# Post your ghost stories here, and I will debunk them **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674 "2010-06-18T14:53:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/201 "2010-06-18T22:37:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m not sure you meant to do this, but this points out that the exact same issue exists for theists. Well for a theist God existed before he created the universe. It does seem like a waste to create such a huge universe so that you can create one galaxy that has one solar system that has one planet on which you create man in your image but I don’t claim to understand exactly how his mind works. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/202 "2010-06-18T22:43:31Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > How is can you tell this from someone who is deluding themselves with wishful thinking? We know for a fact people can delude themselves. We have no evidence that intangible spirits can create universes and love and transmit sons to virgins via dove-insemination. So deism (or at least a belief in a world we cannot perceive) is a delusion shared by 90% of the world and the other 10% have it right? 90% of the people on the planet. They might all be wrong on the particulars, every religion that exists or that has ever existed might be wrong on the details but why is it that so many people believe in SOMETHING with such fervor that it guides their life, they are willing to kill and die for it, that they commit atrocities, that they engage in self destructive altruism. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/203 "2010-06-18T22:45:25Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Because that would be nonsensical. There are an infinite number of magical things we can imagine to exist. It would be ridiculous and counter-productive to assume that anything we can imagine must exist until proven otherwise. It would serve no scientific purpose and give us no information. I’m not talking about pink pegacorns, I’m talking about the fact that 90% of humanity believes that there is something to this religion thing and the athiest’s insistence that the 90% must convince the 10% ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/204 "2010-06-18T22:46:38Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I think this is the first serious thing I’ve ever seen you post. Is it the first serious thing you’ve ever posted? No. But like ghostly visitations, it happens rarely and tends to frighten onlookers. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/205 "2010-06-18T22:49:57Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Well for a theist God existed before he created the universe. Of course they do. But your post illustrates that it’s still a problem theists have to explain because if the universe didn’t exist, what was god existing in? And please notice that I’m trying to steer this conversation back toward ghosts. I’m not going to forbid discussion of god but I would appreciate it if you’d stick toward the general topic rather than continuing to this into a debate about religion. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/206 "2010-06-18T22:54:01Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I’m really not following. It doesn’t “come from” anywhere. it’s constructed on the canvas. Before it’s constructed, it doesn’t exist. I said that art can appear to have non-material origins. That it seems to arise out of nothing. You cried foul, and in your attempts to prove me wrong, you have twice stated that it doesn’t come from anywhere. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Actually, the only thing that really makes it exist is if we decide to label it as an art piece. What do you mean by this? If I paint a picture on a canvas, it doesn’t exist until we “label” it? > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > They’re your words, not mine. No, it was a direct quote from you. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It wouldn’t be “me succeeding,” just me parakeeting the current state of neurological sciemce. It will have to wait, though. I won’t have time to research and post until probably tomorrow afternoon. You can just Google “Brain memory,” though. I don’t think neurological science is as advanced or has conclusions as concrete as you think. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I didn’t define it out of existence. I defined it as a linguistic tool, which is not to be confused with the thing which it references. So you are clearly-- in your own words-- saying it exists, which is in direct contradiction to your own argument. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/207 "2010-06-18T22:54:39Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > So deism (or at least a belief in a world we cannot perceive) is a delusion shared by 90% of the world and the other 10% have it right? 90% of the people on the planet. They might all be wrong on the particulars, every religion that exists or that has ever existed might be wrong on the details but why is it that so many people believe in SOMETHING with such fervor that it guides their life, they are willing to kill and die for it, that they commit atrocities, that they engage in self destructive altruism. I’m going to pretend for a moment tht you didn’t say “deism” or “religion”, as those have been declared explicity illegal topics, and focus on the fact that you are claiming that 90% of people believe in ghosts. Or, er, something like ghosts. Maybe brownies or lepruchauns or something. Humanity in general has a tendency to err on the side of pattern recognition. We like to find reason and order even where there are none; for a completely banned-topic example, many people used to think that divine influences were responsible for lightning. In fact I’d suggest that _100%_ of people once believed that lightning had a supernatural cause of some kind. And yet, they all managed to be wrong. People have a strong incentive to beleive in ghosts - ghosts would confirm the existence of an afterlife and refute the finality of death, which many fear. So many people actively look for excuses to believe in the supernatural; they’re willing to accept anything at all as evidence, and overblow the importance of what ‘evidence’ they find. This results in a lot of belief based on little to no evidence. Such is the way of humanity when it comes to comforting fantasies. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/208 "2010-06-18T23:01:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Post your ghost stories here, and I will debunk them [The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was](http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-59.html) Debunk away! ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/209 "2010-06-18T23:12:44Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > [The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was](http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-59.html) > > Debunk away! It’s incredibly improbable that anybody would throw a bucket full of fish on a person. Cold water, yes. Fish, no. I’m forced to conclude that the whole thing was a dream. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/210 "2010-06-18T23:24:34Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > It’s incredibly improbable that anybody would throw a bucket full of fish on a person. Cold water, yes. Fish, no. I’m forced to conclude that the whole thing was a dream. Sounds like a David Lynch dream… was a percolator involved? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/211 "2010-06-18T23:30:47Z")
Explain _this_ if you can: It is Christmas Eve, I come home and I see the face of my long-dead partner in my door knocker. Then, later, he appears and warns me that _three more_ ghosts will appear - and they _do_. Later, I change my miserly ways and I keep the spirit of Christmas in my heart ever-thereafter. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/212 "2010-06-18T23:39:58Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Explain _this_ if you can: It is Christmas Eve, I come home and I see the face of my long-dead partner in my door knocker. Then, later, he appears and warns me that _three more_ ghosts will appear - and they _do_. Later, I change my miserly ways and I keep the spirit of Christmas in my heart ever-thereafter. A delerium dream brought on by improperly prepared food. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/213 "2010-06-18T23:45:46Z")
A ghost told me God does not exist. I nearly died when I heard that. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/214 "2010-06-18T23:53:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Please cite real evidence of the spiritual nature of man derived from the study of near death experiences. I assume the cited work would define ‘spiritual nature of man’, and the methodology used to obtain this evidence. The mods would never allow it to go here. It is too real, for them to allow. Just consult my site or blog. It is real, very real with some top scientists leading the research. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/215 "2010-06-18T23:57:02Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Though I’m still not with him about scientists having been immaterialists or whatever prior to the 60s. I’m assuming he’s vaguely remembering something about Jefferson, Franklin and maybe Newton. The key word being ‘vaguely’. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/216 "2010-06-19T00:01:18Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > The mods would never allow it to go here. Just consult my site or blog. It is real, very real with some top scientists leading the research. This, of course, is crap. We would welcome legit research on the subject. You’ve just never posted any, so eventually the mods got tired of it and told you to stop trying to pass off the anecdotes on your blog as research. Here are a few examples of that instruction: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12356780#post12356780](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12356780#post12356780) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11434660#post11434660](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11434660#post11434660) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10670507#post10670507](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10670507#post10670507) However I appreciate the fact that you’re trying to comply with what I said about dropping the subject of NDEs in this thread. I remind everybody else that NDEs are not the topic here. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/217 "2010-06-19T00:03:28Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/218 "2010-06-19T00:20:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This, of course, is crap. We would welcome legit research on the subject. You’ve just never posted any, so eventually the mods got tired of it and told you to stop trying to pass off the anecdotes on your blog as research. Here are a few examples of that instruction: > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12356780#post12356780](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12356780#post12356780) > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11434660#post11434660](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11434660#post11434660) > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10670507#post10670507](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10670507#post10670507) > > However I appreciate the fact that you’re trying to comply with what I said about dropping the subject of NDEs in this thread. I remind everybody else that NDEs are not the topic here. There are no anecdotes in the research, just good science. Just because the mods called me names and insults, doesn’t make it less real. Do you really think a hundred scientists working at over a dozen universities, publishing their research in scientific journals would do so for over 35 years if it was just crap? It is because it is good research that makes skeptics and atheists so mad at me, and remember I didn’t do the research just posted about it. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/219 "2010-06-19T01:03:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You still think reality is a popularity poll? Fine. > What percentage of this planet’s population do you think believe in the the same deity you do? Its not a popularity poll in the sense that the fact that 90% of humanity believes in higher power doesn’t mean that a higher power exists but if we are discussing who should bear the burden of proof, then i think the minority view must make its argument to the majority. As for how much of humanity believes in the Abrahamic God, I believe it is over 50% (about 30%+ Christian about 20%+ Muslim and about 0.2% Jewish). But its not simply the Christian God that i am arguing for, I am arguing for deism. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674/220 "2010-06-19T01:05:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > One more time. > Either tell us how you might be convinced about the non-existence of your deity, or admit that you are not arguing in good faith. I don’t know how you can convince me, but I find it a bit odd that in a matter of faith you are accusing me of not arguing in good faith. Please believe when I say that my faith is NOT something I inherited unquestioningly from my family or society. Every question and doubt you may have about my faith I have had the same doubt a thousand times and each time I cannot overcome the lessons of my own experience. You are asking me to tell you how you can prove something false to me when I have tried to do that myself countless times. If you can think of anything you are welcome to try. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-ghost-stories-here-and-i-will-debunk-them/543674.md?page=12)