# Ghosts.... Do you believe?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [November 27, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921 "2000-11-27T21:54:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Stric-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stric-9)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/1 "2000-11-27T21:54:46Z")
I’m amazed at how many people claim a belief in God, but dismiss the possibility of ghosts. How many of you believe in ghosts? How many believe in God, but **NOT** ghosts? Do any of you have what you consider “proof” of the existence of ghosts?
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### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/2 "2000-11-27T22:31:54Z")
No ghosts, Holy or otherwise.
I would guess Christians are not really supposed to believe in the traditional “haunting” type of ghost (God wouldn’t let the spirits of the dead wander about in that untidy sort of way), although it might increase the likelihood of believing that the dead can communicate with us in some fashion–not to mention Guardian Angels and such.
There is a species of Christian ghost story, though, in which a spirit appears to warn someone of an impending danger. (See [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) under the “glurge” section.)
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/3 "2000-11-27T23:02:04Z")
Everyone in my family was very excited about believing in ghosts after strange noises started in my great-grandmother’s house after her death. Obviously these noises were made by great grandma’s ghost, trying to lead us to a stash of money that she had hidden away.
Now we are disgruntled because our seaches have resulted in NO MONEY. None whatsoever. So we are now very anti-ghost. Sheesh.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/4 "2000-11-27T23:59:05Z")
I believe in God **and** ghosts!
I don’t think a belief in God and a belief in disembodied spirits wandering about are mutually-exclusive. Some would vehemently disagree with me on this, however.
And no, I don’t have proof of the existence of ghosts. This is the type of thing that can’t be proven conclusively anyway.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/5 "2000-11-28T01:31:27Z")
Of course I believe in ghosts. I see them every time I tune to channel 7. Something about the signal bouncing off a nearby building and echoing back to my TV antenna.
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### Author:  [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/6 "2000-11-28T04:09:04Z")
Stric-9 said:
> [@](#):
>
> I’m amazed at how many people claim a belief in God, but dismiss the possibility of ghosts.
That’s okay. I’m amazed at how many people can believe in _either_.
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### Author:  [@hypergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hypergirl)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/7 "2000-11-28T04:11:16Z")
I don’t believe in god _or_ ghosts, and I won’t until someone can give me concrete proof otherwise.
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### Author:  [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/8 "2000-11-28T04:28:55Z")
I believe in both to a degree. I mean, Im not gonna stop sleeping nude because I might have a ghost in my house, and Im not gonna relive the Crusades because I think there’s a God… But I cant dismiss either… and I think life is alot more interesting with the idea that theres more out there than we can fathom.
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### Author:  [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/9 "2000-11-28T05:22:05Z")
I don’t believe in ghosts or gods, but the ghosts always seem to have a better time of it. Regular pranksters.
One odd thing I find is that Many more Brits believe in ghosts and many more Americans believe in UFO’s.
Why the people who believe in one scoff at the other amazes me.
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### Author:  [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/10 "2000-11-28T05:29:27Z")
**[Great Debates\> Do Ghosts exist?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=24473)**
**[Is belief in ghosts and leprechauns the same thing? Is it good religion?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32685)**
**[Do ghosts exist?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32921)**
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### Author:  [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/11 "2000-11-28T08:01:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by David B_
> **That’s okay. I’m amazed at how many people can believe in either.**
Damnit, David. From this point on, you are forbidden to come to these threads and say exactly what I was going to say! 🙂
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### Author:  [@JCThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCThunder)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/12 "2000-11-28T08:33:25Z")
The closest thing I’ve ever experienced was during a sleep-over at a frinds house when I was like 10 yrs old. Three of us were in the basement of a large house alone (watching ‘The Exorcist’, incidently) when very pronouced footsteps walked across the floor overhead. The house was still locked when we went upstairs & a thorough search proved no one had been there. Scared the crap out of us!
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### Author:  [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/13 "2000-11-28T13:17:54Z")
malkavia said:
> [@](#):
>
> Im not gonna stop sleeping nude because I might have a ghost in my house
I’m thinking that if ghosts did exist, a nightgown wouldn’t stop 'em from peeking anyway (I mean, if they can walk thru _walls_ and all…). 😉
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/14 "2000-11-28T14:29:46Z")
Nope—no gods no ghosts, no fairies (no wisecracks!).
If people COULD come back from the dead to communicate with us, don’t you think they’d ALL be doing it, constantly? We would never have a moment’s peace, what with Aunt Syl and Cousin Myron and Grandma nagging at us, not to mention total strangers playing “Three Stooges” pranks. I know I’d come back from beyond the grave and chuck banana cream pies at people, if I could.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/15 "2000-11-28T15:01:33Z")
What the heck book did I recently read that proposed that people who believed in God, and people whop believed in other supernatural phenomena like fortune telling or UFOs, shared many similar personality traits, but that the majority of folk who believed in one, did not believe in the other? Was it “ **How We Believe** ”? It’s at home. I’ll check tonight.
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### Author:  [@JimmyNipples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyNipples)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/16 "2000-11-28T15:20:12Z")
I read alot. I’m currently reviving my spiritual phase when it comes to reading material.
Without going into a very long explanation of my beliefs, I’ll go with what Einstein said about energy. You can’t destroy it. You can change it, but you can’t get rid of it.
I think living beings have a similar energy.
Enough said…for now. Muhaahahahahahahahahah
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/17 "2000-11-28T16:52:51Z")
Y’know, I once bet **David B** a whole wagonload of watermelons that he wouldn’t stay the whole night in a cabin outside of town that was supposed to be haunted.
He got a fire going in the hearth, cooked his beans and bacon, and was just settling back in the rocking chair with his corncob pipe when a little voice came in his ear, “Ain’t nobody here but you and me.”
**David** said “Ain’t gonna be nobody here but you in a minute,” and he was up and out the window and running down the road.
Soon enough the little voice came again, “Well, mister, you makin’ pretty good time.”
And **David** said “Oh, I can run a lot faster than this.” And he did.
As he was nearing town he passed me on the road, and over his shoulder he yelled out, “Never mind about them watermelons.”
(_Credit for swiped, adapted story:_ Maria Leach; RAINBOW BOOK OF AMERICAN FOLK TALES AND LEGENDS, World Publishing, 1958)
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### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/18 "2000-11-28T19:21:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JimmyNipples \*
> \*\*I read alot. I’m currently reviving my spiritual phase when it comes to reading material.
>
> Without going into a very long explanation of my beliefs, I’ll go with what Einstein said about energy. You can’t destroy it. You can change it, but you can’t get rid of it.
>
> I think living beings have a similar energy.
>
> Enough said…for now. Muhaahahahahahahahahah \*\*
Yeah, and the laws of thermodynamics say that that energy isn’t going to be doing anything more than raising the temperature in the room by some small amount.
Consider your computer. When you turn it off, do you have little ghosts of programs flitting about the room? No – you have a bunch of rapidly cooling integrated circuits.
It does seem reasonable that belief in a god would imply belief in ghosts, given that they are both incorporal entities with supernatural powers, particularly because most religions have some notion of “soul” – an undying component of the self. But it’s certainly possible to argue that one does not imply the other. Some religions, in fact, would probably consider the notion of ghosts as blasphemous as they would imply the possibility of supernatural intervention besides that of the god. This might be at the heart of the dichotomy observed by the OP.
Then again, it might be that searching for logic in an area reserved for faith is a pretty fruitless occupation.
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### Author:  [@Stric-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stric-9)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/19 "2000-11-28T19:23:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by hypergirl \*
> \*\*I don’t believe in god _or_ ghosts, and I won’t until someone can give me concrete proof otherwise. \*\*
Don’t mean to single you out here, **hypergirl** , but I hear this all the time. Most people believe that the Sun is 96 Million miles away from the Earth, and that light travels at 186,000 miles/second (aprox.). Have they (or you) been shown “concrete” proof of this? Most people will believe ANYTHING that mainstream science tells them, without needing any proof at all, but these same people slam the door on any evidence of the paranormal. How can we prove something right or wrong if we don’t at least take the time to study it? I think that most scientists are so afraid of being frowned upon for studying (or even talking about) such things, that they won’t even entertain the idea of exploring it. Like I said in another recent post, they all laughed at Columbus when he said the Earth was round.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2000, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghosts-do-you-believe/42921/20 "2000-11-28T20:48:51Z")
Stric—
"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round;
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound.
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother when they said that man could fly—
They told Marconi wireless was a phony . . . "
. . . Oh, I’m sorry, where was I? Oh yes. Scientific facts and theories can be tested, through the centuries, with trial-and-error. And the “errors” can be amended (which is why we now know the earth is round).
You cannot perform tests on ghosts or gods or goblins, because THERE IS NOTHING UPON WHICH TO TEST. That’s why scientific knowledge has developed and changed and increased through the centuries, whereas superstition pretty much remains where it always has (there’s a piece in today’s NY Times about how exorcism is on the rise again).
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