by Hans Holzer
To capture the attention of an eager audience, these shows present “authorities” as allegedly renowned parapsychologists who chase after supposed ghosts with all sorts of technical equipment, from Geiger counters to oscilloscopes to plain flashlights. No professional investigator who has had academic training uses any of this stuff, but the programs don’t really care.
Another difficult aspect of the quest for ghosts is that not everything that appears to fit the category does indeed belong in it.
Phenomena, encounters, and experiences are either visual, auditory, or olfactory—they are manufactured through sight, sound, or smell. In addition, there are poltergeist phenomena, which are nothing more than products of the phase of a haunting when the entity is capable of producing physical effects, such as the movement of objects.
Even an experienced investigator can’t always tell to which class of phenomena an event belongs—only after further investigation over an extended period of time is an explanation forthcoming.
All three types of the phenomena (except for poltergeists) can be caused by the following:
1. A bona fide ghost—that is, a person who has passed out of the physical body but remains in the etheric body (aura, soul) at or near the place of the passing due to emotional ties or trauma. Such entities are people in trouble, who are seeking to understand their predicament and are usually not aware of their own passing.
The proof that the ghost is “real” lies in the behavior of the phenomena. If different witnesses have seen or heard different things, or at different times of the day, then we are dealing with a ghost.
In the mind of the casual observer, of course, ghosts and spirits are the same thing. Not so to the trained para-psychologist: ghosts are similar to psychotic human beings, incapable of reasoning for themselves or taking much action. Spirits, on the other hand, are the surviving personalities of all of us who pass through the door of death in a relatively normal fashion. A spirit is capable of continuing a full existence in the next dimension, and can think, reason, feel, and act, while his unfortunate colleague, the ghost, can do none of these things. All he can do is repeat the final moments of his passing, the unfinished business, as it were, over and over again until it becomes an obsession. In this benighted state, ghosts are incapable of much action and therefore are almost always harmless. In the handful of cases where ghosts seem to have caused people suffering, a relationship existed between the person and the ghost. Someone slept in a bed in which someone else had been murdered and was mistaken by the murderer for the same individual, or the murderer returned to the scene of his crime and was attacked by the person he had killed. But by and large, ghosts do not attack people, and there is no danger in observing them or having contact with them, if one is able to.
The majority of ghostly manifestations draw upon energy from the living in order to penetrate our three-dimensional world. Other manifestations are subjective, especially when the receiver is psychic. In this case, the psychic person hears or sees the departed individual in his mind’s eye only, while others cannot so observe the ghost.
Where an objective manifestation takes place, and everyone present is capable of hearing or seeing it, energy drawn from the living is used by the entity to cause certain phenomena, such as an apparition, a voice phenomenon, or perhaps the movement of objects, the sound of footsteps, or doors opening by themselves, and other signs of a presence. When the manifestations become physical in nature and are capable of being observed by several individuals or recorded by machines, they are called poltergeist phenomena, or noisy phenomena. Not every ghostly manifestation leads to that stage, but many do. Frequently, the presence in the household of young children or of mentally handicapped older people lends itself to physical manifestations of this kind, since the unused or untapped sexual energies are free to be used for that purpose.
Ghosts—that is, individuals unaware of their own passing or incapable of accepting the transition because of unfinished business—will make themselves known to living people at infrequent intervals. There is no sure way of knowing when or why some individuals make a postmortem appearance and others do not. It seems to depend on the intensity of feeling, the residue of unresolved problems, that they have within their system at the time of death. Consequently, not everyone dying a violent death becomes a ghost; far from it. If this were so, our battlefields and such horror-laden places as concentration camps or prisons would indeed be swarming with ghosts, but they are not. It depends on the individual attitude of the person at the time of death, whether he or she accepts the passing and proceeds to the next stage of existence, or whether he or she is incapable of realizing that a change is taking place and consequently clings to the familiar physical environment, the earth sphere.
A common misconception concerning ghosts is that they appear only at midnight, or, at any rate, only at night; or that they eventually fade away as time goes on. To begin with, ghosts are split-off parts of a personality and are incapable of realizing the difference between day and night. They are always in residence, so to speak, and can be contacted by properly equipped mediums at all times. They may put in an appearance only at certain hours of the day or night, depending upon the atmosphere; for the fewer physical disturbances there are, the easier it is for them to communicate themselves to the outer world. They are dimly aware that there is something out there that is different from themselves, but their diminished reality does not permit them to grasp the situation fully. Consequently, a quiet moment, such as is more likely to be found at night than in the daytime, is the period when the majority of sightings are reported.
Some manifestations occur on the exact moment of the anniversary, because it is then that the memory of the unhappy event is strongest. But that does not mean that the ghost is absent at other times—merely less capable of manifesting itself. Since ghosts are not only expressions of human personality left behind in the physical atmosphere but are, in terms of physical science, electromagnetic fields uniquely impressed by the personality and memories of the departed one, they represent a certain energy imprint in the atmosphere and, as such, cannot simply fade into nothingness. Albert Einstein demonstrated that energy never dissipates, it only transmutes into other forms. Thus ghosts do not fade away over the centuries; they are, in effect, present for all eternity unless someone makes contact with them through a trance medium and brings reality to them, allowing them to understand their predicament and thus free themselves from their self-imposed prison. The moment the mirror of truth is held up to a ghost, and he or she realizes that the problems that seem insoluble are no longer important, he or she will be able to leave.
Frequently, rescuers have to explain that the only way a ghost can leave is by calling out to someone close to her in life—a loved one or a friend who will then come and take her away with them into the next stage of existence, where she should have gone long before. This is called the rescue circle and is a rather delicate operation requiring the services of a trained psychical researcher and a good trance medium. Amateurs are warned not to attempt it, especially not alone.
2. No more than 10–15% of all sightings or other phenomena are “real” ghosts. The larger portion of all sightings or sound phenomena is caused by a replaying of a past emotional event, one that has somehow been left behind, impressed into the atmosphere of the place or house. Any sensitive person—and that means a large segment of the population—can re-experience such events to varying degrees. To them these replays may seem no different from true ghostly phenomena, except that they occur exactly in the same place and at the same time of day to all those who witness them.
These phenomena are called psychic impressions, and they are in a way like photographs of past events, usually those with high emotional connotations.
3. There are cases in which sightings or sounds of this kind are caused by the living who are far away, not in time but geographically. “Phantoms of the living” is one name given the phenomenon, which is essentially telepat
hic. Usually these apparitions or sounds occur when it is urgent that a person reach someone who is at a distance, such as in family crises, emergencies, or on occasion, between lovers or people who are romantically linked.
These projections of the inner body are involuntary, and cannot be controlled. A variant of these phenomena, however, deliberate projections, which occur when a person puts all her emotional strength into reaching someone who is far away. Instances of this are quite rare, however.
4. Finally, we should keep in mind that though apparitions may appear to be identical, whether as earth-bound spirits called ghosts, or free spirits in full possession of all mental and emotional faculties and memories—just visiting, so to speak, to convey a message—ghosts and spirits are not the same.
Compare a ghostly apparition or a spirit visit to a precious stone: a diamond and a zircon look practically the same, but they are totally different in their value. Spirits are people like you and I who have passed on to the next world without too much difficulty or too many problems; they are not bound to anything left behind in the physical world. They do, however, have ties and emotional interests in the family or friends they left behind, and they might need to let people in this world know that they are all right “over there,” or they may have some business in the living world that needs to be taken care of in an orderly fashion. Ghosts, too, may have unfinished business, but are generally unable to convey their requests clearly.
Spirits, people who have died and are living in their duplicate “inner body,” the etheric body or aura, are different from physical living people in respect to certain limitations and the time element, but spirits are simply people who have passed on to the next world with their memories and interests intact.
The only thing these four categories of phenomena have indeed in common is their density: they seem three-dimensional and quite solid most of the time (though not always), but try to touch one, and your hand will go right through.
Only materializations are truly three-dimensional and physical, and they do occur when there is enough energy present to “clothe” the etheric body with an albumin substance called ectoplasm or teleplasm, drawn from the glands of the medium and/or assistants (known as sitters) during a séance, and sometimes even spontaneously site where something very powerfully traumatic has occurred in the past.
Such materializations look and even feel like physical bodies, but touching them may dissolve them or hurt the principal medium, as does bright light. In any event, the ectoplasm must be returned whence it came to avoid shock and illness.
The temptation to reproduce that rarest of all psychic phenomena, the full materialization, is of course always present, but also easy to spot. When I unmasked a group of such fakers as part of an investigation into one of the Spiritualist camps in Pennsylvania, I presented the evidence on television in a program I helped produce and appeared in with Mike Wallace, who remarked, “You mean these are only ghostly actors?” to which I replied spontaneously, “No, just ghastly actors, because I caught them in the act.”
Séances, which are nothing fancier than a group of people getting together for a “sitting” in the hope that a departed spirit might be able to communicate through her or his principal medium or one of the sitters, have fallen out of favor these days. But if someone asks you to a séance promising you that someone on the other side of life will be contacted, or “called”—beware. The folks on the other side are the ones who decide that they want contact with us, not the other way around.
Ouija Boards, crystal balls, and tarot cards are all useful in helping a psychic focus his or her natural gift, but they have no powers of their own. Using a board can bring trouble if those using it are potential deep-trance mediums, because an unscrupulous person on the other side might want to come in and take over the players, which would result in possession.
Communication with ghosts or spirits does sometimes occur, however, when one of the persons operating the board is psychic enough to supply the energy for a communication to take place. But the majority of what comes through a Ouija board is just stuff from the sitter’s own unconscious mind, and often it is just gibberish.
A word about the dreams of ghosts or departed loved ones. We are either awake or asleep. In my view, however, if we are asleep we are “adream,” for we dream all the time even if we don’t always remember it or are not aware of it.
Some psychic experiences involving ghosts and spirits occur during sleep in the form of quasi-dreams. These are not really bona fide dreams. It is just that in the sleep-dream state, when our conscious mind is at rest, the communicator finds it easier to “get through” to us than when we are fully awake and our conscious mind and rational attitude make it harder for the communicator’s emanations to penetrate our consciousness.
Many who have had such dream visitations think that they “just dreamt” the whole thing, and the medical establishment encourages this by and large, classifying such events as quasi-fantasies or nightmares, as the case may be. But in reality, they are nothing of the kind. These dreams are just as real and as meaningful in their purpose as are encounters with ghosts or spirits when one is fully awake, either at night or in plain daylight.
In the dream state, visitors do not cast objective shadows, as they often do in the waking condition, but they are actual people, existing in etheric bodies, who are making contact with our own etheric bodies. The message, if any, is often much clearer than it is with ordinary dreams.
We should pay attention to such incursions from the world next door, and the people who continue their existence therein, whether the event occurs while one is awake or asleep. Most important of all, do not fear either ghosts or spirits. They will not harm you—only your own fear can do that. And fear is only the absence of information. By reading these lines, you are taking an important step toward the understanding of what ghosts and spirits really are.
The cases in this book are taken from my files, which are bulging with interesting experiences of ordinary people in all walks of life, and from all corners of the globe. The majority of the witnesses knew nothing about ghosts, nor did they seek out such phenomena. When they experienced the happenings described in these pages, they were taken by surprise; sometimes shocked, sometimes worried. They came to me for advice because they could not obtain satisfactory counsel from ordinary sources such as psychologists, psychiatrists, or ministers.
Small wonder, for such professionals are rarely equipped to deal with phenomena involving parapsychology. Perhaps in years to come they will be able to do so, but not now. In all the cases, I advised the individuals not to be afraid of what might transpire in their presence, to take the phenomenon as part of human existence and to deal with it in a friendly, quiet way. The worst reaction is to become panicky in the presence of a ghost, since it will not help the ghost and will cause the observer unnecessary anxiety. Never forget that those who are “hung up” between two phases of existence are in trouble and not troublemakers, and a compassionate gesture toward them may very well relieve their anxieties.
The people whose cases I tell of in these pages seek no publicity or notoriety; they have come to terms with the hauntings to which they were witness. In some cases, a haunting has changed a person’s outlook on life by showing him the reality of another world next door. In other cases, what was once fear has turned into a better understanding of the nature of humans; still other instances have permitted witnesses to the phenomena a better understanding of the situation of departed loved ones, and a reassuring feeling that they will meet again in a short time on the other side of the curtain.
Remember that any of the phenomena described here could have happened to you, that there is nothing supernatural about any of this, and that in years to come you will deal with apparitions as ordinary events, part and parcel of human experience.
Lastly, I would suggest to my readers that they do not get into arguments about the existence or nonexistence of ghosts and haunted houses. Everyone mu
st find their own explanations for what they experience, and belief has nothing to do with it.
Indeed, one of the most troubling aspects of today’s world is this matter of beliefs. The power of one’s beliefs is a frightening thing. People often believe in things and events whether they have actually happened or not. Because of beliefs people are murdered, wars are fought, crimes are committed. Disbelief, too, contributes its share of tragedies.
Beliefs—and disbeliefs—are emotional in nature, not rational. The reasoning behind certain beliefs may sound rational, but it may be completely untrue, exaggerated, taken out of context, or distorted.
Once belief or disbelief by one person becomes public knowledge and spreads to large numbers of people, some very serious problems arise: love and compassion go out the window, and emotionally tinged beliefs (or disbeliefs) take over, inevitably leading to action, and usually to some kind of violence—physical, material, emotional, or moral.
In this world of spiritual uncertainty, an everincreasing contingent of people of all ages and backgrounds want a better, safer world free of fanaticism, a world where discussion and mutual tolerance takes the place of violent confrontation.
It is sad but true that religion, far from pacifying the destructive emotions, frequently contributes to them, and sometimes is found at the very heart of the problem itself. For religion today has drifted so far from spirituality that it no longer represents the link to the deity that it originally stood for, when the world was young and smaller.
When people kill one another because their alleged paths to the deity differ, they may need a signpost indicating where to turn to regain what has been patently lost. I think this signpost is the evidence for humankind’s survival of physical death, as shown in these pages, the eternal link between those who have gone on into the next phase of life and those who have been left behind, at least temporarily.
