Places to Find Ghosts?
Ghosts can be found in a variety of places throughout the world. There are haunted locations that are open to the public to explore and others that require special permission to enter. Anyplace can be haunted – houses, hotels, hospitals, cemeteries, schools, ballrooms, theaters, museums, prisons, fields, barns, waterfalls, wishing wells, etc. Haunted locations are everyday locations. Name a place or location and that site could become haunted under the right circumstances. So what are the circumstances?
The most common locations to find ghosts are spots where mysterious, violent or untimely deaths have occurred. These places could be an area on a battlefield where soldiers died, an empty hotel room where a traveler committed suicide or a dark basement where a murder was committed. Not all ghosts are hidden away in two hundred-year-old mansions. Many ghosts are reported to haunt places where people travel through constantly and only a few individuals will ever report experiencing the ghost. Some ghost sightings are rare, only occurring once per year on the anniversary of the ghost’s death.
Every town has a ghost story. Ghost hunters can find haunted sites in their own local community by talking to local people. Internet searches can provide useful information about local haunted spots. Buy a book on the subject or head down to the local library. Join a hometown ghost-hunting group that specializes in local community ghost hunts. Ask a police officer because haunted locations have usually generated a fair share of complaints.
Location, Location, Location
Cemeteries and Graveyards: Tales of phantoms and ghostly apparitions manifesting in cemeteries are common. Graveyards are good places to start ghost hunting. Besides encounters with ghosts, many other types of paranormal events have been reported inside or near haunted graveyards.
Hotels: Thousands upon thousands of people travel through hotels every year. It is only a matter of time before a death occurs inside one of the rooms. Numerous old hotels have rooms that are no longer in use because something awful happened in the past and strange events now besiege visitors in that room. Hotel employees might provide curial information on exactly what rooms to begin searching for ghosts.
Hospitals and Nursing Homes: What makes these particular locations stand out are the witnesses. The witnesses are usually credible individuals such as doctors and nurses. The ghosts of deceased patients and phantom workers can be found haunting hospitals and nursing homes. Many paranormal events go untold because of strict administration policies that keep employees silent. It will be difficult to get inside these professional places to conduct ghost hunts.
Schools and Colleges: Schools and college campuses often have a ghost story or urban legend worth checking out. Hot spots in schools include kitchens, gymnasiums and dorm rooms. Glowing ghosts have been seen floating across campuses, phantom apparitions walk across fields and fraternity and sorority houses can be haunted.
Churches and Sanctuaries: Churches are surprisingly some of the most haunted buildings in the world. There are old churches throughout England that report multiple ghosts dating back hundreds of years. In Derbyshire, a headless woman materializes in the churchyard along with a strange phantom parishioner. In Yorkshire, a figure in white materializes on a tombstone in the churchyard of St. Nicholas. Haunting activities in churches include strange blue illuminations, candles lighting and flying around by themselves, and strange apparitions of religious figures.
Theaters and Museums: Ghosts often have an emotional tie to the location they haunt. Many people have a deep passion for the arts. It is not surprising to find that theaters and museums contain ghosts of past employees, actors and patrons. There is almost always a haunted dressing room, a stage or balcony to investigate. Museums collect ancient artifacts and works of art from around the world. Some museum objects have a reputation of being haunted or cursed.
Prison Systems: There is no shortage of pain and suffering in a prison. Suicides, murders and violent punishments are commonplace. The ghosts of prisoners seem unwilling or unable to leave the prison even after death. Closed-down prisons such as Alcatraz report dozens of restless ghosts still occupying the prison cells. Slave and concentration camps are also sites where lingering spirits are reported. There are quite a few prison systems in the United States that offer ghost-hunting tours.
Private Residence: Under the right circumstances, any house can be haunted. A common misconception is that a house must be hundreds of years old to be haunted. A haunting can begin the day after a person’s death and in some cases, there is not an apparent explanation for the haunting. Older homes have simply been around longer and thus those homes have been exposed to more history and more opportunities to create a ghost.
Thoughts and Questions on Trapped Spirits
Ghosts haunt a specific location, but why? Can ghosts travel beyond their haunting grounds? The majority of ghosts (but not every ghost) seem to be trapped in a specific boundary. The ghosts are confined to a location. This leads ghost hunters to some interesting questions. Are ghosts bound to a particular location? Why are ghosts bound? What forces bind a ghost? Can a bound ghost be set free? Where does the ghost go when it is not haunting? The answers are part of the continuing struggle to understand the problematical nature of ghosts.