Triggering A Haunting
Are there any circumstances that can trigger a haunting? It has been suggested that some hauntings start or intensify or perhaps just get noticed when renovation work is being carried out on the building in question. Is this true? Are there other possible events that may trigger a haunting?
Are there any circumstances that can trigger a haunting? It has been suggested that some hauntings start or intensify or perhaps just get noticed when renovation work is being carried out on the building in question. Is this true? Are there other possible events that may trigger a haunting? Do B&Q (which a large DIY store) need to put warnings on their tools: ‘WARNING, Excessive Hammering May Provoke A Ghosts Or Open A Portal To Hell!’
Interesting question
…about poltergeist cases. One generally accepted theory is that poltergeist hauntings are set into motion by "particular" or "sensitive" or "gifted" children entering puberty. While this may be accepatble for some I have always had problems with this explanation: how many millions children enter puberty each year? How many poltergeist cases are reported each year? And also: why have we also got poltergeist cases in houses inhabited only by adults?
One old theory I learned from the States says that a poltergeist (or any other "spook" as they like to call them) is very much like a sapling. Give it enough nourishment and it will grow, give it no nourishment and it will wither. Since many poltergeist cases seem to start with simple phenomena (rappings on the wall etc) and to grow in strength as people pay more attention to them, some US investigators advise that the best way to stop an haunting or poltergeist is to ignore it. If this proves too much, moving to another location for a few days may prove a viable remedy. Of course this may hint that suggestion (self-hypnosis?) plays a huge part in hauntings, and this may be a perfectly sound explanation in many cases, though this fails to explain physical manifestations. Hallucinations do not switch lights on and off (though they can alter light levels perception) nor do they cause objects to move and motion sensors to go off.
I have heard hauntings being set off by some particular event: St James’s Church in London has a tradition which may fit your description.
In 1839 workmen carrying out some excavations unearthed a glass paneled coffin near the altar, containing a remarkably well-preserved body, most likely mummified. This mummy was nicknamed Old Jimmy or Jimmy Garlick and is populary believed to be the embalmed body of one of London’s early mayors. Though this is probably not the case he was surely a notable character, as his odd and expensive coffin proves.
This coffin was housed in the vestibule for everybody to see until, during the London Blitz, a German bomb caused some damages to church. Among the other things Old Jimmy’s glass coffin was shattered. Shortly after this occurence Old Jimmy’s ghost started to be seen and heard in the church. According to parishioners Old Jimmy had been awakened from his slumber by this dramatic occurence.
I think this case may fit your description pretty well.
Thanks Mauro. It looks
Thanks Mauro. It looks like I’ll have to get Old Jimmy and St James’s Church up on the website at some point. I’ve never heard of that case before, or at least I can’t recall reading about it.
Strangley there are also direct opposite theories to those you mentioned.
[quote=Mauro]One old theory I learned from the States says that a poltergeist (or any other "spook" as they like to call them) is very much like a sapling. Give it enough nourishment and it will grow, give it no nourishment and it will wither. Since many poltergeist cases seem to start with simple phenomena (rappings on the wall etc) and to grow in strength as people pay more attention to them, some US investigators advise that the best way to stop an haunting or poltergeist is to ignore it. [/quote]
In some cases taking extensive notes of your haunting and recoding every knock and bang in a diary, has had the apparent effect of reducing haunting type experiences. Maybe by this exercise focusing on each individual event and forcing you to look for natural explanations. It also reduces the chance of exageration if notes are taken straight away.
[quote=Mauro]This coffin was housed in the vestibule for everybody to see until, during the London Blitz, a German bomb caused some damages to church. Among the other things Old Jimmy’s glass coffin was shattered. Shortly after this occurence Old Jimmy’s ghost started to be seen and heard in the church. According to parishioners Old Jimmy had been awakened from his slumber by this dramatic occurence.[/quote]
There have also been cases, like at Greyfriars where the blitz stopped a haunting….well according to tradition anyway 🙂
In the locations I’ve
In the locations I’ve observed, this tends to bare out, but it could be a statistical abnormality because it’s not unusual for new owners, who might not know of an existing haunting, when they first move in, to do some remodeling.
It might not be anything major, but people tend to make that connection afterwards of ‘Oh, yes, when we started fixing the frame on the picture window, that’s when we first noticed the walls bleeding and the voice saying ‘get out!…" even if it might not actually have any real connection.
Summum Nec Metuam Diem Nec Optima
Re: Interesting question
[quote=Mauro]I have heard hauntings being set off by some particular event: St James’s Church in London has a tradition which may fit your description.
In 1839 workmen carrying out some excavations unearthed a glass paneled coffin near the altar, containing a remarkably well-preserved body, most likely mummified. This mummy was nicknamed Old Jimmy or Jimmy Garlick and is populary believed to be the embalmed body of one of London’s early mayors. Though this is probably not the case he was surely a notable character, as his odd and expensive coffin proves.
This coffin was housed in the vestibule for everybody to see until, during the London Blitz, a German bomb caused some damages to church. Among the other things Old Jimmy’s glass coffin was shattered. Shortly after this occurence Old Jimmy’s ghost started to be seen and heard in the church. According to parishioners Old Jimmy had been awakened from his slumber by this dramatic occurence.
I think this case may fit your description pretty well.[/quote]
At long last Mauro I have got Jimmy Garlick on the website: http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/greater-london/hauntings/st-jamess-church-garlickhythe.html
Re: Triggering A Haunting
Damn Nazis. Bombing ghosts… summoning demons… mucking about with the ark of the covenant… 😉
Summum Nec Metuam Diem Nec Optima
Re: Triggering A Haunting
Redecorating tends to be the trigger in my house. Whenever we disturb anything with builders, plasterers, decorators or a spot of DIY we tend to get ‘Emma’ visiting to check on what we’ve done – whether she’s happy about it or not, that I don’t know???
Re: Triggering A Haunting
Hi David 🙂 I know you’ve mentioned Emma to me over a few pints in the past. Has she been seen recently?
Re: Interesting question
[quote=Ian Topham]
At long last Mauro I have got Jimmy Garlick on the website: http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/greater-london/hauntings/st-jamess-church-garlickhythe.html
[/quote]
Nice work. Cannot follow the site as much as I used to but it’s great seeing it constantly updated.
In Distortion We Trust
Re: Triggering A Haunting
We haven’t had a visual full-on sighting since 2001 when I saw her torso very clearly about 2 meters away from me in the doorway of our lounge; shortly after we moved in.
Alan, Danielle’s father saw a boot on the stairs when we where stripping the banisters of paint (hellish job – took 2 weeks!)
Since then we have seen the tradition out-of-corner-of one’s-eye etc on several occasions; some could well be explainable phenomenon others not so obvious – dark rooms with darker shadows etc (whooooo!!)
We do, however, have a reoccurance of cigarette smoke in the bathroom (which at one time was the back door) which is total unexplanable as neither of us or neighbours for 200 metres, smoke! This occurs regularly (monthly) with no specific routine that I can tell.
In around 2004 we were put in contact with a lady who lives in Stourbridge who was the neice of the original occupants when the house was built in 1883. There names where Samuel and Emma Cook(e). They also owned the Bell Inn on Lye High Street. The Cook(e)s where quite business savvy in the late 19th Century and owned several properties on the street. (My neighbour still remembers the Cook(e)s as they lived in our house until around 1950s. Emma was apparently the trouser-warer of the family and, according to her neice, managed to go through a number of architects before the house was completed; she was from all accounts a fussy bugger!
Emma’s neice clearly remembered that Emma would not allow smoking in the house with the exception of Samuel who had his own room, which is now our dining room. Emma did smoke and used to smoke out of the back door. Coincidence? Who knows!