The Difference Between a Residual and Intelligent Haunting

We all have heard of a haunting or ghost story, but did you know that there are different types?

Looking at the most common ghost stories, it is normally an apparition of a human, animal, or vehicle.

The apparition appears and just as quickly disappears without explanation, but now and then the story becomes a bit scarier when the apparition starts to interact with the viewer.

The first of these two phenomena is called a residual haunting, of which the Tokai Manor Ghost story of Cape Town, with its ghostly horse and rider appearing, with background sounds of a party with people, laughing, then screaming in horror, and then nothing, reaping itself yearly, is the most well-known.

The second phenomenon is called an intelligent haunting, of which the most well-known would-be Maria the ghost of Uniondale, that use to get into cars to try and reach her parents, till years later her parents went to the accident site helping her to find peace and move on.

So, what exactly is the difference between a residual haunting and an intelligent haunting?

What is a Residual Haunting?

The simplest way to explain this kind of activity, also known as “psychic impressions”, is to compare it to an old film loop or a recording. It can be a scene or image that plays over and over through the years. Many of the locations where these hauntings take place experienced an event, or a series of events, that are related to some traumatic incident that took place in the past, where there was a release of strong emotions that imprinted itself on the atmosphere of that place.

This imprint is normally witnessed by the living as a ghost person, ghost animal, or ghostly scene, repeatedly doing the exact same thing over and over.

This is the reason why so many battlefields, crime scenes, car accidents, and areas related to traumatic events have become famous for their hauntings.

This event can suddenly discharge and play itself at various times, just as a recording would. These events are not always visual either. They are often replayed as smells, sounds, and noises that have no apparent explanation.

It is believed that most disembodied footsteps that are heard in haunted places might be residual in origin.

Although not as common, a residual haunting’s images or sounds might be created by an event, that has been repeated over a long period of time.

These frequent and repetitive releases of energy also seem to be capable of leaving a lasting impression. A good example of this can be the large number of haunted staircases that have been reported over the years in homes and public buildings. It’s possible that because of the number of times that people expended energy, going up and down these sets of stairs, left a mark on the site.

These locations act like giant storage batteries, saving up impressions of sights and sounds from the past. Then, as the years go by, these impressions appear again as if a film projector has started to run. No one seems to know how this might work, but there are many theories.

Famed paranormal investigator, Frederic W. H. Myers (1843-1901) one of the principal founders of the Society for Psychical Research, called this type of haunting a “vertical afterimage.” A residual haunting, according to Myers’ definition, would be a memory impression left by individuals, animals, or events, especially, it would seem, when under duress or from a time when there was the release of strong emotions, left as pictures in the atmosphere of a particular site.

More recently investigators of the paranormal have developed their own theory for the possible cause of residual hauntings, called the “stone tape theory”. This idea suggested that the building materials of various structures could absorb the energy and then replay it again later. Researchers noted that most buildings where residual hauntings occurred were older structures. Of course, a more convincing reason for the hauntings to occur could also be explained by the age of the buildings, which in turn normally had huge numbers of people pass through the old structure over time, having a tapestry of history played out in it, leaving energy imprints.

This can also explain why on busy roads, with a history of lots of accidents, phantom vehicle lights are seen to appear and then disappear.

Sort of “trapped in time,” the event is recorded in the atmosphere of a location. It’s the same with spirits of people, if one were to see a ghost doing the same activity over and over, and with no response to the present environment, it is likely a residual haunting. The person’s spirit is not there, in this theory, but just a phantasm of them exists, like a photograph in time.

Residual hauntings are past events playing in the present but with no interaction or connection to the present.

M Til 2022/06/20