When you hear the term “ghost footage”, you probably think of someone who took a photograph or a video recording of an entity, either by accident or on purpose. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that definition, because it really is accurate. But there are other kinds of ‘footage’ that do not involve the use of electronic devices…or any sort of device, for that matter. Did you know there are instances of spiritual documentation that exist without the use of any sort of camera? The phenomenon I am referring to is known as a residual haunting.

A residual haunting is one of the most fascinating ways in which ghosts can manifest. These types of hauntings are simply playbacks of things that have already happened, and they are ‘recorded’ in the very essence of time and nature. Unlike other forms of ghostly presence, apparitions involved in a residual haunting are not sentient. They have not awareness of time and they have no clue you’re there. They are aware only of their environmental surroundings. The atmosphere that this “recoding” takes place in is what plays a crucial role in the very existence of these ghostly illusions.

Those stories about Native Americans spirits riding on horseback through the forest, or Civil War battles being re-enacted by ghost soldiers in national parks are the ones referring to residual hauntings. Battles, like fly paper, are often known for high death tolls, and sometimes these warriors continue their combat long after they’ve died and the fighting ended. And these eerie clashes may repeat over and over again for years, with no telling if they will ever cease to exist. Can you imagine how awful that would be if every domestic dispute to ever occur in any home kept replaying itself regardless of who was living in the house at the time? Property values would nose-dive and dinner parties would get pretty awkward. You could watch Jerry Springer without even having cable.

There are lots of places around the world that are reported to experience residual hauntings. There is one place which I have visited myself where I witnesses and an incredibly elaborate residual haunting; one that has apparently been reported many times before. While at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA I witness the ballroom filled with people dancing, drinking, and laughing in full formal wear. Swirling and twirling, the ladies beautiful full dresses flowing behind them, the men in jet-black tailed tuxedos, I watched with fascination as the 1940s-era ball went on with no apparent recognition from anyone that I was there.

Any kind of haunting that involves spirits going about some kind of predetermined activity with no regard to your presence is most likely a residual haunting. It could take place in a residential home, showing a phantom husband from a century before murdering his wife or it could be an ethereal little old man hunched over, going to get his morning paper from the front steps. However, the cause of this playback effect is still unknown.