Phantoms & Specters. Lisa Yorio
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Dedication
This book is Dedicated to my Beloved Pug Kiki- Dee - My Love, My Life, My Baby
I Cherish the Day we will be reunited again!!!!
This book is also dedicated to my father Genaro Yorio and his dog Rocco !!!
Introduction
In folklore, mythology, and modern media such as literary fiction, a ghost (sometimes known as a spectre (British English) or specter (American English), phantom, apparition or spook) is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of a ghost vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a seance.
The belief in manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre literate cultures. Certain religious practices funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism, and ritual magic are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life, though stories of phantom armies, ghost trains, phantom ships, and even ghost animals have also been recounted.
A haunting is a paranormal phenomenon of either the appearance of a spirit or supernatural being or the replay of an action or event that took place at a specific location in the past. There are four common types of hauntings. Intelligent haunting, residual haunting, poltergeist haunting and demonic haunting. Although there are no scientific explanations for hauntings; parapsychologists continue to look for answers.
There are also two main classifications of non-human entities that may cause an encounter, intervention or a haunting. These are Angels and Demons. These interactions are rare but recently there has been in increase in these types of hauntings. They are becoming more prevalent in today's society. I believe these hauntings were always there since the beginning of time. However due to the current awareness of the supernatural through media such as movies, radio, Facebook, U-Tube and television shows more people are talking about their experiences because it is becoming more accepted. People are finding out that there are other people like themselves who are or have experienced the same kind of hauntings. In the past so many people were afraid to speak out about ghosts in fear that someone would think that they were crazy or just making things up.
There are other non-common hauntings involving animal spirits, shadow people, and skin walkers. These are independent from the typical classifications. They are a lot rarer then the common hauntings. Recently there has been an increase in shadow figures appearing in many houses. Another weird phenomenon of a haunting can be caused by things you bring into your house such as a haunted object.
Other ghostly and strange phenomenon reported involves portals, time travel, cryptid creatures, and alien abduction. This book contains all these types of hauntings either experienced by myself or someone that I know.
The first section of the book is about true eerie experiences that some of my friends have told me over the years. The second half is about true haunted places that I traveled to and taken photographs, investigated and sometimes stayed overnight.
I am not sure if all the photographic evidence I present in this book is definitely paranormal because most of this book contains orbs or orb activity; which is not scientifically proven to be a ghost or ghosts. I have been to hundreds of haunted locations and I do not get orbs or any other form of evidence every time. However, I do find it interesting that the majority of haunted areas that I visit orbs due appear. I've only included the stories of my investigations where I have gathered some form of evidence or had a scary, puzzling, or terrifying experience. These stories have been taken from my ghost journals that I have created from the last five years. In order to get the history behind the hauntings and phenomenon, I have gotten most of my information from books, magazines, and websites. I am not a historian. I just try to recap the haunted history very briefly from the articles that I read because most people want to know why the haunting is occurring. The resources that I have used for my historical information are located in the bibliography at the end of the book if you would like to do further research on your own.
During the writing of this book, my dog, my uncle, my father and his dog passed away. It has been an emotional rollercoaster. I've dedicated this book to them.
Orb Theories & Ghost Photography
There are many theories that orbs are affiliated with paranormal activity. Many ghost hunters and psychics believe that an orb is a sphere of electromagnetic energy produced by a spirit or the soul of a deceased person.
Over the years, some of the best evidence has been presented from different cases of paranormal activity involving photographs that contain orbs. Digital cameras have been at the center of great debate in the field of paranormal research for many years. The earlier models of digital cameras were full of problems and notorious for creating false positive pictures. A false positive is a picture that has anomalous elements within the picture that are a result of a camera defect or other natural occurrence.
There is a lot of controversy on whether or not orbs are truly paranormal. When analyzing orb photos, many skeptics believe they are caused by imperfections in digital cameras. They believe the phenomenon is caused by reflections of light, and the pixels causing an incomplete or black spot in processing. However, the black spot in the processing was primarily from the older models of digital cameras. This was the first few years when digital cameras first became available on the market. Currently, the newer digital cameras are so advanced and have a higher number of pixels and are superior quality. At this point, the glitches and imperfections have been worked out.
Other explanations regarding orbs are that the anomaly in the photo is caused by dust, pollen, moisture, or bugs.
I do believe that this could be the cause with the majority of orb photos. However, there are a small percentage of orb photos that are truly paranormal. The round balls of light are energy omitting from haunted locations. I believe this because I have taken pictures where the weather conditions are perfect. There is no moisture, dust, or bugs to affect the photos. I snap about three or four photos in a row and the orbs only appear in 2 out of 4 pictures. If the orbs were caused by the environment, then wouldn't they be in all four photos? And why would they appear as if they were moving in a pattern?
One observation I have made is that all the orbs I have photographed mostly appear in haunted locations. These are usually areas that other people claim to have witnessed strange phenomenon.
There is no concrete evidence supporting the fact that orbs are ghosts but I find it too coincidental that they keep appearing in haunted areas that I investigate. Keep in mind that ghosts do not appear on demand. I have photographed many other locations that are not in this book that are considered some of the most haunted places in the world, but I didn't see anything unusual in the photos. If orbs are just dust, why wouldn't they show up