17th Ave. North
St. Petersburg
Private Home
Sept. 6, 2006
Ghosts, like people, come in a variety of manifestations. One of the most difficult aspects of paranormal investigation is deciding which category of ghost to which an entity belongs.
Crisis Apparitions: One time manifestation usually to announce a death or to impart important information.
Ghost (Haunting)/Site Recording: Repeated phenomena; ghost does not alter behavior or acknowledge the living. It’s a site “recording”.
Apparition: Full-formed interactive ghost. These can attach to people, places or things. They can also become “drop in” entities, with no prior relationship developed to site or to the individuals involved.
Accidental OBE (Living ghosts): Trauma or sudden emotion allows a living person to transport the mind elsewhere, usually to loved ones.
Intentional OBE (Living ghosts): Trained individuals who transport the mind outside of the body intentionally.
Poltergeist: A questionable entity; known as a “noisy ghost” it is either an independent entity attracted to individuals, or a side process of subconsciously channeled energy. Poltergeists usually appear around adolescents who are channeling ambient amounts of energy created through emotional, physical, and mental changes leading to adulthood. Several cases of poltergeist phenomena are reported to have ended once the human agent reached a certain age.
Our investigation at 17th Avenue held elements of several types of entities. Reported by the homeowners were the following activities:
*Silhouette of a woman in the hallway. An elderly lady was reputed to have died in the home before he bought it.
*A little girl who walked out the door (1 time only, witnessed by 2 people)
*Answering machine playing messages at 12:30 a.m. though no one was near the machine
*Daughter hearing voices (near the time that one of her friends/acquaintances died)
*Knob on daughter's stereo has come off on its own, volume turned down
*Toilets flushing in the middle of the night (no one in bathroom)
*Kitchen faucet turned on by itself
*Saw a "hag-like" figure crawling on its hands and knees in the hallway.
*Another "guest" dog started to bark at daughter's bedroom
*Sounds of footsteps (on roof)
*Shortly after mother's death, had soda dumped on a table when no one was near it.
*Found paper towels at home off of the roll as if pulled off.
*A crystal dish in the kitchen fell and broke when no one was near it
*Daughter reports seeing kitchen lights come on and off after they were put on a motion detector.
The team discussion led us to the following conclusions:
The older woman spirit inside (former homeowner who died on the property) was probably a residue entity, or a “site haunting.” She didn't really interact with anyone but was frequently seen in the hallway and kitchen.
The two incidents with the soda and paper towels were probably a crisis apparition; the homeowner’s mother may have been trying to get through to her. These were isolated incidents and were not related to the ghost they called us in to investigate.
Some of the phenomena was also attributed to possible poltergeist activity, centered about a human agent. Most agreed that there was a lot of energy within the family. The mother's side has some psychic ability. The daughter, who is 12, has an interest in ghosts. Most of the incidents appear to happen around her, and considering several dramatic events in her life, her age, and her interest, she may be a developing psy.
The little girl hasn't shown up since so may be a one-time drop in apparition who has gone on to another location or crossed over since being sighted.
As this article demonstrates, it is not always easy to pin a haunting to one entity, or even a single type of entity. A series of circumstances can alter any location, leaving a wide berth of possible conclusions.
