A Guide to Spirits: Basic Types and Theories

Spirits are involved in various types of hauntings. I say spirits, because according to some theories ghosts are not the only things that can occupy a space or person. There are poltergeists, which I’m sure you may have heard of in some form or another. It is assumed this type of spirit is a deceased human, but that is not always (or even usually) the case.

The term Poltergeist is a generic one that encompasses a form of activity rather than the identity of a spirit. Poltergeist activity can be performed by a ghost, or by what some call demons, or elementals along with numerous names a particular culture assigns to such creatures. The very use of the word denotes its behavior, Poltergeist being of German origin. ‘Polter’ is derived from the German ‘poltern ’ which means ‘to make noise’, and Geist literally means ‘ghost’ or ‘spirit’. Thus the word means ‘a spirit that makes noise’, and does not define what type of spirit it may be.

I will first address the various types of spirits that are alleged to exist. I say ‘alleged’, because many cultures have many spirits within their own mythos, not all being real of course. Ghosts are the most varied of all spirits due to the fact they were at one time person, filled with emotions, dreams, fears and all the rest of those things that make us human. I separate Ghosts into # categories, but keep in mind since all people differ it is logical to say all Ghosts do as well, and new theories are always emerging.

The first type, and I feel most common, are the Lost Souls. These ghosts are the result of a great pain or sadness not yet confronted or realized or may even be so consumed with their emotion the spirit has refused to move on. They may or may not recognize they are dead, but it is of little relevance to them as they are consumed by some negative emotion whether it is anger, fear, grief, sorrow or hatred. Lost souls are the spirits that have an almost unbreakable anchor (something a spirit is bound to), and will linger near it until they pass on, which is extremely difficult for one to do.

The best example of a Lost Soul, and my favorite haunting is of the White Lady of Berry Pomeroy Castle, Devon England. ‘The White Lady’ is not a personal name, but is a name given to any female ghost who has been linked with love, grief or any feminine emotion. If you Google the term ‘White Lady’ you’ll find hundreds of cases. But, I digress.

First I must say that in this case it is an intelligent haunting, a term I will address later on. As I was saying, this particular White Lady was named Lady Margaret Pomeroy in life, and was put away in the dungeons below Castle Pomeroy by her elder sister, Eleanor. The elder sister was insanely jealous of Margret due to some love triangle the two were allegedly involved in. What only added more pain to Margaret’s suffering, was that Eleanor had been left in charge by Lord Pomeroy (their father) when he left to lead a crusade against his enemies. The Lord never returned, and Margaret was kept in the dungeons of her own home for two decades. Around her 40^th birthday (it is believed), Eleanor finally allowed Margaret’s death…by slow and painful starvation.

It is said that Margaret rises from St. Margaret's Tower (which sits atop the dungeons where she died) to the castle walls. Many have seen her, and all report being filled with feelings of depression, fear and torture. She is called the White Lady for reasons discussed above, also appearing in a long flowing white dress.

Berry Pomeroy Castle is a prime example of a Lost Soul type of ghost, and I must say I actually saw a documentary on this haunting where a group of mediums and paranormal investigators spent the night. They got amazing footage, and I will attempt to find it online, as it was about 15 years ago.

Several other categories of ghost exist within intelligent hauntings, these include those spirits who do not realize they are dead and see the living as invades in their home. These can often be greatly bothersome, and have been known to assault those the spirit feels are in its space. Some spirits remain on unfinished business, though this would seem the most common, it isn’t. However, this unfinished business would be something akin to one’s life work. A man who spent his entire life building a house, having given up his wife, children and family to finish this very thing dies before ever completing it. Ghosts are formed by unimaginably strong emotions which are a part of who we are and who we are, is composed of energy so, it’s logical to say emotions = energy. It takes that kind of energy for a person’s soul to remain after its body has wasted away.

There are those in the field who think some people’s spirits chose to remain in order to warn or protect the living. This is highly doubtful, because we have no control over our souls, let alone our emotions. Can you will yourself happy and satisfied with your life? No, otherwise the world would be perfect. Can you will yourself enraged over something that does not anger you? No, you can feign that rage, but that is only a behavior, which the body exhibits and spirits have nothing to do with physical behavior. It’s all about the emotional state so I doubt this type of spirit exists, even though it is nice to think so. I agree there are spirits who warn and protect, but I do not believe a person can make a conscious choice to become such a thing; it is the emotions that force it to become that spirit. I repeat the word emotions, because it is of the utmost importance to this subject.

     Returning to ‘Intelligent Haunting’, the term means the spirit is free willed and exhibits their own behaviors and personalities. It is easiest to interact with an intelligent haunting, because most of the spirit will behave as it did in life. The ghost of a child may respond positively when you ask to play, such as saying ‘I want to play, can you make this ball move?’ These spirits can also evade you or intimidate you into leaving their anchor (a house, a grove, a ship, a lighthouse, etc.). These are also some of the more dangerous types of hauntings, because push come to shove the spirit can indeed decide to attack you. EVPs (Electronic voice phenomenon) work well with these spirits, can you can actually have a limited conversation (remember the spirit must exert energy in order to speak it’s voice, even if it goes unheard), of course you won’t know you’re having a conversation until you play back the audio recording device. It can be creepy and amazing to hear a disembodied voice responding to you and you didn’t realize it was there .

     Intelligent hauntings are also more likely to show up on camera or video, as they can chose to do so. However, keep in mind though orbs may look neat and seem out of place, they most likely are nothing but dust. Orbs should always be ruled out because there is no ways you can’t prove it’s not dust. Always err on the safe side, unless you want to look foolish.

     The second type of haunting is called ‘residual’ and it is an event you are watching. The spirit may not even know it’s doing what it is, or even that you’re there. It will act out some scene from its life, probably how it died, and continue to do so without any interaction with the living. For all intended purposes, you are watching 3-D action in real life. An example is a slave who was murdered during the Civil War for not cleaning his master’s horses well enough may haunt the barn where the horse was kept. Even though there is no horse, you may hear the spirit cleaning a horse, muttering angrily.

     If you were to sleep in this barn for an entire week, each night, you would hear the same thing, and it would continue on each night after you had left. Another prime example that you could see almost anywhere is a Civil War battle unfolding. At Gettysburg there are reports of Gatling Guns firing at night, muskets sounding, swords clashing and men dying. It is all just residual energy left over from such a horrific event.

     The third category, and of course to some it is the most realistic (mainly those of the Christian faith) and to others is complete hogwash. These ‘spirits’ are demons. I quoted the word spirit, because these things were never alive, they were never born and have never felt any true good emotion. They are bent on torture, evil and harassing mortals. Though Christianity claims demons, they have existed long before Jesus. They predate the belief in Satan, and they fill religious texts. Demons are in the Quran, the Torah, and even in pre-historic times. Do not attempt to reason with these creatures, you will do more harm than good, because the beast will twist everything you say or think against you.

     Possession is also possible, and as well it has pre-dated Jesus. Only in America is possession seen as a joke or what lunatics think. In Africa possession is a reality for certain tribes, albeit many times they are wrong, but that does not deny that some are real. Religious figures, or priests usually perform exorcisms however these are not necessarily needed. A demon responds to faith and belief so, if one is strong enough in those two areas, one will be able to drive the demon back. Again that is highly difficult as these creatures feed on your misery. Taunting, humiliation, violence and trickery are also skills demons use in high regard.

     I spoke of elementals before, but those are mostly cultural terms along with fairies. In the United Kingdom they use those phrases, while in Haitian Creole they are called ‘Loa’.

     Returning to Poltergeist activity, it is bizarrely true that these events occur more often around girls entering puberty, or on their menstrual cycle. These types of hauntings also seem to happen more around limestone, why I don’t know and no one else seems to have an exact answer. There is some unknown property in the stone, and perhaps the poltergeists are attracted by the emotional and unstable state puberty brings to a girl (forgive the sexist remark).

     I hope this all helps, and plan on continuing this series if there’s enough interest!