A ghost is considered to be the spirit of a dead person, capable of making themselves seen, felt or heard by those still living. Many people consider ghosts to be ethereal figures that glide noiselessly across a room but in reality, many ghosts are never seen, but are instead heard, touched, smelled or simply sensed. There are many different categories into which ghosts fall:-
- Those who appear to loved ones either just before or just after they die, usually to say farewell;
- Those who for some reason have stayed behind because of unfinished business;
- Those who have stayed on the earth plane to be with material possessions, or near to addictions they had whilst "alive";
- Those who do not realise they are dead and cannot understand why they are ignored or over looked. This most commonly happens when a person dies unexpectedly as in an accident;
- Many are held by love ties to someone still on the earth plane who, for personal reasons, fear to/will not `let them go'. These ghosts usually go `over' with that person when they die;
- Situational ghosts who remain `bound' to a particular place such as a house. These places then become known as `haunted';
- Deathbed apparitions such as the appearance of angelic beings and dead loved ones to those who are close to dying;
- Audible ghosts are those that are heard but never seen and often involve people hearing the voices of their loved ones, either in their sleep or when awake, but having no other tangible clue that they are present.
Most ghosts appear in order to communicate something. It may be a warning of danger, comforting the grieving, information about an item or event or completion of some unfinished business. Often, once this communication has happened, they are happy to pass over to the spirit realm. It may be necessary for a person such as a Medium to communicate with these ghosts in order to help them pass over. This is especially true with those who have died suddenly and do not realise that they are dead. A good Medium can see these Souls, talk to them, tell them of the love that awaits them in Spirit, turn them with love to the light and watch them as they go to Spirit.
Ghosts can also be called by other names such as:-
Banshee is the best example of an audible ghosts and is one who wails or cries but is only heard by close family members;
Specter applies to a ghostly mysterious, usually frightening shape, sometimes appearing as if by magic;
Apparition applies especially to an appearance, often of someone dead or about to die, seeming very real to the person seeing it, and impossible to explain or understand;
Poltergeists, or angry disruptive spirits are some of the most frightening forms and a poltergeist haunting can often involve violent activity, such as psychical attacks, outbreaks of fire, levitation, missiles of rocks and stones and electrical disturbances. They often make their presence known in a household, disrupting normal activity, creating loud noises and sometimes violently assaulting family members. Usually this activity will only last a few months and the poltergeist can often be talked to by a medium to help encourage it to stop the disruptions and move over to the spirit realm. However, it is also believed that much poltergeists activity is caused by the projection of repressed emotions such as hostility, anger or distress. In other words, unconscious thoughts cause the disturbances and much research has been done on this.