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Add to FavoritesPOLTERGEIST: TEEN FACT OR FICTION
As humans we tend to be skeptical about anything that isn't supported by science. The one exception to the rule is religion which most people accept based on faith alone. As children we almost always believe what our parents tell us until we learn that we've been duped by notions of Santa Claus and misled by tales of the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. We are taught very early to be weary of accepting information at face value expecting some type of proof or evidence to back it up. Our collective assumption is if it exists, we can prove it.
A poltergeist is mischievous ghost with a reputation for being antagonistic and somewhat aggressive. "The Entity" is a movie originally released in 1981 based on the true story of a woman living in Los Angeles who was attacked repeatedly and tortured for years by the invisible energy of a malcontent ghost. No one believed the victim assuming she was disturbed or suffering from some type of mental illness until the attacks began happening to her son as well. Other movies such as the "The Exorcist", "Amityville Horror" and "Poltergeist" are largely responsible for public perception since Hollywood's portrayals are often the only source of information the public has when it comes to its knowledge of poltergeists.
I believe in the existence of poltergeists based on my general belief in ghosts. It seems reasonable to me that if a tragedy occurs during the passing of a human spirit a transitioning soul could get lost or distracted before it reaches the light. If our spirit moves on crossing over into the afterlife then it would be safe to assume not every soul makes in on the first try. I can understand how a transient spirit might become scared or angry about being displaced in a world between worlds with limited understanding. An angry spirit would likely possess the ability and desire to engage its former life once it has become trapped in a valley of lost souls.
While many reports of ghost sightings can be explained, disproved or connected to a mental illness many accounts of hauntings dating back centuries are rooted in reality supported by credible eye witness accounts further reinforced by physical manifestations. It's irresponsible to dismiss the idea of the existence of poltergeists based on the premise that without an explanation supported by science, all accounts are hoaxes being perpetrated by attention seekers, practical jokers or the mentally unstable. If we believe in some form of heaven, life after death or reincarnation then ghosts and poltergeists ring closer to truth than fiction whereas an agnostic person is likely to reject the notion entirely.
I believe there are disturbed young adults and teenagers consumed in delusions that require help, counseling or medical attention. I also believe in the existence of malcontent energies capable of negative human interaction. In this case, however, it is impossible to make an accurate assessment without having all of the information. The best we can do is make an educated guess as to whether or not a teen is creating the poltergeist scenario or if the poltergeist exists. Schizophrenia for example is a disease of the mind responsible for paranoia and hallucinations. The onset of symptoms of the disorder don't begin showing up until the late teen to early adult years. Without knowing if a teen has been tested and cleared of the disorder who can say with any certainty.
I believe both scenarios are entirely possible. A troubled teen is quite capable of conjuring up delusions that mirror the behavior of a poltergeist. I also believe a woman in Los Angeles was tormented by an entity. The woman was physically seen being thrown through the air by an invisible force as bruises appeared out of nowhere in plain view on her body while bystanders stood and stared. As an intelligent human being it is my nature to question the unknown, yet it is also my desire to seek the truth and my willingness to embrace things that reach beyond our universe.
Learn more about this author, Teresa Weimer.
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Creation
Poltergeists ("noisy ghosts") are usually not spirits but psychokinetic energy emanating from the mind of the pubescent teen. Like "Firestarter" and "Carrie", the characters created by Stephen King, or the child in "The Matrix" that could bend a spoon, children and young adults have not yet been convinced that paranormal experiences are impossible. Therefore, though unpredictable and uncontrolled, they can still occur through and around them.
Psychokinesis is the ability of the mind to move and alter physical objects. Also known as telekinesis, this has neither been proven nor disproven, although there are enough scientific mysteries to date that keep the possibility open.
Lynn McTaggert and a group of physicists and other scientists found that group intention can affect targets more than 5000 miles away (The Intention Experiment by Lynn McTaggert). Quantum physicists have observed in the Double Slit Experiment that the observer affects the behavior of photons. This led some physicists to reason that one cannot accurately predict the behavior of the smallest particles in existence because the act of observing, itself, affects the particle's existence. And then there is Masaru Emoto's work that proves that human speech, intention, and emotion affects the behavior of water molecules.
Those experiments listed above are relatively new, but those who've studied paranormal activity over the years find that poltergeist activity tends to occur in homes where sensitive pubescent teens reside, and it often stops after that teen finishes puberty. Not only that, but poltergeist activity does not resemble the typical haunting.
The typical symptoms of a haunting include the repetitive sightings of a person or persons, sometimes with voices, sometimes without. These "ghosts" rarely, if ever, recognize the living witness but continue to do the same thing over and over as if stuck in a loop. This type of haunting is not an actual "ghost" but an energy pocket in which a specific traumatic incident was captured by the minerals and crystals either in the stones of the building or in the ground and is rerun when the environmental conditions provide just the right conditions for the "ghost movie" to replay. Because some minerals and crystals act as memory (as in a computer chip), this is scientifically feasible.
Poltergeist activity, on the other hand, never occurs with sightings or voices. It's just the opening and closing of doors and cupboards, disappearing of small objects, and, sometimes, even furniture moving across the floor. Carl Jung, one of the fathers of modern psychology, documented his own experiences with psychokinetic phenomenon in his memoirs. Poltergeist activity, then. is more likely the result of the combination of fluctuating hormones and the electrical impulses of the brain acting upon the molecules in the room. Or, in other words, psychokinetic energy.
Learn more about this author, Sandi Crain.
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