I recently came across an article sharing these signs that suggest
your home may have visitors from beyond the grave. It first caught my attention
because I have a friend who is involved in 'ghost hunter' activities.
1) Mysterious
sights and sounds
Clearly we have a fascination with haunted houses in this
country as evidenced by the numerous cable television series exploring this
topic. There are professional ghost hunters who believe most of the signs
indicating a haunting aren't so scary. It's suggested that they are simply
trying to send a message, that the entities aren't evil—only misunderstood. It's
believed that a lot of the classic signs that people run into are mysterious
noises that seem to come from places they can't locate, a lot of bumping and
scratching on walls, seeing full-bodied apparitions, and things moving from
place to place when no one has touched them. Of course, anyone who has seen a
horror movie or a ghost show probably already knows this. What you might not
know, however, is that what you call 'a haunting' may not be the real thing. There
are 'experts' in the field who have been called to houses where the causes of
these phenomena have actually been carbon monoxide poisoning which caused
people to hallucinate. Mold, too, can cause the same reaction. For houses with
legitimate ghosts, there are more telling signs that your house is haunted.
2) Ectoplasm
Fact: Ectoplasm is a substance that still mystifies even the
most seasoned paranormal experts. Historically, it has been reported to show up
during seances through a spiritual medium. One paranormal investigator experienced
the phenomenon in real haunted houses. The family living in the house reported that
things moved on their own. While he was at the house he actually had a strange,
viscous fluid show up and drip down my arm from out of nowhere. The family
living there claimed that happened all the time. It was a very strange kind of
off-white, almost like a raw egg kind of fluid. Ectoplasm is not often seen or
experienced at your run-of-the-mill haunted house, but paranormal experts see
it as a sign of certainty that there is a paranormal presence at work.
Though the sensation of being watched isn't a proven factor,
people who live in genuine haunted houses do report it a lot. Many believe in a
kind of sixth sense. Basically, you might be in a house with a really bad vibe—cold
chills move throughout the room along with the feeling of being watched.
Sometimes whispers, or being awoken in the middle of the night because of the
feeling that somebody's standing there. Whether there is a normal explanation
for this sensation or a paranormal one is hard to know for sure, but it's
definitely a contributing factor for nearly any house that is afflicted by
spirits.
4) Inexplicable
movement
Objects don't move on their own—unless you live in an old
drafty house where strong winds make doors open and close. Otherwise, there has
to be some kind of force applied to get it to move. That's why when you see
things flying around your house without visible cause, you can be pretty sure
that there is something—or someone—other than you in your house. Soaring
objects are another staple of horror movies, but inexplicable movement can be
even more sinister than that.
5) Personality
change
When we think about possession, our minds immediately go to
demons…demons…demons. More often than not, demonic possession and even a
demonic presence is not behind whatever it is you're experiencing. A 'normal'
ghost can possess you too. The tip-off is if someone you know is acting
extremely strange all of a sudden. If you start to notice someone has taken on
a pretty distinct personality change, that can be a sign of possession.
6) Previous
homeowners
If you suspect you might have a haunted house on your hands,
you should probably dig into the history of your property. If you're
experiencing things you can't explain, doing research might help clear it up. Hopefully,
once you know what happened or what you're dealing with, you can ease the
haunting. However, some places can't be cleared of their histories.
7) Physical and
emotional disorientation
A haunting can have a terrible effect on your mood and even
your physical condition. It can leave you feeling angry or weak.
Many experts sort hauntings into three categories:
intelligent, residual, and intentional. There's the classic haunting which is
an intelligent haunting. The spirit seems to interact very intelligently with
people. And then the other common one people run into a lot is a residual
haunting. With that, it just kind of plays over and over and over. It doesn't
ever really acknowledge that people live in the house. It just is. It just
happens. Sometimes it's because a traumatizing event happened on a particular date.
There's no intelligence there, so there's really nothing you can do about it.
Lastly, an intentional haunting is actually more about living, breathing humans
than ghosts. It really comes from people who have put so much energy and
intention into the belief that their house or object is haunted that they've
ended up actually manifesting a haunting. Think of kids who follow urban
legends and routinely go visit the place of the supposed haunting. They feed
the story so much that they actually open the place up to paranormal activity.
What to do if your house is haunted
Experts say that the best way to deal with a haunting is to
make a firm statement. Talk to the presence in your home and let it know what
your intentions are. Most people who discover that their house is haunted can
live peacefully with whatever spirits are there. If it's something that really,
genuinely bothers you, say something as simple as 'You need to leave.' Finally,
if you try to use sage, just be cautious and use it the right way. It's so
cleansing it almost creates a vacuum. It's like dusting your whole house then
leaving your doors and windows open in a sandstorm.
