HP Ghosts

[oriondruid@btinternet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 192478


> 
> Bruce:
>  When Sir Nick was petrified it would have "thickened" his ectoplasmic body. This would have made it possible to blow him around in the wind. At least this is MHO.
> 
> Dr Bruce P. Mull
> Professor of Computer Science
> Professor of Mathematics
>

Hi All.
This is so frustrating, I just typed a long reply post to this thread regarding ghosts and the damn thing simply 'evaporated' into cyberspace for no obvious reason, just disappeared off my screen beyond any recovery. Vanished, just like a ghost.;o)

Anyway, briefly to restart, regarding Sir Nicolas and his 'accident'. The physics of what Bruce suggested above is dependent upon petrifaction having given his ghost some small degree of physical mass, in order to permit interaction with environmental factors such as are found in a drafty castle. :o)

Maybe CERN are looking for the Higgs Boson and the like in the wrong way, with the wrong equipment. Rather than using huge circular energy guzzling particle accelerators to find mass creating particles what they really need is a Basilisk, or perhaps a well made wand, (personally I'd recommend an Ollivander 10 and a half inch holly one, with a dragon heartstring core), to try and recreate these 'God Particles'. ;o)

Anyway, I'm so angry with this damn piece of muggle technogolgy I'm typing on for eating all I wrote I can't be bothered to re-type all the rest regarding ghosts, but more briefly here's the gist of what I said. For further details about certain quoted 'ghostly' instances and places mentioned try good old Google. :o)

I classify the phenomena known as 'ghosts' into three main types. None of which exactly fit the descriptions of 'Hogwarts Ghosts' but they do have aspects of at least two of the categories. I might add I have not ever witnessed such a thing myself or personally 'believe' in ghosts as being spirits of the dead, but many reliable witnesses have experienced all the phenomena below and I most certainly would not assume they are all liars.

Main Ghostly Categories...

Type 1: Vague, loosely defined glowing figures like semi humanoid 'plasma clouds' that simply drift about and do not interact with their environment at all, even passing through solid object like walls etc. If these are in any way actual 'spirits' of the dead is unproven. Quite commonly seen

Type 2: Repeated sightings of more clearly seen people/objects, like 'ghostly coaches' and the famous figure of a Roman Legion Auxiliary in a York cellar, so clearly defined that when he and his horse are seen his uniform and possessions visible have actually allowed his unit to be identified. Fairly commonly seen this type, often repeatedly in the same place by several different witnesses at different times. Possible explanations for which include temporal anomalies and the 'stone tape' type 'recording' theory. This being that objects/places etc can actually store 'visions' of past events by some unknown mechanism and in certain circumstances these get 'replayed' and witnessed.


Type 3: The most fascinating and compelling of all. Apparently real people, like the famous Bluebell Hill Hitchhiker, 'ghosts' that are apparently indistinguishable from living people, who interact with their surroundings like flesh and blood and can converse intelligently. 'Rare as hens teeth' this kind of phenomena, but certainly the most fascinating because, it seems,they really are the spirits of dead people and again are often seen repeatedly in the same place on more than one occasion. The above example being one such type and an intriguing one. 

Many motorists have reported various types of interactions with this ghost whilst driving up and down the large and beautiful Bluebell Hill in Kent, SE England. Some have believed they knocked down a hitchiker with their car and reported this to the police, but no body was ever found and no casualty ever turned up in local hospitals. Others have stopped and spoken to a 'hitchhiker' on the famous Kentish hill and in at least one case given a young girl hitcher a lift, along with her large backpack. Because of the size of her rucksack she sat in the rear of the car as they drove up the long hill and she chatted happily with the driver, but at the top when he looked in his mirror she was gone, vanished from the car although he had never stopped it. Others have also reported similar encounters on the hill, but with a male figure.

The fictional Hogwarts ghosts however are not exactly 'any of the above', but more like the last category than any of the others. That they are conscious entities and spirits of the dead is certain. One can converse with then and interrogate their memories of their former lives. They have a definite personality and the living can even to some extent become their friends and vice versa, such as in the case of Sir Nicholas who, like Casper is a 'friendly ghost'. :o)

However, unlike the famous Kentish ghost above, whilst the Hogwarts Ghosts may well have form and defined detail they've no physical substance, and like my 'category 1 type' above can walk though solid objects like walls etc. However, as we know, they can be affected by magic, for instance be petrified in the same way as living people. Indeed, one thing I am unclear about is how they 'un-petrified' Sir Nicholas, as getting him to swallow the required mandrake potion would be more than a little tricky. ;o)

My favourite Hogwarts Ghost, apart from Sir Nicholas, is that of Helena Ravenclaw, as portrayed in the final movie. I felt sorry for this beautiful young woman and her tragic past, since by helping Harry she played a major role in the defeat of Lord Voldemort. In a way she too was a heroine of The Battle of Hogwarts.

As a result I felt moved to give her a better future than the tragic lonely and withdrawn existence she was leading and in my fan fiction story The Ghost and the Machine I managed to devise a way for her to make use of the considerable intellect she'd inherited from her mother and gain useful employment at the school after the war. Because of her love of books she became the Assistant Librarian at the rebuilt school, and only the second Hogwarts Ghost to gain useful employment there working in a 'proper job'. :o)

One final thing, as we all know Peeves is, of course, not a 'ghost'. He is defined as a poltergeist' a not really evil but slightly malignant, or at least mischievious 'spirit being' who never led a mortal life. An interesting idea but most researchers into such esoteric matters tend to put poltergeist activity down to the unconscious usage of Psi powers by people around whom such 'disturbances' are happening, or being due to unknown physical phenomena like gravitational disturbances, not non-human spirits at play.

Best be off now, before this post vanishes into the unknown too, my computer is being a git today. :o(
Many Blessings.
John.