Of course, with G I have to go with one of the biggest mysteries of them all, ghosts, a wide term that covers many types of spirits, a type we covered on the last paranormal alphabet edition was the Fetch, which was a type of ghost/spirit that represents a person who will soon die or has died. But for many ghosts also represent the long since dead and the places these ghosts and spirits inhabit are known as being “haunted”.
Featured Photo – Photo by Karl Thomas Moore/Karlfonza from Wikimedia. License
The paranormal mystery of ghosts is one of the oldest in the world, stretching back hundreds and thousands of years and still remains an inconclusive mystery even until this very day. Now a day’s ghosts and for that matter, paranormal phenomena have become the subject of entertainment on programs such as Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters and Most Haunted. Mine and my sister’s favorite out of these programs is Ghost Adventures which is very fascinating to watch, such as the interactions, voices caught on EVPs and Ghost Boxes, shadows and moving objects. All the classic hallmarks of a haunting.
But it isn’t just TV that has taken advantage of the world of the paranormal, the craze also exists on the internet on social media and places such as Youtube where you can find numerous unexplained videos of apparent ghostly phenomena caught on camera, with some even making a documented series out of their hauntings, one such Youtuber I have watched before called MichaelDMagee has done this. Of course, there are also many fakes out there and many that exploit the paranormal world with over-exaggerations purely for attention or to make money. But at the same time there are also many that simply cannot be explained but it can be hard or even impossible to tell if one is actually genuinely unexplained or simply a fake, there are so many programs out there that can be used to edit in very convincing supposed unexplained phenomena, which can easily be used by even the most amateur video creators.
But at the same time, even if a video of the paranormal is faked it still keeps the interest in the paranormal world stoked and keeps it going and inspires others to look into it and discover it for themselves. A world that is split off from the typical business as usual atmosphere of life, the paranormal world can at times feel magical, but also can be very frightening and so for some they are happy in ignoring the possibility of this stuff existing.
But What are Ghosts?
Nobody truly knows what ghosts really are as it is an unexplored subject by most researchers and scientists who brush it off as nonsense or as mis-identified natural phenomena. But many believe them to be the spirits of those who have since departed the world of the living, but exist on another boundary close to ours, or that is at least one theory that some believe. It is also perfectly reasonable to believe that spirits are simply dead people stuck in the world of the living rather than in another nearby “dimension” close to ours. Some say that Purgatory is the reason for ghostly phenomena, when a soul is trapped between the world of the living and moving on, such as to Heaven for example and so sometimes these souls trapped in Purgatory or those waiting to move on can at times interact with the living world.
Getting spirits to move on can be a way of ending a haunting with many stories claiming this has been performed to cleanse a house of spirits within it. Some believe that spirits may get stuck due to un-finished business or a story they wish to tell, perhaps to bring some kind of justice before they move on. Some believe that ghosts can become attached to objects and is another reason why they remain behind, there is a particular program I watched called Haunted Collector who would help end hauntings by removing a certain object from the premises after an investigation. Some ghosts have even been shown to be attached to a person themselves. Ways believed to detach a ghost from yourself involves exorcism, getting a Medium to help you or by cleansing yourself and your property, for example by burning sage in a certain ritualistic fashion. Entities that attach themselves to a person are often shown to be evil and also not of this realm and so not a ghost, but more likely a demon or some other malevolent spirit if you believe in that sort of stuff. There are some who believe that spirits can act as guardian angels though, looking over loved ones and protecting them from dangers, in this way a spirit would be attached to a person in a benevolent fashion, asking for a sign can enable these spirits to interact with the environment in a time of need, to show they are there and with you. But a word of caution is also needed as evil spirits are often said to be manipulative, acting as if they are friendly at first but eventually becoming more threatening and dangerous and controlling of the victims life.
Some also believe that friendly guardian angels can be forced out by evil spirits or corrupted by them, replacing themselves as an imposter, fooling the person.
Using a Ouija Board is said to be unwise and even dangerous as this is one way that you can accidentally attach an evil spirit to yourself. As well as that meddling in Occult ritual magic and other things that I highly suggest not to do. But simply also visiting places said to be haunted can also lead to a spirit attaching themselves to you, although I’d say this is much more unlikely. Some people believe all spirits are evil and manipulative and that there are no friendly spirits or even any human spirits.
Some hauntings can go inactive for many years and places that have never been haunted or at least never known to have been haunted before have become so for no apparent reason out of the blue or it could be triggered due to some kind of change made to the property in question, that perhaps angers quiet spirits there or unleashes spirits in some way.
There are so many different beliefs in how ghosts and spirits work and interact with the world and arguments on how and what way they exist. Some people are believed to be more sensitive than others to the paranormal world, due to whatever unknown reason, psychics for example and also young children, more so if going through puberty have shown for whatever reason a stronger connection to the paranormal world.
A lot of it can be to do with energy sources, which many believe is a big part of how ghosts and spirits can manifest and react with the living world. They can use a person’s energy, the energy from electricity itself or even from a certain powerful object/artifact or something of significance. The material an object is made out of has also been shown to vary on how a possible spirit can interact with it, for example for whatever reason limited evidence has shown that metal objects are easier for spirits to move than objects made out of other materials, but this could simply also be due to metal objects being able to be more easily moved using magnets as a hoax.
We also then have residual spirits and energies, these spirits are not intelligent but rather like a memory set within the living world that can repeat itself from time to time and even observed by some people. This sort of phenomena has been recorded for centuries from people telling of old battlefields coming to life and repeats of tragic incidents caught on audio devices or even just simple noises of everyday activity, for example noises of mining may be noticed at mines long since abandoned. Residual energies are though often associated with powerful things that have happened, so such as a tragedy or even just a powerfully happy memory. Some even believe that residual energy is left behind by people still living that can activate even before the person has died.
Ghosts or spirits that extensively interact with objects in their environment are known as poltergeists and they are one of the most common unexplained type videos you can find on Youtube and other social media, most likely as they are fairly easy to fake but also due to it being fairly exciting content to witness, but we are unable to rule them all out as fake. Ways to catch out fake videos include looking for thin hard-to-see strings pulling objects and doors, over-use of metal objects as that can mean magnets are being used (as previously mentioned) and also quick jump-cuts, possibly due to the person setting up the next set of activity, it isn’t a foolproof way of catching all of the fake videos out there, but it is one of the best and easy ways to investigate and consider if a video is possibly genuine or not.
Hauntings
There are a number of both famous and infamous haunting spots across the world, said to be some of the most active places of which many can often be found open to the public, although many more require permission to explore. These places range from old battlefields, theatres, mental institutions, hospitals and hotels among others that are either long since abandoned or even still active and usable. I am going to do an overview of three known haunted places below.
The Eastern State Penitentiary – United States of America. Philidelphia, Pennsylvania
The ESP is an old but massive former prison located in Philidelphia in the US state of Pennsylvania. It first opened in 1829 and incarcerated some of the most dangerous criminals prosecuted in the US, including notorious criminals such as Al Capone. The prison closed down in 1971 and has since been made a National Historic Landmark and a museum for visitors and tourists. The ESP was known for its use of solitary confinement up until 1913 where the practice was ended due to over-crowding problems. It is now known as the most haunted location in the United States of America. The ESP is often referred to as the first real penitentiary and many prisons since have based their design off of the Eastern State Penitentiary.
Haunted phenomena here include voices, apparitions, being grabbed violently by invisible forces. Much of the staff of the facility have reported on and corroborated the many strange goings on in the old prison for decades now and many paranormal investigators and paranormal programs such as Ghost Adventures have visited the old prison and caught some interesting anomalies. Certain specific cellblocks of the prison are reported to be most active; these include cellblocks 4, 6 and 12. If you want voices and terrifying cackles, cellblock 12 is your best bet, want some dark shadowy figures? Try cellblock 6… maybe you want the more extreme, such as being possibly attacked by unknown forces or seeing ghostly faces? Then check out cellblock 4. Just be careful what you wish for though…
Even Al Capone begun experiencing strange phenomena, starting at his confinement in Eastern State Penitentiary where he began screaming and asking for someone called “Jimmy” to leave him alone, which many have said was one of his victims haunting him. Others say it was simply madness, but his problem with this so-called Jimmy followed him to other prisons, Atlanta Penitentiary and even Alcatraz (another old shut-down infamous prison, said to be very haunted). At one point he even called in a Medium in an attempt to solve the problem, but of which also reportedly failed. Interestingly one of his victims in the Saint. Valentine’s Day massacre on February 14th 1929, James Clark, was also known as Jimmy and was also the brother-in-law of Al Capone’s biggest rival, Bugs Moran. The massacre was also the hit that ended up leading to the fall of Al Capone and his imprisonment.
Torturous techniques were also used in the prison in the earlier days, including dunking prisoners in water during the Winter and leaving them out to freeze, using the so-called “Mad Chair” to bound inmates so tightly, that it cut off circulation to limbs and even sometimes led to amputations and using an iron gag to tie up prisoners, with the iron collar attached in the mouth, any movement causing injury and significant bleeding from the tongue. As well that, disease, death, murder and suicides plagued the prison and all of that can easily be attributed to why the place is believed to be haunted and so much negative things have happened in the prison, as well as housing some of the most violent and evil prisoners in the country.
Hoia Baciu Forest – Romania, Transylvania region. Near to the city of Cluj-Napoca
Said by some to be the most haunted forests in the world, its name alone should be enough to ward you off, being named after a Shepard who went lost in the forest with a flock of 200 sheep, there are a number of missing person stories surrounding the forest. Hoia Baciu is located in the country of Romania, in the well-known Transylvania region. The activity said to go on here is both immense and mind-bogglingly extensive. Even the trees grow unusually, in strange curving and zig-zagging patterns, which scientists have been unable to plausibly explain and there is a large clearing in the forest where nothing grows, which has also baffled scientists for years and attracts many a strange folk who go to the area to practice rituals, black magic, perhaps even attempting to open a portal to another dimension or trying to cleanse the place of evil. Ghostly and evil phenomena is widespread and even aliens and UFO’s have made an appearance. It is literally a hub of the strange and unknown.
The forest reached international prominence in 1968 when a military technician named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed to be a UFO hovering over the strange clearing. Barnea, living under and working for a Communist regime at the time who called anyone mad for believing in such stuff had everything to lose for making such a claim, of which he was sacked for. So why did he do it?
One of my favorite paranormal programs at the time, Destination Truth, also did an interesting episode on the forest where they also travelled into the clearing. People travelling into the forest or clearing may also find themselves afflicted by symptoms of anxiety, sickness, dizziness among other ailments as well as the usual and typical problem of electrical equipment malfunctioning for no apparent reason. People may even be scratched or violently pushed by unknown forces or hear voices, see apparitions or observe lights within the trees that are simply unexplainable.
It is very likely I will come back to this forest one day to do an entire blogpost on it as it is very much deserving of one due to the large amount of strange activity.
Ancient Ram Inn – Gloucestershire, England, UK
Of course, I had to include a haunted location from my own country, with many calling the United Kingdom the “most haunted country in the world” it would be a missed opportunity to not do so.
One such place is the Ancient Ram Inn, a very old historical former pub that is said to be built over ley lines leading from Stone Henge, believed by some to be the source of its major haunting. The pub was first built in 1145, leaving ample time for many spirits and forces to inhabit the very old building. Some say that devil worshipping and child sacrifice has even happened in this place during older times, which would have been sure to attract many dark forces.
Numerous staff and guests of the now hotel and popular ghost hunting spot have reported many unexplained events at the Inn from the ghost of a woman burnt at a stake for being a Witch, the screams of a girl, the ghost of a monk and high priestess. Some even believe there is a Succubus the preys on the guests of the hotel who dare to spend the night there.
The hotel is said to be the most haunted hotel in the United Kingdom and one of the most haunted locations in the country. Paranormal investigators, including Ghost Adventures have also done investigations at this spot. Ghost hunting events are commonly held at the Inn for guests/visitors.
Do you dare to the stay the night there?
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this blogpost. Next up in the Paranormal alphabet will be H, where I will look into the Japanese Bigfoot, the Hibagon.
Thank you for reading this post, if you have any queries please Email me, you can find my Email in the Contacts & Community section. Please also follow The Weekly Rambler on Twitter and Facebook which you can access through the buttons at the bottom of this website. You can also use the social media buttons under each blogpost to share with your family, friends and associates. You can also subscribe to Email notifications at the right-side of this website to know whenever a new post goes up (you can easily unsubscribe from this at any time through a button in each Email notification), or alternatively you can use an RSS Feed Reader. Please also join my FB Group The Weekly Ramblers Readers Group where readers can more easily talk with each other and also with me whenever I am on, you can also find it in Community.