Answering questions about ghosts, demons, haunting and the like is quite difficult, but add children’s questions into the mix and it becomes a real challenge. Because these are children I will not mention anything except that these questions are from some amazing, curious, and lovable kids. So guys, here are your answers. I hope this helps!
Questions from Miss A.
Can ghosts learn your name?
Can ghosts talk to you? Can you talk to them?
These three questions all ask if you can communicate with ghosts. The answers are kind of complicated. There are two kinds of ghosts. The first kind is what is called a “residual haunting” which is just a big word for a recording. When you take a video using your phone, the camera works by using the energy in the phone to kind of remember what you showed it so you can play it back. That is what a residual haunting is. When something happens somewhere, sometimes the space people are in works like your phone and records what happens. Then, years later, some people can see what was recorded, like looking at a video recorded a long time ago. There is no ghost there, just like the people in a video are not there, you just see what was there before. So because they are just pictures of what people did you cannot talk to them and they cannot talk to you, just like you cannot have a conversation with the people in a video.
The other kind of ghost is there, and if they are interested in you they certainly can learn your name and talk to you. Some ghosts are better at this than others, it is tricky for them. The ones that are not very good at it will seem scary because they are trying to talk to you but all they can do is move things or make sounds to get your attention. Sometime you might hear your name, or a whisper, or the lights might go off and on, there are so many things they can do. But almost all of them do not want to scare you, they are just trying to say “Hey! I am here!”. If this happens to you, you can say to it, ‘I know you are here, I saw the lights go out” or “I hear you, I heard you call my name”. This can make them feel so much better! Imagine if you were invisible and trying to get someone to know you are there. It would be frustrating and scary. So letting a ghost know you know they are there will make them feel better and sometimes that is all they want, they will stop. Other times they will want to talk to you and so more things might happen. You can talk to a ghost. Just start talking! Some people are better at hearing and seeing ghosts and some ghosts are better at talking and showing themselves. How much you can communicate with a ghost depends on how good both of you are at seeing and hearing each other. That is why some people see or feel ghosts and others do not.
Can ghosts show up in your dreams?
That is an excellent question. Please look at Miss Z’s question “What does it mean to dream about people you’ve never met or dead family members? The answer is there.
Do ghosts ever leave their place of haunting?
It is possible, but they usually do not. If they do leave it is because they are following a living person around. If you do not want this to happen, sometimes just telling it to leave you alone or to not follow you will stop them. Do not ask, you TELL them. You can also put a shield around yourself. Close your eyes. Picture you are in a clear bubble that nothing can get through. You can move and do anything you want but nothing can get in. See this bubble as being made of the good energy you have and the energy of everything good in the universe. You can even say it, say “nothing can get through this bubble around me” We can do that with people too. If something unhappy is happening around you, keep that bubble up and the bad energy will not get into you. You will still feel it but it helps a lot to keep it away from you.
Do ghosts have friends?
I do not know, but if you ever talk to one, ask it and let me know!
Can ghosts help you with stuff?
There are just a few times that ghosts have helped people. It usually does not happen. So forget it if you want a ghost to do your homework or clean your room! Once, I needed a very special kind of needle to make jewelry and I knew I did not have one and I had no money to go buy one. After trying to think of a way to get one, I walked into a room and saw something shiny in the rug. I picked it up and it was the exact needle I needed! I had never ever owned one before. I thanked my ghost and made my jewelry.
What can a ghost do to you?
That is a big question. It sounds like you might be scared of ghosts so you want to know what to expect or prepare for. Well first, do not believe what you see on TV or online or on your phone. Even ghost hunting shows are not completely real. The internet, cable, and all the media is a business and a business is there for one thing, that is to make money. To make money they have to get you interested in them and they do that by scaring you or making up things that are fun to watch because they make you think it is real. Just look at all that as made-up stories.
As for what they can do to you, well, not much really. There seems to be some kind of law in the universe that prevents ghosts from hurting you directly. The few cases there have been that look like ghosts have hurt someone turn out to be that the person has problems and just thinks it is a ghost. The only things I have heard of are touching and pushing. Like I said before about getting your attention, a ghost will try to touch you with a tap, a pat, or a rub, trying to get your attention. They can give you a little push, but not enough to push you down or into harm’s way. Again, the universe seems to prevent them from doing real harm. They can also sit on you. I know someone who had a ghost sit on her lap. She was not pinned down, she stood right up and it made her laugh! They can also throw small things at you. TV and movies show ghosts throwing bricks and furniture but that is not true! They can rearrange your furniture, open all your kitchen cabinets, or hide your jewelry, but you will never have a bookcase thrown at you. They can give you a bruise by throwing things at you. I had one throw a perfume bottle at me and I got a nice bruise on my foot. That is about all they can do. Sometimes though, people get very scared in a haunted house and because they are scared they might fall down steps or trip over things and blame the ghost but when other people who saw it happen speak up, they say that the person just tripped, they were not pushed! I have had a ghost breathe on my neck and it startled me and made me drop my glass of water. I was scared but I did not know at the time that the ghost was trying to say hello and not trying to scare me. Miss Miranda’s grandmother used to touch me! I never got to meet her when she was alive but she wanted to communicate with me from the other side. She used to tap my back in the same specific way she used to get the attention of people she loved when she was alive. So she was trying to tell me that she liked me and it was okay with her that I was with Miss Miranda.
Questions from Miss Z.
Is possession real? Is The Exorcist a real possession story? Can demons follow you?
Miss Z, it sounds like you are scared of demons, and I used to be too! I was so scared that I did a lot of research and even went to places to find out the truth. It turns out that demons are just powerful mean ghosts, not beings with unlimited evil powers.
If you are afraid of a demon following you, please go back and read my answer to Miss A about using a bubble of energy around you to keep things away. You also do not want to open a door for them. This means that you should never play with a Ouija board or anything that works like one. If you do not have a really strong bubble of protection, which can take a very long time to build up, be careful believing things a pendulum tells you. If you want to be completely safe from opening a door for them, the only way to try to communicate with the other side or to predict things is through speaking to them or using cards, tea leaves, or a crystal ball. The really good news is that these evil spirits are so rare that you and anyone you know have pretty much no chance of ever being around one.
The movie The Exorcist came from a story in the newspaper in the 1940s of a boy being possessed. It happened not too far from where my Dad lived! Peter Blatty heard the story and decided to make the boy a girl and add a bunch of scary stuff…did you read where I talked about how TV and movies tell us stories to make money? Stories that are not true. That is what this writer and then the people who made the movie did. They made things up to make money. Well, it turns out that this boy’s mother did not give him enough attention so he pretended to be possessed and he did it so well that he fooled doctors and priests. Many people believe he had help from a very mean ghost. So when you watch The Exorcist remember, all those things did NOT happen, it is mostly just a story. The question “Is possession real” is very hard to answer because most of the possessions we know about happened a long time ago when no one knew about science, or in little villages where there is not much education so science is not really understood. When people do not understand something they sometimes make up things to explain them if they do not know about science. But since all this happened either long ago or in small villages it is very hard to say for certain what happened. The good news is that you cannot be possessed unless you invite the demon, or spirit in. People invite them without knowing it by using Ouija boards and things like it where a demon or ghost can spell out words. So do not wish for a bad spirit and do not use the board and you are fine! Regular, just mean ghosts can be removed by smudging a room, using sprays and crystals but the best way is to use one of those things and just tell it to go away! You take charge. This is your world, not theirs and they need to go back to their own world. Just like you would tell a person who broke into your house to go away, you tell that spirit to get out! It seems simple but it does work. In the end, this is OUR WORLD, they are visitors or intruders, and we have control. People who are called possessed are people with the kind of problems you guys do not have. So do not worry.
How do you know if you are psychic?
Most people who are psychic do not even know it until they get older and other people tell them they can do things most people cannot. Ask yourself some questions. If you answer yes you may be psychic.
Ask yourself:
- Do I see, hear or smell things all the time that no one else can?
- Do I have dreams about things and then they happen?
- Do I just KNOW what is going to happen before it does and if so, does this happen on most days?
- Do things move by themselves when I am very angry or very sad?
- Do things that use electricity act funny when I am very mad or sad?
- Do I just know or feel things about people that turn out to be correct?
- Do I see auras, or colored light around people?
- Do I get very tired or anxious around too many people, bright lights, or noise?
- Do I love animals as much as I love people?
- Do people tell me my feelings get hurt too much or that I am too sensitive?
- Do my friends like me but think I am kind of weird?
Those are the basics but there are so many more signs. You can google “How do I know if I am psychic” and read some answers online.
The main thing is that you are different. You can feel or predict things other people cannot.
How do know when a ghost or spirit is near?
You don’t always know. If the spirit doesn’t have the ability to communicate or if you are not one of those people who can just sense spirits, there could be one around you and you would never know it. But if you are a person who can detect ghosts you will know it. Things will move or disappear, you will see them, or even just feel like they are there. You will know.
What does it mean to dream about people you’ve never met or dead family members?
Sometimes it doesn’t mean anything, it is just a dream. For some people though, dreams can open up your psychic abilities so spirits can communicate with you through your dreams. If you dream of someone you never met and then you meet them, you are able to predict the future in certain ways. The best way to tell the difference is that a psychic dream will usually be in bright colors, it will have sound. It will feel very real and sometimes you will know you are dreaming while you are dreaming! Psychic dreams feel different from regular dreams. You will be remembering it all day. A good way to tell is to keep paper and pencil or a computer near your bed and as soon as you wake up, immediately write it down. Because we forget our dreams in a minute, write down your dream immediately. First write the thing you remember the most or that seems the most important, then go back and fill in the rest of the dream. That way, you have proof for yourself that you dreamed something when it happens, or if you have spirit dreams you can read what they say in each dream and put it all together. I say proof for yourself because it does no good to try to tell other people you are psychic. Most of them will not believe you and that is very frustrating. Others will want you to show them but it is not something you do on command like a dog. If they do believe you they will probably ask you all the time to give them answers and then you wonder if they are really your friend or just pretending so they can be near you. It is not worth it. Back to dreams. I have always had my relatives come visit me in my dreams after they passed away. They want to say goodbye to me and sometimes they give me advice. I know it is them and not just a dream because it is very very real, more real than my other dreams. Sometimes you might wake up and see a spirit near you. We are much more open to ghosts when we are sleepy.
To Miss A and Miss Z,
I hope this answers your questions. I think both of you should read this whole thing because a lot of what you want to know is in each other’s answers.
The main thing to remember is that ghosts are just dead people. When a person dies they do not become good or bad, they are just the same as they were in life. They want to communicate with you, not scare you. Remember, this is your life, your world and you can tell them to leave you alone if you want them to go. Personally, I like having them around. They do not communicate very much but just knowing they are there is a nice feeling. I am not alone.
