Haunting
Mysterious happenings attributed to the presence
of ghosts or spirits.
Phenomena include apparitions, noises, smells, tactile
sensations, extremes in temperature, movement of objects, and the like.
Despite much scientific
inquiry since the late nineteenth century, very little is known about the nature of
hauntings and why they happen. The term 'haunt' is derived from the same root as 'home',
and refers to the occupation of homes by the spirits of deceased people and animals who
lived there. Other haunted sites seem to be places merely frequented or liked by the
deceased, or places where violent death has occurred.
Most hauntings have no
clear reason or purpose. Some are continual and others are active only on certain dates
that correspond to the deaths or major events in the lives of the deceased. Some hauntings
are brief, lasting only a few weeks, months, or years, while others continue for
centuries. Haunted places often are pervaded by an oppressive atmosphere.
Not everyone who goes to a
haunted place experiences paranormal phenomena. The theory is that only individuals with
certain psychic attunements or emotional states are receptive. Few hauntings involve
seeing apparitions. In those that do, a ghost may be seen by a single individual or
collectively by several people present at the same time.
Thousands of hauntings
have been investigated by psychical researchers and parapsychologists over the last
hundred years or so. Numerous theories have been advanced, all inconclusive. Some early
psychic researchers thought that ghosts were meaningless fragments of energy left behind
in death. Others have theorized that hauntings are a form of psychometry, vibrations of
events and emotions imbued into a house, site, or object. One popular spiritualist
theory holds that hauntings occur when the spirit of the dead person or animal is trapped
on the earth plane for various reasons, doesn't know it is dead, or is reluctant to leave.
Gentle exorcisms will send the spirit on to the after-world.
Researchers employ three
basic techniques to investigate a haunting:
1. Description - involves
taking eyewitness accounts.
2. Experimentation -
involves bringing a psychic to the site to corroborate the eyewitness accounts or provide
new information.
3. Detection - involves
the observation or recording of phenomena using a ghost-hunter's kit, including
camcorders, infrared cameras and tape recorders, as well as heat sensors and Geiger
counters to measure changes in the atmosphere.
Such methods are at best
imprecise and interpretation of results is often subjective. Critics say ghost
investigation is imprecise and not a true science because it is heavily reliant upon
eyewitness testimony. See
Poltergeist.
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