Читать книгу Haunted Britain and Ireland: Over 100 of the Scariest Places to Visit in the UK and Ireland - Derek Acorah - Страница 5

things you should know before you start

What Is a Ghost?

The word ‘ghost’ conjures up the image of a wispy wraithlike figure floating along the corridors of ancient buildings, lonely derelict monasteries or sites where historical events have taken place. In fact it is a generic word used to encompass paranormal sightings whenever they may occur. Ghosts can be ladies or gentlemen. They can be headless horsemen, tramps and crones or sprightly children. They can be dressed in modern garb. They are varied and innumerable and appear from all stages of the history of our world.

But what are ghosts? Simply, they are memories! Photographs in time! They are the result of the energy left in the fabric of a place or a building by the people who have lived, worked and died there. Today we are all imbuing the fabric of our homes and workplaces with our residual energies. In time to come mediums of the future will be picking up these energies and relating details of our lives to the people who are interested enough to listen. It will be possible for the actions of today to be picked up mediumistically by the sensitives of the future. Our daily lives leave an unseen and unwritten record in the fabric of the buildings we inhabit.

It follows of course that the more emotional the events in people’s lives are, the stronger the energy they leave behind. A sensitive may pick up on the mundane day-to-day items but should something of great importance occur, whether it be great happiness or deep sadness, then the energies will be so much stronger and they will more readily tune into those energies.

This is rather well demonstrated by anniversary ghosts – those apparitions that appear at the same time on the same date in any given year. Usually they recall a tragic and untimely loss of life. Rarely do anniversary ghosts recall memories of great joy.

What Is a Spirit?

A spirit is a soul. Our spirit is the part of us that lives on for ever and is eternal. Once we have shed the physical garb and passed on through what is termed ‘death’, we progress into the world beyond, returning to the home from whence we came. Spirit people are as alive as you and I. They are merely people who live on a faster vibration as they are not weighed down by either the physical body or the cares that plague us during our lifetime here on Earth.

It is the spirit people with whom a medium such as I connects through either clairvoyance (clear seeing) or clairaudience (clear hearing). As well as communicating directly with a medium, spirit people may also choose to communicate through that medium’s spirit guide, who will then act as an intermediary, passing on messages from the people in the world beyond to their loved ones who still live in this world.

You may have heard the term ‘crises ghosts’. These are not in fact ghosts but a phenomenon that occurs when at the emotionally charged moment of death the spirit projects itself into the consciousness of the person or persons who were closest to it during its lifetime here on Earth. There have been many documented occasions when people have seen a member of their family appear before them, only for them to disappear just as quickly. They have later learned of the passing to spirit of that loved one at the precise moment of their experience.

The people in the spirit world are not burdened with timetables and do not have to cope with the rigors of travel. They can be where they want when they want. They can drop into their old home to see how their family are doing or can travel to any part of the world they choose to. Just because you go on holiday or move to another part of the globe it does not mean that your family in spirit do not travel with you if they wish to. The only difference is that they don’t have to find the price of a ticket!

When a medium takes part in a paranormal investigation they will, through their sensitivity to the spirit world, pick up the presence of a spirit person, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility for anyone to see a spirit if that spirit person wishes them to do so. The people from the spirit world move on a much faster vibration than we do, but by slowing down they can become visible to us all. I liken it to watching the propeller of an aeroplane. When it is static or slow moving it is clear to everyone that what is there is a very solid piece of metal. Once the engine gains momentum, the propeller vanishes from sight and all we see is a blur. We know that the propeller is there, but we just can’t see it. So it is with the spirit world. Spirits only become visible to us when they choose to slow down their vibrations.

Psychic Breezes

During paranormal investigations the participants may become aware of areas of cool moving air in certain rooms. I call these ‘psychic breezes’ and they are caused by the movement of a spirit person around that particular room.

If a séance is held in a room where paranormal activity is recorded to have taken place, it is not unusual for the sitters to experience a feeling of coldness passing over their knees and hands as they sit generating energy in order to attract spirit presence.

In extreme cases, if an investigator is walking around an area which also contains a spirit presence, that investigator may well experience feelings of dizziness and slight nausea, or even an overwhelming flood of emotion, as they walk through the energy field of that spirit presence.

Cold Spots and Hot Spots

These two terms are commonly heard during paranormal investigations, but what do they mean? I know that parapsychologists have their own interpretation, but how they arrive at their explanations I really don’t know, as they certainly don’t communicate with the spirit world and indeed, in some cases, deny its very existence.

From my understanding of what I have been told by my spirit guide Sam, a cold spot is a portal or vortex, a spiritual doorway which facilitates the entry and exit of visiting spirit people into and out of our earthly atmosphere. These cold spots do not move but remain in the same area of a building. They are not to be confused with the coolness of psychic breezes, which come and go with the movement of a spirit entity.

Hot spots are the energy of a grounded spirit, i.e. a spirit person who has chosen for whatever reason to remain close to our earthly atmosphere. These spirit people remain in the surroundings that were familiar to them in their earthly life. Unlike cold spots, which remain static, hot spots move from place to place with the movement of that spirit person. The heat is caused by the energy of the grounded spirit.