Is Your House Haunted...Or is it Something Else?

My name is Sophia Kimble and I write paranormal romance. Why you ask? Well, I’ve had several paranormal experiences, and I love romance.

To decide if your house is haunted or not, let’s look at the different types of hauntings/ghosts.

1.     Residual Haunting 

This type of haunting is really just an event that happened at a location sometime in the past that got stuck on a rewinding loop. The ghost/entity does not interact, is not actually there, but energy replays something that happened long ago. It can be a visual or audio-type experience. 

Energy does not dissipate but changes form, and sometimes reforms into an event that happened before. Some of these hauntings are from a traumatic event (like battlefield ghosts) or from an action done over and over (like staircase hauntings).

     I’ve had what I think is this type of experience. I woke up one night to see an old woman staring down at me from the side of my bed, though she seemed to look straight through me. She then turned and walked through the bathroom door and disappeared.

     When you’re below that room of my house, you can occasionally hear someone walking from the bedroom, and across the bathroom floor in the same direction the old woman took...even when no one else is home.

     I’ve considered this could have been an episode of sleep paralysis, but I wasn’t paralyzed and it was totally different from my previous experience. Read more about the demon I saw and my experience with sleep paralysis here.

2.   Shadow People- 

Ghosts that appear in varied form of shadow. They can be black human shaped, hatted, wispy/smoky, hooded, or partially formed. They show themselves in many ways and often times we see them dart by from the corner of our eye. Perhaps they are intelligent ghosts who are unable to fully show themselves, or something else entirely?

3.     Intelligent Haunting

This involves the ghost/spirit of a human entity who is aware of and tries to communicate with a living person. They try to get your attention in many ways; turning things on and off, moving objects, making noise, or even hiding things. 

Some people believe this type of ghost is either trapped in our world, or has come back for a visit. Sometimes the only sign of this type of haunting are things like goosebumps, feeling of being watched, or uneasiness.

4.     Poltergeists- 

This is called a noisy ghost. They are usually very noticeable. They slam doors, turn lights on and off, break objects, move furniture, and much more.

Just seeing if you’re paying attention.

I was looking for a picture of a shadow man, and he popped up. I said, "Yes please!"

Is Your House Haunted…Or is it something else?

Current beliefs are that Poltergeist-type activity is actually caused by a living person with psychokinetic abilities (PK). PK is the ability of the subconscious mind to move objects. People who have this may not even be aware of the ability.

It has been found to show up most often in pubescent girls, though anyone can have this ability. These bursts of PK can come and go. It usually happens when the person is under duress/extreme stress.

Or…it is a ghost who is really pissed off. :)

                  A few weeks ago I was in the kitchen at the sink, mad about something, when I hear a crash right beside me. My grandmother’s plate that had hung in my kitchen for 12 years was on the floor broken to bits. In order to get this off the wall, “one” would have to lift the holder up and over the large nail head.

PK or intelligent haunting?

                  My sister was sitting in her office when an encyclopedia flew from the bookshelf behind her. These books are very difficult to get in and out of the shelf.

Ghost or PK?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I do believe in ghosts and most all things paranormal!

There are many types of hauntings, not all are listed here, but as you can see ghosts come in all shapes, sizes, and forms. And range from wreaking total havoc to being like as benign as a movie.

So before you claim something as a haunting, be sure to consider the possibility it could be you or someone in living in your house actually causing the haunting-type experience.

I would love to hear about other people’s experiences with hauntings in the comments below.

If you'd like to read about an intelligent ghost... I've got one in my Druid's Curse series. 

My books are available at these fine retailers:

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks,The Wild Rose Press

Thanks so much for stopping by

Sophia Kimble