Older buildings usually have a heavier build-up of spirits than do newer buildings, although the land itself may have had beings living on it before the building was built, that can cause build-up.

Energy vortexes, worm holes and naturally occurring geographical fault lines or fractures under the building can be openings for spirits coming from other places into the area where the build-up has occurred.  Areas of great human devastation (such as a battle field), or a building where spirits once lived in great suffering or who have emotional problems with ‘letting go’ and moving on (such as a brothel, or site where slaves were kept), can all cause problems.  Places where many humans and animals have died can cause great energetic disturbance (such as hospitals and abattoirs) as the spirits of those who died can get stuck having experienced a ‘difficult death’.  Areas known as power sites and sacred sites, where there was environmental disregard (such as where building or quarrying occurs), without reference to, and respect for, the land spirits and the spirit of that place, can suffer energetic imbalance and misfortune.

A spirit who was confused at the time of death, or who died suddenly, may not know that they are dead and may still feel confused and not know how to go into the Light.  Alternatively, they may not know they are dead and may feel irritated that ‘new’ people have moved in and are living in ‘their’ space.  Other problems can occur when people attached to, or living in, a building die before having a chance to finish something they wanted to finish.  Revenge, anger, extreme loss, personal suffering, concern for another person, particular emotional attachment to a building or object, can all cause a place to be haunted.

A combination of all of these issues can cause a build-up of beings, creating phenomenon to occur, such as smells, moving objects, voices, noises, etc., in the building.

Other less fearful, but equally as problematic, side-effects of having haunted a building or space can be problems with electrical faults, gas leaks, problems with water pipes, a sense of uneasiness or fear in particular areas of the building, cold areas, etc. 

The most common features in public buildings of a heavily haunted presence are dwindling profits due to a lack of people wanting to go into or near the premises. Other problems can be with running the administration side of the business; constant paperwork problems, unrelated obstacles coming ‘from all angles’ hampering a smooth running of the business (applications for planning permission, renewing licenses, etc.).

Spirits need life-force to maintain themselves or they will disintegrate and become less aware of who they are, where they are, etc., just carrying the strong emotion that kept them trapped in the first place.   Spirits will feed off life-force created by the regular day-to-day activities of people in busy buildings, such as bars, hotels and hospitals. If this life-force is not available, eventually, over many years, a spirit that has not had enough life-force to sustain it, will turn from a ‘ghost’ (with many human features, such as recognizable clothing from a particular era, an apparent ability to ‘walk’ around, speak, have distinguishable facial features, etc.) into a ‘specter’, which is a spirit that has lost its more human attributes and has the appearance of being akin to what we thought of as ghosts as children – a white sheet hovering without feet touching the ground. 

Specters are usually more difficult to clear because they have less knowledge about who they are, why they are there, are often more desperate and emotional (usually fear-driven), and therefore less easy to reason with and encourage to leave.  Therefore, premises  occupied constantly will more likely have ‘ghosts’ and premises that were left unoccupied for some time over the course of their history will have ‘specters’ and/or ghosts haunting them.