Investigating Ghosts and the Spirit World

Investigating Ghosts and the Spirit World — page 5 — INVESTIGATING GHOSTS AND THE SPIRIT WORLD Paranormal investigators use talcum powder as a trap to capture evidence of ghostly footprints TYPES of GHOSTS People who believe in ghosts say that they are the souls of dead persons that appear in some form to the living Many societies perform funeral rites to help souls travel to the afterlife so they will not return to haunt the living Ghosts are considered to be para normal beings This means that they are outside the range of normal experience or scientific

Investigating Ghosts and the Spirit World — page 6 — WHAT ARE GHOSTS For hundreds of years believers and nonbelievers have debated whether or not ghosts exist Those who think that all ghostly events can be explained by science are called skeptics According to descriptions or depictions pro vided by believers there are several kinds of ghosts A human looking figure that can be seen is called an apparition For instance some visitors to the White House have seen a hazy Abraham Lincoln in the bed room named after him One such visitor was Queen Apparitions are buman looking figures that appear to be dead people coming back to haunt the

Investigating Ghosts and the Spirit World — page 7 — INVESTIGATING GHOSTS AND THE SPIRIT WORLD Wilhelmina of the Netherlands She was visiting Presi dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942 Reports say that she fainted after she answered a knock on the bedroom door She said she saw Lincoln in his top hat and dark suit According toghost believers apparitions most often haunt places to which they had strong emotional ties These may be places where they lived worked or died Another type of ghost is a poltergeist The word comes from two German words polter which means noise and geist which means spirit Some peo ple believe that poltergeists are mean troublemakers They make loud noises send objects flying off shelves BELIEFS ABOUT GHOSTS A Huffington Post YouGov poll conducted in 2012 showed that 45 percent of U S adults believe in ghosts or that the spirits of dead people can come back In addition 28 percent claimed they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost and 43 percent said they don't think ghosts are harmful Some experts think that believing in ghosts helps people to be less anxious about death 10

Investigating Ghosts and the Spirit World — page 8 — WHAT ARE GHOSTS or throw things These events can range from mildly annoying to causing physical harm Some ghost experts believe that poltergeists appear to focus on one particular family member Most often they target a youth going through puberty This seemed to be the case in 1960 with a family in Baltimore Ohio Glass pitchers a flowerpot a sugar bowl and drinking glasses flew off tables and shelves and shattered on the floor Furniture was destroyed Police officers investigated the house They couldn't find anything that could cause the objects to move or explode City engineers brought a seismograph to measure earthquakes Plumbers and electricians were called None of them could find causes The destruc tive force didn't quit until the 17 year old boy who lived in the house began to talk to a therapist about his problems Sometimes apparitions and poltergeist activi ties occur in the same place According to writer Brad Steiger in 1999 a ghost hunting team was called to a Godfather's Pizza restaurant in Ogden Utah Ghostly figures appeared to staff and customers A jukebox played music when the power to the building was shut off Light bulbs flew across the room The owner heard whistling in the kitchen when no one was there The investigators looked into the history of the area They found that the site had once been a pauper's field This 11

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