Wow those are some great experiences. After my grandfather passed away I went through some of the same thing, I would pass his and my grandmother's old bedroom and smell his mentholatim {not sure I spelled that right} and cigarettes. I went down to his wood shed once and his old radio was on. When i walked in to turn it off I noticed something strange, the clock part of the radio wasn't on. Since I had touched a button the music had stopped, only then did I realize that the clock radio wasn't even plugged in, and neither was the extension cord he had used to run power from the house down to the shed. Like you these experiences did not leave a scary or creepy feeling, it was more of a comforting presence. When we were in the process of moving out of my grandparent's house some time after they had both passed, I again had the experience of smelling the mentholatim and cigarette smoke, this being nearly 7 years after my grandpa had passed I believe that it was my grandpa saying goodbye to the house and letting us know it was ok to move on. As I was moving some things in the back yard {mainly taking stones out of the patio my grandpa had made for my sister cousins and myself with our hand prints} I looked up to see someone standing in the woodshed/barn. After doing a double take I saw nothing, there was no one there. I walked into the shed/barn and no one was there, however it felt as if someone was there watching me and it was a lot cooler in there than it was outside, a noticeable difference from the 100+ degree temperatures outside. Not all 'hauntings' or paranormal encounters are evil or unpleasant, in fact a good majority of experiences are explained as being a comforting sort of presence, or just non-threatening in general.
As for your question about the differences between a ghost and a spirit, it is all in the eye of the beholder. I will sometimes refer to paranormal entities as such, or as ghosts, or spirits, its all jargon. The terms 'ghost' and 'spirit' both speak of the same type of entity, it really is just the preference of the person speaking; a ghost is a spirit, and a spirit is a ghost; both of which are paranormal entities. The real major, viable difference is truly in the type of activity, haunting, or experience. What I am talking about is whether the experience indicates a residual energy haunting, or an intelligent entity haunting. Residual energy hauntings are typically things such as my experience with smells I associate with my grandfather, there was no intelligent interaction in this experience. An intelligent entity haunting is described in such experiences as when you opened a dresser drawer and found the feather upon returning to look at the drawer, or the physical touches that you felt, there was a distinct interaction with the 'ghost' or 'spirit', thus indicating an intelligent presence. I am going to do some deeper research on the differences between the two and qualities of both to make a post to help everyone decipher the difference between residual hauntings and intelligent hauntings! I hope this information helps you in your quest to learn more about the paranormal!

Well thats one mystery solved...
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