Are young children more susceptible to seeing ghosts?

At the age of 3 or 4 my daughter was in her room jumping on her bed. She looked over at the window (it was evening) and seen a kid staring at her through the window. Scared the crap out of her! After that this same boy, named josh, would just appear and they would play. She said they would even play tag. She could physically touch him. She was about 8 years old and still seeing this boy. She was playing with a recorder one day and couldn't understand why she would play it back and only hear her voice. She never seen him after that. She said he had red hair and freckles so he wasn't imaginary to her.....he was real. She's 21 now and gets a little freaked out when we talk about him because he still seems so real to her.

I've always been intrigue by this question. I can remember as far back as around the age of 12 going to the library and looking through those old ghost books. I has never left me... this eerie feeling that something is looming when it's too quite.

Since I got a kid of my own the feeling is renewed. My son (now 1 year old) will sometimes look in a fixed direction for no reason apparently. Often occurs during lunch and dinner where he looks across my shoulder into the hallway.
Ofcourse I never see anything but I always get that uneasy feeling.

A more dramatic occurrence was one time where my girlfriends daughter (now 6) came into the living room one morning and without any questions asked said that she had seen something in her room and it scared her. I asked her if she thought she might just have had a bad dream, but she declined and was very shaken up.
I asked her to show me where and what she'd seen and she told me that something had been outside the window, came through the window and wanted her to come with it and play (or something about going with it to the light). She said she refuse to do so and had started to turn and walking away as the entity grab her one shoulder with force. She then hid under the covers.

It's hard not being able to explain something like this to her. If I ever had the ability to see through the shadows, it's long gone apparently (only hear sounds here and there), but I at least try not to ridicule her or show her disbelief.
But what the heck to do........

The imaginary friend theory is fun I actually kind of hope that this is intact the case and if so, I wish I could remember my friends from that time hehe.

I saw my first "ghost" when I was around three years old. My parents along with my younger brother and I were visiting my grandparents, (my mother's parents), at the time. They lived in this old three story gothic that was over a hundred years old. I was sitting in the parlor with my mother when I saw this man in old nineteenth century dress come walking down the staircase but I was immediately terrified to realize I could see right through him. Of course, my father tried to tell me that I was just imagining things but I knew what I saw and I learned later in life that my grandparents always suspected the old place was haunted as well.

I've seen many other ghostly forms, including a gray cat that was sitting in the middle of my living room floor one day when I returned from work and opened my apartment door. It immediately behaved like a real cat, as frightened to see me as I was to see it, and it took offl like a shot into my bedroom; but no matter how long or hard I searched, I never found that cat & I never saw it again. I think it's because of those two experiences and many others that I have made the paranormal a life-long avocation. I want to know what it was that I have been seeing and hearing and sensing so many times through out my life.

Yes, I believe that children and animals are more attuned to the higher spiritual planes than adults but I also believe that is only the case because as adults most people have been conditioned to disbelieve in the paranormal, except as a way to scare themselves for fun through movies and TV. It's also possible for adults to retrain themselves so they can recapture the ability they lost in adolescence. But, sadly, most adults don't want to believe in the existence of ghosts, spirits and other things that go bump in the night, much less investigate them.

reply to post by pshea38


Wow, that is interesting. Hard to see, but I see whatever is there.

Originally posted by petrus4
The aetheric and physical matrices don't completely lock until around the age of 17.

I can agree with that.

When I was just a child, I saw and experienced ghosts in various ways. In my mid-teens, I only had a few experiences that were not visual (ie, hearing unexplainable stomping around my house when I was alone, doors opening by themselves right in front of me repeatedly, etc).

I simply haven't had any significant paranormal activity in years (I am now in my 20s). I do try to keep my mind open though, just in case... though it seems like I now perceive such energy in a general sense, instead of focused phenomenon (as in, I can sense bad energy in a place where bad things happened).

Originally posted by Vrill
...Or are ghosts attracted to young children?

Or are children just more imaginitive and suggestible? (why would you exclude this third possibility?).

reply to post by starchild10


You have a point, some are. Some are not though.

I think it alll depends on the child, some may see things and some may not, or they just don't realise what they are actually seeing.
My little brother (he's now 15) used To see a man named Bob from the time he was a baby up until he was 10. He used to crawl over to the corner in the living room and babble away , the year my brother was born I was 5, he was born with double pneumothorax (no idea how to spell that) so he spent his first 3 months in the hospital. Anyways it was only a week since my mom brought him home and around 11 at night she heard my dads name being called over the baby monitor, she went into my brothers room ready to beat someone with a bat thinking we had a break in, and no one was there, but my brother was in his crib breathing funny and had to be rushed to hospital because their was a small tear in his right lung again. Personally I think it was bob , and I think that's why my brother seen bob for so many years. Maybe a spirit just looking out for him.
My whole family has seen weird things, even to this day and I just think it has to do with my brother lol

They say that children are more sensitive to the paranormal due to their innocence and possibly open mindedness . Many adults as we grow older and more "mature" we become close minded. Our views are our views and thats that nothing else matters and we dont give anything else the chance to penetrate our thoughts and views. Children on the other hand have a wider imagination and are more open to thoughts and ideas. I believe most adults dont see what children see because they choose not too. I have also heard and personally believe that animals are more sensitive to supernatural things as well.

Yes I believe they are and it has something to do with their pineal glands not being calcified or something along those lines.

I've seens some shows about it. My 8 year old cousins said something about seeing ghost, my mom apparently had a ghost friend named Fred or something like that. My grandma said when my mom was young and they just moved into a new house their was all this banging and my mom yelled out "Stop it Fred" and the banging stopped. Could have been anything though, but you know.

I personally can't really argue with it, I've saw enough when I was a kid and I know my daughter was the same. The boys though don't seem susceptible.
I have a notion that's it's only the ladies of the family that easily pick them up. Up to a certain age anyway.

Apparently when I was little, I used to complain to my Mum about a "little man with horns on his head" who used to laugh at me. I can't remember it, but it my Mum said it used to scare her more than it did me.

reply to post by lightseeker


Your story is a LOT like mine. My grandparents bought and remodeled a large old house that was 100 years old when I was born. When I was about 3, I went into the music room and came out to find my grandmother and tell her about "the man" that I had seen in there. At the time I wasn't scared, but as I got older, I remember feeling uneasy in that house, and I didn't want to be alone in certain parts of the house. They lived in that house until I was in high school, and I NEVER felt totally secure in 4 of the rooms: the music room, the dining room, and the 2 rooms above those rooms on the 2nd floor. The year after my grandparents sold it, it burned completely to the ground (which is a shame, because the woodwork in that house was amazing.)

I definitely believe that kids can see and perceive things that adults can't see.

I believe that they are more susceptible, but I also wonder if that is because in general the majority of people are taught that such things don't exist, are taught as they grow older that admitting to seeing such things or even more so communicating with them is grounds for ridicule and questions about ones sanity. We are taught as we grow older to examine things in a more scientific....show me proof..manner, and eventually tune that part of us out.

When I was young I had a couple of experiences that stood out in my mind, two were considered acceptable due to the circumstances, one I was told was only my imagination but it scared the hell out of me. The two acceptable experiences were after my grandfather died when I was 7. We were very close and his loss devastated me initially. My grandparents house was behind our house, with an alleyway separating the properties. Not long before my grandfather passed away our dog, a pure bred Irish Setter gave birth to a record 18 puppies, 15 of which survived. It was summer time and we all would sit out in the back yard and bottle feed the puppies supplementing what their mother could produce and grandpa would sit on the back steps of his house and watch us and the puppies. I would say it was maybe a month after he passed away we were out with the puppies and I looked over and there he sat watching us. The second experience occurred around 2 years later. When we visited grandma since she was so close and it was so often, we weren't expected to knock before entering and we never did. One day I walked in the back door of the house and grandma was talking to someone in the living room. Thinking she was on the phone I quietly entered the room so as not to disturb her, but when I walked in she was not on the phone, she was standing with her back to me talking to my grandpa, I saw him plain as day and obviously she did too. As a side note, I don't believe he ever left her after he passed away, She lived a long and seemingly happy life and passed away at the age of 98 I was 39 at the time, and sometime in her last year with us I asked her why so far as I knew she never went out...dated over all those years, 32 years is a long time to be alone.She told me no one could ever compare to him and he was always with her. I do believe he was.

The experience that I had that was discounted even though it completely terrified me was probably around the age of 8 or 9. My 3 sisters and I shared a bedroom, we slept with the door open, and the door opened onto the dining room which had a big bay window just opposite so it was never TOO dark. One night I woke up and looked out there and there were dark things...they weren't people, they were very active as if they were planning something amongst themselves. I watched them for awhile, to scared to move for fear of catching their attention, but eventually made my way to my older sister's bed and told her, she couldn't see them but I still could and was so scared I convinced her to let me sleep with her, and I spent the rest of the night terrified with my head under the covers. I don't recall ever seeing any form of apparition from that point on, even though I envied people who could, and wished I could too.....Until I had my daughter.

(I have to put this in 2 posts, not enough room in just one.)

My daughter from a very young age told me stories of her friend "Chadie" who lived next door, but who didn't want us, her parents, to see her. Around 6 years old she stopped talking about her, when I mentioned mentioned it to her she told me she saw Chadie and another girl burning up in the basement of the house next door, and she never came back. I don't know the history of the house, it is an old house and the people living there at the time knew nothing of the history of the house so there is no way I could verify what she saw, but she was adamant about it. We moved just before she turned 8 and were living in an apartment and one night I heard her get up, it sounded like she was sorta rushing around a bit in her room and she turned the light on, whispered to her dog Toto then got very quiet. I waited a bit and then went in to check on her. I found her sitting rock still on the bed wide eyed holding onto her dog both of them staring at the same area in front of them. I sat down with her and asked her what was wrong, she told me that "ghosts" of twin boys had been in her room and that one had tried to choke her while the other one watched and laughed at her. I asked her why she didn't come and get me and she said she knew she would be alright so long as she kept Toto next to her and stayed where she was, but if she had tried to leave the room she would not be safe. She even complained of her neck still being sore from him choking her, and was slightly painful tender to my touch. I slept in her bed the rest of the night...but sort of wrote it off as night terrors, although after that time when I was in the apartment alone at night I would find myself unreasonably spooked.

Nothing untoward occurred in the apartment after that, for the time being, but sometimes when she came home from visiting her father who still lived in the same house as we had when she was younger, she would tell me that things would happen there, that she was scared of the basement (semi-finished) even with her dad down there with her and all the lights on. After her grandfather passed away, her father took his kitchenette set, the chairs with effort swiveled, but were stiff and very squeaky when you turned them. She one day was using the stove with her back to the table, when she heard one of the chairs squeaking, she turned around and watched it turn to face her with no one in it.

I encouraged her to talk about what she experienced and I listened with an open mind. Just because I couldn't see, hear, feel or experience what she did, didn't make her experiences impossible, and I wanted to ensure that if she experienced something frightening (like I did that one night), she could discuss it and express her fear without fear of it being dismissed. I think my deep love and concern for my daughter and my passionate desire to ensure she felt she could trust me to "be there" for her, led to what eventually happened "next"

It happened when she was 12, we were sitting on the sofa talking about this subject, from where I was sitting I had a fairly straight view down the hallway towards the bedrooms and bathroom and I just happened to look in that direction at the right time I guess....and I saw "him" he was a shadow solid black, about 6 feet tall,and wearing a hat. He walked from a space in the wall between the bedrooms and into the bathroom. I was momentarily struck dumb then I told her I had seen something weird...a shadow moving and she described him to me. From then on until I moved I saw him fairly frequently, most times traversing that same path, but occasionally closer walking into the kitchen and disappearing, and even one night peeking out of my daughters room, ducking back in and then peeking out again. But he wasn't the only shadow living there, around the same time I started seeing him I also started seeing "the cat" It was also solid black shadow, the size of a cat, it would move across the room about 3 feet off of the floor right in front of me and then disappear. The cat came with me when I moved and has become more "solid" in that when I am in bed sometimes I can feel the weight of a cat jump on the bed, walk by my legs, even step on me crossing over me, but when I or anyone looks nothing is there.

I believe that my daughters experiences, and keeping an open mind for her, led me back to being able to "see" again.

reply to post by Vrill


I have 4 "sensitive" children with my 10 yr old and 7yr old being the most. As a child I was also very sensitive to spirits but it was scary to me because I was experiencing things my parents did not understand but I could see and feel things they could not. I would turn on the light every night, make my little sister sleep with me, and would still lay awake crying in fear for hours every night. I felt a male entity "watching" me every night.Now that I have developed my abilities I full understand what was happening. When my daughter first came to me and tell me she hears her name being called and feels like "someone" is in her room I was able to explain with a clear understanding. Once she understood that she is 100% in control and what it is she is experiencing she has not been afraid and then I went threw it 3 more times. Each one of their experiences has been a little different but they seem just fine. I think the biggest things parents try to do is to deny which in turn teaches the child not to trust their inner feelings and intuition.

Some say yes for several reasons and depending on what age you are referring to when you say kids. Do kids have a more creative mind and imagination or do they have the ability to perceive beyond what adults do? Do we have more senses then we are aware of and just lost the ability somehow. There is the '___' theory that kids brains produce more of this and is why night-terrors are mostly a common occurrence with children. Whats crazy is how '___' is explained

'___' can produce powerful entheogenic experiences including intense visuals, euphoria and hallucinations (perceived extensions of reality)

SOURCE

Ok so the definition of perceive is ( become aware or conscious of (something); come to realize or understand )
and of hallucination is (an experience involving the apparent perception of something not present)
so it is contradictory because one is to become aware meaning it was always there we just couldn't see it as the other is saying we are seeing something that is not there. It is weird how similar experiences are among those that dable in such substances as '___' and Mushrooms which contain similar properties. Sometimes called a religious experience like tasting death, then realizing what life is, something that cannot be explained only experienced, so real that once you have it would be nearly impossible to deny the validity of how real it was. It is interesting but back to night-terrors, adults experience this too sometimes here is a creepy article.

experienced sleep paralysis twice in college. I can vouch for the sheer terror that attends the experience. I saw -- no, felt -- an evil presence to my left. I can't tell you what was evil about it or how I knew it was so nasty. But I did. As the experience progressed, it came closer. It didn't feel like my life was at risk. That was, in fact, too small. It felt like the presence was after something else, probably what you'd call my soul or my being, even though intellectually I'm a straight materialist. I woke up more scared than I've ever been in my life.

SOURCE

This is a link to an investigation of my old neighbors home...they actually moved it was so bad. Place was 'powerful'

centralflghosts.homestead.com...

Very Crazy. I remember one of the woman actually running out of the home as they had two separate teams come out. In the report they talked to me and I discuss my son who was 4 at the time and what he saw. Never forget it.

Yes, children and animals are more susceptible to seeing ghosts and spirits. Adults can continue seeing them if they keep their minds open, and their vibration levels high. But for most, as they grow older they are told these things are just their imagination. Children believe what their parents tell them, so after hearing they don't exist over and over they begin to close their mind. Over time the sightings usually stop. This doesn't mean the ghosts aren't there, they just aren't seen any more.
A ghost is a disembodied energy (soul) that is earth bound. They may have unfinished business, or may not realize they are dead; they refuse to cross over to the next level for some reason. If they were taught a "religion" while alive they may fear where their soul will end up. A spirit is a soul that has passed over to the next level, but comes back to help a relative, or someone else in need. A ghost will appear to walk on the ground, same as us, but a spirit will appear to float about 3 ft. above the ground.
I saw my first ghost when I was two, still sleeping in my crib which was in their bedroom. My mother and dad were in their bed asleep and I woke up and saw a figure standing at my crib. I remember feeling scared because I didn't know who it was. I am 54 years old now, and remember this vividly. The next time I saw a ghost was at the age of six. From that day until I was in my late teens this ghost followed me every where. My parents didn't believe me, and I was basically on my own dealing with this trauma. The ghost would wait until I was alone to scare me by opening doors, turning on the stereo, knocking on the walls, scratching on my bed rails, or manifest peeping around the corner at me. But, I also had a spirit come to my rescue when I would get so terrified I couldn't move! I didn't see the spirit, but I felt it's presence and heard it telling me not to be afraid, it was there to help me. I would immediately feel relieved, and the ghost would leave.
When I was 23 I came to my mom's for the weekend for a visit, and while I was in the kitchen with my mother the ghost started beating on the kitchen wall so loud we both jumped like we were shot; she couldn't ignore it. I told her the ghost was telling me hello. She told me she had had some other experiences since I'd moved out. I was really happy she finally knew I wasn't crazy while I was growing up!
I had to make myself close my mind to seeing ghosts when I reached my teens. I can still feel their presence when they are around, but it doesn't scare me anymore, being as I lived with one for 16 years. I think some of them are just looking for attention because they can't figure out why everyone ignores them. If people would not be afraid when they see, or feel, a ghost they should talk to it, and let them know they are dead and need to cross over to the light. They are, after all, just like us, only without a physical body.