Water as a Paranormal Conduit

In 2009, when I worked on my "Haunted Formula" by studying the qualities of 50 well documented haunted locations in the US, I found a very high incidence of them being near streams, rivers, ocean, or other moving water. In fact, 41 of the 50 sites were near moving water.

The very haunted home I grew up in ("Growing Up With Ghosts" by Sharon Day), was originally called the "Springfield" in the 1700s when it was built because it was built over a running underground stream which actually fed us the water for our home. As well, in front of the house was a running stream, the "Pohick," a tributary of the Potomac.

Let's discuss what happens when water moves - 

Negative Ions

Source:  Ions are molecules that have gained or lost an electrical charge.  They are created in nature as air molecules break apart due to sunlight,radiation, and moving air and water. You may have experienced the power of negative ions when you last set foot on the beach or walked beneath a waterfall. While part of the euphoria is simply being around these wondrous settings and away from the normal pressures of home and work, the air circulating in the mountains and the beach is said to contain tens of thousands of negative ions -- Much more than the average home or office building, which contain dozens or hundreds, and many register a flat zero.

"The action of the pounding surf creates negative air ions and we also see it immediately after spring thunderstorms when people report lightened moods," says ion researcher Michael Terman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York.


In fact, Columbia University studies of people with winter and chronic depression show that negative ion generators relieve depression as much as antidepressants. "The best part is that there are relatively no side effects, but we still need to figure out appropriate doses and which people it works best on," he says .

River Versus Waterfall 

Source:  In 1994, Reiter measured, in addition to sea spray, ions produced by waterfalls. He found that particles from sea spray smaller than 200 nm carried a net positive charge whereas similar particles from waterfalls were negatively charged. He attributes the difference in polarity to the different chemical compositions of river and sea water. Reiter also performed some tests with water containing different chemical impurities, and found that the polarity indeed depended on the suspended material: added sodium chloride produced positive particles whereas pure water and Mediterranean sea water produced negative ions.

Pineal Gland

Here's where all this gets quite sexy. The pineal gland is in the brain and is often referred to as the "third eye" for psychics. It is affected by light photons and triggers sleep and energy. If you have seasonal affective disorder, it is likely your pineal gland is not getting proper light. The pineal gland gets its light triggers from the eyes and when things get dark, it knows it is time to release melatonin hormone for sleep. This is why if you watch TV and read by light at nighttime, it can take a while to fall asleep once you turn out the lights. 

If the pineal gland is the active gland in the brain when we are descending and ascending from sleep, the very time we see spirits or aliens or get psychic visions, then what happens if negatively charged ions produced by moving water affect our gland? 

Source:  Drs. M. Terman and J.S. Terman at Columbia University studied the effect of negative ions onseasonal affective disorder (SAD). They concluded that negative ions promote alpha brain waves and increase brain wave amplitude, which translates to a higher awareness level. Negative ion induced alpha brain waves were found to spread evenly across the right and left brain hemispheres. All of this creates an overall calming effect and will help us enter sleep rapidly and reach the REM (rapid eye movement) state more quickly.

Negative ions can affect the levels of serotonin, a hormone which is manufactured in our brains. It is a neurotransmitter involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. Serotonin helps maintain a “happy feeling” and helps keep our moods under control by helping us to sleep.

My Conclusion

Here's my theory on running water and haunted locations: 

Locations are haunted, but the ones that we humans can detect with our limited sensory resources need a bit of amplification. We go to a haunted location near running water, i.e. waterfalls, stream, ocean crashing, and the negatively charged ions enter through our nose, stimulating the pineal gland for not only "feel good energizing" sensations, but also the stimulation of our "third eye" and ability to perceive the haunting. We are visited by alien greys or dead relatives, or have prophetic dreams going in and out of sleep, controlled by the pineal glands and hormonal release. Our psychic "seat" in the brain is this hormonally governing gland. Therefore, running water near a haunted location may not make it more haunted, it just may make us better tools to register it. 

One way we might test this is to put off negative ions in a location while doing a ghost hunt and pick up how many participants perceive a haunting. 


There is no doubt that the air is charged by the movement of water, that the atmospheric changes can affect the human mind and hormones. This being said, it would seem that the effects are on the living and not necessarily the dead. It is within the human that we find the receiver that perceives hauntings. No matter how we try to capture evidence on audio and video, we ultimately get our best evidence from the perceptions of the living in the site. 



Air purifiers work to put off negative ions, as do salt lamps. In fact, think of a lighthouse; a circular building with salt air creating salt buildup on the surfaces, a power generator at the top and imagine what an amazing negative ion generator that is! 

**Tomorrow's post is "Underwater Cemeteries"   **