How to NOT Move a Poltergeist or Spirit When You Move

When packing up your life for a move, there are many things you may want to leave behind – and the family poltergeist is probably one of them. We recently spoke to Paranormal Investigator Jenn Jackson to figure out how you can leave those spirits behind along with that horrible floral print sofa.

Listening to Ghost Stories

So how do you know if you’re living with a spirit in the first place? More than anything, you should trust your instincts.

“It could be a feeling that someone is watching you,” Jackson said, “or it can be as blatant as things moving.”

Photo by Amanda/Flickr

Unidentifiable uneasiness is the main thing to look for – if your gut feeling is that there is a ghost or spirit in your life, don’t be quick to dismiss those feelings as “crazy.”

The next, most important step, is figuring out what you’re dealing with. If an entity is hanging out around you, your house, or even your car, there’s probably a story as to why; the trick is to figure out what that story is.

Jackson outlined an effective process she typically uses to establish contact:

• Start with a twist-on flashlight and twist it until it’s barely in the on or off position.
• Sweep it over the room or area you suspect the entity is in.
• Explain loudly and clearly that “on means yes” and “off means no” – the order you choose does not particularly matter.
• Ask clear, deliberate questions while paying close attention to the flashlight. Yes or no questions are typically the easiest questions to elicit a response.

This works as a DIY solution, but Jackson herself uses a variety of equipment for communication, including an EVP recorder, light meter, teslameter, infrared detector, and sound recorder. All of these are devices that measure slight changes in the atmosphere of a room.

“These entities can use this equipment as a form of communication – all of it,” said Jackson. “Everybody has the capability of looking within and asking for a response,” she continued. But the key to getting a response is listening.

Smudging out the Bad Vibes

Once you’ve figured out what you’re dealing with and why it may be hanging around, it’s important to take action before you move. For this, Jackson recommended starting with a smudging.

An ancient Native American technique for handling spirits, smudging involves burning certain herbs to purify a room or area. The process of smudging to ease spiritual disturbance is relatively easy:

• Get yourself a smudge mixture known as Three Sisters – sage, sweet grass, and cedar.
• Place the mixture in any sort of vessel — a simple stovetop pot works fine — and heat them until they create a noticeable smoke. (Make sure to keep an eye on your smoke detectors!)
• Do a precursory walk through the home, opening doors, cabinets, and drawers.
• Circle through your home and its rooms in a clockwise motion, fanning the smoke with the wing or bound feathers of a bird.
• During this walk, make your intention clear through prayer, meditation, or a simple recited phrase.
• Once you have worked your way through the entire home, light a white candle on a clear plate and make an offering — something as simple as fruit works — the point is to make it clear you would like to move on.

“Where you are focusing your intention or energy, that creates something very powerful and very real,” Jackson said. “If you believe, if someone else believes, it creates energy that truly does have power.”

Photo by Chuck Coker/Flickr

After you’ve determined what you’re dealing with and tried a smudging, Jackson recommends simply waiting.

“Most of the time it’s nothing you need to worry about, honestly,” she said. “Sometimes [the spirits] just like the space – they don’t even have a connection to the space.” They can simply be attracted to or interested in specific objects in your space: like “that great antique [you] just found at the pawn shop last weekend,” Jackson said.

In fact, Jackson rarely tries to force these entities to move on or leave before they are ready. Most of her focus is on understanding what the spirit may want.

“It’s silly for us to think that we should move someone on because we’re not comfortable with someone in our space,” Jackson said. “Once communication is opened, so is understanding, and suddenly fear dissipates.”

If repeated smudging with sage fails, it may be time to find a clairvoyant or other experienced shaman to help. Though there’s no Craigslist section for “clairvoyants,” it is easy enough to get tapped into your local community of spiritualists with a few Google searches and a trip to the local witchcraft store. It’s important to remember, Jackson emphasizes, that poltergeists, spirits, and ghosts are all very much like us. They have their own personalities, motivations, and stories.

Photo by Guian Bolisay/Flickr

“Try to figure out what the story is,” she said. “Try to figure out what they’re drawn to, and do that just by paying attention to your intuition. People are much more in tune than they give themselves credit for. You really get a vibe on things – you get a vibe on people, your job, your finances, your car, and you do with this as well. If people trusted that, there would be a lot less fear behind this.”

Featured photo by Shane Gorski/Flickr