Types of Hauntings

A haunting, by definition, is the repeated manifestation of paranormal activity at a specific location.

However, a haunting can fall into different categories based on the type of activity reported.  The majority of hauntings fall into one of two categories:  Intelligent & Residual.

Intelligent Haunting: This is sometimes referred to as the “traditional” haunting.  These are the spirits that have awareness of the living and/or their surroundings and frequently attempt to interact with those elements around them.  Often thought to be the personalities of individuals left behind after death, intelligent haunts are interactive in many forms.  They may attempt to be heard, seen and even smelled.  Many “poltergeist” cases (frequently where unexplained movement of objects are concerned) can be attributed to intelligent haunts attempting to interact with the living, although this type of activity is not entirely exclusive to the intelligent haunt.

Residual Haunting: Usually the most common type of haunting, residual haunts are often referred to as “Psychic Recordings” where a particular image, sound or action is literally “recorded” into the environment.  This “recording” then functions like an audio or video recording set to loop endlessly.  Residual haunts have no awareness of time or living people that may be observing them.  Residual haunts can last a long time but tend to eventually fade and occur less as it loses energy with which to manifest itself, much like a device utilizing a battery as a power source.