~Intelligent hauntings
These types of ghosts are the ones in the movies. They attempt to interact with those around them, generally making themselves a nuisance by scaring the bananas out of people. Some of the things they seem to be able to do are:
- Whispering
- Slamming doors
- Temperature drops and moving the cold spots around
- Body contact (I've had my hair pulled)
- Smells (roses in January)
- Items turn up missing in the house only to reappear later in a completely different location
I do not believe that there are evil spirits, I do think that the personality of a ghost is set by how they were in life. If they were mean and nasty while living, don't expect that to change to cuddly and endearing after death.
Intelligent hauntings contain the energy of the person, that's why some people are able to gather intense feelings when confronted with a ghost. Sadness, anger and jealousy don't die. Some don't realize they're dead, children are especially unaware and often try to make contact for attention.
~Residual Hauntings
A typical haunted house (if there is such a thing). A residual haunting is a memory of an event that replays itself over and over. Sometimes it seems as if you've walked into a film, they are not aware of you but you are able to see what they're going through. Reports of ghosts walking through walls or missing half of their bodies because of changes in the house are common, you're witnessing a memory and not true spirit activity. Some of the ways to tell a residual haunting from an intelligent haunting are:
- Knockings
- Footfalls
- The aforementioned walking through walls
~Elementals
These are spirits of the earth such as pookas, fairies, banshees, etc.
~Poltergeists
If only it was as easy as that movie...
I think these are the least well understood part of the entire paranormal picture. Instead of nicely fitting into a category, these bad boys create havoc centering around an adolescent child (like they don't have enough to worry about already) or a young emotionally disturbed person. The most recent belief is that they are unknowingly able to move things by psychokinesis (the ability to move things by the energy of the brain). Some of these include:
- Small fires
- Rocks being thrown from nowhere
- Frogs raining from the sky
