Oh.
Thought this was a lekatt post…
I love spooky stories and movies, and I love visiting supposedly “haunted” sites, but no, I don’t believe that ghosts or paranormal events are real.
Moving thread from IMHO to Great Debates.
And until someone can definitively show that minute variations in temperature and imperceptible magnetic fields are manifestations of ghosts and nothing else, all we have are fantasies and wishful thinking.
No, but I’m prepared to spell out conditions for tests that, if passed, would warrant further study of the matter.
Well, I’d just swipe the protocols from James Randi, actually.
I’ll only claim to believe in ghosts, astrology and magic power crystals if it will get me laid. I think this is how most religions keep their rolls going.
I agree with Sampiro who said “…I’m also guessing that there are several Dopers who’ve read this and have had experiences that they’re too embarrassed to share. I’ve known no shortage of people over the years who were perfectly sane and rational and often even skeptics by nature but who would, in confidence and when they knew you wouldn’t laugh at them or argue them out of it, tell you about “a certain experience” they had once that they did not believe was caused by an optical illusion or a house settling or whatever. Weird stuff.”
It is a very personal experience. You will not believe until you experience it first-hand for yourself. I can’t say I’ve had direct experience with ghosts, per se, but I have seen a few things that defy explanation. That’s all I care to say about it. How, when, and why it happens sometimes and not others will remain a mystery. Science likes things that are repeatable. Yet, we know chaotic physics does exist, right? So, we don’t know everything, do we?
Could you tell us details about him? I, for one, would love to pinpoint just who it is you’ve been interacting with (I realize that anonymity is closely guarded on the Dope, but does that apply to someone who is dead?)
I ask because I don’t believe in ghosts or the paranormal, but would love to find evidence to prove me wrong. You are obviously sincere about these interactions, so I’m eager to gain insight from your experiences.
You mean he goes to movies when he isn’t hanging out with you? For some reason, I find that hilarious.
My answer to all your questions is yes.
I’d agree there should be some ghostly pigs, but you can’t really equate the sentience of an orangutan with that of a cow or sheep, can you? I’d still imagine an orang’s emotions to be closer to a humans than a pigs, though.
Well… I had such an experience, And I’m not embarrassed to share it. Actually, I already did so two or three times on this very board. Very short version : I spent a night in an isolated house with a friend and we heard ghost-like moans during most of the night. They stopped at dawn.
I’m still every bit as sceptic. I’m convinced there’s a non obvious explanation, even though I never figured out a really satisfactory one (*), and that we would have found it out if only we had investigated rather than locking ourselves in a bedroom and blocking the door with furniture.
So, no. A weird instance (weirder than some experiences mentioned by people who believe in ghosts, less weird than others) isn’t necessarily sufficient to switch a sceptic’s opinion. Lacking actual evidence (like investigating and seeing a beheaded baron roaming around), I can’t say what happened but see no reason to assume by default that it was a supernatural event.
(*) My best bet would be an animal. It would also be compatible with the moaning stopping at dawn. The main problem (there are some others) being that these noises didn’t sound like like any kind of animal but rather like the kind of ghostly moans you’d hear in a movie. On the other hand, I don’t have any record, and maybe if I had one, I (or someone else) could possibly readily identify them now.
His name is Marcus Oliver Tilden. He’s from Massachusetts, somewhat close to Boston, though the area he lived in wasn’t a town yet at the time when he was alive. He lived on a farm with his family, and committed suicide at the age of 18 after the girl he loved, Anna, died of a sudden illness. He says it’s the suicide that keeps him stuck here. Most dead people are just gone, he says, but his sudden, traumatic death keeps him here, like an echo that doesn’t fade. Anna was a relative of mine, apparently, way back, and he says he can see something of her in me, which is why he tried talking to me to start with.
(And if you look up Marcus Tilden on google, you might find stories I wrote with a character with that name. The character is based on him and named after him with permission.)
Heh. Well, he watched a lot of movies before we met, because he was so lonely. Now he just likes to go. 
I really like the concept of a ghost going to the movies on his spare time. That’s quite original.
At least he doesn’t need to spend $8 for popcorn.
“Yes, but you would be chagrined to see what the spectral versions cost,” he says. (He’s funny sometimes, hee.)
A quick search of Marcus Tilden on Ancestry.com shows lots of Tildens in the Boston area at that time but no Marcus. Of course Censuses only showed head of household and at 18 he couldn’t vote and probably didn’t pay taxes, so there wouldn’t be much of a paper trail. No offense at all intended, but I think if I had conversations with a movie going 200 year old teen ghost my first impulse would be to have my medicine adjusted. 
Ask his parents names and they’ll probably be on the genealogy databases. Childless relatives who died young are difficult to track.
I would have my medicine adjusted, except I don’t have any medicine. 
When I first started talking to him 8 years ago, I was seriously worried I was having a psychotic break or something, but I figure that by now, it would have progressed beyond “hangs out with ghost in spare time” to “Thinks the government is using midget aliens to steal her teeth” or something.
I will ask him about his parents.
That’s what I thought. I knew I was right about you.
How often do you meet Marcus?
No, and I hold suspect anyones critical thinkings skills who say ‘yes’.
See also- Astrology
See also- Nostradamus predictions
See also- facts in Limbaugh/Hannity rants