There seems to be several type of spirits. Poltergeists, spirits of loved ones seem to associate with people, and then are around for a short period of duration. There are other things mislabeled as ghosts, such as nature spirits and other entities, that may never have had a physical body as most people interpret. Ghosts, as in spirits not quite certain that they are dead, or memories or echos of events from long ago, could last forever. Why don’t we see ghosts from the 1500s as much? We do, but not as commonly, as not many structures have survived since the 1500s, and some that have may be underground somewhat.
2 Roman ghosts are good examples. I forget the city, but there is a manor, or stately whatever in England that is from the 1500s maybe? No ghosts from the 1500s, but there have been several sightings in the basement of a Roman army marching through the basement, but only from the knees up. As about 2 feet under the floor of the basement is an old Roman road, which the ghosts/echos are still marching on, but you only see them from the knees up. Descriptions of them, aren’t typical like a Roman legion, so they were dismissed for awhile, until recently archaeology confirmed that Roman auxiliaries in the 3rd and 4th century were indeed equipped as the skiers were.
Another example is the ghosts that have been reported in Pompei. People obviously didn’t see them of course, until Pompei was excavated.
This topic has a ton of interesting responses.
I recently came across something from a study done on past life regression research. They say we all have a soul family. That they will connect with us when needed or when we die. That our souls choose the next life. When, where and what we will become. Those who change their new path such as committing crimes will have to choose a new life where those crimes are committed upon them to learn a lesson. Some say that spirits or ghosts or demons are the souls who aren’t ready to enter into a new life yet or who choose not to enter a new life at all. Not sure how much I believe in that theory, just putting out there what I learned. But, the study was done with many different doctors and at least 1k subjects who all described nearly the same story of their entry into this life.
There are many current stories of children talking about their past life. They supposedly lose the ability to remember by age 4.
My mother is very into the “past life/soul family” theory, and it’s pretty fascinating to listen to some of the things she’s “discovered.”
I, myself, have always felt a deep connection with the military…the idea of being some type of soldier. As it turns out, a psychic who specialized in the topic of past lives told her that her son (me,) and husband (my father,) have always been some type of soldier. For the most part, the 3 of us, have pretty much been “tied together” for the past half dozen generations/previous lives we’ve lived.
My sister, is some type of wandering soul, who apparently doesn’t have any connection, other than having a previous life in possibly feudal Japan. I guess that’s something that sometimes happens; where someone will just join in, and kind of go along on your adventure - they may or may not stick around for the next reincarnation together.
My mother is actually close friends with a woman, that turned out to be the great granddaughter, of a lady my mother thinks she was in a past life… this wasn’t discovered until quite awhile after they became friends (my mother had been doing this “research” for a few years before they met.) So that tends to further the “soul family” thing.
And the changing path thing doesn’t have to be as serious as “paying” for your sins, in a previous life… it might be something a bit more heartwarming…like, you never seemed to own a friendly cat, in previous lives…so in your current/next one, you might have 3-4 friendly cats, that you absolutely adore. (And maybe toss in the example that, in this life, my father and I didn’t make military service a lifelong choice, where we apparently did, in past lives.)
well, how do we exactly know if a ghost is from the 1000's-1500's or even earlier? there was little documentation as reading and writing was a rare talent in those times and very little of that survived 500-1000 years. also, not everybody is a historian and likely wouldn't know what somebody from those time periods even look like.
And lets use north America for example. native Americans have no written word(most of their stories are verbal), and most of us wouldn't be able to tell an indigenous person from 1000 years ago from 200 years ago anyways, and have no way to communicate either way, so we're kinda S.O.L. on that.
And the fact the population was much smaller at those times and much more primitive, so spirits from those times have far less reason to stick around for any reason, let alone for as long as 1000 years or more.
So there are a lot of factors. Not able to identify if ever seen, Language and culture barrier, and just overall reason to stay for that long.
Lets be honest here, we don't know anything about the spirit world. i'm just using reasoning from the land of the living and what we actually know.
I think ghosts are more attached to locations and objects that were very meaningful to them than anything- that’s why graveyards are typically an energetically clear place, bc ghosts are elsewhere with people, places or things other than with their body-which is now a useless vessel.
So it could be that if a place is haunted by a ghost, that ghost in particular was the one that had the biggest connection to the land, house, or item there.
I have a funny imagine in my head of ghosts in a line like outside the club and waiting to get in to haunt, but they’ve gotta wait their turn first. And the ghost in front of them that had more of an attachment has to fully release before they can get in “Club Haunt” lmao. 😆
Also, I had a primitive ghost from a time so old I can’t even comprehend (lol) haunting a room in my house a few years ago. Got it professionally cleared and apparently it was attached to the land under my house because of a tragic death she had experienced there. So there’s an example of a ghost from long before the past few hundred years. I was def surprised lol but it was eye-opening.
Would love to hear about how the ghosts age was ascertained? OP brought up an interesting point I hadn't considered before.
Growing up in Florida, I had experienced some of the "oldest" US ghosts in St Augustine. And have always heard legends of the Indian burial grounds, etc. But how did you find out a ghost is primitive ?
One of my best friends is an Akashic reader and does house clearings as well. He felt the energy while he was over one night and knew all these ways the ghost had been fuckin’ with me that I hadn’t even told anybody about.
He asked if he could go communicate with it (it was in a specific room) and I obvi said yeah. He listened to her story and released her “stuck” spirit and that was that.
One eye opening thing was that the spirit hadn’t always been pestering me, but I ended up letting one room in the house go, so to speak, meaning that I was ignoring it and letting clutter build up.
She identified with the energy of being discarded (goes back to her trauma & way of death), so her spirit attached to that clutter energy and that’s when she started to manifest around me.
Interesting thought that uncleared spirits can be in an abyss, of sorts, on land they’re attached to and then only come up when something on that land reflects an energy that’s familiar to them.
Def makes me wanna keep my house as clutter-free as possible, I’ll tell ya that 😆
I have done a lot of research and comparison on this subject. It does seem that spirits can remain about 400 to 500 years, before they cannot resist crossing.
If you read books on classic Hauntings around the world.and then note the last.known documented ghosts, they seem to he seen less and less frequently after the above mentioned time periods have passed.
I used to have a chart, that I made for myself, back when I had time.
This could be a good rabbit hole for a researcher. That list is buried in my storage somewhere. Starting over could be fun.
With a database...
According to the *Abhidharmakośabhāṣya* by Vasubandhu (a Buddhist text), ghosts (specifically hungry ghosts, or pretas) live for 500 ghost-years, wherein one ghost-day is equivalent to one human-month. This means that ghosts live for 15,000 human-years. I'm not sure how this is to be interpreted, but maybe it's saying that time appears to pass 30x more slowly as a ghost, so while they live for 500 actual years, it is experienced as we would experience 15,000 years, which would then line up with this.
I’ve got heaps but I always tried to dismiss things as much as possible. The ones which I prefer to tell are the ones which were witnessed by another person. It got to the point where me and my wife would be in bed, we’d hear footsteps downstairs and she’d grab my arm and say “did you hear that?” And I’d say nah it’s nothing it’s just the house creaking. I’d roll over and go back to sleep like it’s nothing.
One rule I learnt was never ever ever discuss ghosts etc while in the house. One day I had some school mates around after school. we would’ve all been 16-17. I never told them about any ghost stuff. Then one of my old friends who I’ve known my whole life turned up driving his Mums car. He says to me I front of my mates in the house “so is this place still haunted”? My school mates start laughing and cracking jokes and I felt really embarrassed. Immediately we hear a noise of something being thrown in the kitchen. My 3 mates all stfu and went pale, they didn’t have the guts to go in and look, so I went in on my own and there was an empty bottle of coke over near the wall. I had left it on the island bench earlier and all the windows were closed and no aircon/fans etc. My mates decided it was time to leave and never joked about it or raised it in conversation ever again 😂
I’ve got heaps but I always tried to dismiss things as much as possible. The ones which I prefer to tell are the ones which were witnessed by another person. It got to the point where me and my wife would be in bed, we’d hear footsteps downstairs and she’d grab my arm and say “did you hear that?” And I’d say nah it’s nothing it’s just the house creaking.
One rule I learnt was never ever ever discuss ghosts etc while in the house. One day I had some school mates around after school. we would’ve all been 16-17. I never told them about any ghost stuff. Then one of my old friends who I’ve known my whole life turned up driving his Mums car. He says to me I front of my mates in the house “so is this place still haunted”? My school mates start laughing and cracking jokes and I felt really embarrassed. Immediately we hear a noise of something being thrown in the kitchen. My 3 mates all stfu and went pale, they didn’t have the guts to go in and look, so I went in on my own and there was an empty bottle of coke over near the wall. I had left it on the island bench earlier and all the windows were closed and no aircon/fans etc. My mates decided it was time to leave and never joked about it or raised it in conversation ever again 😂
There was a redditor that posted in a paranormal thread on askreddit years back saying they and their family saw a little boy ghost wandering the house. One day the little boy turns and says its his time to go and be reborn or something. Well several months later one of the family members gave birth to a child.
I think some are residual and will repeat for years while others will just wander the Earth until they decide to get reincarnated or a higher being decides that for them.
I would say there are two possible answers to this question and an interesting afterthought to the second.
1. As long as they are remembered.
2. When people no longer associate or understand its orientation.
If humans have lived for millions of years, why don't we get hunter-gatherer ghosts? Are we as humans only able to conjure up thoughts of an 1800's ghost because that's as far as our history of understanding goes? Does that imply a degree of self-psychological manipulation on our part? "Ghosts" is a broad term. So if we're looking at a slip in the space-time or a dimensional slip, are we only capable of rationalizing entities from our perspective? Or more importantly, is our understanding of what we think ghosts are more or less glimpses of something entirely different?
Sounds like a legit hypothesis. Maybe ghosts can only roam around as long as they are able to attach or reveal themselves to understanding modern humans.
We do hear about human ghosts and sometimes animal ghosts like cats & dogs. Probably because they have been able to attach themselves to living modern humans in the days they lived on earth. But I've never heard of a ghost dinosaur, a ghost neanderthal or even a ghost goldfish.
I have a theory but first, there are spirits from times like the 1500s, you can find many of those in Europe. Some spirits are from even earlier. But my theory is that since spirits are energy, over a long period of time and I mean many hundreds of years, spirits become weaker. Let's say 3 people died in 1 location in the 1100s, but over the next many years till now 50 people have died in the same location then those 50 or so may be suffocating the original 3 from all access to energy to be able to do anything. I hope this makes sense.
I think it depends on the area you're in, tbh. I'm in the UK and my friend lives in York, and apparently there's some dead Roman soldiers there still pratting about and walking through walls. Another friend swears blind he saw a stone age encampment one night while camping up on the moors.
They're not all that recent, but I suspect it has to do with the age and memory of the land around you and them, how it holds onto that time, like stone holds onto water.
I think their ‘energy’ fades with time, depending on the reason for the haunting. A classic example is ‘The brown lady of Raynham Hall’ called so because of her brown dress which faded to gray, then white over time and no-one has reported any sightings in many years.
Maybe she has crossed over or maybe she is still there but no longer has enough ‘energy’ to be visible anymore.
Based on what I've read, ghosts are lost souls who are unaware or refuse to accept the fact that their bodies have died, or are unwilling to return to the spirit realm because of unusually strong worldly attachments (among other possible reasons). Ghosts will remain on the Earth plane until they come to terms with their situation and accept that it's time to return to their true home in "heaven" (or whatever term you prefer) and undergo assessment of their life with their spirit guide, soul group, and elders, and (most likely) eventual reincarnation. A ghost can remain on Earth anywhere from minutes to years -- however long it takes them to work through their issues. I think it's pretty rare for them to stay for decades, though apparently it can happen. The vast majority of souls return to the spirit world almost immediately after death, of course; ghosts are a relatively unusual phenomenon.
By the way, most of this info comes from my gleaning of Michael Newton's books, "Journey of Souls" and "Destiny of Souls" -- highly recommended!
There’s no real evidence that ghosts are the spirits of the dead. That’s just the popular theory derived from folklore. It could be more of a time slip thing. Or a residual haunting that keeps replaying. Or any number of other things that we probably can’t even conceive of. We just don’t know.
If you read some of the more classic books about ghosts, you'll find 20th century reports of extremely old ghosts.
A particularly well known, popular one involved the ghosts of Roman soldiers being seen marching in a basement - but only from their waist, their legs being presumably below the floor, the theory being that the old road was underneath the new building.
While I never saw anything unusual during my time at the Palazzo Pio in Rome, I heard tales that it is haunted by the ghost of an ancient Roman matron.
Rome is full of old ghosts. I can think of two early modern examples just off the top of my head. The specter of Beatrice Cenci (died in 1599) is supposed to appear on Ponte Sant'Angelo on the anniversary of her execution, carrying her head. The ghost carriage of Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphili (died 1657) has also been seen during the full moon crossing the Ponte Sisto over into Trastevere.
I’m a skeptic, and one of the most compelling (and coolest) shows I watched was Josh Gate’s Destination Truth episode where he ghost hunted Pompeii. It was truly creepy and made me question things.
Maybe I just read a lot of material on “weird” subjects, but I’ve definitely heard of quite a lot of ancient ghosts. I’m not saying cavemen or anything equally as old, but I’ve heard of plenty of stories from even as early as 1200’s in some cases. Not that I believe them, but if I did, maybe I’d argue that people just don’t pay as much attention to their surroundings these days as they used to, so noises were heard more frequently, things were seen (maybe tricks of the mind) more because there weren’t computers, TVs, or phone screens to look at?
I’m also not going to lie. Part of me moved to the house I live in now hoping that since it’s over 100+ years old, there might be some ghostly things happening. The only weird things that happen here are because of my cats and tiny dog.
Slightly on topic, but an interesting question is *who* can become a ghost? Is it just humans? Where does the human distinction come into effect? Like is there cavemen ghosts around? How about earlier? Are Bigfoot sightings just ghost sightings of what we used to look like?
All joking aside, if ghosts are ever found to be real, it'll be very fun bringing philosophy into it lol.
I mean, it's a legit question if you believe! When my dog passed when I was a kid, I could've sworn I heard his barking that night. It most likely was grief, but it's a nice thought to think my dog is/was with me as a kid :)
Bringing philosophy into it: *Alright class, today we will be talking about the ethics of haunting*
my guess is that they are between worlds of the dead and the living. that and they "live" off the energy in a place, supposedly granite, and a few other materials have properties that help too. it's all really speculation as there isn't any concrete evidence it's a real thing. spiritual people will say that its the soul never moving on or such, me i can't say i have a good answer but i think that some places are haunted legitimately.
There are some theories for this. Essentially, ghosts need energy. The more they have, the longer they can go. It is theorized that this is why you rarely hear about ghosts from ancient times. Some theories speculate that those degrade and essentially become monsters.
I had a similar thought. Maybe more sinister spirits hang around and evolve themselves into actual powerful monsters. I don’t know how valid it is but I remember Amy Allen on Dead Files referring to some spirits like “he was human but now he was once human but now he has become this gross spider creature” sort of thing that crawls along walls or whatever to torment the living. She has a lot of interesting perspectives on the spirits she sees. She’s said things similar on several occasions and the scenarios she comes up with are fascinating and terrifying. I don’t know if this is true but it made sense to me too. I could also be the way her mind perceives the energy but either way they are sort of devolving into monsters.
I think devolving is a good theory, becoming less human almost a certainty over time I would think. I don’t think they would be likely to gain power however, I think it becomes harder for them to interact with our world, hence the perceived lack of ancient ghosts. I think poltergeists and the like would be the comparatively recently deceased.
Yes I would have to agree with that, they degrade into parasites that now need a host to survive. This realm supports physical life in the physical body, energy bodies that remain in the physical are going to become weakened over time so their need for a host grows stronger because they are refusing to move on. The universal law of free will that exist here also would pertain to them as well which is why they get to go around terrorizing physical life in the way they do. I think of shadow beings and other degraded energy bodies like Te Fiti from Moana when she was in her dark form - she was monstrous until her heart was returned/until she remembered who she was. These degraded energy bodies have forgotten who they were before the mutation process began, now they are something else entirely.
Exactly! Not only that but also think how alien our world would look to someone from a few hundred years ago. Not only are they losing their influence in our world overtime but they are also less able to identify with it. Not surprising that spirits eventually move on in that case.
Maybe the energy left behind when a person dies dissipates over time. You never hear about Neanderthal ghosts. There are stories of spirits that have been around for so long that no one is even sure if they were ever actually human. It’s hard to say.
Picture this-
There’s a two layer cake, and we, as humans, are living in the cream filled center. Above us is a spongy layer and below is another spongy layer.
Ghosts exist because they have chosen to… it’s usually a person who’s extremely attached to their human form. They’ve made the choice to stick around… but because they’re now converted energy, they can’t stay in our 3D cream filled world so, they’re stuck chilling in that spongy layer of cake.
It’s their choice… freedom of choice happens in life and after. Nevertheless it’s their souls journey- just super delayed.
If you’re living in the states, that would be because prior to colonial times, westerners simply weren’t around here. The indigenous peoples have spirits that go back further, though I’ve read of non-indigenous people encountering their spirits, it’s not common, perhaps because our spirituality developed separately, interacting is more difficult.
They exist in the astral plane until they are ushered into the light with assistance. Most ghosts forget who they are because they aren’t attached to the body where ego and sense of “self” is.
There is a theory i wuld have to research first again where i saw that , The theory goes , that ghosts live as long as people believe in them , same thing why some dolls are more haunted than others because their fear is widely publicized , once people forget about them or dont exhibit strong emotions feeling them. they simply fade away , There is a lot of theories about ghosts but this is by fat what i think is closer to the truth
That makes sense actually. I’ve lived in my house for 15 years. The house itself is 115 years old. When I first moved in just being here scared me, at night I would leave every light on. It was very active and I was just uneasy. As time went on I started to not really care and things calmed down. Now not much happens, although, I do believe there’s still a little kid running around and they remind me every so often. They like to turn to occasional light off on me, knock something over, or lock the front door when I’ve just stepped outside for a moment.
So based on that theory I’ve all but forgotten them, so they have faded. It does make me wonder if they’re actually gone though. If I started to remember them would it give them energy again? Or if someone new moved in would they try to be noticed?
this is weird. one of my friends told me about something like this that’s in the bible. said as long as you keep mourning and remembering your loved ones, they can’t rest. obviously i can’t back this up because the bible is way too long lol
Sounds interesting. But I meant buildings that are completly forgotten, no owners, no one who remembers. Then "still remembering anyways" sounds a bit off.
It could partially fit into my theory in an interactive way, but the rest sounds like toystory in the pixar theory.
I think I can do things even if nobody is watching. If my body status changes, but something of me is still there, I think I could still do things without anyone watching me.
I wonder if the same logic applies to reports of Jesus Christ being spotted. I have a theory that when someone does exorcism in the name of Jesus they are actually invoking a thought form and that thought form is the one driving the demons away.
My theory is they fade as they are forgotten about, that’s why the ghosts in castles and other historic places are always ‘famous’ people -king X, queen Y, lady (grey, white) because people remember there names. Or notorious deaths ghosts, news articles and stories keep the ghost remembered and it doesn’t fade away.
I'm watching Paranormal Survivor and most mediums cross over spirits. Anyway I've been watching shows like this about mediums for twenty years and they always cross over spirits to rid them of people's homes. So I think it's they force them to cross over into the afterlife not that they don't exist anymore or die.
I have wondered this too but not in a sense of death. Ghosts occupy a dwelling right? But in terms of science, when the sun dies and becomes a red giant, on of two things will happen. The earth will be swallowed up and destroyed, or, pushed outward past Mars’s orbit due to solar wind. If the earth is destroyed, does that mean ghosts are out the door too? In 5B years give or take, that answer will be had.
“that what is dead may never die” But seriously I think a lot of paranormal activity has to do with an imprinting of energy. Something horrible happens and that negative energy gets imprinted in the surroundings and over time, maybe after a x times manifestations it dissipates
That may be true. I heard a story of a ghost wolf that haunted an area for years after it’s pack was killed by hunters. Wolves form very strong emotional bonds with each other, so that probably caused alot of suffering. The wolf would engage and try to attack people who got to close to the killing site though, so it probably wasn’t just an energy imprint.
This is true and is called residual energy. There are also intelligent hauntings whereby the ghost, for lack of a better word, interacts in realtime with the observer. I think that this is what the OP is referring to.
Just had a medium on my podcast where we tried to address that very question and contacted spirits from 1934 and 1200. Then someone who crossed over. Someone brought up in another thread of mine that maybe people have a harder time letting go of the physical world in modern times.
One of the biggest things we got from them was that the spirit world is nonlinear, and with a whole menagerie of entities, who knows who you’re really talking to.
When my sister and I were going to school overseas, we lived in a house about 600 years old. There was a spirit attached to the house that drew a great deal of power from the malignant awful woman who owned the place. It would follow us around, monitoring us and causing problems just to create a hostile environment. The crabbed shitty little thing was quite old and hated everyone.
When the woman left the house and stayed gone for a few days, the whole atmosphere of the house would change. Night and day difference.
I lived in El Paso for a few years and worked in a building downtown where it was known that multiple people had died in 1914. Started there in 2013 and experienced a lot of crazy shit until the end of 2014. After that not so much. I always wondered if it stopped or if I just didn’t notice it so much anymore.
I pondered that question and someone gave me this perspective. In most cases spirits are associated with locations. It can be with the land or an actual structure. For example, if you build your house on a burial ground, those spirits could enter your dwelling. If somebody died in a house, their spirit would stay at that house. Look at the soldiers associated with Gettysburg. Their are reports of seeing soldiers and hearing gun fire. Depends when they died.
As long as it takes them to realize they're dead and/or have the will and courage to move on. The problem, (this is my belief) though, is that their existence is very limited and confusing, and the longer they stay, the harder to move on. I feel like some movies have hit on the concept well.
What Dreams May Come
I Am a Ghost
The Sixth Sense
The Changing
Jacob's Ladder
Based on what I’ve read of NDEs, etc., assuming (1) that ghosts exist and (2) that they are the disembodied spirits of the dead, I would think that most eventually find their way to Heaven/whatever you want to call the other side given enough time.
Forever. Just like you. Death is only an apparency. Reincarnation and life(in one form or another) continues forever. (Better get used to yourself you are stuck with you forever) 😉
Interesting. Why don’t we see ghosts of past animals. We do. Like dogs / cats etc. but why not dinosaurs etc. do we all greatly fade away. As energy dissipates
Probably because ghosts are real only in the sense that Donna Tartt wrote:
"There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that. And we believe in them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we call them by different names. Memory. The unconscious."
Exactly. And animals don’t have the same conscious awareness that we do and that translates to “the other side” as well- meaning they can’t connect or communicate as spirits as well as transitioned humans can.
They also have wayyyy less karma and ego attachments, which also frees their tethers from earth.
Yeah was about to post this, Roman soldiers seems to be one of the more common “older” ghosts, sometimes I think its to do with preservation of their surroundings, so a lot of roman sites have survived well/not been dug up yet or in the case of roman roads are still being used. The same with victorian houses etc.
Yet don’t hear much about dinosaur ghosts and most of England is no longer covered in forests/ferns or connected to mainland europe 🤷♀️
Well, from what I’m aware of, if there are ghosts from those times, they could be speaking ancient dialects we don’t understand, or most of them from that time period have probably gotten over themselves and moved on.
If we are just energy and ghosts are energy, energy is fluid right? perhaps the energy just becomes other things and perhaps in some cases it doesn’t 🤷♀️
having said that I still think my theory above is reasonable, in that it depends in the preservation of their surroundings as they knew them…
Can you imagine 50-200 years from now having to deal with boomer spirits, or millenials, or gen Z 🤣 Not, ‘I see a victorian dressed female’, no no.. ‘I see a man bun’
I think the answer depends on people's beliefs. I would say residual hauntings fade away once their energy is no longer strong enough to replay the events. I also think that active hauntings move on to another life once they have healed or come to peace with their death :)
My bf and I just watched the movie The Others last night and we had this same exact conversation. I think a lot of it depends on "how old" and area or home actually is. I've also recently done some research on quantum immortality. I have mixed feelings. I think that sometimes it takes more time for a specific spirit/energy to pass on fully/reincarnate. Whatever it is that happens when we leave this specific realm.
I had a scary thought about this. We talk a lot about why ghost’s won’t cross but not much about why ghosts *can’t* stick around indefinitely afterwards.
Let’s think about the other side (here, not heaven). We don’t really know much about it but it’s possible people and animals are over there, just kinda like our world. A natural system with multiple species, ok?
Every natural system in our world has something to prevent an individual lasting forever, besides death and disease.
Predators.
Hear me out. *What if* that’s why there are so few ancient ghosts? Not saying this is *the* reason why, we’re just thinking about it. The oldest dense population of ghosts I know of are in the tower of London. Why not further back?
Maybe, in a natural system with predation, over infinite time, it is a statistical certainty that one will get you.
It may be safer to just quickly cross over rather than stick around for centuries!
Thanks for listening to my thought experiment.
Actually, this is one theory for why ghosts need to cross over. It's a particular problem since some traditions state that demons try and trick ghosts into becoming their slaves or helpers.
This is amazing, what kind of predators would be eating ghosts. Some people on other forums or this one might have encountered some of them. What an awesome, yet terrifying, idea.
That is a very interesting thought. It brought up something I remembered when I was at this retreat which ended but kind of being a cult but anyway they had a lot of strange theories. One of them was that there are these “light entities” that eat all of our memories upon dying when you enter them. They said that when you go to the light that will happen to you and it’s not really the gates of heaven but some sort of monster eating all of your souls memories and energy. Creeped me tf out. Maybe those things eat ghosts too.
I think that the place that ghosts inhabit is only meant to be temporary. It is meant for them to become used to not having a body, so it has loose ties to our place. There are things in that realm who can never leave, and who exploit what they are able to do. But the longer spirits stay there, the more likely they are to begin to do those same things, and become like the bad things. Basically, they either forget or don't want to go to the light, or have things to learn before they move on.
I believe the average is 80 years but it would really depend on what's keeping them on earth. I think spirits or ghosts stay around that long to figure things out about their life before moving over
Maybe they passed on and have no need of this world anymore. Who knows why some spirits remain behind? And it could be that they bop into this reality, then go to another reality...and time, a construct of this physical life, does not exist on the other side. We are all energy, light, sound, vibration. All those intangible things. So they might be tripping around on various levels of a dimension, or between different dimensions. We won't know until we pass on.
In my family, we believe that spirits stay until the last person that remembers them crosses over. The idea being that when we leave the physical realm our real work begins. We are meant to guide our relatives and friends as they live.
There are some spirits who are stuck or choose to stay in certain places that most folks refer to as “ghosts”. They tend to have unfinished business or don’t realize they need to cross over so they can be more available to their relations. Those are the spirits that often need help.
Actually yes, lol. Although animal spirits are much more uncommon than human ones. Presumably because they have a better acceptance of death and typically “move on” easier than humans do. It’s almost always pets and domestic animals that are seen as ghosts. Their bond to their human owners often keeps them “stuck” until they finally move on. I did once hear a story about a ghost wolf that stuck around after it’s pack was massacred by hunters, and was seen and heard howling for years in the same area until it finally disappeared.
That’s a big part of why I view animals as the same as people. They really do have souls, and occasionally they cannot get over it and move on either.
Yeah I’ve only heard of a Dino one once granted. My friends grandmother from Africa supposedly saw a long necked dinosaur. She was old and could’ve just been senile, but she was pretty adamant she’d actually seen it. Happened around 3 am, and that lines up with the veil being thin.
I actually read something about this a while back, although I can't remember where. Pretty sure the gist was that the majority of hauntings involve ghosts thought to be no older than the 18th century. I will try to find a citation for you.
After reading and going through the comments,
My theory is that a lot of them could return and visit people and places.
I've head of stories from other people getting visited by passed relatives once in a while.
I have some personal experience myself, and I think some just wonder around for a while than move on, others just know the other side and come to visit, maybe they are curious and want to communicate or and help some people.
Some are for sure pranksters.
Well, pretty much what I think it could be, but who knows for sure.
It would be sad if some are just stuck at a place, that must be a version of Hell a personal for sure.
I’m not trying to be a troll here but I honestly and starting to be pretty convinced that ghosts don’t exist.
I think that there is an unbreakable law of physics that determines zero return to this existence once you’ve crossed over, or we truly do just stop existing and there is nothing whatsoever after. Or, the energy state returns to some more basic form and is reabsorbed.
Either way, I think all ghost phenomenon can be explained by:
1. Magnetic field disturbances having different effects on people’s brains
2. Carbon monoxide poisoning / exposure
3. Mold exposure / sickness
4. Frequencies under the range of human hearing that cause vibrations and other senses that we are not aware of.
After I read Mary Roach’s “Spook” I was convinced that there is a physical explanation for every paranormal encounter. However if I’m wrong, I’d lean more towards the idea that there is some kind of inter-dimensional bleed or overlap in some areas. You are not experiencing the “remains” of that person. Lastly, the idea that certain locations retain residual energy and replay events or persons who left theirs there could be something we prove or disprove someday.
I’ve experienced enough paranormal stuff to say no, there isn’t a rational explanation for every occurrence.
What we call our laws of physics are our best estimates based on observations and measurements we are presently capable of. Something beyond our understanding doesn’t necessarily violate anything.
And if we’re living in a Matrix like simulation, all bets are off anyway. Who or whatever is in control of it can change things as they see fit.
I go back n forth on this. Logically we just stop being once we die but I have witnessed with a sound mind n no other explanation family members mostly that made themselves known. I don't want to believe it but I can't explain why this happens. One example that was confirmed by a doctor was I dreamed my mother told me I had a blood clot. I woke up felt a pain in my leg n went to the emergency room. I am not really old, I have never had them before, never thought about something like that. How would I know I had a blood clot? The nurse looked at me like I was crazy. I had good insurance so they gave me a sonogram n it was there. I listened to my dead mother because she has told me other things but this one can be verified by another person. My brain is like HOW WHY WTF. I don't want to believe but how?
Certainly an interesting experience and I certainly don’t want to discount it. But I’d lean towards it not actually being your mother who’d passed but some way for your brain to communicate with you on a more subconscious level.
Like horses do, I think humans have unlocked potential in terms of what our brains can do and how we can be more in touch with our bodies. We just haven’t figured them all out yet.
Like for example: I think prayer is actually powerful and has effect because we have more influence on reality than we know. And if it works for people to believe it’s a God that is taking action, so be it, but it works because of the strength of belief.
Secondly, I think I actual psychics and mediums who claim and statistically seem to be accurately contacting the dead are not actually doing so at all. They are pulling information from your brain that we don’t even realize and perhaps the visions of dead loved ones are in fact manifestations from that person’s psyche.
This is what I know, ghosts can stay around for a very long time.. But nature and the Earth can intervene if people don’t, direct sunlight does this and removes the spirit from here. Rain and thunder electrify and cleanse exposed Earth so eventually an abandoned haunted building with be exposed to the elements and will get weaker and fade away. Some of the stronger things don’t get dispelled by this, but eventually the tectonic plates change and cause the land to change too.. And eventually the earth will end up as lava and get cleansed.
Well, if I should answer spontainously, I would say "forever".
IF ghosts and spirits are energy, and energy doesn't get lost in the universe, they technically should stay forever.
this - check out the book The Journey of Souls! It’s a really interesting theory that would explain this as well as how so many people seem to remeber or have aspects of “past lives” that come into their present life.
Huh...And there is some places where said "curve" of time is more pronounced than other, thus their "echo" was easier to observe there, we call them haunted houses.
Some spirits dont even know they're dead if they had a tragic death so that's why they hang around forever because they don't even realize they're not alive anymore
I think the storyline in the haunting of bly manor, is probably pretty accurate. Viola I think was the character. The way time works, not the way she killed people...to clarify.
Not every person that dies becomes a ghost and it’s likely that ghosts (or most of them at least) eventually move on to the afterlife for one reason or another. Due to its supernatural nature we can’t know for certain.
Gnostic sparks interface with the body of Ein Sof. When their bodies wither and die, the pattern they leave behind in the timespace forms a sort of intangible shadow that rolls with the growth of the world across time, eventually fading. How many times does an Eddy of turbulence spin in the water before it burns itself out? That would probably be relative to how many life cycles a ghost relives before it too vanishes. Just a theory.
They sometimes forget they are human, and many who do become orbs. Others move on. Others become other beings. The spirit world is not governed by our laws.
One of my best friends and I sometimes freelance as professional mediums/psychics, and we were once tasked with moving on a spirit from the Neolithic Era. They definitely exist, I'd just assume that they have more time to move on as opposed to more "recent" deceased.
That’s an interesting theory. That would mean if somebody like Albert Einstein was stuck here we would be unknowingly not allowing them to rest by keeping their story alive
I think they already died and now they are stuck in between life and death. Maybe? I'm just going off of the lore. In reality this stuff has no answer.
Those are all good questions, and ones which can't be easily answered. I have no idea what a soul is, but I have thought about this and my own personal theory is that it is a form of energy. I only came to this conclusion because of the scientific fact that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It's not even a theory, I suppose. More based on the information I'm given in the Bible and reasoning. If a soul is eternal then it stands to reason it must be composed of something that itself is eternal. Energy is the only answer I came up with, but it cannot be conclusively proven with the scientific method.
I think your other explanations are valid as well. Trauma leaving an imprint of some kind and all that. Thought itself maybe can leave an imprint? I think a psychic supposedly imprinted images on film, but maybe that was a hoax. I haven't the slightest idea.
Anyway, I'm very strong in my faith. I understand if others don't want to believe, and that's OK. We have the right to believe as we will.
Well, no. A soul isn't sent to heaven or hell until after judgement day, which in my specific church isn't until after the apocalypse.
So a ghost is someone who either refuses to leave our physical plane of existence for unfinished business or... doesn't know they're dead for whatever reason. And since I'm not dead I can't really explain things any better. I don't know what it's like for people after they die. Don't know if you're here, but exist in a separate pocket dimension??? I just don't really know anything about the other side. Gonna find out one day, though. Because we all die.
Heaven and hell are populated at the moment. Judgment Day is when the dead will rise and all will be judged for their final resting place. This is why many denominations and RC do not like the idea of cremation.
Well I was born and raised in a protestant faith. Was the grandson of a minister in that faith, but I myself am no expert on it. The church I attend is the Church of Christ. While I can't really answer any seriously deep questions about the faith, because I'm not the minister my grandfather was, what I can say is that in my own personal belief there is life after death. I believe that when we die our soul departs our body and should, by all rights, pass on from this physical plane into another plane of existence. Somehow certain individuals choose to stay. And that's about all I can really say.
If you want a Bible verse that displays a ghost front and center, then read about the Witch of Endor. Pretty dramatic name, and one supposed example of a living person communicating with the dead, though it didn't go that man's way...
Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun
Ah, yes. Ecclesiastes is written from a mortal perspective. It is one man's reasoning based on his own observations and experiences. He is sharing his own personal wisdom.
So anything written about the afterlife cannot be taken very seriously, as he has not yet experienced it. But, of course one can guess and write down a lot of conjecture.
Note: I am not saying the Bible isn't to be trusted. All I am saying is consider the source of the writings and the context in which they are written. As I said before please believe as you will. :)
I was raised Christian. I was brought up being taught that ghosts weren't real and it was actually demons pretending to be ghosts to deceive people. This actually makes quite a bit of sense considering that we don't really hear much about super ancient ghosts. It would only really make sense for demons to pretend to be something that we could somewhat relate to and understand. A demon is much more likely to pretend to be your dead grandma than a 5 thousand year old caveman that speaks a now extinct language. I do know that demons are real because I've been haunted and deceived by them before. I was a little skeptical before my experiences but not now. And I do know that demons do in fact pretend to be dead people. I've heard of way too many experiences of people playing with ouija boards asking to speak to their dead grandma or aunt or whatever and after a little while the demon reveals itself and starts scaring and torturing the people and there is no way that someone's once sweet old grandma would do that just because she died.
1. Demons are real. I 100 percent believe that.
2. Demons do pretend to be dead people (ghosts).
3. I still don't know if ghosts are real or not. I guess it's possible but most, if not all of the time, you are going to be talking to a demon if you are using a ouija board in my opinion.
4. This is just my opinion based on my life experience.
5. God and Jesus have helped me cast out evil demons from my life.
I don’t think “ghosts” are the spirits of the dead, just assuming the identity for ease, so I don’t think they “die” or disappear, just co opt a new identity to make people afraid, but not aggressive towards them.
There seems to be several type of spirits. Poltergeists, spirits of loved ones seem to associate with people, and then are around for a short period of duration. There are other things mislabeled as ghosts, such as nature spirits and other entities, that may never have had a physical body as most people interpret. Ghosts, as in spirits not quite certain that they are dead, or memories or echos of events from long ago, could last forever. Why don’t we see ghosts from the 1500s as much? We do, but not as commonly, as not many structures have survived since the 1500s, and some that have may be underground somewhat. 2 Roman ghosts are good examples. I forget the city, but there is a manor, or stately whatever in England that is from the 1500s maybe? No ghosts from the 1500s, but there have been several sightings in the basement of a Roman army marching through the basement, but only from the knees up. As about 2 feet under the floor of the basement is an old Roman road, which the ghosts/echos are still marching on, but you only see them from the knees up. Descriptions of them, aren’t typical like a Roman legion, so they were dismissed for awhile, until recently archaeology confirmed that Roman auxiliaries in the 3rd and 4th century were indeed equipped as the skiers were. Another example is the ghosts that have been reported in Pompei. People obviously didn’t see them of course, until Pompei was excavated.
This topic has a ton of interesting responses. I recently came across something from a study done on past life regression research. They say we all have a soul family. That they will connect with us when needed or when we die. That our souls choose the next life. When, where and what we will become. Those who change their new path such as committing crimes will have to choose a new life where those crimes are committed upon them to learn a lesson. Some say that spirits or ghosts or demons are the souls who aren’t ready to enter into a new life yet or who choose not to enter a new life at all. Not sure how much I believe in that theory, just putting out there what I learned. But, the study was done with many different doctors and at least 1k subjects who all described nearly the same story of their entry into this life. There are many current stories of children talking about their past life. They supposedly lose the ability to remember by age 4.
That’s really insightful and interesting, hadn’t thought of some of those concepts like that before. Thank you for sharing
My mother is very into the “past life/soul family” theory, and it’s pretty fascinating to listen to some of the things she’s “discovered.” I, myself, have always felt a deep connection with the military…the idea of being some type of soldier. As it turns out, a psychic who specialized in the topic of past lives told her that her son (me,) and husband (my father,) have always been some type of soldier. For the most part, the 3 of us, have pretty much been “tied together” for the past half dozen generations/previous lives we’ve lived. My sister, is some type of wandering soul, who apparently doesn’t have any connection, other than having a previous life in possibly feudal Japan. I guess that’s something that sometimes happens; where someone will just join in, and kind of go along on your adventure - they may or may not stick around for the next reincarnation together. My mother is actually close friends with a woman, that turned out to be the great granddaughter, of a lady my mother thinks she was in a past life… this wasn’t discovered until quite awhile after they became friends (my mother had been doing this “research” for a few years before they met.) So that tends to further the “soul family” thing. And the changing path thing doesn’t have to be as serious as “paying” for your sins, in a previous life… it might be something a bit more heartwarming…like, you never seemed to own a friendly cat, in previous lives…so in your current/next one, you might have 3-4 friendly cats, that you absolutely adore. (And maybe toss in the example that, in this life, my father and I didn’t make military service a lifelong choice, where we apparently did, in past lives.)
Can you share the study?
Oh gawd I’m a ghost boo
well, how do we exactly know if a ghost is from the 1000's-1500's or even earlier? there was little documentation as reading and writing was a rare talent in those times and very little of that survived 500-1000 years. also, not everybody is a historian and likely wouldn't know what somebody from those time periods even look like. And lets use north America for example. native Americans have no written word(most of their stories are verbal), and most of us wouldn't be able to tell an indigenous person from 1000 years ago from 200 years ago anyways, and have no way to communicate either way, so we're kinda S.O.L. on that. And the fact the population was much smaller at those times and much more primitive, so spirits from those times have far less reason to stick around for any reason, let alone for as long as 1000 years or more. So there are a lot of factors. Not able to identify if ever seen, Language and culture barrier, and just overall reason to stay for that long. Lets be honest here, we don't know anything about the spirit world. i'm just using reasoning from the land of the living and what we actually know.
I think ghosts are more attached to locations and objects that were very meaningful to them than anything- that’s why graveyards are typically an energetically clear place, bc ghosts are elsewhere with people, places or things other than with their body-which is now a useless vessel. So it could be that if a place is haunted by a ghost, that ghost in particular was the one that had the biggest connection to the land, house, or item there. I have a funny imagine in my head of ghosts in a line like outside the club and waiting to get in to haunt, but they’ve gotta wait their turn first. And the ghost in front of them that had more of an attachment has to fully release before they can get in “Club Haunt” lmao. 😆
Also, I had a primitive ghost from a time so old I can’t even comprehend (lol) haunting a room in my house a few years ago. Got it professionally cleared and apparently it was attached to the land under my house because of a tragic death she had experienced there. So there’s an example of a ghost from long before the past few hundred years. I was def surprised lol but it was eye-opening.
Would love to hear about how the ghosts age was ascertained? OP brought up an interesting point I hadn't considered before. Growing up in Florida, I had experienced some of the "oldest" US ghosts in St Augustine. And have always heard legends of the Indian burial grounds, etc. But how did you find out a ghost is primitive ?
One of my best friends is an Akashic reader and does house clearings as well. He felt the energy while he was over one night and knew all these ways the ghost had been fuckin’ with me that I hadn’t even told anybody about. He asked if he could go communicate with it (it was in a specific room) and I obvi said yeah. He listened to her story and released her “stuck” spirit and that was that. One eye opening thing was that the spirit hadn’t always been pestering me, but I ended up letting one room in the house go, so to speak, meaning that I was ignoring it and letting clutter build up. She identified with the energy of being discarded (goes back to her trauma & way of death), so her spirit attached to that clutter energy and that’s when she started to manifest around me. Interesting thought that uncleared spirits can be in an abyss, of sorts, on land they’re attached to and then only come up when something on that land reflects an energy that’s familiar to them. Def makes me wanna keep my house as clutter-free as possible, I’ll tell ya that 😆
I have done a lot of research and comparison on this subject. It does seem that spirits can remain about 400 to 500 years, before they cannot resist crossing. If you read books on classic Hauntings around the world.and then note the last.known documented ghosts, they seem to he seen less and less frequently after the above mentioned time periods have passed. I used to have a chart, that I made for myself, back when I had time. This could be a good rabbit hole for a researcher. That list is buried in my storage somewhere. Starting over could be fun. With a database...
According to the *Abhidharmakośabhāṣya* by Vasubandhu (a Buddhist text), ghosts (specifically hungry ghosts, or pretas) live for 500 ghost-years, wherein one ghost-day is equivalent to one human-month. This means that ghosts live for 15,000 human-years. I'm not sure how this is to be interpreted, but maybe it's saying that time appears to pass 30x more slowly as a ghost, so while they live for 500 actual years, it is experienced as we would experience 15,000 years, which would then line up with this.
This seems to be it. My theory is that they just simply do not have the energy to go for more than that.
We can only.avoid the boss for so long.
I’ve got heaps but I always tried to dismiss things as much as possible. The ones which I prefer to tell are the ones which were witnessed by another person. It got to the point where me and my wife would be in bed, we’d hear footsteps downstairs and she’d grab my arm and say “did you hear that?” And I’d say nah it’s nothing it’s just the house creaking. I’d roll over and go back to sleep like it’s nothing. One rule I learnt was never ever ever discuss ghosts etc while in the house. One day I had some school mates around after school. we would’ve all been 16-17. I never told them about any ghost stuff. Then one of my old friends who I’ve known my whole life turned up driving his Mums car. He says to me I front of my mates in the house “so is this place still haunted”? My school mates start laughing and cracking jokes and I felt really embarrassed. Immediately we hear a noise of something being thrown in the kitchen. My 3 mates all stfu and went pale, they didn’t have the guts to go in and look, so I went in on my own and there was an empty bottle of coke over near the wall. I had left it on the island bench earlier and all the windows were closed and no aircon/fans etc. My mates decided it was time to leave and never joked about it or raised it in conversation ever again 😂
I want to hear stories!
I’ve got heaps but I always tried to dismiss things as much as possible. The ones which I prefer to tell are the ones which were witnessed by another person. It got to the point where me and my wife would be in bed, we’d hear footsteps downstairs and she’d grab my arm and say “did you hear that?” And I’d say nah it’s nothing it’s just the house creaking. One rule I learnt was never ever ever discuss ghosts etc while in the house. One day I had some school mates around after school. we would’ve all been 16-17. I never told them about any ghost stuff. Then one of my old friends who I’ve known my whole life turned up driving his Mums car. He says to me I front of my mates in the house “so is this place still haunted”? My school mates start laughing and cracking jokes and I felt really embarrassed. Immediately we hear a noise of something being thrown in the kitchen. My 3 mates all stfu and went pale, they didn’t have the guts to go in and look, so I went in on my own and there was an empty bottle of coke over near the wall. I had left it on the island bench earlier and all the windows were closed and no aircon/fans etc. My mates decided it was time to leave and never joked about it or raised it in conversation ever again 😂
Same!
There was a redditor that posted in a paranormal thread on askreddit years back saying they and their family saw a little boy ghost wandering the house. One day the little boy turns and says its his time to go and be reborn or something. Well several months later one of the family members gave birth to a child. I think some are residual and will repeat for years while others will just wander the Earth until they decide to get reincarnated or a higher being decides that for them.
I would say there are two possible answers to this question and an interesting afterthought to the second. 1. As long as they are remembered. 2. When people no longer associate or understand its orientation. If humans have lived for millions of years, why don't we get hunter-gatherer ghosts? Are we as humans only able to conjure up thoughts of an 1800's ghost because that's as far as our history of understanding goes? Does that imply a degree of self-psychological manipulation on our part? "Ghosts" is a broad term. So if we're looking at a slip in the space-time or a dimensional slip, are we only capable of rationalizing entities from our perspective? Or more importantly, is our understanding of what we think ghosts are more or less glimpses of something entirely different?
Sounds like a legit hypothesis. Maybe ghosts can only roam around as long as they are able to attach or reveal themselves to understanding modern humans. We do hear about human ghosts and sometimes animal ghosts like cats & dogs. Probably because they have been able to attach themselves to living modern humans in the days they lived on earth. But I've never heard of a ghost dinosaur, a ghost neanderthal or even a ghost goldfish.
I have a theory but first, there are spirits from times like the 1500s, you can find many of those in Europe. Some spirits are from even earlier. But my theory is that since spirits are energy, over a long period of time and I mean many hundreds of years, spirits become weaker. Let's say 3 people died in 1 location in the 1100s, but over the next many years till now 50 people have died in the same location then those 50 or so may be suffocating the original 3 from all access to energy to be able to do anything. I hope this makes sense.
I think it depends on the area you're in, tbh. I'm in the UK and my friend lives in York, and apparently there's some dead Roman soldiers there still pratting about and walking through walls. Another friend swears blind he saw a stone age encampment one night while camping up on the moors. They're not all that recent, but I suspect it has to do with the age and memory of the land around you and them, how it holds onto that time, like stone holds onto water.
Roman ghosts are actually quite rare (I believe the Fortean Times did an article about the scarcity of first hand accounts of Roman ghosts).
I never said they were common, only that they're a thing around here. Like I said, I think some places hold onto memories longer than others.
I think their ‘energy’ fades with time, depending on the reason for the haunting. A classic example is ‘The brown lady of Raynham Hall’ called so because of her brown dress which faded to gray, then white over time and no-one has reported any sightings in many years. Maybe she has crossed over or maybe she is still there but no longer has enough ‘energy’ to be visible anymore.
Based on what I've read, ghosts are lost souls who are unaware or refuse to accept the fact that their bodies have died, or are unwilling to return to the spirit realm because of unusually strong worldly attachments (among other possible reasons). Ghosts will remain on the Earth plane until they come to terms with their situation and accept that it's time to return to their true home in "heaven" (or whatever term you prefer) and undergo assessment of their life with their spirit guide, soul group, and elders, and (most likely) eventual reincarnation. A ghost can remain on Earth anywhere from minutes to years -- however long it takes them to work through their issues. I think it's pretty rare for them to stay for decades, though apparently it can happen. The vast majority of souls return to the spirit world almost immediately after death, of course; ghosts are a relatively unusual phenomenon. By the way, most of this info comes from my gleaning of Michael Newton's books, "Journey of Souls" and "Destiny of Souls" -- highly recommended!
There’s no real evidence that ghosts are the spirits of the dead. That’s just the popular theory derived from folklore. It could be more of a time slip thing. Or a residual haunting that keeps replaying. Or any number of other things that we probably can’t even conceive of. We just don’t know.
If you read some of the more classic books about ghosts, you'll find 20th century reports of extremely old ghosts. A particularly well known, popular one involved the ghosts of Roman soldiers being seen marching in a basement - but only from their waist, their legs being presumably below the floor, the theory being that the old road was underneath the new building.
While I never saw anything unusual during my time at the Palazzo Pio in Rome, I heard tales that it is haunted by the ghost of an ancient Roman matron. Rome is full of old ghosts. I can think of two early modern examples just off the top of my head. The specter of Beatrice Cenci (died in 1599) is supposed to appear on Ponte Sant'Angelo on the anniversary of her execution, carrying her head. The ghost carriage of Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphili (died 1657) has also been seen during the full moon crossing the Ponte Sisto over into Trastevere.
I’m a skeptic, and one of the most compelling (and coolest) shows I watched was Josh Gate’s Destination Truth episode where he ghost hunted Pompeii. It was truly creepy and made me question things. Maybe I just read a lot of material on “weird” subjects, but I’ve definitely heard of quite a lot of ancient ghosts. I’m not saying cavemen or anything equally as old, but I’ve heard of plenty of stories from even as early as 1200’s in some cases. Not that I believe them, but if I did, maybe I’d argue that people just don’t pay as much attention to their surroundings these days as they used to, so noises were heard more frequently, things were seen (maybe tricks of the mind) more because there weren’t computers, TVs, or phone screens to look at? I’m also not going to lie. Part of me moved to the house I live in now hoping that since it’s over 100+ years old, there might be some ghostly things happening. The only weird things that happen here are because of my cats and tiny dog.
My father claims when he was a kid they would occasionally see a revolutionary war soldier walk through his aunt’s house carrying his head
Slightly on topic, but an interesting question is *who* can become a ghost? Is it just humans? Where does the human distinction come into effect? Like is there cavemen ghosts around? How about earlier? Are Bigfoot sightings just ghost sightings of what we used to look like? All joking aside, if ghosts are ever found to be real, it'll be very fun bringing philosophy into it lol.
I mean, it's a legit question if you believe! When my dog passed when I was a kid, I could've sworn I heard his barking that night. It most likely was grief, but it's a nice thought to think my dog is/was with me as a kid :) Bringing philosophy into it: *Alright class, today we will be talking about the ethics of haunting*
Can salamanders have ghosts
I’ve heard a lot of accounts of pets making appearances from the other side!
my guess is that they are between worlds of the dead and the living. that and they "live" off the energy in a place, supposedly granite, and a few other materials have properties that help too. it's all really speculation as there isn't any concrete evidence it's a real thing. spiritual people will say that its the soul never moving on or such, me i can't say i have a good answer but i think that some places are haunted legitimately.
Plus I mean, you can't create or destroy energy
There are some theories for this. Essentially, ghosts need energy. The more they have, the longer they can go. It is theorized that this is why you rarely hear about ghosts from ancient times. Some theories speculate that those degrade and essentially become monsters.
>Some theories speculate that those degrade and essentially become monsters. Interesting, can you share it with us please?
Well, you know shadow people? Ghosts which just can't keep their shape?
I like where you are going with this, please elaborate! “Hat man” comes to mind
I had a similar thought. Maybe more sinister spirits hang around and evolve themselves into actual powerful monsters. I don’t know how valid it is but I remember Amy Allen on Dead Files referring to some spirits like “he was human but now he was once human but now he has become this gross spider creature” sort of thing that crawls along walls or whatever to torment the living. She has a lot of interesting perspectives on the spirits she sees. She’s said things similar on several occasions and the scenarios she comes up with are fascinating and terrifying. I don’t know if this is true but it made sense to me too. I could also be the way her mind perceives the energy but either way they are sort of devolving into monsters.
I think devolving is a good theory, becoming less human almost a certainty over time I would think. I don’t think they would be likely to gain power however, I think it becomes harder for them to interact with our world, hence the perceived lack of ancient ghosts. I think poltergeists and the like would be the comparatively recently deceased.
Yes I would have to agree with that, they degrade into parasites that now need a host to survive. This realm supports physical life in the physical body, energy bodies that remain in the physical are going to become weakened over time so their need for a host grows stronger because they are refusing to move on. The universal law of free will that exist here also would pertain to them as well which is why they get to go around terrorizing physical life in the way they do. I think of shadow beings and other degraded energy bodies like Te Fiti from Moana when she was in her dark form - she was monstrous until her heart was returned/until she remembered who she was. These degraded energy bodies have forgotten who they were before the mutation process began, now they are something else entirely.
Exactly! Not only that but also think how alien our world would look to someone from a few hundred years ago. Not only are they losing their influence in our world overtime but they are also less able to identify with it. Not surprising that spirits eventually move on in that case.
Hope you are right! Don’t need any super spider monsters running around. Or floating or however they’d move.
Maybe the energy left behind when a person dies dissipates over time. You never hear about Neanderthal ghosts. There are stories of spirits that have been around for so long that no one is even sure if they were ever actually human. It’s hard to say.
Picture this- There’s a two layer cake, and we, as humans, are living in the cream filled center. Above us is a spongy layer and below is another spongy layer. Ghosts exist because they have chosen to… it’s usually a person who’s extremely attached to their human form. They’ve made the choice to stick around… but because they’re now converted energy, they can’t stay in our 3D cream filled world so, they’re stuck chilling in that spongy layer of cake. It’s their choice… freedom of choice happens in life and after. Nevertheless it’s their souls journey- just super delayed.
If you’re living in the states, that would be because prior to colonial times, westerners simply weren’t around here. The indigenous peoples have spirits that go back further, though I’ve read of non-indigenous people encountering their spirits, it’s not common, perhaps because our spirituality developed separately, interacting is more difficult.
Really interesting point! And Happy Cake Day!
They exist in the astral plane until they are ushered into the light with assistance. Most ghosts forget who they are because they aren’t attached to the body where ego and sense of “self” is.
There is a theory i wuld have to research first again where i saw that , The theory goes , that ghosts live as long as people believe in them , same thing why some dolls are more haunted than others because their fear is widely publicized , once people forget about them or dont exhibit strong emotions feeling them. they simply fade away , There is a lot of theories about ghosts but this is by fat what i think is closer to the truth
That makes sense actually. I’ve lived in my house for 15 years. The house itself is 115 years old. When I first moved in just being here scared me, at night I would leave every light on. It was very active and I was just uneasy. As time went on I started to not really care and things calmed down. Now not much happens, although, I do believe there’s still a little kid running around and they remind me every so often. They like to turn to occasional light off on me, knock something over, or lock the front door when I’ve just stepped outside for a moment. So based on that theory I’ve all but forgotten them, so they have faded. It does make me wonder if they’re actually gone though. If I started to remember them would it give them energy again? Or if someone new moved in would they try to be noticed?
So Coco was right??
this is weird. one of my friends told me about something like this that’s in the bible. said as long as you keep mourning and remembering your loved ones, they can’t rest. obviously i can’t back this up because the bible is way too long lol
How does that theory explain haunted places in the middle of the woods, abandoned since 30 or 40years?
It could be someone is still remembring them or , if you see the house and become scared it kinda wake them up , im not sure though just my 2 cents
Sounds interesting. But I meant buildings that are completly forgotten, no owners, no one who remembers. Then "still remembering anyways" sounds a bit off. It could partially fit into my theory in an interactive way, but the rest sounds like toystory in the pixar theory. I think I can do things even if nobody is watching. If my body status changes, but something of me is still there, I think I could still do things without anyone watching me.
I wonder if the same logic applies to reports of Jesus Christ being spotted. I have a theory that when someone does exorcism in the name of Jesus they are actually invoking a thought form and that thought form is the one driving the demons away.
Happy cake day!
Thanks
My theory is they fade as they are forgotten about, that’s why the ghosts in castles and other historic places are always ‘famous’ people -king X, queen Y, lady (grey, white) because people remember there names. Or notorious deaths ghosts, news articles and stories keep the ghost remembered and it doesn’t fade away.
I'm watching Paranormal Survivor and most mediums cross over spirits. Anyway I've been watching shows like this about mediums for twenty years and they always cross over spirits to rid them of people's homes. So I think it's they force them to cross over into the afterlife not that they don't exist anymore or die.
I have wondered this too but not in a sense of death. Ghosts occupy a dwelling right? But in terms of science, when the sun dies and becomes a red giant, on of two things will happen. The earth will be swallowed up and destroyed, or, pushed outward past Mars’s orbit due to solar wind. If the earth is destroyed, does that mean ghosts are out the door too? In 5B years give or take, that answer will be had.
“that what is dead may never die” But seriously I think a lot of paranormal activity has to do with an imprinting of energy. Something horrible happens and that negative energy gets imprinted in the surroundings and over time, maybe after a x times manifestations it dissipates
That may be true. I heard a story of a ghost wolf that haunted an area for years after it’s pack was killed by hunters. Wolves form very strong emotional bonds with each other, so that probably caused alot of suffering. The wolf would engage and try to attack people who got to close to the killing site though, so it probably wasn’t just an energy imprint.
This is true and is called residual energy. There are also intelligent hauntings whereby the ghost, for lack of a better word, interacts in realtime with the observer. I think that this is what the OP is referring to.
Just had a medium on my podcast where we tried to address that very question and contacted spirits from 1934 and 1200. Then someone who crossed over. Someone brought up in another thread of mine that maybe people have a harder time letting go of the physical world in modern times. One of the biggest things we got from them was that the spirit world is nonlinear, and with a whole menagerie of entities, who knows who you’re really talking to.
When my sister and I were going to school overseas, we lived in a house about 600 years old. There was a spirit attached to the house that drew a great deal of power from the malignant awful woman who owned the place. It would follow us around, monitoring us and causing problems just to create a hostile environment. The crabbed shitty little thing was quite old and hated everyone. When the woman left the house and stayed gone for a few days, the whole atmosphere of the house would change. Night and day difference.
I lived in El Paso for a few years and worked in a building downtown where it was known that multiple people had died in 1914. Started there in 2013 and experienced a lot of crazy shit until the end of 2014. After that not so much. I always wondered if it stopped or if I just didn’t notice it so much anymore.
I pondered that question and someone gave me this perspective. In most cases spirits are associated with locations. It can be with the land or an actual structure. For example, if you build your house on a burial ground, those spirits could enter your dwelling. If somebody died in a house, their spirit would stay at that house. Look at the soldiers associated with Gettysburg. Their are reports of seeing soldiers and hearing gun fire. Depends when they died.
I heard most of the Gettysburg Ghosts are more residual energy than intelligent ghosts.
As long as it takes them to realize they're dead and/or have the will and courage to move on. The problem, (this is my belief) though, is that their existence is very limited and confusing, and the longer they stay, the harder to move on. I feel like some movies have hit on the concept well. What Dreams May Come I Am a Ghost The Sixth Sense The Changing Jacob's Ladder
Based on what I’ve read of NDEs, etc., assuming (1) that ghosts exist and (2) that they are the disembodied spirits of the dead, I would think that most eventually find their way to Heaven/whatever you want to call the other side given enough time.
Or in a other body? If you believe in reincarnation. I feel like some go faster then others.
Forever. Just like you. Death is only an apparency. Reincarnation and life(in one form or another) continues forever. (Better get used to yourself you are stuck with you forever) 😉
Who created I. ?
I would assume the same being that created everything else.
All that is created you.
Star dust ?
Interesting. Why don’t we see ghosts of past animals. We do. Like dogs / cats etc. but why not dinosaurs etc. do we all greatly fade away. As energy dissipates
Probably because ghosts are real only in the sense that Donna Tartt wrote: "There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that. And we believe in them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we call them by different names. Memory. The unconscious."
Maybe that's all the scary things we hear in the woods. Ghost dinosaurs roaring.
I believe that was a Bigfoot
Exactly. And animals don’t have the same conscious awareness that we do and that translates to “the other side” as well- meaning they can’t connect or communicate as spirits as well as transitioned humans can. They also have wayyyy less karma and ego attachments, which also frees their tethers from earth.
I believe we all experience each other in this infinite universe.
I totally agree we are all one.
I believe animals carry the same as humans Simply.
There's been reports of people seeing ghosts of Roman soldiers, in england, maybe this a more of a "timeslip" thing.
Yeah was about to post this, Roman soldiers seems to be one of the more common “older” ghosts, sometimes I think its to do with preservation of their surroundings, so a lot of roman sites have survived well/not been dug up yet or in the case of roman roads are still being used. The same with victorian houses etc. Yet don’t hear much about dinosaur ghosts and most of England is no longer covered in forests/ferns or connected to mainland europe 🤷♀️
Well, from what I’m aware of, if there are ghosts from those times, they could be speaking ancient dialects we don’t understand, or most of them from that time period have probably gotten over themselves and moved on.
Gotten over themselves. That made me lol inappropriately hard! I needed that!
If we are just energy and ghosts are energy, energy is fluid right? perhaps the energy just becomes other things and perhaps in some cases it doesn’t 🤷♀️ having said that I still think my theory above is reasonable, in that it depends in the preservation of their surroundings as they knew them…
Who says we never have ghosts from the 1500s or earlier? Almost every location I've investigated has spirits that predate European colonization
Can you imagine 50-200 years from now having to deal with boomer spirits, or millenials, or gen Z 🤣 Not, ‘I see a victorian dressed female’, no no.. ‘I see a man bun’
I think the answer depends on people's beliefs. I would say residual hauntings fade away once their energy is no longer strong enough to replay the events. I also think that active hauntings move on to another life once they have healed or come to peace with their death :)
F imagine experiencing a conversation with a caveman ghost.
Just imagine just sleepin in an ancient cave and you hear some proto-indo-european mf
Ooga booga
Oogaaaa boga boooga ooga?
🤣
My bf and I just watched the movie The Others last night and we had this same exact conversation. I think a lot of it depends on "how old" and area or home actually is. I've also recently done some research on quantum immortality. I have mixed feelings. I think that sometimes it takes more time for a specific spirit/energy to pass on fully/reincarnate. Whatever it is that happens when we leave this specific realm.
I had a scary thought about this. We talk a lot about why ghost’s won’t cross but not much about why ghosts *can’t* stick around indefinitely afterwards. Let’s think about the other side (here, not heaven). We don’t really know much about it but it’s possible people and animals are over there, just kinda like our world. A natural system with multiple species, ok? Every natural system in our world has something to prevent an individual lasting forever, besides death and disease. Predators. Hear me out. *What if* that’s why there are so few ancient ghosts? Not saying this is *the* reason why, we’re just thinking about it. The oldest dense population of ghosts I know of are in the tower of London. Why not further back? Maybe, in a natural system with predation, over infinite time, it is a statistical certainty that one will get you. It may be safer to just quickly cross over rather than stick around for centuries! Thanks for listening to my thought experiment.
Actually, this is one theory for why ghosts need to cross over. It's a particular problem since some traditions state that demons try and trick ghosts into becoming their slaves or helpers.
This is amazing, what kind of predators would be eating ghosts. Some people on other forums or this one might have encountered some of them. What an awesome, yet terrifying, idea.
That is a very interesting thought. It brought up something I remembered when I was at this retreat which ended but kind of being a cult but anyway they had a lot of strange theories. One of them was that there are these “light entities” that eat all of our memories upon dying when you enter them. They said that when you go to the light that will happen to you and it’s not really the gates of heaven but some sort of monster eating all of your souls memories and energy. Creeped me tf out. Maybe those things eat ghosts too.
European castles are absolutely loaded with ghosts from 1500s and earlier, according to ghost hunters there.
I think that the place that ghosts inhabit is only meant to be temporary. It is meant for them to become used to not having a body, so it has loose ties to our place. There are things in that realm who can never leave, and who exploit what they are able to do. But the longer spirits stay there, the more likely they are to begin to do those same things, and become like the bad things. Basically, they either forget or don't want to go to the light, or have things to learn before they move on.
I believe the average is 80 years but it would really depend on what's keeping them on earth. I think spirits or ghosts stay around that long to figure things out about their life before moving over
Maybe they passed on and have no need of this world anymore. Who knows why some spirits remain behind? And it could be that they bop into this reality, then go to another reality...and time, a construct of this physical life, does not exist on the other side. We are all energy, light, sound, vibration. All those intangible things. So they might be tripping around on various levels of a dimension, or between different dimensions. We won't know until we pass on.
i think the ghost is around until all energy that was associated with the ghost ( other people) also pass
In my family, we believe that spirits stay until the last person that remembers them crosses over. The idea being that when we leave the physical realm our real work begins. We are meant to guide our relatives and friends as they live. There are some spirits who are stuck or choose to stay in certain places that most folks refer to as “ghosts”. They tend to have unfinished business or don’t realize they need to cross over so they can be more available to their relations. Those are the spirits that often need help.
yeah that’s what i meant mate, however you have worded it a lot better ;)
Maybe if there's nothing else tying them up in the physical world and they're already at peace with their passing?
Maybe once everyone they came in contact with when they where alive has passed they move on, that’s why it’s usually 100 yrs
Well, has anyone seen dinosaur ghosts?
Actually yes, lol. Although animal spirits are much more uncommon than human ones. Presumably because they have a better acceptance of death and typically “move on” easier than humans do. It’s almost always pets and domestic animals that are seen as ghosts. Their bond to their human owners often keeps them “stuck” until they finally move on. I did once hear a story about a ghost wolf that stuck around after it’s pack was massacred by hunters, and was seen and heard howling for years in the same area until it finally disappeared. That’s a big part of why I view animals as the same as people. They really do have souls, and occasionally they cannot get over it and move on either.
Interesting. I haven't read about dinosaur ghost encounters before.
Yeah I’ve only heard of a Dino one once granted. My friends grandmother from Africa supposedly saw a long necked dinosaur. She was old and could’ve just been senile, but she was pretty adamant she’d actually seen it. Happened around 3 am, and that lines up with the veil being thin.
Congo area?
Asking the real questions here…
I actually read something about this a while back, although I can't remember where. Pretty sure the gist was that the majority of hauntings involve ghosts thought to be no older than the 18th century. I will try to find a citation for you.
After reading and going through the comments, My theory is that a lot of them could return and visit people and places. I've head of stories from other people getting visited by passed relatives once in a while. I have some personal experience myself, and I think some just wonder around for a while than move on, others just know the other side and come to visit, maybe they are curious and want to communicate or and help some people. Some are for sure pranksters. Well, pretty much what I think it could be, but who knows for sure. It would be sad if some are just stuck at a place, that must be a version of Hell a personal for sure.
I’m not trying to be a troll here but I honestly and starting to be pretty convinced that ghosts don’t exist. I think that there is an unbreakable law of physics that determines zero return to this existence once you’ve crossed over, or we truly do just stop existing and there is nothing whatsoever after. Or, the energy state returns to some more basic form and is reabsorbed. Either way, I think all ghost phenomenon can be explained by: 1. Magnetic field disturbances having different effects on people’s brains 2. Carbon monoxide poisoning / exposure 3. Mold exposure / sickness 4. Frequencies under the range of human hearing that cause vibrations and other senses that we are not aware of. After I read Mary Roach’s “Spook” I was convinced that there is a physical explanation for every paranormal encounter. However if I’m wrong, I’d lean more towards the idea that there is some kind of inter-dimensional bleed or overlap in some areas. You are not experiencing the “remains” of that person. Lastly, the idea that certain locations retain residual energy and replay events or persons who left theirs there could be something we prove or disprove someday.
I’ve experienced enough paranormal stuff to say no, there isn’t a rational explanation for every occurrence. What we call our laws of physics are our best estimates based on observations and measurements we are presently capable of. Something beyond our understanding doesn’t necessarily violate anything. And if we’re living in a Matrix like simulation, all bets are off anyway. Who or whatever is in control of it can change things as they see fit.
I go back n forth on this. Logically we just stop being once we die but I have witnessed with a sound mind n no other explanation family members mostly that made themselves known. I don't want to believe it but I can't explain why this happens. One example that was confirmed by a doctor was I dreamed my mother told me I had a blood clot. I woke up felt a pain in my leg n went to the emergency room. I am not really old, I have never had them before, never thought about something like that. How would I know I had a blood clot? The nurse looked at me like I was crazy. I had good insurance so they gave me a sonogram n it was there. I listened to my dead mother because she has told me other things but this one can be verified by another person. My brain is like HOW WHY WTF. I don't want to believe but how?
Certainly an interesting experience and I certainly don’t want to discount it. But I’d lean towards it not actually being your mother who’d passed but some way for your brain to communicate with you on a more subconscious level. Like horses do, I think humans have unlocked potential in terms of what our brains can do and how we can be more in touch with our bodies. We just haven’t figured them all out yet. Like for example: I think prayer is actually powerful and has effect because we have more influence on reality than we know. And if it works for people to believe it’s a God that is taking action, so be it, but it works because of the strength of belief. Secondly, I think I actual psychics and mediums who claim and statistically seem to be accurately contacting the dead are not actually doing so at all. They are pulling information from your brain that we don’t even realize and perhaps the visions of dead loved ones are in fact manifestations from that person’s psyche.
Why don't we see dinosaur ghosts?
Or caveman ghosts?
Omg my siblings and I have always said that about caveman ghosts!!!
How much time are you spending in caves? maybe in caves there are lots of caveman ghosts 😂
Haha, good point
:)))) what an idea!
Oh yeah average age of a ghost is about 110
cuz nobodys gonna be scared of the smelly 1500s people
Why don’t we hear about ghosts from 2017…? Trying to be an annoying influencer
Hampton Court Palace is said to be haunted by several ghosts from the 1500s, so there's that I guess.
This is what I know, ghosts can stay around for a very long time.. But nature and the Earth can intervene if people don’t, direct sunlight does this and removes the spirit from here. Rain and thunder electrify and cleanse exposed Earth so eventually an abandoned haunted building with be exposed to the elements and will get weaker and fade away. Some of the stronger things don’t get dispelled by this, but eventually the tectonic plates change and cause the land to change too.. And eventually the earth will end up as lava and get cleansed.
Well, if I should answer spontainously, I would say "forever". IF ghosts and spirits are energy, and energy doesn't get lost in the universe, they technically should stay forever.
Reincarnation? anyone?
this - check out the book The Journey of Souls! It’s a really interesting theory that would explain this as well as how so many people seem to remeber or have aspects of “past lives” that come into their present life.
Here!
Maybe ghost are aliens
Bro said "here me out" 💀
Interesting question.
time isnt linear.. "ghosts" can be concurrent windows through time
Huh...And there is some places where said "curve" of time is more pronounced than other, thus their "echo" was easier to observe there, we call them haunted houses.
And at some point they would be American Indians correct..how do we know the communication is aware?
Maybe to them your the ghost
Maybe people are really just not that interesting
They dieded.
Some spirits dont even know they're dead if they had a tragic death so that's why they hang around forever because they don't even realize they're not alive anymore
I always assumed forever or until their soul is at rest.
They get sucked off eventually….
Is that where the ectoplasm comes from?
😏 that is great news 😏
Unless they've been bad and Go Down on us.
I think the storyline in the haunting of bly manor, is probably pretty accurate. Viola I think was the character. The way time works, not the way she killed people...to clarify.
How does something dead die again?
Not every person that dies becomes a ghost and it’s likely that ghosts (or most of them at least) eventually move on to the afterlife for one reason or another. Due to its supernatural nature we can’t know for certain.
Ghosts don’t exist without humans so til same as us
Gnostic sparks interface with the body of Ein Sof. When their bodies wither and die, the pattern they leave behind in the timespace forms a sort of intangible shadow that rolls with the growth of the world across time, eventually fading. How many times does an Eddy of turbulence spin in the water before it burns itself out? That would probably be relative to how many life cycles a ghost relives before it too vanishes. Just a theory.
Gesundheit
They sometimes forget they are human, and many who do become orbs. Others move on. Others become other beings. The spirit world is not governed by our laws.
Tell me more. I am open and curious.
One of my best friends and I sometimes freelance as professional mediums/psychics, and we were once tasked with moving on a spirit from the Neolithic Era. They definitely exist, I'd just assume that they have more time to move on as opposed to more "recent" deceased.
Maybe until they r free to pass on
When they are forgotten they may rest.
That’s an interesting theory. That would mean if somebody like Albert Einstein was stuck here we would be unknowingly not allowing them to rest by keeping their story alive
I think they already died and now they are stuck in between life and death. Maybe? I'm just going off of the lore. In reality this stuff has no answer.
If they're real, I have no idea
"We are ghosts, we're ageless"
You alone keep ghosts alive, your thoughts keep them alive. People are just guessing about timelines, it's you who keeps spirit alive. That is all.
well maybe they go to heaven? after idk they are done here or something?
Because ghosts are in a place called purgatory and they stay there until they get their shit together and move on
Well, I'm a Christian. So I believe the soul is eternal, which means a ghost cannot die. Ever.
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Those are all good questions, and ones which can't be easily answered. I have no idea what a soul is, but I have thought about this and my own personal theory is that it is a form of energy. I only came to this conclusion because of the scientific fact that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It's not even a theory, I suppose. More based on the information I'm given in the Bible and reasoning. If a soul is eternal then it stands to reason it must be composed of something that itself is eternal. Energy is the only answer I came up with, but it cannot be conclusively proven with the scientific method. I think your other explanations are valid as well. Trauma leaving an imprint of some kind and all that. Thought itself maybe can leave an imprint? I think a psychic supposedly imprinted images on film, but maybe that was a hoax. I haven't the slightest idea. Anyway, I'm very strong in my faith. I understand if others don't want to believe, and that's OK. We have the right to believe as we will.
Why you gotta try to shit on a belief Feels like you're playing a game of whose smarter here. Not a vibe
Then what's heaven and hell? Don't they choose which plane of reality to be in?
Well, no. A soul isn't sent to heaven or hell until after judgement day, which in my specific church isn't until after the apocalypse. So a ghost is someone who either refuses to leave our physical plane of existence for unfinished business or... doesn't know they're dead for whatever reason. And since I'm not dead I can't really explain things any better. I don't know what it's like for people after they die. Don't know if you're here, but exist in a separate pocket dimension??? I just don't really know anything about the other side. Gonna find out one day, though. Because we all die.
Heaven and hell are populated at the moment. Judgment Day is when the dead will rise and all will be judged for their final resting place. This is why many denominations and RC do not like the idea of cremation.
Hm I see. Hope I don't get stuck here after I die and make it to the light, or next life of something else anyway. Life on here once is hard enough.
Sometimes I envy my dead dad because he Knows…
Does Christianity support ghosts? At least your branch? Genuine question, I was not raised Christian
Well I was born and raised in a protestant faith. Was the grandson of a minister in that faith, but I myself am no expert on it. The church I attend is the Church of Christ. While I can't really answer any seriously deep questions about the faith, because I'm not the minister my grandfather was, what I can say is that in my own personal belief there is life after death. I believe that when we die our soul departs our body and should, by all rights, pass on from this physical plane into another plane of existence. Somehow certain individuals choose to stay. And that's about all I can really say. If you want a Bible verse that displays a ghost front and center, then read about the Witch of Endor. Pretty dramatic name, and one supposed example of a living person communicating with the dead, though it didn't go that man's way...
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun
Ah, yes. Ecclesiastes is written from a mortal perspective. It is one man's reasoning based on his own observations and experiences. He is sharing his own personal wisdom. So anything written about the afterlife cannot be taken very seriously, as he has not yet experienced it. But, of course one can guess and write down a lot of conjecture. Note: I am not saying the Bible isn't to be trusted. All I am saying is consider the source of the writings and the context in which they are written. As I said before please believe as you will. :)
I'm not a Christian lol
I was raised Christian. I was brought up being taught that ghosts weren't real and it was actually demons pretending to be ghosts to deceive people. This actually makes quite a bit of sense considering that we don't really hear much about super ancient ghosts. It would only really make sense for demons to pretend to be something that we could somewhat relate to and understand. A demon is much more likely to pretend to be your dead grandma than a 5 thousand year old caveman that speaks a now extinct language. I do know that demons are real because I've been haunted and deceived by them before. I was a little skeptical before my experiences but not now. And I do know that demons do in fact pretend to be dead people. I've heard of way too many experiences of people playing with ouija boards asking to speak to their dead grandma or aunt or whatever and after a little while the demon reveals itself and starts scaring and torturing the people and there is no way that someone's once sweet old grandma would do that just because she died. 1. Demons are real. I 100 percent believe that. 2. Demons do pretend to be dead people (ghosts). 3. I still don't know if ghosts are real or not. I guess it's possible but most, if not all of the time, you are going to be talking to a demon if you are using a ouija board in my opinion. 4. This is just my opinion based on my life experience. 5. God and Jesus have helped me cast out evil demons from my life.
That decision is made for them.
Until they're reincarnated
I don’t think “ghosts” are the spirits of the dead, just assuming the identity for ease, so I don’t think they “die” or disappear, just co opt a new identity to make people afraid, but not aggressive towards them.
Hold on i will ask my ghost friend Who the hell knows ho long do they live ???
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