Written by Jennifer

When people hear the term ghost they often think of what they see in movies. That is either a giant green glob of slime, some wispy, billowing human-like figure, or even someone covered with a plain white sheet. What many people don’t realize is that paranormal investigators like to classify (or try to at least) each and every ghost that is reported or encountered. Not only do they classify them, but most paranormal investigators believe that each different type of spectre has a specific reason for looking and acting the way it does.

So how many different classifications are there you ask? Well at a minimum we believe that there are 5 main types of apparitions, with some variations among those types. These types are: Ghosts (Intelligent & Residual), Shadow People, Demons, Poltergeists and Non-Human Entities.

Ghosts both intelligent and residual, are probably the most common type of apparition we run across. Ghosts are usually the disembodied spirits of those who have passed on before us. Sometimes these ghosts are considered intelligent in that they can interact with the living and often respond to things that the living has done. An example is asking questions during an EVP session and on playback you get a direct response. Residual ghosts are more difficult to explain and understand. We look at residual ghosts as a playback of a past event, often times that of an emotionally charged event be it happy or traumatic. An example of a residual ghost is when you see the ghost at the same time of day, or when you see the ghost it doesn’t deviate from it’s path, or acknowledge your presence. While an intelligent ghost is the actual spirit of a once living person, a residual ghost is not.

Shadow people are more complex, and not as well understood as ghosts and other types of apparitions. Shadow people are usually described as being in the vague shape of a human, completely black or dark in color, with no discernable facial features. There are two main trains of thought among the paranormal community regarding shadow people. One is that they are simply ghosts that do not have enough energy to take a more detailed form, and the other is that shadow people are not ghosts at all but their own type of apparition, such as an egregore . The notion of an egregore has been around since biblical times and is best described as “group thought” which eventually takes on a mind of its own. Another hallmark of shadow people is that they are usually seen out of the corner of the eye for very brief periods.

Demons are probably the easiest to describe and cause the most misunderstandings. A lot of people mistakenly assume that all types of paranormal activity is evil in nature and caused by demons. This could not be further from the truth. Demonic hauntings make up a very, very small percentage of all reported paranormal activity. NUPS has only had one possibly demonic haunting case out of all of the investigations we have performed.

Poltergeists are interesting in that their effects are seen without actually seeing the poltergeist itself. I’ve listed the poltergeist as a type of ghost, even though poltergeists are invisible and are believed by some to be caused by subconscious psychokinesis, often times by adolescents, especially females.

Finally we have the non-human entity. When NUPS refers to a non-human entity we are referring to the ghosts of animals. There are many instances where people have experienced seeing the ghost of their dead cat, or dog.

While all of these different manifestations can be referred to as “ghosts” it makes it easier to understand what you’re up against if you can get a good idea of what type of “ghost” you’re experiencing.