What is a Ghost?

1. What is a Ghost? By Emerald Moles a.k.a Shadow

2. Definition: An apparition of a dead person that is believed to appear or become manifest to the living. Disembodied voices can be heard along with cold drafts are often. Can’t hurt the living.

3. What is a Poltergeist • Poltergeists are phantoms that can move material objects and can physically touch and harm the living. Disembodied voices are even heard. They are often referred to as demons. They are even known to become attached to certain people.

4. Forms of Ghosts. Ectoplasm-A white smoking substance that is usually a few feet off the ground. Orbs- A small ball of light believed to be the soul of a past life. Shadows- A dark phantom of sorts believed to be demonic. Apparitions-a full body ghost. Seems life like.

5. Types of ghosts • Time slip- an alleged paranormal phenomenon in which a person, or group of people, travel through time via unknown means. • Revenant- a visible ghost or animated corpse that was believed to return from the grave to terrorize the living. • Haunter- a reoccurring ghost that usually remains at a certain place. • Crisis apparition- an image or voice of a living person that is experienced by other people. Some believe it to happen to some after having a loved one die in a tragic scene, and the apparition warns them that something isn’t right. • Harbinger-a spirit who is a messenger who foretells.They usually show before a crisis. In Irish folklore they are called banshee. This harbinger is a female spirit or fairy that foretells someone’s death. Banshees are connected to specific Irish families and they wail when someone in that family is about to die.

6. Reasons to stay • To help a loved one or friend in time of need. • Bound by guilt or fear of something they’ve done or someone else has done. • Bound to a loved one or place because it’s something familiar. • Bound by a loved one because the loved one has too much grief to let them go. • Lastly, by a violent, unexpected death. The spirit does not realize that they are dead.

8. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8rr3h_insane-poltergeist-real-ghost-video_shortfilmshttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8rr3h_insane-poltergeist-real-ghost-video_shortfilms

9. Local ghost story • Harts Bridge Road (South Jackson) • A girl and her boyfriend were in their car under one of the bridges of Harts Bridge Road. They were caught by her father, the father and boyfriend got into a fight ,and the father stabbed the boy. While the boy went to the hospital, the girl thought he was dead and threw herself off the bridge and died. Every now and then you can witness her ghost floating across the bridge at night.

10. Continued… • I believe this story could be accurate, but I think it’s more of a hoax to get teens to not do premarital things. • http://johnnorrisbrown.com/paranormal-tn/blog/2005/08/jackson-area-hauntings.html

11. State ghost story

12. The bell witch • It all began in the 1800’s when John Bell and his family moved from North Carolina to Nashville, Tennessee. The first hint of trouble came in 1817 when John Bell reported seeing a strange black animal similar to a dog in his cornfield. Next came the faint knocks and the disembodied voices that spoke to the family directly in a taunting manner. Furniture crashed around the house ,and the beds were stripped of their sheets. John and his daughter, Betsy, were the targeted ones of the witch’s pranks. Betsy experience the feeling of sharp pins being stuck into her ,and everyone watched in horror as Betsy’s head whipped to the side as she was slapped by some unknown being, the welts appearing soon after. • Andrew Jackson, himself, went to the Bell residence, but upon arrival his carriage wheels would not move and he heard a mocking voice telling him to move on and that it would see him later that night. After the usual of poor Betsy being pinched and slapped, Jackson’s men had their sheets ripped off them and their tents pushed down. Returning to Nashville in unaccustomed disarray Jackson said, "By the Eternal, I saw nothing, but I heard enough to convince me that I would rather fight the British than to deal with this torment they call the Bell Witch!" • The witch was known as Katie Batts who was “pretty as sin, kindly as the devil” In her hatred toward John, she swore to kill him and kill him she apparently did. Later in the year 1820, John became seriously ill. On the night of December 20, a mysterious vial was found on his bedside table and him unconscious. Its contents were tested on a cat which promptly went into convulsions and died. John Bell followed soon after. • This legend doesn’t end though. The witch’s spirit is believed to live in a cave. People have seen and been touched by a beautiful woman with long dark hair.

13. National ghost story • DANCING WITH THE DEVIL • The girl hurried through her school work. Tonight was the night of the high school dance. She was so excited. Even now she was thinking of the red sparkly dress she had bought. She knew she looked amazing in it. This was going to be the best night of her life. • Then her mother came into the house looking pale and determined. • “You are not allowed to go to the dance!” the mother told her. • “Why not?!” the girl complained. • “Because I have just talked to the preacher, and he say this is a dance for the devil. You are forbidden to go!” the mother explained. The girl nodded her head, but she was determined to go. When her mother was distracted, the girl put on her dress and went out the window. At the dance, she was having the time of her life and was being noticed by all the boys who were practically fighting over her. When she broke away to get some punch, there was a sudden hush, the music stopped, and there was a handsome man with dark hair and black clothes. • “Dance with me,” he told her. She stammered “yes” and allowed him to guide her to the floor. She found herself dancing better than she ever had before. He suddenly started spinning her around and around. Gasping, she realized she was spinning faster and faster. Her feet felt hot. The floor seemed to melt under her. Still he spun her faster. Smoke started to envelope her. When the dust settled, the girl was gone. The man in black bowed once to the crowd and disappeared. The devil had come to his party and he had spun the girl all the way to hell.

14. Continued... • I think this too was a hoax or maybe just an entertaining story. The lesson is to listen to your parents. • The argument on this story goes between if you believe in the devil or not. It’s true he is known as the most beautiful fallen angel and creature. He was the Lord’s Morning Star. Many stories say women and even men fall victim to his charms.

15. Global ghost story • Bobbing Head (Japan) • A man was working late one night, because his boss needed him. All of his colleagues had left for the night. As he tried desperately to see the small figures on the computer screen, he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. When he looked he noticed a head bobbing outside the main story window. He was stunned because there wasn’t any way for a person to be out there considering they were on the 12th floor. Seeing that his boss was here, he gained enough courage to check it out. As he approached the window, the head spun around. The man screamed at the sight of huge red eyes and a body made up of only entrails. The head shot upward, and the man fainted. He never went there to work again. • I believe this could be real , but then again he was tired and had been squinting at a computer for hours. He could have imagined it. • http://www.eerietales.com/Japan.html

16. Ghostly Lovers of Palacio de Linares - Madrid, Spain • The palace was built by Mateo de Murga, the Marqués de Linares back in the late1800s.  The Marqués had a son named Jose. When it came time for Jose to marry, he chose to marry the daughter of a local tobacco maker named Raimunda. On his father’s death bed, Jose was informed that his father had an affair with the tobacco maker’s wife and Raimunda was the result. Jose’s wife was his half-sister! After his father’s death, Jose went to the Pope for answers. The Pope said they could remain married, but they had to live together in chastity.  Devastated, Jose and Raimunda remained together, however, the couple had the palace split into two levels the upper and lower and each lived one separate from each other. It is said that to this day the lover’s continue their forbidden love. The man is often seen on the lower level, while the woman is seen in the upper.

17. Continued... • I firmly believe this to be true. That a couple’s love for each other could last even after death.

18. Murder victims • There was an old tavern whose alley was said to be haunted by a little girl who had been raped and killed. Though the owners were worried about the alley, they were one of the busiest in the town. One night a man by the name O’Hara entered the bar. This man was know to be sexually violent towards innocent women and was mean among many. Hours later, O’Hara was pretty drunk. He hollered about a pretty young girl he’d seen in the alley and how much he wanted her. The entire bar quieted as he made his way towards the door that led to the alley. None made a move to stop him since many had in mind that he had what was coming to him. Some even started to wondered that very though aloud until all was silence by a piercing scream. The bartender and a few of the costumers headed to the opening of the alley. They stared in horror at the sight of O’Hara’s throat torn out with blood still gushing. Above him stood a young girl whose mouth was covered in blood. She glared down at the man and then turned to look at the bartender. He watched as she thoughtfully licked at her lips as she stared. Before the crowds eyes, she vanished. Police arrived later. Most were skeptical about the girl but with so many witnesses, they eventually believed. The bartender quit that night to go work somewhere else in fear that he was next.

19. Continued... • I do believe this is real considering that poltergeists can hold hatred.

20. Lady in white • In the 1800’s, the white lady and her daughter were supposed to have lived near Durand Eastman Park. One day the daughter disappeared. The mother was convinced that her daughter had been raped and murdered by a local farmer. She searched the marsh lands with her two German Shepherds in search of where her daughter’s body was buried. In her grief when she couldn’t find the body, she flung herself off a cliff into Lake Ontario. Her dogs, in their grief over their mistress, soon followed her to the gave. It’s now said that even in death, she continues her search with her dogs. She is not a kind spirit and is know to harass and mess with men until they leave the park. Women and the women accompanying the men are never harmed.

21. Continued... • The lady in white is an international story because there is one in every town all over the globe. Though some are different like the San Francisco “girl in white,” most have a basic guideline to what makes a lady in white. Normally in deals with a woman who is marrying one man but loves another, betrayal, lust, and hate. The reason for the white dress is normally a nightgown or a wedding dress.

22. The hitchhiker • Dan was driving home late one night. On a very curvy road, he noticed a girl hitchhiking. Normally he wouldn’t pick up a hitchhiker, but nothing looked dangerous about her so he stopped. She quietly go in and just as quiet told him directions to her house. They drove in silence all the way to the house which turned out to be a big manor. He turned to look at the girl but she was gone. He was confused cause he’d never heard her leave. In the seat, though, was her scarf that she’d accidently left behind. He grabbed the scarf and went to the front door. An elderly woman answered and when he started explaining about the girl’s scarf, the woman started crying. She explained to him that her daughter had died 10 years ago on this night. She had been buried with that scarf. The man apologized for upsetting the woman and left, thinking in his head that he’d seen a ghost.

23. Continued... • I believe this is real since it has happened in my family many times. • Like the lady in white, hitchhiker stories follow a guideline. They involve a person appearing to be hitchhiking, they ask that they be taken somewhere, and they usually disappear or they harm the driving depending on if it’s a ghost or poltergeist. Lastly some form of personal item is left behind.