Study Title:
CHILD STUDY RESEARCH
Children Who See and Hear Ghosts
 

Researcher’s name: Nicole Leader
Email address: gsresearchcommittee@gmail.com
Completion date: September 19, 2006
 

Research Summary
Listed on this page is a brief summary of the study conducted, its findings and conclusions. This however, is not the actual detailed report. For that you will need to view this entire document.  

This research study was conducted in order to better understand the abilities children have to see and hear ghosts.  The study was based on children from the age of newborn all the way up to 11 years old.  The child study was conducted so that we can better understand the abilities to communicate with ghosts, that several children possess.  When researching this subject several different aspects were taken into consideration in order to study children how see and hear beings from the other side.  These different view points included looking at the ages of which children begin seeing or hearing ghosts as well as taking a looking at what age they begin losing that ability or developing it further.  In some cases children do not lose the ability to communicate with ghosts, but they continue expanding their abilities as they get older.  In others, the child completely loses their abilities due to many key factors that come into play in the child’s life.   Also in a majority of the cases children are seeing full body apparitions in human form and typically the family begins noticing this when the child begins learning how to walk/speak.   In the end I found that most commonly children are seeing and communicating with deceased loved ones and the abilities seem to dissipate around the age of five. 
 

Basis of Study (proposed belief)
This study will determine if the findings support the hypothesis 

It is believed that some children are born with the ability to see and hear ghosts.  It seems though as time goes by and the child gets older, they seem to lose the ability to communicate with the other side.  There are many reasons why children begin losing these abilities.  One proposed reason is because it seems that many children who can see and/or hear ghosts, are discouraged from talking of such things by their parents or other family members, and telling the child that it is only their imagination.  Overtime the child begins to ignore their abilities because they are taught that it is in their head, rather than encouraged to develop their abilities further.  In other situations it is also believed that something happens in the child’s mind which basically shuts down the area of the mind that allows a child to see/hear ghosts.  This can happen as they get older, usually between the ages of five and eleven years old.  Another reason some children may have the ability to communicate with ghosts, is due to near death experiences or major injuries that trigger something in the human mind to open up to these abilities.  Some also believe that when children are born, because they have just crossed over from the “other side” they are close to others from that realm and therefore can more easily see them and possibly others from the other side have stepped into this realm of existence to visit that child or protect them.  As the child gets older it is possible that their guardians or other spirits from the other side no longer feel that the child needs them and is ready to be on their own, therefore the child stops seeing them or loses the abilities to communicate with the other side.
 

How information was gathered

Information for this study was gathered through numerous email responses to the Child Study link posted on the front page of ghoststudy.com.  There was a list of questions for the parents of the child who sees and/or hears ghosts, to fill out and return in an email.  I replied with further questions to specific cases where children encounter ghosts on a regular basis as well as occasional occurrences.  That information was then compiled into this research study format.  I also took into consideration information I was able to find on different websites as well as books on children who claim to also remember past lives and see those from the other side.  In addition to the emails and information found in books, I posted a forum on the GhostStudy message boards asking for others input and experiences with children who communicate with ghosts and received a variety of responses on there as well that also aided in the study of this topic. 
 

Methods & Materials 

A list of questions as follows was posted on the main page of ghoststudy.com requesting those who have children or know of children that can see ghosts, to respond to the questionnaire for further specific case studies. 

First set of questions concerning your Childs ability
1. How old is your child?
2. How often does your child see ghosts/entities?
3. What type of "being" does your child see?
4. Where around town will your child most often see these beings?
5. Has your child ever had a near death experience?
6. Do these beings ever approach your child around town?
7. Has your child ever had any major surgeries? Please explain
8. Does your child have any specific health problems? Please list
9. At what age did your child being seeing ghosts? 
Anything else you would like to add?

This set relate mainly to "beings" in the home
1. Is the visitor mild, mean, angry or what?
2. Does the visitor ask the child favors?
3. Does the visitor ask the child not to tell the parent about the visits
4. Has anyone else in the family seen, heard or felt the visitor
5. Has the visitor ever threatened to hurt the child or others?
6. Has the visitor ever asked the child to do something mean?
7. Has the visitor ever been able to predict a future event?
3

What is the appearance of the "being" that is seen?
1. Full-bodied apparition
2. Dark and misty
3. Light and misty
4. Partial body
5. Wounded body
6. Evil looking
7. Angelic looking?
Choose one or more of the above that are seen 
 

Results of this Study

Children are naturally more open minded than adults because they have not yet been exposed to things such as ghosts or what is fact or fiction.  Many children just may not realize that what they are seeing is actually a ghost or spirit.  To them a ghost may seem just as real and natural as interacting with the living.  Children have not yet been advised that what they are actually seeing is a ghost and that it is something very unexplainable, therefore their minds have not been trained to shut these things out or to ignore them because they are told it is only their imagination.  As children get older many begin to slowly lose the ability, typically between the ages of five and eleven years of age.  

This study revealed that in many cases, parents began noticing their children had the ability to see ghosts or something that could not be seen by others, between the ages of six months and 4 years of age.  In a majority of the case studies, the children who could see ghosts were seeing deceased family members who had passed away long before the child was even born.  Over time is seems that as the child became older, they began to slowly cease to communicate or see beings from the other side.  There are a number of reasons that this begins to happen as the child gets older.  In many of the cases which I studied, the children were discouraged from believing what they are seeing is real.  Often the child is told it is in their head or simply that what they are seeing is not really there and discarded as an imaginary friend or active imagination.  It appears that many children are born with these abilities but discouraged from using them and eventually over time the child shuts down the part of their mind that allows them to communicate with ghosts.  

In other situations the child’s abilities tend to stay with them even as they get older possibly because they are encouraged to use their gifts and/or because that part of their mind has never turned off the abilities and openness to communicate with ghost or spirits.  Also discovered in this study is that the children that do report seeing ghosts have mentioned seeing the same ghosts over and over again.

In most of the cases I encountered throughout this study, the child will describe seeing only one ghost which tends to come to them on occasions mostly in their home environments.  Though in some of the cases the child has reported seeing them outside of their residence as well, but this is less common than the child actually seeing them at home.  Typically the child has described seeing full body apparitions in human form.  Another good point to make here is that after reviewing several cases, I came across many children who began seeing ghosts after they have a near death experience or after they were seriously injured or ill.  Could this be because they became so close to death that they were half way between our realm and the next, opening up that part of their mind that was closed before?   

In conclusion to this study, it seems that many children are naturally born with the ability to communicate with the other side and continue to develop these abilities over time as they get older, while others lose the ability over time due to things such as discouragement from believing what they are seeing is real, to that area of the mind which allows them to see and hear ghosts slowly closes for several other reasons described in this study.  Some children go with their hearts and chose to believe what they are seeing in actually there and continue to develop their minds ability see and hear ghosts.  It is a possibility that children are also communicating and watched over by their guardians who stay with them until they are ready to be on their own.  It appears that in most of the cases I have studied on this topic, the children are communicating with loved ones that have passed over.  It is possible that with time the loved ones no longer feel that they need to be with the child all the time as the child gets older.  There is a saying that a child’s mind is that of innocence.  Overtime the child begins to learn right from wrong, what is real and what is not, and the weight of the world begins to enter into the life of the child.  Perhaps this begins to cloud the child’s mind of innocence and therefore the child begins to disregard or ignore what they are seeing or hearing and this slowly shuts the doors to the area of the mind that allows us to see and hear ghosts.   
 

Figures & objects to support conclusions
This page can include maps, photographs, pen-and-ink drawings,
flow charts, bar graphs (pie charts) 

Individual Case Study/s included
The following case study was submitted to us by two different anonymous persons willing to help with this research project.  Below is the list of questions we asked in our study, as well as additional information provided by persons willing to participate in this case by case study.  I have included two different case studies below for reference.   

CASE STUDY ONE: 

First set of questions concerning your Childs ability

1. How old is your child?  Three
2. How often does your child see ghosts/entities?  Pretty much all day
3. What type of "being" does your child see? My grandfather who died 13 years ago
4. Where around town will your child most often see these beings? Anywhere

5. Has your child ever had a near death experience? No
6. Do these beings ever approach your child around town? I believe he is always there
7. Has your child ever had any major surgeries? No
8. Does your child have any specific health problems? Allergies
9. At what age did your child being seeing ghosts?  We noticed it around 9 months
Anything else you would like to add? She tells us he keeps her safe

 This set relates mainly to "beings" in the home 

1. Is the visitor mild, mean, angry or what? I have never seen him, but he doesn't seem to be hurting her feelings
2. Does the visitor ask the child favors? Not that I am aware
3. Does the visitor ask the child not to tell the parent about the visits? I don't know
4. Has anyone else in the family seen, heard or felt the visitor? Not to my knowledge
5. Has the visitor ever threatened to hurt the child or others? No
6. Has the visitor ever asked the child to do something mean? No
7. Has the visitor ever been able to predict a future event? I don't know
Anything else you would like to add? She tells us that he doesn't talk to her or touch her just that he keeps her safe7

 What is the appearance of the "being" that is seen? 

1. Full-bodied apparition
2. Dark and misty
3. Light and misty
4. Partial body
5. Wounded body
6. Evil looking
7. Angelic looking?
I have never seen him after death so I do not know 
 

Have you asked your child if she sees anything else and how she would describe what she is seeing? 

The only thing she describes is she says it's "Paw-Paw" and she tells us where he is at and what he is doing. Nothing too detailed. When she was 9 months old, she had just learned to walk pretty good and she would walk to the specific place my grandfather passed and play, it looked like interaction. This went on for a few months then when she started to talk a little bit she would act like someone was stepping on her toes, when we would ask her what she was doing she would say "Paw-Paw's on my feet" 
 

Where have you noticed your child communicating with other beings? 

In our house it seemed like he was only in my daughter's room sitting at her vanity, but now he has gone on vacation with us, shopping, to church and to the park according to my daughter.
 

Does your daughter ever tell you that she talks to the ghosts she sees?

From what I understand he doesn't talk to or touch her. Me, being curious, I have asked Savannah specifically if he gives her hugs and kisses, she tells me no and when I ask if he tells her he loves her she says, "no he keeps me safe" She pretends to call him on the telephone and she speaks in baby talk to him. 

CASE STUDY TWO

First set of questions concerning your Childs ability
 

1. How old is your child? My Daughter is 3 years old November the 28th.
2. How often does your child see ghosts/entities? Quite often.
3. What type of "being" does your child see? I think they are ghosts.
4. Where around town will your child most often see these beings? She sees them at home, at family member’s houses and at the town center.
5. Has your child ever had a near death experience? No she hasn’t.
6. Do these beings ever approach your child around town? She did tell me the other day that two ladies where talking to her.
7. Has your child ever had any major surgeries? Please explain No she hasn’t.
 

CASE STUDY TWO (CONTINUED) 

8. Does your child have any specific health problems? Please list She was not long diagnosed with asthma its not major but she does have to take inhalers.

9. At what age did your child being seeing ghosts? I think it was when she started talking.  She was round my moms one day and she was talking to my mom.  My nan (Nanny Passey) has been dead for over 16 years so my daughter has never seen her and we have never mentioned anything about her as she is too young to understand but she was having a conversation with my mom and she told my mom that nanny passey was on my moms bed when she was playing in the room.
 

This set relate mainly to "beings" in the home 

1. Is the visitor mild, mean, angry or what? No they seem to be nice but there has been a time when she has run out her bedroom crying telling me that the bad man is in there.
2. Does the visitor ask the child favors? No not that I no of.
3. Does the visitor ask the child not to tell the parent about the visits? I’m not sure my daughter has told me a couple of times that nanny passey is in her room.
4. Has anyone else in the family seen, heard or felt the visitor? Me and my auntie are very spiritual and my auntie can communicate with spirits but i always know if it’s my Nan because i can get a head ache or i feel her round me but my auntie picks up on thing too.
5. Has the visitor ever threatened to hurt the child or others? No
6. Has the visitor ever asked the child to do something mean? Not sure.
7. Has the visitor ever been able to predict a future event? No

What is the appearance of the "being" that is seen?

 1. Full-bodied apparition
2. Dark and misty
3. Light and misty
4. Partial body
5. Wounded body
6. Evil looking

Answer: 1. Full-bodied apparition

 
Other reports to substantiate findings
These reports come from outside sources, including websites,
magazine articles, etc. (if applicable) 

Below is an article I found on the GhostStudy.com website in regards to children that see ghosts and some possible explanations that support some of the research conducted in this study. 

CHILDREN AND GHOSTS
Written by Psychic Jill

The question often comes up on the board, can babies and children see angels, spirits and ghosts?  The answer is yes, they can.

We have all seen a baby sitting in a pumpkin seat or laying in their crib cooing and smiling and their eyes seem to be fixed a little above them, like they are looking at "something".

When a child comes into this world they are what we term "close to the grave".  This term means that they have just come over from the Other Side.  Before they entered the Earth realm and incarnated into this lifetime they were "in spirit" on the Other Side waiting to be born.  This means that they may have been there with passed over loved ones before they came here.

It is not unusual for these loved ones to step in from the Other Side and visit with these wee ones.  And often their guardian angels will interact with them as well.

Children are born with their third eye wide open.  This is the chakra point in the middle of the forehead.  This is the chakra (an energy point on the body) which enables one to be open to spirit communication, and the ability to see spirits and talk with them.

Babies and small children have not been exposed to the negative reality that most people have regarding ghosts.  Most people, not all, like the great folks at Ghoststudy, doubt that ghosts exist and think it is just a bunch of hooey.  These young ones are still innocent and not influenced by society and its' attitude toward ghost and the spirit world.

Some small children even have "imaginary friends" they talk with and play with.  Grownups tend to just shrug their shoulders and think that the child just has an overactive imagination, when in reality; it is most likely that these children are actually interacting with someone in spirit.

As the child grows, they are exposed to the negative responses like there are no such things as ghosts, we cannot communicate with those who have passed over, and to even entertain such an idea is unacceptable behavior.  Not wanting to seem odd or go against what others are saying, the child then begins to shut down and convince themselves that what they are seeing or hearing cannot possibly be reality and they gradually lose their ability to "see" and "hear".

As a child, I watched Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons every Saturday morning.  Since I have seen spirits my entire life, since I was about two, I could not understand that hysterical response poor Casper got when trying to make friends.  Whenever he would materialize in front of some character their eyes would bug out and they would run away screaming.  This was a direct influence about what the general population's response would be when encountering a ghost.  This cartoon taught children that ghosts were bad and that we should run away screaming if we ever did encounter one.  I used to feel so sorry for Casper that I would talk to him while sitting there watching television, telling him he could come to my house.  Such was the heart of an innocent young girl that could see spirits and had compassion for them.  I always thought he would make such a fun little friend.  It's funny that I believed in the ghost part and even more that I thought he was a "real" ghost as I could not tell animated cartoon characters from real people at the time.

Fortunately, some children retain this gift of being able to see and communicate with spirit no matter what they are told.  They believe in their hearts that what they are experiencing is real and cannot be swayed to think differently.

If your child claims to be seeing ghosts then try to have an open mind and an open heart.  Question them gently.  Ask them what they are seeing and whom they may be communicating with.  Parents are often too quick to make judgment calls and will doubt their child without giving them the benefit of the doubt. Just because some people cannot see them or hear them does not mean that others cannot, and that ghosts do not exist.

Some children can give an exact description of which they are seeing and it will perfectly match up with a loved one.  Some children even call their spirit by name, and it turns out there was a real person by that name that crossed over.  I am not saying that children only see family members.  They may live in a house occupied by spirit and they are able to see or hear and communicate with that spirit.

Never discourage a child with a gift.  If they showed musical ability in being able to play the piano most parents would buy them a piano.  If they showed artistic talent they are given crayons and finger paints and encouraged to draw to bring out their nature abilities.  Never deny a child’s spiritual gift.  You may be raising the next John Edward.

Signed, Psychic Jill