Recently was out with friends in a supposedly haunted location. Didn’t see a thing spooky. Prompted a convo re: existence of ghosts. Now I’m not a believer, but I was surprised to hear that some of my friends had weird experiences with the paranormal. How about you?
No.
No.
No, they aren’t real, though I always wanted to see one.
My mom does believe. She didn’t see anything, but tells the story of feeling the presence of her father the night after he died.
I have had an incident or two occur that I have been unable to adequately explain. One was visual, and was probably me projecting what I WANTED to see. The other was physical, and after having the item examined, I was still not able to get an explanation of why what happened, happened, so I guess the door is open just the tiniest bit in my case.
No, they aren’t real, but that doesn’t mean people who claim to have encountered the paranormal are lying or crazy. We’ve got good evidence, for example, that exposing people to a certain low frequency of sound (beneath human audibility) creates many of the same symptoms associated with seeing ghosts, including feelings of dread, chills, etc. Then there’s always the possibility of hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucinations (hallucinations going into or coming out of dream states.) There’s likely a good scientific reason (or many) to explain why people have experienced what they have.
Nope. I really, really wanted to believe when I was much younger, but honestly, no. Ghosts do not exist in any objective sense.
Nope. Complete nonsense. Any videos of supposed paranormal activities are easily explained as photo manipulation.
I don’t believe in ghosts, I find that believing in them just encourages their antics.
Nope.
As to “weird experiences”–well, those are real enough. Live long enough, and odds are that you’ll run into any number of cases that strike you as weird: instances of coincidence, moments of abstraction, and even hallucinations. Our senses are fallible. Fatigue, fever, and other upsets can make them cheat us–“an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese”, as Scrooge put it. A combination of pareidolia and the unease that creeps upon many of us in the dark or in unfamiliar situations, especially when we’re not feeling our best, does the rest.
I’ve had my share of weird experiences. Likely many of the posters here have. Nothing paranormal is required to explain them; they were the result of either coincidence or my being an unreliable observer (due to fever or, on one occasion, alcohol) at the time.
Neither do Ogres.
Hey, just cause I’ve been away doesn’t mean I don’t exist!
Who said that?!?!?
Mama always told me that the only people who see ghosts are people who believe in ghosts.
Agreed.
I bet you the vast majority of ghost-sitings come from the credulous, pure and simple, no need to get hi-falutin’ about it.
Visual, physical, and auditory. Still have no idea why or how that happened.
Folks get primed to experience the paranormal. The family we bought this house from told us all kinds of stories about a ghost in the house – they even kept a journal of weird occurrences over 36 years.
So, yeah, when things go bump in the night my eyes get big; un-fantastically, they are explained by doggie antics, noises endemic to old houses, and willful appliances/electronics.
*All said, I love all the hokey ghost shows and I teach a class about gothic/horror film. I truly do wish ghosts/demons/succubi were real, but no. I recently read a really good book on the cultural basis of ghosts – it’s from an academic press but is good popular reading as well. Let me know if you want the title and I’ll fire up the Kindle.
No, there’s no such thing as ghosts. I remember this one fellow I knew, a real superstitious fellow, who believed in ghosts. All of the rest of us fellows in the regiment would make fun of him. Poor fellow was killed at…Second Manassas? Or was it Fredericksburg? Can’t remember now. Cannon ball took his head clean off, I sure remember that much! Poor fellow!
Anyhow, he certainly did believe in ghosts, yes sir. Hexes and good luck charms and such-like too. But I don’t hold with such nonsense as that.
I hear auditory hallucinations when I’m going to sleep (hypnogogic phenomena). They’re usually a full sentence, spoken very clearly, by someone (it’s been a man, woman, or child – always one, but never the same or multiples simultaneously) I don’t recognize.
It could easily be misconstrued as something paranormal, but since I know the cause, it’s actually kind of comforting, because I know I’m almost asleep.
While I admit I’m skeptical, there are just too many paranormal experiences that cannot be explained that I have to keep an open mind on this whole issue.