There is several types of hauntings: Residual, intelligent, poltergeist, demonic, and portal.
RESIDUAL In this style haunting, it has been reported that people will hear noises like voices, crying, footsteps, etc. Generally in this type of haunting, the entities know what is going on and move around from area to area. In most cases they know you are there and know that you know that they are there. They will sometimes try to communicate or just be mischievous. These “human” spirits often enough are really limited to what they can do. They can move objects that don’t weigh much and may often just seek attention. There is the theory that some people that were bad people in life, will sometimes after death remain bad and try to scare and upset people. The reason for that is really not known. They rely on energy to manifest themselves so you may notice or see them during the late evening and early morning hours when it is dark outside, rather than during the day because it takes much more energy to manifest for visibility. They may be haunting because they may have lived at the residence previously and want you out, there may be an object that were attached to during life and find it hard to part with that object due to emotional attachments, they may be searching for something or someone, they may not know that they have passed, they may have had a tragic death and have some kind of unfinished business. Really, there can be many reasons that we may eventually know or may never know, but they can sometimes be removed by paranormal investigators or by having a priest bless the residence. That is not a guarantee because unlike inhuman haunting, blessings and such may not have any real effect on them. DEMONIC A rare occurrence! Demons are beings that have never occupied a human body. They will usually disguise themselves as a “friendly” spirit to bring your attention to them and then trick you into doing treacherous things (usually via a Ouija board, through black magic, Satan worship, etc.). Signs of demonic residence can be horrific smells of sulfur or rotting flesh. Frightening growls or words will sound as if from everywhere at once, sometimes several voices together, or in a language you may not understand. Harsh physical contact might be made – shoving, pushing, scratching, pounding, etc. They can affect your whole environment – making it feel like a heavy, stagnant fog surrounding everything. They are very strong physically (much stronger than human spirits) and will use this to their advantage to break down the demeanor of the residents where it has taken over. It will tear at their spirit until they are susceptible to a possession. Commonly demons will take the form of half human and half animal, surrounded by a horrible stench. Many times upon investigation it is found that they will take the form of a human to avoid being banished or blessed, they find this potential a huge threat to their existence. Because of the nature of these creatures, it is believed by many that you cannot truly destroy the demon – but rather are only able to prevent it from returning to a specific person or home. They are able to move from location to location on a mere thought, so most likely when an exorcism or blessing is performed, the creature is simply being exiled from the current location. It is possible to perform a location cleansing in order to release some of the negativity surrounding the problem, but the person does need to confront their “demons” before a true resolution can be reached.
A residual haunting is thought by some to be a haunting that is a playback of a traumatic event in someones life. Much like a recording in history being played here in real time. It is thought to be, for an example, that if someone was murdered in their home, their personal energy is then imprinted on the surrounding environment. These types of hauntings will not respond to you in anyway. The most common style of a human haunting is a residual haunting. A residual haunting is like having an impression made in time. The entity may seem to be lost in a time warp. The spirit really isn't even there, only the energy is.
A very common type of haunting is what is known as a residual haunting. A residual haunting is like a looped video tape that keeps playing over and over again. It really generally doesn’t know that you’re there and often is just the energy impression of a significant or traumatic event. There are a few kinds of rocks and such that are said to hold in events like a snapshot that can play out on a set schedule or sometimes kind of random.
There is not much that people can do with this type of haunting except trying to understand it and realizing that there is really no threat to them at all. I understand that while that sounds easy to just accept it, it still may be difficult and at times frightening.
INTELLIGENT
With an intelligent haunting, the entity is aware of its surroundings, including living people who may be present . This entity could be benevolent, benign, or malevolent. An intelligent haunting is the energy of a BEING that once occupied the environment said to be haunted. Communication is possible with an intelligent haunting.
I recommend getting in touch with an investigation team and talking about options and such before making any life altering decisions that may be unnecessary.If someone thinks they come in contact with a spirit, before saying it is intelligent, they would need to make sure the entity reacts in someway, otherwise they could be witnessing a residual haunting.
POLTERGEIST
Initially meaning “noisy ghosts” (from the German poltern "to knock" and geist "spirit"), the term in its modern definition is now associated with physical paranormal activity inside homes such as mysterious noisy disturbances or moving, misplacing of objects. Included in the most common types of poltergeist activities are the rains of stones and other small objects; moving or throwing of objects, including large pieces of furniture; voices, loud noises and shrieks; odors which sources cannot be found (i.e. pipe tobacco when no one smokes). Poltergeists are known to have caused interference in telephones and electronic equipment, and turning lights and appliances on and off. The poltergeist might even become a full bodied or partial bodied apparition. Some poltergeists are said to pinch, bite, hit, and sexually attack the living. Generally poltergeist activity starts and stops abruptly. The duration of it may extend over several hours to several months; however, some cases have been reported to last over several years. The activity almost always occurs at night when someone is presence. Typically this is the "agent," an individual who seems to serve as a focus or magnet for the activity. The agent is usually female and under the age of twenty. Poltergeist activity is often found in correlation with psychic adolescent children who are finding their journey into adulthood difficult or fearing the responsibilities expected of them. The more sensitive the child, the more adverse is the spirit's reaction to the fear being transferred, often leading to objects being moved or hurled across the room or ectoplasm being ejected by the spirit. The spirit rejecting or de-toxing itself of the fear it's been presented with causes such activity.
