But when I read this it made a lot of sense. In fact it basically sums up what is going on in the world of 'ghost hunters'. I remember a time when we looked for evidence of ghostly activity and this was before the glut of US "paranormal" programmes and their copy cats revealed to us that every single haunting is "a gateway/portal/door to Hell" and that there were no ordinary ghosts but "demonic entities" and "demons" -if -if- we believed all of these programmes then they are finding 'hards evidence' every single day of the week -"Hey, Bill just invented this and it detects the ghosts energy so we know where it is" (the most incredible bull-shit I've ever heard).
This article, however, I thought ought to be read by a few more people.
How To Kill A Ghost – The Haunted Housewife’s “Occult Kitchen”
One of the most challenging obstacles ghost hunters face is navigating through the muck and mire of the paranormal world. They must weed through each report and rule out natural explanations, misidentifications, psychological front loading, embellishments, and intentional hoaxes.The reports are many but the true hauntings are few. Unusual doesn’t necessarily mean paranormal. The power of suggestion and expectation can create the illusion of a paranormal occurrence where nothing abnormal exists. In a sense, we can create ghosts.
The reverse is just as misleading and far more devastating to those who believe. Destroy the idea and you kill the ghost. Not in the Sam and Dean Winchester Supernatural salt-and-burn-the-bones kind of way, but destroy it nonetheless. In fact I have killed many ghosts.
To kill a ghost you must first understand how they are created. You must be able to decipher between what is natural, supernatural, and psychological.
Our minds can take an idea and give it life. We conjure this ghost, give it power by our belief, wishing it to be true – like a tulpa or though form being. Although unintentional in many cases, sometimes this process is deliberate. Certain reality television shows who need a ghost to be real will often do this. They take an odd occurrence, develop it into a mystery which in turn grows into an enormous legend, twisting the truth to fit a colorful story, and add a dash of skewed history for authenticity. Viola! Now they’ve created a ghost!
One thing that helps this type of ghost “live” is the power behind the belief system. A legend grows with every telling of the tale, with each reported encounter, and every attempt at communication. This, in theory, is why places like The Ohio State Reformatory or Waverly Hills Sanatorium are said to be so haunted – the constant “calling” of the spirits by visitors and the expectation of finding a ghost.
Not all ghost hunters do much original research. Instead they hear the legends and expand on what others have done before them. If the accepted story is that the ghost of a little boy named Timmy haunts the halls of a famous abandoned TB hospital, then most investigators use that information as a starting point. They’ve heard the stories, the EVPs, seen the fuzzy dust filled photographs, and just go with it. They continue along this train of thought and expect to find Timmy.
How do they know for sure it is Timmy? How do they know it’s even a child’s spirit? The truth is, they don’t know with whom or with what they are communicating when conducting a paranormal investigation.
you can find the full article here: http://jimharold.com/how-to-kill-a-ghost-the-haunted-housewifes-occult-kitchen/
