Can Spirits Touch You?

There are many people who believe that spirits can indeed touch you. Many claim they have been touched by spirits themselves. Indeed there are many anecdotal stories of people who’ve been injured whilst using Ouija Boards for example. I remember many years ago listening to a radio talk show which one particular night had this exact subject as the phone in with many callers recounting various horror stories. Other stories are also recounted here.

Many others still will talk about how spirits can touch other objects, such as glasses on tables, items and objects in cupboards and even, from the source linked above, computers that will turn on even when they’re unplugged. So there’s lots of stories of interaction between spirits and humans. But can spirits touch you?

But Can Spirits Touch You Really?

There’s certainly no scientific evidence that we could find for the phenomenon of spirits touching you. Indeed, science suggests such feelings are nothing more than hallucinations, produced by the brain as it tries to make sense of information it doesn’t know how to process^[1]. Indeed there’s very little evidence that spirits themselves are even real. One researcher however (Gary Schwartz), suggests that they are, he has experienced it and has devised various studies to prove it^[2]. We’ll not go into too much detail about that in this post because we already believe. But we will write another post shortly if you don’t 🙂

We’re of the opinion that spirits can not touch you physically and that the stories involving the Ouija Board ending with physical violence from spirits against humans is too anecdotal to be sufficient as evidence – at this point. Our view is however that spirit can interact with you via feelings or thoughts – potentially making suggestions that feel like a spirit has touched you. It’s also possible (as Gary Schwartz suggests) that spirit can cause modifications to photons in the local area and since photons are energy, they can perhaps cause energy changes in the area. This might explain why some people feel the presence of spirits as cold areas in a room for example.

Of course this doesn’t couple well with the notion of poltergeists which are alleged to move physical objects in someone’s house for example. But the evidence there appears, at this stage to be rather anecdotal too, although those that have experienced it are certainly convinced of its reality. We’ll stay undecided on that one for now though.

Signs Of Spirits Around You

The first thing to be aware of is that there’s often a potentially good explanation for something that could feel like a spirit presence. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, some phenomena can be explained purely by misinterpretations of the brain – either through misrecognition, or through things such as hypothermia, hypoxaemia or medication.

If you feel that you may have a spirit following you around the house it’s worth ensuring your carbon monoxide detectors are up to date, for example. It’s possibly just a hallucination, or feeling brought on by the lower oxygen in your blood. Strange noises could be explained by expanding pipes in the floor/ceiling or walls, or air in water pipes. Scratching sounds would almost always be vermin somewhere in the walls, ceiling or roof space. Always rule these sorts of things out before jumping to a spirit conclusion. Attributing to spirit that which isn’t is a form of spiritual bypassing and serves no-one, least of all yourself.

But if you’ve ruled out draughty windows, or any other physical reasons, then it’s possible that there’s a spirit explanation. If the spirit cannot move on they may try to make their presence known, perhaps so you can help them finish their business that must be concluded before they can move on.

Some signs of spirit manifestation around you;

1. Unexplainable localised temperature changes. The temperature can go up or down in a small area of the room with no physical reason for the change. Rule out draughts if the temperature goes down, or you feel like there’s air movement. Tissue paper hanging from between your fingers next to closed windows and doors can help you do this.
2. Strange sounds, with no physical cause. This is the one where water in pipes, expansion of hot water or heating pipes and vermin need to be ruled out. Also, make sure your neighbours aren’t just noisy. But if the noises come from areas of your home where nobody is near, or involve doorbells ringing or knocking then you could have a spirit entity trying to draw attention to itself. Sometimes though it’s just residual energies from the previous occupants of a property and there is no particular drive behind it.
3. Unexplainable smells. This is a commonly quoted sign of a spirit presence. Indeed, my very own home on occasions will have a very strong, unexplainable smell of pipe tobacco being smoked. The carpets are new, the wallpaper and paint is new – even the skirting board is new. There is nothing physically left that could have absorbed a smell and be releasing it in such a way as I would smell it. Indeed, the previous occupant didn’t smoke anyway and nor do I. Interestingly though, this sign is usually one that a spirit is related to the person smelling it, rather than the property.
4. Objects being moved is allegedly a sign of a spirit presence. We’re not so sure on this one. But plenty of people believe it so we’re not going to say it’s untrue. But rule out that someone else hasn’t moved your item – or yourself and you don’t even remember doing it. It happens to me all the time!

Can You Feel A Spirit Trying To Contact You?

Leading on from the signs that a spirit is nearby listed above, it’s possible that you’ll simply just have a feeling that spirit is trying to contact you. Again, you’ll need to rule out any physical reasons for this because the human brain is a master at playing tricks on us.

This notion of the human brain playing tricks on us^[1] is more prevalent in conditions of low oxygen, or when some of our other senses are blunted, such as in the dark when it’s also very quiet. Our brain may try to fill in for the lack of stimuli by inventing some instead. Being tired or under stress can also induce the feeling.

But if you’ve ruled all that out and you just feel that there’s a spirit nearby then you could be right. There’s not really any way we can explain this one though, it’s one of those feelings you’ll just know.

How To Know If It’s a Good Or Bad Spirit That Touches You?

The only real guide to this question is yourself. You’ll have to be guided by your gut – or your intuition here. But you’ll also need to be a little bit practical about it too – because anything that arouses our ‘fight or flight’ system is going to potentially feel bad.

So the fact that you’re scared, upset or frightened by the potential spirit is, if you’re not careful, going to make it feel bad. It may mean you no harm at all but if you feel threatened by spirits then you will feel it is bad. Try to look at things in the light and see how they really feel then. Often, in daylight, things will feel OK even when they felt bad in the darkness of the night.

If you feel unsure about whether an entity is good or bad that is entering your life, reach out to someone who can help. In this case, a medium who is trusted by yourself or recommended by close friends might be able to help. A Pastor of a local church could be useful to help determine if an unwanted presence is a bad spirit or not.

Bear in mind that the number of stories of innocent people (ie those that have not taunted a spirit, or used the Ouija Board or some ritual to ‘summon’ one) that are harmed by spirits touching them is vanishingly small. The number of stories with proof of such things happening is even less. And then, read the next section for what to do about it if you’re still concerned.

What To Do If You Think A Spirit Is Nearby

This is going to depend on whether you’re happy with the spirit being nearby or not. Bear in mind that most of the ‘threat’ from a spirit being nearby is your own psychological reaction to it. If you are scared then don’t be, it isn’t going to hurt you, except perhaps by suggestion. If you don’t want the spirit to be in your presence then ask it, politely, to back off. If it does not, you may need to ask it more and more firmly to show that it is unwelcome. Some people believe that the use of crystals can help remove negative energies and spirits.

If you’re happy with the spirit presence nearby then you can either just let it be, or try to find out what it wants. But that’s the topic of another post we’ll write later.

If you’re not happy with the spirit presence then remember that your fear is the biggest thing to worry about, not the spirit itself. The spirit may try to frighten you through subtle suggestions and images it places in your mind. But it cannot harm you physically and in fact most spirit encounters that involve such fear are simply a result of the spirit trying to get your attention for some reason. Ask it what it wants. Ask it how you can help it. It likely has no other way to make you notice it than to scare you. In many cases acknowledging its presence in a polite but firm way will often make the spirit calm its approach.

If that doesn’t help then just like the previous section, it is best to consult a local, trusted medium or Pastor for further advice. Some people recommend burning Sage sticks in the rooms in which the spirit is found and there are many followers of this. This may help improve the energies of the area and certainly improve any odours if nothing else. But do bear in mind that anyone with respiratory issues could be negatively affected by the burning of Sage. Or alternatively you could use the crystal approach mentioned above.

Summary

There’s no solid scientific evidence that spirits can touch you, although there’s lots of anecdotal stories that people have felt themselves being touched by them. However, it’s most likely that this is a misinterpretation by the brain due to other influences. But if there are no other influences present to explain the phenomenon then there’s no proof that such a feeling of being touched by spirit isn’t real. Just today in fact, a thread has started on Reddit about this very subject. Of course, it’s all again, very anecdotal. But there’s no denying that for those who have felt it, it’s definitely real for them.

There’s very little reason to be scared of a spirit presence as it’s extremely unlikely that the spirit means you any harm. Most often it will be merely trying to get your attention and by addressing it politely and calmly you can find out what it wants.

If you don’t want the spirit presence around you and you feel unable to compel it to move on yourself, then you should contact a trusted medium or Pastor for assistance.

References:

1: Ananthaswamy A. (2014). New Scientist. Ever felt a ghostly presence? Now we know why. Fetched from Ever felt a ghostly presence? Now we know why | New Scientist on 18^th October 2021.

2: Carr A. (2016). Cronkite News. Do you believe in ghosts? UA researcher explains the science of spirits. Fetched from Do you believe in ghosts? We explain the science of spirits | Cronkite News (azpbs.org) on 18^th October 2021.