Ancient people believed that the bodies of their ancestors and/or possessions of the dead acted as an anchor for the spirits. During the Victorian Era many people believed in mediums talking to the dead many who, unfortunately, were frauds. Even today there are TV/social media “celebrities” who claim to be able to speak with the dead or “feel” the “aura” of a space. In all honesty, if you are seeing them on TV they are most likely a fake. Why? Well because those who have legitimate abilities don’t advertise. You see people who are legitimate tend to come off as having a mental illness. If you tell someone that you hear voices their answer in the western world is not “oh wow you mean you can talk to spirits?’ but actually “yeah have you seen a doctor?” People who are legitimate are literally afraid that they will be locked up in a mental institution or put on medications to control their “visions” and the “voices.” After all what is the number one thing a murderer will say to try to get out of going to prison? The voices in my head told me to do it.
Now if you do want to believe in many of these questionable people I want you to really listen to what they say. Frequently they will take time to answer. Putting their hands out, walking slowly, making “hmmm” type of sounds, and then giving their answer. Generally the answer matches with what the owner is wanting to hear to reinforce what they are saying. How do they figure this out? So first, they are actually reading the room like a fashion designer or interior designer reads a room. What is the artwork? Are there family pictures and if so how many generations? What books/movies/video games are there? Is there music playing or the TV on? How many electronics are around? Believe it or not all of these things including how tidy or cluttered a room is tells quite a bit about the people who live in a home.
If I look around my own home, which is a 16x80 trailer, I have numerous antiques. My husband and I collect them. I have pictures of my ancestors, actually from the early 1900s, on my walls. I have books about herbal-ism, gardening, paganism, Wicca, druidism, Tarot, divination, history, sewing and crafts, among many many others. There are both purchased art as well as homemade. I have things our kids have made. I have dogs and cats and pictures that reference that (cats are like potato chips…) along with statues. Although my house is clean I have clutter (my sitting place is marked by yarn, sewing projects, and computer equipment). Incense burners and candles intermingle with my many many house plants. So do you think I might believe in ghost, spirits, and cryptids? Think perhaps my husband does? A “medium” would say yes and they create some ghost that is attached to either an item in my house or the land my home sits on.
So do I believe? Yes and no. I am a skeptical believer. I actually approach every case/story/video with the belief it is a fake. You really have to prove that it is a real event you are experiencing. And yes, I do have spirits in my house. There is a person who likes to stand and look out my kitchen window and uses my back door to get in and out. I also have a child spirit who showed up after my husband and I purchased some cabinets, a young farmer who has followed me from a previous house, and there is a hell hound outside my home. If it was just me seeing these things I would write it off but I have had neighbors and family all ask me who these people are that they have seen. The guy in the kitchen smells like burnt plastic (which about sends me into a panic looking for the fire), the little girl likes to poke people while they are sitting or sleeping, the young farmer is a watcher, and the hell hound was seen by two of my neighbors running in the yard after I saw it attempt to charge me. And there is my husband, bless him, who will ask me if I saw/heard things.
You may be asking “why would you just write off stuff you have seen/heard?” Let me be honest, I have a background in psychology. I used to work as a counselor with troubled teens. I have been the person who is called for crisis intervention. Do you really think I would be effective if I told the kids or my coworkers “Oh by the way there is a guy standing in the corner wearing coveralls who looks really pissed off”? The reality of the situation is that I would be sent home and told to either get some sleep or get some help. If I kept saying things like this I would probably be fired and again told to get help. If I had been raised in a different culture it may have been recognized that I had some type of gift but I live in the USA and it isn’t scientific to believe in shamans, spiritual leaders, and the likes. It is also influenced by how I was raised. I have always been able to see and hear things that according to others don’t exist. My parents always put it down to an invisible friend or a great imagination. As I got older I was told it was just a figment of my imagination. Basically I was not seeing or hearing what I knew/know I saw and heard. It was not until I have gotten older and have my own children that my mother finally admitted that she was scared about what I talked about. It goes against her religion and beliefs (Christian). She also admitted that she also sees and hears things and that her mother heard church bells. Grandma would be sitting crocheting, quilting, knitting, etc. and suddenly say “Huh, church bells, someone died/is getting married.” This was a regular thing and I never though anything about it until my mother brought it up.
So when it comes to the self proclaimed mediums/spiritualists/empaths SERIOUSLY question it. The folks who are real will not advertise that they have these abilities. It has been “beaten” into us that if you don’t want to wear a straight jacket in a padded room you don’t talk about it. And then there are the numerous folks who have proven the frauds. Penn and Teller have a great show that talked about the fakes (https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20030130-2003-01-30-0301300046-story.html , https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/us/in-book-mark-edward-tells-tricks-used-as-a-medium.html , http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/1302/Fake-quotPsychicquot-Exposed-by-Penn-amp-Teller-Rosemary-Altea-coming-to-Hawaii--VIDEO , Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
Talking to the Dead Episode aired Jan 24, 2003 TV-MA 27m) and even Houdini (https://barrybradford.com/houdini-greatest-trick/) wanted proof of psychic ability.
There is one case of possibly legitimate psychics which was paid for by $20 million tax dollars. Project Stargate was an attempt by the CIA to use remote viewing (i.e. clairvoyance) to spy on the Soviet Union. It ran for 15 years with mixed results. There is more information on-line, and I mean there is TONS of information on-line as this has now been declassified.
So what does this have to do with ghosts/spirits and needing a physical connection? Well there is a facet of parapsychology that deals with what are called “physical mediums.” These people claim that they can tell you about a loved one or person by touching objects. Using their logic it means that if that person is deceased they still have a connection to the physical objects. It also goes along with the believe that ghosts will be found near their bodies. We will go into this concept more in another post.
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