Poltergeists

[Brian JohnsonPPI]

There is a lot of debate about what a poltergeist is. Is it a ghost, a demon, or something our sub-conscious creates when we are stressed out. I personally tend to think that it is a creation of our sub-conscious, an inner demon if you will. what are your thoughts?

[jrieber]

I'm open to more than one explanation of Poltergeist activity. The fact is, I believe that our mind and body are capable of things beyond our imagination- even something as "supernatural" as Poltergeist actiivity. In respect to Poltergeist being defined as the "subconcious" energy of a living being, Telekenesis is really the same idea- except that it is usually a concious act. Telekenesis has been witnessed and proven- so if it's possible, then certainly a living being being responsible for Poltergest activity is possible.
On the other side of the coin, I also believe in Demons and Evil. I believe that in some instances, activity that is deemed Poltergeist in nature could be nothing less than a Demon or evil being tormenting a home or family.

[PPI Glenn]

I really think it just comes from a person tapping into an area of the brain that's normally not used.

[dwalters]

My views on "poltergeists" are a bit different than the other posts here, and yet they do have very few similarities. I do believe that they have ties to "telekinesis", and that they have ties to "demons". I DO NOT believe that they are strictly telekinesis or that they are strictly demons. Please read on while I try to explain, if they were tapped into a part of the brain that's generally not used by the majority of the human race, then why wold poltergeists be so identical in nature, when humans aren't so identical in life?  I think that if that was the case, people like Einstein, Beetoven, Disney and other genius's would all have suffered from poltergeist activity because of thier active brain cpacity. I strongly believe that poltergeist activity is spawned from troubled adolescent young adults who are confused morally. I think that the relationship between demons, and weak minded juveniles go hand in hand. Evil spirits or "minions of satan" if you will, try to take control of the morally weak. Often times resulting in a battle of the concsiousness...."good Vs. evil" in a sense. Giminy Cricket could put it best...."always let your conscience be your guide"! The reason why I say that telekinesis has a role sort of plays into a mild demonic poscesion. The afflicted person may not have a full-fledged poscesion because of the "moral war" that the subconscience is battling....the "good Vs. evil" war. The good takes over and the evil has it's shining moments. The confusion that takes place in the soul of the human is overwhelming, therefore telekinesis takes place at certain times. Times when the evil is more in control, and trying to win.

I know this sounds crazy, but c'mon.....what sounds normal about the paranormal? This is just my theory, and not one theory is correct or incorrect....they are all just theories. Take them as you will. And I also apologize for all the mispelled words.

David

[jrieber]

Certainly not crazy. But let's continue this...
You say that poltergiest activity is "identical in nature", which you feel is contrary to the unique quality we all have. Yet, my feeling is that we are not really as different as we may think. We all share the same emotions, desires, needs-- maybe we also share the same capability of darkness. Let's face it- we all get those disturbing dreams and wake up thinking, "What the F*&% is wrong with me??? I'm sick!!!" Regardless, most of us are light entities, ones who live to be "good". This doesn't mean that we are not all capable of creating the same disasters, disturbances. I think we can all agree that the human race is capable of truly sick things that have never been deemed "poltergeist" (ie. Genecide, Murder, Rape, Torture, Canibalism). Many human beings have acted out the same sick acts.
I agree with you that demons and darkness pray on the weakminded- and that is not only adolecents-- it is also people who have been severly abused, or who abuse the use of drugs and/or alchohol. These would be prime targets for a "possession of evil", if you will. I had mentioned Demons and Evil in my first reply, and you also mentioned it in yours. I think the difference between our messages was whether the evil is being manifested through a living being-a weak soul- or is it a demon existing amongst the living, causing, quite literally,"hell to break loose".

[asmith]

From what I recall, within Parapsychology, Poltergeists are merely a classification of spirit activity. Just as demons and ghosts are words used to classify types of spiritual activity. The literal dictionary definition is...

poltergeist (plural: poltergeists)
a ghost that makes noises, and causes disruption.
[German Polter, rumble + Geist spirit]

This is not something that causes harm or acts out a repeated activity imprinted on time, see the following definitions....

demon (Plural demons)

• an evil spirit
• a fallen angel or Satanic divinity; a false god
• one's inner spirit or genius, a daimon
• (Greek mythology) a spirit or lesser divinity between men and gods
  a foible; a flaw in a person's character
• someone of remarkable or diabolical energy or ability

ghost (plural ghosts)

• (obsolete) The spirit; the soul of man.
• The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death; an apparition; a specter.
• Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image; a phantom; a glimmering.
• A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.
• An unwanted image similar to and overlapping or adjacent to the main one on a television screen, caused by the transmitted image being received both directly and via reflection.

These 3 items are not the same. They are classifications within the science of Parapsychology. As in Biology, classification of a species (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species) displays that although two organisms are in the same Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, and Genus they could be two different species due to different characteristics and behaviors

[bellalaghoste]

Poltergeists can be fun in nature or they can be evil.  So I think it can be a little of everything.

[hoodini]

poltergeist (plural: poltergeists)
a ghost that makes noises, and causes disruption.
[German Polter, rumble + Geist spirit]

Some may feel as I do on this and some may not.? When I think about a poltergeist, what normally comes to mind are those spirits that you hear via footsteps, doors slamming, and other items that rattle and make noise.? On the other hand, they are also the ones whom seem to be more childish and move things around...ranging from moving chairs to smaller items that either seem to feel like they are misplaced all the time or other things that just flat out get swapped around.

I think the grey area that makes things a little harder to classify a poltergeist from a demon, is when things get more violent in nature.? Maybe not direct violence towards yourself, but an action that can be taken in perspective as having a violent reaction.? I recently saw the footage of the Goldfield Hotel taping with the flying brick scene.? Whatever it was, it obviously didn't want any human presence around.? If you go along with what the people were saying about that hotel and the fact that people believe that it sits on a portal, then I'd be more inclined to think it was a Demon.? The question is if someone would have really gotten hurt if they stuck around..? It would be a good place to see TAPS or some other group get together and do some further investigations.

I personally don't view poltergeists to be the violent type.

~ Christopher

[PPI Brian]

Here are some links to websites with info on Poltergeist Phenomena:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist

http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/

http://www.paranormalworldwide.com/poltergeist.php

http://www.leyman.demon.co.uk/Poltergeist.html

[dwalters]

excellent. Miller....you never cease to amaze! I've got some stories for you....some personal stories of some crazy @#$ that happened with my family. You'll be plenty surprised with them.

[PPI Brian]

excellent. Miller....you never cease to amaze! I've got some stories for you....some personal stories of some crazy @#$ that happened with my family. You'll be plenty surprised with them.

I would like to hear about your personal experiences some time...

[PPI Brian]

Here are some more Poltergeist links for your enlightenment:

http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/p/poltergeist.html

http://www.mindreader.com/opi/poltergeists/index.htm

http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/articles/pratt/seaford.htm

This final offering is an interesting article from the "Father of Paranormal Research": Harry Price:

http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/articles/price/explain.htm

[MichaelF (FPIE)]

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to chime in.  I had some experiences in my life that many would call Poltergeist like, and to be totally honest, I have no clue what caused them.  MANY of the theories seem to actually fit.  I think that many people try and lock down one explenation for a phenomenon that can be caused by four different things.

-A friendly ghost trying to get attention.
-A hostile ghost trying to cause fear.
-Somebody subconciously tapping into latent mental powers.
-A demonic force that is trying to cause fear and terror.

I believe that all four cases can display the types of behavior that we would classify as "Poltergeist" activity.  That is why I particularly dislike having the Poltergeist as one of the four main types of haunting.  Intelligent and Demonic cover 3 /4 types of activity explained above, leaving the Subconcious PK type to fall into the Poltergeist type Haunt.  I would honestly like it if that type of haunt was called a "Subconcious PK" haunt, vice Poltergeist.  Then use the term Poltergeist to explain the manipulation of objects, which can happen in various types of hauntings.

I think that a lot of people are to quick to blame Poltergeist activity on just one type of "thing."