![]() That is, a sensitive person would pick up past vibrations from the area they were in and witness an event or person as it appeared many years ago. Some speculate that ghosts are telepathic images. In this sense, ghosts would not be real at all but rather a projection of our subconscious mind. It obviously would not explain instances where the spirit spontaneously interacts with living people.įreud thought that ghosts are actually the visions of people who are afraid of death. ![]() This theory makes the most sense at locations where numerous witnesses spy the ghost doing the same thing over and over, for instance traveling along a specific corridor, with no awareness of the witness. This theory holds that more energy or electrical impulses are expended during periods of high stress or excitement, and that the energy lingers for a long time.Ī similar premise to the above puts forward the idea that hauntings are caused by repetitive activity, i.e., a movement or action that is performed so often that it is etched or recorded in the fabric of space/time. Some people believe that ghosts are the residual energy left behind by an emotionally strong person or event. There are many theories of what ghosts could be. The concept of the benign haunting is historically a quite recent one. Except for once-a-year festivals such as Day of the Dead or Samhain, a ghost sighting was considered an even more frightening and unlucky event than it is now. Almost universally, spirits walked the earth only as a result of some wrong done upon them, whether it be an improper burial or a heinous act for which they sought vengeance. After an exhumation and proper burial, the haunting ends.Īlthough Pliny’s story seems quite modern in tone, the truth is that there were very few “friendly” ghosts in ancient cultures. Upon digging up the spot, it’s discovered that a man was buried there in chains. A philosopher named Athenodorus rents the house and, upon sighting the resident spirit, follows it to the courtyard. Pliny the Younger in the first century AD told the story of a house haunted by a chain rattling ghost who was bringing down the property value. The ancient Romans in particular had a very robust lore around ghosts and hauntings, so much that they wrote plays and stories about them. No one who stays there just to have this experience gets any good out of it, but the ghosts do not get angry with anyone who happens to be there against his will.”Īlthough Samuel was conjured and perhaps not a “true” ghost, Pausanius’ account is clearly that of an already-established haunting which must have been well known at the time. “At this place you can hear all night horses whinnying and men fighting. A Greek writer named Pausanius wrote around 150 AD about a haunting at the site of the battle of Marathon (490 BC). Samuel appears in the form of “an old man covered with a mantle.” The description of Samuel in his undead state, covered with his mantle, seems to set a precedent for the sheet-covered ghost so favored in Western culture.Īnother very old ghost sighting comes from Ancient Greece. Saul goes to a medium (“a woman that hath a familiar spirit”) and asks her to conjure up the deceased Samuel, which she does. Civilizations as old as ancient China, Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt recorded stories of souls returning to Earth to take care of unfinished business, and tales of lost spirits are popular in both Asian and Western cultures.Īn old report of a ghost comes from the Bible, in the first book of Samuel. Throughout human history, we have fretted over our mortality and created scenarios over what might happen to our consciousness after our bodies die. Indeed, the ghost sometimes seems oblivious to such changes, walking through walls that used to be open space or marching three feet above a road that has shifted elevation. They may even survive through major changes to the original haunted site, with the ghost continuing to make appearances in spite of the alterations to its environment. ![]() ![]() Hauntings may last only weeks, or they may linger for centuries. When a ghost inhabits a specific place over a prolonged period of time and multiple sightings have taken place, this is considered a haunting. Ghosts may interact with the living or they may simply exist as a non-interactive “recording” of some past event.Ī single instance of viewing a ghost is called a sighting. Ghosts in modern Western culture are generally considered the ephemeral images of the dead, whether person, animal, or inanimate object. ![]()
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