Ghosts, Phantoms, Spectors, Wraiths, Banshees, Spirits, Souls, and Apparaitions. By Poltergeist Activity, we mean all of these and much more. We would extend our definition of Poltergeist Activity to explore a set of phenomenon which is often associated with ghosts and legends. Yet, on its own is not. Any event is simply an event. A phenomenon is a phenomenon. Unless a voice in the dark without a body showed you its driver’s license… It’s a voice in the dark without explanation, and that is just as interesting as tales of long dead murderers returned to demand you turn down the television.
Hauntings
For the purpose of research and classification we’re going to separate our Poltergeist Activity into two types. First is Hauntings: In which a formerly fully alive human is reported to be back among the living (in spirit form) and inhabiting an area. This type of poltergeist is what we’ll commonly find in folklore and these stories are usually formed out of a variety of factors. Some of which are grief, existential loss, superstition, paranoia, depression, delusion and hallucinogens. This is not to say that genuine hauntings do not exist. After all, one in five of us has seen one. Simply, that even when we can find data which suggests poltergeist activity is occurring, we can’t definitively say the entity is the former human in question. By reports, ghosts (such as the Bell Witch) can be tricky.
Phantoms
Our second classification of Poltergeist Activity will be Phantoms. We’re defining phantoms as ghost-like activity which is centered around a specific area. Types of activities include moving objects, disembodied voices and specters. All of these have occurred at the paranormal hotspot known as Skinwalker Ranch, and the US government seemed to think it was important enough to spend millions of dollars researching the site. That doesn’t by itself prove the existence of ghosts. It does indicate to us that there was likely something measurable there. When we add to that the frequency of reports and sightings, poltergeist activity becomes worthy of study and research.
Theories
Much like UFOs we have to accept that most ghost sightings are misidentifications, but if we accept that some are real, we can guess as to what’s behind them.
We can more or less breakdown the theories surrounding the existence of poltergeist activity into two categories as well. The first is Spiritual. The spirit has remained after death as it is a soul and not corporeal. In the spiritual explanation, the spirit is something ethereal or heavenly. Due to the fact no one has determined what heavenly material is comprised of, we at Fortean Winds do not believe noncorporeal material can be measured. This presents a problem in pursuing the truth of these claims. That is not to say it is not true. Simply that we cannot measure it. Thus, we can report on hauntings and spiritual encounters based on eyewitness accounts, but we do not expect to be able to determine their veracity.
The second category of poltergeist activity theories typically involves energy and physics. This makes a lot more terrestrial sense to us and is much more measurable. We’re all made of energy. Atoms, molecules and they move really fast. It’s entirely possible there are other things outside of the narrow visible band of energy we see. Analysis and speculation: This is most likely along the lines of what the US Government was studying at Skinwalker Ranch.
‘The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff.
Carl Sagan
Fortean Winds: Scientific Research into the Unexplained, Paranormal and Anomalous 