Hi Irish Lass,
i too am from Ireland
Thank You for your lovely story , I agree with all you have said re Spirit essence etc
Here are my views
The simplest answer is that every ghost is a spirit, but not every spirit is a ghost. SPIRITS of the departed usually know they are dead, and can move on. They may occasionally still "visit" loved ones, especially loved ones who mourn them. But that spirit will eventually visit less and less. Sometimes excessive grieving by the living will hold a spirit from moving on. So at some point, the spirit may communicate to that grieving relative that the relative has to "let them go", but that the spirit will be waiting for them on the "other side".
Sometimes these spirits are even briefly ghosts. They are joyful that their pain and suffering are now gone. They may try to convey to their living loved ones that they are free and whole again, and may be briefly seen as a ghost by a loved one to prove that they are better off on the other side. Sometimes the spirit may even be seen as they looked in their younger, better-looking days. Many times these spirits visiting grieving relatives can't actually be seen, but cigarette smoke or cologne the spirit used to be associated with, is how the grieving relative knows the spirit is nearby. These spirits may be briefly ghosts, but are mainly trying to comfort their grieving loved ones.
GHOSTS are spirits of the dead, who have tied themselves to a particular location. Sometimes they may not even realize they are dead, and take great offense that other people have moved into "their" house, and act like they can't see or interact with the ghost. Ghosts usually haunt:
1) Former homes or rooms. It may be a joyful connection, or a home the ghost had built or lived in for decades. The ghost may simply never want to leave this home. Or, if the ghost realizes he/she is dead, may want to stay on as Caretaker at their beloved once-home.
2) The place or spot where they died. If the death was violent or by suicide, the ghost may be confused by what happened with such an abrupt-death, and may linger, unaware they are dead, trying to put the pieces together.
3) A place where the ghost once held great responsibility, or left "unfinished business". Maybe a beloved child died in their arms in a haunted room or nursery, and the earthbound ghost is still looking for that child. Sometimes these "motherly female" ghosts reach out to watch over and protect the live children who now live in that house.
Places of great suffering and death can also hold spirits, like a battlefield, or anyplace that saw much agony and death. Older hospitals and even prisons (like Alcatraz) are said to be haunted by patients/prisoners who died there. And sometimes also by the "responsible" people, like guards or nurses, who still feel a tremendous need to be "doing their job", helping or protecting others.
Tela xxx