OK so since I got back from Edinburgh I've been a little obsessed with the idea of poltergeists. So I was surprised to find we didn't have a debate about the theories on poltergeist on here. So I'm starting one.

I started looking up about poltergeists (mainly the ones in Edinburgh) and came across a site that gave a short descriptions on the different theories about how a poltergeist come into beings.

I'll admit my knowledge on poltergeist was very limited (I didn't relies how limited until I looked it up and bit more), I was under the impression that a poltergeist was formed only when someone (mainly a teenager) was under a lot of stress and would disappear when the source of this stress was removed.

Here are some of the other theories I found:

One was that a poltergeist is formed from energies coming from the earth itself and being 'channeled' through the minds of someone or through something.

Another on was that poltergeist are actually Elements that have come into contact with a large amount of energy either from a person or a place and have used it to give themselves a 'form'. What is interesting with this theory is that the Elements do not focus on one thing and this allows a place to be haunted by a poltergeist for a long time.

A 'thought- form' was another theory given (which is annoying since my paranormal magazine has an article on thought- forms this month and I haven't read it yet) for poltergeist hauntings. This idea is that someone thinks up the poltergeist but once it is create the thinker loses control over it. But these types on 'thought- forms' are thought of unintentionally and can be created without someone knowing they are doing it.

For example with this one, if someone suffers a trauma in one place they could in their unstable state of mind create one of these 'thought- forms' without knowing it. This would also explain a lot of normal hauntings.

One more interesting point before I wrap this up, there is also the idea that poltergeists' can grow strong enough to be described as having a mind. In these cases, when the poltergeist has a lot of attention on it, it will began to take things it has 'heard' from those around it into it's beings. In one record a poltergeist began to show it's in the shape of a monk in a black habit after someone said there was a story of a monk being hung near by. There was, however, no record of this being true. So could this be the imagination of those present unknowingly helping to form the poltergeist?

What I want to know is what is everyone else's theories? How do you think a poltergeist is formed or what it really is? Do you think they can be formed by the human mind? Have you heard any different theories?

Lets hear about them!

I've really got to learn to make small posts don't I? sweatdrop