Does Every Unusual Experience Come From the Spirit World?

Something strange happened. It felt completely real. But what was it?

By Karen Baldwin, Evidential Medium

A light flickers. A door moves. You wake with the absolute certainty that someone is standing in the room.

Perhaps you smell a familiar perfume when nobody else is nearby. You think of someone moments before their name appears on your phone. After someone you love dies, you suddenly feel that they are close.

What does it mean?

The honest answer is that it depends.

Some experiences have straightforward explanations. Some happen around sleep, grief, stress or heightened emotion. Some may be psychic or mediumistic. Others remain unexplained, no matter how long we turn them over in our minds.

I do not believe every chill, flickering light, feather or unexpected song is automatically a message from the spirit world.

That does not mean unusual experiences should be mocked or dismissed. It means we can approach them with curiosity without rushing to place a label on them.

Sometimes the most truthful answer is simply: “I don’t know.”

Key takeaways

  • An experience can be real and meaningful without its cause being immediately clear.

  • Checking ordinary explanations does not diminish a genuinely unusual experience.

  • In my understanding, mediumship involves intelligence and communication, not simply a sensation or coincidence.

  • Fear should never be used to sell someone a cleansing, protection or spirit-removal service.

  • Some experiences can remain unexplained without becoming frightening.

I used to run ghost events

Before I was properly trained as a medium, I ran what I called ghost encounter events.

They were held in places with reputations for paranormal activity. People came hoping to experience something unusual, and quite often they did.

Lights flickered.

Doors moved.

People felt cold spots, tingling, pressure or the sense that someone else was nearby.

I also gave information about the history of the building and sometimes communicated information from people in the spirit world.

The nights were energetic, intriguing and, honestly, a lot of fun.

At the time, I tended to place everything into the same basket. If something strange happened while I was working, I assumed it must be connected with the spirit world.

Then I began serious mediumship training.

I was taught to look for intelligence within the communication. Who is this person? What was their character? How did they live? What did they share with the recipient? Why are they communicating?

A flickering light could not answer those questions.

Neither could a cold patch, a creaking floorboard or a picture moving on a wall.

I began to understand that an unusual occurrence and a mediumistic communication are not automatically the same thing.

That realisation did not make those evenings fraudulent or the experiences meaningless. It changed how I understood them.

It also changed the kind of work I wanted to do.

Why did I stop running ghost events?

As my understanding developed, the paranormal-investigation format no longer sat comfortably with me.

The audience was naturally watching for activity. When a group of people enters an old building expecting something strange to happen, every sound, shadow and physical sensation can suddenly feel significant.

That does not prove the experience is imaginary. It also does not prove it was caused by the spirit world.

I could no longer confidently explain every strange occurrence, and I did not want to pretend that I could.

There was another consideration too.

I do not view people in the spirit world as attractions in a haunted building. Mediumship, for me, is communication. It involves a person with a mind, a character, a history and relationships that continue to matter.

That understanding brought a different sense of responsibility to my work.

So I stopped running ghost events and concentrated on evidential mediumship.

I remain fascinated by unusual experiences. I simply approach them differently now.

Could there be an ordinary explanation?

Absolutely.

Buildings make noise. Materials expand and contract. Air moves through spaces. Electrical systems misbehave. Reflections create shapes, and our awareness changes when we are tired, frightened or expecting something to happen.

Experiences around sleep can feel particularly convincing.

Sleep paralysis occurs when awareness returns while the body is still temporarily affected by the muscle immobility associated with sleep. It can include fear, pressure, sounds, figures or a powerful sensation that someone else is present. A systematic review found that sleep paralysis is relatively common across the populations studied and that hallucination-like experiences can accompany it. Sleep paralysis systematic review

Knowing this does not mean every sensed presence at night is sleep paralysis. It means sleep is one reasonable possibility to consider before deciding that a spirit, ghost or malevolent presence has entered the room.

Context matters.

What time did it happen? Were you falling asleep or waking? Was anyone else present? Did the event happen once or repeatedly? Could airflow, plumbing, traffic, another person or an animal have contributed?

Checking those things is not boring.

All right, sometimes it is a little boring. A loose window is not nearly as exciting as a resident ghost.

But curiosity works best when it is willing to examine more than one possibility.

What about experiences during grief?

People who are grieving sometimes report sensing, hearing, smelling or seeing someone who has died.

An interdisciplinary review found that sensory and sensed-presence experiences of deceased people are frequently reported during bereavement. It concluded that most are benign and should be understood within the person’s relationship, life and cultural context. Sensory experiences of the deceased in bereavement

Research has also documented dreams and visions involving deceased relatives and friends near the end of life. These experiences are often described as comforting and meaningful by the people who have them. End-of-life dreams and visions review

Research can tell us that people report these experiences. It cannot decide their spiritual meaning for every individual.

My perspective as a Spiritualist and medium naturally informs how I understand some experiences involving the deceased. Another person may understand the same event through grief, memory, sleep, religion, psychology or a combination of these.

You do not have to force the experience into one explanation before you are allowed to value it.

If you smelled your grandmother’s perfume at a moment when you deeply needed her, perhaps the most important first question is not, “Can I prove this?”

It may be, “What did this experience mean to me?”

What makes something mediumistic?

In my work, mediumship involves communication with intelligence behind it.

A chill is a sensation.

A light switching off is an occurrence.

A mediumistic communication develops beyond the occurrence. Information builds about a person in the spirit world and allows a recipient to recognise their character, life, relationship and presence.

This is why I describe my work as evidential mediumship.

Evidence does not mean I can scientifically prove the spirit world to every person. It means I take responsibility for communicating specific information that the recipient can consider and respond to.

The recipient remains in the driver’s seat.

They can say yes, no, I don’t know or I do not want to continue with that contact. I do not get to convert a vague sensation into a grand spiritual claim and then pressure someone to accept it.

You can read more about this distinction on my Approach page and in Boundaries and Expectations.

What should you do after an unusual experience?

You do not need to become a paranormal detective every time something goes bump in the night.

A few sensible questions can help.

1. Describe what actually happened

Try to separate the event from the explanation.

“I heard three knocks on the wall” is an observation.

“A trapped spirit was demanding my attention” is an interpretation.

Write down what you saw, heard, smelled or felt before deciding what caused it.

2. Check your surroundings

Look for practical explanations appropriate to the situation.

Check doors, windows, appliances, plumbing, pets, neighbours and anything else that could have created the sound or movement.

If there may be an electrical, structural, fire, gas or other physical hazard, deal with that possibility first and involve an appropriately qualified professional.

3. Consider the context

Were you falling asleep, waking, grieving, exhausted, unwell or under significant stress?

Context does not invalidate what happened. It helps you understand the conditions surrounding it.

4. Notice whether there was communication

Did the experience contain clear, recognisable information, or was it primarily a sensation?

Not every meaningful experience needs to become mediumship. A powerful dream can remain a powerful dream. A familiar scent can be treasured without building an entire explanation around it.

5. Do not let someone frighten you

Be cautious if anyone immediately tells you that your home is cursed, a spirit is trapped, an entity has attached itself to you or you must pay for urgent clearing or protection.

Fear creates vulnerability, and vulnerability can be commercially exploited.

I do not offer spirit removal, curse removal or services to “send someone into the light”.

6. Seek appropriate support when needed

If an experience is persistent, frightening, affects your sleep or daily life, or makes you fear for your safety, speak with an appropriately qualified health professional.

Seeking support does not require you to surrender your spiritual beliefs. It means taking your wellbeing seriously.

Can an experience be meaningful without being mediumship?

Yes.

This is the part that often gets lost when people feel they must choose between “it was definitely spirit” and “it was nothing”.

Those are not the only options.

An experience can be emotionally significant without providing evidence of mediumistic communication. It can prompt reflection, bring comfort, awaken curiosity or remind you of someone you love.

It can also remain genuinely puzzling.

I am comfortable with that.

The world is interesting enough without me pretending to have an explanation for every corner of it.

Frequently asked questions

Does sensing someone who has died mean they are communicating with me?

Not necessarily. People report sensed presences for many reasons, particularly during grief and around sleep. A single sensation does not establish its cause. You may still find the experience meaningful, but you do not need to decide immediately that it was mediumistic communication.

Are cold spots, flickering lights or moving objects signs of spirit?

Not by themselves. Temperature changes, electrical faults, airflow, movement and building conditions can produce unusual effects. In my understanding, mediumship involves intelligence and recognisable communication. An unexplained physical occurrence may be interesting, but it does not automatically demonstrate a spirit presence.

What is the difference between psychic awareness and mediumship?

Psychic awareness focuses on the living person and their present circumstances. Mediumship involves communication with someone in the spirit world. Sensations alone may not establish either. The context, quality and development of the information matter more than how dramatic the initial experience feels.

Should I contact a medium after an unusual experience?

You can speak with a reputable medium if you want to explore the experience, but avoid anyone who immediately uses fear or promises certainty. First check practical and health-related possibilities. A responsible medium should be comfortable saying that they cannot determine what caused an isolated event.

What if the experience frightened me?

Begin with your immediate wellbeing and physical safety. Check the environment, speak with someone you trust and seek qualified professional support if the experience persists or disrupts your life. You do not need to investigate, invite further contact or purchase a spiritual service because someone says you should.

Curiosity without fear

When I look back on my ghost events, I do not feel embarrassed that I ran them.

They formed part of my learning. People shared interesting experiences, I learned a great deal, and those evenings eventually helped me recognise the kind of medium I wanted to become.

What changed was not my curiosity.

What changed was my willingness to say that I did not know.

I no longer need every strange event to become evidence of the spirit world. I do not need to turn a creaking building into a haunting or an unexplained sensation into a warning.

Some experiences have ordinary explanations.

Some may be psychic or mediumistic.

Some are deeply personal.

Some remain a mystery.

We can take an experience seriously without surrendering our common sense. We can explore spiritual possibilities without manufacturing fear. And we can admit uncertainty without dismissing what someone felt.

Not knowing does not make an experience worthless.

Sometimes it is simply the most honest place to begin.

Keep reading

About Karen Baldwin

Karen Baldwin is a Canberra-based evidential medium who has trained extensively in Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom. Her work includes private readings and public evenings of mediumship. Karen approaches unusual experiences with spiritual openness, practical curiosity and a willingness to say when she does not know.