What are ghosts? My own personal point of view, ghosts are disembodied entities that manifest in the physical world both thru physical and inner senses like clairvoyance and other means of communications like dreams, and electronic voice phenomena (EVP).

It appears that ghosts and hauntings are of several types but some experts simplified their classifications. I myself listed my own version of Ghost Types from several sources and based on my experience and other people’s accounts

1. Dead People: These are the spirits of the dead people that for some reason, trapped between the physical plane and the spirit realm as a result of tragedy or trauma. They can both appear as transparent or solid form. According to many ghosts hunters and psychics, these ghosts don’t know they are dead. Ghost hunter veteran Hans Holzer says, “A ghost is a human being who has passed out of the physical body, usually in a traumatic state and is not aware usually of his true condition. We are all spirits encased in a physical body. At the time of passing, our spirit body continues into the next dimension. A ghost, on the other hand, due to trauma, is stuck in our physical world and needs to be released to go on.” These ghosts can interact with the living because they usually aware of the physical world that’s why they are unaware that they are already dead.

2. Hauntings or Recordings: Experts say that some ghosts appear to be mere recordings on the environment or just a memory of an energy in a place they once existed. This would explain about ghost cars and trains that can still be heard and sometimes seen, even though they are long gone. They dont interact with the living and their appearance and actions are always the same especially at the last time they existed. They can also be called as residual or replay ghosts.

3. Messengers: These are the most comm0n ghosts because they usually appear shortly after their deaths to people close to them. They are aware of their deaths and can interact with the living. They most often bring messages of comfort to their loved ones, to say that they are well and happy, and not to grieve for them. These ghosts appear briefly and usually only once. It is as if they intentionally return with their messages for the express purpose of helping the living cope with their loss.

4. Poltergeists: These hauntings are considered to be violent because it has the greatest ability to affect the physical world. It is the most feared ghost because it can create noisy sound such as wall-banging, rapping, footsteps and even music. They can turn on faucets, slam doors, turn lights on and off, and also flush toilets and the worst of all, they throw things across rooms regardless of weight. They can hurt people such as slap, scratch, or cause any injury and considered by some investigators to be demonic in nature. These “noisy ghosts” are both caused by dead people at certain living people under emotional and mental stress.

5. Orbs: These are the most photograped ghosts. They appear as transparent or translucentballs of light hovering above the ground or they have a lingering trail indicating they are travelling at a fairly fast rate of speed at the time of picture was taken. Most ghost experts say that 85% of photographed orbs are created inadvertently by circumstances and weather conditions, but others would conclude that these are spiritual manifestations such as dead people, nature spirits and extraterrestrials. Some theories claim that an orb is the basic form of all ghostly phenomena, from this state they change into ecto-mist and then apparitions and they also emit electromagnetic fields.

6. Projections: This type of ghost could be the astral body of a living person or a mental projection thru remote viewing. I sometimes heard a testimony in a mind control seminar that the remote viewer was actually seen as ghost or physical form in a target place by people present in the area. It proves that the human mind is very powerful that the persons’ self can be projected at will in a particular place.

7. Vortex, Funnel Ghosts: This type of ghost can be attributed to spirits of the dead person, that usually appeared as swirling funnel shape. They can also appear in pictures as being long and narrow and having a tread design within their make up and readily confused with a speeding orb when they slow down and take on this straight and narrow look. They are often felt as cold spot that would mean it is an enegy of a dead person.

8. Shadow, Dark Ghosts: Feared ghosts because of its dark appearance. They usually appear as black shadows. These ghosts are considered to be sneaky and evasive, when spotted its usually out of the corner of the eye or as they are darting through wall. They usually move fast by wall and appear instantly and they often spotted in mirrors. Another dark shadow ghost appeared with red eyes. Experts say this is another entity that some researchers say might be an elemental or extraterrestrial.

9. Double Ghost (Doppleganger): This type of ghost causes confusion among the witnesses. A ghost that usually looks, walks, talks and appears to a family member or a friend of the person it looks like. It is called in german term doppleganger,which means “double goer”. There are many instances that people have even claimed to have seen their own double, while others were informed that their doubles instantly appeared in their house. It usually dont interact with the living but reported as being solid or transparent.

10. Mist, Fog, Cloudy Ghost: This is another manifestation of a dead person’s soul. It usually appears several feet off the ground and linger or travel quickly at will. It’s usual colors vary from gray to white, but has also been seen and photographed in several other colors. This ghost manifestation appears in all locations but most generally spotted outdoors and most particularly at cemeteries, battlefields & historical sites. It has been speculated that the spirit from this appearance will transform into a full-bodied apparition.

recommended sites: shadowlands.com; thinkquest. org; paranormal.about.com;sgha.net