What about Poltergiests?

I was just curious what your guyses' opinion was on what a poltergiest is. I have heard several people say that it in fact really was a noisy spirit, and other theories that it was people who were unconsciously manifesting telikinetic abilities and causing things to happen. So is a poltergiest a spirit or a person unconsciously causing the phenomina?

Originally posted by toechopper
So is a poltergiest a spirit or a person unconsciously causing the phenomina?

Unknown. I do believe that people can cause external phenomenon unconsciouslly with their minds, but that does not mean it explains all occurances. As for ghosts, spirits and poltergiest, I believe there are many things about this existence that we have yet to understand, but I also believe that people label the unknown with things they are familiar with as to be able to comprehend them. If ghosts exist, then I seriously doubt that they are the 'spirits' of the people that have died in this life.

poltergeist in German literally means "noisy spirit". Hence the term.

Most cases generally center around a small child, and are believed by many to be manifested telekinesis when the child is emotional. Of course, nothing is "proven" in this, but the evidence does suggest it for many cases.

Still, there are cases where researchers believe a combination effect is taking place, that an entity is focusing and directing the ability of the child, in order to do that which it normally could not. The one case I can think of where this seems at play most is the Heartland Ghost case, made infamous through Sightings. Cameras actually captured cuts appearing on the father's arms out of nowhere, and it remains as one of the most intriguing poltergeist cases ever.

Fortunately, most seem to be of the former variety, and either the child grows out of the phase, or the child gets less emotional, and the phenomenon simply goes away...

The term "poltergeist" is generally used when an incident involves the physical manipulation of objects. This generally isn't normally associated with simple phantoms (psychic impression repeated images) or even ghosts (disembodied entities). However, incidents involving child ghosts often have some kind of object manipulation involved as well...(such as the railroad crossing where cars are pushed off the tracks by ghostly kids, etc.)

It's a pretty gray term that can cover a variety of phenomena, but generally, the first type is the most common....