Spirits leave the bodies of the dead, but they don’t always leave Earth or this plane of existence.

#1: Spirits make noises (but which noises)?

Spirits make noises, but they’re rarely loud or obnoxious. In fact, you’ve probably heard them and mistaken them for something else. Perhaps you heard a whisper and attributed it to someone nearby, or heard a gentle tap on the wall and mistaken it for the pipes or the house settling. We often misattribute sounds to spirits that have material origin. For example, a loud bang in the attic is less likely a spirit and more likely an animal trapped up there, a box falling over, or a branch falling on the roof. A howl may be the wind blowing through the trees or whistling through a hole in the wall.

The departed glean energy from other places, and unless they have a strong power source, they usually don’t put out a lot of energy. Sound energy is converted from light, heat, or electricity, and it’s not an easy thing.

#2: The dead show up for the emotionally intense moments.

Souls can glean energy from emotions, and they tend to manifest when there’s a lot of emotion. It can happen when one person is having a strong emotional expression, but it more often happens when many people come together and feel a mix of emotions. This is why people tend to capture images of ghosts in photographs of family gatherings. There’s usually happiness, but other emotions, too, and not all pleasant.. Some of the houses with the most paranormal activity weren’t unhappy because of the haunting, but rather provided the negative emotions needed for darker spirits to feed on and manifest themselves.

#3: Ghosts DO show up in photos (but not as often as you think)

Go to any ghosthunting website, and you’ll see photographs of all sorts of things, all of them purportedly ghosts. Specks of light? Spirit. Strange shadow? The dead. Blur? GHOST! However, many of the photos supposedly showing “orbs” and shadows are really just pictures of dust, thumbprints, and dirty bits on the camera lens.

This isn’t to say that all ghost photos are fake. There are spirit photographs that are real. When spirits have enough energy to make themselves known in the world, they can show up on camera…but they show up in ways humans can recognize them. Think about it: if you had one shot to let someone you love know that you’re around, would you choose to look like a blob of light, or would you try to look like the person they loved?

If you think you’re making contact with the departed and that they’re showing up because they have something to say, contact a medium. They can hear a soft ghostly voices and see the faintest of ghostly manifestations. Moreover, they can help you understand why spirits are trying to contact you, and what they have to tell you.