Mum's Monday: Ghosts – Is Your House Haunted?

Do you believe in ghosts? 3 ways this may be answered

1) Yes, I’ve had my own experience,

2) No.

3) Yes, but I haven’t had an experience, however, I do believe there is more than we understand after death.

I, myself have been fascinated by ghosts for a few years, but at first I said that I would only believe more when I’ve had an experience. Despite this, however, I was envious of anyone who have had an experience of a single instance of paranormal activity, a haunted place, or many hauntings. After studying and conducting my own investigations, I have now had some experiences of paranormal activity. I’ve heard a footstep in an old fort in the East Anglian county of Suffolk, felt a cold spot at a well-known haunted rectory in Suffolk, and have had an experience of paranormal activity from old relatives at my home in Essex. I have also seen a black cat out of the corner of my eye that haunts my home every now and again.

Some people who have had a paranormal experience think they going mad, so I hope this article proves that, 1) You are not mad. And 2) Ghosts/spirits do actually exist.

Types of Hauntings

Below are examples of 3 types of hauntings. If you have experienced a ghost these examples below may help you decide which type you have experienced.

Intelligent: This type of haunting is where you can communicate and interact with the spirit. The ghost is aware of other people and its surroundings. Some ghosts may not know they are deceased. This can happen if their lives were taken suddenly. A car accident, is one example of this, in which case they will carry on as if they were still alive. Some spirits are aware that they are a ghost, but are unable to cross to the other side due to having unfinished business and they want to try and accomplish what they had set out to do. Unfortunately, most spirits are unable to complete their business and remain haunting a place for several hundred years.

Residual: This type of haunting is where a spirit is trapped into repeating an event many times over. They usually appear during an important moment during their lives, either on anniversaries of the time of passing occurrence – an example of this is re-enacting the moment they were murdered – or at a certain time every day much like a tape recording.

Paranormal activity: This type of haunting occurs every now and again, either when they feel they are needed, or to communicate a message to a loved one or to a dear friend. Another example is if a building is being renovated and the spirit either approves or disapproves; they will send messages to the people in an attempt to make them stop or let them continue.

Atmosphere, Places, and Material That Can Lead to a Haunting

   

I was in a limestone military fort known to be haunted in a thunder storm where I felt a cold spot and heard a footstep. This environment can be considered a perfect time and place for experiencing paranormal activity and below is an elaboration of why.

Thunderstorms: Ghosts need energy to haunt. They will feed of the electricity generated from the thunder storm.

A building or a field where a dramatic occurrence moment in the person’s life took place. Three of examples of this is a murder, a battle, or in a hospital.

Limestone: This material, known for holding energy, which spirits can then feed from. If a dramatic event happened next to or in the vicinity of limestone, chances are there could be a haunting.

Equipment for Ghost Hunting

Ghost hunting has become much more scientific. There are many types of equipment that can help you detect paranormal activity or prove that a place is haunted.

Hand held thermal imaging camera: This camera can be used to detect hot and cold spots. The hot spots show up as red, and the cold spots as blue, and more advanced thermal imaging cameras will also give you a reading on the temperature as well, not just what is hot and what is cold. An apparition will show up as a red image on the camera, but just before they manifest, a cold spot may appear. You can find out more information in the section, debunking.

360-degree camera: Once placed in the middle of a room, it will record a 360-degree image of said room, so if any activity occurs the camera will pick it up.

General digital cameras/video cameras: Either static or hand held, ghosts, strange images, or sounds can be caught. Some can be explained and some cannot. For more information, see debunking.

Electromagnetic frequency reader EMF: Ghosts give off energy and this device is used to pick that energy up. The higher the frequency, the stronger the apparition. You can use this device to check the surrounding electrics. For more information on electrics in the house, see debunking. You can use this device to communicate with a spirit by asking a set of simple questions that can be answered with one light for no and two lights for yes. If more of the lights are lit, the answer can be interpreted as a stronger response.

Digital voice recorder: This can be used to pick up on any disembodied voices, which is known as an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP). With this device, you can ask questions that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no, such as what is your name?

Motion sensors: These can be placed in various locations around the place you’re investigating, if a door opens seemingly on its own an alarm will sound. With this you would have to check that no actual human or animal was near at the time the alarm sounded.

Heat sensors: These can be used to measure hot and cold temperature changes. Just before a spirit manifests itself, it draws in energy from its surroundings, creating a cold spot. The heat sensor will go off when the temperature rapidly dropped.

Torches: Ghost hunting is mainly conducted at night with all the lights off. Torches are useful for finding your way around from room to room or to see if anything has been moved, been turned on, or opened. For more information about objects moving by themselves, see how to know if you are being haunted.

Trigger items and questions: It can be useful to know the circumstances of a death when investigating a possible haunted location. If a person died looking for something, then maybe you can place a replica of that item in a place where activity has occurred the most, and ask questions about said item. You can use the EMF reader to see the answers. Another example is, if they died as a result of an accident, asking relevant questions about that event may also provoke activity. Some questions can be asked such as, can you knock, make a sound, or voice any answers. It has been known, on an episode of Ghost Hunters, that stones have been thrown by the investigators and then thrown back as if the spirit is playing a game.

How to Know if you Think you are Being Haunted

If you believe that your house, or a place you work at, or are just visiting is haunted, these 11 examples may help you determine whether or not it is just paranormal activity, or an actual haunting.

Hearing footsteps: Hearing footsteps behind you or in another section of a place you are investigating, as if someone is walking around, you may have to check to see if it isn’t an actual person or an animal creating those footsteps.

Cold spots: Spirits will draw the energy from around them to manifest, resulting in a cold spot close by.

Things being moved, opened, closed, or disappearing: Some people, when they are carrying out an activity can be using a wide range of items. Tools such as hammer, or a screwdriver, or pens, pencils, pieces of paper, and many other objects needed to carry out the task. It has been known for people to put items down, and when they go to use them again, they have been moved without explanation. Although this can be explained simply by the person forgetting where they put that particular item. However, if there is no one else around, and you only have either one piece or several pieces of equipment, under normal circumstances, the item(s) wouldn’t have gone far. Sometimes, these items can turn up in unusual places or locations, even in places the person rarely goes, or hasn’t been down there at all. Doors have been known to open and close or stay open on their own. It has been known for an item that has been moved by unknown circumstances to be lost for some time before being found again, or in some rare cases, never to be seen again.

Taps and electrical items around the home being manipulated: Some spirits may affect things that work by electric. Some examples can be flickering lights, unexplained voices or strange noises coming through baby monitors, TVs turning on or off and computers seeming to malfunction. Taps in the kitchen or bathroom may turn on by themselves.

Hearing voices: If this is a regular thing and the voices are or maybe not recognised, then this could be classed as a haunting. However, if you hear voice you do recognise, but only every now and again, then the experience could be classed as just paranormal activity, where the spirit is trying to send a message to you.

Seeing an apparition: Actually seeing a person that shouldn’t be there either in part or as a full apparition could clarify a haunting. If you see apparitions on an infrequent basis, then it is classed as paranormal activity instead.

Orbs of light: Spirits emit energy, and sometimes it is only the spiritual energy that is formed and they are unable to fully manifest, but the energy they do emit results in an orb of light floating about, and they are governed by the same rules as any other haunting – intelligent or residual. Again, if it happens on an infrequent, or even just the once, it is only classed as paranormal activity.

Hearing unexplained noises: Strange and unexplained noises, such as knocking on the walls and doors, floors creaking, and scratching noises could mean a ghost is present.

Seeing shadows: Shadowy figures can appear as either misty grey or black are often paranormal, but if it happens on a regular basis, it can be classed as a haunting.

Having the feeling you are being watched: People seem to be able to sense when they are or not alone, or being watched. This can happen if the ghost watching is a loved one that passed, or even someone who disapproves of you living there, as it was once their house and they want to reclaim it back.

Batteries in equipment being drained: Investigators, when they are conducting an investigation sometimes notice that fully charged batteries in equipment – cameras, phones, or laptops, suddenly going flat. This could be the spirit using the energy ready to appear. However, batteries going flat can be explained away by them being dud or faulty.

Note: Although the above can be interpreted as either paranormal activity or a haunting, the section below may help you determine whether what you experienced is legitimate or not.

Debunking

When a person thinks a place is haunted, certain elements can create the illusion of a presence either somewhere else within the place they are, or next door to them in the same room. Some people who really want to see a ghost can fall into the trap of believing everything is paranormal or they let their imagination run away with them. These following examples not only tricks the mind, but will also help you search for an alternative solution. If you believe your house is haunted, you can search for these examples to help debunk.

Imagination – just because a place is old and/or looks spooky, doesn’t mean it is haunted. It can be all innocent and it’s all due to people’s imagination getting the better of them, which can make them think they see and hear things that are not there.

Electrical equipment: Boxes that are heavily wired or a house with faulty wiring can throw out high electromagnetic readings, and if you are sensitive or the readings are naturally high, it can make the person feel uneasy and give them the sense that they are being watched.

Animals: A fox’s scream sounds like a human scream and therefore can be misinterpreted as paranormal. Cats like to climb on roofs and the noise they make could be deemed as strange and paranormal. Other animals can act in ways which we may mistake for a spirit, such as rodents in the walls.

Items placed in a particular place or way: Door handles in a photograph casting a shadow that looks strange, but is actually innocent. Light fittings being seen through a window may be mistaken for a face. Statues, clothes horses, and other items can be deemed to look like a ghostly figure but they are just normal everyday items.

Reflective surfaces: These reflect human body heat back showing up on thermal imaging camera so it is the person filming not a ghost. Old window panes and the way these are sometimes mouldered may make people think they can see a face but it is just the way they have aged over the years, however it has been noted that some people have seen faces of people reflected in a window, thinking it’s a ghost, but it even this can be interpreted to be just an illusion. Mirrors can also trick the eye into seeing something out of the ordinary, but it has been noted that some people have seen apparitions in a mirror.

Vehicle’s headlights casting shadows: As vehicles go past a window, their headlights can throw shadows across a room, which some can look like shadowy figures dancing about. If the vehicle’s headlights came into contact with a nearby tree, the shadows can give off random, and sometimes specific shapes that may appear to be a presence. It can also be noted that, in a high wind, a nearby tree may actually tap against the glass.

Normal house settling noises: An old house will creak at night as it settles after a day’s activity: Floor boards creaking, TVs and computers cooling down, or the shower dripping.

Voices heard from outside as sound carries: Voices can be carried on the wind, so a conversation outside could be overheard in a house as if it’s coming from another room or in the same room that you are in.

Dust particles: Orbs of light either seen with the naked eye or on a photograph can be just dust particles and not spiritual. High levels of electromagnetic radiation can play tricks on your imagination, causing you to see what isn’t really there, such as orbs of light.

Camera malfunction and human error: Double exposure usually happens with the older 35mm cameras, and happens when a picture is taken, but the film didn’t wind on, therefore overlapping the previous picture. If a person is standing in one of them, but not in the other, this can be misinterpreted as an apparition. With digital cameras, although double exposures are least likely to happen, a finger over the lens may make the picture distorted enough to give off an expression of a spirit.

Draughts from outside: These can produce cold spots where the person doesn’t realise, and this can trick the imagination into believing it is a manifestation.

Doors that are easily opened: Some doors may swing open easily, and this can happen if you just walk passed. Sometimes, you can close or open one door, and it will create a vacuum, which will open another door across the room.

Loose floor boards: These creak as you walk over them and this may result in adjacent floor boards being disturbed and the echo from the floorboards can make it sound as if someone is walking behind you. The creaking can also be carried through the building, making it give off the impression that someone else is in the building with you.

Electronics around a building: Some appliances, lights, and other electrical equipment that turn themselves on seemingly by themselves, and then off again can sometimes be explained as being faulty. A loose wire or an unknown timer has been set so the appliance comes on at a certain time, for example. Lights that flicker may also mean just a loose wire, or it needs a new bulb.

If you’re staying in an unfamiliar place: If you are on holiday, or staying round a friend’s or relative’s house, you wouldn’t be aware of the surrounding area, or any sights and sounds that are perfectly innocent. Note: All of the above can apply to any unfamiliar place, but it is easy to jump to conclusions.

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I hope this article has helped anyone who have had an experience prove whether or not it was indeed a ghostly presence, or just something completely innocent. And to anyone who feels uneasy, I hope this article helps to calm your nerves.

If this does help you, then I have done my job.