A residual haunting is a playback of a past event in that same spot that when it occurs it happens at the same time of day and does not interact with you. The apparitions you see are not intelligent spirits but are recordings of the event which is usually of an emotional nature or is traumatic/violent. The recordings can be captured and imprinted on stone like slate and other materials like iron nails or quarts and many times have an underground water source. There is an unknown environmental condition that happens to record the event.
When the playback happens it is energy being dispersed which can make doors open or shut, you can hear noises or see a ghostly apparition repeating the event. We do not understand what the environmental factors are that will allow a playback to happen. Perhaps a heightened emotional state of a live person or high humidity and barometric pressure play a part but we don’t know. If we did understand we would be creating that condition over and over again not to mention studying it in-depth to understand it.
Many famous hauntings are really residual and not what we call intelligent. The most famous is the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall who was photographed by Captain Provand and his assistant Indre Shira while they were photographing the historic Raynham Hall for Country Life Magazine in the late afternoon of 19th September, 1936. This photo was the first known capture of a spirit. Lady Dorothy Walpole is the person thought to be the Brown Lady. She still walks the staircase looking for her 5 children. She was born in 1686 and “officially” died of smallpox in 1726.
Her tragic story is that her father refused consent for her to marry her first love Second Viscount Townshend. Dorothy was married off then began an affair with him. When her husband found out he ordered that she be kept locked in her apartments at Raynham Hall and for further punishment refused for the children to be around her. Unofficially she died of either a broken heart or a broken neck after being pushed down the grand staircase at the age of 40. Such tragedy!
Another example of a residual haunting is the Treasurer’s Grand House in York, England which dates from the 17th/18th centuries. This is the one example I use the most to explain what a residual haunting is to clients. The city has been there since 71 AD when the Roman Ninth Legion built a fortress with 6000 soldiers. The house stands within the area of the old Roman barracks. The Minster Treasures lived in this house until the Reformation. The last Treasurer was William Cliff in 1547 because there was no longer a need for a treasurer. The area of the house where you can see a residual haunting is in the cellar. There when the conditions are right Roman soldiers will march two by two through the wall into the opposite wall. These soldiers never interact with anyone but only march where you can see it and hear it. Apparently over the years the soldiers legs have gotten shorter where it looks like they are waking on their knees. I know you are wondering why they are on their knees! One day the cellar was excavated and the Roman road was found two feet beneath the floor.
The Tower of London’s ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn is another great example. Ann could not bear her husband Henry VIII a son. He became convinced their marriage was cursed. He had his eye on Jane Seymour who eventually became his wife and gave him a son (Edward VI – 1537-1553). In order to get rid of Ann she was falsely accused of treason, witchcraft, adultery and even incest with her brother. Five men who were accused of being with Ann eventually confessed under torture and were executed on Tower Hill on May 17th 1536. Anne Boleyn was executed two days later. This was a very emotional and violent series of events which have led to the residual haunting.
The guards known as the ‘Yeoman of the Guard’ have watched the towers since 1509. They have many stories of seeing the ghost of Ann. One guard reported watching Anne lead a courtly procession across the tower green and on towards Tower Hill where she had been executed. Another story is that of a group of guards who saw her appear so close that one of them was able to poke into the apparition before it faded right in front of them.
Sometimes a house will be remodeled but the activity of a residual haunting will remain the same. The spirit will now walk through what was a door but is now a wall. They will climb stairs that were once there but have since long been gone due to something like a fire. This activity continues to occur under the right conditions and usually the same time of day each time it is noticed. If they ever demolish the Raynham Hall staircase I am sure under the right conditions people will continue to see the brown lady only this time she would be floating down on what would have been the stairs.
I hope you now have a better understanding of what a residual haunting is and know that there is no reason for anyone to be afraid off residual activity. It is an amazing event where we can witness the past just like watching a movie!
If you have activity going on where you believe you have a haunting whether it is intelligent, residual or demonic in nature please feel free to contact the Society of The Haunted
