Ghost Removal: What Really Makes Ghosts Go Away?

The New York Shadow Chasers posted a very thought provoking blog post called Paranormal Activity 4: Preview It Potential Remediations. They were analyzing the Paranormal Activity movies from a paranormal investigator’s viewpoint, and offered ways in which they would try to help the people involved.

I was particularly interested when they addressed ghost removal, which they termed remediation.

Similar to how a home can be remediated (either through the use of blessings, exorcisms, smudging, and other methods), a person can be remediated as well, and in a similar manner.

It got me thinking about ghost removal, which is something I’ve often thought of but rarely write or speak about. So what  really makes ghosts go away?

The method in which a person is remediated varies depending on their religious and cultural background. An client who is Catholic and believes that they are being personally plagued by an entity will be ‘cleansed’ in a manner different than someone of a different theological background.

USING RELIGION FOR GHOST REMOVAL

I’m really glad the Shadow Chasers addressed this. My mom and dad were Catholic. I’m not. If I’m anything, I’d classify myself as Pagan, except I’m not really that either. I’m not agnostic or atheist though.

Perhaps because of my heathen tendencies, I don’t give much weight to religious beliefs in ghost removal issues.

However, as the Shadow Chasers pointed out, for those who are religious, their beliefs could help them with any paranormal activity. If they believe in it enough.

I always struggle with this. If you believe in God enough, does that make Him real? Does it make Him show up? When I ask people who are religious, they say, “He’s with me always, Courtney. You want to see Him to believe in Him, but we see His work and know He’s with us always.”

I believe in Spirit, my term for God.  I believe it’s more of a power source than how most people view God, though. Or maybe others view God as amorphous like how I view Spirit. I don’t know.

All I do know is that when I put myself in the position of being a ghost, would Bible scriptures and holy water do anything for me? They don’t do much for me now, so I’m pretty convinced they wouldn’t drive me away if I was hell bent on haunting a person or place when I pass over.

In fact, many of the “remedies” people often offer as ghost removal techniques leave me with furrowed brows wondering, “How could that really help? Why would it? Sounds like nonsense to me.”

USING METAPHYSICS FOR GHOST REMOVAL

Like smudging. I know it’s supposed to be beneficial. I’ve even smudged my new houses upon moving in to try and conjure up some good mojo.

Has it worked? I honestly don’t know.

Here’s what the Shadow Chasers had to say about smudging:

This method is not tied to any religious beliefs, but requires confidence in the metaphysical world, and that incense can be used as a way to cleanse negative energy. Of the types of remediation presented, smudging is the easiest and fastest method. It is also very effective.

I like the idea of burning a little sage, waving it around, maybe saying some positive things, and thinking that’s all it takes to drive out negative energy, but… another side of me really struggles with it.

Using something else the Shadow Chasers wrote, this is why:

Absolute confidence in the success of the measure is what ensures that it will be successful.

The above is when they were still talking about using religious beliefs for ghost removal practices. But it does also apply to, as they termed it, the “metaphysical” approach something like smudging offers.

That’s what I struggle with most. Do ghosts exist because we create them? Does our energy feed them and enable them to come into being? Do we somehow make it metaphysically possible?

Perhaps. Yet I can think of places I’ve been that I didn’t know were haunted and had experiences. How do I explain those? If I didn’t know there was a ghost lurking about, how could it harness my belief and use it for its energy?

USING SCIENCE FOR GHOST REMOVAL

Ghosts must be made of something right? This leads to the Shadow Chasers third method of ghost removal: using science.

They offered suggestions like using a humidifier to add moisture, or water, to the air. Water spreads electricity out. This should help dampen a ghost’s energy and weaken it enough so it can’t cause problems.

Likewise, they also spoke of using EMF correctors to counteract high EMF fields, another possible source of ghost energy.

Intriguing.

I have an easier time thinking ghosts can be manipulated with water or electricity than smudge sticks or words. I like to believe ghosts are made up of something. No one’s quite identified what that is yet. Many speculate electricity is somehow involved, as living people also give off electrical impulses.

Again, when I put myself in the position of being driven away by something, anything tangible would do it. As a human, I wouldn’t touch an electric fence since I know what that would do. Certain smells cause me enough unpleasantness I want to flee the area as fast as I can too. (Dead skunks are particularly offensive. And when my sweet little Tabby girl drops a bomb in her litter box…whoa! Instant evacuation!)

Seriously though, there are certain things as humans that keep us away from places. Even words, like “Danger!” or “No Trespassing!” on a sign is effective in most cases for me. So perhaps words do have power? (At least for rule following ghosts?)

As a ghost, perhaps certain words, discomfort, or possible harm or injury (like an electric fence or barbed wire one might cause) would repel or deter me the same way?

HOW DO YOU REMOVE NON-GHOSTS?

However, what about the things that were never alive to begin with? Or perhaps they are alive but exist on a different level than the one we know? Basically, they were never human and passed over. They’re just here and “haunt” and terrify us. They’re not truly ghosts but something else. Something we have yet to capture or otherwise connect with so we can study and understand them better.

I haven’t watched all of the Paranormal Activity movies, but I did see the first one. It led me to believe it was something else other than just a run of the mill ghost that was terrorizing the lady in the movie. (Sort of like The Entity, which to this day is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. Maybe the special effects aren’t so great these days, but the concept? And the fact it’s based on a true story? Frightening!)

All I do know and believe is that the world is a big, mysterious place. There are so many varieties of life on our planet. Ghosts and other entities could just be among them. The more advanced our technology becomes, the less we’ll need superstitions to understand them. Because we may figure out not only how to explain them, but also how to show them in a tangible, substantive form.