Differentiating between a Residual and True Intelligent Haunting

Not all places believed to have paranormal activity are haunted. For those that do have at least some level of non-natural activity they can and should be categorized by being either a residual haunting or a true intelligent haunting.    


A Residual Haunting

In the terminolgy of what is regarded as a residual haunting, it is best described as repeated playbacks of auditory, visual, olfactory and other sensory phenomena that are attributed to a place for where a person has died.

It's likely more noticeable for longer periods of time due to a traumatic event, life-altering event, or a routine event of a person or place, like an echo or a replay of a video-tape of past events.

These types of hauntings are more common in areas where something highly emotional or traumatic occurred. It is the most common of all hauntings that may be experienced.

Paranormal Investigators and related paranormal television programs say that a residual haunting, unlike an intelligent haunting, does not directly involve a spiritual entity aware of the living world and cannot interact or respond to us in the living world.

In a residual haunting situation, no matter how frightening it feels, the footsteps, the smells sights or other sounds, it is residual and cannot physically harm us.   

In a residual haunting, such as a ‘high residual’ situation where even an apparition may be sighted, it will have no knowledge of your presence and will not interact with you, it simply cannot. They could be thought of as simply like a hologram and without interactions with us in our living world.  

A residual spirit could walk right into you and never know you were there. It can’t, there is nothing left of the person whom once felt the emotions that caused the event to stay imprinted in a time or place. The spirit that caused the residual imprint may be even centuries dead, but still the residual imprint continues on.

While this type of haunting may appear to be very real, it does not have a conscious level like an intelligent haunting does. It’s believed by many paranormal investigators whom research the histories of sites and old buildings that these residual hauntings typically are created by the energy of a certain location. Some beliefs also that the composition of some building materials may sustain the residual effects.  

Certain smells, sights and sounds may be experienced with this type of haunting. It’s common to notice that the same events, smells, sights, sounds, footsteps, musical tunes, or musical instruments may be experienced in a repetitive manner. Eventually, the haunting may simply go away on its own because it loses the energy that helped to create it with the passage of time.


An Intelligent Haunting

In the terminology of paranormal investigating, an intelligent haunting (also known as a classic or true haunting) differs significantly from a residual haunting.

An intelligent haunting is a haunting in which a spiritual entity is aware of you and the surroundings. The haunting that is considered to be “Intelligent” can be experienced in any location at any time.

Many paranormal investigators may refer to these types of spirits as “smart” or “smart ghosts”, they may even call them “real ghosts”.
This type of haunting is believed to have some level of consciousness about it. This basically means that they are able to interact with individuals on the physical plane, such as you and me.

If you experience this type of haunting, the following may be experienced;

You may witness an apparition. This may appear as a full body, half body, a mist, a shadow figure or something similar. It is possible to hear voices, or whispers with your own hearing and not just on audio recording devices.

Many have actually been physically touched in an intelligent haunting situation. Objects close-by may be moved, knocked over, opened, closed and similar other events may be experienced. It is not uncommon to smell certain scents - this can be virtually any type of scent. You may smell a floral scent, cigars, perfume, talc, or even a very strong odour that is displeasing.

In an intelligent haunting these effects of smell, sounds and certain sights can be similar or even misinterpreted as simply residual effects, however, certain differences are quite clear such as interactions are very possible, but as stated above, they are not at all possible in a residual haunting.

Differentiating between Residual and Intelligent

During an investigation any actions received in a timely and consistent manner to variable requests may likely be part of an intelligent and true haunting. This could include items or objects being moved or real time audio interaction. 

Voice interaction by an intelligent spirit may likely answer questions that are in a timely and consistent manner to a question being asked. Those may be audible in real time hearing, or by the later review of audio recordings.

Some audio recorders designed for paranormal investigations allow for real time interaction with spirits such as the (ITC) Intercontinental Communications; RT-EVP digital audio recorder. Others continue to be developed and then tested.

If a door or window is opened or closed (unassisted by natural or man-made factors) or maybe a banging on a door or wall could be repeated, then it’s likely to be part of an intelligent haunting. If investigation trigger objects such as a static EMF-REM Pod can be set off, and by request(s) be repeated to activate the audio alarm and/or its lights, then it’s likely to be part of an intelligent haunting.

Portable spirit box devices such as the P-SB7 or Ghost Shack were designed for such integration being able to connect with intelligent spirits, but any connection will be more by chance while automatically scanning radio frequencies in reverse. That could easily come with errors of judgement due to the crossing of radio frequencies.

The manufacturer of one earlier device, the ITC ovilus; stated by trials and tests that it has a less than 10% accuracy, and similar can be said for other digital phonetic devices that are often marked at their place of sale “for entertainment purposes only”. The RT-EVP digital audio recorder has become a more useful popular item among equipment used by many investigators.

An intelligent haunting “interacts”, a residual haunting will not, it cannot. In an intelligent haunting we could be physically harmed, as stated above, in a residual haunting no physical harm can be inflicted by a residual spirit.

An Intelligent Haunting may include repeated interactions as a way to confirm such a difference from being simply residual, so long as interfering factors and/or mistakes are not inclusive towards any determination.

For any building site, we, Paranormal Paratek (if there is any signs of activity taking place) we have always focused on the differentiation between either residual or by the greater less than average chance an intelligent haunting is present to determine what level of haunting is occurring.

From low residual we may include familiar scents, mild random footsteps, certain low level odd sounds recorded on audio. Temperature changes are noticeable.

A moderate residual haunting may have more frequent effects taking place such as those smells sights and sounds although not necessarily stronger effects may occur.

For a high level residual haunting we may even see a part or full bodies apparition, but one that cannot, does not interact with us or any equipment no matter how much effort one tries.  Temperature changes are common and loud footsteps may be heard quite frequently.

A high level residual haunting may seem very similar to that of a true 'intelligent' haunting but it will be without interactions of any kind, it will always be no more than just a residual haunting.
 


 

Linking Dreams To The Paranormal

Parts to this article relate to:
1) Dreams
2) REM - Sleep
3) The Stages of Sleep
4) Linking Dreams and the Paranormal
5) Dreams - A Gateway to the Psychic World
6) Dream Trivia Facts

Part 1 - Dreams

One third of your life is spent sleeping. In an average lifetime, you would have spent a total of about six years of it dreaming. That equates to more than 2,100 days spent in a different realm.

The scientific study of dreams is called Oneirology. Scientists also believe that birds, reptiles and other mammals also dream. Dream interpretations date back to between 4000-5000 BC in Mesopotamia where they were documented on clay tablets. Dreams can last a few seconds to 20 minutes and people are most likely to remember them if awakened during the REM period.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), considered to be the “Father of the study of dreams” believed that nothing you do occurs by chance, that every action and thought is motivated by your unconscious at some level. Freud believed that the unconscious expresses itself in a symbolic language.

Part 2 - REM sleep

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a normal sleep stage characterized by the rapid and random movement of the eyes. Rapid eye movement sleep is classified into two categories: tonic and phasic.

In 1953, Dr Nathaniel Kleitman, a Professor of Physiology at the University of Chicago and his student Eugene Aserinsky identified and defined Rapid Eye Movement (REM) while experimenting on students and later on Kleitman’s daughter.
 
Criteria for REM sleep includes; rapid eye movement, low muscle tone and a rapid, low voltage EEG. REM sleep in adult humans typically occupies 20-25% of total sleep, about 90-120 minutes of a night's sleep.

REM sleep is considered the lightest stage of sleep and normally occurs close to morning. During a normal night of sleep, humans on average experience about 4-5 periods of REM sleep, they are quite short at the beginning of the night and longer toward the end.

Many animals and some people tend to wake, or experience a period of very light sleep, for a short time immediately after a bout of REM. The relative amount of REM sleep varies considerably with age. A newborn baby spends more than 80% of total sleep time in REM.

During REM, the activity of the brain's neurons is quite similar to that during waking hours and for this reason, the REM sleep stage may be called paradoxical sleep.Those who are awakened right after a REM sleep are able to recall their dreams more vividly than those who slept through the night until morning. Often responses will be that they were in the middle of a dream.

Several theories are proposed in relation to REM sleep;

Memory: Certain memories are recalled during sleep. Stimulation of CNS development: as a primary function. This theory provides the neural stimulation that newborns need to form mature neural connections for proper nervous system development defensive immobilization. Shift of gaze: The theory of shifting your gaze whilst dreaming.

It is also suggested that deprivation of REM may lead to psychological disturbances, although mild, but may include anxiety, hallucinations, low appetite leading to eating disorders, irritability, depression and at times, aggression.

The stages in the sleep cycle are organized by the changes in specific brain activity.

Part 3 - The Stages of Sleep


Stage 1:
You are entering into light sleep. This stage is characterized by non-rapid eye movements (NREM), muscle relaxation, lowered body temperature and slowed heart rate. The body is preparing to enter into deep sleep.

Stage 2:
Also characterized by NREM, this stage is characterized by a further drop in body temperature and relaxation of the muscles. The body's immune system goes to work on repairing the day's damage. The endocrine glands secrete growth hormones, while blood is sent to the muscles to be reconditioned. In this stage, you are completely asleep.

Stage 3:
Still in the NREM stage, this is an even deeper sleep. Your metabolic levels are extremely slow.

Stage 4:
In this stage of sleep, your eyes move back and forth erratically as if watching something from underneath your eyelids. Referred to as REM sleep or delta sleep, this stage occurs at about 90-100 minutes after the onset of sleep. Your blood pressure rises, heart rate speeds up and respiration becomes erratic as brain activity increases. Your involuntary muscles also become paralyzed or immobilized. This stage is the most restorative part of sleep. Your mind is being revitalized and emotions are being fine-tuned. The majority of your dreaming occurs in this stage. If you are awakened during this stage of sleep, you are more likely to remember your dreams.

These stages repeat themselves throughout the night as you sleep. As the cycle repeats, you will spend less time in stages 1 to 3 and more time dreaming in stage 4. In other words, it will be quicker for you to get to stage 4 each time the cycle repeats.


Part 4 - Linking Dreams to the Paranormal


Dream Telepathy
Telepathy is defined as the transfer of information from one mind to another without any apparent channel of communication. Dream Telepathy is the transfer of dream content, the exchange of ideas, images or contact in dreams. It involves gaining access to information to which you should not have been able to have access to.

Precognition & Déjà Vu
Precognition Déjà Vu, are to be aware about an event before it actually occurs. Precognitive dreaming involves seeing images or idea forms in dreams that pertain to events that have not yet unfolded in our own world. The essential ingredient is that the information comes about events that at some later time unfold and the dream image is present.

Mutual Dreaming
A mutual dream is a special case of telepathy in which two people meet in a dream, engage each other in some way and wake in their separate worlds.

Lucid Dreaming
It is being sufficiently aware in your dream that you can guide the content. You are at least vaguely aware that you are in dreaming as you dream. For example, you might think "I must dream this", and then decide to leave your current dreamscape and go flying elsewhere. In a fully lucid dream you think clearly and remember clearly. You become awake in the dream. This is the basis of astral travel.

OBE - Out of Body Experience
Sometimes confused with lucid dreams but with a number of different characteristics. Commonly you experience leaving your physical body and appear to float outside of it.

Often these experiences coincide with a physical crisis, such as a severe illness or a NDE (Near Death Experience) described as being intensely real. Often regarded as 'astral' meaning starry body. OBEs do not always require such extreme circumstances, and many healthy people claim the ability to leave their physical bodies, and to astral travel at will.

NDEs - Near Death Experiences
For the many whom have narrowly escaped death or even clinically died and then come back to life, have reported NDEs. Typically they report leaving their physical bodies (OBE), experiencing a life review, traveling through a tunnel towards a bright light, meeting deceased friends and relatives, encountering a spiritual being, and then returning to their physical bodies. NDEs often have profound effects on those who have them, often changing their views of life and death and fundamentally altering their religious beliefs.

Spiritual Dreaming
In which you experience or gain special insight into the spiritual or religious aspect of life. You may experience meeting guides or other beings, possibly friends or family members who have died.

Part 5) - Dreams - A Gateway to the Psychic Realm


By definition, a dream is referred to as a series of thoughts, images or emotions that takes happens during sleep. Dreams are known to unify the mind, body and spirit by allowing the conscious & unconscious elements of our mind and emotions to mingle and have free roam. Aside from this, dreams can also be more than a self awareness tool. They are believed to be the connection to the psychic realm.

On a metaphysical level, dreams and their significance have been important to many cultures across the world since the time of our earliest ancestors; and many people have always taken into thought what their dreams imply.
 
Dreams have been also long regarded to echo lost memories, concealed emotions and prophetic signs or psychic connections. Yes, dreams are a strong connection to the psychic world.

In a study published on the 15th May 2013, scientists detailed how they monitored a number of participants during various stages of sleep and gave them complex tasks, such as bringing objects from the dream world back to the real world. Kevin McCaffrey, a neuroscientist and researcher who helped conduct the study, said that anyone was capable of retrieving objects from dreams, so long as they concentrated really hard.

What he quoted was; “What people haven’t realised until now is that this alternate universe that we might call dreamland, is actually a very real place that people do go to when they sleep,” he said. “It is a place where internal emotions very tangibly affect the external environment, the laws of physics don’t apply”.

“We really need to find a new term for ‘real world’, because actually, the dream world is just as real.” When asked what he thought implications of such a discovery were, McCaffrey said he wasn’t yet sure, but that he expected them to be large. “Well I think you’ll find it’s a double edged sword,” he said. “For people who’ve accomplished great things in their dreams, it’ll be nice to be able to say with some confidence that they’ve actually done it".

“On the other hand, for those who have had traumatic experiences in dreams and have been able to console themselves with the thought that they weren’t real…well, they might not be able to say that anymore.” McCaffrey added that while he knew many would find the study alarming, even disturbing, he personally thought it was exciting.




Part 6) - Dream Trivia

• In a poll, 67% of Americans have experienced Deja Vu in their dreams, occurring more often in females than males.
  

• The original meaning of the word 'nightmare' was a female spirit who besets people at night while they sleep.
  

• Five minutes after the end of the dream, 50% of the content is forgotten, after ten minutes 90% is forgotten.
  

• 10-12% of people only dream in black and white. Studies from 1915 through to the 1950s maintained that the majority of dreams were in black and white, but these results began to change in the 1960s. Today only 4.4% of the dreams for those under 25 years of age are in black and white.
  

• People who become blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion.
  

• The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety. Negative emotions are more common than positive emotions.
  

• A study showed that 42% of people felt they had a dream about something that later came true.
  

• Jet lag is the inability to sleep caused when traveling across several time zones causing biological rhythms to get out of synchronization.
  

• Animals dream too. Studies have been done on many different animals and they all showed the same brain waves during dreaming sleep as humans.
  

• Some sleeping tablets such as barbiturates, suppress REM sleep, which can be harmful over a long period.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_eye_movement_sleep
http://www.boredpanda.com/15-interesting-facts-about-dreams-dreaming/
http://www.dreammoods.com/dreaminformation/dreamtheory/freud
http://voices.yahoo.com/deciphering-meaning-psychic-dreams
http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/dreams-are-real-say-scientists
http://asdreams.org/telepathy/faq_paranormal.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream

Ghosts on a Wall - Understanding Pareidolia & Apophenia

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, also known as a form of apophenia. Apophenia is the human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns with random data.

Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek words para (παρά ‘beside-alongside-instead’).  

In simpler terms this translates to meaning something faulty, wrong, instead of, and the noun eidōlon (εἴδωλον ‘image-form-shape’) the diminutive of eidos. The word comes from the Greek words para (παρά ‘beside-alongside-instead’). 

For the purpose of this article we will focus primarily on visual pareidolia with connections between common paranormal beliefs, also gain an understanding from paranormal investigators that take time and efforts to compare, to 'debunk' what is most likely not paranormal, but quite natural and in many cases simply logical. 

It may simply just be a marking on a wall such as flaking paint, mold, or any kind of common markings that some people (including those conducting ghost hunting tours or investigations) automatically and often repeatably think as a 'ghost on a wall'.

We will also address some scientific views as a result of conducted experiments and tests over many years.We understand from our own past experiences such as during one of our own over night investigations, we have been ‘caught out’ by an effect of pareidolia. 

Further in this article we show a photo of ours and explain as an example of our own investigators by being quick to think something paranormal and slow to rule out pareidolia. As in our case, our ghosts were simply only flaking paint and crumbing concrete on a wall. 

We write this up due to certain groups or teams, old and new, not only Queensland but throughout Australia, that give little to no consideration towards pareidolia during their ghost hunts or their investigation. They choose to continue to publish deceptive photos with almost blissful ignorance, often to their impressionable unaware and vulnerable followers that the truth is, they have likely captured pareidolia and it's everywhere!  

Here are a few well known and some less known world examples of pareidolia.

• Some visitors to St. Mary's in Rathkaele, Ireland, say a tree stump outside of the church bears a silhouette of the Virgin Mary.

• Damage to the Pedra da Gávea, an enormous rock outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created an impression that many people interpret as a human face.

• Many people thought images taken in 1976 by the Viking 1 mission showed a face on Mars that could have been the remnants of an ancient civilization.

• In September 1969, conspiracy theorists claimed some Beatles records contained clues to Paul McCartney's supposed death. Many heard the words "Paul is dead," when the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" was played backwards, a process known as back-masking. This is a common urban legend often repeated to this day.

• In 1977, the appearance of Jesus Christ on a flour tortilla set the international standard for miracle sightings. It happened in the small town of Lake Arthur, New Mexico, 40 minutes south of Roswell.

• Diane Duyser of Miami sold a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich, which she said bore the image of Jesus, for $28,000 on eBay in 2004.

• In 2012, many people made a pilgrimage to a tree at 60th Street and Bergenline Avenue in West New York, N.J., to see a scar on the tree that some believed looked like the image of the Our Lady of Guadalupe depiction of the Virgin Mary.

Pareidolia often has religious overtones. A study in Finland found that people who are religious or believe strongly in the paranormal are more likely to see faces in lifeless objects and landscapes.

Researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland studied how 47 adults saw faces in dozens of pictures of lifeless objects and landscapes, such as a rock wall or tools arranged on a table. Some pictures had distinct face like characteristics, with eyes and a mouth at the minimum, while others had no clear face like features.

After the experiments, the participants filled out a questionnaire to measure their religiosity as well as their belief in the paranormal. For example, the subjects were asked whether they believed in God, thought people could move objects with their mind or believed individuals could use astrology to accurately predict the future.

The religious people and those who believed in paranormal phenomena saw faces more often than the non-religious and the skeptics, the researchers found. The believers also were more prone to false alarms, picking out faces in an image that lacked clear face like features. In one part of the test, the subjects had rated the face-likeness and emotional expression of the faces they saw.

The set of supernatural believers was more likely than the skeptics to rate the illusory features as very face like and emotional. The same pattern was observed in the religious vs. non-religious groups, but the difference was not significant, the researchers said.

Applied Cognitive Psychology - Dept. of Psychology, Easton, USA
Auditory Pareidolia: Effects of Contextual Priming on Perceptions of Purportedly Paranormal & Ambiguous Auditory Stimuli. Link: Research Gate/Paranormal perceptions and pareidolia.

The Rorschach inkblot test uses pareidolia in an attempt to gain insight into a person's mental state. Link: Live Science/seeing faces in unusual places/ and inkblot test.

Paranormal Paratek and our own example of pareidolia


From one of our past overnight investigations we were caught by out pareidolia. We doubt there are many, if any experienced paranormal teams in Australia or elsewhere that have not themselves been effected similarly; by at first thinking they have caught something on camera, to soon or later find it was simply pareidolia.

We were on the look-out for two sibling spirit children in an old empty hotel, believed by several locals from the area, to be haunting that establishment. We knew details such as their names, ages, details of deaths etc.

In use was a modified full spectrum 16mpxl DSLR camera, one investigator was lurking around corridors and empty rooms taking photos, some with the use of flash and others without (preferably without as to lessen effects of lens flare/reflections). 

During reviewing of photos the next day, an image was found to have quickly gained our interest. We thought we had captured an image of the two children both standing together in a room corner, it even appeared as though they were wearing similar dresses, a child with blond hair, while the other with brown hair. Just as we had researched!     

A problem was we didn’t notice the image at the time many images were taken and chose to review later. Unfortunately there were no consecutive photos taken of this same spot as that may have helped. It is highly recommended to take several photos of any area to compare/or at least return to that same place day(s) later to try recreate the image. 

The next day we found this image and almost right away phoned the owner of the former hotel with our excitement stating we think we’ve caught them in a photo!.

What should have been done before that phone call (as with anyone that chooses to post photos publicly without scrutinizing) we should have first compared portable camcorder and/or fixed video surveillance files for that exact same room corner for comparison.

On reviewing a full spectrum camcorder file we found this same corner, with a similar image in that corner. Therefore and very quickly we re-made a journey of 100km to that hotel for a closer look.

What we found in that section of the hotel was that the paint flaking from a white painted wall and gouges out of concrete wall, helped to make up a near perfect image to match our ‘expectations’.

 

Particularly when this was seen within a dark area with the use of a flash on a full spectrum camera (or on almost any camera). 

We soon contacted the owner and apologised via our own  disappointment.

This was documented within an investigation report that was later presented to the owner. 

Brightness enhanced

 

Pareidolia or Apophenia is real and is too common an easy mistake by often the premature presentation of digital photos that have not had the area or surroundings of where the photo was taken scrutinized or compared with by simply taking additional photos.




With the use of camera by less than high quality cameras used, and often by the use with incorrect settings in dark areas, how can the common photo be taken seriously? more-so by often blurry or distorted images put forward to the public. This can apply with infrared or full spectrum photos as well. If the public were to be truly aware of Pareidolia or Apophenia, then there is little chance to really impress many in the public, let alone any science leading personnel or specialists.

Extra care should be given when exploring the investigation site particulars, such as but not limited to wallpaper, markings, painted areas, glass windows with hand smudge marks etc. Compare before and after in daylight, and then darkness, and in an area being investigated to capture consecutive photos.

A ghost spirit isn’t likely to stay in one spot for long. Also, consider the correct use and settings of camera equipment as that may likely reduce the chance of capturing just another example of pareidolia. 

The world is full of amazing outrageous examples of Pareidolia

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.3068/epdf
http://www.livescience.com/25448-pareidoloa.html
http://www.paranormalfieldinvestigators.com/pareidolia-apophenia.html
http://strangeoccurrencesparanormal.weebly.com/pareidolia-apophenia.html