Ghosts and poltergeists are a scary subject.  Most individuals are not aware of the difference between the two.  Ghosts are generally seen as the spiritual aspect of the deceased.  A poltergeist is described as more of a type of entity.  You sense it is there, but you just cannot see it.  As it grows and gathers energy, strange things begin to happen.  You may feel a touching sensation.  Some individuals go through violent physical attacks.  There may be sudden movement of pieces of furniture.  You may hear footsteps.  There might be peculiar smells or activity where all sorts of objects move around in the home.  

This link below captured what appears to be an actual ghost in a motel room.  Watch the drapery very closely.

This next link is more indicative of poltergeist activities taking place.  This is some astonishing footage captured back in March 2008.  

Feel free to look at some of the other videos posted too keeping in mind that not all of them are genuine.  It is hard to dismiss some of the actions in the links above.  In the first video, they appear to be just be arriving in the motel room, so chances are that this is real live video.  In the next footage, the actions of the dogs is a dead giveaway that something is definitely there.  Feel free to set up your camera and experiment a little where you live.  You may potentially discover that you have an unbelievable narrative to tell all your friends.

Scientists have found archaeological evidence that Neanderthals buried their loved ones with handfuls of flowers – neatly organized, doesn’t this show that there was some belief in an after- life. The film exorcism was actually based on the true story of a girl called Annelise Michal that was possessed by a demon. Unfortunately, she died of starvation and dehydration after tried and failed attempts to heal her soul. 

This piece of writing is from Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anneliese_Michel

Anneliese went on a pilgrimage to San Damiano with a good friend of the family, Thea Hein, who regularly organized such pilgrimages to “holy places” not officially recognized by the church.[3] Because Anneliese was unable to walk past a crucifix and refused to drink the water of a holy spring, her escort concluded that she was suffering from demonic possession.[2] Both Anneliese and her family became convinced she was possessed and consulted several priests, asking for an exorcism. The priests declined, recommended the continuation of medical treatment and informed the family that exorcisms required the bishop’s permission.[1] Eventually, in a nearby town, they came across vicar Ernst Alt, who, after seeing Anneliese, declared that she didn’t “look like an epileptic” and that he didn’t see her having seizures.[3] He believed she was suffering from demonic possession.[2] Alt urged the bishop to allow an exorcism. In September 1975, Bishop Josef Stangl granted Father Renz permission to exorcise according to the Rituale Romanum of 1614,[2] but ordered total secrecy.[4] Renz performed the first session on 24 September.

Once convinced of her possession, Anneliese, her parents, and the exorcists stopped seeking medical treatment, and put her fate solely into the hands of the exorcism rites.[2] Sixty-seven exorcism sessions, one or two each week, lasting up to four hours, were performed over about ten months in 1975 and 1976.[2] At some point, Michel began talking increasingly about dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church, and refused to eat. At her own request, doctors were no longer being consulted.[2]

On 1 July 1976, Anneliese died in her sleep. The autopsy report stated her cause of death as malnutrition and dehydration from almost a year of semi-starvation while the rites of exorcism were performed.[5] She weighed 68 pounds (30.91 kilograms).

However there are accusations from scientists that Anne in fact was suffering from a mental disorder that made her believe she was possessed by a demon. 

 Ermmmmm……Anyway, let’s get back to ghosts:

I don’t think I’ve ever been scared in my life, but last night was one of the scariest nights ever. I was looking after a friends pet whilst she went to check on her mom (she lives on a floor of a large Victorian type house). I decided to watch a bit of telly when the door swung shut behind me – I got so scared since there were no windows open in the house because its winter here in England. I finally built the courage to look around – armed with a blanket, to find that there was nothing there…… I swear, this has spooked me so much – I’m going to have to sleep with the light on today!

Why? Maybe some ghosts are just spirits that have not realised they are dead yet. Or they are confused and want to stay in familiar surroundings – maybe they have a message to a person that’s living. I mean who said ghosts have to be mean. Some people even say that ghosts are spirits waiting for judgement day. Ghosts are just lost people that don’t “actually” have physical bodies. There is a scientist in Russia called Dr Konstantin Korotkov (search him up) that photographed the soul leaving the body using a hi-tech science equipment that traces energy.

Or Ghosts just don’t exist………….

The best scientific answer to this is it’s just a pigment of our imagination – we, as human beings, fall for anything believable and we trick our mind into believing Ghosts? Simple….

Any way you look at it, Ghosts might or might not exist, the arguments on both sides cancel each other out, but if you want my opinion………I think I’ll stick with believing in them – after that experience last night I don’t know who wouldn’t believe in them.

This is a picture of mist on the River Yare; the River Yare and the River Wensum converge in Norwich.

When Adam (my partner) and I decided to set up home together back in the mid to late 1980s, although we would have loved to have bought a property in a rural location unfortunately we couldn’t afford it.  We live in quite an expensive part of England in the beautiful Norfolk Broads area which is both tranquil and picturesque, a haven for wildlife, and thus the country properties attract top prices. 

Adam, at that time, was a lorry driver for a local brewery and I was a legal secretary working in the city of Norwich so it seemed only practical that we buy a property in the city.  We looked at several Victorian terraced houses but, both of us being country people, we just couldn’t envisage that we’d be happy living in a claustrophobic street overlooked both front and rear and with nothing more than a pocket handkerchief backyard for a garden so we ended up buying a fairly new ground floor flat in a relatively quiet area on the outskirts of Norwich, which had a little piece of garden and was only overlooked by the flat upstairs.

With Adam working for the brewery, he had to be up with the lark (about 5.30) and off to work by 6.30.  The brewery was some 11 miles away so it was obvious he would need to take the car and, like most first time property buyers, we weren’t particularly well off so we couldn’t afford a second car and I had to get a bus to and from.  However, by the mid 1990s I got frustrated with having to struggle onto hot and stuffy buses which, by the time they hit my stop, were packed and this meant I had to stand for the whole journey, so I decided to take the healthy option – a 40 minute walk!  This walk took me along a very old street known as Magdalen Street.

Every morning I’d plug into my Walkman, put on some flat walking shoes and stride out. 

On one particular morning I got as far as a very battered and dilapidated building in Magdalen Street which had been a public house/night club known as The Jacquard Club.  It had recently closed but was, at the time, being refurbished by the local council. The building was surrounded by scaffolding which was partially screened by green plastic netting and, due to the narrowness of the footpath at that point, it was sometimes necessary for one pedestrian to give way to another coming from the opposite direction.  The alternative was to take your life into your hands and walk out into the stream of traffic which, at the time was two-way, although it has since become one-way due it’s narrowness.

As I reached the scaffolding I saw a businessman – smart dark suit, dark hair, fairly full beard – heading towards me. As I was in a position to sidestep into an alleyway, I just moved to one side to allow him to come through. I waited for a few seconds but nobody passed me so I moved back into the centre of the footpath, looked through the scaffolding and discovered there was no-one there.

At the time I thought the guy had crossed the road and I hadn’t realised it so I wasn’t particularly concerned.

Above is a picture of The Jacquard (originally The White Lion) as it is today.  On the left hand side of the building as you look at the photograph, you can see the alleyway that I stepped into.  The scaffolding ran the whole length of the building.  The “apparition” was coming from the right hand side of the picture.

A few months later I was walking along the same route but had gone beyond the Jacquard Club and had almost reached the far end of Magdalen Street where it met with Fye Bridge, a water bridge, and on the junction of a side road known as Fishergate.

There was a café called The King of Hearts on the corner of Magdalen Street where it connected with Fishergate which had huge windows and I had got into the habit of looking through the windows to see if anyone was coming round the corner, in which case I tended to wait some way back so that I didn’t scare the wits out of anyone coming round the corner. 

On this particular morning I looked through the window, saw a businessman walking with a black Labrador dog heading towards the corner so I waited.  At that moment the cassette tape in my Walkman came to an end so I quickly ejected it, flipped it over lo the other side, pressed play and looked up to see where the man and his dog had got to but there was nobody there.  I knew for certain that nobody had walked past me.   I carried on walking towards the junction with Fishergate and assumed that the man’s dog had probably had to stop due to the call of nature, or that he had crossed the road to walk by the river, but when I reached the corner, no-one was there.  I looked along Fishergate, back along Magdalen Street (just in case I’d missed him) and over Fye Bridge but he was nowhere to be seen.

Above is a picture of the café.  You can see the large glass windows.  I was coming from the left and looked through the glass to the junction (on the right).

The above is a picture of Fye Bridge (taken in the 1960s) looking towards The King of Hearts.  You can just see the building - it’s to the right hand side of the photograph; the grey and white “striped” building above the fisherman’s head!

Following my second sighting, I carried on walking to my office and it wasn’t until later in the day that I remembered my previous encounter by The Jacquard Club when it suddenly occurred to me that the gentleman then bore an uncanny resemblance to the gentleman I met coming along Fishergate that morning, the only difference being that with my second encounter he had been accompanied by a black Labrador. 

I assumed that it was all perfectly logical.  Maybe I’d just been so wrapped up in my music and had imagined both encounters, but I didn’t see the “apparition” again as a few months after my second encounter Adam and I were finally able to move out to the country to the house we live in now.  It was natural that I totally forgot about these sightings but a year or so after we moved into our rural idyll in Spixworth I was watching a programme on the TV about haunted buildings and this episode was particularly interesting to me as it was looking at properties in Norwich. 

From that, I discovered that one of the shops in Magdalen Street is said to be the most haunted property in Norwich.  Apparently it had been an inn of ill repute – during its chequered past not only wine and song had been offered as entertainment, but certain ladies of the night had also been on the menu!  Needless to say, due to the history of the establishment, there had been various altercations, brawls, deaths and murders taking place there.

Above is a photograph of the “most haunted building in Norwich“.  Paranormal activity and apparitions have been encountered there and an apparition has been seen at one of the upstairs windows.  The photo was obviously taken some years ago as the property has since been renovated and several occupiers have come and gone.  However, the latest occupant is fascinated by the paranormal and has, thankfully, settled in there quite happily with his spirit sub-tenants!

Bearing in mind the gentleman I saw could well have been wearing Victorian or Edwardian garb and his beard would have fitted in equally well with that period or, at a quick glance, with current times, then who knows, maybe he had some sort of connection with the street.

So, if anyone out there takes a holiday on the Norfolk Broads or at one of our seaside resorts, and decides to take a trip to our wonderful historic city of Norwich make sure you visit Magdalen Street to see if you can spot my Victorian gentleman either with or without his faithful hound.  The street is within a stone’s throw of our magnificent cathedral.  I look forward to hearing from anyone who visits!!!

Since writing the above, I have looked into the history of The Jacquard and, from what I can gather, the pub dates back to the 1700s but whether or not the above photo shows the original building I don’t know.  The club closed in the 1990s and it was converted into flats in 2004.

I’m an avid researcher of the activity and many believe in them and many don’t. I look at all of it from a 3rd party perspective since I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ghost in my life. However, throughout human history, there must have been billions of accounts of eyewitnesses to apparitions, poltergeists and more and the subject demands attention of scholars and professionals. I’m just an ordinary Joe who has read countless books on the matter and I’ll summarize some of the things I’ve come up with in my life. And I’ll give my own take at times as well.

Not all of these occurances are equal. A Ghost is not a Spirit and a Ghost is not a Poltergeist. I’ll explain the others later in this article but first, my definition of a Ghost. A Ghosts is something that “Haunts” a person. That is it. Apparitions defy scientific proof and so I don’t believe apparitions exist. Of course, this is my opinion since I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before. There was an occasion once at the fabled “Historic Richmond Town” in NYC. Many tourists there claimed to have seen a ghost of a small boy who died in a fire in one of the old preserved homes in that landmarked district. I knew that beforehand, and so when I peered into the window of that home, I did see a boy with a frightened look on his face. But the image was so brief that I suspected it was my imagination only. But I continually ask myself, why did it look frightened? Many believe ghosts and apparitions are emotional residues left behind in the Timeline. Sort of like a Retina Burn in Time. If you loved a person for example; and lets say you lose that loved one in an automobile accident. The “Essence” of that person will be left behind at the spot of the accident. Your imagination can actually make you rub your eyes and ask yourself if you did indeed see an appearance of someone who died. I believe it’s all in the imagination, and sometimes you have stronger internal imaginations than other times.  However, a Ghost can still haunt a person mentally and just because the apparition isn’t something that comes to fruition physically; it can manifest in other ways…in a person’s own mind and therefore rendering them real nevertheless.

Poltergeists

Now a Poltergeist is something different entirely. They are capable of manipulating the physical world. A Poltergeist is more than someone’s Essence. Instead, it’s an actual physical force. Like the emotional residue of ghosts, a poltergeist is a stronger residue sort of say.

Poltergeists are highly skeptical in the science world except when in the same discussion as Telekinesis. The term refers to the popular psychic phenomena depicted in so many films before. With Telekinesis, or Psychokinesis, a powerful thought can move a physical item. Stimulating something physical requires a person to really, really want something to happen. The Will of a person or dead person must have been so strong that his or her body isn’t necessary for the action; instead, the will itself manifests even after the person has died.

An example of this could be attributed to the bloody history of Native American Indians. In many Indian burial grounds, there are reports of Poltergeist activity. Hollywood films such as the Shining and Poltergeist included Indian cemetaries into the plot. Perhaps many Indians were murdered in cold blood, and in unjust ways. This emotional residue left behind by angry Indians remains even after their deaths. This is how a place becomes “Cursed” . A person or place might find a “Black Cloud” over their vicinity if they venture in a place filled with this strong emotional residue. Things like Bad Luck and Jinxes spring to mind when speaking of Poltergeist activity. If thousands of Indians had to die for a town to be built on their property, then the town will most likely be Jinxed. Poltergeists can cause auto accidents, slips, falls, or perhaps even doors to remain shut without them ever being locked. Of course, this is impossible to prove in the science community. It has been tried but with little results. For more info on Poltergeist activity, I recommend the movie “The Entity” which was based on a true story and could see a remake of that film real soon.

Spirits

A spirit is something that can influence. To have “Spirit” is to have emotions, to have heart, or energy. The Spirit is the exact opposite of the Poltergeist. The Spirit has nothing to do with the physical world but instead the emotional world. The mind.

Some say Spirits are the same thing as Angels and Demons. While ghosts are the remains of a human life. The Spirit/Angel/Demon is the remains of something alien. This is all speculative, and no one will ever know if a spirit is something alien or human. But there has been instances of posession. All Catholic priests are required to study Demonic Exorcisim during their schooling. I believe many of these posessions have been exaggerated in Hollywood films, but nevertheless, Exaggerated truth doesn’t mean it’s lies. A person’s entire personality could change instantly. Unknown knowledge such as ancient languages and history can be learned without the person ever picking up a book to read about it or learn about it. Besides, direct knowledge, a person can be afflicted with the emotions of a Spirit. A posessed person can aquire a dead person’s personality even after they died. A posessed person can even attain access to the language the person spoke. I could only theorize about this and wonder why it happens. Perhaps, an important person of high position had a significant agenda and died prematurely. John F. Kennedy for example, he is sometimes thought of as the reincarnation of Abe Lincoln. There is lots of syncronicity in their personal histories. Things like astrology and many numercial references that requires many pages just to discuss those matters on their own. But back to the topic, Some tragic deaths occur and it’s possible a person can die in a way that is not indigenous to their destiny. After death, the person’s mind almost becomes parasitic; looking for a host body to continue it’s agenda. This person’s Essence, or Spirit is the Emotion of a Ghost that survives. Whereas the Will of a Ghost or dead person that influences the physical world rather than emotional; is a Poltergeist.

However, there are several types of hauntings when it comes to the paranormal.  Whether you want to trust in the spirit world or not is up to you, but anyone who has come face to face with the other side will tell you otherwise.  If you are adherent to the spiritual realm then it’s best to know the diversity of the spiritual realm.

We will begin with, none other than, demons.  Most people confuse poltergeists with demons, but if you had one in your house there would be no cause for confusion.  Demons can cause physical harm and can appear to you as a normal human being if the energy in the house has enough negativity.  Occasionally, you may smell a foul odor and have a hard time breathing in a particular area of the house or up close.  It is good to know that demons are out to cause one thing and that’s anger.  Your house must be exorcised in order to get rid of a demon.

There is also the haunted object, also known as poltergeists.  Haunted objects can be anything from dolls, mirrors, balls or a previously owned item.  These articles are more frightening than harmful because they will move.  As for a mirror you may see an apparition in the background.  These objects should be removed from the home if they cause a problem.

Shadow people are the next type of haunting.  They move so quickly that most of the time they can only be noticed with peripheral vision.  In fact, most people that notice the shadow think they are only adjusting to light changes.  These ghosts can be both harmful and harmless.  The best thing to do if you have shadow people in your home is to bless it.  It is the only way to get rid of them.

Next are phantoms.  Phantoms are realistic, full-figured apparitions.  They are so convincingly real when you look at them, but this particular entity is harmless.  They can walk through walls and are usual in the house they occupied when alive.  If these spiritual beings are bothersome you can ask them to leave and proclaim the house as yours.  If that doesn’t work you must bless the house.

Lastly, there are recurring spirits.  These spirits do not acknowledge the living because they are reenacting events that happened to them while they were alive.  They usually appear on the anniversary of death or other special events in their life.  With these particular spirits you have to learn to live with.  It may be scary at first, but just know they do not know you are there.

There have been many encounters with poltergeists, some famous, others not so well-known. One of the better known ones is the Bell Witch legend from the southern United States, involving the Bell Family of Adams,  Tennessee.  It all began in 1817 when William Bell encountered a strange animal.  This happened in his cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County.

The weird animal predicted it would return in 1935.  Some said it did.  The first account occurred in the book called the “Red Book: An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch of Tennessee”, by Martin Van Buren Ingram.  The Bell Witch has been immortalized in at least three movies.  The most famous one is “An American Haunting” (2006)

Others include “The Bell Witch: The Haunting” (2002), the novel “All That Lives” (2002) and the movie “The Bell Witch Haunting” (2004).

Paranormal researcher Stephen Wagner tells of a true story by Brenda L., in which she was making cookies.  The ninth cookie fell off the spatula onto the floor.  Brenda straighted back up to finish putting the cookies on the parchment paper.  To her surprise, all the cookies were back on the baking sheet.

Monica had recently moved into an old house and as soon as she did, there were a lot of ghostly and spirit sightings there. There was a dark figure standing at the foot of her bed one night.  The next incident happened about a month later.  Monica’s son woke up up and pointed to the foot of the bed again, where the dark figure had returned.

Another incident, called the Office Poltergeist, occurred in London. While being evaluated by her boss,  a ghost gave out a wolf whistle. Two weeks after quitting his job, Robert B. played his answering machine and a man’s voice spoke in an unintelligible, harsh voice.  

I do not understand how a troubled teen would be able to make up a thing like this.

Poltergeists are real.

I have watched many Ghost shows and I, for one, believe in Ghosts and Poltergeists.  Teens go through stress in their lives, from school, pressures of society, addictions, some have to deal with their parents, being bullied, peer pressure, getting bad grades, having to study for exams wondering if they are going to be able to go to the next grade or not.

There are quite a few things a teen has to deal with all at once. These a only a few things, that puts a lot of stress upon a teen’s mind, heart, body and soul.

I do not see why a teen, would have to create something out of their own minds, just to make others around them think that they may be going crazy.

Ghosts and Poltergeists are all around us.

I know, for a fact, that there are a lot of troubled teens, walking amongst us.

There are also, quite a few of them that are misguided by society and other teens around them. Sure, there are teens that have bad attitudes, but I ask you this, why would they go as far as making up a Poltergeist? That, right there, is not understandable to me.

I also believe, that a teen can be possessed by Demons.

If they have so much pressure in their lives, they tend to let their guards down. If they do not believe in God, that makes their souls a little more susceptible to be taken over by the Devil.

These teens, leave themselves open, to things out there, that really should not be there in the first place.

I also find, if they play around with Ouiji Boards, get themselves into Cults, playing around with Black Magic, or even sacrificing their Souls to the Devil, then possession can overcome them.

These teens that play around with things like this, always open up a door to the unknown.

Do they not know what they are getting themselves into?

This is a major sign of trouble.

Trouble will follow these teens, wherever they may go and there would not be any way to get these teens back.

This World can be a dark and lonely place, if the troubled teens only let it to be.

So, I say to you, keep your teens close to you, before it becomes to late to get them back.

Image via Wikipedia

Demons are a curious lot.  Demons are the servants and other residents of Hell.  They can possess as well as ghosts can, but their toll on the body is much different.  If you’ve ever seen a zombie movie, it becomes about the same.  The person they possess loses all sense of themselves.  They show decomposition the longer they are possessed, their voices become darker and more sinister.  The longer a person is possessed, the more of themselves they lose.

If a demon is inside them long enough, that demon will eventually claim that person and they die, thus the demon is now free to keep that form and walk around like a mortal person.  The decomposition goes away because the soul that was fighting inside is now gone, the voice of the person as well as the memories stay with the demon, like they never existed at all.  Research and speculation has found that if the demon keeps the body and the soul leaves, the soul will either die, or be trapped forever on another plane of existance.

If the possession is caught in time and an exorcism is performed, there is an 85% chance that the person can be save.  That is only speculation, there is no way of knowing for sure.  If the demon ends up keeping the body, Hell has yet another foothold on earth, thus leading us to Hell on earth.

Image via Wikipedia

Note, this is about Haunting Houses, not Haunted Houses.  A haunting house is a house that so much evil, an evil person lived there and there was evil done there, has given the house life.  The evil energy accumulates and is absorbed into the house that is becomes alive.  It thinks and reacts like a person.

These houses are pure evil, no good whatsoever in them, no exorcism or amount of magic can help you.  You need to move or have the house destroyed.  The only problem with the latter is, if you destroy the house, the evil is concentrated and absorbed into the ground with which the house stood.  In other words, if you built another house on that bit of land, over time the evil would take over that house as well.

In this instance, after destroying the house, you can have the grounds exorcised because the spirit and it’s energy are at it’s weakest.  You cannot live in a haunting house, it can, and probably will kill you.  You need to get out.

That is what a haunting house is opposed to a haunted house, which spirits inhabit.  A haunted house has spirits that dwell in it, where as a haunting house is the entity itself.

I was invited in to cleanse the property, it was evident that the male person living at the property definitely had psychic and intuitive abilities and energies, and sometimes this can be enough to attract “stray” energies in.

There had been sightings and eary feelings in certain rooms, and I never get the clients to tell me where they are I like to get evidence and accuracy myself obviously I ask once I have made my diagnosis if this information matches the experiences which have been had.  And 99% of the time it is right, from there I can add information about the names or experiences these “spirit energies” have had and sometimes the reason they are there.

The main aim for me it to allow them the opportunity to go “home” and home for me is spirit world it is only there where they can do any healing which may be necessary or be at peace.  Which ever way for me it is not immediately about the living to be satisfied and comforted by what I am able to achieve it is first and foremost about ensuring that the souls who are trapped here on the earth plane get the opportunity to go home.

So that was my job here to ensure that the souls which were “visiting” the property went home.  And then that the occupiers were okay with what had been achieved.  On this instance the female of the property had been ill and had often felt the “visitor” around her, and in a way which uneased her.  At one stage her health became a concern for the doctors as she appeared to be getting weaker rather than stronger, and as soon as the spirit energies were released her own healing and life force energy returned to full wack and now has returned to full health.

Again four months or so along the pathway this property has once again become active again, so more work is going to be done in the surrounding area, along with inside the property once again to close down any gateways and portals and release any trapped souls once again.