For paranormal expert Jeff Belanger, ghosts are more than pale apparitions.

“A ghost is history demanding to be remembered. It's the past coming to the present for reasons that we may or may not fully understand at the time,” Belanger said on Boston Public Radio on Tuesday.

Something becomes haunted when stories are internalized by a community, he said. “One person has an experience. (They) tell someone, someone else finds it believable enough to internalize it, repeat it, and someone else maybe has an experience, too,” Belanger explained.

It helps if a place has a connection to history, like a murder or tragic event.

A Haunted House in Fall River

One example is the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River. In 1892 Andrew and Abby Borden were murdered with an ax. Their daughter Lizzie was charged with the crime but was later acquitted. The case remains unsolved.

“That haunts us, and it always will. As long as we keep pondering the idea that someone got away with murder,” said Belanger. He thinks Lizzie did it, although others have speculated that the Irish maid Brigitte was also involved. The house is now a bed and breakfast that advertises a “hauntingly fun time.”

Old Coot of Mt. Greylock

The legend of William Saunders, the "Old Coot" dates back to the Civil War, said Belanger. The story goes that Saunders went off to fight for the Union Army and disappeared. Yet somehow he makes it back to his home in the Berkshires, only to find his family has moved on and his wife has a new husband.

So Saunders built a shack on the side of the mountain nearby. Eventually he died and became the ghost that haunts the mountain, the “Old Coot.” His ghost is now said to haunt Bellows Pipe Trail, Belanger said.

“The story connects us to a time when that was plausible, when you really could… get hurt in battle…and come home and how tragic, that your whole life has moved on without you,” he said.

The North Adams Transcript published a photo of the Old Coot in 1939 showing a hunched person dressed in black walking through the woods. Belanger said the photo could be faked. “There’s a lot of speculation about that,” he said.

Bridgewater Triangle

The Bridgewater Triangle is a term coined in the 1980s by author Lauren Coleman, who discovered a large amount of weird stuff in a 220 square mile region just north of Fall River.

Particularly notable were the Carl Drew murders in the 1980s. There were a series of homicides connected to a local satanic cult, led by Drew who is now serving a sentence for the crimes.

Other odd happenings in the area include UFO sightings, bigfoot sightings and haunted houses. “There's just a lot of weirdness,” Belanger said.

Coleman started the conversation and there were subsequent documentaries about the Triangle. “It became a bigger and bigger thing. And once someone says this is a thing, suddenly everybody's looking, and then more and more stories come out,” said Belanger.