Can someone give me a clear explanation of a poltergeist & the different schools of thought on what they are?

Question

For many years, things I heard and read always referred to a poltergeist as a "playful" spirit, usually that of a child, that created disturbances of physical objects, and could be noisy. More recently, I hear it said that these disturbances are not created by other-worldly spirits at all, but are the manifestations of inner turmoil of an individual around which these things happen? What has the most recent paranormal research and investigation shown?

Answer 1

Creejun gave a concise answer to which I would agree.

Answer 2

Seriously? you posted this in science?

Answer 3

I couldn't tell you "What ... the most recent paranormal research and investigation [has] shown", but I'd like to hazard an educated guess about what the latest scientific research and investigation has found: absolutely nothing.

While science cannot disprove something's existence, one can draw certain conclusions from a complete lack of scientific evidence that they do in fact exist.

The conclusion that I have drawn is that ghosts, spirits, poltergeists, spooks, goblins, et al exist only in peoples' minds.

Answer 4

Polter geist is the German phrase for "noisy ghost", not necessarily playful.  The occurances surrounding these "spirits" could be the physical manifestation of a person's inner turmoil, since most occur around people undergoing puberty when both mental and physical changes are in high gear.

Answer 5

Poltergeist is from a German word meaning noisy spirits. Reports of poltergeists date back to Ancient Roman times.

The activity that takes place will start of with knocks and bangs, furniture starting to move around by itself. Then, the activity will become more intense, manifesting itself through voices and even the appearance of full apparitions. Furniture may slide across the room and beds may shake. Many shows are based on this is a style of haunting because it tends to be the most terrifying and rarest type of haunting that occurs.

Most of the time, in the case of a poltergeist, the haunting circles around a female in her teen years. Some of these cases seem to be caused by the female unknowingly controlling the energy around herself. Some cases happen around people that are stable and in the right mind space.

This haunting is hard to classify due to certain situations. No two are ever really the same. Most of the time you will find that one person in the household seems to be more affected by the haunting than anyone else. It may seem that most of the activity doesn't happen unless that certain person is present. Usually, the activity appears to stop when that person leaves the home. The majority of the time poltergeists are experienced by several people, but again they seem to center around one certain person. This person may be highly stressed as of late or maybe this person has gone through some type of extreme emotional situation. If this is the case, see that the individual involved gets some medical care, and soon afterwards the poltergeist will subside.

When it is not the teenager that is manifesting activity there are usually several spirits in the area. The spirits appear to pool their energy together in order to become strong enough to move larger objects and make more noises. In order to remedy the situation, you need to find the root of their anger so that they can pass over and leave you in peace. On most poltergeist cases they will disappear with out any warning, just as they appeared. Certain times it may stop within a few days, other times it may take years. You may never know the reason that it happened. Most people are just happy to see it go and that's enough for them.

By understanding why it was there in the first place helps you to understand how to keep it from ever coming back again. Knowledge is the key in protecting yourself in this world.

Answer 6

I do not have any proof positive when it comes to poltergeist activity.  But I can tell you that whenever The activity associated with poltergeist occurs, there are things that this type of haunting has in common, sort of like symtoms...

1.  Normally there is a child in the home around the age of or just before puberty.  It happens with both sexes but is more common with girls.

2.Knocking, rapping,tapping noises are associated with most cases.

3. In extreme cases, there have been incidences where furniture moves in the presence of others and fires have started for no apparent reason.

They usually clear up after a length of time on their own.  If it is the child involved...they have no idea it is them that is causing the problem, nor are they able to stop or start it.

It sure is an interesting thing to see, although it is not that common.