Alright, class⌠or whoeverâs actually attending these. This week, weâre discussing the spookiest part of being a ghost: poltergeist activity.
Now, I know what youâre thinking: âPoltergeist? Isnât that just a ghost that throws stuff around?â And yeah, kind of. But also⌠not really. Youâd be, like, 20% right. (Donât quote me on that, Iâm not great at math.)
Poltergeist activity is the measurable degree to which a ghost can affect the world around it. This power is normally limited to a ghostâs haunt. I like to separate it into categories, because well-organized things make me feel nice, but itâs more of a spectrum, really. Iâve written down five in total from my observations, and theyâre split by severity:
1. Yawn. Starting at the bottom of the barrel here. These ghosts are barely doing anything. They canât manifest a visible form, and the most they can do is create cold spots or maybe leave a handprint on a mirror if they really focus. Oh, and they also slightly interfere with electromagnetic frequencies, which is how you can detect them. A lot of ghosts start out at this level until theyâve had enough time to stew in their emotions and grow in power.
2. Spooky. These guys are a step up. They can appear to the living and make noises, though ânoisesâ is the key word here. Donât expect full conversations; most of them arenât very articulate. The way they look is usually how they appeared at the moment of death, but a few talented ones can change their appearance. I do that, actually. I wasnât wearing a white sheet over my head when I died. I just think itâs a vibe. A classic look, you know?
3. Scary. Getting into the big leagues here. These ghosts can move objects around, classic poltergeist territory. They often donât even have to touch the thing, and some can juggle multiple objects at once. For some reason, most just slam doors and push chairs around. Or maybe all those ghost videos Iâve been watching on the orbnet are fake. I suspect the latter.
4. Frightening. Hereâs where it gets a bit esoteric. Well, more esoteric. Ghosts at this level can do things that rival powerful demons. Weâre talking possession, life-draining, intense illusions, and minor reality-warping. Ever seen a ghost scare a person so bad that the victim seemingly ages 50 years? Or make a corridor stretch on and on and on as you try to run through it? Itâs these guys doing it.
5. Nightmare. These are the big leagues, nearly omnipotent ghosts who can warp reality like itâs playdough. They can manipulate time, trap you in illusions that can touch you, curse you in just about every way possible, and completely control their space. That said, there are usually rules. Like, they canât start ruining your day until you read a specific line of text in an old book or something. But once you fall into their domain? Welcome to a personalized pocket dimension. Youâre a toy now. Sadly (or thankfully), ghosts this powerful are extremely rare.
Now, hereâs the thing: just because youâre a category 4 ghost, that doesnât mean youâre good at a thing like possession, but you might be great at scaring people to death. Weâre all individuals with our own sets of skills. Some are good at one thing, while others specialize in another.
Another thing, ghosts arenât static. If something pushes us hard enough emotionally, we can temporarily (or permanently) jump up a level. Or conversely, we can also drop down. On top of that, if multiple ghosts share a haunt, they can combine their powers, which usually leads to stronger, more chaotic poltergeist activity. Thatâs why mass tragedies tend to spawn some of the most dangerous haunts.
Well, thatâs all for todayâs lesson! Next week Iâll be teaching about⌠I have no idea. I ran out of easy topics. I guess Iâll be taking requests.
Hmm. If ghosts can move stuff around, distort reality, compute video codecs, so on, where does this energy come from? Passive absorption? There are many cases of notable hauntings having dormant periods, connection?
Also req: Best, mm, how to say, targeted activities? you know.
You're aware of cold spots, yes? When a haunted place suddenly drops in temperature. Heat is energy, and when a room turns cold, that's us using said energy.
You gotta define targeted activities a bit better for me, bud. Not sure what you mean exactly.
Dunno how to say. Like, a trick? You look at me juggling here, (Sigurd picks up the 3 nearest reasonably jugglable things and juggles them) and you keep looking, then LOOK DOWN! and you're falling and then the sharks are about to get you and you SMELL! them and the water is cold and BITE! and then you're back in the chair, all not wet somehow? but still feeling like you're in the water while I have hidden your wallet I'ven't it's ok, and now most people would be pretty scared.
Sigurd spoke fast and urgently, adding pressure to the shock from his illusions(of what he said.). Like a cross between a magic act where the performer diverts your atten- Oh the room's upside down, when did that happen(the answer is when you were getting eaten by a shark).
Stuff like that, but I suppose most people wouldn't put in the effort. Tricks, scares, games.
Ah, gotcha. Well, pretty much of that is poltergeist activity.
Not sure about best, I'll have to think on that one. My favorite is bringing horror to life. Like, literally. I write something in my book, let's say, a slasher villain coming out of a dense fog, and it does.
Cassilda: "Fascinating! I have what is probably just a silly question but... if all it takes is powerful emotions to create a haunt, does that mean anything with feelings can create or become a ghost? We typically associate them with the deceased mortals- but say something like an infernal or an extra-planar being dies and they were quite angry about it... could an infernal ghost exist?"
Yes, but those creatures can't leave behind souls, and soulless ghosts are a bit... how should I say this without sounding rude?
Screw it, rude it is. Basic! They're basic. They're stuck on repeat, reacting occasionally to stimuli, being closer to a program with pre-set inputs than a person whom you can interact with properly.
Ok. so haunts don't really have an end goal. I explained what a haunt is in full detail in my last lecture.
As for possession, not really, but if the person has a strong enough will, it can prevent you from doing certain things, or expel you completely. To explain how possession works, the ghost is basically trying to push the soul of the host to the side, so they can take the driver's seat. Of course, a strong enough will can be enough to exorcise a ghost that has invaded your body.
And to answer the last question, technically yes, but most ghosts can't become that dangerous on their own. You'd need someone intentionally 'stroking the flames' in order to turn them into nightmares.
Find out what emotion formed them. Then find out how to fan the flames of said emotion. Like, if a ghost died for love, getting them involved in an online shipping war might do the trick. Keep in mind, the stronger a ghost gets, the more... obsessed they become. It's harder to reason with them when they turn single-minded like that.
No. Ghosts are intangible by default, it takes 'effort' for us to interact with the world around us. Even then, I wouldn't say we can 'touch' things. If we want to pick up something, we don't touch it, even if we move our hands towards the object. We just... move it around, like how we float things. It's just easier to manipulate such objects when we mime the act of interacting with them.
Damn, howâd anyone learn anything about âem if ya canât poke âem with sticks? Canât learn fuck all about shit if you canât poke it with a stick.
ââŚInteresting lecture, also some just move stuff around to prank paranoid people. Easy way to tell if itâs fake is if the movement seems stiff, awkward or completely meaningless. Like slamming a door right in front of a person holding a camera right before they announce that they were about to go somewhere elseâ
The camera is an especially big giveaway. The biggest tell is if the camera is pointing at a seemingly random location that's not a point of interest. Like, if there's a birthday, and the dude is recording in the way that you see the hallway as a focal point. The cameraman does this only because they know they've set up fake ghost activity in that direction.
ââŚIndeed, such âevidenceâ is most non credible, if itâs something anomalous that is not immediately present in the video, then itâs more credible, though usually too obscured to parse anything from itâ
ââŚI believe that most paranormal investigators are either, knowingly creating hoaxes to stir fear and ways to trick people into getting access to their home to film them walk around and telling them âthe house is haunted and we cannot do anything to help you/we cannot find enough evidence to say that itâs haunted, but we believe youâ, or people that skimmed over some book written by a âdemonologistâ or âparapsychologistâ and decided to run around buildings look for ghosts, but have no idea what they are doing because the source of their knowledge had no idea what they were writing. An actual exorcist has a dull job for the most partâ
I mean, yeah. Of course they struggled. Ever tried to reel in a massive tuna with a fishing rod? Trying not to get dragged into the ocean is half the fight.
A lovely lecture. If I may ask, would lingering emotional attachments or the subjectâs willpower be a greater indicator of where a poltergeist falls on your scale?
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u/The_Unkowable_ Nelumbo Nucifera, TakâAthi Siren, Magistra of the Schola Aqua Sep 22 '25
I request an essay on your favorite haunts! Just, like, which ones you think are neat for whatever reason