Folklore from all over the world has many interesting reasons for why someone’s soul would stay on this plane of existence. Here are 11 of them.
Unspoken secrets or broken oaths
If you have read many of the folklore stories around Europe and Asia, you will come to find out stories about people who take secrets to their graves and will never be able to cross over.
Maybe they knew where the family fortune was or committed a crime that no one knew about or promised someone something and didn’t keep their word. For some reason, they need that information to get to a person of their blood line before they can pass on to the other side.
According to some spiritualists, their haunting is solely for this purpose.
Lack of proper burial
It was believed in many cultures that if you did not receive proper burial rites, your soul would be restless after death.
According to Greek beliefs, a lack of proper burial would result in the dead becoming restless phantoms. For the Romans, the belief was much the same: failing to provide proper burial rites meant the departed wouldn’t find their place among the dead, instead becoming spirits.
We see this in many European legends as well. Many medieval Christian stories included the idea of people becoming ghosts because they were not given a proper burial.
A connection to a beloved object
Some theories suggest that the dead retain ties to objects, in addition to people and settings.
There are many anthropologists who talk about this in their books. It was thought that after death, people could embody certain objects. During the 1800s, spiritualists also believed in this when talking about haunted objects.
So stories about haunted jewelry, furniture, mirrors and photos etc. are nothing new. However, it’s too much of a stretch to claim that attached spirits will definitely follow objects between different owners without more proof.
Died suddenly or at a young age
There is also the idea that ghosts can be of those that have died young, or died from a violent act or sudden death.
Greek stories believed that there were many types of ghosts. Some believed that if you died young or died violently you could become a ghost. These types of ghosts are usually said to roam around the area they died reliving the life the way they did before.
Tears can keep the dead wet
It’s believed in some folklore that the relationship between the living and the dead can affect the latter’s journey beyond life. How the person is mourned can determine how the dead travel to the next life.
In many Eastern Slavic traditions, it was thought that the deceased couldn’t make their journey to the next world without proper mourning.
It was also said that you should not cry on the body. Your tears could literally soak the person and drown them or cause the ground to become heavy for them.
Past recordings
There is a belief that some ghosts we experience may just be recordings of an event that happened.
This theory is called Stone Tape. It states that an event that had great emotion or trauma around it can become stuck in its surroundings and can be played back at a later time.
This idea came from early psychical experiments in the 1800s and paranormal authors further explored this idea. The term “Stone Tape” became associated with Nigel Kneale’s 1972 BBC television play The Stone Tape, which helped popularize the concept.
Since buildings or stones aren’t proven to record such occurrences, remember that this leans more toward a paranormal theory than established science.
The truth is not known
There are many different types of beliefs and theories about why souls will not cross over, one reason being that they simply deny that they have died.
If they were very materialistic or had a stubborn personality while alive, they may not want to move on to whatever may lie ahead of them. They may be afraid of the unknown and want to stay on Earth where they know everything about their surroundings.
Maybe they think they are just sick and will wake up one day.
Dying with intense, unresolved ancestral debts
Many African American and East Asian cultures maintain the belief that, if you pass on with unresolved debts owed to other families, your soul cannot proceed to the next stage of existence. This could be anything from money to a debt of shame you may have left another family with.
And it’s believed that if a person dies owing substantial debts, their soul stays bound to the earthly realm until their family’s debts are somehow rectified. Often, those who remain will conduct particular rites to address their family’s outstanding dues and leave financial offerings for those who have gone.
Dying on unconsecrated, cursed, or magnetically charged ground
Some traditions believe that if you die on certain grounds, your spirit can become attached to the land.
According to ancient British tales and Native American beliefs, a death occurring on land imbued with significant natural energy, such as a place with abundant minerals, had profound consequences. Or, if you died on land that carried a curse, you’d find yourself tethered there for ages.
Your body’s energy will imprint into the ground no matter what.
Guilt over leaving dependent loved ones behind
If someone who provided for their family or cared for others passes away leaving children that may need care or ill spouses or loved ones who are dependent on them, they may not want to leave.
The spirit might linger in your home, driven by guilt and anxiety over its inability to continue caring for its loved ones, seeking to protect them still.
Folklore from ages past frequently mentions phantom protectors who tend to young kids after their parents’ deaths.
A piece of work or a life long desire
There are many stories of great minds throughout history when it came to their art. However, people believed that when one became so obsessed with their art, they could become trapped in this world.
Consider a painter, sculptor, or musician who died with their ultimate creation still incomplete, their mind would become stuck at the canvas or what they were working on.
And people believe that these ghosts are stuck in this world to try and find someone who can complete their final work.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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