Time's running out to get your Haunting of Hill House tickets - you don't want to be haunted by an opportunity squandered, do you?? In the meantime here is Hammer's handy ghost guide, to help you tell your apparitions from your vortex!
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Whether it’s the mischievous Peeves or the more malevolent ‘Beast’ from the 1982 movie, the poltergeist is a spirit you don’t want to meet on the best of days.
Though their presence is identified most commonly through the manipulation – and often the levitation – of objects (and humans), there have also been claims of biting, scratching and hitting by suspected poltergeist victims. Another handy sign: poltergests are thought to haunt a person rather than a particular place.
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Doppelgängers are the easiest presence on this list to identify since, if you see one, it probably looks identical to you. A German word meaning literally “double-goer”, Doppelgängers are ominous rather than directly dangerous, and are thought by many to be a harbinger of bad luck (often a warning of impending death).
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The trick to spotting an inanimate ghost is all in the name – “Ghost”. no, wait… “Inanimate”. Spectral non-human objects such as ships, trains, cars, even children’s toys have all been the subject of sightings by terrified witnesses.
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Described by those who’ve seen one as a tornado-like mass of air/water/energy which spins around very fast and sucks objects into its empty centre, vortexes are thought by some to be a form of human spirit, while others believe they are a portal which transports spirits between realms. Whatever it is, it’s bloody scary.
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Crowd demons disobey one of the fundamental ‘principles’ of hauntings- they avoid quiet, secluded areas, opting instead to appear at loud, crowded spaces. Why are they drawn here? While there are no concrete answers for this (since their entire existence is hypothetical) some believe they are drawn to the energy created by vast throngs of people.
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Have you noticed a creepy child-spirit in your basement recently? Chances are you’ve seen a kobold. Known to take on a different shape depending on where they’re sighted (when they’re not being invisible, that is), kobolds are said to most commonly assume the form of small children.
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There is something decidedly vampiric about an etheric revenant. A shadow-like creature which siphons energy and life from any nearby humans, it shares much in common with our familiar fanged friends. If you ever find that you lose energy or become weaker in a certain area, you could be in dangerously close proximity to one of these forms. Be wary.
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The ghostly equivalent to a skipping record, a residual historical haunting is the imprint of a human doing the same thing over and over again. Shocking to begin with, these sorry souls become sadder to witness with time, stuck in their spectral Sisyphean tasks.
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Visions of a person are known to appear to loved ones at times of peril, such as when the person is injured or dying. This is known as a crisis apparition, and it’s pretty freaky. The hypothesis of the phenomenon is that at a time of crisis, the afflicted person can telepathically send a vision of themselves to alert close family members or friends to their danger.
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While not always mutually exclusive from other members of the list, a vengeful spirit is defined by its dangerous purposefulness. It has unfinished business, usually from a soul who was wronged while alive. Reason if any more were needed to be nice to people in life, lest you become the subject of a ghost’s ill will…
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It’s easy to identify a manifestation among the other horrors on this list, as it’s the only ghost with a physical form and weight. This provides the obvious added threat of physical harm, as well as offering more irrefutable evidence to challenge supernatural skeptics.
See which ghosts you can spot when our upcoming theatre production of The Haunting of Hill House – in association with Sonia Friedman Productions and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse – hits Liverpool from 7th December! #FeelTheFear
How many of these creepy historical figures do you know?
These disturbingly informative Wikipedia articles will help remind you that, sometimes, ignorance is bliss…
Meet history’s 10 most murderous real-life monsters in this week’s feature!
Watch out for these 8 blood-curdling beasts on your next trip around the British Isles!
