Are Cemeteries Haunted

Are Cemeteries Haunted

This is a question I am asked surprisingly a lot. In fact I just responded to the question for the 20th time a few days ago.

Quick by the by - if you need to ask me a paranormal question - please find me on Facebook or email me Here. But do note... I get a lot of emails and I try to go through them in the order they come. Wanting to spend time making sure I am giving your question full attention, it does take me some time to get through each of them... but I promise to get through them all.

Back to the question - are cemeteries haunted? It's a big question because of how they are portrayed. The original Poltergeist and it's 2015 remake, recently released for which I wrote a review... the activity in the movie was caused by the home being built on a burial ground. On Halloween when you're trying to make your home look spooky for trick-or-treaters - what do you normally put in your yard? Fake headstones to make it look like a cemetery.

Cemeteries are notorious for having a spooky vibe. Some headstones and monuments frighteningly solemn and powerful.

So naturally - the feeling you get when you think 'cemetery', all the death surrounding cemeteries - it begs the question (to most) about if cemeteries are some of the most haunted places in the world?

As anything in the paranormal, I wish I could say a simple yes or no... but it just can't be that easy... cause the true answer is yes and no. Now, this is coming from my personal experience as a paranormal investigator for the past 10 years, studying and researching all different types of phenomenon... but that doesn't mean my word is gospel. Because the paranormal is not something scientifically provable... we are still in a hypothesis phase and these opinions are based on personal research, not solid fact. So take it for what it is.

I think cemeteries are both haunted and not haunted. WOO that was really helpful, wasn't it?

Okay here is what I mean. There are a few things that paranormal researchers generally agree on when it comes to spirits.

There are two types of human (intelligent) hauntings

1. Those spirits that know they are deceased but either refuse or can't move on

2. Those spirits that do not know they are deceased, or have a nagging feeling something is off, but are avoiding discovering the truth because they are fearful.

Then there are inhuman spirits, Demons/Angels/Anything that did not walk the earth as human. While I believe angels are around us always - watching over us, praying for us, protecting us when allowed (darn free will) - demons are another story, and we'll focus on those in this blog.

Lets first start with the two types of intelligent hauntings.

Beginning with those who know they are deceased, but can't or won't move on. The one thing I've learned through EVPs, or different types of communication experiments... those who know they are deceased do not want to be reminded they are deceased. Those that want help to cross over, while wanting to go, are still fearful and apprehensive of their deceased status. Those that don't want to go want to continue their lives in the afterlife... whether it's for good, or evil.

They would not want to haunt a cemetery for those reasons - they don't want to be reminded of their current state. They want to be where they feel connected to their mortality. Whether it's a place that reminds them of life, an object - and it doesn't have to be an object belonging to them, sometimes it's an object that reminded them of the life they use to live... or their attachment could be a person. Someone who reminds them of a person they knew in life. Maybe that girl with red hair and green eyes reminds them of their first love. etc. They want to be surrounded by life - again, either to feel alive again, to do good, or to do evil.

Then there are those who don't know or don't want to believe they are dead. They don't want to spend time at the cemetery. For those who don't know they are dead - they want to continue with their life as they did every day. Shopping, spending time in the kitchen, cleaning the house, traveling, etc. they would probably think to themselves... "Why am I at this cemetery? This isn't my home, this isn't where my family is... I need to leave." Those who kind of have an inkling that they may be dead but don't want to believe it, will most likely want to avoid cemeteries as to not have to face the fact their life is over.

So, if human spirits want to avoid cemeteries because they are not reminders of life - then how can a cemetery be haunted?

I believe spirits can travel. They can think of where they want to be and be there and back in the blink of an eye. Again we go back to those who understand they are dead. Of course they want to be reminded of life, and be connected to life... however they know where their body lays at rest and they will check on their resting place. They want to make sure they are not being disrespected, vandalized, make sure the lawn is mowed, flowers are put out, that they are remembered for whatever they wanted to be remembered for.

When it comes to those who do not know they are dead, it could be that a visit to the cemetery was in their usual routine. For example... from Memorial day, to the last day the cemetery is open to the public before it closes for winter... many people will visit the cemeteries to clean the head and foot stones of loved ones, place flowers on the grave, if they're real flowers, they will go to water them... they'll trim around the stones where mowers can't reach... Now lets say a young lady who was very religious about visiting her grandparent's graves daily to take care of them, passes unexpectedly and does not know she is dead... she may still return to check on her grandparent's graves.

So while I don't believe a spirit habitually haunts a cemetery (though it is in the realm of possibilities... perhaps their body is buried with something important to them, or they're bound to the area - maybe the property the cemetery is on is of significance... as rare as I think that is), I do believe spirits will visit a cemetery whether it's their plots or the plots of family members, friends, etc. That would be a type of haunting. While it's not a permanent haunting, it is a haunting. And considering the number of people buried at a certain cemetery... there could be many spirits who have not moved on, coming and going.

Now there comes demonic entities. How do demons come into play at a cemetery?

Many times, youths will break and enter into a cemetery at night, usually on Halloween, for a cheap thrill or a good scare. They will sometimes engage in intentional spirit summoning such as use of the Ouija board or séances. They even may intentionally tempt fate with demons themselves in order to get the good scare. And a number of times, the demon obliges.

So right there, in the cemetery during a thrill seeking adventure by kids who think it's all a joke, a demon may appear, and thus "haunt" (or infest) the cemetery. HOWEVER - it will seldom stay. The whole purpose of a demon is to basically torture humanity. To cause harm, to terrorize, etc. If you look at a cemetery... on a normal day, how many living people do you see walking around who stay long enough to fall to a demon's power? The demon is going to want to attach itself to a human, usually the ones fool enough to summon it, in order to wreak havoc.

So again, we have a case where a cemetery can be temporarily infested... but in the end, the entity will want to be where it can do the most harm, and that's with people. a demon is not going to find many living people at a cemetery.

So I do believe cemeteries can be haunted... and while there are reasons a spirit may be bound to a cemetery... I believe most of the hauntings come from visiting spirits, those who come and go much like we do.

Like I say for everything - take what I say, think about it... and ask other investigators what they believe... and then do your own research. It's only from sharing, learning and expanding our horizons that we grow and push the field forward.

That said, this is a very important thing I want to say.

1. Paranormal investigators do NOT investigate where they are not welcome. Every location has specific rules - make sure you know what they are and are not okay with when it comes to filming or taking photography. (IE, can you share it online)

2. We do NOT break and enter. If we do not have permission to be there, if we were not invited, we do not go.

3. We do NOT drink, use recreational drugs, or even pain meds on an investigation. For example: if I fell and strained my back and needed pain meds, I would not take them on an investigation or while reviewing evidence. If I'm in so much pain that I need the meds... I would not go on the investigation. I would either reschedule, or ask the client if I can send a trusted team in my place.

4. We do NOT vandalize or litter. If we knock over a garbage can, we clean it up. If we accidentally break something, we make restitution. We try to go above and beyond what it takes to make sure we are as careful as is humanly possible.

5. We respect the spirit world and the living. People own the places we investigate, or in the case of a cemetery - these are places where the living go to respect and remember those they loved who have passed on. So not only do we respect the spirit world (which is as much for our own protection since we still know so little about he paranormal in reality...) but also to respect the living, their property and belongings

If you are interested in the paranormal - please be professional, respectful, and try to do things the legal way.

Another thing I'd like you to consider - remember those who do not have anyone to remember them. Each year I will look around the cemetery for a plot that never seems to get flowers. It may be a very old plot. Perhaps the family all passed, or the descendants moved out of the area/country. I will place flowers on the grave, and say a few prayers for their immortal soul. Even if you are not religious, you can still place flowers and visit the grave throughout the season to make sure the flowers are still in place, keep the stone clean...

Remember them. Even if you didn't know them.

Every year I pick a new plot. This year it was of a little girl who passed at 5 months old in 1892. I say a prayer for her every day I check on her, I make sure the flowers are still standing, I remember that she was a life. It's something to consider.

Till Next time my Para pals.

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