Though SAVE has built a considerable database of information concerning
hauntings and the
spirit world (neatly summarized in the late W. Daniel Trevalaine’s invaluable
manual,
"Apparitions"), one of the truths of our work is that our opponent is Unknown,
and is thus by
definition changing constantly. As we gain more knowledge about it, so
it twists and mutates,
becoming something altogether different. I believe that it is this continual
change that has birthed
the most dangerous haunting phenomena yet encountered.
Simply put, mass hauntings are those in which multiple spirit entities
are at work. While multiple
hauntings are nothing new in and of themselves, what differentiates a mass
haunting from any
other kind is not the number of ghosts, but their direction. Mass
hauntings are so dangerous
because they are controlled by a single mind.
So far, my researches have revealed the existence of two types of mass
haunting, though I
believe there may be more.
The most notorious example of this kind of mass haunting is the Belasco
House in northern
Maine, known as "Hell House" in the popular press. One of the survivors
of the 1973
expedition to the house (our own Dr Benjamin Fischer, currently on assignment
in Switzerland)
reported that the spiritual phenomena there were apparently performed by
a disparate number
of ghosts. These ghosts were acting under the direction of the surviving
personality of the
tyrannical Emerik Belasco, whose body had remained hidden within the house
since his death
in 1929. The other entities present appeared to be held prisoner by Belasco,
and were forced
to do his will.
Obviously, the greatest danger in dealing with a haunting of this type
is that it is tremendously
more powerful than a single entity working alone. The orchestrated efforts
of a controlled
multiple haunting can produce effects far and beyond those of normal ghosts.
The survivors of
the Belasco House event reported considerable telekinetic activity, psychological
manipulation,
limited distortions of local reality, pyrokinesis and even the manipulation
of their own psychic
abilities from without. Worse, any who die as a result of the actions of
the group haunting are
likely to become a part of it, unless they possess sufficient force of
will to free themselves or to
usurp control of the group from the dominating personality.
Fortunately, there are ways to defeat such a haunting. Firstly, envoys
must recognize that they
are dealing with unwilling slaves, for the most part, who would much rather
be freed to achieve
their final destination rather than be subject to the whims of a dominating
mind. Clever envoys
may find ways to turn the resentment the imprisoned souls must feel to
their advantage.
Secondly, envoys must be aware that they are not dealing with a typical
confused or deranged
spirit. Instead, they are dealing with a mind that is fully aware of its
situation and has
determined that it can only remain on earth through the subjugation and
domination of lesser
spirits. Recognition of this fact will better prepare envoys for the battle
ahead, for battle it is.
Make no mistake, when dealing with a controlled multiple haunting, you
are at war.
The strength of this kind of mass haunting is also ironically its weakness.
If an envoy can banish
or exorcise the leading personality, the other spirits will normally disperse,
stripping the
haunting of its power. Exorcism of the lead spirit is difficult, but can
be accomplished through
the usual methods. Note that many dominating spirits have an anchor to
the physical world, and
if this anchor is not destroyed, they may survive exorcism, and return
seeking vengeance.
At first glance, a gestalt haunting may appear to be almost identical to
a controlled multiple
haunting. They share similar characteristics, in that the haunting is the
work of many spirits
acting together. What separates the gestalt haunting from all others is
that the spirits involved
are no longer fully individuals, and have conglomerated to become a single,
vastly powerful
being.
The most notable occurrence of a gestalt haunting is the entity believed
to occupy the Pritchett
House, better known as the former Vannecutt Institute for the Criminally
Insane in San Francisco.
Sited above a unique conjunction of ley lines, the Pritchett house was
the scene of some of the most
horrific acts of medical experimentation ever to take place outside of
the Nazi death camps of Josef
Mengele. I have theorized that the years of barbaric sadism practiced by
Dr Vannecutt and his
brutal nursing staff turned the house into a sink of evil, a sort of spiritual
black hole from which
none could escape after the conflagration that nearly destroyed the place
in 1931. Certainly,
survivors of the recent events at the house indicated that Dr Vannecutt,
the staff and their
patients all seemed to remain active within the structure (this is also
borne out by videotape
evidence from the house, which clearly shows the spectre of Dr Vannecutt
stalking victims).
However, the survivors also mentioned a far more disturbing presence, a
"dark cloud of evil"
that had somehow been sealed behind a brick wall in the basement area,
and was inadvertently
released. This presence seemed to be an amalgam of every hostile act and
dark thought that
had ever occurred within the walls of the house, and in some ways appeared
almost to be a
part of the house itself. It is my belief that this being was an accretion
of the worst aspects of
the dead, an entirely new being formed from their rage and frustration,
and given form through
the accumulated psychic miasma that permeated the house. It is this being
that I have
designated a gestalt haunting.
Survivor testimony credits this being with a wide array of abilities. Moving
as a cloud of inky
blackness, the entity was quite capable of considerable physical destruction,
but could not itself
be harmed. It could approximate the form of one of the dead, and was even
capable of
communicating. Further, the being was able to disintegrate the living
on contact, apparently
absorbing their life-force into itself. This, coupled with the fact that
the majority of the spirits in
the house seemed to co-operate with it willingly, makes such a being a
horrifically dangerous
opponent. The being could not be reasoned with in any way, and seemed purely
intent on
destroying anyone on the premises.
One of the more disturbing aspects of the gestalt haunting is the way that
the being seems to
command the willing co-operation of other spirits. In the Pritchett House
case, the entity was
contained until just before dawn, yet the ghosts in the house were clearly
pursuing its agenda
long before that, even going to so far as to arrange the presence of the
last living descendants
of those who survived the 1931 fire. Even more disturbing is the possibility
that the reach of
such a being may extend far beyond the actual location of the haunting,
as evidenced by the
apparent interception and alteration of electronic communication by the
ghosts.
As yet, SAVE has no clues as to how such an entity might be exorcised,
and envoys are
cautioned to curtail their investigations and evacuate the area immediately
if they feel that they
have come to the attention of a gestalt haunting.
A final note. A colleague of mine, the inestimable Dr Francis Walters of
the Boston Chapter,
has posited a disturbing theory on the nature of the gestalt haunting.
He suggests that the
creature may in fact be the larval stage of some new creature of the Unknown,
and that once it
has fully matured it might be able to leave its domicile and travel freely.
In my heart, I hope that
this time he is wrong.
Edwin Tyce
Edwin Tyce, Ph.D.