Residual Hauntings

A residual haunting is a term that describes events which are really not considered actual hauntings at all.  The various anomalies associated with the haunt are considered to actually be a sort of playback of events from another time.  It can be compared to a video tape on a VCR that plays on a loop over and over again.  Past events are somehow attached to a particular place and replay themselves in the present day, but in a less solid form – sometimes just sounds, sometimes very light apparitions, sometimes just smells, etc.  In a residual haunting, beings are not aware of their present day surroundings and do not interact with witnesses.

 In the early 70s, a movie came out called “The Stone Tape” that popularized the idea of residual hauntings.  In the movie, the idea was put forth that objects (particularly stone) have the ability to absorb electromagnetic disturbances and record them.  It is often said that limestone and chalk possess the greatest ability to absorb these fields.  We humans, ourselves, give off slight electromagnetic fields.  The theory goes that in times of intense human emotion, greater amounts of energy are produced and mark themselves on the surrounding objects and land, thus preserving the events and making them available for later playback.  We humans, then, act as the VCR – our brains acting as a receiver of these small electrical fields.

 There are a few problems with the theory.  Firstly, any sounds and images captured on recording devices would dismiss the idea that the human brain is acting as a receiver.  The human brain operates at different frequencies than these recording devices.  Secondly, land changes.  Soil and geography, even stones and buildings, are in a constant state of change.  It seems that this might also corrupt the data recorded.  Thirdly, the fields involved are so weak that it is unlikely the human brain would detect them.  After all, even the strength of the fields on magnetic tape (like VCRs) we are unable to detect by touching.  Neither are we able to hear radio waves in the air.  Both are stronger fields than those left by our human bodies.

 For a couple of other explanations, we have to delve a little more into theoretical physics.  One theory holds that images and sounds are being perceived through a time portal that is directed at the time the events actually occurred.  Based on theories involved with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time portals might exits as “wormholes” connecting one point in time to another.  The problem with that is, is that wormholes, in their natural state, are infinitesimally small – much too small to look through with the naked eye.

 Another theory has to do with time sort of wrinkling up.  If you can imagine time as a sheet of paper, in this theory, the paper would be folded upward such that one side was brushing up against another side.  Such a wrinkle in time might cause viewers in the present to witness events in the past, but those in the past would not be able to witness those in the present, because time can only move in one direction.  In effect, the past is rubbing up against the present and display brief glimpses and sounds.  According to Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, certain forces can actually have an effect on time, and can actually warp it to some degree, but the forces involves are enormous – like the gravity of an entire planet.  So, the forces required to wrinkle time up in such a manner that we might witness past events would need to be truly incredible.  One such force might be what is known to Quantum Physics as a wave of probability.  According to Quantum theory, probability is a force throughout the universe (actually it’s a multiverse in quantum theory) that acts upon all matter.  The placement of matter in space and time is only determined once it is observed, and therefore, probability is acting as a force upon it.  That’s quite a powerful force.  Perhaps it’s just powerful enough to wrinkle up time itself in a single location, causing us to be able to witness past events – even if only in vague images and sounds.

 Another possible theory is that of the involvement of other dimensions.  We are all familiar with at least three dimensions.  A flat sheet of paper represents two of them – height and width.  A cube represents the third dimension – depth.  Quantum mechanics makes the presumption that there is the existence of many more than the ones with which we are familiar.  Quantum physicists lace the number of dimensions at anywhere between 8 and upwards of 60 dimensions. 

 So, let’s imagine that we live in only two dimensions on a sheet of paper.  We have a picture of ourselves on the page.  But, suppose a force acts upon the page to fold it over.  The images on that part of the page have moved into the third dimension.  They are still present, and even occupy the same space they did before, but we can no longer see them.  Then, let’s say a breeze blows against the folded portion of the page and causes it to shimmer forward so that we now can see small glimpses of what was there before.  This can be explained as demonstrating yet another theory for residual hauntings.  Perhaps we can imagine time as another force in the universe.  Like wind or rain, it acts upon all the things we know that we can see, hear, or feel.  It slowly erodes it, pushing it back into another dimension we cannot see – changing landscapes, acting on people and events, etc.  So, the images of the past are tucked away into another dimension.  Then, another force acts upon this other dimension, occasionally acting like wind and causing it to shimmer such that we can see glimpses.  That may again be the force of probability blowing against the other dimensions in uneven breezes.

 These are rather complicated, and not fully complete theories.  After all, they are based primarily upon “theoretical” physics and may not necessarily be on solid scientific ground, even within theoretical physics.  However, they do provide some insight into if residual hauntings exist, how the mechanics of such hauntings might work.