What is a Ghost? According to Rob Wlodarski, founder and president of the International Paranormal Research Organization and author of numerous ghost books: Ghosts are disembodied spirits or energies that manifest over a period of time, generally in one place. A ghost is the surviving emotional memory of someone who has died traumatically, but is unaware of his or her own death. A ghost can be a recordable occurrence of persistent impersonal energy. Difference Between Ghost, Apparition, Spirit Apparitions are the super-normal manifestations of people, objects, and spirits. Apparitions of the dead are sometimes called ghosts. Spirits are the observable energy of a person who has died in the physical sense, whereas a ghost may or may not be the actual conscious energy. What is a Haunting? A haunting is any activity that is considered to be unexplainable paranormal phenomena. Among the total reported cases of hauntings, of those investigated, only 10% turn out to be genuine. The other 90% can be explained away by reasonable factors. Both people and places can be haunted, though the majority of the cases are places, be it land, buildings, ships, airplanes, or furniture. There are different types of hauntings that can occur.

The Different Types of Hauntings:

1. Residual Haunting
2. Spirit Haunting (Interactive or Intelligent)
3. Portal Haunting
4. Thought Forms
5. Poltergeist

1. Residual Haunting:   A residual haunting is like seeing the same scene play out repeatedly as if on a video tape recorder. This usually occurs in an area where intense emotions have left an imprint in the earth’s magnetic field. These emotions can include either love, fear, hate, anger, or any emotion that is strongly emitted. Ghosts found on battlefields are usually contained in this category. The ghost seen as transparent instead of as a solid figure of the person can also be considered a residual haunting. There is no interaction between the ghosts and the observer. These are not actual spirits that the observer is seeing, but the situation and/or environment that the person experienced just before transpiring.

2. Spirit Haunting (Interactive or Intelligent):   A spirit haunting is called interactive because it is how most people view a haunting. It is called intelligent when the spirit is actually interacting with the living in a conscious manner. The latter type of haunting is much less common, yet is usually how most people will identify it. These entities can either appear solid or transparent, or sometimes invisible, when their presence can only be sensed. Many times their presence will be accompanied by a distinct odor, abrupt temperature change, or inexplicable noises.

3. Portal Haunting:   A portal haunting occurs at a specific location. It can be considered the opening of a doorway, where spirits from different dimensions pass through. This could pose at the local of a common field or cave, hallway or closet.

4. Thought Forms:   A thought form is not an actual haunting because there are no intelligent spirits involved or active residual energy left behind. Thought forms are created by residual mental or emotional debris left over in an environment. These can be either positive or negative. This could occur where excessive drug, alcohol, or physical abuse is prevalent. Mental illness can also generate these thought forms. This is not the same thing as poltergeist energy.

5. Poltergeist:   Poltergeist is a German word meaning “angry ghost”. Anytime there is a physical activity it is called poltergeist. It is usually residual energy, and can range from the harmless hiding of an object to more deviant behavior that inflicts physical harm.* There is controversy over what poltergeist energy actually is. Some say it comes from people, and others that it comes from ghosts. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Certain researchers including myself agree that it can come from both. Each poltergeist case must be analyzed individually based on its own merits to formulate an educated conclusion.