Hello Everyone,

Well a though occurred to me while doing some research on Haunted Places or something with an eerie vibe to it. I was looking through local listings of Haunted Places in the southwest while searching for new blog material and realized just how many places claim to be haunted or have had a least an occurrence. So I just wanted to touch base with everyone on the topic of Haunted Places or what makes them claim to be.

Locally Haunted Places:

Everyone probably knows where one is in their local community or at least nearby. If not the first places you should probably check are; cemeteries/graveyards, hospitals/asylums, abandoned buildings, historic places, or places with a history of suffering and violence. Most of my research has shown these are the most common places. And remember when differentiating between a graveyard and a cemetery is that graveyards are attached to churches.

While looking through some listings of my local area I was very surprised to see how many places showed up. Now although many of these places have a long history of reported incidents, many of them have one and some of them aren’t very credible. For example; someone was walking through a store and felt something brush up against them. Okay, I’ll give it the possibility that something might be there. Just because its haunted doesn’t mean it always has been right? Everywhere has its beginnings. Yet, this could be air, something you didn’t see and then stepped further away before addressing the concern and nothing was there. I know I get spasms in my muscles sometimes that feels like something is there. I dismiss this.

So when do we consider a local place haunted?

I don’t know, just pointing out some information. I can’t be the judge of this.

What Distinguishes Haunted Places?

Usually that it’s haunted. I mean really haunted. In my previous blogs lots of the information was verified through multiple sources and over time. Some even had research done. That is why I used them for places of discussion. Because of their credibility in most cases.

Most the time, and probably the most defining distinguisher, is somebody sees something. An apparition, a light, a strange hue floating through a room. After many people report a similar thing, it builds its credibility. Right? Not necessarily, it could be people wanting to say they saw something just to feel, well ‘special.’ Yet, I honestly do believe that a large percentage of the time the people are telling the truth.

What else? Of course of the five senses there comes hearing probably next in popularity, but let’s combine that with voice because we have all heard the stories of people talking to someone they later found out to be deceased. Beyond all those claims of talking there are the noises we hear without communicating or seeing anything.

Running through the halls, eerie noises of a child’s laughter. Perhaps the crying of a lost soul in the lonely woods searching for their missing lover, perhaps thinking it’s you.

Then there is smell, people have actually reported smells from haunted places and not always bad or the rotting smell of death and decay. Sometimes its perfumes, food, even the smell of a person’s natural presence.

And last but not least, touch. People will feel things brush up against them. Someone might report being pushed aggressively or even punched/slapped. All sorts of things. And I guess you could but the floating or moving objects into this category and of course the visual category because it’s kind of a mix between the two.

So what’s my deal with Haunted Places?

The reason I wanted to post this blog was for the main reason of trying to figure out what makes a place one of these Haunted Places. I am still confused because many times it comes down to someone else’s word as your only evidence. But what about these places that claim to be haunted all the time and have a limited history or nothing credible to support a reason or the story behind ‘why’ it is haunted. Is it a publicity thing? Maybe. Once again, I am not going to be one to determine that, I am not an expert.

However, when I look for real Haunted Places, this is some of the information I look for and sometimes cross-reference the back stories as much as possible (via Internet) before writing about them on my page. I like the rare ones that I stumble across but I also like to write about the popular ones just to spark that little bit of memory back in to those who have read or heard about it.

I think this is great because as we get older we sometimes forget about these little stories of haunted places we heard of or even the famous stories. I am trying to dig up some more low-key stories of Haunted Places to do in the near future and I am always open to suggestions. I do get a lot, however, so if I don’t get right back to you, it’s just because of that.

Thanks for Reading,

Joshua Crane Dowidat