Most of you have probably read books or seen movies featuring ghosts. Movies show ghosts as dead people that come to the “living” world, from the “dead” world, to haunt people. Well, that just isn’t true. Ghosts are spirits, which do now pass on to the afterworld because of things not settled. The way a person dies also determines whether a person “becomes” a ghost or passes on to the afterworld.
One reason a person might become a ghost is that the person was murdered or committed suicide. The reason a person might not pass on to the dead, or under world, if they’ve been murdered, is because they might have some unfinished business. Unfinished business would be different for every individual; for instance, if a person was murdered, and the murderer was never convicted, then that might be unfinished business for someone; getting the truth out, about that certain individual.
In the case of a suicide, there is a very small chance that a person might not pass on to the underworld. If this person doesn’t, the reasons are very complicated.
Ghosts do not harm people. Well, not intently, that is.
Poltergeists do, however, play tricks on people that might cause harm. Poltergeists are ghosts that cause mischief but do not intently cause harm. This is the category that haunting would fall into. Poltergeists are known to have stayed in old rundown houses, and once a person moved into that house, they could start their tricks up again. There have been cases that a poltergeist has caused harm to someone by throwing rocks at them, and hitting them, accidentally.
Ghosts are just spirits that are in the human world, instead of the dead, for certain misunderstood reasons.