What Is a Paranormal Spirit Attachment?

Spirit attachment has been known about by mediums and psychics for a very long time but is only now coming into the limelight – mainly due to the increase in paranormal investigations. Spirit attachment is basically just what it says. A living person has the energy or spirit of a dead person/entity attached to them. Many are parasitic, some malevolent others are benign. There are also the few rare cases where it is alleged that spirits have attached to people who then are able to do things they had no talent for previously such as writing music, painting, drawing, writing poetry and so on. However, in most cases attachments range from being temporary and unpleasant to long-term and terrifying. There are also physical and mental health complications.

However, before we move on let’s take the common sense approach first. If you experience anything like what is mentioned in the hub, go and get a health check from your doctor first. The most likely reason for you feeling unwell is a virus, a common complaint, unbalanced diet or you just need a good rest rather than it being anything paranormal. The chances that you have something spiritually unpleasant attached to you is highly unlikely.

There can be many reasons why a spirit attachment occurs but the most common reasons are given below:

• Many earthbound spirits attach simply because they find comfort in re-living some of the physical aspects of life. Others are confused and don’t realize they are dead and want to get close to a living person. In this case they are often trying to contact the living for help. These attachments might be deliberate or happen without the spirit realizing what it’s doing. In these cases the spirits don’t usually have any intention of harming the person they are attached to.
• Other spirits and entities deliberately seek out the energy of living people. It’s not possible within the scope of this short article to go into the esoteric or spiritual theories on these spirits and entities. They are known by many names and basically they feed on the energy given off by people in the physical world. For spirits to do this, the easiest way is to take the huge resources of a living person and drain the energy away from them – very much like a parasite. Indeed many of these energy stealing manifestations are called psychic vampires. In addition, the most common type of spirit who is both determined and strong enough to latch on are usually malevolent. They not only want energy but enjoy creating havoc with their host and those around them.

Who is most at risk?

There are a few people who would seem to be more at risk than others:

• Paranormal investigators – there are a number of cases of investigators having a spirit either shadow them or actually attaching itself. The reason is that paranormal investigators are usually only called to very active locations. In these very haunted areas you can find all manner of different spirits – distressed, traumatized and negative. In addition, not every paranormal investigator will take precautions such as basic protection when entering a spiritually active area. There are numerous stories of very experienced paranormal researchers leaving a location, going home to bed and waking up to find a dark, malevolent mist hovering around them. They can also experience intense feelings of being watched and followed. In most cases this tends to fade after a few days, but others have not been so lucky as we shall see later.

• Mediums/psychics – very experienced psychics are unlikely to be troubled by spiritual attachment. However, undeveloped or untrained psychics could well be at risk for a number of reasons. Firstly they may have psychic channels open permanently with no idea how to close them or carry out protection. Secondly, you can have young or latent psychics in particular who actually have no idea that they have this ability. Again they are prone to having channels open that can cause a spirit to enter.
• Dabblers in the occult or spirit activities are people who have no great knowledge or training in esoteric or spiritual areas. They often make up rituals or ‘play games’ such as the ouija board and then find that they have opened a nasty can of worms that can’t be closed. The main reason they are at risk is again due to lack of knowledge, guidance and experience as well as failing to use some form of protection. For some reason the Ouija board in particular may open doors to the nastier types of spirit.
• People who have emotional or health issues can also be at risk for the simple reason that their natural energy protection is lowered. However, I feel that these people should only be at risk if they are in an active area and/or they are inexperienced psychics or dabblers.
• People with a history of drug abuse in particular are at risk from spirit attachment. Drugs and excessive alcohol intake not only diminishes the body’s natural aura, but it’s believed they actually cause rips or gaps in this protective shield and in the psyche itself. Many esoteric scholars believe that drug or alcohol induced hallucinations may actually be spirits from the lower astral manifesting but this is open to debate.

It seems that although earth-bound human spirits are the main offenders when it comes to attachment they are not the only form of spirit or force that does this. Firstly, there could be energies from perhaps the mind/sub-conscious that are focused and externalized. Many famous occultists have actually achieved this using mental exercises and meditation. The resulting energy is known as a ‘tulpa’. It’s also interesting to note that quite a number of group experiments into the power of the mind have seemingly been able to create a group mind energy that responded to questions.

However, this really needs to be covered in a different hub since the subject also goes into psychic attack by another person, different types of thought forms and so on. Therefore I’ll focus on actual spirit forms/entities that people may encounter if they are unlucky enough.

Earthbound spirits

Basically these are human spirits who are either trapped or have chosen to stay close to the physical dimension – the reasons some do remain are numerous. Many are traumatised and distressed people. Others are malevolent and choose to stay around the earth plane seemingly enjoying the havoc and fear they cause. It’s not unknown for these negative spirits to pretend to be demonic and so on, when in fact they are not. However, they are still dangerous and it’s always wise to have protection before investigating a location that has these types of spirit.

Non human entities

Spirit energies that have not incarnated into the physical realm. Some seem to be benign. Many are strange and unknown but not necessarily negative. The most common forms or the frequent names given to non-human entities are ‘shadows’, ‘shadow people’ and ‘demons’.

Elementals

These spiritual beings are often confused with other entities and are frequently and unfairly given a bad name. Basically an elemental is a spirit being that belongs to one of the four classic elements – fire, air, water or earth. Whereas human beings are complicated, the elementals are much more simplistic. Neither are they a spirit form such as a human in the afterlife. Their natural state is in spirit.

Unfortunately for them, elementals are frequently attracted to the human energy fields. In their original form, elementals are certainly not evil. However, they are often invoked in negative occult practices, where they are used, abused and then become distorted and warped. In addition, in places where people have committed extreme violence, abuse and evil thoughts, elementals who unwittingly absorb these energies can, through no fault of their own, become monstrous. It needs a very loving and caring cleansing to remove the elemental back to its natural form.

Many elementals unfortunately end up in the lower astral planes due to being corrupted by humans. So basically any positive ritual or prayer that is used to release a person from the elemental should also help this spiritual being as well. The most famous elemental is alleged to reside in Leap Castle in Ireland where it has become a dark and distorted image of its original self. Many put forward the theory that murder and other evil acts carried out at the castle centuries ago, are responsible for this unfortunate elemental being trapped in its present state. It does appear to people and its often accompanied by a horrible stench. People also report intense feelings of being watched and strong impressions of dread or evil.

There are various levels of spirit attachment that a person can experience. The basic outline of each level is described briefly below. However, paranormal events not being universally formalized, these levels and their names could have variations.

Categories of spirit attachment

• Following:This is where the spirit or entity has not actually attached to a person but is in the vicinity. People have reported a strong sense of not being alone, being followed and watched by an unseen presence. This level can also produce paranormal phenomena such as rappings, voices and other noises. People often report seeing a black mist or cloud near and/or above them that can feel threatening. Observers may also report thinking and saying things that are out of character when this presence is near.
• Shadowing: Although the spirit has not yet attached there is an increase in the sensation of being watched and followed – this impression is more intense than the previous level. People now start to report such things as irrational mood swings, depression and feelings of anxiety.

• Attachment: This stage is said to have been reached when the person experiences all of the above but to a much higher degree and frequently during the day and night. Some therapists call this stage ‘oppression’.
• Final stages:The final stages here are not often reached even without help, but they have been termed as ‘obessession’ and then ‘possession’.

In addition to the feelings and sensations described above, people have also claimed to have experienced:

• Paranormal activity such as noises, voices, objects moving, seeing a presence, unexplained mist, unexplained shadow.
• Nightmares that are frequent and very disturbing
• Fatigue and pain in the joints – although this could be due to the nerves, fear or stress of the situation.

Even experienced paranormal investigators can be at risk. Two cases from the USA highlight the dangers.

There is the well known case of Paranormal Investigator, Mary Vogel, while examining a barn found relics that pointed to some form of Satanic rituals having taken place. Shortly after this Mary Vogel’s life became a nightmare as a negative spirit – some say it was a demon – attached to her. Before leaving the barn she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her stomach, on recovering she removed her team quickly from the area. An EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) caught on tape by her and replayed later said “your God can’t save you now!”. This was the start of a terrifying period in her life that ended in Mary Vogel going through an exorcism.

Stacey Jones is another experienced investigator and ex-police officer who had a horrific time with the paranormal. In this case it was her son who suffered attachment. This occurred after she took him along on an investigation to a graveyard. During the investigation they witnessed ‘shadow people’ and left the site hastily. Later on her son Jamie developed mysterious scratches on his legs. Almost at the same time violent paranormal phenomena erupted in the home. Not only were objects thrown by unseen hands, but Jamie’s personality began to deteriorate rapidly. Stacey had to get the help of her long-time friend, paranormal investigator and demonologist, John Zaffis. Jamie underwent an exorcism to get rid of the violent spirit that attached to him.

These events are rare and extreme but they do happen. The paranormal investigators in both these case were level-headed and experienced. Nevertheless, they were still caught by unseen forces that they couldn’t control.

As I said at the beginning of this hub, if you think something is wrong, then get a health check first. Despite what is banded about the internet and on TV, I don’t think there are nearly as many spirit attachments as people claim. The fact is, not a lot is known yet about this phenomena and research is in it’s early days.

Protection tips for haunted locations:

1. The best place for protection to start is with good health. A healthy body and a healthy balanced mind are the strong foundations from which defense starts. The reason is that negative spirits have a low vibration rate, but positive, healthy energy, vibrates much higher – it’s a case of like attracting like. If your vibration is slowed down due to ill health, severe stress, drug abuse etc., then the type of energy you will attract will be lower vibration entities.

2. Make sure that you know yourself very well. Be aware of what are your normal moods, inclinations, usual thought patterns and so on. If there are subtle changes after being in a haunted location it may be a sign of a problem. However, common sense also states it could just be stress or because you’re tired.

3. If you are investigating or visiting a haunted location then eat something before you go. This not only keeps you grounded but raises your energy vibrations to a higher level therefore giving you more protection.

4. Many people who visit or investigate haunted locations use a protection prayer, quote or verse that they like. Some also carry a symbol of defence such as a crystal, cross, crucifix, amulet or whatever else feels comfortable. The important thing is that if you have confidence and believe in the method that you use, this will boost your self defence even higher.

5. There are literally hundreds of meditation and protection techniques that can be learned and used that will give additional safety. It’s also important that before investigations or visiting haunted places that you centre and ground yourself to achieve a balanced state before entering the site. Most good protection techniques have grounding procedures within them.

The main thing to remember about any kind of techniques is to try out a few and stick with the one that seems to fit you best. This will also give a better level of protection rather than one that doesn’t seem to fit with your personality and beliefs.

6. In addition to being healthy and balanced one of the best ways to protect yourself is by using common sense.

The paranormal is a vast, multi-dimensional, arena of the impossible becoming our reality. We have only scratched the surface and there are many unknowns to be confronted. Spirit attachment is one hazard that has been identified but this is probably just the tip of the paranormal iceberg. However, there is no reason why having an interest in the paranormal should stop. Human beings are curious creatures and we have a natural instinct to investigate – this shouldn’t stop either. It’s simply a case of knowing your limits and respecting the power of the unknown.