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What are you looking for when you hope to see a ghost?
Do you expect a specific shape or figure, or are you just looking for something odd?
The latter may be your best way to see something ghostly. As we’ve learned in recent years, the old models of “what a ghost looks like” may not apply. If you’re looking for something wispy or shadowy or pale, you might not notice a ghost right in front of you. (I’ve done that myself.)
The old rules may not apply.
In the 19th century, many people wanted to believe in ghosts. In most cases, they expected ghosts to look translucent.
In even earlier times, the ghosts-in-sheets image probably referenced shrouds (usually light-colored sheets) that people used to wrap the decease
Today, we need to keep an open mind. Consider other possibilities.
Though some ghosts seem to appear as see-through, translucent figures, others can look entirely real. That is, they seem as solid and alive as anyone else you’d meet in a social setting.
Few ghosts appear in the classic, ghost-in-sheets form. (I’ve seen only one, and that was in Edinburgh, Scotland. He looked ridiculous.)
Is that the ghost’s form of humor? Or are we seeing truly ancient spirits in their white shrouds?
Then there are shadowy figures, often called “shadow people.” Are they ghosts, too? So far, I’m not convinced they are, but can’t suggest what else they might be. Not yet, anyway.
But those are just visual effects. We have other senses. A total of five or six, depending on what you believe.
In ghost hunting, your attitude matters. A lot.
The surest way to decide that a site isn’t haunted, or that ghosts don’t exist at all, is to insist that they have to appear as you want them to, and when you want them to.
If you’re exploring haunted places to prove to yourself that ghosts aren’t real… Well, that’s one way to do it.
Be honest with yourself (and perhaps others) about your ghost hunting goals.
However, if you want a genuine encounter with a ghost, it’s vital to keep an open mind.
Ghosts will appear — if they appear — in the form that they want to, or perhaps by whatever means they can.
Look for anomalies. Note anything that seems odd, strange, or unlikely.
That could be a ghost, doing what they can to let you know that, yes, ghosts exist. And they are there with you.