Cool Ghost Pictures

[ButterflyWoman]

I just watched "The Shawshank Redemption" (it was on free to air tv) and was intrigued by the location they used, so I did a little research and found out it's the Mansfield Reformatory in Ohio. I also found that it's reputedly quite haunted, and there are a LOT of people who have taken photos there which show odd things.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=&q=mans ... CCcQsAQwAA (http://www.google.com/images?hl=&q=mansfield+reformatory+ghost+pictures&rlz=1B3GGGL_enAU281AU282&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=KSvkS-DhLoyCtgPOgY0g&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQsAQwAA)

Thought I'd share in case there are others who are as fascinated with ghost pictures as I am (some of the pictures are better than others, obviously, but there are a LOT of orb photos taken in that place, and a lot of plasma pictures, as well...)

[Alienor]

As people seem to like such haunted places so much. Do you think one should rather keep them haunted, or help those spirits to cross over?

On the British "Most haunted"-show I did now and then help some of the spirits - especially in one place, where the people who lived there, had actually asked for help. The people from the show surely did nothing there to help, they just said: yea, you live in a haunted place :roll:

[ButterflyWoman]

I don't necessarily think they're all "spirits". Just based on my experience, a lot of hauntings are actually thoughtforms, and while they can be dissolved, they're not conscious or sentient. I HAVE encountered sentient non-corporeal hauntings, but they're the exception rather than the rule.

As for the ethical question of hauntings, I think that if you do encounter a sentient entity that can be released, you should so, but very, very few people seem to be able to help in that way, it seems. Most of the ghost pictures taken in various public places that are haunted are taken by amateurs who just happened to pick up something weird, or who can sense the hauntings, but don't have the knowledge or the ability to assist in any way. Even professional mediums sometimes seem utterly unable to do this for various reasons.

But necromancy and/or mediumship is not my area of specific interest. I've just lived in a few haunted places and encountered hauntings in various locations. Hauntings are shockingly common, and as I'm highly clairsentient, I pick up on them pretty easily (even in places that are not publically known to be haunted). When and if I were to encounter what appeared to be a sentient entity, I would do what I could to help release them, certainly.

[Alienor]

Thank you CaterpillarWoman! I also think one should help those spirits. On those haunting shows from TV, which I have seen, it has been always spirits/souls and not thoughtforms causing the haunting. Of course there will be also lots of thoughtforms in such places, but they do not interact in such ways. And even when those people now and then did make a little ceremony to help one or two souls, they would not help them all, even when they could at least try. I think, it is because the owners of the places do not want such, but that is just a guess. Maybe the TV-people just feel not responsible and therefore do not help.

In any case, often it is enough to just imagine a light column in the place (I did already write in some post how to do that). That is usually called the work of psychopomp. Whereas most professional mediums (that is they do it for the money) are indeed just necromancers. So they do only call the spirits, but not help them to cross over.

Spirits/souls can after centuries of haunting, start loosing their minds - maybe that is why you think they are not sentient. When they find here, they sometimes just start attacking. Especially spirits of kids do seem to enjoy playing with our motion sensor lights outside :D

[ButterflyWoman]

Of course there will be also lots of thoughtforms in such places, but they do not interact in such ways.
Thoughtforms tend to be very repetitive, doing the same things over and over. One that I experienced would walk across the floor every night at the same time. Same patten of steps, same everything, every night, same time.

Another was one that we called "The Manager". The place of the haunting was an old theatre that had been turned into a cafe and some other retail space. The Manager would do "rounds" in the theatre (what used to be the lobby). He'd come up from the basement (where his office was, back in the day) and walk a set pattern, checking on things that weren't there any more (probably the box office and the til and maybe the refreshment counter). He always took the same route, and it was normally at times of day when you might expect a show to be on, primarily evenings. One night I was standing right where he walked (silly me, but I wasn't paying attention), and he passed right through me. That's a feeling I will NEVER forget.... *shudder*

That same theatre had an old burlesque theatre up in the top part, though, and that part was haunted by something most definitely sentient. We called that one The Pest, because he would follow people around, mocking them and being obnoxious. Never touched anyone, and unless you were sensitive or aware, people didn't know he was there, but at least three people that I know of knew precisely what he was doing. When the cafe manager would show up to unlock the doors, The Pest would stand there and shout at her. I don't know why he was so angry... Anyway, I banished him to the street, because I wanted him to stop bothering people. It worked. Later, when I had figured out more, I projected back and found he was still there, so I apologised to him and sent him on his way. I don't know if he was grateful or not, but he was a lot less angry after spending a few years standing on the kerb (or curb, to use the American spelling; I can do both Commonwealth and American ;)).

That's the only spirit I've ever directly dealt with that way, and I haven't encountered any since, other than odd little astral beings who used to flutter around my house like moths to the light. Once I learned to ward the property, that stopped, too.

BUT, the thing is, I really didn't know what I was doing, and I think most people don't. Even those who can sense the presence, even those who are specifically looking for hauntings and experiences of ghosts. They don't seem to know how to deal with these things, either. Even Sylvia Browne, who, at the start of her career, was a psychic with a paranormal investigation team, never seemed to do much about actually releasing them. She'd get their story, sure, but I read a whole book of her experiences with spirits and not once did she do anything to actually release them (that I recall; it's been a while since I read that book, and I'm not much of a fan of Sylvia, anyway).


That is usually called the work of psychopomp.
Ah, yes, that's the word that eluded me. :)


Spirits/souls can after centuries of haunting, start loosing their minds - maybe that is why you think they are not sentient.
Possibly. But I can guarantee that the Footsteps Haunting was definitely a thoughtform (and the presence couldn't possibly have been more than thirty years or so, forty at most, due to the age of the building).

I did encounter a mourning Victorian woman once who appeared to have some sentience but she was so wrapped up in her grief, pacing back and forth and wringing her hanky, that she was probably beyond hearing. I was pretty young when I encountered that one, so it didn't occur to me to try to communicate. I was just stunned to be able to sense her so clearly (I can still "see" her in my mind's eye, in fact).

You know, in writing this, I'm realising that I've actually encountered quite a few hauntings, directly. Wow. There are several others, as well, starting from a fairly young age. Of course, not every place is haunted, and those that are frequently are not publically known, and the ones that are publically known are sometimes not haunted at all as far as I can tell (there's a famous "haunted theatre" in Melbourne, but I've never sensed anything at all there, ever; of course, I've never been there on an opening night, and that's supposedly when the ghost turns up).

[wstein]

I met a person that lived in a large abandoned building. Should I help them move on?

This is what was just asked. The only difference is that the 'person' happens to not have a physical body. It's not your role to so anything unless the person asks or the landowner/manager wishes it. Offer to help if you must, but for the most part leave them alone.

My dad seemed to think that something MUST be done just because there was a spirit somewhere. In one case he tried to banish the spirit when both the spirit and the owner that lived in the building there were on good terms. Please show respect for people, living or dead.

[ButterflyWoman]

Please show respect for people, living or dead.
Sage advice, as always.

[Alienor]

@CaterpillarWoman: That manager sure sounds a lot like a spirit, who is stuck in a loop. Who would have created such a thoughtform, if it was indeed one? But basically you can go through your memories and put a light column up in all the places. Some might go, some might stay - but they did then get a chance. That does not require spending energy for astral traveling.

@Wstein: I agree with you, that it is not right to banish those spirits/souls. Instead one should give them the chance to move on. Most of them are really relieved when they realize what other options in life/death they have.

[ButterflyWoman]

Who would have created such a thoughtform, if it was indeed one?
I should think that's obvious. The person creates it, themselves. They put so much of their energy into their guardianship or their habits or their routines or whatever it happens to be, that it remains when they're long gone.

[Alienor]

That is possible. Yet, if it was such a thoughtform, it would need to be fed with the right kind of energy. So after the person is gone and does not feed it anymore (doubtful other people would feed it with "guarding obsession") it would fade away.

People with such dedication, as the manager, often can't let go and stay beyond death. Within this lies the wisdom of: "... it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." To cross over, one needs to let go of ones possessions and guard duties.

[ButterflyWoman]

That is possible. Yet, if it was such a thoughtform, it would need to be fed with the right kind of energy. So after the person is gone and does not feed it anymore (doubtful other people would feed it with "guarding obsession") it would fade away.
Possibly. A book I'm currently re-reading on the topic of thoughtforms indicates that they can persist for centuries, though, depending on the nature of the thoughtform and the way they were created. I doubt very much that most thoughtforms can or would do that, of course, nor am I suggesting it. I do think that it's entirely possible to leave a very strong "impression" in the template of reality, though.