I'm sure that you have all seen "The Sixth Sense" preview in which little Haley Joel Osment whispers those four powerful words. But what if you really do see dead people? You are not alone. As a paranormal investigator, the statement I hear most often from clients who see apparitions in  their homes is "Please tell me I'm not crazy?""

"Paranormal" is  word we use when we describe any experience we cant  find a rational explaination for it. A perfect example of a paranormal experience is seeing someone who isn't really there. Apparitions, ghosts, spirits...call it by whichever name you like. The question is: Does psychic sensitivity open one up to having a paranormal experience or does an experience with the paranormal increase one's psychic ability? Below is an article which may help you to understand why some people can see ghosts and others can't.
 

Let me first start off by saying that everyone has the potential to see a spirit.  Maybe that will happen once just briefly or it could happen many times, but the thing to remember is that everyone can see them given the right factors.

Why only some people will see a ghost in a certain location can be explained in many ways but let me put it in simple real world terms that most people will understand. Let's pretend you and two friends are in the woods and you all have AM/FM radios with you. You are all standing side by side and each of you is trying to tune in a very weak signal from some small radio station. Your one friend has a great radio and they easily tune in the station clearly. Your other friend has an average model radio and they can get the signal briefly but it is filled with static. Your radio is the cheap model and you cannot get the station tuned in at all. Even though you are all standing next to each other and trying to tune in the same station you are getting three different results. Now picture each person as a "radio" that can "receive" the signals that a spirit is transmitting. One person may get the spirits signal string and they will see the spirit.The next person is not as tuned in and they may see  omething briefly but they may not be able to make out all the details.The third person cannot receive the spirit's signal at all and will not see anything. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how this tends to work. Each person is actually a receiver of the signals or energy that a spirit gives off. Sometimes the signal can be tuned in and other times in cannot.

There are varying conditions that may interfere with the spirits "radio signal" and may only let people with really good "radios" see them. We call these people sensitives or psychics. They are able to tune in more often to the spirits and see, hear, feel, etc. the signal and energy the spirit is sending. Some locations may make some people more sensitive than other locations and they will see something in just those places while they will see nothing in others. Sometimes even the people who have the "cheap radio" can get a brief signal tuned in and that is what happens when someone who has never seen anything all of a sudden has their once in a lifetime ghost sighting. Some of the things that can make our ability to receive these signals are our relation to the spirits, how comfortable we are in a location and our frame of mind at the time, etc.  For example many people just see the spirits in their home and no where else. This is where the person is probably the most relax and comfortable and that will raise their ability to receive the signals. If the spirit is a relative or a friend you are already on that "frequency" so you will be more likely to be able to tune into that spirit.

Hopefully I haven't confused you all with the radio and signal talk but it really does seem to be that we are sort of receivers or spirit "signals" and this is the explanation is use at all the lectures and most people seem to understand it better this way than going into all the theories.
 

When you think of the word, spirit, you do not imagine it as something that can be seen. However, spirits ... good and evil ...do occasionally appear to people. They take different shapes and forms depending on what they are and why they are appearing. A ghost or a human spirit may be seen as a person, albeit a transparent one. A demon on the other hand may appear as anything it chooses. Obviously, if it wants to scare you, it will appear in such a manner as to do that.

 Throughout history, spirits have been portrayed in different ways. Everyone knows what Casper looks like, right? There is the infamous white sheet over the head routine. Devils have appeared as horned creatures and in many cases, demons took on a reptilian quality. You sometimes come across an old movie or two where the spirit looked very much like a person, albeit a misty one. I have seen ghosts portrayed as humans complete with rotting flesh. We can go on and on this way but the question is, just what do spirits look like? Well, some of the above mentioned descriptions are not all that far off. In fact, in some cases, they are right on the money. Let us take a look at the various types of spirits and how each one may be seen.

 In many cases, a human spirit may appear in much the same form as it did in life. It is usually not in solid form although that does sometimes happen. Many people have reported seeing spirits with defined features. In a large number of these instances, the spirit seemed to be transparent. In other words, while the spirit certainly resembled a person, you could see clear through it. These spirits have been widely reported to have no legs that can be seen. They usually appear as from the waistline up, although that is certainly not always so. It is common for the spirits hair to move around, as if there is a light breeze in the air. The same is true with the clothing they are wearing. I have seen this myself. On several occasions, back in my haunted house, I and many others saw the spirit of a lady. She was wearing a flowing white gown, which appeared to be moving in response to a breeze. When she moved, the gown flowed some more. As is common with this type of spirit she did not walk ... she seemed to float. Although she did react to those of us who witnessed her, she never attempted to come towards us or otherwise threaten us. Let me use an example. If she was appearing to me when someone walked into the room, she would turn around and look at that person. When she decided she no longer wanted to be seen, she simply faded away, growing lighter and lighter until she was no longer there. At that point, I shook my head and began questioning whether I really saw her or was it all my imagination? Despite numerous appearances over the years, I always found myself asking that same question. I want to point out something about that particular spirit. Aside from being frightened the first few times I saw her, I came to believe she was a benign spirit, possibly even a benevolent one. I felt she was watching over me since she most often manifested when I was either sick or injured. We had a spirit in that house that would cry and sob from time to time. At least I believe that was the spirit.

 There are times when a spirit will appear exactly as it did during life. It will be as solid as you and me. There are scores of stories of people seeing deceased loved ones appear as alive as they had before death. They are there one minute and when they finish their business, they suddenly just disappear. Poof! A common experience, according to many stories I have read about, heard, and even experienced, has to do with seeing someone you know on the street. Sometimes, you just wave at them and they return your greeting. Later, you arrive home and receive a telephone call telling you that so and so died two days before. You profess amazement to the person you are talking to and you tell them all about the encounter you just had with that person. A little while later, after the shock wears off, you begin to question yourself again. I have even heard of people talking to someone who had just passed away. It is a startling but common occurrence. There have also been many instances where people have seen very solid spirits who they did not know. This is not limited to haunting alone. These apparitions will sometimes appear for other reasons.

 Once I awoke to find someone standing next to my bed. This apparition was as solid as I am. I stared at this entity for several seconds. He was wearing a black pinstriped, three-piece suit with a gold pocket watch in his vest. The suit was of a style from long ago. He appeared to be in his late sixties, with neatly cut white hair and he wore a well-trimmed mustache. Although he was staring at me, his eyes appeared lifeless. I watched him for several seconds, frozen at the sight. Suddenly, he pitched forward, stiff as a board and came crashing down on me. I braced for the impact, which I felt. It hurt and actually left a bruise on my ribs. He seemed to lay on me for a few seconds as I struggled to push him off. His body was very stiff and cold. Then, just like that, he was gone. I jumped out of that bed and charged out of the room. I woke my mother up and started to explain to her what I had just seen. I was talking a mile a minute and she was doing her best to calm me down so I could tell her what had just happened. As I was talking to her, the telephone rang. It was from one of my uncles, informing us that my Grandfather had just died. After the wake and funeral, I spent a considerable amount of time looking at old pictures, trying to identify my visitor. I never did. Was this spirit a messenger sent to herald the passing of my Grandfather? It would seem so.

 Most of the time though, human spirits do not appear that solidly. They are often transparent. From sight alone, it is hard to tell whether the human spirit you encounter is benign or evil. During my haunting, I saw another spirit from time to time. This spirit was also a woman and she too wore a white dress. She appeared to be considerably younger than the other spirit I mentioned. The astonishing thing about her was she was always engulfed in flames. Although she never appeared blackened or burned, the flames engulfing her did move. She and the flames were both transparent. When she appeared, we could see most of her body. She too reacted to us and she floated around as opposed to walking. I always felt very uncomfortable when she appeared. I found her to be very frightening. Unlike the other spirit, I sensed this one meant trouble. I am not saying she was definitely evil, but I never sensed benevolence from her. Perhaps the flames bothered me. Was she a human spirit or an inhuman one? There is no way to be sure.