What is a haunting

What is a haunting? Surely science can explain the strange sights, sounds, and mobilities that many people have experienced from time to time. Ancient hauntings date back into antiguity, even to ancient Greece and Rome. What are these strange occurances? Are they really spirits of the dead or some more mundane explaination.
I still haven't figured it out. What have you experienced? What do you think? Please, lets keep this fairly serious. Try to keep it in your own realm of experiences.

My experience's are when my mom died at the age of 49 unexpected(it is always)i did not had the chance to say goodbye after a period of time 3 to 4 weeks all of a sutton my mom appeared and told me that it was good,same happen to my wife who passed away after a long period of sickness,also my wife appeared.

Also have some more paranormal experience's when i was a child.but that is something for another thread.

reply to post by Quasi


The verdict is still out on that. There are multiple theories; like a particular person, or event, getting stuck in time playing back like a broken record. Another popular theory is that a haunting is the result of a person's eternal soul choosing not to cross over, but stay here. Their interactions with the living would be classified as a "haunting."

To be honest, I don't know if science can ever prove one or the other. I guess in time we'll see.

would you say this is a haunting of a spirit, or more demonic intervention?

heres an example :

Myself and 3 of my friends arrived at my home to find ourselves locked out. I had forgotton the key. My friends made several attempts to break in for me, and this high pitched noise started coming from inside. It sounded like when you tap metal,, or blow on glasses.
The tv started to turn on, then off. Then it would turn on, switch channels, get louder and then softer. Then a low growling/rumbling noise started to come from inside.
I often joke around and call the energy here Dennis, so I grabbed the doorhandle, said "DENNIS LET ME IN" and the door swung open........

You could say Im a little freaked.

As a paranormal investigator I have seen and heard some pretty strange things.

I honestly can't explain them but have witnessed them first hand.

A Poltergeist (help·info) is traditionally described as a troublesome spirit or ghost that enjoys terrorizing humans and animals.[1] Typically poltergeists make loud, unexplainable sounds, and move objects around. Rarely poltergeists have been associated with demonic possession.

reply to post by moonpie86


I dont think its demonic. From what you have decribed... It sounds more like poltergeist activity which is usually harmless.

My experiences was very peacefull and very loving.

All though i do believe there are some demonic forces around us,i never have experience them myself.

What is a Haunting?

There are a number of things that can cause a Haunting.

There are Residual Hunting's. This when someone sees the same apparition doing the same thing over and over. The residual haunting is a playback of a past events, and the apparitions seen are not spirits, but are recordings of the event.

You can also get Earth Bound Spirits.

An earthbound spirit is a human spirit that has not properly passed over. They have not gone onto the next level, the light, heaven, whatever you choose to call it. They remain behind, and they account for many ghost sightings and haunted places.

The reasons for this are varied. Some are complicated and unique to that spirit and others are simple to understand and relate too. Here are a few of the most common reasons that a spirit remains earthbound.
Some spirits remain at or near the site of their death, especially if it was sudden and unexpected. They remain confused and don't know or accept that they have died. These spirits remain in the area and try to make contact with anyone that passes by that is sensitive to spirits. This type of spirit can be found almost anywhere a death has occurred.

Sometimes a spirit realizes that it is dead and that life continues beyond that. They do not go to the light for reasons such as the fear that their existence will end, fear of the unknown, fear of going to hell or being judged for past deeds. These spirits are bound here because of their own fears.


Other spirits stay behind to take care of unfinished business. It may be to make sure their finances and their loved ones are ok or to pass along one final message. Often these earthbound spirits do not remain here for long, once they can complete their goal, they normally pass over. If the deed that they are attempting to finish is complicated they will often contact the living to assist them. In many cases the living are unsure of what the spirit wants and it adds to the length of the time the spirit spends here. Almost anything that a spirit feels compelled to do before it goes to the light can make it remain here until it feels comfortable with how they have left things.

Guilt can also be a reason for a spirit being stuck here. They may feel like they have left the family or loved ones too soon and uncared for. This is also the main reason why suicide victims and other spirits whose death was caused by their actions (alcoholics, drug overdose, etc) remain behind. They feel guilty over taking their life or contributing to their death.

The living can also hold a spirit here. By not letting go of them, they can be bound here by our love and unable or unwilling to go on until the living can come to terms with the loss. This happens when people go beyond the normal grieving process and become obsessed with the deceased person. They feel that they left things unsaid, undone, etc. and they feel guilt over it. This keeps the spirit from going over many times simply because it does not want us to feel this way or be that upset.

I hope this covers what you have asked. None of this is set in stone of course and is always open to interpretation.

Might not be related to the topic in all ways, but since there is a paranormal investigator who made a post tell me if you think this is actually possible.

My dad told me a few years ago that this woman who he worked with at the time had rented a house out because she had just lost hers after a divorce or something.
It was her first or second night at the house and she didn't think it was haunted or anything, however she went into the basement when she was there alone and a fridge door down there began swinging open and closed, and a sort of voice, not sure how it sounded but when my dad imitated what she made it sound like it was sort of demonic, began saying "GET OUT!" repeatedly.

Does this even seem possible? I have a hard time believing it although apparently she had no doubt in her mind that it really happened and she wasn't lying about it.
And what kind of entity would that be considered? Poltergeist or Demon is my guess, but as far as I know poltergeists don't really communicate like that.

It may have been a Negative energy in the house. It would not have been a Poltergeist as they are not verbal, they simply move stuff around and make a lot of noise.

How do you tell the difference between a spirit , and negative energy?
> This may not be related, but as the energy/spirit increases in prescence, my own health problems are starting to escalate, may or may not have epilepsy.?

Hauntings can be casued by many things, also those of us who work in this field appreciate that it will never be an exact Science.

There are theories that Residual Hauntings can be caused by stone memory, ie certain types of rock / stone used in building could be capeable of recall specific events and replaying them over and over. It is thought that Limestone and area's high in Quartz Crystal could be prone to this phenomenon.

Poltergeist Hauntings can often be linked back to a human cause, this is often common if there is a teenage girl in the property of puberty age. Its thought that hormonal reactions can trigger reactions in the brain that could cause items to move. Im not saying that this is the cause of all hauntings like this but its a theory. We all know that the majority of us only use a very small amount of our brain, who knows what the other unused areas are capeable of.

We also have visitaion style hauntings, where we see a spirit coming back to a familiar place / family home, this is one of the most common haunting types along with the residual ones. Its residual and visitation style hauntings that ive had most experience in investigating.

There are of course the more serious cases ie Demonic Hauntings, these are very rare and are usually linked to a specific person and not an area or property.

Obvioulsy you could write a book on the subject but thats it in brief.

reply to post by ghosthunter79


Not to mention smells - i.e. cigarettes, coffee, roses/flowers,perfumes/aftershaves.
Smells associated with a person who has died. I get that a lot. I find it comforting. Though I suppose technically it wouldn't necessarily fall under 'haunting'.

reply to post by 5senses


It can do without doubt, we have often found smells in places that could link back years, if there is no explanation then it could be paranormal.

One thing to watch with things like cigarette smoke and tobacco smells, is that they can ingrain in wood or pours Walls and you will get occasional smells or scents fir years. This is generally the case in old bars etc, places that were used a lot