The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

There have been many people who have claimed to have seen ghosts or apparitions in certain areas... when more than one report of the same or a similar apparition occurs, it becomes a little more tangible in the minds of others, and often times the area in which the ghost is seen is dubbed as 'haunted'.

What about when a poltergeist is reported... or just when strange things happen in a certain area? Does this make that area 'haunted', persay?

For instance, if one blacks out often when in a certain place... feels 'not like themselves' or uneasy... if a cup is knocked over by an invisible force... does this count as being 'haunted'? Or is an apparition of some sort generally required [in your opinion]?

My question is this:

What, in fact, makes a certain place 'haunted' or not?

what makes a place haunted is when there are spirits there. But to call it haunted u have to have proof that there is something paranormal there

It is not nessessarilly haunted when a specter shows itself to you, or manifests itself in any particular fashio ie. dropping that cup.

A place may be active, but not haunted. As the term haunted represents a place of unrest, darkness, or otherwise decadent atmosphere. Ominous to the senses. As if, as you have stated, a poltergeist were present.

Hauntings are usually achieved when a tragic event occurs. Such as a murder or suicide.

Ghosts are ghosts, this is paranormal. Hauntings are as stated above. More than an ominous presents or atmosphere.

Yes I agree with soulshroude. A haunting would be negative but not all places that have ghosts have negative ghosts. As it is, some poltergeists just like to mess around and it is more a in a teasing playful way than in a way to scare you. So I would say that there is a resident ghost... but not a haunting.

Also I don't think a sighting would be required because I have read that only about 5% of people who experiance ghost activity actually see a ghost.

I think it be haunting when humans discover it and starts to mess with it.

I would say determing if a place is haunted is most likely based o what the people that reside or frequent that place feel or see. Usually haunted places have some kind of history relating the the haunting. You or I may not see or feel the apparition but others might. Is there a way to prove it scientifically? I'm not big on this topic so I don't know.

People can be haunted as well as a specific place. You could always go to the county records and check on the history of your home and then look those people up for any thing of significance that could help to see why things happen there. Homes or business near a haunted place can suffer from that haunting as well.

I would say that if an event takes place several times in one area that it could be considered haunted.

something holds the spirit there

personly I would say a place. or thing.. or person is haunted when a spirit decided to attach itself. not seeing or feeling it does not change that it is there.

Of course we always have google search :-)

basically what constitutes a place being haunted would be

Re-occurring ghostly phenomena that returns to a location where no one is physically present. Ghosts generally haunt places and not people.

I believe also that people can be haunted as well as places. Some of us that are open to it seem to just draw certain energies to ourselves.

here would be a good set of criteria to look for:
1. can the occurances be explained by any other means such as the people experianceing it inadvertantly doing something or expecting to feel something and as a result actually makeing thier expectations true?
2. Are the experiances reepeated over by othrs or has only one person seen, heard, experianced or felt something?
3. Is there documentations to colobaorate with the sensations or occurances.
4. Is there any evidence?
all that being said then i would say if you can meet the cirteria and remove all points of contension you have a haunting

where portals exist there can be a heavy presence of activity portals could be small or big what creates portals is open to forum ...could be like some have mentioned tragic events, fond memories (of a place),or mental gravity (how strongly people retain a ghost).Echoing images seem to be a common apparition (ie.the ghost of a person walking into a room where they hung themselves ...with a rope in their hands)The question you ask stirred my studies.Thank you.

I never thought of haunted as having negative connotations because not all spirits are malicious or dark, like poltergeists. I always thought "haunted" merely alluded to the ongoing presence of a spirit or spirits...

I think that what makes a place haunted is that there is paranormal activity there, that people have experienced this activity, and that evidence can be obtained to prove that such activity exists there.

I think "haunted" is more a state of mind. there are spirits and apperitions all around us all the time some of which may be stuck in one place or another due to circumstance. But I thiink "haunted" is a term dubbed by society rather then something that just is.

When a place is "haunted" there is visual proof that there are spirits there. but you must have proof in order to call it haunted or something paranormal there.



Lady horror

a repeated presence of something unexplainable

Ghosts living in a dwelling makes it haunted.

spirits abiding in a place would make it haunted. I do not believe in ghosts, but I do believe in "familiar spirits" or spirits that were attacted to the person while they were alive.

Rev. Ravyn

Aren't spirits technically ghosts, though?

What makes a certain place a cemetary, there are dead buried there.

What makes a certain place a garage, you park your car and/or store things there.

What makes a certain place haunted, there are spirits there.

i think it is when strange thing happen that can not be explained any other way possible way.

Good question, I've never really thought about it but surely it's a place that has spirits present? Maybe what is haunted to one person would be different for someone else

talk bout haunting i once lived in this trailor and in the room i slept in there were three female ghost that tortured me but nobody believed me until we moved and someone else went through the same stuff i went through

there are some historical sites here in san diego county that are noted to be haunted... not all the ghosts who haunt are negative.

there are strange things that can happen anywhere.

Have been to many haunted places... sometimes feeling something and seeing something and other times not.

First time dealing with a haunting was when I was 4 years old in the home we lived in.

I would say along similiar lines also. However, photographs laden with orbs help to evidence paranormal activity

Alot of the hauntings I've heard about and seen are due to the fact that the land itself has the spirit energy still in it. It is not always the house or buildings that are haunted. It's not easy to rid a structure of hauntings when it's the land.

Strictly speaking, a haunt is defined as a place frequented by a particular being, whether human, animal or other.

So I would say that anywhere which has had more than one regular occurence of any supernatural activity - be it orbs, apports or full blown apparitions - would be considered haunted.

I have had a ghost visit my flat, but as it only happened the once I don't consider it a haunted place.

Orbs are a whole other situation. People have so many controversial stories about orbs.

www.ghoststudy.com has an interesting section on orbs.

I've always though of orbs as a kind of visible residue of an entity, but if they're the only evidence of a 'haunting', I wouldn't really count them. There's far too many things that could cause an orb to rely on them.

but all people that suffer those typ of symptoms does not always mean that it is a haunting there are high energy readings or say a leak in your electrical out lets or wireing or box. that can cause dizzyness head aches and halucinations . so people experiencing this should looks to more natural causes like the electrical or too much fermaldihide in carpets have about the same symptoms get your places checked out then if it turns out nothing wrong then maybe you do have an unexplained pharanormal. pharanormal hauntings can cause those symptoms also . especialy when they change the bareametric pressure when trying to manafest or show themselves . but in most instances it proves to be faulty wireing or some chemical found in rugs or something in that oragine.

it depends on what happened in the place that is being haunted. if someone died tragically or if a war went on...ect.

Hello again folks,

Many of you know about the false positive craze that struck the 80's and 90's, on up untill today, known as orbs. The concept of people thinking every "orb" they see is in fact a legit orb, makes my mind boggle. And here's why.

Legit orbs are nothing more than natural energy that can be recreated in labs. Now on another note, there are scientists researching immensely on if orbs are, or not natural energy, but energy on a spiritual level. I personally stick with the general sensus within the scientific aspects of this field, by saying that most orbs seen in potographs are in fact a number of natural mundane causes.

These causes can be dust, bugs, lens flare, light refraction, moisture, insulation, and many other possibilities as well. It could also be from the wrong flash setting which could lead to double exposure. Matrixing also plays a huge part. If one were to see a face in a "orb," it was because their brain wanted to see it. Our brains are "programmed" to spot out faces or other familiar objects in what we cannot entirely focus on. And this is something that does need to be taken seriously, and not easily overlooked, or bypassed.

Yes its been know that Orbs can appear when a ghost is trying to manafest but thats cause of the change in the energy in the air. Ghost are said to draw energy out of the air and outher sorcess in order to take shape and been seen, does that mean everyone is a ghost no.

This is just my opinion

actuly my school that im at now is haunted by some good and evil spirits and some times its cool to see them and talk to them but theres one bad one its a guy and hes not so nice if you want to know more about my school please message me to know more cause i will tell you some of the experiences that i had

i'm not sure about that one. i guess when you see a ghost with your very own eyes.

For a place to be haunted it has to be occupied by some super natural entity

I'v seen ghost's in my house..My husbands parents built this house and both died in it. They say you can only see the lower half of a spirit..I was in bed one night and saw a pair of feet walking down the hall. I'v also smelled the scent she wore.

I see orbs in many photos I take.... and mostly indoors. The ones outdoors can be blamed on moisture for the most part. Indoors, sometimes reflections.....but there are some that are truly really orbs.

Do you believe, then, that a person, too, can be haunted as opposed to a place? Many of you have described someplace that is haunted as a location in which repeated unexplained 'supernatural' incedent occur. What if these hauntings attatch themselves to a person rather than a place? Do you think it is possible?

I decided rather than try to write this out because I get a little windy I would just put an excerpt and let you follow up if you so choose.

The poltergeist model is that of a situation caused by the subconscious mind of a living agent, generally someone in the household undergoing emotional and/or psychological stress. Like the Poltergeist, a Haunting relies on the living to know it’s there. Unlike a poltergeist case, where the phenomena is caused by the agent, a haunting is received by the experient (witness who has the experience). Hauntings actually show that we are all psychic receivers (clairvoyant) to some degree.

In haunting cases, people report seeing (or hearing or feeling or even smelling) a presence (or several) typically engaged in some sort of activity. It could be a man's figure walking up and down the hallway, or footsteps heard from the attic, or a man and woman physically fighting until one is dead, or even the sounds of two people making love coming from an adjoining room.

The events and figures witnessed in hauntings tend to be repetitive both in what's experienced and when they occur (at approximately the same time). Speaking with the "ghosts" tends to do no good, because they just continue to go about their business, as though you're not even there.

In haunting cases, researchers have found that people oblivious of the phenomena when they first walk in will very likely pick up something in the same spots in the house as the primary experients. This indicates that something in the environment at those spots exists on some level, physical or psychic.
In some haunting cases, after a time physical objects may begin to move. How can a "recording" move things? In these cases, it would appear that the PK of the witnesses' subconscious minds starts acting in play. In other words, your subconscious mind, undoubtedly picking up even more than your conscious mind is, begins to help the story along because of your expectation of what occurs in ghost cases. By expecting more to happen, more happens.

Finally, we come to actual spirits: Apparitions of the dead (though there are thousands of reported cases of apparitions of the living). An apparition is our personality (or spirit, soul, consciousness, mind or whatever you want to call it) surviving the death of the body, and capable of interaction with the living (and presumably other apparitions).

What separates an apparition from a haunting ghost is that idea of interaction. If a haunting is like a replay of videotape, an apparition is a video conference call. While speaking to the videotape brings no response, the conference call allows for two-way communication.

Excerpt: From " A Ghostly Review", LOYD AUERBACH, M.S.
Director, The Office of Paranormal Investigations
Adjunct Professor, JFK University
Consulting Editor, FATE Magazine
President, Psychic Entertainers Assn.
More here: http://www.modernways.com/ghostly_review.html

what makes a certian place haunted is when you walk into that place and the very hair on your arm stands striaght up or when you have a cold chill go over you. all of these things can point to a haunted area.

I think many people have pointed it out rather clearly.

A haunted place is more the feel of a place. You sense the tragic history which does tend to draw spirits anyway or keep spirits there because of the energy surrounding it.

A haunting lasts for years where as a poltergeist comes only for a short time. To be haunted there has to be an ongoning presence in the area, that repeadetly causes trouble of fear,

i think that if you know its haunted then you should treat that place with more respect then you do any where else

Just because a spirit knocks something over does not mean the house is haunted. We are visited by spirits all the time. Some are passing through, others stay a while.

What makes a place haunted, is when a poltergeist or other evil or mischievous entity is staying there, messing with people, screwing things up, etc.
I think there are different kinds of spirits, most of them calm...So much so that the average person doesn't realize they're around.

well sometimes even an "average" person can sense when somethings there. some more than others. several learn to deal with it & doesn't let it bother them.

my college is haunted its so cool but it can be scarry theres a few girls in the dorms and theres a guy up stairs in the study lounge but the thing is i actuly got posest by one spirit and it wasnt fun at all

it all depends on what occured there recently or years before

ok, so i'm the member on here who's the supposed skeptic, crying for empirical evidence...but this is one area i can soundly say that i DO have extensive experience in and i am a FIRM believer in the existence of spirits and energies, trapped in a place or area, that would cause a "haunting".

i think mostly it's due to(caused by) spirits not wanting to move forward, who are still confused and don't think they're dead...

as copied from Wictionary:

Haunted
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up Haunted in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Haunted may refer to:
Contents [hide]
1 Paranormal phenomena
2 Film and television
3 Literature
4 Music
[edit]Paranormal phenomena

Haunted house, a building believed to be a centre for supernatural occurrences
Haunted locations, sites of reported ghostly activity
[edit]Film and television

I don't know if I would call this a haunting,But I have two spirits that follow me whereever I move.They don't scare me they show me things,It's so strange to descripe,but I don't think they mean me harm,They do mess with my roommate sometimes.I think one of their favorite things is to slam doors.They are forever waking me up with that.....

probably your very sarcastic spirit guides...fun loving and a wee bit "chit-starting".

boggarts are angered spirits... they can stalk a human for years...

yep, and they need to be gotten rid of.

yep, i'd call up the Ghost Hunters and have my 15 Minutes O' Ghostie Fame....

TAPS lol, who ya gonna call, dun dun dun dun...lol ghost busters. I know a few areas that are considered haunted, its sad the energy in those places, and the spirits that remain.

i guess it would need spirits to be a haunting..

if a place has ghost it is haunted. simple as that.

you can out smart a boggarts or sleep with a horse shoe, both will get ride of it .... just dont name it... or your up a creak with out a paddle for sure

I place that is haunted has ghosts that live there or pass through

I think something tragic has to happen in order for there to draw ghosts to that point. But I agree that there does have to be more than one sighting in order for it to be called haunted.

that is a very good question...but to me all those thing's are considered haunted..or like some say thing's happen when discovered that would be a spirit and spirits can haunt or whatever You want to call it..No one knows for sure exactly but some thing's don't happen on their own...

I am going to say the same thing as most here...there needs to be more than one person who has witnessed it and some kind of proof.

many wants proof on anyt haunted place but i do believe in haunted places because depending on things and peoples beliefs anything possiable.. but i would be scared.

I think what makes a place haunted is the presense of a spirit of some kind be it the spirit of a human or the spirit of some other entity

I live very close to place that IS haunted and has been proven to be haunted. Chickamauga Battlefield. It is said that the spirits of those who dies in the battle there are the ones that roam, but it has also been proven that loved ones such as wives, roam there too looking for their dead lovers. I can't explain it. Nor do I pretend to know how it happens, but I know for fact that it does. I have witnessed things there on more than one occasion. Actually, I go there all the time to see what I can find.

I've lived in many haunted houses, and what made them seem haunted was that doors were opening and closing by themselves, white fog-like shapes appeared at night, footsteps could be heard when everyone was sitting down, things would get knocked off from their shelves... etc.. but I'm guessing it's a poltergeist.

I kind of thought that the difference between a place being occupied by ghosts and the technical term of it being haunted was that haunted means that they are apparent...they can be supposedly felt and heard by anyone not just a poltergeist.

All right.. so if someone or something that wasn't alive pulled the sheets off me while i was sleeping but it made no actual contact with me, would it have been a ghost or a poltergeist?

i think if something bad happens in a spot it CAN LEAVE ENERGY

Spirits or Ghost often have an attachment to a physical object, place or area. They remain for many different reasons, a loved one left behind, unfinished business, lost their way and the list goes on. Even with todays technology, we do not have a mechanical/electronic device that will detect these spirits/ghost. The detectors sold on the market today are believed to detect. The only way of detection is that I am aware of comes from people who have the gift of communication with the dead.

Bites and Kisses,

The Daywalker

To rigg a house is tricky but to rigg a house as it is built is a real treat more sofisticated rigs can by instaled and a "randow" switch can be set in the frame work of the house.Poltergeist are another form of rigging but is also the manifestation I most believe in and have still unaccounted for experiance with.

I should state I do "haunt houses" I have haunted a church as well for a youth group pasture.If you know the feats possible in the temple contraptions in the bible it would trim down the research field for real ghost hunts but remember also that as technology comes into to play to detect rigs and switch work the engineers up the rigs even sneaker.

ghost apparesions might not always be intelagent haunts they could be a video recorder playing over and over know as a resigual haunt there not intelegent and dont know you are there . an intelegent haunt cane in instances be known to open doors tip things over move things turn lights on etc. a demonic haunt can usually be more forcefull and can hurts ya or really play with your mind.... most cases they are drawn to a certain object place ,house ,property and even people . but there are outher known causes and effects that can cause people to feel dizzy or black out or be come nauseated and hallucenate also .. such as high emf readings wich are caused from leakages of electricity in your breaker boxes appliances wireing and etc . id say anyone experienceing thes typs of symptoms get your house checked out and make sure your not suffreing from something like that.......

the presence of a spirit, obviously, is required for a place to be haunted. a haunting doesnt mean that the spirit is evil though.

My question is, if the entity makes itself known but is causing no emotional distress or any other inconvenience, is it really haunting, or merely existing?

I agree with Sintori.
Many people think that because a place is 'haunted' that the spirit is evil, but that's not true.

There's nothing I can tell you that hasn't already been said. The activity just has to be constant adn with some tangable evidence.

I have never been to a haunted place but I know that they exist

There might be countless places where spirits/ghosts hang around after their death. A haunting is only if they have the capability of making their presences known to us.

yes but proof of a haunting is hard to prove sometimes

But haunting are easy to engineer.

If a spirit inhabits an area... that area is "haunted", though I don't quite like the term "haunted". Just because a cup falls off a table when nobody is around, doesn't mean that place is inhabited by as spirit. One must prove that there is something there.

I am never really sure if a place is haunted or not. I often see flashes and blurs out of the corner of my eye. I have never really felt threatened by them but they can be a tad bit unsettling at times.

Honestly any area with paranormal activity is a haunted place... some are just worse then others...

I BELIEVE WEN OTHER PEOPLE EXPIERENCE THE SAME FEELING OR SEE THE SAME THING HAPPEN THEN MAYB HAUNTED....

Kitty raises an interesting point, allbeit loudly lol

What if only one person, 'sees/feels' a haunting and others do not ?

Is that a haunting ?

This is interesting. There are alot of similar answers here too..
Isn't it as simple as a hunting being a paranormal activity?

When threads go for a long time, the answers all begin to lump together.

A place can be haunted by ghosts or residue of an event or events of such a magnitude to have the event repeat over and over..like watching a tape over and over but the ghosts are no longer there.

i personally think that when more than one person claims to have seen it the rest are justing trying to get attention one may have but tons is unlikely.

A place would be haunted if a spirit attaches it self there, other wise it could be attached to a person in the room.

to me a "haunted place" is somewhere where something happens that cant be explained. Weither its seeing something, or something moving, or not feeling right, or just about anything that is out of the norm.

I agree with soushroude on this one. I have heard that before. It is also said that in order for it to be haunted it must be a frequent thing. For instance on ghost hunters. They say all the time that there is paranormal activity but that does not mean a place is necessarily haunted.

THe definition of haunted is :
1. To frequent; to resort to frequently; to visit pertinaciously or intrusively; to intrude upon.

2. To inhabit or frequent as a specter; to visit as a ghost or apparition.

The definition of paranormal activity is :
Paranormal is often used to denote unusual experiences that lack an obvious scientific explanation.

(definition of haunted from http://www.dictionary.net/haunted)

(definition of paranormal activity from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_activity)

I hope that helped out. Basically it says what soulshroude was saying. Just now you have exact definitions for the terms haunted and paranorma activity.

The events that take place and how they are perceived and recorded will leaded to the haunted designation of a place. Some spots do attract lots of paranormal activity.

This thread has been automatically closed for length.