Haunted houses and movies are always an area of interest for most of us. Don’t the movies excite and bamboozle you at the same time? Well, at least it is true for me. In the course of time, you must have often come across the word haunting. But do you know exactly what is the meaning of haunting? So, if you wish to be a paranormal expert or just want some knowledge of the field, it is imperative to understand this aspect. Having said that, let’s begin our journey into understanding hauntings.
Haunting Meaning
Now we will look at the meaning of the word – haunting. We use the word ‘haunted’ to declare a place as dangerous because it is frequently visited by a ghost or is resided by a supernatural entity. People are usually scared of such sites and don’t like to enter such premises. Now, a haunted house might be the place where a person died before, and currently his/her spirit resides, or it can be a place frequented by a spirit or a group.
It is also crucial to understand that you cannot label the spirit as good or evil just because there is a supernatural activity in the house. The spirit might be confused, or it can only be inquisitive, leading people to believe that they are evil. The best person to judge the nature of the spirit is a paranormal researcher. He/She can feel their energy and tell you if that spirit means any harm or not.
Types of Haunting
Yes, hauntings have a wide range of types. Are you surprised? Well, in general, there are two major types of haunting – intelligent and residual. Other than that, there are a few more. Let us look at each in brief. The first is Residual Haunting.
1. Residual Haunting
A residual haunting is like an imprint of the past. If a stressful event like a murder or a homicide has taken place in the past, then the negative energy in the environment causes an imprint. It is like a playback of the thing that actually took place.In this haunting, you don’t have any interaction with the supernatural entity. It is just something that just keeps on playing like a CD player in the background. Residual hauntings are scary and seldom terrifying to many people out there.
2. Intelligent Hauntings
As per a paranormal expert, intelligent haunting is also known as human haunting and can scare you to your very fiber. In this haunting, a direct interaction between the entity and humans is involved. The spirit is aware of your presence, and you are also mindful that it is around you. In this type of haunting, the spirit makes an effort to let you know about its presence.
3. Inhuman Spirit Haunting
There are spirits or entities that have never lived on the earth as human beings. They have been here since the advent of time and cannot destroy as they are energies. Angels, saints, guardian angels are types of inhuman spirits. These beings never had a physical form or shape and are not made of physical matter. They were never born as humans, and we cannot kill them. Inhuman spirits can be good and evil.
4. Possession Haunting
Most of us have seen people getting possessed by spirits in movies. But what does possession signify? Possession is the process by which an inhuman spirit enters the soul of a living human making the human act the way the spirit desires. In this type of haunting, it becomes almost impossible for the person to act according to his wit and actions. It is because the spirit residing inside his soul rules his emotions. The person is entirely under the influence of the spirit and behaves just as the spirit wants.
5. Shadow People
Shadow People is the next type of haunting. In this type, there is no apparent explanation of the events that take place. This type of haunting involves shadowy creatures that are only visible in the form of dark matter. The next type of haunting is a portal type. You can read more about these in detail in the types of hauntings blog if you wish to learn a bit extra about the types.
Places Where Hauntings Occur – Hotspots
Now that we understand the meaning of haunting and its types, it is imperative to know about the places where hauntings are quite rampant. What makes hauntings more apparent is when the redecoration or the revamping of a haunted house is taking place. Just like people, even spirits tend not to like changes in their environment. They feel a sense of connection with the surroundings of the house. When the position of the things in the place is disturbed, they feel uneasiness within themselves, leading them to act erratically and unpredictably. This usually leads to these spirits showing us their presence by either manifesting into something visible or by causing physical disturbances in the house.
Anywhere that anything bad, horrible, or dreadful took place has often seen instances of haunting. As per a paranormal expert, even an abandoned house, hospital or old building serves as a place for haunting activities. Burial grounds are often labelled as hotspots by many paranormal experts.
My advice to you
Please remember that any physical or emotional discomforts a person experiences can mostly be due to various diseases or emotional conditions he or she is going through. I have seen that majority of cases do not involve paranormal activity of any kind. Paranormal events are extremely rare occurrences. Hence your problems should be first brought to the notice of a qualified medical practitioner. I have often seen that the line between borderline personality disorders or other psychiatric disorders and “spirit possession” is thin. Hence a good paranormal investigator should advise his clients that professional medical care is the first solution or remedy for any physical or emotional discomfort.
Remember, you need to be a sceptic first to develop into a paranormal investigator. You need to rule out every single scientific possibility that is known to mankind to identify anything that is paranormal. Hence travel through the path of modern science, explore and unravel all facts using data and what cannot be explained through science is what we need to explore more through the paranormal arena. Most of your clients may feel desperate due to whatever they are going through. It’s your duty to act responsibly. Guide them through the path of modern science. Refrain from being a doctor or healer. There are qualified medical practitioners out there who can do their job well. Avoid any forms of advice on religious or cultural rituals or for that matter any ritualistic practices.