We often read about how blissful it is to go to the white light after death. So, if it’s so wonderful, why do the departed sometimes hang around? No one knows for sure, but I’ve read several theories.

Psychic medium George Anderson suggests that many people don’t know they’re dead. Apparently, the transition from life to afterlife can be so subtle that if death comes suddenly—due to accidents or violence—the spirit may not know they’re dead.

The next logical question is, why doesn’t someone on the other side help them to cross over? Sometimes they may. But if the departed are still attached to the Earth plane—because they are worried about those they left behind, or want someone to know what happened to them—they may choose to remain.

While that may seem disturbing on the the face of it, consider this: Many spiritual teachers suggest that only a small portion of the soul occupies the body. Most of it remains on the other side. If that’s true, then ghosts may represent residual energy from a soul standpoint. Nothing to be concerned about. It will eventually return home and rejoin the whole.

I’ve even read that advanced souls can occupy more than one body in a lifetime. For example, being a homemaker in Kansas and a construction worker in Maine. That certainly puts a new spin on the concept of multi-tasking!

There are several stories of ghosts who stayed behind in Loitering at the Gate to Eternity: Memoirs of a Psychic Bystander. From soldiers still reporting for duty after death to a man who was livid that his life had ended and tried to project his anger toward someone still living. In my second book, Sightseeing in the Undiscovered Country: Tales Retold by a Psychic Bystander, there are stories of caring relatives watching over their loved ones and a chapter on ghosts behaving badly! Read more about these books at Amazon.com.

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