The Poltergeist is commonly known as the mischievous ghost. It can be the noisemaker, item mover, certain visualizations, and other manifestations that often are intended to be of a nature, which at the very least causes concern for the residents or nearby people.

Some paranormal experts consider the poltergeist and the thought form to be the same things. While I tend to rate the Poltergeist on a slightly higher level of sentience, I tend to believe it comes from the same source. And being of the same source, just a state of evolution from thought form to sentient poltergeist, it can be difficult to decipher the difference. The problem is when the thought form energy has taken on such an identity as that of the poltergeist, it does not know the difference. The poltergeists "personality" is much more expanded and complicated, evolving from the pure emotion that created it. But in time and delving in the history of the spirit guide and/or poltergeist you can eventually decipher the difference.

Much of the current research into poltergeist activity show a high occurrence of the involvement of women under the age of 25. Some research even show that the woman are totally unaware that they are creating the activity on a subconscious level. Furthermore, activity that is not a direct result of their physical involvement, I believe will eventually be connected to a psychic phenomena created by the very women, in other words the creation of thought form entities.

The mischievous poltergeists that are not created from thought form tends to be spirits that have not moved on to the next dimension, derived from expert opinion and research. The actual poltergeists are those spirits that have not or refuse to transcend to a higher state of consciousness. And these Poltergeists (by expert opinion) can be broken down into two different types.

First is those spirits that have not moved on, and really either don't know how or do not realize they are in between dimensional existences. These are regular entities, which had regular lives, and visited regular place. They are much like communicating with friends and family that are here today. When they become Poltergeists is when they become frustrated, when they want to be heard or noticed. These poltergeists are not trying to bring about fear as much as they just want to be heard. They are confused and do not know to move on.

When we come across Poltergeists that have not moved on, it is more our duty to encourage them to move through the light. These past spirits need to be assisted to move on and transcend to a higher state of being. If we refuse that act, in my opinion, it brings about bad karma that will need to be worked out in time.

The other type of Poltergeist is the one that REFUSES to move on. These actually find favor where they are and find that they can "feed" of the negative emotional energy we emit. That is why they make us afraid, the more fear they create, the more they can "feed" from the energy, and the stronger they get. They do receive benefit from the place they are in. The key is not to give them fear, it does not allow them to get strong enough to move objects, slam doors, and such if they cannot draw off negative emotions. But much preparation and discipline is required to keep ones emotional levels in check in order to not provide them with feed frenzy type of energy like fear. And DO NOT taunt these entities, that is part of the process they ploy you in to build up the energy they feed from, in other words you are playing their game.

These can be very dangerous entities, just like any person in this time stream can be dangerous. The difference is they need your negative energy in order to get stronger, and the stronger they get the more they can do. Learn to balance your energies and how to emit a more positive flow of energies and these entities will quiet down, and slowly be forced to find another or move on to the next phase of being.

Personally I feel that poltergeists are an advanced state of thought form energies as I wrote in: Working with Thought Form Hub and Working with Spirit Guides

Only to see the thought forms develop a personality and consciousness to a point of being and reacting to event and people around it.

Also a small note that often-mischievous fairies may be lumped into the category of Poltergeist, which again is a totally different state of being.