Paranormal   

Question of the Week

 Each week I will post a question raised by people I meet at  book events or  at  haunted  locations I visit,  or submitted to me by e-mail. 

I'll post my answer Sunday evenings,  usually no later than 6:00  PM . 

Many people are reporting greater than usual levels of paranormal activity in October. Is this a “Halloween Effect” or is something else going on? 

Many reports have been sent to me suggesting that the level of paranormal activity has increased greatly in the month of October. On the surface, this is nothing new. It may be a phenomenon we call the “Halloween Effect,” which is basically a psychological process of expectation. As we approach Halloween, the notion of ghosts and other paranormal entities is pervasive, spreading throughout our communities, creating an anticipation, or expectation, that something strange may occur.

The expectation of “something strange” is accentuated by the progressively shorter days and longer nights, and a full moon on October 20 that casted very long shadows.  Even skeptics give in to the idea of ghosts and play along, contributing to the Halloween Effect.

What is going on now, however, is different. During the past year the vast majority of people in our communities have felt the emotional stress of the divisiveness arising from political and behavioral events and, of course, the pandemic. These events have polarized us, to one side or the other, creating a friction in the global human spirit. When this happens, the veil that separates living persons from the spirits of the dead becomes weakened, or thinner, revealing the “other side” to living persons while enabling the spirits of the dead to interact more actively on our physical plane.

On an individual basis, the stress of events has weakened our aura. This has two effects.

One; we are more susceptible, or receptive, to energy transmitted by spirits. Generally, a thick and intact aura offers protection against invasive spirits. For that reason, ghost hunters often meditate and pray to strengthen the aura before entering a venue inhabited by belligerent spirits.   When the aura is thin, or effectively cracked, the energy of spirits may penetrate more easily.

Two; energy we transmit is scattered and greatly out of focus. This makes our immediate spiritual, or paranormal, environment unbalanced. We feel unsettled, and this creates sensations of unseen things close by or even rubbing against our bodies. Instead of a smooth shell of energy – an intact and healthy aura – we have a highly variable thickness of energy surrounding our bodies.

Many people enjoy October because of the anticipation of strange and exciting experiences.  But, in this current contentious and friction-filled spiritual environment, I suggest we must be careful not to allow belligerent spirits to get close or make contact. A thin or weakened aura could lead to very unpleasant experiences.