@WastingPixies err... I think you got the names mixed up. Poltergeist is supposed to mean 'noisy ghost' and are the type of ghost to cause actual damage, such as throwing around furniture, smashing walls, attacking people, slamming doors, and generally being physical.
Wraiths on the other hand, are into non-physical stuff, like cold spots, eerie whispers, shadowy people on the edge of your vision, hallucinations, and mental attacks in general.
The majority of horror movie ghosts like Sadako are Polters, killing their victims with force, but every once in a while, you get the truly horrifying Wraiths, who gaslight the fuck out of their victims until they either die of sheer terror, run the fuck away, or kill themselves.