The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Hauntings: The Complete A–Z for the Entire Magical World

One of the most amazing discoveries in medicine was made by Roger Sperry in the 1960s, when he revealed that the right hemisphere of the brain, responsible for intuition and creativity, makes an equally valuable contribution as the left hemisphere of the brain, responsible for reason and logic and previously thought to reign supreme. Opinions differ on what part of the brain psi function exists in, but many believe that the ability to connect to intuitive information is housed in the right side of the brain and that for optimal brain function both the right and left sides of the brain need to work together.

Some scientists suggest as well that brain waves need to work together. Brain waves are electrical impulses our brains constantly release, and they are measured in hertz, or cycles per second. There are four major stages of brainwave activity, beginning with beta, the shortest and fastest waves, and moving through to delta, the strongest and slowest.

When the brain is emitting beta waves, the individual is active, awake and conscious, with his or her eyes open. Alpha brain waves operate just below waking consciousness, a state that is attained in meditation and relaxation. The average person can maintain awareness in this state. Typically, eyes are closed and the body is relaxed, but alpha waves are also produced during daydreaming with eyes open. The alpha state is not essential to achieve success in psi testing results, but studies show that it is conducive to psi. Theta brain waves are achieved during deep relaxation. The average person cannot maintain awareness in this state, but some meditators claim that they can. The final state, delta, is one of sleep or unconsciousness.

Some scientists maintain that the blending of all four brain waves creates a brandnew brain wave. Some followers of Eastern philosophy propose that the awakened mind, which occurs when a person is more aware of their spiritual existence, is a state that combines all four brain waves at once.

BREATH

The first and last thing you do in life is to breathe. Breathing is the essence of life. And so it is not surprising that breathing and breath are often identified with the soul. In Roman times a close relative would inhale the last breath of someone who was dying, because it was thought that the soul had to enter into another body or it would be lost. In Hinduism the breath or life energy is seen as the force that controls the mind; healthy breathing is healthy thinking and healthy being, which is why yoga always teaches breathing exercises.

In the past half century or so many Westerners have tried to learn the techniques for breathing, meditation and mind control that Eastern yogis have studied for millennia. In recent years psychiatrist Stanislav Grof developed a method that combines breathing and meditation and called it Holotropic Breathwork; it helps individuals enter an unordinary state of consciousness for psychic healing by using evocative music, accelerated breathing, energy work and mantra drawing. Aspects of this meditation involve exploration of the inner self and spiritual opening.

BRIDGE OF SOULS

The Bridge of Souls in mythology and folklore is the heavenly road souls of the dead must travel in order to get to the afterlife. The most common motif used for the Bridge of Souls is that of the rainbow.

In Hawaii, Polynesia, Austria, Japan and among some Native American

Breathing exercises

Simple breathing exercises are thought to help give you quick access to psychic states of mind. One Eastern technique is to visualize, with each inbreath, drawing in coloured light – pink light for harmony and quiet contemplation and white or gold light for spiritual energy – and slowly breathing out black mist or smoke as all the negative energies leave the body.

A yoga breathing exercise that is thought to be wonderfully effective for saturating your aura and your body with energy is alternate nostril breathing.

Using your right thumb, close your right nostril and inhale slowly through your left nostril for a count of four. Then keeping the right nostril closed, use your fingers to close the left nostril, so both nostrils are closed for a count of eight. Then, keeping your left nostril closed, remove your thumb from your right nostril and exhale for a slow count of four. Switch nostrils, closing the left nostril and inhaling through the right nostril for a count of four. Close both nostrils again for a count of eight, and exhale slowly for a count of four through the left nostril. Repeat the whole exercise four or five times.

tribes, the rainbow is thought to be the path souls take on their way to heaven, and has been called a bridge or ladder to higher or other worlds. The Russians call the rainbow the ‘Gate to Heaven’. In New Zealand dead Maori chiefs are believed to travel up the rainbow to their new home. In parts of Germany and Austria, folklore suggests that children’s souls are led up the rainbow to heaven, and in some parts of England it is considered unlucky to point at a rainbow.

People all over the world have different ways of looking at and understanding rainbows. For some they suggest magical possibilities, for others a rainbow indicates that a project is going to fail – ‘building rainbows in the sky’ – but whenever a rainbow appears, and however rationally it can be explained as a natural phenomenon, even the most hardened sceptic cannot help but be struck by its magic and its beauty.

BROOM

The broom is intimately connected with witches and witchcraft. It was commonly believed that witches anointed their bodies with a salve given to them by the devil that enabled them to fly through the air upon a variety of sticks or stems, including broomsticks. The choice of the broom or besom as a likely means of transport is probably due to the association between brooms and female domesticity, though male witches were thought to ride in this way as well as women.

In Eastern European folklore a broom may be used in exorcism ceremonies to sweep evil spirits out the door. It is also thought that stepping over a broomstick, placing it under your pillow or putting a broom across a threshold will offer protection against evil spirits and ghosts at night.

BROWN LADY

An English manor house in Norfolk has been haunted for nearly 300 years by the so-called ‘Brown Lady’, who is believed to have been captured once on film in one of the most famous spirit photographs ever taken.

Raynham Hall is the seat of the Marquesses of Townshend. The Brown Lady is believed to be the ghost of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of the second Marquess of Townshend and sister to Sir Robert Walpole, the first prime minister of England. At the age of 26 Dorothy married Lord Charles Townshend. According to lore when Townshend discovered that Dorothy had been the mistress of Lord Wharton he locked her in her apartment until her death from either a broken heart or chicken pox or a fall down the stairs.

Until 1904 a portrait identified as Lady Dorothy hung in the hall. In the portrait the woman is dressed in brown and has large shining eyes. It was said that the portrait looked normal by day but at night the face became evil looking.

Over the centuries there have been a number of reports of encounters with the Brown Lady at Raynham Hall. In the early nineteenth century George IV allegedly woke in the middle of the night to see a woman dressed in brown. He was said to be so terrified that he refused to stay another hour in the house. In 1835 she was witnessed several times by a Colonel Loftus, a guest staying in the castle. Not long after, novelist Captain Frederick Marryat was invited to a ball at the house. He allegedly encountered the ghost in the corridor and when it grinned diabolically at him he shot at it. The bullet was said to have gone right through the ghost and was later discovered lodged in a door behind where the ghost appeared.

In 1926 the ghost was seen again by the young Lord Townshend. In 1936 Lady Townshend hired a photographer called Indra Shira to take photographs of the house. While taking the photographs Shira noticed what looked like a shadowy figure dressed in white moving down the stairs. He asked his assistant to take a photograph and although the assistant could not see anything he aimed his camera in the direction indicated by Shira. When the photograph was developed the Brown Lady appeared as an outline wearing what looked like a wedding gown and veil. The photograph was published in Country Life magazine on 1 December 1936 and became an overnight sensation. Experts past and present have examined it and no evidence of fraud has ever been found.

BROWNIE

In Scottish folklore brownies are kindly spirits, also known as the bwca in Wales and the pixies in Cornwall. When they appear they are believed to look like small men – about three feet high – and are unkempt and wild in appearance. They are said to become attached to particular families and are happy to do chores for the family at night.

According to lore brownies don’t like to be offered payment for their work, either because they are too proud or because they are compassionate by nature, but they do enjoy and expect gifts of cream and good food. If gifts aren’t left out, or their work is criticized, brownies are said to become mischievous and cause trouble.

There are different stories about the origin of the name. One of the most plausible is that in the early seventeenth century, when the Covenanters in Scotland were being persecuted for their beliefs, many of them were forced to hide in caves and secret places, and food was carried to them by friends. They dressed themselves in a fantastic manner, and if seen in the night they would be taken for fairies. One band of Covenanters was led by a hunchback named Brown who, being small and active would slip out at night with some of the others and bring back the provisions left by their friends. Those who knew the truth named Brown and his band the ‘Brownies’.

BROWNING CIRCLE

The Browning circle was organized by nineteenth-century medium D D Home for poets Robert and Elizabeth Browning. The activities of the circle converted Elizabeth to spiritualism, but her husband condemned and ridiculed Home, calling him a toady, a fraud and a leech in a poem entitled ‘Mr Sludge, the Medium’ (1864).

The Brownings met Home in 1855 when they attended a séance he held for a wealthy couple who wanted to establish contact with their son, who had died three years previously. At the séance they witnessed table tilting, ghostly hands and rapping. Elizabeth was amazed, but Robert was unimpressed and expressed publicly his loathing for Home, suggesting that the whole thing could easily have been faked, as Home always wore loose clothing that could conceal tubes and strings to produce the phenomena. No one knows what caused Robert’s hatred, although some believe it may have been his low opinion of what he called Home’s ‘effeminacy’. Homosexuality was illegal in 1855, and there were many rumours of Home’s affairs with young men.

The Brownings’ disagreement over spiritualism was the only public quarrel the couple had; Robert loathed Home so much that Elizabeth stopped talking about it. Punch magazine took Robert’s side, using rich imagery to suggest Elizabeth’s gullibility.

BULL, TITUS [1871–1946]

Titus Bull was an American physician and neurologist who believed that spirit possession was at the root of many illnesses. In the 1920s and 1930s he worked in New York City and treated many of his patients with spiritualist therapy. With the help of medium Carolyn Duke, he claimed to treat and cure manic depressives, schizophrenics and alcoholics.

Bull believed that possessing spirits entered their victims through the base of the brain, the solar plexus or the reproductive organs. He thought that these spirits were not evil, just confused, and that they needed help to pass to their proper plane and leave the victim in peace. In 1932 he published a pamphlet entitled Analysis of Unusual Experiences in Healing Relative to Deceased Minds and Results of Materialism Foreshadowed. In it he suggests that spirit possession, although not a cause of mental illness, is a complicating factor and that trauma and stress can attract spirits to a person.

Bull practised general medicine in a time when little attention was paid to the mind-body connection in health, but as he was not systematic in his explanations, his work is often ignored by medical and psychical research societies.

BURIAL RITES

The idea of a journey to the afterlife is evident in every culture and every age, and it has always been considered a duty of the living to set the dead on their path to the other world. In primitive times symbols were carved on rocks and implements and weapons buried with the dead to help them in the next life. In Greece a gold coin was buried with the dead to pay the ferryman to take them across the River of Death. The Egyptians had the most elaborate burial rituals, which lasted for days. Today the idea of a journey can still be said to exist when we lay flowers on graves to provide beauty and peace in the hope the spirit will find it on the other side.

As well as preparations for the journey to the afterlife, the other important part of ancient burial rites was to make sure the spirit found peace and did not return to haunt the living. Some ancient cultures maintained contact with the dead, keeping artefacts of the deceased so that communication could take place with the help of a gobetween. In many places in the world ancestral spirits and ancestor worship still play an important role, and burial rites create a doorway from this world to the next.

Gradually burial rites in the West have taken on the idea of paying respect to the person and his or her family, and the ritual has become a way to say goodbye. It is an important time because, according to psychics, the bereaved need to let go of the spirit so it can go on its way, and the spirit needs to let go of the bereaved. Burial rites therefore still represent a bridge between physical life and spiritual life.

BURUBURU

Buruburu, meaning the sound of shivering, is a terrible ghost from Japanese folklore that for reasons unknown is said to lurk in forests and graveyards in the form of an old person, who is sometimes one-eyed. According to legend it attaches itself to its victim’s spine and causes a chill to run down them, or in the worst case causes them to die of fright.

BYRD, EVELYN [1707–1737]

The ghost of Evelyn Byrd, daughter of William Byrd II, an early American colonial settler and founder of the city of Richmond, Virginia, is reputed to haunt the grounds of her childhood home, Westover, on the James River.

Born in 1707, Evelyn was sent to England at the age of 10 to be educated, and at the age of 16 she fell in love with a man her family considered unsuitable, possibly because they thought him too old for her. At 19 Evelyn returned to Westover depressed and heartbroken. She withdrew from all company except for that of her friend and neighbour, Anne Harrison, whom she met almost daily in a grove in the plantations. For ten years Evelyn wasted away, until her death in 1737.

Before her death Evelyn made a pact with Anne that if one of them was to die the other would return as a friendly ghost, and, true to her promise, Evelyn’s ghost is alleged to have been seen by Anne smiling in the grove where they used to meet. Over the years Evelyn’s ghost has been seen dressed in white or green lace many times at Westover. She is never frightening, and when she appears she always smiles.

BYRON, LORD GEORGE GORDON [1788–1824]

One of the greatest poets of English literature, Lord Byron was deeply fascinated by the supernatural and would investigate tales of hauntings himself. As a young man Byron reported seeing a phantom monk in the family home of Newstead Abbey, who may or may not have died at the hands of one of Byron’s ancestors.

The phantom’s appearance was thought to herald misfortune for the family, and Byron claimed to see the ‘goblin friar’ again shortly before his ill-fated marriage to heiress Anne Milbanke in 1815. He described it as:

…monk arrayed in cowl, and beads, and dusky garb appeared

Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade,

With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard.

C

CABINET

A box or confined space thought to attract, store and release spiritual forces, enabling a medium to produce phenomena. The use of cabinets to manifest paranormal activity began in the mid-1800s with the Davenport brothers. The brothers had themselves bound and locked in a wooden cabinet, where they were supposedly incapable of moving, but somehow musical instruments would play as if guided by spirit hands. Their act was a huge success, and until the early twentieth century cabinets or black curtains for the medium to retire behind were all the rage. Cabinets are rarely used by modern mediums.

CALVADOS CASTLE

From October 1875 to October 1876 Calvados Castle – more a chateau than a castle – was the focus of poltergeist activity that forced the owners to leave. In the written accounts of the haunting, the people involved are identified only by their initials. The case has never been explained and remains a mystery to this day.

Calvados Castle was built on top of the foundations of an earlier Norman castle that had fallen into disrepair and apparently had been haunted ever since. In 1875 the castle was occupied by M. and Mme X, their son and his tutor, Abbe Y. Almost immediately they began hearing noises, thumps and sighs and other unusual occurrences. M. X began to keep a journal of the strange phenomena. The following are excerpts:

This is October 1875. I propose to note down and record every day what happened during the night before. I must point out that the noises occurred while the ground was covered with snow, there was no trace of footsteps around the chateau. I drew threads across all the openings, secretly. They were never broken…

A very disturbed night…It sounded as if someone went up the stairs from the ground floor at superhuman speed, stamping his feet. Arriving at the landing he gave five heavy blows to the walls, so strong that the objects suspended on the walls rattled in their places…

Some being rushed at top speed up the stairs from the entrance hall to the first floor…with a noise of tread that had nothing human about it. Everybody heard it…It was like two legs deprived of their feet and walking on their stumps.

The family also heard what sounded like a body rolling down the stairs and saw chairs move around the room with no human hands to guide them.

Everybody heard a long shriek, and then another, as if a woman outside were calling for help. At 1.40 [am] we suddenly heard four cries in the hall, and then on the staircase…

It is no longer the cry of a weeping woman, but shrill, furious despairing cries, the cries of demons or the damned.

In addition to the shrieks and the moving objects, doors and windows flew open, the Bible was desecrated and the house itself was ‘shaken twenty times’. The person who was affected the most seems to have been the Abbe, who had ice-cold water thrown over him from nowhere on a sunny day and his locked room ransacked.

At first M. and Mme X believed humans to be responsible, and they bought two guard dogs, but when something invisible terrified the dogs as well they were forced to conclude that supernatural activity must be at work. Believing the house to be haunted, perhaps by its previous owner (a woman who had died unrepentant), M. X had an exorcism performed by church officials, who believed the house to be ‘diabolically supernatural’. The exorcism didn’t solve the problem, and M. and Mme X finally decided to sell the castle and leave. There have been no reports of hauntings at Calvados Castle since.

CAMPBELL, DONALD [1921–1967]

Donald Campbell was one of the more colourful ghost hunters in recent times. In the 1960s he became the only person ever to hold both the world land speed record (403.1 mph, Lake Eyre, Australia) and the world water speed record (276.33 mph, Lake Dumbleyung, Australia).

Campbell had grown up with stories of Scottish ghosts that allegedly haunted his family line, and he developed a deep interest in the psychic world, becoming an active member of the Ghost Club in London and taking part in many investigations. On the evening of 3 January 1967, Campbell was playing cards when he pulled what was known as a ‘bad luck hand’. If the hand was meant as a warning, Campbell chose to ignore it. The next day, while trying to break his water speed record on Lake Coniston in England, he lost control of his boat at speeds in excess of 300 mph. His body was finally located and recovered in May 2001.

CANDLES

Candles have cast a light on human progress for centuries, but little is known about their origin. We do know that they were used as early as 3000 BC in Egypt, but it is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle to light homes and places of worship at night.

For thousands of years candles have been used in burial ceremonies to dispel evil spirits, and superstitions about candles abound – from ancient Egyptians using candles to interpret dreams to all of us asking for a wish to be granted when we blow out our birthday cake candles.

It is said that the seventeenth-century treasure hunter Captain Kidd believed that carrying lanterns containing consecrated candles would conjure up the ghosts of the dead to help him in his quests. In American folklore, a candle left burning in an empty room will bring death to a family. In British folklore candle wax that drips around and not down the candle is a death omen, while in Germany a candle wick that splits in two spells misfortune. Typically the death omen is allegedly minimized by extinguishing the candle under running water or by blowing it out. Lastly, a candle that burns blue or dimly is thought to suggest a ghost is nearby.

Candle magic is the use of candles in performing spells and rituals for granting wishes and desires. Different types and colours of candles are thought to have different magical meanings. For example, for new beginnings and energy it is suggested that white should be used; for change and courage use red; for happiness and health use orange; for communication and travel use yellow; for love and healing use green; for power and work use blue; for psychic development use blue or indigo; for love use pink; for house and home use brown; for secret desires use silver; for wealth use gold; and for banishing guilt use black.

To activate the magic of candles you should write your wish on a piece of paper and burn it in the candle, or engrave your wishes on the candle with a pin. You can also light the candle and focus your intention on your wish as you gaze into the flame.

CARD GUESSING

A psi clinical testing procedure for ESP in which the test subject guesses the identity of cards randomly selected from a pack of playing cards. Typically the subject is blindfolded so that it is impossible to see the pack of cards.