I've spent more time chasing and studying ghosts than I have UFOs and extraterrestrials. In fact, I didn't even believe in ETs and flying saucers until one introduced itself to me close up. On the subject of ghosts and poltergeists, however, here is something I've been noticing for awhile, and that is that people tend to attribute poltergeist activity to ghosts.
Poltergeist (noisy ghost, Ger.) is a misleading name in that it lends the image of the restless dead. In fact, poltergeists are psychokinetic energy, originating in stress-related disorders. It has been studied under laboratory conditions, although not in an actual laboratory, and has been found to be a very real, if unpredictable, phenomenon.
There is a myth in this school, however, that a poltergeist will not attack its originator. This is only a myth because I and others have personally witnessed friends getting "slapped" by their own poltergeists. By the religious, this is often seen as a sign of possession. In effect, they are right. There is a demon called 'stress' dwelling within, and this demon can kill you without a moment's hesitation.
The only way to 'cure' a poltergeist is to identify and deal with whatever is causing the stress. Many people move into homes they beive are haunted because things start moving around on them. Aside from being mentally scattered from moving, moving itself causes a great deal of stress that dissiptaes only aftr the new environment has been accepted by the new occupants.
Another form of poltergeist is something I've heard called a 'psychic vampire'. I had the misfortune of meeting one of these things head on. A psychic vampire is also caused by a fair amount of stress, but they are much easier to identify. A psychic vampire is a person whose mere presence is enough to send others in the room into a heated argument at best, an all-out fight at worst.
Characteristics of these people include chronic lying and a need to make others feel worse about things so that they can, by comparison, feel better. Like a mythical vampire feeding off of the blood of the living, the psychic vampire feeds off of the stress and emotions of others.
The one that I met was my ex-half-sister-in-law. At first I thought she was just a malicious gossip, twisting rumors into the most scandalous reports. When I began following these rumors and found that they had absolutely no basis in fact, I concluded that she was a liar. As time went on, I observed incidents where she had only to enter a room, not say anything, and harsh words would begin flying while she sat calmly, a slight grin and an interested look on her face. It was like living in a horror movie.
My family is a little more open to these things than most, and when I presented my theory of the presence of a psychic vampire to them (one at a time, because she was drawn to family gatherings), they lent it great credence when I explained my observations. To combat the 'beast', we began confronting her directly with her rumors and allegations. "So-and-so said this," was followed up by "Uh-huh. That's nice," while another person in the room would ask her to validate her statement. Finally, my brother broke and told her to shut her lying little mouth. He must have driven the stake right into the heart, because she demanded a divorce almost immediately. They split and we've been pretty happy since she left. [Of course, his taste in girlfriends now is another matter altogether...]
Now, without bringing poltergeists into the mix, has anybody here ever seen or validated the presence of a ghost, a spirit of the restless dead?
[This message has been edited by Oxygen (edited November 08, 1999).]
Poltergeist (noisy ghost, Ger.) is a misleading name in that it lends the image of the restless dead. In fact, poltergeists are psychokinetic energy, originating in stress-related disorders. It has been studied under laboratory conditions, although not in an actual laboratory, and has been found to be a very real, if unpredictable, phenomenon.
There is a myth in this school, however, that a poltergeist will not attack its originator. This is only a myth because I and others have personally witnessed friends getting "slapped" by their own poltergeists. By the religious, this is often seen as a sign of possession. In effect, they are right. There is a demon called 'stress' dwelling within, and this demon can kill you without a moment's hesitation.
The only way to 'cure' a poltergeist is to identify and deal with whatever is causing the stress. Many people move into homes they beive are haunted because things start moving around on them. Aside from being mentally scattered from moving, moving itself causes a great deal of stress that dissiptaes only aftr the new environment has been accepted by the new occupants.
Another form of poltergeist is something I've heard called a 'psychic vampire'. I had the misfortune of meeting one of these things head on. A psychic vampire is also caused by a fair amount of stress, but they are much easier to identify. A psychic vampire is a person whose mere presence is enough to send others in the room into a heated argument at best, an all-out fight at worst.
Characteristics of these people include chronic lying and a need to make others feel worse about things so that they can, by comparison, feel better. Like a mythical vampire feeding off of the blood of the living, the psychic vampire feeds off of the stress and emotions of others.
The one that I met was my ex-half-sister-in-law. At first I thought she was just a malicious gossip, twisting rumors into the most scandalous reports. When I began following these rumors and found that they had absolutely no basis in fact, I concluded that she was a liar. As time went on, I observed incidents where she had only to enter a room, not say anything, and harsh words would begin flying while she sat calmly, a slight grin and an interested look on her face. It was like living in a horror movie.
My family is a little more open to these things than most, and when I presented my theory of the presence of a psychic vampire to them (one at a time, because she was drawn to family gatherings), they lent it great credence when I explained my observations. To combat the 'beast', we began confronting her directly with her rumors and allegations. "So-and-so said this," was followed up by "Uh-huh. That's nice," while another person in the room would ask her to validate her statement. Finally, my brother broke and told her to shut her lying little mouth. He must have driven the stake right into the heart, because she demanded a divorce almost immediately. They split and we've been pretty happy since she left. [Of course, his taste in girlfriends now is another matter altogether...]
Now, without bringing poltergeists into the mix, has anybody here ever seen or validated the presence of a ghost, a spirit of the restless dead?
[This message has been edited by Oxygen (edited November 08, 1999).]