings,
A home settling as the sun settles
Lose floor boards that creak when walking over them, some boards become stuck and will loosen and move back into place, this can some times sound like a footstep moving over it.
Cracks or gaps around windows and doors can create ghostly sounds, these can be causes for cold spots, the wind coming through can sound like a voice, the wind can also knock things over or off the walls creating the illusion a spirit has knocked it off.
Wind can also open doors/ closing them if not tightly shut, giving the impression of a spirit opening the door.
Copyright Team Strigois Unnatural 2010