What is an Apparition but the supernormal manifestation of people, animals, objects, ghosts and spirits. Most apparitions are of living people or animals who are too distant to be perceived by the normal senses. Apparitions of the dead are also called Ghosts. Despite extensive study since the late nineteenth century, scientists know very little about the nature of apparitions.

Most apparition experiences feature noises, unusual smells such as roses, dirt, or food cooking, extreme cold, and the displacement of objects. Other phenomena include visual images, tactile sensations, such as a feather brushing down your arm, voices and apparent psycho kinetic movement of objects, and sometimes a faraway voice or scream. Visual images are seen only in a small percentage of reported cases. However, a camera will often pick up the outline of an Apparition.

A study of Apparitions published in 1956 by American psychic researcher Hornell Hart and collaborators showed no significant differences between characteristics of apparitions of the living and the dead. They appear to be the same. Some apparitions seem corporeal, while others are luminous, transparent or ill defined. Apparitions can move through solid matter and appear/disappear abruptly. They cast shadows and can always be reflected in mirrors. Some may have jerky and limited movements, while others are lifelike in movement and speech.

Apparitions invariably are clothed. Ghosts will appear in their period costumes - hence the tradition of Halloween Costumes. Apparitions of the living appear in the moment. Whatever they are wearing will be "seen" as such by the viewer. Many call this the appearance of a "double."

A pilot told me a story about how his "double " appeared to his father. The pilot was at sea in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. He was wounded and on his way back from Okanawa to Hawaii on a hospital ship when the Japanese forces bombed the ship. All were lost except three men, who were in a life raft. The father lived in Maine and "knew" his son was in trouble. He called the Pentagon, who assured him his son was safe. The son's double came to his father several times a day for five days asking for help. The son told his father telepathically that he was on a raft and dying. The father kept calling the Pentagon with a complete description of the event and made such a fuss that they sent out a search plane. The plane found the raft and the three were saved only because of telepathy! This is the next evolvement for mankind. Within twenty years, telepathic response will be considered quite normal.

More than 80 percent of apparition cases that have been studied have manifested for a reason, usually during a crisis of some sort. To communicate a death, provide a warning, comfort the grieving, cry for help or to convey needed information. Some haunting apparitions seem to regularly appear where emotional events have occurred, such as murders or battles, while other hauntings seem to be rather aimless.

1. Crisis Apparitions: usually visual images which appear in waking visions or dreams at the moment of crisis, such as to communicate dying or death. Typically, but not always, they appear to individuals who have close emotional ties to the person who is the source of the apparition. i.e. sister, cousin, parent. When my father died, he came to me, as did both of my Uncles.
   

2. Apparitions of the Dead: manifestations of the deceased, usually within hours after death, to comfort the grieving or to communicate information, conclude unfinished business, or to announce a role as their new Guardian Angel. Shirely MacLane wrote in her book, Out On A Limb, an experience she had with Peter Sellers when he passed away. She was at a party in Los Angeles and he was in Paris. He had a sudden, severe heart attach and appeared to her at the party to say good-by.
   

3. Collective Apparitions: manifestations of either the living or the dead that appear simultaneously to multiple witnesses. Approximately one third of reported apparitions are witnessed collectively. Also, a psychic knowing can be experienced in many parts of the world, as was the Twin Towers bombing and the Pan Am bombing over Scotland. Usually this will be information regarding a world event.
   

4. Reciprocal Apparitions: of the living in which both the seer and the person giving the message, separated by distance, experience each other simultaneously. This is quite common with Identical Twins, of which I am one of two sets. A possible explanation is that the person giving the message has a strong desire or impulse to contact the seer and will unconsciously projects their double to give a message. i.e. an out-of-body experience for each. When I was in the Dominican Republic on a vacation, my son was at college. He became ill and went to the infirmary with a very high fever. He told his friends to go to his room and wait because his mother was trying to call. Meanwhile, in the Dominican, I "felt" his presence and was extremely worried. This went on for three days and I "knew" he was ill. I meditated and sent him light and healing. We had a telepathic conversation and I felt I was nursing and caring for him. Upon my return home I called his room immediately. A friend was there picking up a book for him and was surprised at my call. The friend exclaimed, "Jeff said you would call today. He's in the infirmary with a 103 fever and has been calling for you. He sent me here for a book, and I was only here for five minutes. I'm spending my time in the infirmary with him." I smiled inwardly as I believe nothing happens by accident and she went to get the book at that exact moment because I was going to call.
   

5. Veridical Apparitions: apparitions that can be corroborated by facts. Veridical apparitions are of most value to parapsychologists and research scientists.
   

6. Deathbed Apparitions: visual images of divine beings, religions figures, luminosites, and dead loved ones that are reported by the dying in their last moments of life.
   

7. Apparitions Suggesting Reincarnation: "announcement dreams" in which the deceased appears in a dream to a member of the family into which it will be born. Such dreams appear frequently among the Tlingit and other Northwest American tribes, and in Turkey, Burma, and Thailand. Before my second son was born, an apparition appeared before me which appeared to be a divine angel or Mother Mary. I had suffered several miscarriages and almost died trying to give birth. The angel told me I would have a son, his name would be Jeffrey, he would have red hair, he would become a doctor, and at age thirty five he would give something great to mankind. This message gave me such strength during the nine months of carrying my son. Every time I feared an early delivery, I would sense a presence and remember the angel's message. So far it has all come to pass. Jeffrey is a doctor, but he is not yet thirty five.
   

   In the 1980's polls conducted by the United States, by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Council showed a dramatic increase in reported apparitions of the dead. 42 percent of the population and 67 percent of widows, reported apparition experiences, perhaps due to an opening of the minds because of changing public opinion towards knowledge of paranormal experiences. Of these experiences, 78 percent involved visual images, 50 percent heard noises and voices, 21 percent felt tactile sensations, 32 percent felt an invisible presence, along with cooling air, and 18 percent had direct telepathic communication with the apparition.

   As for haunting, the term haunt comes from the same root as home, and refers to the occupation of homes by spirits and ghosts of deceased people and animals who lived there. Other haunted sites seem to be places merely frequented or liked by the deceased, such as a graveyard, or places where a violent death has occurred, much like London Tower or an English Pub. Most hauntings have no apparent reason or purpose. Some are continual, and others are active only on certain days that correspond to the death or a major event in the life of the deceased. For example, Hampton Court in England, the ghost of Sir Christopher Wren is said to be heard walking hurriedly up and down the stairs every February 26, the date of his death in 1723. In Baltimore, Edgar Allen Poe has a rose and bottle of Cognac placed on his grave every year on his birthdate. This has been done with regularity for so long that many believe it's done by ghostly hands!

   Some hauntings are brief, lasting only a few hours to a few weeks, while others can continue for decades or centuries. Haunted Houses are often prevaded by a depressed or oppressive atmosphere. Sometimes there is dampness and some stones as a part of the building.

   I have conducted many exorcisms of haunted houses and people who are possessed. When people have a home for sale and cannot get a buyer, it may be because of a special, emotional attachment to the property. I once cleared a home that was located on an Indian Graveyard. The owner's father and grandfather grew up there. The family had a bad feeling about leaving and going on with their lives. The house was on the marked for several years but did not sell because of the feelings of guilt from the son and the apparition of the father who lived in the house. The apparition did not want the home sold because then it would have to leave the earth plane.

   To do a clearing, the father's energies had to be exorcised, and ordered to leave the planet to a place of evolvement. The effect had been that when the son thought about moving, the father would call in all of the ancestors to try to etherically prevent the sale. An ominous energy field was set up around the property, almost as if a fog or mist would prevent it from being seen. The son and his wife had to have their auric field cleared so the subconscious mind could accept the sale of the property. We sent the father's essence to a place of light, healing and love, and freed up the etheric bonds to the son. Then we magnetized a new family to move in by using thought and visualization. I was sensitive enough to be able to describe the new family to the present owners, and welcomed them telepathically. The house sold within six weeks to the exactly family I had described at the exorcism.

   Not everyone who goes to a Haunted House experiences paranormal phenomena. It is believed that only certain individuals with certain psychic attunements or emotional states are receptive.

   An Entity is a Ghost or disincarnate being who is able to host the body of one who is a weakened or tired frame of mind. This is known as an encounter phenomenon which involves any number of a wide range of experiences with alternate realities, possessions, channeling, religious conversions, shamanic journeys, UFO abductions, etc. Researchers believe that the unconscious mind determines what kind of an encounter will take place. Some encounters are so powerful that the person's life becomes permanently changed. A culture and personal belief may shape the nature of the encounter, so as to reinforce the culture and personal belief. In otherwords, to give one a stronger faith. I have experienced two such encounters and entity possession. One was while driving through the Mink Hills of New Hampshire on my way to my Mother's home. It was a lovely evening and I was enjoying the sunset. All of a sudden my foot "stuck" on the gas pedal of the car and I could not move it. When my brain gave the "order" to lighten up my pressure, my foot would not move. I did not understand what was happening. All of a sudden I "felt" a presence overtake me and began to recite the Lord's Prayer and command the entity to leave. This continued on for a few minutes, and the car sped up to ninety miles a hour. There was nothing I could do at the moment! I commanded the Entity to leave my body in the name of God, Christ and all the MAsters. I needed to do this forcefully several times. Finally it left, and I "heard" a shrill and evil laugh. At the same time, I saw a red blinking light in my rear view mirror. It was a Cop, of course and I received a ticket for speeding. At that moment I realized the power Entities can have over someone. I have a very strong belief since that time, that all Entities and Ghosts should be exorcised as quickly as possible from the planet, to free their souls, and give the area they haunt and the people they contact peace of mind.

   Hauntings where apparitions appear may be seen by a single individual or collectively by several people present at the same time of the occurrence. Ghosts vary in appearance - some seem to be real people or animals, while others appear filmy, fuzzy, nearly transparent or mostly a white mist. Most ghosts seen over a period of time will be wearing the same clothing or costume. Some have been known to change their appearance and even their age. Some can be horrific, missing their heads or other body parts. It is said that Ann Bolin, wife of King Henry VIII carries her head tucked under her arm through the London Tower every Hallows Eve.

   - Boo! Happy Ghosts and Goblins -
   
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