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A statement was made by a friend of mine the other day, and i thought i would post it here just to receive some feed-back. He stated that hauntings only occur when the individual was murdered or died a horrible death, and the spirit remained to justify or right the wrong. What are your views?

i do not belive that myself....

sometimes they do not realize that they died and do not know they need to pass over...

we have a ghost in my house....and he died of a drug overdose and he is a friendly.....lol annoying at times....and he never died a horrible death...

some are too scared to cross over knowing that they were horrible people alive and scared of what they face on the other side...

i am not sure if that helped or not lol

Tammy stated a very common reason. But I have noticed there is also the reason that they simply do not wish to go. They want to be near us and help us. Spirits.. in my view at least from waht i have learned. May move on or not if they wish. But to do so they have to be willing to understand they are dead and let go of how they passed. Now this is for hauntings that have some intellegence behind them. Not the as I call them recording ones that the same thing happens over and over and they seem unaware of anyhting or anyone about them.

I believe that a haunting occurs when a spirit is stuck between the living and the dead. That the spirit doesn't believe or realize that it's physical body is no longer living. I also believe that a spirit may linger if there are things that they need to have answered in order to move on to the spiritual world.

A lot of people associate the word "haunting" with a negative definition which may be where your friend's theory comes from. I believe there can be positive reasons that spirits hang around as well as what others have said...perhaps they just don't realize they've passed.

That is not true from what I have expierianced and seen. I have seen plenty of spirits that are just here. I do however find it a common misconception to believe that way. There was a family member that passed away on Dec. 26th, and It was two days ago that I saw her walking through the kitchen of my mother in laws house. She was not murdered nor did she suffer an untimley death. Does anyone have a clue where this whole belief of unfinished business being the reason to stick around originated? If it was said and I missed it I do apologize.

in all truth, i dont necessarily believe in hauntings at all. I mean, i know crazy shit happens, but whether ghosts are dead people, spirits and demons and all that, I dont really buy into it, at least not all the way. "I can doubt its existence, but I cant disprove it" What you're talking about sounds like the preview for "the grudge", fiction and nothing more. but hey, thats just my view, at least, again, for now. so until I see, understand, or experience something different, thats my take on it.

hence forth means starting from now..not with what was said before.
and I do agree with you that there are some so pissed off they are gonna do what damage they can. some do not want u there and will do what ever is necessary to get u out..had a few exp like that. but also one of a little girl in a red raincoat that would walk through the living room and leave..no muss no fuss..

This is a great thread, and I have enjoyed reading the postings here. I've been fascinated with the paranormal and supernatural since I was very young.

There is something I was wondering, though: From some of the postings here, it looks as if some believe that we have a choice as to whether or not we "cross over" after we die. Do you believe we can stay here if we choose to?

I was always under the impression that there was some sort of "outside" reason out of the spirit's control for their remaining here with us, but I'm really not sure.

"From some of the postings here, it looks as if some believe that we have a choice as to whether or not we "cross over" after we die. Do you believe we can stay here if we choose to?"

Awesome question, I didn't think about that, but that would be awesome, I know I'd stay around, if just to play with people's minds Muahahahahaha!!!

A lot of spirits don't know that they have died, so they stick around, repeatedly re-enacting what they did when they were alive.

As far as I know, when people talk about hauntings in a negative way, they are talking about poltergeists and such.

Most of the so called "hauntings" I know of have ghosts that are not hurtful, they just like to play pranks.

I beleive that hauntings are real, and I try to leave that side of with paranormal world alone.

i beleave that horntings are real and that a person that wants people to no there in a place can show it not just the people that have been wronged

I think that the hauntings where people get hurt are caused by the spirits that linger who have been hurt before and during their death. They just want other people to know what it's like and purposly scare them

Well, quite personally I think the whole bit about painful deaths, etc at the time of dying is complete BS. I don't think that one can really be in much pain at death because once you get to a certain point with pain, it's numbs a bit or you get pre-occupied with something else (thats what I like to believe, at least).

As far as hauntings go, I absolutely believe in them, and I think that an angry spirit could have come from a lifetime of hurt, happiness, whatever. Just because a ghost is happy or sad doesn't mean that its personality reflects what it's life was like.

Some are for the reasons given here already included the murder horrible death theory I think in some cases people just don't know there dead.
Pretty simple I know but I think some cases might show this to be true

There are some people, like your friend, that believe that a soul had to suffer a traumatic death in order to be trapped here as a wandering spirit. However, my belief is that a soul may wander the earthly plane simply because they have unfinished business.

Some wish to remain behind to watch over family and friends and are comfortable with not crossing over, as well as those who just do not realize they are gone.

There are haunted places that are more haunted by the energy of that actual event than the spirits.

I'd have to say not in all cases though. My grandfather has passed on and was not murdered, I still see him and talk to him. I guess it depends on the individual and what their beliefs are.

I donot agree with that some spirts that "haunt" are just lost and do not know hat they are dead.

I do not believe in the theory that they only stick around cause they were horrificly murdered or whatnot... I believe there is a reason, like something that they believe they left undone..unfinished business of some sort, or maybe they dont want to let go.

You people know how many dead people I hear/see that are just confused as hell??

Granted.... there's a lot of battlefields around here (it *is* the capitol of the confederacy) with lotsa dead people... but a lot of times they either WANT to stay... or they just dont get that they've "assumes room temperature" yet.

I'm sure that if a death is unavenged, or if someone died of a murder or violent death, that the haunting may be more powerful...but peaceful spirits can stay behind as well. I know, I have several that make their home in my house.

that might be true in some cases but not in all of them..... tammy rocked with her answer i think......and like many outhers have stated ... i belive that sometimes they just want to stay behind with there loved ones or that they dont know they are dead.......

I think a lot of it depends on the will of the person when they were alive; there have been cases of someone's dying wish not being carried out and their 'spirit' causing disturbances until their wish was fulfilled (think Auld Nance..)

Another theory is that certain buildings are conductive to recording the energies that cause hauntings. The atmosphere alone in a building can 'record' an event, usually traumatic or linked to a powerful emotion at the time, which is then played back over time, usually around the same time of year when the original conditions are replicated. This kind of phenomena are usually just called 'natural recordings' and the most common form is the Grey Lady. It's also the reason why some apparitions appear to walk through walls or float above the floor. It's simply that the wall wasn't there, or the floor was higher in their time when the 'recording' was made.

I don't think that anyone can conclusively say what causes a haunting, there are many factors involved. Suffice to say it's not just murders or violence that result in activity....

it may sound stupid but alot of ghost have unfinished buisness

bloodqueen - It does not sound stupid at all!

As I ahve stated in several other thread, i am skeptical by nature, but I do conceed the possibilitiy of ghosts "hauntings".

It seems that an untimely or violent death are at the center of many reports of hauntings. It seems hard for me to buy into the theory that ghosts "don't know they are dead". Unless ghost in the afterlife have to eat, drink, eliminate waste, sleep etc it would take a very dense intellect to not figure out the situation in short order.

IF ghosts exist I think they are here either because they feel they have a score to settle or have something to do before they are willing to follow the other passed spirits to wherever they go.

i believe ghosts come for all sorts of reaosns cause there lost or helpless stuck and frusterated, i have a ghost n my house lil girl form 1800's i call her katy she always smiles at me n disapears, i think shes looking for her mommy and thinks its me :).

I think haunting and haunted have different reasons. For example a haunted house is generally a ghoust or spirit that was killed and say wants to right the wrong but tends to do so on anyone in it's path. Now haunting on the other hand may be just a spirit who's not ready to cross that line into wherever they mwy be heading or it could be to help someone figure out a wrong and make it right. but who really knows for sure.

Thanks for pointing that out Kytrin (i think thats right) It was a typo or a brain fart eh ...
Well each to his own belief. Most ppl tend to want proof yet there are those who cannot find a way to believe what they see either. Metaphysics and apparitions are so closely linked that most don't see the possibility. As with anything in this world hauntings have been scientifically proven for decades now if not longer than that. To those who want proof then you should venture out more to places that can obtain such.
I live near Pawleys Island, SC and we all know that ghosts/spirits exist. There are not many locals who haven't seen the Greyman before a big hurricane is even forecasted to hit our coastline. Which he proves to be one that helps. There is also the grave of Alice. She is still in search of her engagwmwnt ring. You do not see her but your ring disappears from your finger & you only find it the next morn atop her gravestone. Guess that is one with unfinished business. My house is haunted & there seems to be no reason for him to stay except that he protects any child within these walls. He is quite curious & moves things a lot, we've named him Fred lol

that would be a residual ahunting that means it plays the scene of the crime or horrible death over a nd over again .. there are regular hauntings as well of spirits that wont crossover

ghoust are their for variousreasons. hauntings dont have to be ghosts. demons and ghouls and the like can be the cause of hauntings.

I bought a used trailer house in college. I never liked the back room. It was always about 20 degrees colder than the other parts of the house. (So I used the front bedroom instead of the back even though it was smaller & farther from the bathroom!) Anyway, I had this scary experience and "saw" this old man on my couch. I was telling this (too long to relate here) story to a friend of mine & she told me her brother who was a police officer worked the murder of that old man who died on my couch!

Hauntings can occur for a variety of reasons. The person might not have died a horrible death but instead may have a tie that binds their spirit to this world.

Some say that a few hauntings are nothing more than a etheric "recording" of what happened there long ago. But no, horrifying death is not a pre-requisite for a haunting.

I've had different experiences in hauntings it's such a mystery. I wish we knew all the answers we can speculate, but no one truely know.

I don't think that there has to be a tragedy for someone to stick around. Yes I do believe that happens but I also think sometimes they don't realize they r gone or they have unfinished business. I think that sometimes they stay around the people they love to look after them and to give that person a sense of sercurity to let them know that they r ok and they r there with them.

I believe ghosts can hang around for whatever reason. It doesnt matter if they died horribly....Maybe they do not know they are dead....The best way to find out is to become one :)

spirits come when they want to contact you for help, most need it and are lost or confused dont be afraid!

i belive hauntings happen all the time cause some of us actually see visions and within the visions they are being haunted.

I think it is a sense of responsability as well. To stay and protect their loved ones.
for example My grandmother had bad knees and she would walk the house three or four times a night she would open each door and close it after she was satified we were all breathing. We had hardwood floors and we could hear the floor creak as she passed. After she died the floors creaked every night 3 or 4 times a night. The bedroom doors would open and close each in turn down the hall. She died peacfully in her sleep at the age of 73.
I am curious of the recording theory My neighbor built his home on what was once a civil war cemetary. There had never been a house on the site and yet a dark haired woman would run up the stairs and down the hall and fling herself out the window every night.

Although a troubled spirit might be trying to communicate because of an untimely death, I don't think that is the only spirit that "haunts" or communicates. At least for those of us who are listening.

I think there can be many reasons why a spirit might linger.
Unfinished issues in ones life is an example I would think of.

I dont think all hauntings are what they make them out to be, I think alot of people that advertise such things are looking for alot of attention and money, myself i think hauntings do occur but are not to the extent of they advertise.

Having a horrible death can be a cause of why a spirit would want to "haunt" a place, but there are other reasons. Unrequited love, loniliness and other depressive states could of been tormented the person.
Also, they could be inhabitating the place with a benevolent will. Maybe they just want to hang around because they liked the place, or maybe they even want to help sometimes?

I think hauntings may occur at anytime an individual isnt able for whatever reason to accept death or understand that they are not with the living any longer. I think some are just confused spirits that need guidance .

I do not believe that myself

I do believe yes in most cases that is the truth, but there are still a few cases were there are hauntings and they have died piecefully. But LIke i said that is in a few cases and I am sure it is rare. but that is my opinion.

I don't believe that a spirit will linger only because of a horrible death. There are several noted hauntings where a spirit has lingered because it was searching for another. A love left behind, or a lost child. I also believe that there are just evil spirits...that simply linger because they are just to stubborn to move onto the next world.

Well I don't know all that much about hauntings or why a spirit would ant to haunt a place. But I've seen and hears things in my mothers house and my g/f's house. At my mothers, I didn't notice anything until my brother opened our great grandmother and grandfathers ashes. He opened them and spilled them on the basement floor. But the weird thing that happened was my grandmother started seeing her mother and talk to her at night. And then one day see went into a coma. And died shortly afterward.

indeed there are many reasons and not to mention possibilities for hauntings to take place.

Yes those are indeed circumstances that cause a spirit to become trapped in this plane. A spitit might also stay in this plane if they feel they have uncompleted business.

yeah they stay if they have "unfinished" buisness

yes i believe that 666 is right... they would stay only if having unfinished business then when they have completed their vengeance, or whatever and they would move on...

I will agree with Tammy on this.

it would probably mean if you had something to do with the death.

i believe either the spirit does not want to cross over, doesn't know how, or wasn't a very decent person in life and is stuck in this world

in my opinion ones soul will not move on untill it feels necessary.

Maybe some but not all. Some ghosts don't know that they are dead . If they died in that house we are the intruders to them. not the other way around.

This is a subject close to my heart, i have already made a post on this subject.. please go and have a look and read up on exactly what has been happening in my life, maybe we can share, if i can help i will...

I believe there are haunting but there are many reasons why the spirit may not move on and just stick around.

I would Just like to Witness this IN person to get an idea. That would be soo kool.

Like I said before, Yes I do believe they exist. I have seen them before, my son as well has seen them.

I believe in hauntings because i have seen things, but some spirits might not have murder victim or died a a horrible way.

Some hauntings occur when a spirit feels some thing is left un-finished. Or in some cases a loved one that passes will stay to look after the ones they left behind in the living world. Not all haunting are of a malevolent nature. Well there is my two cents on it anyway…lol

i dont believe that. as i stated in a thread many months ago that some spirits stay in a location because they like it. hauntings maybe but not all spirits.

I think your friend needs to stop watching the Grudge

i dont know why..i do know that the original owner of our house(and designer of our neighborhood , built in 50s) drifts through from time to time. occassionally a raccoon walks through the kitchen cabinets. i knew when my mother-in-law had passed and " heard "her clear as day. i knew when my dads mom passed . niether met with a violent end.

I think its because they simply are not ready to go yet, doesnt necessarily mean its because of a terrible death i think there are many other reasons as to why they hang around .

Hauntings can happen when some one Dies violently and wants justice or has business to finish, But can also come when someone has no Idea of where they should go or is to attached to this world and refuses to let go.

Yes that could be a way to see it but it could also be that the person who died left something behind that they needed to do or let someone have.

personally, i dont believe in hauntings or ghosts or things that go bump in the night. do they really exist? not sure, and i dont think we will ever have a real answer to everyones liking.

i dont belive thats true. not at all. loads of ppl just stay behind bc they want to, or they are traped bc they cant move on....

I think that is one of the reasons but not all of them...

I have heard of haunting that move with certain item, such as a painting, a old rocking chair, and a crib. These things may be something familar to the ghost so, they stay close to it. Same with a house. If someone dies at a hospital, they are more likely to go back to thier home. If this was not the case, hospitals and nursing homes would be overrun with spectural activity.

it can be as simple as someone not ready to accept they are dead.

I believe that a haunting can take place when the unsettle spirit can`t find rest , and is trapped in this earth bound plane..
For intance A girl is hitchhiking , and she get s hit by a car. She comes back to that same spot still trying to get to where her destination was, so her spirit still lingers the earth lost on its way.

I do not think that anyone will ever truly be able to explain this...
But I do know that We have had a spirit/ghost that has been with the family as far back as I can remember...
I have also heard that they are here for unfinished business, not sure I believe that. I think he/she is a protector of sorts. All of us in the family have seen it. But I also believe there is a reason for not passing over.

I think that people who stay and haunt a place are all sorts of people it all depends on the individual some stay because they don't want to cross over some because they are not ready to leave a loved one some even just come in visitation to help when needed. Not all spirits that haunt are the victims of a violent death.

i do not believe that also, i believe that it also has to do with unfinished business..ie the person could of had an outdstanding job to finish (i heard a story like that once), or maybe seeing their children grow up just a thought

that can be one of the causes but it could also be that when someone dies they feel the need to stay behind and watch over a love one. a haunting could be so many different things, it could be a message that the one that passed away is still there to protect the one they love, or simply a sign to becareful, i once lived in an apartment where there was a spirit of some kind i was falling asleep and i had something thrown at me when the object was clearly on the other side of the room when i awoke i had heard someone trying to break in. again violent deaths could be part of it or simple they have the need to stay on earth.

I Agree with BloodAngelX

I agree with bloodangelx. but in 60% of haunting cases the person has come to an untimely death.

Yes they can be cause by the person violent or mysterous death however that is not the only way they can haunt.. For example the person could have been happy and had passed un normal health conditions and the person comes back to haunt a area because they have unfished business.. There is no set times to capture ghost but of the better times are the person birthday,wedding aniversery etc..

A haunting can be for any reason....LOL...The scary ones are the ones with the death factor.

it depends. But i`d like to say that the majority of haunting do occur when a tragic accident has happened. (or maybe it was not an accident and it was on purpose if you catch my drift)

both yes and no. some ghosts stay back because of a violent death but also some because they wanted to and even some of them not knowing that they are dead

I have to agree with some of the people here...I think that some spirits linger on because they just dont want to do...they feel they should stay behind out of love or to protect the ones the love....sometimes I dont think that they realize they arent meant to move on to whatever comes after.

Tammy made some excellent points that I agree with. However, dying a sudden, violent, or horrible death could still be a factor, something we may never know for sure.

I believe that some spirits have not crossed over because of unfinished business, or because they do not even know that they are dead... Or it can even mean they no, but just are stubborn as they were in real life.. Things all have its own perceptions as to why it is here exactly here.. ~NFA

bullshit!!!!

I agree with you're friend when he says that hauntings occur when someone dies a terrible way. But ghost sightings are not always hauntings, so in case there is some kind of confusion ghost don't always haunt they also communicate with loved ones. Ghost show themselves for many reasons not just to haunt...

i totally agree w/ your friend and its true there is one in my house yet to reveal itself. but almost all houses have someone haunting or resting there until they complete there task.

I believe that hauntings occur either by a horrible experience in that person's death or just a quiet death.
I have had experiences with hauntings before, both good and bad. The house that I lived in as a little girl with my dad was haunted with cold and unfriendly ghosts. Never knew the history of the house but, all I know is that it was not good. I had been horribly haunted and terrorized by these ghosts while my short years living in that house.
I also had lost my father about a year and a half ago. He died peacefully, but I feel his presence and sometimes I can see a shadowy figure around or hear his voice. I was told by a family friend, that my father has some unfinished business. I agree with him. That is why I feel that he is hanging around to achieve these unfishished businesses.
I also feel that when something bad has happened in a person's life before he/she died or just had a horrible death, they will often replay the scene over and over again. People claim to see a flashback of a murder or visions of something horrible that had happened in the area they are in. Well, I think that they are seeing the replay of a bad happening from the past in a person's life.

absolutly false. My grandfather haunts the house He lived in till the day he died. at home, in his sleep. have been in many houses where ghosts lingered, and they were simply unaware they were departed from this life. Ghosts haunt a place for many reasons. some did die violent deaths. most dont.

I agree with tammy and would like to add that from what I have learnt and experienced, sometimes they spirit died suddenly and just didn't realise they had died so some need to be told basically that they have passed and its time to move on. Or they are attached to a living person and can't move on until that person has died.

I think your friend have seen The Grudge(Ju-On) one too many times.

There are many reasons as to why the spirits are amongst us, some to watch over us, some to just annoy or as Tammy said, they do notrealize that they are death.

It is very individual and I think we will never figure out the real reasons.

I think that sometimes it maybe the cause of death and at other times i think that they hae left to soon to even know or they just dont want to go

Or it could be that the living will not let go of them trapping them here in some fashion.

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