What is the difference between ghost and spirits?
If you are anything like me I have always wondered what the
difference was between a ghost and a spirit. I finally found out
the difference between the two and I thought I'd write up this
article about their diferences. You'll also learn most of the
different reasons that ghosts will haunt. I hope that even the
seasoned investagator will learn something from this article, or
atleast be a good read.
A ghost is a personality or a piece of a personality of someone
who has passed that is left behind because there is something that
is keeping them here. There are many possible reasons of why they
would stay behind here are the most likely reasons.
- They don't know they have passed. This can happen if they were
killed or died suddenly and usually tragically. They could have
been a murder victim or even possibly died in an accident that
happened suddenly.
One haunting that I can think of to be a good example is the
Villisca House hauntings. In the Moore home at Villisca, Iowa 8
people were brutally murdered in the middle of the night. The whole
family including two children that were staying the night with the
Moore children were killed in their sleep with an axe. The man who
killed them was never found, leaving this gruesome murder a
mystery. The house now is said to be haunted by some of the victims
of that tragic night.
- Another reason a ghost might have stayed behind is because
they feel an attatchment to a place, object or even a person. If
they are attached to a place it could be because it was what they
considered to be their home, or even just a place that they had
their happiest moments in their life. If their attached to an
object it is usually an object that they held very dear to them. If
it is a person they have an attatchment to it is usually because
they have such a great love for that person. They may feel like
that person still needs them. Or they just might not want to leave
that person behind.
An example of a attached haunting would possibly be the White
House ghosts. Former presidents are said to still roam the halls of
this great house. If you think about it being the President of the
United States would most likely have been the happiest time of
their lives and you most certainly would love for that to be your
home I'm sure. I know I would have certainly loved to live there
just from all the history that has taken place there.
- Unfinished business could be another reason that a haunting
could occur. The Ghost might feel the need to continue so that
something could be finished or taken care of before they will pass
on.
Winchester Mystery House comes to mind immiadiatly for this one.
Sarah L. Winchester wanted her home to be built with many odd
things built into it. She hired carpenters to work on her home day
and night. Construction would never cease on the home until her
death. She was the widow of the inventor of the Winchester Rifle,
William Wert Winchester. After the deaths of her husband and
daughter she contacted a medium for guidence. This medium told her
that the spirits of the victims of the Winchester Rifle were
wanting vengence and the only way she could escape the curse that
had befallen her husband and child was to build a home for herself
and those spitis. She must continue to build or she would die as
soon as the building stopped. In her home she had, doors to
nowhere, windows that were built to open up to a wall. There would
be many entrances to a room, but only one exit. Stairs that led to
a cieling and many other oddities. This house was defenently a
mystery. Some of the carpenters worked on the home till their
deaths. Thier ghosts are said to still be working on the home. The
noise of hammers sometimes will be heard and one phantom carpenter
has been seen, he is supposedly there guarding the home and
overlooking the constuction still being done even in the afterlife.
Sarah Winchester is even said to still be there.
-Then there are the risidual hauntings. These are the hauntings
that have no intellegence. These hauntings are like a recording
that has been imprinted on the land or home in which it takes place
at. They will happen at a certain time or date or just random. It
will be almost like a scene that is the same all the time. It could
also take place as noises or smells.
The perfect example of this is the Civil War battlefields. Most
of the hauntings that take place at these battlefields are sounds
and smells of the ghastly war that took place on it's grounds.
Cannon and gun fire have been the main residual hauntings from the
battlefields, but there are reports of fleeting apparitions of men
who still seem to be fighting the war as if it were still going on
around them.
Now this brings me to Spirits. Spirits are different from ghosts
because they are not bound to this earth. Spirits are actually the
passed on personalities of a living person. Spirits will come back
for a time. They can come back for many reasons, but the most
common is to tell a loved one a message or to help a loved one
cross over. There have been many accounts from people of a loved
one coming back to warn of impending danger, or simply to just let
the loved one know that they are okay and happy. There is also a
belief that they will come back to comfort a loved one who is
dyeing and make the transition of death a little easier on them.
Most spirits will return to where they came from after they have
done what they came to do.
These are many personal experiences and I can not think of a
famous instance of this although I'm sure there most likely is. One
story I know of is a personal experience of my mothers. After the
birth of her first child she was sitting in her room brushing her
hair as she looked into a mirror and as she looked at herself her
face transformed into the face of her mothers who had died when she
was a young girl. As she stared into her mothers face she got the
overwhelming sense that her mother was proud of her. Her mother
said nothing just merely gave her that feeling. My mother really
truelly believed that that was a visit from her mother.
Well I hope that you all enjoyed this article, because I have
really enjoyed writing it. I am actually pretty proud of how this
one turned out. Please note that none of these theories have been
proven they are merely theories and you can make your own mind up
on what a spirit and a ghost are, these just seem to be the main
theories I have been coming across as I delve into the parnormal
world.