Has anyone figured out why some ghost sightings has no legs

Many times, I have come across reports in forums, of sightings of apparitions seen without any feet or legs, Most describe it as if they fade into nothing. Then of course we have the normal ghost sightings, without this effect? Can anyone explain this phenomenal, maybe this will lead us into clues of how ghosts manifest.

www.yourghoststories.com...

www.yourghoststories.com...

www.yourghoststories.com...

These are just a few I searched up, If you comb through the paranormal studies form you will come across some stories from people as well with this phenomenal, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought about this am I? I've actually had a friend who had an "incident" where she saw an apparition of a man with no legs as well. I've come across a few stories from people regarding this. Why is this?

[edit on 29-3-2008 by Nemox42]

Well, the Treasures House in York (UK) had sightings of legless roman soilders, and when they dug the cellar up they found a roman road underneath - so the theory was that the soldiers where walking where on the road.

Ghosts of York: Romans on their Knees

Actually, I hear of this same theory. I actually posted a thread awhile back about a story, of another legless ghost who was a previously owners of a house. The writer of the story theorized that the house before that was build on that spot didn't have a crawlspace like it did now, so what he saw maybe was the ghost top portion like you mention, in your stories of the roman soldiers. Could it be that most of these legless sitings where actually residential hauntings? That these ghosts are actually reliving their existence in spirit form?

[edit on 29-3-2008 by Nemox42]


www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 29-3-2008 by Nemox42]

I haven't checked the links in the OP, but one of the posts may well have been mine, because I've posted in ATS a few times about the ghosts I've seen and their curious lack of legs below the knee area.

Lack of lower legs doesn't affect ghosts' height however or prevent them from moving normally.

In the days pre-Internet, it was far more difficult to find confirmation of one's own experiences. The chances of bumping into someone who'd had the same experience was rare, and none of the books I consulted mentioned the curious lack of lower legs, so I thought it may be faulty observation on my part that was responsible for the invisible lower legs.

Finally however, I did receive confirmation, via woman who confided that her daughter had seen the ghost of her grandmother. The girl claimed the old lady's ghost didn't seem to have legs below the knees. She also provided another clue to the genuineness of her experience: she described what her grandmother was wearing. Her mother knew then that the girl was telling the truth because she'd described the rather unusual clothing in which the old lady had been buried .. something only the mother (and not the girl) knew.

As to why some ghosts' legs seem to fade into nothingness below the knee area, can only speculate that ghosts see no reason to expend energy on something they don't need. Not as if they require to walk on physical legs.

I'm just happy that other's experiences have confirmed my own. You know when you've seen a ghost, most often. But it's good to really know that's what it was. Because no matter how compelling the experience, the mind works very hard, for some reason, to convince you that it didn't happen. It might be different for 'professional ghost busters', but the average person doesn't see that many ghosts .. and very often those who do, don't believe in ghosts (I didn't) and certainly don't expect to see any. Then you do. But your mind finds so many explanations for your experience and tries to talk you out of it. So you doubt yourself, even though you still remember the incident very clearly. Then, if you're lucky, a total stranger, out of the blue, relates the same peculiarity (missing lower legs, for example) and in the process, confirms your experience via their own. At that point, you're forced to the realisation that yes .. ghosts exist and strange though it is, you have seen some. It's a weird feeling. I think others will agree that even after you know you saw a ghost, an entirely separate (normal, everyday) part of your own mind does not believe you.

Have just read the posts above mine and felt I should clarify. The ghosts I saw appeared in residential homes: one a restored apartment in a quite old building .. and the other in a suburban home less than ten years old.

Both ghosts -- despite having no visible legs below the knee area --- appeared 'normal' height. One was quite tall, over six feet, as I could see as he stood near a tall wall-unit. The other was, I suppose, about 5' 9".

They appeared lifelife .. not 'misty' or grey. If you saw them in the street, you'd take them for living people.

It gets interesting. The first ghost, as far as I was able to learn, had been killed perhaps 30 or 40 years earlier in the apartment where I used to see him (saw him several times a week for a few years). He was always in exactly the same place .. always looked exactly the same .. always wore the same expression. He was behind a door. He always looked sick with fear but tried to smile. I suspect the way he appeared to me was how he must have looked the moment before he was killed. People refer to such ghosts as 'recordings' insofar as they repeat the same actions and remain in the same location.

The second ghost however, had 'travelled' to my home. I didn't know him, had never seen him or heard about him before I saw him that one time. He looked the picture of health .. had good colouring and even a shine to his hair. He just appeared in the twinkling of an eye one night as I was sitting in the living room. All the doors were locked. It wasn't a living intruder. One moment I was on my own .. the next, I saw a man on the other side of the room, near the wall unit.

As Fate would have it, the following day, I was shown a photograph. It was the man (ghost) I'd seen the night before. Next moment I was told (by an almost total stranger) that this man had died suddenly and completely unexpectedly (inexplicably, too .. because they didn't know why he'd died) about six months before. In fact, as I was told, his organs were still being investigated in a laboratory, in the hope of determining the cause of his death. Yet he'd appeared 'complete' and perfectly normal when I saw him (apart from having no lower legs).

He was a complete stranger to me. So why had he appeared before me? Finally, I realised the ghost had come to my home because unknown to me at that point, I had in my house (on temporary basis) some of the dead man's possessions. Not of any value. Just some of his trousers. Yet it was obviously these which had drawn him to my home. There was no other explanation. So here we have a situation where a ghost can 'track' its mundane earthly possessions, even over a thousand kilometres (because the ghost had died more than a thousand kilometres from where I, a total stranger to him, lived).

A few years after I saw that ghost, there was an article in the local paper about a young woman who'd bought a second-hand evening dress to wear to a special event. She'd become very depressed at around that point, but had put it down to other things. She attended the special event and on the way home, was almost killed in a car accident. After returning home from hospital, her depression worsened. She began having suicidal thoughts and very disturbing dreams. Her life and relationships deteriorated.

Finally, something happened (I can't remember what it was) to cause her to suspect the dress she'd bought was in some way responsible. Even though it sounded far-fetched even to her, she began investigating the history of the dress. She returned to where she'd bought it and they finally admitted it had belonged to a young girl who'd been wearing it (on another special occasion) the night she was killed in a car accident. Her family had given the dead girl's clothing away and those to whom they were given had sold them, unaware they would or could harm anyone.

The girl now suspected she was being haunted by the original owner of the dress, who, she suspected, was still angry and resentful about dying in the prime of her youth. The second girl disposed of the dress. At the time of the newspaper article, she said she was slowly recovering from her own injuries and from the depression which had plagued her. So here again, we see reference to ghosts attaching themselves to clothing and not only to locations and other 'hard' objects such as jewellery, vehicles, furniture, houses, etc.

There's a great deal we don't know. For example, it appears ghosts (or at least some of them) have limited comprehension. For example, I suspect the man who appeared in my home several months after dying suddenly and unexpectedly --- didn't realise he was dead. Nor, apparently, did the ghost I repeatedly saw behind the door in the apartment. But they differed, because the apartment ghost remained locked in one moment in time, whereas the ghost who appeared in my home in search of his clothing had travelled considerable distance, rather than remain at the location of his death.

How does a ghost successfully 'track' or 'trace' his earthly clothing .. yet remain unaware they are dead .. and unable to grasp that their earthly possessions have been dispersed ? So it does appear that ghosts lose capacity for logical thought, whilst still retaining sensory skills.

[edit on 29-3-2008 by Dock6]

reply to post by Nemox42


Hi Nemox42,
I have to agree with 'Fudgestix' ... coming from North Yorkshire myself, I was also going to site 'The Treasury House' as an example.

I'm not saying this explains all cases of legless phantoms ... but if you consider the fact that old/ancient ground-levels were often lower than present levels (due to accumalated debri etc), it certainly makes sense.

It might be worth typing 'legless ghosts' into the search engine so that you can compare the location and environment ... see if the same explanation is feasible.

Woody

Very very good posts everyone. Now the information and facts are flooding in, it gets interesting. Now we have two theories, one is the ground level theory, and the other is these ghosts can't fully manifest itself ( to save energy maybe)? Yes the reason these ghosts are "ghosts" is they don't know they are dead. If they knew they were dead, and still came back to earthly realm, i could consider them more spirits then ghosts. At least a spirit, knows they are passed on, but can come back to the earthly realm, maybe to visit a family member etc. If anyone has anymore ghostly encounters with legless ghost, please post. I would love to get to the bottom of this.

Dock, that's also a good question. I know there is a theory out there that some people have experience paranormal apparitions based on an item that was actually haunted. Like your trousers from the guy ghost in your apartment. What i don't understand though, is why come a thousand miles for a pair of trousers? And like you said, how did it track and find you? From such far distances, Is it possible that ghosts can move beyond the concept of time and space? Teleport to a spot in a blink of an eye? Hell they can travel through walls why not time and space? I've actually come across a few stories regarding ghosts or spirits hunting down or haunting items, and the only real possible explanation for a connection is the item itself.

A thought to digest:

Could it possibly be due to the chakra and /or Kundalini energy, in other words the chakra run from the base of your spine upwards.... These are supposedly the energy points of a living human.

After they've stopped living... then who knows?

Hmmm....

The day one of my great uncles ( a tall guy) died in Suriname, my aunt saw a tall figure walking in our street (Aruba). As the figure came closer, she noticed that he didn't have any legs. At the moment nobody in Aruba knew that the uncle had died as yet.

weird, experience. So your aunt saw your great uncle, walking down the street or floating down the street, but she didn't know he was dead. Maybe your uncle didn't know he was dead either or maybe he was coming to pay a last visit. All this stuff doesn't add up, the level ground theory is starting to get disapproved, we have two eye wittiness accounts of two ghosts, who didn't die along time ago, but still comes back to the earthly realm with no legs. Something else is causing this phenomenal, i just haven't piece the clues together. I did enjoy that theory of the body energy only emitting till the spine. Maybe that's a clue to why some ghosts appear with no legs, but why just some, why not all? Dock's ghost in his apartment didn't have any legs, and the guy died 1,000 miles away, i'm sure that ghost probably never even visited the spot dock lives now in the living realm. So why appear there with no legs? it doesn't make sense? This level ground theory is falling apart somewhere, there are holes in these theories. Anyone else want to add in some more clues or stories or theories. please post i would love to hear them, this discussion is actually getting good, and maybe will lead us to a solid theory to why some apparitions appear without legs.

[edit on 29-3-2008 by Nemox42]

I wanted to give you my own friends, account of the legless ghost she saw. My friend on the women side of her family, have all been known to gifted with the 3rd eye. Her mom has seen the same ghost roam around the property before, her first experience she retold me about, when one night she woke up, and something told her to look out her window. Now how the house is situated, her room is in the back of the house, her one window is facing into the backyard. The backyard is fairly large, well, that night she looked out into her backyard. It was late at night, like 2 or 3 in the morning. In the moonlight she said she saw a man moving about the yard, but when her eyes lead down to his lower body, he had none, no legs, they emitted into nothingness she told me. The man was unaware he was being spied on, and keep doing whatever he was doing. After a couple of minutes, the entity just vanished. At first, I thought she might have just been her mind playing tricks on her, but after combing through the web, I've come across like i said, many many posts, of ghost sightings without legs, leaving me to believe maybe she was telling me the truth. I also don't believe she has any reason to lie about these type of things, as she is usually a nonsense person. There was something about the tone of her voice also that convinced me otherwise. That she actually did see something outside her window that night.

[edit on 29-3-2008 by Nemox42]

I just searched through most of google, and Above top secret, not much information regarding this subject. Am i the first person to realize this stuff, i can't be, all these ghosts hunters and etc cant put two and two together or what. I'm not even a ghost hunter, but was about to clue clues together to come up with something. All you ghost hunters out there i want to hear your theory, or do you guys not have one?

HI Nemox. If, as you say, there's very little information available online now about the issue --- imagine how difficult it was for me to find information /confirmation back in the days before Internet !

My experience with the Man-Behind-The-Door was in the early 70's. And the other experience was in the early 80's.

I don't know if ghost-hunters have known about the 'fading legs' phenomenon all along and just take it for granted.

I'd never heard of it until I experienced / witnessed it. Which is why it was good to finally receive confirmation from someone else (the daughter of my friend, who saw her dead grandmother in the field, as related in above post ).

No, you're not the first ... as is made obvious by the fact that people (including myself) had drawn attention to the 'fading legs' in posts which you in turn read. But the fact you gleaned this rarely-mentioned aspect of ghosts from other's posts, means you're observant and thoughtful

I mentioned the ghost who appeared in my home for no other possible reason than some of his trousers were there. It had to be the trousers. The ghost and I had no other connection. To this day, I don't know much about the ghost .. don't know his name or where he lived (other than the name of the city) or exactly what he did for a living. I had the experience because I'd agreed to do some alteration work on some men's trousers for a woman I knew very superficially. That's how the trousers came to be in my house. I'd assumed the trousers belonged to the woman's husband. It was only the following day, due to a chance remark, that I learned the trousers actually belonged not to the woman's husband, but to her son in law, who'd died about six months earlier.

I'm assuming (for how can we know?) that the ghost didn't realise he was dead.

The after-death state .. for some .. may be similar to our dream-state, where things happen out of sequence and become mixed-up and confused. We don't know. But if so, it may be that the ghost 'attached' himself to .. of all things .. his clothing. Another ghost may attach themselves to their books, or to a favourite computer-game, or pieces of jewellery, or a house or field or even a car. Eastern religions warn us against 'attachment'.

The little I do know about the ghost is as follows: he had mown the lawns on a hot day, and because of the heat, took a break on an outdoor lounging chair in the shade. His wife took him a cool drink, but he was asleep so she didn't disturb him. Later that afternoon, when it began turning cool, she placed a sweater over him, still believing he was asleep. Later again, she went to awaken him, only to discover he was dead. Doctors later stated he'd been dead for some hours by that time. They didn't know what had killed him. Six months after his death, they were still conducting tests on his organs to determine cause of death, apparently. During those six months, his wife (pregnant with their first child) had to sell their home, pack and store and relocate their possessions .. and sent his clothing to her parents who lived interstate, about 1,500 kilometres away, in the belief her father would put the items to use. I knew none of this when I reluctantly agreed to alter the trousers.

The ghost apparently worked in a white-collar capacity when alive. We can probably rightly assume however, that he wore casual clothing when mowing the lawns, immediately prior to his death. Yet when he appeared in my living room, he was wearing long, dark trousers .. a white, long-sleeved business shirt and tie. The collar and tie had been loosened, and his sleeves were rolled up a little from the wrist. He had what appeared to be a slight 'five o'clock shadow' i.e., slight stubble on his jaw. In short .. he looked like a man at the end of a working day -- not like a man who'd just mown lawns in the heat.

So that's interesting, isn't it? Clearly the ghost hadn't died in his office attire, but instead had died in maybe shorts and a T-shirt. It's tempting to suggest that in life, the man had identified strongly with his work .. or liked to be associated with his work. And this is the way he'd chosen to appear after death -- rather than appear in what he'd been wearing at the time of his death.

There exist numerous first-person accounts of ghost-appearances, in which the ghost appears complete with wounds, missing limbs, etc. And there are equal number of accounts in which ... despite having died gory deaths .. ghosts have appeared with no visible wounds or signs of distress.

So it seems clear that ghosts differ as widely as do the living. And some ghosts may have a far clearer appreciation of their situation than do others.

It seems that not all ghosts appear minus the lower half of their limbs. If this were a uniform feature of ghosts, it would be much more widely known. Therefore, it seems that some ghosts may have perfectly lifelike legs, whilst others fade away at around the knee area.

Some ghosts may appear perfectly likelike .. whilst others may appear as 'mists' or shadows, whatever.

Or .. perhaps it's the witness and not the ghost, who determines how the ghost will appear ?

We don't know if ghosts DO manifest in the physical. They may not. It may be that the witness 'receives' impressions --- after which the mind of the witness gives form and 'appearance' to what in fact may be non-visible entities.

If so, some witnesses may dispense with ghosts' lower legs as unnecessary. Humans focus on facial features. When we're close to another person (a living person) we don't usually see them 'whole', do we ? We don't scan them in entirety. Usually, we concentrate on their face .. and our peripheral vision gathers data re: their shoulders, chest .. with less attention spent on lower extremities such as arms, lower trunk and legs. So it may be, when we're 'joining the dots' re: sensory input emanating from non-physical entities.

Therefore, it may be less a case of ghosts 'appearing' and more that we 'make sense' of data being received from other than our five usual senses.

Some people may see ghosts complete (with full legs and feet) simply because they're sticklers for detail and like things 'complete' and 'finished off properly'. Whilst others of us may choose (at super-normal level) not to bother with ghosts' legs and feet, because we know in any case that ghosts don't use their non-physical feet and legs to get from one place to another. In other words, whilst ghosts clearly exist, the form they appear to take may all stem from 'the eye of the beholder'.

Great post, Dock. I appreciate all the feed back your giving out. To tell you the truth I agree with some of your theories. But I am convince there is a pattern, We know by standards, that there are 2 types of ghosts. As much as the internet is filled with classification of different types of haunting. The fact is we know of two types of hauntings, or ghosts. Residual Haunting and Intelligent Hauntings, Any other type of ghosts or hauntings is questionable. I believe what you saw that night in your apartment was a residual Haunting, This ghost I don't believe saw you, maybe fixated on the pants, usually residual haunting ghosts you can't interact with them. With Intelligent hauntings, the ghost is aware of other people or events and interact with them. As with some videos of chairs or beds being shaken, or things being moved.
I also enjoyed your theory, about why ghosts dont realize they are dead. Just as we the living sometimes dream, and never realize we are dreaming. Could it be ghosts are doing the same? They are dead, but they linger around because its as if they are in some sort of dream state? The Chinese believe that ghosts and spirits can visit people in their dreams. Could their be some sort of connection? (I got a story behind this as well if you guys wanna hear it). I also enjoyed your theory, that maybe because we fixate on a certain area we only see the upper body, and some people see ghosts in full bodied form. I truly believe that some people are born into this world more sense to the spirit realm then others. I also believe everyone is born with the third eye. But its the fact that some people are sensitive then others, I believe that "shadow people" are actually ghosts and spirits, but because of our sensitivity like a tv reception, we can only see them as a black shadow. And as some people can see them as if they were real, flesh and skin. Your post dock has open alot of questions for me, and hopefully to other members on this forum. The questions come up are, manifestation of ghosts, there has to be a pattern. I believe this pattern is directed fixed with why some ghosts have no legs.

[edit on 30-3-2008 by Nemox42]

[edit on 30-3-2008 by Nemox42]

Dock, I think you might be right. My conclusions might be leading me to believe that it is perhaps the witness and not the ghost, that decides how they should appear. But if that's the case, could it be.... that this is all in our head? The idea that we decide how ghosts manifest, could lead us into evidence that ghosts and spirit manifestation might be the trick of the mind? But then... how do you explain physical manifestation of hauntings, liking moving objects, and sounds.

I posted a story on another thread, on this forum, about five demons that came up out of the floor and pulled me back down, with them.
They were like what is in the OP in that I did not see feet or lower legs.
My story may not be much help, but I imagine that they were still connected to wherever they came from.
The lower parts narrowed down to a relativey thin part that seemed to come up through the floor.

You don't say... 5 demons huh, how do you know they were demons, where they corporal or flesh and blood. Can you describe them? When they grabbed you how did it feel? You said they pulled you down with them, to where? did you dematerialize into the ground? What was your reaction, did you scream for help? Did no one come to your aid? Is this the only time it has happen? Are you taking any medication or were you high at the time? Not to say I don't believe you, but I use to think that this ghost stuff was all mumbo jumbo, till I had my own experience. After that event, I took it as a mini-hobby to collect ghost stories from people I meet, to try and find my own truth, and i get a variety of stuff. Some I believe some I don't, I always leave it to my intelligent to figure out if these stories might have some true. I choose not to be closed minded, after seeing and experience things, that probably science can't even explain. Give us some more information about these legless demons that attacked you? It must have been a horrific experience, something I'm sure your never forget, give us more detail.

"There exist numerous first-person accounts of ghost-appearances, in which the ghost appears complete with wounds, missing limbs, etc. And there are equal number of accounts in which ... despite having died gory deaths .. ghosts have appeared with no visible wounds or signs of distress."

Dock - Your right about this phenomenal as well, If your theory about the man's clothing is correct, why would these ghosts choose to show themselves like no limbs or complete with wounds etc. Wouldn't they want to reflect themselves more like their earthly form, in order not to scare the living? One thing is for sure, there are allot of different type of ghost manifestation, there is a pattern behind it, maybe residential manifestations can't actually pick how they suppose to look, but with intelligent hauntings you can? Makes sense?