|
GHOSTS, STAY-BEHINDS, POLTERGEISTS
AND HAUNTED PEOPLE
What Exactly Is A Ghost?
Is a ghost something people dream up in the cups or on a sickbed?
Something you read about in juvenile fiction? Far from it! Ghosts-apparitions
of 'dead' people or sounds associated with invisible human beings-are
the surviving emotional memories of people who have not been able
to make the transition from their physical state into the world
of the spirit...or as Dr. Joseph Rhine of Duke University has called
it, the world of the mind. Their state is one of emotional shock
induced by sudden death or great suffering, and because of it the
individuals involved cannot understand what is happening to them.
They are unable to see beyond their own immediate environment or
problem, and so they are forced to continually relive those final
moments of agony until someone breaks through and explains things
to them. In this respect they are like psychotics being helped by
the psychoanalyst, except that the patient is not on the couch,
but rather in the atmosphere of destiny. Man's electromagnetic nature
makes this perfectly plausible, that is, since our individual personality
is really nothing more than a personal energy field encased in a
denser outer layer, called the physical body, the personality can
store emotional stimuli and memories indefinitely without much dimming...very
much like a tape recording that can be played over and over without
losing clarity or volume.
Those who die normally under conditions of adjustment need not go
through this agony, and they seem to pass on rapidly into that next
state of consciousness that may be a 'heaven' or a 'hell', according
to what that individual's mental state at death might have been.
Neither state is an objective place, but is a subjective state of
being. The sum total of similar states of being may, however, create
a quasi-objective state of approaching a condition or 'place' along
more orthodox religious lines.
Poltergeists
The term Poltergeist is German. German researchers in the paranormal
were the first ones to concentrate their efforts toward a better
understanding of the phenomena associated with poltergeist activities.
The word simply means 'noisy ghost' and refers to events that parapsychology
nowadays prefers to call physical phenomena, which are invariably
three-dimensional, whether moving objects or visual or auditory
effects produced by means that are other than ordinary or explicable.
Poltergeists are not what the popular movies show them to be. As
a matter of fact, these films are pure hokum in every respect, from
the phenomena shown, to the so-called researchers and their instruments.
As so often happens, the indiscriminate exploitation of the paranormal
reality by these films and television paints a false picture, only
to frighten people into fearing something that is simply not true.
True poltergeist cases are much rarer than 'ordinary' hantings.
Of course, it can be frightening to see objects move seemingly of
their own volition. But they don't...the electromagnetic force manipulated
by the ghost is responsible for this even if the ghost itself is
not visible. Even as startling an event as the movement of a knife
through the air (as in a case in Rye, New York) is not an attack
on anyone, but an attempt to get attention, and, if possible, help.
Stay-Behinds
Stay-behinds is a term invented by Hans Holzer. It refers to earthbound
spirits or ghosts who owe their continued residency in what may
have been their long-term home to the fact that they don't want
to leave familiar surroundings. This is not simply a willful decision,
though that can on occasion be the case; the majority are people
who have never been told where to go and are expecting the kind
of fanciful Heaven their Faith has for so long pictured for them.
Naturally, when they pas out of the physical body, they are disappointed,
or at least surprised, not to see a reception committee of angels
and cherubs showing them the way to Heaven, God, and possibly Jesus
as well. Instead, they find their loved ones who have preceded them
to the 'other side'. They have come to make the transition easier.
If the death is due to severe illness or prolonged hospitalization
(including heavy doses of drugs) the person will often be confused
and need to be placed into healing facilities 'over there' for a
while.
It is rather tricky at times, to differentiate between a true stay-behind
and an impression from the past. Only when the apparition moves
or speaks can you really judge. Stay-behinds are different from
resident ghosts in another important aspect. True ghosts will resent
new tenants, or even visitors, and will consider them intruders
in 'their' house. But the stay-behind could not care less. It is
his or her place all right, but the stay-behind's attitude is the
same as it was before death...
Just you leave me be and I won't bother you!
Haunted People
True cases involving a ghost that attaches itself to a specific
person are not nearly as common as haunted houses, but they do exist.
These are not in any sense free spirits, because the attachment
represents an emotional problem that has not been fully resolved.
The ghost or earthbound spirit who attaches itself to a person in
the physical world does have wider opportunities to manifest, or
'get through', than the traditional haunted house ghost. Such phenomena
may therefore occur in several places. These ghosts, who are not
nearly as rational as free spirits, can also make contact through
deep-trance mediums when communications between spirits and living
people can be quite innocuous and friendly. When the spirit has
unresolved problems, however, or makes demands, it can be upsetting
and requires consultation with an expert.
~Excerpts are from "Ghosts-True Encounters With The World
Beyond" by Hans Holzer~
|
|
|
