# Does "Talking To Dead People"... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 12, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535 "2003-12-12T05:27:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lulu37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@lulu37](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lulu37)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/1 "2003-12-12T05:27:51Z")
sound like something you’d really like to do? For some rason, that’s not on my list…but then again, taking a rocket ship to Mars isn’t either. And you…??? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/2 "2003-12-12T05:30:38Z")
Probably the wrong forum, but… No, I don’t believe it is even possible. In fact, I’m sure it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/3 "2003-12-12T05:32:38Z")
Hey, _anyone_ can talk _to_ dead people. Just don’t expect to get an answer… ---
**Author:** ![lulu37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@lulu37](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lulu37)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/4 "2003-12-12T05:38:57Z")
I wasn’t asking if the concept was possible; only if it was something that you might like to do. Sounds “yuk” to me & I’d rather not. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/5 "2003-12-12T05:43:58Z")
Well, being as it’s not at all possible, the answer is obviously no, I wouldn’t like to do it because I’d be wasting my valuable time. That better? ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/6 "2003-12-12T05:46:59Z")
As a teenager, I used to partake in regular seances. I still, to this day, don’t know if we were actually ‘communicating’ with the dead but some pretty freaky things used to happen, if we ‘supposedly’ got the ‘spirit’ upset… Things like the glass literally smashing in mid-air after shooting off the table of its own accord. Simultaneously, the fuses blew in our electricity power-box. After that little display I didn’t enter into any seances again. Although, I must say, that I do “talk” to my deceased mother when I’m either feeling really down or confused as to what to do in certain situations. And no! I’m NOT mad! ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/7 "2003-12-12T06:19:20Z")
Glasses levitating and exploding in midair? How come that fun stuff never happened when _I_ used a Ouija board? ☹ I wouldn’t mind talking to the dead, if they told me where they hid their treasure. ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/8 "2003-12-12T06:42:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr2001 \* > \*\*Glasses levitating and exploding in midair? How come that fun stuff never happened when _I_ used a Ouija board? ☹ > > I wouldn’t mind talking to the dead, if they told me where they hid their treasure. \*\* I can assure you, it certainly did! Way too freaky for me… but that experience wasn’t using a Ouija Board. We used to cut out little squares with each letter on the alphabet on them, arranged in a circle… also incorporating numerals 1 to 10, plus a “Yes” and “No” square of paper. Although, I must admit, a few years later my then-boyfriend actually DID have a Ouija Board, (which was made in Salem and was EXACTLY the same as the one used in The Exorcist), and after only a couple of “goes” on that everything was coming out “gobbeldy-gook” so we just packed it away… That then-boyfriend is now my ex-husband and he still has the Ouija Board - he uses it as a drinks tray!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/9 "2003-12-12T06:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wendyrules \* > **I can assure you, it certainly did!** And _I_ can assure you that whatever you experienced was complete bullshit. Sorry, but that Ouija crap is all in the head. There are NO such things as spirits. If you can prove otherwise, you can be a [millionaire.](http://randi.org/research/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![boofy\_bloke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@boofy\_bloke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofy_bloke)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/10 "2003-12-13T02:55:45Z")
I received a communication from the dead brother of a chick for whom I was doing a tarot reading. I told her that he was watching over her, which she already knew, and that he had drowned in a river, which he had. I don’t know how I could know that stuff as it’s not the sort of thing one overhears then forgets. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/11 "2003-12-13T03:04:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by boofy\_bloke \* > \*\*I received a communication from the dead brother of a chick for whom I was doing a tarot reading. I told her that he was watching over her, which she already knew, and that he had drowned in a river, which he had. I don’t know how I could know that stuff as it’s not the sort of thing one overhears then forgets. \*\* Wow, amazing and insightful! A dead realtive, WATCHING OVER HIS DEAD SISTER?!?! I’m convinced. ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/12 "2003-12-13T03:13:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*And _I_ can assure you that whatever you experienced was complete bullshit. Sorry, but that Ouija crap is all in the head. There are NO such things as spirits. If you can prove otherwise, you can be a [millionaire.](http://randi.org/research/index.html) \*\* Hey, hold on there! I wasn’t necessarily saying I believe in all that stuff, I was merely saying what happened, and whether para-normal or not, it scared me! I’m honestly not a fruit-cake! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/13 "2003-12-13T03:15:42Z")
Fair enough. My money is on one of your friends messing with your heads. There’s always one or two jokers at every seance. **Boofy\_bloke** , you _are_ kidding, right? ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/14 "2003-12-13T03:28:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Fair enough. My money is on one of your friends messing with your heads. There’s always one or two jokers at every seance. > > **Boofy\_bloke** , you _are_ kidding, right? \*\* Yeah, I know that! I just put it down to “the unexplained”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/15 "2003-12-13T05:47:44Z")
General Questions is for questions with factual answers. IMHO is for opinions and polls. Off to IMHO. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/16 "2003-12-13T14:05:09Z")
I have thought a lot about this as I lost a daughter. I talk TO her occasionally. But honestly, the thought of communicating with her, person to person as it were, creeps the hell out of me. She is the only person very close to me who has died. I wonder if (☹ when) my mom or dad dies if I would feel differently. I know that I will be with my daughter again face to face somehow (I know a lot of you think that’s right up there with the Quija board _sticks out tongue_ I don’t care) but I’m willing to wait until then. ---
**Author:** ![wendyrules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85e7bf/32.png) [@wendyrules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wendyrules)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/17 "2003-12-13T14:10:11Z")
**carlotta** , I’m so sorry to hear of the loss of your daughter. It must be very hard for you. As I said in one of my previous posts, I do “talk” to my mother, as you do to your daughter! I understand exactly where you’re coming from. It’s not expecting a reply or a vision or anything, I actually think it may just be the not wanting to let go completely of that person. So “talking” to them still gives that little comfort zone. I dunno, perhaps I don’t explain myself too well, but I know what I’m _trying_ to say! ---
**Author:** ![gruelin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/76d3ee/32.png) [@gruelin1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gruelin1)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/18 "2003-12-13T18:23:13Z")
boofy\_bloke, You should take the JREF paranormal challenge, (thank you Q. E. D., that is a wonderful website – I spent a few hours reading commentry and other great stuff.) Being psychic is great fun, and it can make you rich!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![boofy\_bloke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@boofy\_bloke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofy_bloke)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-talking-to-dead-people/218535/19 "2003-12-15T02:58:09Z")
Yes, it’s real. I really hate lying even though I get sucked into them occasionally in real life (like saying someone isn’t there when answering a phone call) when I’m not thinking about it. Online, though, I have to think to type so the Truth Filter is active. **Ilsa\_Lund** : even though I love sarcasm you missed out the important bit about how he died. [gruelin1]: it only happened once and I have no idea how. I’ve read cards for various people over the years but nothing else ever came of it. Other than them being happy with what I told them.