AG,  England,  Western Europe

Hauntings, Part 2: Anne Boleyn

12190024_175640982777992_5359925576501335751_n In Part 1 (http://www.historynaked.com/hauntings-part-1/ ) I state that most hauntings are the result of boredom on behalf of a young ghost, but there are other types of hauntings as well. One of the most common is a residual haunting. I have theories about why this happens and, since I am not the kind of guy to throw around words like “psychic” or phrases like “extra-sensory perception” I have to bring it back to a quasi-scientific standpoint. If you want to skip the bad science to the conclusion, count down to the third paragraph and go from there. 😀

Our bodies are made up of infinitesimal pieces that bond together to make a whole. Everything we touch is changed forever by our interaction, although one must go down to the molecular level to witness some of those changes. With me so far?

Energy also changes molecular structure, often catalyzing said structure from one state to another state of matter. As I contend in Hauntings Part 1, the soul is just another kind of energy. My theory states that the unique nature of the human soul interacts with the solid matter around it, causing imprints in moments of high stress when our energy is bleeding from us like a head wound on a hemophiliac. What we get instead of an actual traditional ghost is an impression of the ghost, a duplicate frozen in time.

In other words, if the soul is fire, then it can burn an everlasting shadow of itself in that particular moment on solid matter.

Thus is explained the proliferation of Anne Boleyn’s ghost. If Anne Boleyn’s ghost is present ANYWHERE in the world, it is mostly likely the Tower of London, focused generally on the yard where she was executed. The other five “confirmed” hauntings (assuming of course they are not propaganda, marketing, or delusion) are very likely residual hauntings. The difference being in an actual haunting, a ghost can interact with people who are sensitive to that sort of thing. In a residual haunting, they will either be frozen in place, or reenacting the events that caused the imprint originally.

Residual hauntings can be frightening as they are often caused by heightened emotions: Rage, sorrow, fear, or lust chief among them. It has been reported that people witnessing the residual haunting can be caught up in the emotions that caused them in the first place. Not great when the dead guy threw himself off a parapet or walks across a bridge or landing that isn’t there. Generally that only happens to people who are notoriously bad at controlling their emotions or are not canny enough to understand what is going on. It is an unfortunate byproduct and generally the only way such hauntings are dangerous.12193854_175636259445131_5636843341917062032_n

Beyond that though, most residual hauntings are more like watching a single scene or even just a single action from a movie, taken completely out of context. People tend to read WAY too much into such things.

I personally have not visited any of the places that Anne Boleyn allegedly haunts, and my considered opinion is that it is most unlikely that she ever haunts anywhere but the Tower of London, if at all. It is a great tourist draw that state that a place is haunted, even more so if it is haunted by someone historical or famous or both. Her story remains evocative even today because she was a powerful woman. For a time, she had the king by the cojones. Literally. Proving that even in a time when women were oppressed, suppressed, and treated like property, a sufficiently motivated and intelligent woman could, with the proper application of charisma and force of personality, bend kings to their will. That is really why Anne Boleyn sticks with us. Her enduring legacy, and her rather unfortunate choice in lovers, and her role in the creation of the Anglican church.

Learn more about ghosts and hauntings in Part 3 (http://www.historynaked.com/hauntings-part-3-stanley-hotel/ )

AG