Ghost Expert?

[SeaAndSky]

Re: Ghosties and ghoulies and things that go Bump in the night!

In terms of the foregoing, I recently ran into a book that I found extremely interesting. There you will find plenty of ghosties and quite a few bumps in the night, but no ghoulies to speak of. It is not a frightening book at all, at least not to me, though the idea of these beings hanging around invisible and watching us is certainly a bit creepy.

How much can it be trusted? Who knows? However, I found the author to be pretty convincing notwithstanding my own stubborn reluctance to wholeheartedly endorse anything in a field in which I have so little personal experience and knowledge. Anyhow, the book in question is "When Ghosts Speak" (subtitled: "Understanding the World of Earthbound Spirits") by Mary Ann Winkowski. The author appears to be well known in certain circles, particularly those involved in studying such matters and/or contacting the revenants that (for one reason or another) do not move on into "the Light" but continue to hang out here as invisible entities in our plane of existence. She is not a person who does seances or the like, but simply has been able to see and communicate with ghosts since early childhood (an ability that apparently crops up regularly in her family line). Some may know her as the inspiration and technical adviser for a television show--"The Ghost Whisperer"--which I have never seen, but many seemed to enjoy.

Website = https://www.maryannwinkowski.com/about

Fun facts: (1) Ghosts do not tend to hang out in graveyards, but can be found in abundance in public areas they enjoyed in life where there are lots of people to energize them, especially those associated with their past occupations and recreations, such as theaters, bars, horse racing tracks, etc. etc. (However, they can also be attached to physical items, people, and/or private locations). (2) Ghosts feed off of our energy (which is not good for our health), and can disrupt electrical circuits and electronic devices. (3) Ghosts can influence us via their own "energies", which can be negative. (4) Very few are actively malevolent, just stuck, both in this domain and as the person they were at death.

I could go on, but it would be easier to just read the book. It is available free online at Archive.org, where I read it. So, if you're at all interested in this type of thing, you may want to give it a read. I'd enjoy getting people's thoughts, particularly if they have actually read the book or are otherwise familiar with Winkowski's work.

Cordially,
S&S

 

[Cryscat]

Ghost research, evidence, and discussion

Jeff Belanger's site.

 

[SeaAndSky]

Ghost research, evidence, and discussion

Jeff Belanger's site.

Hi Cryscat,

I have seen sites of this type before, often with different websites having different regional flavors in terms of famous local hauntings, etc. The book cited by me above is more of a textbook. Actually, it reminds me of the casebooks we used in law school, with different cases illustrating different principles and/or how known principles apply in different situations. So, it can act as a fairly comprehensive and systematic introduction to the types of disembodied individuals and situations she has dealt with. These are limited, for the most part, to people who did not "enter the light" when they "should have" done so after dying. These end up as "earthbound" spirits. She cannot see or communicate with those who have returned after entering the light or any other entities other than the "stay-behinds" (and those who have not yet left our plane of existence).

The reasons earthbound spirits have for staying here are manifold. Some are afraid of judgment, some want to stay around to help those they love, some are unwilling to give up the vices, diversions, locations, etc. they enjoy or are attached to. Some--like the child spirits--are often just lost and confused. The book is, of course, somewhat autobiographical as well, since these are cases she was involved in herself. Usually she is working as a liaison between the spirits in question and property owners or relations still in the flesh. In most cases, the spirits are earthbounds. However, others involve relatives who want to get in touch with the "dearly departed" to find out where the will is located, etc. before, e.g., grandma leaves the earth plane.

The two greatest gifts she brings to what she does come via her family and heritage. The first is the ability to actually see, hear and talk to such spirits--who appear to her as they were in life. The second is the ability to summon the Light, which acts as a gate or portal into . . . wherever such portals go. For the most part her job is just to open a portal and convince sometimes recalcitrant of confused spirits to pass through. Most seem to be eager or at least willing to do so. For the few who don't or won't she sometimes has to resort to some other traditional ways and methods of barring them from whoever or whatever they are haunting.

Overall, an interesting book. I don't really have a problem with her usual methods or the idea that a person might have such abilities. I can't prove that such abilities exist, but I can see how they could be possible. The "fall-back" methods used for simply getting rid of a pesky spirit, such as "smudging" et al. are a bit more difficult for me to grasp. But, we live in a strange world. Who knows.

Cordially,
S&S

 

[SeaAndSky]

Speaking of ghosts, here is a report on something spooky that takes place on Florida's "Death Row" every time someone is executed:

MSN

 

[Elle C.]

I did paranormal research in my younger years for about 12 of them. Generally, I was the group skeptic and EVP gal, I enjoy science and my dad was a big science guy so it was always around. I could debunk most phenomenons and rarely "certified" an EVP unless it was a class A for the group, which means it was very clear without any audio manipulation. I would share some I did clear up, but as far as the investigation went, nothing was gathered as evidence unless it was class A. That leaves a lot of EVPs from being looked at as a real thing in the group I was with.

I also happen to be clairaudient, which is incredibly helpful being a skeptic and EVPs (not something I routinely share and generally I could "hear" responses as they occured and not have to wait until I manipulated everything) and I have a 70% correct reading in psychometry (again, not usually something I actually admit to most of the time).

I had places I went that I couldn't debunk, and I've been hurt at haunted sites. My own house has a boggart and a poltergeist. Neither particulary bother me and the boggart has been helpful more than once. The poltergeist was an issue when my neice lived with my parents being very violent and destructive (due to her actions more than the poltergeist), then we moved in to take care of her and over the years it has mellowed, probably because I threaten to banish it fairly often. Mostly all the activity with that is in my daughter's room but it's stuff like books being stacked off the shelf up a wall, or her dressing table chair being on her bed with other stuff piled up. And my kid is not that crafty or graceful to make anything do that. We do get a lot of knocking, cabinet doors being open and lights flickering. I have a hard time debunking it becuase my daughter wil be in the living room all day and evening, then I usually go to her room after dinner to check for laundry or if she's pick up and it will happen. Or we leave and come home and things are askew. Really hard to debunk what no one is doing.

 

[SeaAndSky]

Hi Elle,

I'd love to hear more about your "adventures" (or perhaps more aptly, "interesting cases") in this field. I've only had a few experiences in the broad field of ESP, sensing the future, unseen entities, etc. etc., and they frightened me, which brings up another topic. "Shutting down" gifts, such as your gift for clairaudience.

In my childhood, my family was fortunate to acquire a house not far from a beach fairly close to where we lived. I loved the beach and that house, which we usually stayed in all Summer (with Dad commuting a bit farther to get to work). It was probably built in the 30s, and had a detached garage which included a small run-down guestroom. As kids, we played all over the place, including in the garage and guestroom. On one occasion, when I was by myself and probably about 10 y.o., I felt someone watching me, and spun around to see a man's face looking out at me from a small window of the guestroom. I saw him very clearly. He seemed to be bald and probably middle-aged or older, and seemed and looked very angry or hostile towards me. I had never seen him before, and there was definitely no one in the guestroom. I was frozen for a moment, and then (pretending that he wasn't there), I slowly turned and walked away. In reality, I was petrified. I stopped for a moment to ask my mother if I could walk down to the beach (just to get away from whatever I had seen). She looked worried and told me that I looked pale, "like you've seen a ghost!"--which was definitely an extremely good (i.e., typical mom type) guess. I denied this, and she allowed me to go down to the beach, still looking a bit doubtful. Somehow, just walking and sitting in the shallows seemed to drain off my terror, but I definitely, definitely DID NOT!! want to see such things again. And, interestingly enough, though I have often felt presences that I didn't like, I have not seem them. Maybe this was just a "one-off"--but I wonder now whether I shut down a nascent gift for seeing such beings. I seem to have done the same with another gift that cropped up about 10 years ago, but it is hard to tell.

Cordially,
S&S

PS--At this point, after reading Winkowski, I wonder whether this was just a cranky old-coot of a ghost who was unhappy at the noisy younglings trampling around what he considered to be his home. Winkowski would have just heard him out, and encouraged him to enter the light and move-on.
PPS--What is the difference between a Boggart and Poltergeist?

 

[Elle C.]

My boggart is sort of misnamed. It is more of a house sprite, although it can be malevolent if you piss it off. But house sprite or Kobold (which considering my German heritage is likely a truer name for it) isn't this lovely creature who is just super helpful. He moves with me where I go, when I am in town he is at the house. When I am at the farm, he is in that house. (I have to invite him to meet me wherever I am going to be; when I first started to go between the two, it made him upset and I was missing many things for a while.)

I do not own it. It is just here, or not, as it pleases. Often stuff will go missing and reappear later or things stolen from me will be back in odd places. One item this happened to is a camphor glass necklace I own. My niece stole it, about a year later I found it in a purse I never had used before. And I know she took it because she tormented me about it. Generally, it's just here and misplaces stuff or finds stuff. Sometimes it acts as an early warning system where it will knock on my spare rooms walls (opposite side of the house) or knock things over in another room. A poltergeist is what you expect, although I think the boggart keeps it under control some. (Also my boggart's name is George. He used to trip me as a kid.) If I leave a stove on, spices or whatever will fall off the counter to make me go in there. I'd say it was my cat, but she goes outside when we eat.

As to shutting off powers, I can't control the psycometry. I learned to ignore it by touching 2 or more things at a time since it messes up what it does. As to the clairaudience, it's mostly background noise, like a TV is on in another room. If something needs to talk and I have to pay attention, they sound like they get next to me and are clearer, but I still have to put my attention on it to "hear" it clearly. I live next to a cemetary, and while everyone says ghosts aren't common there, I beg to differ. They may roam from there (which it's an acre away from my house), but they are indeed at graveyards. In my experience, they are usually those that died longer ago, and have a limited energy. (I also don't think ghosts stay forever...how many civil war ghost stories are something that happened recently?)

Ghosts appear or don't. I don't necessarily think it's a gift, I think it's the energy they have at that moment. You had a grumpy old man. I imagine he was not one that liked children and you bothered him, and the annoyance and frustration gave it a burst to appear. Ghosts are either looped (doing something they did all the time) or materialize with new actions. The former likely doesn't know they are dead and the latter does and didn't move on for whatever reason.