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Residual Hauntings
by
Mellisa Martin Ellis
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- The same events happen over & over
- Perhaps they’re playbacks of past events
- These hauntings may not be actual spirits
- Ancient structures may record impressions
If the same apparition is seen over and over again, doing exactly the same thing, if the same sounds are heard at the same time of day, in short, if the same scene plays out, over and over again over a period of years or even centuries, it is a residual haunting. Also called energy remnants and memory and imprint, the apparition in a residual haunting never interacts with onlookers, it is seemingly totally oblivious to them.
What Are Residual Hauntings?
Perhaps they are simply playbacks of past events. The apparitions involved may not even be actual spirits; but just impressions or recordings of events in the past so traumatic that they have become imprinted on the very materials of the space in which they occurred. There are many theories of how residual hauntings can come about. One of the first to offer a possible hypothesis of how residual haunting occur was Thomas Charles Lethbridge, in 1961 in his book Ghost and Ghoul.
His theory is that just as audio and video tapes record sounds and images, certain materials used in the construction of older structures may record impressions of events. If a traumatic, emotionally charged incident occurs, these materials record it for future playback. The event can suddenly occur and play out without an apparent cause. Sometimes, there is no visual component to the event, only repetitive sounds, such as footsteps, or breathing or smells that have no apparent cause. No one knows what triggers the playback of these recordings.
It could be anything from the observer’s own emotional state or sensitivity to weather conditions, such as high humidity or barometric pressure.
Whatever its cause, the residual haunting is an intriguing thing. In the Tower of London, for centuries people have seen the ghost of Anne Boleyn and many other others held within its walls before their execution. Obviously, conditions must be optimal at the Bloody Tower for the recording of these events to have survived the centuries.
The British Isles and Europe have so many instances of residual hauntings because they have so many ancient structures made of porous stones, which might function like batteries to store that energy. This could be why there are so many instances of haunted sites in Europe.
…from The Everything Ghost Hunting Book. For more books, visit Adams Media Bookstore.
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