Ghosts

  • Saul Hudson

    Saul Hudson (355)

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    I believe in ghosts very strongly, but that's 'cause I had a bit of a run in with on I guess you could say
    February 1st, 2011 at 01:07am
  • Antagonist

    Antagonist (200)

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    I believe in something...I dunno if I'd call them ghosts...personally I think it's demons.

    I've had too many run ins with weird things not to believe.
    September 10th, 2011 at 01:51am
  • cruciatus.

    cruciatus. (455)

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    I definitely believe in ghosts. I've just had too many experiences. In every single house that I've lived in, something has happened to me.

    In my first house, this man would come into my room every night and stand by my bed. The funny thing is that on several occasions, I tried to reach out and physically touch the man and my hand didn't connect with anything.

    In the next house I lived in, something physically pushed me down the stairs not once, but twice. I also heard voices and footsteps in that house when no one was home with me, things were moved when no one had touched them, and doors would open and close on occasion as well...with no breeze or other way to close since they were fairly heavy doors.

    The house after that was the worst, though. There was something in the upstairs bathroom that kept everyone out. Shifty It was like you'd open that door and it just felt very heavy and uncomfortable. And at night, bangs and footsteps and moaning could be heard in the room not just by me, but by anyone in the house...and no one was in the bathroom. There was also a white mist that formed in the closet of my bedroom every night the last couple of months that we lived there, and twice I got touched. One time I was in the shower and the water randomly turned off and since I automatically tried to find a logical explanation for it, I went to see if my mother had messed with the water pressure or something in the garage. As soon as I was out of the shower, the water came on and upon further inquisition, I found out that my mother had not in fact messed with the water in any way, shape, or form. I also believe that a ghost saved my life in that house once, and I've captured what I percieve and believe to be photographic proof of some of the things I've had happen to me.

    Also, in 2001, right after my grandma died, I believe she visited me. I woke up and saw her at the foot of my bed and she smiled and then told me to be strong. After that I didn't see her again and there was no explanation for it since I had never had a dream like that and never did after. Shifty
    September 12th, 2011 at 10:49am
  • BlackBlooded

    BlackBlooded (100)

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    I would like to apologize before hand, I'm a beginner Paranormal Researcher, I'll probably be posting an essay...

    Do you believe in them?
    Yes, why not? i have had a couple of encounters with a couple before.

    Why they come back?
    Basically they come back either because they have unfinished business, revenge, offer guidance to the love ones that they have left behind and for many other reasons.
    Other hauntings such as Residual Haunting are a replay of events, in life, through that moment of trauma they release alot of energy, and once they pass away, that energy replays those events, the person isn't aware that its happening.

    Why are there different types of hauntings?
    Residual Haunting - A traumatic moment in life that releases a certain amount of energy, be it positive or negative, it then gets replayed once the person has passed, they don't know that they're doing it and aren't aware of anyone or anything, they wont interact.

    Classic Hauntings - This is when the person is aware and have returned to for some reason (some examples are written above), they either cant rest until they are satisfied with what they have left behind or aren't aware that they are dead and continue to "live".

    It is in reality, just a haunting, but it just helps us to understand why that person or message is still here, and (basically) helps us to easily categorize the hauntings so its easier to study.

    I also believe in Demons, Angels, Poltergeists... the lot.
    May 18th, 2012 at 06:01pm
  • Chaos Walking

    Chaos Walking (255)

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    Not to take away the aspect of science too much, but I do believe in both ghosts and the religious idea of the afterlife. For a long time, I believed my house was haunted; mainly because there would be times when I would be getting ready for bed, alone, and just feel uneasy, or unsafe. Looking back, I think it was probably psychological, but I still believe in ghosts after I had a proper experience at an old antiques shop.

    I don’t believe in ghosts having a physical form, but I do believe in the idea of the energy being left behind (but with a consciousness. Maybe not so much as a living person, but a small amount of consciousness left behind) so I suppose that is the same as believing in ghosts. Anyway, this antiques shop/warehouse is extremely famous for hauntings and ghosts, and there were lots of rooms with signs outside saying that paranormal activity had been experienced there. One room had one of these outside, and the moment I stepped in, I went dizzy.

    There are plenty of rational explanations, and I won’t deny any of them being correct (you just happened to have a dizzy spell, the floor was uneven, etc) but it was just the coincidence of it happening at that moment. I also don’t really believe in ghosts moving objects around or casting shadows, so what happened to me pretty much agrees with my own theory about the energy of the ghost being left behind (which is possibly what I felt) and in lots of other places around the building, as other members of my family experienced the same when we were walking round.

    But ghosts are an extremely controversial matter, and I suppose it’s up to you to look at the evidence yourself and find an opinion. Just don’t be narrow-minded about it, since it’s always good to be open to possibilities.
    May 26th, 2012 at 08:18pm
  • cannibal.

    cannibal. (145)

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    I've never had any run ins with spirits before but I would like to believe they are real. Makes life a little more interesting. Rolling Eyes
    May 27th, 2012 at 10:49pm
  • wxyz

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    I think I posted here a year or so ago, but... I don't really get why this is in the Science forum. I mean, ghosts, and the paranormal in general for that matter, aren't really scientific issues.
    May 28th, 2012 at 11:13pm
  • Flu Rescent.

    Flu Rescent. (100)

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    I think the paranormal is a strange thing... I'm still a believer, but as I've grown up and my interest in science has widened, I've began to accept logical & natural reasons for why people may see ghosts as well.

    I will admit I have had spooky encounters (I haven't seen any ghosts... just encounters. I don't know what I'd do if I ever saw a ghost haha.)

    Life definitely works in mysterious ways.
    May 29th, 2012 at 10:51pm
  • My Forever.

    My Forever. (100)

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    I feel that, while I don't necessarily believe in ghosts completely, I'm definitely open to the possibility that they exist. After all, there are lots of things in this world that are nearly impossible to explain otherwise. And I believe that, even though there isn't any scientific evidence suggesting they're real at the moment, there's still a chance that there will be sometime in the future.
    May 31st, 2012 at 05:57am
  • miser

    miser (100)

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    May 31st, 2012 at 08:46am
  • starveins

    starveins (100)

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    I believe in ghosts, somewhat. I've never had a real experience (though I've had some times where I've sort of felt presences) with them though.
    June 3rd, 2012 at 03:14am
  • sansa.

    sansa. (250)

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    I believe. I am convinced that there is some sort of presence in my house, and nothing can change my mind on that.
    June 7th, 2012 at 10:58pm
  • julialynn!

    julialynn! (100)

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    I definitely believe in ghosts not because I can or because I see it on TV but because of experience.

    When I was little I used to see this women in our house that we had been living in. I only specifically remember one instance perfectly. I had been around six years old, roughly, and I woke up from a nap. I stood up from where I was laying and saw something in the small hallway that my door was connected to. A dark foggy mist in the shape of a person in front of my door had been walking down that hallway. As it was passing my door, it stopped. It turned, and stared at me. Then it ran at me in such a speed that you'd think it was Flash. I screamed so loud, my parents probably peed themselves. My mom comforted me, knowing there were things in our house.

    I didn't have a lot of experience after that until I was 18-19, so about a year ago. Things happened that were out of my control but had changed my outlook in life. I had always believed in them, but after that I was slightly traumatized. Before I would only sleep in pure silence and darkness. Now.. I need the TV on throughout the night, and my closet light on.

    Though I know the beings during that time weren't bad, unlike the ones during my childhood, it still made me think that bad things could get me during the night. After all this I'm a little too sensitive, I hear more acutely and I flinch at the slightest movement.

    For people who believe something is in their house and it makes them uncomfortable, like causing trouble, just.. cleanse your house. Go to a church and ask for a priest, or whoever does it, to cleanse your house. Those are not residual hauntings and are intelligent and try to communicate with you. They haven't rested for some reason, and need to. By cleansing your home they can move on.

    Yeah, that's basically it.
    June 9th, 2012 at 03:00am
  • turntech godhead

    turntech godhead (100)

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    I believe ghosts exist because human beings have both electrical and chemical energy in our bodies. We're organically designed to carry our electrically charged brain and nervous systems. When we die our chemical bodies begin to break down and decompose. The organic side returns to wear it came from - energy changing into a different form of energy as Einstein's law says. So what happens to the electrical energy that flows through our brain? It can't simply disappear or fade away out of existence. That would break the laws of science. That energy has to still be somewhere only now it has changed into a different form of energy. What happens to the energy is really determined by personal faith. No one knows exactly what waits beyond this life. What we do know, thanks to science, is that the electrical pulse energy in each human being will always exist because as a rule it cannot be destroyed. 
    However, I don't think ghosts are sentient beings as much as they are simply particles of energy. I don't think they can be "evil," and I don't believe in demons, angels, or any other celestial life forms. Science says they don't exist, therefore I believe they don't.
    June 17th, 2012 at 11:48pm
  • wxyz

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    ^ Do circuits have ghosts then, because the electrical energy that passes through them must still exist when the circuit breaks?
    June 18th, 2012 at 12:42am
  • julialynn!

    julialynn! (100)

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    Science says they don't exist, therefore I believe they don't.
    That's like disregarding everything and being slightly close minded in a way, science always changes, books always consistently get updated because it's never always accurate. And it wouldn't explain people's experiences, people's abilities to contact the dead, and etc.

    It's like saying everyone is a liar. There's no way 100% of all stories and contact with ghosts would be a lie or be a hallucination, it's just impossible. Science can't explain it, therefore they can't put accurate information in a book to depict what it is. That's the point, it's unexplainable. Just because it's not in a science book, doesn't mean it isn't real.
    June 19th, 2012 at 04:20am
  • charming.

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    julialynn!:
    That's like disregarding everything and being slightly close minded in a way, science always changes, books always consistently get updated because it's never always accurate. And it wouldn't explain people's experiences, people's abilities to contact the dead, and etc.

    It's like saying everyone is a liar. There's no way 100% of all stories and contact with ghosts would be a lie or be a hallucination, it's just impossible. Science can't explain it, therefore they can't put accurate information in a book to depict what it is. That's the point, it's unexplainable. Just because it's not in a science book, doesn't mean it isn't real.
    I'm pretty sure there have been experiments where people who are open about having no psychic powers go and do psychic things, or challenge psychics, and the frauds and/or "probability" does better than 'psychics'. Which leads me to think that either a) they are lying, or b) they are delusional, and either way I think that's a terrible exploitation of people who are seeking answers. But at the same time, maybe they get closure, so it's a moot point.

    I doubt that every layman in the supernatural field is "a liar" but people tend to see and hear what they want to, or what their fear tells them to - humans love to make connections, patterns, to tie things up neatly. If you saw strange lights, and didn't have an explanation for them, or felt a draught and couldn't find the source or heard a voice in your head and didn't want to believe you were crazy, you might well turn to a supernatural explanation.

    Also I expect many of them are liars. As a hoax / for attention.

    Basically science asks for some evidence. There's multiple millions of dollars around the globe offered for any evidence of the supernatural or supernatural abilities. The fact that none of these prizes have ever been successfully claimed - well, let the graph speak itself:

    Image

    As has been discussed elsewhere on the forums, someone suggesting that something exists is not, in and of itself, a reason to believe the thing exists. Otherwise we would be assuming existence of an absurd multitude of beings and phenomena. If someone tells me they found a tree which grows money - 'leaves' which look like impeccable reproductions of national currency - do I say, "Yeah, okay" based on 1) the idea has been imagined/articulated and 2) someone claims to have experienced it? No, I say "show me the evidence." And there is no evidence that the supernatural exists.

    Also, do you see the irony in saying "That's being close-minded" and then following with "There is NO WAY..." If we're defining close-mindedness as the inability to consider any argument/belief you don't support, what about that one? Isn't it possible - even if, in your mind, unlikely - that 100% of peoples' claims are/were either lies, hallucinations, or - like I suggested - confusion and assumption? It's been well demonstrated that people alter their memory with time and retelling - they genuinely believe things were a certain way - and this can be influenced by others' comments, they can be led to imagine things which never happened - the human mind is incredibly complex and malleable. (In a way, it's a wonderful testament to that, to suggest that all the supernatural in the world is an invention of the human mind.) Then when they're shown videos or other evidence contradicting their memories, they are shocked. Because they were genuinely sure, in their mind, of what happened. This has been tested again and again. You make it sound like it would be absurd to dismiss the 'experiences' of 100% of those with, well, supernatural 'experiences' - but, since no-one - ever - has offered any evidence - isn't it just more likely to be human error? Isn't it more absurd to posit the existence of a range of supernatural phenomena, in the face of an overwhelming lack of proof?

    -shrug- unless you have 'faith' in the supernatural, in which case, appeal to evidence isn't going to go anywhere, carry on, etc.
    June 19th, 2012 at 05:15am
  • julialynn!

    julialynn! (100)

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    @ pravda.

    Yes, I see what your trying to say.

    I didn't try to make it like, "No, you're wrong, that's it." By any means, I never intended that. But humans living on the planet for as long as we have and the fact that we're intrigued by haunted places and things. How would every single experience in thousands of years would all be fake, an assumption, an illusion, a hallucination, ect.?Yes, that would happen too but why wouldn't ghosts being one of those factors? And, slightly confused here, what do you mean by evidence and that no one has found any?

    There have been videos, photographs, writings in history, etc., right? I don't know what you mean by that considering there's paranormal groups, exorcisms that have been made, television programs, listings of the most haunted places on earth, and more.

    I was just trying to put out that you made it out that demons, angels, ghosts, etc., do not exist period because scientists haven't put it on paper. They choose not to put it in books to avoid religion-like problems, I mean the whole evolution debate is still up and alive because of religion.

    I just don't want you to be like, "No, it will never happen." Because you never know until you come across it yourself.

    I think people should venture out and check out some stuff and try to gain their own experience if they're hesitant on believing before they make the decision about whether or not there is something ghost-related out there.
    June 19th, 2012 at 06:18am
  • charming.

    charming. (135)

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    If you'd meant it, there wouldn't be irony :P just hypocrisy. I didn't think you were being intentionally hypocritical, by any means.

    What do you mean by "videos, photographs, writings" etc? That those things proved that a supernatural event occurred? I don't see how writings could ever do that, for the reasons I discussed about imagination and subjectivity, I don't know of any videos not discovered to be a hoax - please suggest them if you know of any - and photographs - yes, there have been creepy things found in photographs. But I assume there are logical explanations for those things, such as a fault in the camera/lens, an error whilst developing the film, a shadow, a light, an object, an animal, etc. I am astounded by your exorcism remark and if you have evidence of actual exorcisms I am highly interested in hearing that, because demonstrating that a person was possessed by a demon and that some form of human intervention drew out that demon and that the demon was definitely there at any point seems like a difficult bid, particularly considering the ways that societies have used talk of demons and the devil to bully people into acting in certain ways and not in others, as well as bringing up demons and possession when various illnesses strike. I am unsurprised that paranormal groups convince one another of what they're saying, because if you were unsure about your experiences the least challenging and most reassuring thing would be to go to a group of people who all believe each other and discuss the experience. Did you go to the link I provided? Because that's exactly what I meant by "no evidence" - that throughout history, every mystery ever solved has turned out to be: not magic. It's not a matter of scientists writing about it and I don't know where you got that suggestion - it's a matter of people providing evidence that can be subjected to scientific scrutiny. This has never happened. That's why there are still millions of dollars in rewards out there. If you found proof of the supernatural, and all you needed to do to get your hands on millions of dollars was to show that proof to one of those organisations, would you go on late-night conspiracy theory talk shows, or call in to your local radio station, or tell friends of friends? No, you'd be hoppin' a plane or a train to go show your evidence and get that money. Whilst it makes no sense to assume something's existence based on lack of proof of its NON-existence, it makes a fair amount of sense to assume something's NON-existence based on the ongoing accumulation of no evidence ever at all. If it's completely untestable because it has little or no interactions with the physical world (i.e. God) that becomes a moot point because all people can really talk about (unless/until God returns to Earth) would be that they feel him in their hearts/mind, si? But people are claiming, every day, to have these powers or to have had these interactions: logic suggests that one person, on one occasion, would be able to get some proof. Because the supernatural allegedly does interact with the physical world, allegedly all the time. I'm not saying they don't exist period I'm saying I am highly skeptical of their existence based on the evidence, and made even more skeptical by the frequent discoveries of experiences that were lies, hoaxes, illusions, hallucinations, imagination and coincidence. So I guess in a way it does come down to "Why haven't scientists written about it?" Why haven't they? Because no empirical evidence supports it, but evidence frequently arises against it. Not least the point that if we live in a world with certain natural laws, it is fun but implausible to posit things which break those laws. "Hey Hogwarts has forgetting and getting-lost charms around it and I have never seen Hogwarts, so HP must be real." I'd love if Harry Potter was real, even with the crazy amount of danger this would bring along with questions like, "If there are benevolent supernatural beings, not just malevolent ones, why don't they intervene in wars, famine, plagues, etc?" Why didn't the wizarding world stop Hitler? Why doesn't the wizarding world share its understandings relating to minerals, herbs, etc, which don't require magical ability, but would greatly benefit the mundane world? I realise Harry Potter is fictional - obviously and upfrontly fictional - but what is the benefit to keeping the supernatural a secret? Realising that there are forces which bend the natural laws to their whims would be catastrophic or revolutionary for scientific development, but if many of our base assumptions are incorrect, it will be ultimately better to accept that and learn more about the reality of the situation - and we might be able to harness supernatural power for philanthropic ends. It's not in humanity's interests to suppress something like this - therefore the reason for those employing science, reason and logic to dismiss the supernatural must be no more than a) there is no evidence, and/or b) there is evidence against the belief.
    June 19th, 2012 at 06:44am
  • wxyz

    wxyz (240)

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    Science says they don't exist, therefore I believe they don't.
    The only hang-up I have with this quote, and I don't know who said it, is that science never says that things don't exist. Unless it's a test with constraints, like for example testing for a certain gas in a specific location. But when we're talking about whether a particular phenomenon or thing exists in general, science cannot and never does say "it doesn't exist". It's logically and scientifically impossible to disprove the existence of something in the universe.

    But as pravda showed, the distinct lack of positive results for the existence of anything supernatural does seem to speak volumes.

    On a vaguely related note, why do you never hear about psychics winning the lottery?
    June 19th, 2012 at 01:47pm