Hauntings and Water

I have been a paranormal investigator for a relatively short period of time (five years) when one considers how many of you out there have been doing this for much longer.  During these five years, I have investigated many of the most haunted sites in the great Constitution State and I have slowly built the foundation of a philosophy surrounding hauntings and their catalysts.

I am also a writer by trade (novels, scripts, etc.) and recently, I happened upon a curious bit of information from my second novel which was written in 1994.  The information coincided with an epiphany that I experienced a year ago while investigating a reputedly haunted site in Cheshire.

During that investigation, as I drove along a winding road, I noticed a sign that announced a local "Watershed Area".  A deja vu struck me suddenly and I realized in a moment of clarity that nearly every single investigation with which I had been involved over the past five years had been in close proximity to a "Watershed Area" or a reservoir, or some other man-made or natural body of water!

This revelation was exhilerating at that moment simply because I had remembered during the researching of my second novel that spirits and water had a strange Old World connection, both theologically and folklorically.

I went back and reread what I had uncovered then and was surprised to find that the connection between spirits and water was tied closely with vampire folklore from around the world.  In Greece, there was a custom to bury those suspected of being vrykolakas (vampires) on a remote, uninhabited island because the belief was that spirits could not (and would not) cross water.  This connection with vampire folklore was evident throughout many of the tales collected from all over the globe during my research.

Interestingly, my studies also uncovered a close affinity with theological beliefs, including the pouring of water on the ground while following the coffin procession to the graveyard to signify the water barrier between the spirit and the home.  Some corpses were carried from the house feet-first following a wake (where a basin of water was placed beneath the table where the body lay) as water was poured upon the floor near the doorway in similar representation.

I noticed over the past month or so, some here at IAH had posed questions regarding water and hauntings and it began to become clear to me that, perhaps (if this antiquated folkloric belief had some substance to it) these two things in close proximity to each other was not coincidence.  Perhaps, spirit activity is so abundant near bodies of water simply because many of them dare not cross the barrier!

It is an interesting premise and I wonder as to the actual abundance of evidence that lies unnoticed elsewhere as to this supposition.  As I page over my past investigations and actually begin to plot out their positions in regards to major sources of water, I am amazed at the multitudes of occurrences where these two appear to cross paths.  I wonder as to how many others have noticed this confluence.

Truth be told, I've noticed it even in the most rural of places: a signpost stating "Watershed Area" or "Reservoir Area".  Even water treatment plants appear at regular intervals in accordance with supposedly haunted sites.

My group has actually investigated a pond where a boat sank and the man perished in the water.  One of our members was SCUBA certified and dove on the wreck.  We were lucky enough to be able to borrow underwater film equipment for the investigation.  If the haunting is occurring there, does that mean that this spirit is forever trapped in that place (provided that this belief "holds water") simply because it cannot cross the rippling surface?  Hmmm.

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