When Ghosts Speak - Mary Ann Winkowski [48]
After he was gone, his wife asked me why I hadn’t insisted that he cross over the first time. But as I explained to her then, and as I tell people now, I’m not the final word. I just give out the advice.
Busybodies Who Don’t Want to Leave
Those nosy folks who just can’t bring themselves to depart are perhaps the most harmless of all earthbound spirits—at least in terms of intentions. They don’t mean to hurt anyone; they stay simply because they’re curious. You know the type—the neighbor who is always peeking through your windows, the one who improbably shows up outside to water her gardens and chat every single time you pull your car into your driveway, the guest at the party who goes through the medicine cabinet. These spirits just can’t believe they’ve been handed a free pass to snoop into whoever’s life interests them at any given moment.
Of course, there are some with darker intentions. Stalkers may continue to haunt their obsessions—and as ghosts, they have access to many private moments. Jealous lovers can follow the love life of anyone they have left behind. Such ghosts may have a more negative impact than your deceased next-door neighbor who pops through to check out how you’ve redone the kitchen, or your interfering aunt Millie who rides along on your first date with a new love interest.
Many earthbound spirits have come to realize that they really don’t belong among the living. And, especially if I catch them in some incriminating behavior, they are embarrassed enough to go into the Light without complaint. For those who pose a challenge, I sometimes threaten to put up quince seeds, thus trapping them in the same house for the rest of their earthbound stay. (It should be noted that I have never followed through on this threat. It would be a grave mistake to intentionally trap an earthbound spirit in any location. However, in the case of a perpetual snooper, the threat of confinement is an effective tool in convincing them to move on and cross over.)
Misconceptions About Earthbound Spirits’ Abilities
I have talked to ghosts who stayed because they thought being an earthbound spirit would give them special powers. I don’t know if they watched too many horror movies when they were alive, or what, but while being a ghost does give you abilities that the living do not possess, it doesn’t give you superpowers.
Ghosts have told me they’ve stayed to give winning lottery numbers to their family members, and were sorely disappointed to find out that they had no way to control or predict lottery outcomes. If you couldn’t pick the winning numbers when you were alive, you won’t be able to pick them when you’re dead, either.
The same is true for psychic powers. If you couldn’t foretell the future when you were living, you won’t have any better luck at it as a ghost. Ghosts cannot “control” human emotions, although most do use their presence (and energy) to manipulate the levels of emotion and tension in the living. For ghosts, it is easier to do things that cause negative energy, such as hiding important papers or jewelry, bothering pets, or otherwise encouraging tension. For most people, a stress reaction is an energetic reaction. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that as ghosts absorb this output of negative emotional energy, their own energy becomes negative. Simply being in proximity to an earthbound spirit can trigger a whole host of mental and physical reactions in the living. It’s a vicious circle that is always good for the ghost and most often detrimental to the living person who is affected by constant exposure to the earthbound spirit’s bad energy. With a few exceptions, ghosts cannot physically interact with humans; nor can they make themselves visible at will.
People’s personalities don’t change when they die. If they maybe weren’t so bright when they were alive, they’re no smarter as ghosts. Grumpy old men remain grumpy, bratty teens never grow up to be mature adults, and control freaks don’t suddenly become Zen. In all my years of dealing with ghosts, I have come