Explaining ghosts
Alona is CONVINCED...and I mean 100% certain, that there is a ghost at her friend's house. They hear a "moaning" when they are alone in the room at night, and it ONLY happens when no adults are around. Now let me explain something. My family? We see ghosts. No...really. We sense them, we see them, we hear them, and sometimes we can talk to them. Can't say they listen all the time or even seem to know that we are talking to them, but never hurts to try. You can believe me or not, I really could care less. Anyone who has lived with me can attest to the fact that yes, ghosts are real. Eventually, you will see/hear/feel one. Anyways, Alona is the same way, but just like every child she has an overactive imagination. I listened to her tale of ghostly moans and explained a few basics to her. I will share them here because...well, I think everyone should know.
1. Ghosts don't moan. Now I'm not saying this is a 100% positive RULE, but I'm saying, all the ghosts I have seen, my mother has seen, my grandmother has seen, and my great grandmother has seen don't moan. We have run into mean ghosts, sad ghosts, hurting ghosts, and PLENTY of "residuals" and not one of them moaned.
2. Not every noise that is strange is a ghost. BY FAR. I have had so many people say "oh my house is haunted, I always hear so and so noise". I generally follow that admission by asking questions. Does the noise happen at the same time? Do you live in an apartment? Do you have older appliances? Do you live in an old house? Have you checked for signs of rodents? Because guess what? 90% of "ghosts" are normal noises. People shout ghost to explain anything they don't understand, and I think it's kinda funny. I about laughed my ass off when I watched a ghost hunter where a bartender KNEW the bar was haunted and he had a bad case of rats running around making noise and clinking the bottles together. Check your shit before shouting ghost...cause you just look dumb.
3. Most ghosts could give a shit less that you exist. Some ghosts don't know they are dead and are just going about their normal lives, not even noticing you are there, let alone that their "house" isn't really there the way it used to be anymore. And really? This isn't beetlejuice, they could really care less if they knew. If you happen to walk into your kitchen and see a strange aura-like thing by the fridge...it's probably getting a snack. Don't worry, they won't touch YOUR food.
4. Another form of ghosts is residual. A LOT of the above mentioned ghosts are residual. They aren't really there anymore, the house just remembers them being there, so it projects them. Maybe something really interesting happened (a murder, a large sadness, a whole lot of love..whatever) and it left an imprint. Those are the ghosts that are always seen doing the same thing over and over again. Or making the same unexplainable noise over and over again.
5. In the rare cases a ghost is both "evil" AND knows you are there....well..it really sucks to be you. Yes, it does happen, but most of the time the most that will happen to you is you will feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. Strange things could happen around you for no reason (see number 2) and you really feel like you DON'T want to be there. That doesn't mean every "bad" feeling you get is a mean ghost..please don't be stupid. This is a consistent desire to be SOMEWHERE ELSE, and a consistent feeling like something just DOES NOT LIKE YOU. That's rare. But what's even more rare is a ghost that is actually pissed off enough to TOUCH things. I have only seen that one time in my life. It was not good times.
6. Ghosts can touch things, but it's not common. Often times, if things around you are actually moving, some ghost is trying REALLY FRICKING HARD to tell you something. My grandmother had a habit. She stacked pennies. It was just something she did when loose change was around...a small impulse nobody really payed THAT much attention to. When she passed away we were all very heartbroken, because while it wasn't sudden, she was so badly effected by Alzheimers that she had no idea who any of us were, so none of us felt like we really got to say goodbye. About a week after she passed, we started finding stacked pennies. We passed it off as one or more of us carrying on her tradition as a kind of tribute to her. I thought this too until I tossed some change on my counter and took a shower. When I came back the pennies were stacked. It was strange, and it made me smile and made my heart kinda hurt, but feel good at the same time. Since I was alone, the only way the pennies got stacked was if my cat learned how while I wasn't looking. The point of this story was, my grandmother did that to say "hey, I know I'm gone, but I still love you guys". Once we discovered it was her, it stopped for the most part. Every once in a while we'll find stacked pennies, but it's not very often. More then often, ghosts are trying to tell you something if they are moving your things around. Most of the time it's just "hey there....I'm here". Nothing mean, nothing hurtful.
So after this long conversation, Alona knows the "ghost" at her friend's house is the heater outside coming on, just like ours does. She thought for the longest time there was a ghost in her room, and when i finally heard the "moan" I discovered it was the heater turning on outside. It DOES sound like a moan. When I explained that to her, and she came outside and heard it, she was fine. It still weirds her out, but she knows what it is now. Even people who KNOW ghosts are real don't yell ghost at every corner. We are not crazy nutheads who walk around with incense in our pockets and special amulets to ward off evil spirits...we are normal people who just happen to see ghosts more then other people.
1. Ghosts don't moan. Now I'm not saying this is a 100% positive RULE, but I'm saying, all the ghosts I have seen, my mother has seen, my grandmother has seen, and my great grandmother has seen don't moan. We have run into mean ghosts, sad ghosts, hurting ghosts, and PLENTY of "residuals" and not one of them moaned.
2. Not every noise that is strange is a ghost. BY FAR. I have had so many people say "oh my house is haunted, I always hear so and so noise". I generally follow that admission by asking questions. Does the noise happen at the same time? Do you live in an apartment? Do you have older appliances? Do you live in an old house? Have you checked for signs of rodents? Because guess what? 90% of "ghosts" are normal noises. People shout ghost to explain anything they don't understand, and I think it's kinda funny. I about laughed my ass off when I watched a ghost hunter where a bartender KNEW the bar was haunted and he had a bad case of rats running around making noise and clinking the bottles together. Check your shit before shouting ghost...cause you just look dumb.
3. Most ghosts could give a shit less that you exist. Some ghosts don't know they are dead and are just going about their normal lives, not even noticing you are there, let alone that their "house" isn't really there the way it used to be anymore. And really? This isn't beetlejuice, they could really care less if they knew. If you happen to walk into your kitchen and see a strange aura-like thing by the fridge...it's probably getting a snack. Don't worry, they won't touch YOUR food.
4. Another form of ghosts is residual. A LOT of the above mentioned ghosts are residual. They aren't really there anymore, the house just remembers them being there, so it projects them. Maybe something really interesting happened (a murder, a large sadness, a whole lot of love..whatever) and it left an imprint. Those are the ghosts that are always seen doing the same thing over and over again. Or making the same unexplainable noise over and over again.
5. In the rare cases a ghost is both "evil" AND knows you are there....well..it really sucks to be you. Yes, it does happen, but most of the time the most that will happen to you is you will feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. Strange things could happen around you for no reason (see number 2) and you really feel like you DON'T want to be there. That doesn't mean every "bad" feeling you get is a mean ghost..please don't be stupid. This is a consistent desire to be SOMEWHERE ELSE, and a consistent feeling like something just DOES NOT LIKE YOU. That's rare. But what's even more rare is a ghost that is actually pissed off enough to TOUCH things. I have only seen that one time in my life. It was not good times.
6. Ghosts can touch things, but it's not common. Often times, if things around you are actually moving, some ghost is trying REALLY FRICKING HARD to tell you something. My grandmother had a habit. She stacked pennies. It was just something she did when loose change was around...a small impulse nobody really payed THAT much attention to. When she passed away we were all very heartbroken, because while it wasn't sudden, she was so badly effected by Alzheimers that she had no idea who any of us were, so none of us felt like we really got to say goodbye. About a week after she passed, we started finding stacked pennies. We passed it off as one or more of us carrying on her tradition as a kind of tribute to her. I thought this too until I tossed some change on my counter and took a shower. When I came back the pennies were stacked. It was strange, and it made me smile and made my heart kinda hurt, but feel good at the same time. Since I was alone, the only way the pennies got stacked was if my cat learned how while I wasn't looking. The point of this story was, my grandmother did that to say "hey, I know I'm gone, but I still love you guys". Once we discovered it was her, it stopped for the most part. Every once in a while we'll find stacked pennies, but it's not very often. More then often, ghosts are trying to tell you something if they are moving your things around. Most of the time it's just "hey there....I'm here". Nothing mean, nothing hurtful.
So after this long conversation, Alona knows the "ghost" at her friend's house is the heater outside coming on, just like ours does. She thought for the longest time there was a ghost in her room, and when i finally heard the "moan" I discovered it was the heater turning on outside. It DOES sound like a moan. When I explained that to her, and she came outside and heard it, she was fine. It still weirds her out, but she knows what it is now. Even people who KNOW ghosts are real don't yell ghost at every corner. We are not crazy nutheads who walk around with incense in our pockets and special amulets to ward off evil spirits...we are normal people who just happen to see ghosts more then other people.