Haunted Objects

People who experience haunting type phenomena always wonder why they were chosen to be haunted. It is an understandable question and one that I must try to answer whenever I am called in on a case. Sometimes the answer is apparent. In some cases, the victims moved into a house that had some history with it. Everyone knows that houses can be haunted. So too can land. I have worked cases involving houses that were brand new, houses without a history, so to speak. In some of those cases, it turns out that the land itself was haunted. There may have been a tragedy filled house on the property at one time. In that case, even though the house is no longer there, the spirits still are. They may well stay there forever, if they so choose and no one helps them cross over.

Sometimes an investigation will reveal some action on the part of the victim that brought the haunting on. It might have been because of occult practices or some form of evil act or behavior. However, in other cases, there seems to be no logical reason for the haunting. Granted, it is impossible to know everything about a piece of land or even in some cases, a house. Something could well have happened many years ago that no one knows about. It certainly does happen.

Every once in a while, you will come across people who seem to have problems wherever they go. Sometimes that is due to their having strong psychic abilities and they become a magnet for spirits. In other cases, the people themselves are haunted. The reasons why are usually unclear. You might say, “just lucky, I guess.” Truthfully, in many cases where this seems to happen, there simply are no explanations. So now we know that places and people can be haunted. However, it does not stop there.

You see, objects can be haunted as well. I came across a case a few years ago where a woman began having disturbances after she bought a bedroom set. That article can be found in the “Investigations” section. It is called, “People, Places and Things.” Spirits stick around for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is because they do not realize they are dead. To some, that may sound ridiculous. How can you not know your dead, right? Well, it appears that there is no such thing as time once you leave the physical plane. If that is the case, and all of the evidence suggests that it is, then it seems less impossible to believe. A month or a year is a day. Other spirits stay around because of fear or because they are attached to someone or something, like a house. We will explore the various reasons why spirits stay earthbound in a coming article. The point is that they do sometimes stay around and when they do, they may stay around something that was precious to them.

In the case of the bed, the original owner of the bed had diabetes. It eventually cost her a leg. After she passed away, the furniture was sold at an auction and the woman who bought the bed was in the same age range and also happened to have diabetes. Is that a coincidence? Is synchronicity at work? Whatever it is, it is easy to see why the second woman had a problem. In that case, it certainly was not a mean spirit; it was more a case of a lonely spirit being attracted to someone it could relate to. It is the old “like attracts like” principle displayed in all of its royal splendor. In Katherine Ramsland’s excellent book, “Ghost,” she describes a ring that seems to have a spirit attached to it. In truth, it can be anything.

For that reason, whenever I work a case where the does not appear to be an obvious cause for haunting activity, I always ask whether any antiques have been purchased recently. Actually, it does not have to be an antique; it can simply be something that has been previously owned. However, antiques are a more likely suspect only because the older something is, the greater the likelihood that is has been owned or touched by numerous people and it is more likely to have a strong sentimental value to someone. That sentimental value could explain why a spirit attached itself to the object.

Should you think twice about buying an antique? Absolutely not. I personally love old things, be they furniture or trinkets. There is something about holding something that has been around much longer than I have. You can almost feel a powerful energy when you touch something old. What you are feeling is the vibrations of the object or of the person that owned it. Psychometry is the ability to interpret those vibrations. Unfortunately, I do not possess that particular gift to any usable degree. Even so, I still love old things and I would never abstain from buying something I liked simply out of the fear that a deceased someone may come with the object. Let common sense rule here. If you are looking at an object and for some reason you cannot explain, you are both attracted to an item but also get a bad feeling about it, pass it up. Trust your instincts; they were given to you for a reason. I have heard of cases where an object seemed to bring bad luck to whoever owned it. In many of those cases, the owner will tell you that there was something about it that he didn’t like but he bought it anyway. Sometimes a buy appears to be too good to be true. There is usually a reason for that. I am sure that many collectors have a story or two to tell.

I would also suggest staying away from any object that you know was in a haunted house, especially if the haunting was negative. That is asking for trouble. Whatever had terrorized the previous owners may decide to do the same to you. Aside from that, I would never be hesitant to purchase something old. Keep in mind too that simply because a spirit may be attached to something does not mean you will have a problem. In the case of the haunted bedroom set, the likelihood is that the future owners will not have a problem with it, unless that person is also in her seventies and suffers from diabetes. (For the record, the person who did buy it was neither and they never reported any problems with the set.) When I think about it, I sometimes believe that almost anything old has someone attached to it in some way. We all have things that are precious to us and if for some reason we decided to stick around, there is probably an item we would want to stay around. That certainly does not mean that we would haunt the new owner.

Always keep in mind that the mere presence of a spirit does not constitute a negative haunting. Spirits are around us all of the time. Just because we do not usually see them does not mean that they are not there. However, it is very rare when a spirit tries to do something hurtful or even frightening to us. In actuality, they are often as afraid of us as we are of them. They still think in terms of the physical plane and often are frightened by what we might do to them for their intruding on our property. This is especially true with the newly deceased. So, in short, objects can be haunted as easily as a house, land or a person. If you would like to read more on the subject, try reading the “Possessed Possessions” series by Ed Okonowicz. They are a fast read and a lot of fun as well.

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