# Do you believe in ghosts and the paranormal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 17, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871 "2008-07-17T21:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/21 "2008-07-18T01:43:34Z")
[QUOTE=jackdavinci] I have to say though, “Ghost Hunters” pisses me off big time. Absolutely nothing happens for an entire hour, during which they make the biggest deal out of feeling a breeze or hearing a creak while increasing the drama by filming in shaky nightvision. [/QUOTE] Yeah, most of those shows are “drama added during editing”. The most annoying such thing on TV for me is _Flipping Out_. I can’t stand the bitchy gay guy it centers around (which I think is the point) who’s supposed to be some sort of real estate genius (yet is taking on multimillion dollar debt in a crashing upscale housing market), but his most annoying “zaniness” is having psychics bless and excorcise the houses he buys. I’m trying to figure out what this housewife with crystals can convince a ghost to do exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/22 "2008-07-18T02:23:15Z")
I haven’t, none of the photos I’ve seen are convincing (the tendency to believe that every distortion in light, such as those that are produced by certain mirrors, doesn’t help much), and none of the demonstrations I’ve seen have been convincing in any way. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/23 "2008-07-18T02:27:15Z")
What is a ghost? Stephen said with tingling energy. One who has faded into impalpability through death, through absence, through change of manners. Elizabethan London lay as far from Stratford as corrupt Paris lies from virgin Dublin. Who is the ghost from limbo patrum, returning to the world that has forgotten him? Who is king Hamlet? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/24 "2008-07-18T02:32:04Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] No. And nothing will convince me otherwise. I don’t expect raccoon ghosts, or whale ghosts, or orangutan ghosts: so why human ghosts? We’re just mammals with complex speech. [/QUOTE] There are plenty of accounts of ghostly animals around. Perhaps you might see orangutan ghosts in parts of the jungle where they have been butchered for their meat, or suffered some other horrific experience? Perhaps the reason for ghostly encounters is something to do with emotions? A great deal, if not all ghostly sightings tend to be associated with places known for tragedy and misfortune!? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/25 "2008-07-18T02:39:03Z")
[QUOTE=ivan astikov] There are plenty of accounts of ghostly animals around. Perhaps you might see orangutan ghosts in parts of the jungle where they have been butchered for their meat, or suffered some other horrific experience? Perhaps the reason for ghostly encounters is something to do with emotions? A great deal, if not all ghostly sightings tend to be associated with places known for tragedy and misfortune!? [/QUOTE] Hmmm hmmm. OK. So ghosts don’t hang out at amusement parks and public swimming pools, where people generally have fun. They only populate dark, dingy, torture castles and the like. I think I’m spotting the correlation here. And it’s not paranormal. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/26 "2008-07-18T02:41:27Z")
Ranger Brad, I’m a scientist. I don’t believe in anything! ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/27 "2008-07-18T02:44:30Z")
No. I think so-called paranormal activity comes down to imagination and coincidence. For example, a few days ago I needed to wake up by eight. I do not like waking up at eight, if I can help it, especially since I have insomnia and I’m usually up until after three. But there was no getting around it. The alarm went off, I hit snooze. The alarm went off again, I hit snooze. A third time…I hit snooze and then I heard my mother very distinctly. As in, she was in the room with me distinctly. She said my name in that way of hers–the way that meant “Get up now or I’m going to beat your ass.” Now, I’ll swear up and down I was awake when I heard it. And it scared the hell out of me. What if she had died that day? All of a sudden instead of having a vivid dream, it would have some sort of psychic experience! But she didn’t die. And I have that dream all the time. Every time I need to drag myself out of bed, I’ll hear my mother say my name and it’ll startle me into waking up. We all look for patterns to the events that happen to us daily. We like to make connections. And sometimes when a connection is made, it feels like a powerful reality instead of nothing more than a silly coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/28 "2008-07-18T02:58:10Z")
[QUOTE=samarm] Ghosts, poltergeists, ouiji boards, voices from beyond the grave. Whats your opinion? Ever seen a ghost? Has anyone ever taken a genuine photograph of a ghost? Has there ever been evidence that we can commincate with spirits from the “other side”? [/QUOTE] Well, I’ve seen ouiji boards, so I know they exist … I have never certainly experienced a ghost, poltergeist, or communication from one deceased. However, I have experienced weird little things, so I believe rational people who claim they have experienced ghosts and such. I’ve seen others experience ghosts and such. Everything we experience is some form of energy. People often believe in expressions of energy never directly observed, but assumed from a theoretical equation; why is belief in an expression directly observed, but never derived from an equation so impossible for some to accept? The history of Science is full of misconceptions based on inadequate means of measurement. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/29 "2008-07-18T12:40:12Z")
No. ☹ But I really wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/30 "2008-07-18T12:55:03Z")
No. All those people who died in the Great war who promised to contact from the afterlife. None did (reliably). ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/31 "2008-07-18T12:58:28Z")
> [@samarm](#): > > Interesting point, Sampiro. Maybe things that we would call “paranormal”, are actual events which can be explained by some as yet undiscovered laws of the natural world. Its possible that in 100 years time scientists will be able to debunk a lot of what people might call hauntings and supernatural events. Would you point me to the cases of “hauntings” and “supernatural events” that scientists are currently unable to debunk, please? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/32 "2008-07-18T13:01:35Z")
I happen to believe in the existence of the soul and life after death, but I do not believe that any human can percieve or sense presence. Psychics are frauds, the physical stuff has real world explanation, and the various TV shows are faked. VWife falls for all of this hook, line, and sinker. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/33 "2008-07-18T13:17:42Z")
Can we deny the ‘air of excitement’, or ‘sense of dread’ sometimes experienced in large crowds, and if this is an actual energy form, could it not manifest in other more subtle ways, under certain circumstances? Also, what about poltergeists? There is plenty of anecdotal evidence available for that phenomenon, so how do we arbitrate which anecdotal evidence is useful? ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/34 "2008-07-18T13:20:58Z")
I want to believe. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/35 "2008-07-18T13:53:05Z")
[QUOTE=ivan astikov] Also, what about poltergeists? There is plenty of anecdotal evidence available for that phenomenon, so how do we arbitrate which anecdotal evidence is useful? [/QUOTE] What is a poltergeist? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/36 "2008-07-18T13:56:31Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] What is a poltergeist? [/QUOTE] The spirit of a dead chicken. Oh, wait. That’s a poultryghost. [Poltergeist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist) ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/37 "2008-07-18T13:57:40Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] What is a poltergeist? [/QUOTE] Are you asking me what **I** think a poltergeist is? If so, I fall by the usual definition as defined by wiki and most online dictionaries. I have no specific definition of my own. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/38 "2008-07-18T14:30:59Z")
I feel pretty much the same was as **Sampiro**. I’ve seen some non-normal things, I’m not sure what the explaination for them were but someday we’ll understand and they will be explainable and perdictable. ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/39 "2008-07-18T14:33:29Z")
No. It’s too easy for people to be fooled especially if one already believes in such things. Houses make noises all the time and an overactive imagination can make more of a noisy waterpipe or whatever. My own personal story about such things. I have an acquaintance (ex-stepmother) that sincerely believes her house is haunted. To her, every smudge on a window is the face of a ghost. Every lens flare and blotch in a photograph is her dead father or mother. I spent hundreds of weekends in this house as a child and never once saw anything remotely paranormal. Keep in mind too that this was a big old house that would definitely stir the imaginations of a child. Once I dreamed about my dad walking up the hallway of this house. It was very obviously a dream and very obviously my dad but when I mentioned it casually later on, she decided that it was HER dad and not a dream but his ghost that I saw. If I’d been a willing participant, my story would likely have changed: “You know, I’m not entirely sure that it was dad. I thought it was a dream but I’m not really sure.” “I saw a man walking up the hallway, I don’t know who it was but it wasn’t a dream!” “He had a beard. Her dad has a beard. There was nobody else in the house. It must have been a ghost!” I’ve long thought that “real” ghost stories get started just that way. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871/40 "2008-07-18T14:39:27Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Ranger Brad, I’m a scientist. I don’t believe in anything! [/QUOTE] “Nothing is impossible. Not if you can imagine it. That’s what being is a scientist is all about” - Professor Farnsworth Me, I’m a liberal Catholic so I’m open to the possibility of ghosts. I definitely believe in spirits and the dead being able to interact with this world, but I’m not sure about any physical manifestations. Also, I think most of the time there is a physical explanation for such things. Oh, and think I’m crazy all you want, I will not touch a oujia board. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-ghosts-and-the-paranormal/456871.md?page=3)