Haunting is the latest dating trend you've definitely been a victim of.

Have you ever dated someone briefly only to have them hang around your social media accounts, occasionally chucking you a like?

You could be haunted. But before you call ghostbusters (or Ed and Lorraine Warren), lemme explain.

Haunting is the latest dating trend and it has nothing to do with ghosting or a b-grade movie about a big house built on an ancient burial ground.

According to Hannah Smothers at Cosmopolitan a haunt “is a relationship ghost that somehow got stuck in your online world”.

Haunters, unlike their ghosting mates, won't disappear as soon as you decide to call it quits - they'll hang around in your Instagram feed and your Snapchat stories for months or years to come, creeping you out just a little bit every time you see their username pop up.

And every time your haunt likes your status update or watches your Instagram story, you're reminded of the three dates you had with 'Tim the kitesurfer' two years ago and what might have happened if you had never gone your separate ways.

"These little reminders can be incredibly disorienting — why do these dead relationships linger?," writes Smothers. "If communication is cut off everywhere else, why swirl around in your digital sphere?"

So what is a 'haunted' woman supposed to do? You'll either have to block the haunter (which will only validate them and make them stronger) or wait patiently for them to move on and start haunting someone else.

The really scary thing is that haunting is just the latest trend to take over the dating world. First we heard about ghosting - when someone you've been dating, for a short time or a longer period, suddenly disappears without a trace.

LISTEN: Would a 'slow dating' app work? 

We were then introduced to breadcrumbing, when someone sends you the occasional flirty text, leading you on for months without ever committing to something more serious.

And then we learnt about benching, when you're essentially a reserve player 'on the bench', with absolutely no sign of commitment.

I can't even imagine what's next - maybe poltergeisting? Where someone won't date you but they'll hide your keys and open all your kitchen cupboards while you're not looking?

Have you ever been haunted? Tell us about it in the comments below. 

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