# Have you ever seen a ghost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961 "2016-10-08T18:17:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hbk4894](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e68b1a/32.png) [@Hbk4894](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbk4894)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/1 "2016-10-08T18:17:16Z")
Have you ever seen a ghost? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/2 "2016-10-08T18:19:43Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/3 "2016-10-08T18:51:11Z")
No. Probably because I don’t believe in them. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/4 "2016-10-08T18:53:45Z")
I’ve seen them on Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/5 "2016-10-08T18:54:39Z")
No, because they do not exist, Not even the “holy” ones. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/6 "2016-10-08T18:57:37Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > No. Probably because I don’t believe in them. It’s possible to not see them even if you believe in them. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/7 "2016-10-08T19:44:14Z")
Yes, and it was FAR from Demi Moore’s or Whoopi Goldberg’s best movie… ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/8 "2016-10-08T19:57:39Z")
I don’t know. They look like real people, right? Proof of a negative also doesn’t exist, with even greater certainty than that ghosts do not exist. So now we are at a philosophical stand-off. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/9 "2016-10-09T05:51:19Z")
Writer Edith Wharton, when asked if she believed in ghosts, said, “No, I don’t believe in ghosts, but I’m afraid of them.” ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/10 "2016-10-09T06:09:38Z")
[Funny anti ghost diatribe](http://hitmen.thecomicseries.com/comics/122/) ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/11 "2016-10-09T06:39:34Z")
Just the naked ones. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/12 "2016-10-09T06:55:00Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/13 "2016-10-09T14:09:46Z")
Yes, but not often or clearly enough to start believing in them. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/14 "2016-10-09T15:30:08Z")
I posted a thread like this once a long time ago. And got laughed/scorned out of the building. Much like what is happening here. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/15 "2016-10-09T16:19:31Z")
Everyone I know who has experienced a true haunting do not find the experience fun. It usually leaves them emotionally scarred and they are reluctant to even talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/16 "2016-10-09T17:03:29Z")
No. I’ve not seen any of these either: - Bigfoot - Loch Ness monster - demon - alien - fairy - dragon ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/17 "2016-10-09T17:34:49Z")
It’s not an unreasonable question. Some people (believe they) have seen a ghost and some haven’t. The OP is asking which are you. A Yes or No answer will suffice, annotated as you wish. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/18 "2016-10-09T17:38:38Z")
Yes. But I stopped taking Baklofen and haven’t seen one since. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/19 "2016-10-09T23:49:36Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I posted a thread like this once a long time ago. And got laughed/scorned out of the building. Much like what is happening here. > > Carry on. people should scorn less, IMO. I haven’t seen a ghost but have met people who say they did. I would like to but doubt it will happen. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961/20 "2016-10-10T00:04:39Z")
Ghosts, like dreams, may exist only in the minds of people. Have you ever been woken by a sudden noise, and upon waking, you discovered that the dream led to the noise? Maybe the noise created a “dream memory”, which was not a dream, only a scenario that you mind quickly created to match the noise, and placed it in your memory afterwards. Something like deja vu. It might then follow that people “see ghosts” had a moment of daydreaming, in which an extended memory was furnished to account for the impression that the ghost had been present for a longer waking duration. Occasionally, I have lucid dreams, in which, upon waking, my dream and my actual room are superimposed, so for a few seconds, maybe ten seconds, what I’m dreaming seems to be taking place in the room that I can see quite clearly with open eyes. It gradually fades away. We know so little about dreams, there could be an explanation for ghosts in which ghosts are “just as real” as dreams, but we lack a mechaniam for rationalizing them away. This is not to say that I believe in ghosts, but only that it is conceivable to me that people’s stories about ghosts are based on events that we do not yet know how to explain away, so they seem real and defy contradiction. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-ghost/767961.md?page=2)