Angels - Contrary to popular conception, angels have never been incarnated into human form and have not lived on earth. Considered to be generally good, angels are servants of a higher being or God and tend to have specific purposes to their existence as relating to humans. Some are messengers, such as Gabriel in the Bible while others are spiritual warriors, such as Michael. Others act as guardians to humans on earth and are the most believed in and witnessed angels in our time. Angels have been described elaborately in various forms, ranging from winged and light filled to non-descript in plain clothes.

Demons - Like angels, demons have never lived and also seem to have specific purposes in relation to humans. They are considered evil and serve the will of Satan. They are known for tempting and tormenting humans and can manifest themselves in nearly any form. They are known for thier ability to possess humans (and even inanimate objects) and cause them to act or perform in manners completely alien to their character, including violently. Removal of a demon requires the services of an exorcist, or otherwise someone considered pious and pure of heart.

Ectoplasm (Vapors and Mists) - A grey, white or bluish colored fog that appears alone or right before the appearance of an apparition. The mist may move in all directions including through physical barriers. It resembles exhaled breath on a cold day or cigarette smoke and is often erroneously identified in ghostly photography.

Apparitions - The appearance of a deceased person or animal that appears in either a definable for blurry form. They often appear suddenly and quickly disappear at a distance, such as in an upper window of a house. Apparitions have been sighted moving through physical barriers such as walls and doors and are often accopanied by a drop in temperature. Generally, apparitions are harmless.

Free Spirits - These are entities that travel or interact with the living. They are also the disembodied spirits of the once living, but they can choose to drop in and interact. They are free to come and go until they reincarnate or move on to a higher level of the astral plane.

Ghosts -- A surviving emotional memory of someone who has died traumatically and tragically but is unaware he/she is dead. They may appear confused or frightened. Not being ready or yet able to let go of the physical attachments, they remain in the old and familiar places, repeating the same acts indefinitely until something or someone breaks the cycle for them.

Orbs - Small sphere-shaped masses of energy believed to be either the beginning of an apparition or a complete manifestation unto itself. They move on their own at various speeds. Usually invisible to the naked eye, they are the most common anomaly captured on film. However, the majority of orbs in photographs can be explained away by other means such as dust, insects, or camera flaws. A photo of an orb with a light trail behind is rare and considered more reliable. Orbs can be found just about anywhere.

Poltergeists - Poltergeists are a form of ghost that gains energy from people, most often children or teenagers, and converts it into the ability to move solid objects. Poltergeists will often announce their presence with rapping or other noises and generally create disorder. They like to generate acts of mischief such as throwing furniture about.

Spook Lights - White, blue, or yellow lights useen glowing in the distance at night. Unexplained, they are known by different names including ghost lights, will-o-wisps and ignis fatuus (foolish fire). Many documented examples of ghost lights have been made including the spook lights around Joplin, Missouri, the Marfa Lights in South Texas and the Dover Lights in northwest Arkansas.

Vortexes - Most often spotted indoors, these swirling funnel-shaped mists show up in photographs with a tread-like quality in the body. These anomalies may be spirits themselves, but it is becoming increasingly believed that it is more likely they are a method of transport between two worlds. They are often seen with orbs but have also been spotted alone.

PLACE MEMORIES?

Some hauntings have an eerie resemblance to life, where ghosts are busy with activities that are common to living people such as walking around or working. "Ghost Experts" describe these hauntings in several ways. The first is that the ghost is simply doing something that he/she did frequently in life. The second assumes that the sci-fi concept of time-space continuum is real and that sometimes two time frames overlap. The third explanation is referred to as a "place memory", which is kind of like a recording of a past event that has imprinted itself on the environment. These are also called residual hauntings and recordings. Images and sounds are impressed upon a place and later replayed in a phenomenon that is similar to watching a loop of a movie film.

So, perhaps there is no ghost in these types of "hauntings", but rather, some kind of psychic "record" of a person from long ago.

By Ledgends of America.com