These days, every house seems to have one!

It’s not Hallowe’en and yet all the buzz this past week has been on haunted houses. I guess I first noticed this development a few weeks ago when it was reported that property values have been purportedly affected by the proximity of homes in which paranormal activity takes place. Perhaps owners’ first instincts to invite television crews into their homes to investigate things that go bump in the night has had an unintended knock-on effect.

And this phenomenon doesn’t appear to be limited to the working classes. Even the Queens’s first cousin, Prince Michael, has seen the asking price of one of his properties plummet by £500,000. The reason? Well, it appears to be because the mansion is haunted and it’s widely known that it's haunted – despite at least two attempts to exorcise the property.

But while there seems to be this not-in-my-backyard attitude, curiosity about ghosts appears to be at an all time high. UK television’s ITV 2 has just announced that the station’s highest audience figures have been achieved by its programme Haunted Homes, which is described as a “mixture of paranormal detective work, historical facts and human interest.”

In fact, the famous seem to be crawling out of the woodwork to tell of their ghostly encounters. Two major British newspapers featured articles on celebrities who have lived in houses that have been haunted. But having read their accounts of unexplained noises, smells and happenings, I had to stop and ask myself:

When is a ghost not a ghost?

As a psychic medium, I have had the opportunity to witness some pretty spooky phenomena. It simply goes with the territory. And from these firsthand experiences, I’ve reached the conclusion that people tend to jump to the gun when it comes to ghosts. Just because it looks like a ghost, sounds like a ghost doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a ghost.

Apart from everyday explanations like a squeaky floorboard or rattles in the central heating, allow me to share a true story involving yours truly. When I attended university in America, I was invited to the home of one of my fellow students. His family lived in a stately home dating to the early nineteenth century. And although I had known that he lived in what he termed “the big house”, I hadn’t been aware of its role in America’s history – that is, until I arrived.

As soon as I entered the front door, I was overwhelmed by the presence of lots and lots of people. It felt as if I had walked into the lobby of a hotel. And as I got the tour I began to realise that what I had originally interpreted as guests were actually people with injuries and illnesses. I kept getting these images seeing beds, patients, doctors and nurses.

When I shared these impressions with my host, I wasn’t surprised at all to learn that the house had served as a hospital during the US Civil War. And you’ve guessed it – they said that the house was haunted and offered tales of screams and other anecdotes as proof. Even though I had seen what I had seen I had to tactfully and delicately disagree.

Most of us have heard of psychic touch or what is more appropriately called psychometry. It’s the ability to receive information from an object. We’ve all heard of someone holding an object and getting an image, a feeling or some other kind of message. This information is contained within the object just waiting to be read.

Now just as images and information can be imprinted on an object, they can be imprinted on places, such as a house. When a highly emotionally-charged event takes place, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the building itself can act like a video recorder, absorbing the energy of the event. And when conditions are right, the playback is pressed and we see the lady in grey taking her last walk down the corridor. Or in my earlier example, patients walking around the makeshift hospital.

Is it a paranormal event? Yes, but it’s not ghostly activity or spiritual in nature. The souls of those involved aren’t present. They moved on a long time ago. What’s left is a residue of energy that forms a loop playing out over and over again. In these instances, there’s no-one present for a medium to communicate with and to help release.

Nine times out of ten this is the explanation for the so-called haunting. Instead of calling a ghostbuster, try some energy and space cleansing to much more promising results. Of course, if it’s not causing you any problems you might decide to leave it alone, chalking it up charm or quirkiness. But I’d definitely think twice about publicity if you have any notions of selling – and remember these stories, like the ghosts they are about, die hard.

It might seem like splitting hairs but there is a difference between a full-fledged haunting and the repetition of events playing out in a house. And I appreciate that it’s not always easy for the public to distinguish between the two. You might recall that I dealt with the topic in a past Ask Alan when one reader wondered whether his home was haunted. This was but one example of my work. If you’re not sure whether it really is a ghost or just playback, email me and ask. Perhaps a reading could reveal the truth once and for all.

As always, feel free to email me with any comments, suggestions or feedback on PsychicBridges.

Thanks again for all your support and until next week,

Kindest regards,

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