# Why do so many people believe in ghosts (and other paranormal)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 29, 2013, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802 "2013-07-29T10:55:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/81 "2013-07-31T16:38:58Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > But there is a ton of evidence and research. Read the research being done on NDEs. That’s got nothing to do with this topic. Do you have any cites that _directly_ support your claims in this thread? edited to add: Sorry, didn’t see your post first, **Marley23** ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/82 "2013-07-31T16:39:48Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > But there is a ton of evidence and research. Read the research being done on NDEs. There’s a ton of research, but research doesn’t equal evidence, and there is no evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/83 "2013-07-31T16:40:25Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That’s got nothing to do with this topic. Do you have any cites that _directly_ support your claims in this thread? > [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > There’s a ton of research, but research doesn’t equal evidence, and there is no evidence. Please see the mod note simulposted above. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/84 "2013-07-31T16:44:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Better yet, don’t. Ah. Okay, got it. Dropping it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Schmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Some\_Schmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Schmo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/85 "2013-07-31T17:09:36Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The brain is the most important part of the human body! Of course, it’s the brain telling us that.\* > > \*from some forgotten comedian’s routine. Emo Phillips. I actually had that joke in mind while writing my post. It’s funny 'cause it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/86 "2013-07-31T17:21:12Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The brain is the most important part of the human body! Of course, it’s the brain telling us that.\* > > \*from some forgotten comedian’s routine. “If they catch you they will wipe your brain!” :eek: “My brain?! It’s my second-favorite organ!” – _Sleeper_ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/87 "2013-07-31T19:06:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > There are plenty of perfectly feasible explanations _now_. I’ve had experiences that aren’t covered by those perfectly feasible explanations. I’m not saying we have “ghosts” but strange things have been happening here, things that I believe have no current scientific explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/88 "2013-07-31T21:13:04Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I’ve had experiences that aren’t covered by those perfectly feasible explanations. I’m not saying we have “ghosts” but strange things have been happening here, things that I believe have no current scientific explanation. For example? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/89 "2013-07-31T21:35:06Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > For example? Do you accept my “unexplained but still very spooky and creepy stuff that very likely had nothing supernatural going on- but was still very spooky, creepy and not easily explainable”? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/90 "2013-07-31T21:35:43Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > People don’t like it when you imply that they are gullible. They get defensive. > > Worse, most people tend to trust their senses - and get defensive if you suggest they are faulty. Even though an aspect of humanity is imperfection. Yeah, most people don’t realize how faulty their senses can be. I’ve read various layman books on how brains work, and it’s really interesting about how the brain makes guesses for a lot of things and we don’t even notice. We have blind spots, including a literal blind spot in your visual area that you don’t notice because the brain fills it in. I’ve said before how if I was in charge, I’d make it mandatory that personal finance and a little about cooking healthy foods would be taught in high school. I think I would also make it mandatory to learn about how your senses and memory can be faulty, and how to accommodate that. It wouldn’t need to be a whole class to itself, I think it could be taught in a science class, but I think it would be hugely helpful if done well. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/91 "2013-07-31T22:27:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Do you accept my “unexplained but still very spooky and creepy stuff that very likely had nothing supernatural going on- but was still very spooky, creepy and not easily explainable”? I accept everything in your statement until “…and not easily explainable” because there’s no way for you to know how easily explainable something is until it is explained and a value can be assigned to the difficulty to do so. Just because something hasn’t been explained, even if it is a long-standing mystery, doesn’t automatically mean it isn’t easily explainable. There may be an agenda at play suppressing a proper investigation by parties who are invested in the mystery remaining unsolved. There may not be enough interest for an authoritative body to spend valuable time and resources looking into something that is of inconsequential merit one way or the other. I’m not saying you believe in ghosts, but there is absolutely no reason, other than an irrational fear of the unknown, to attribute any unexplained sights, sounds, aromas, or tastes to ghosts or any other supernatural or paranormal causes. Creepy and spooky are subjective attributes some people tend to automatically assign to unexpected and (at that point) unexplained phenomena. Nothing is naturally creepy or spooky. For example, something you find creepy, I may find humorous. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/92 "2013-07-31T22:34:22Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > For example? > [@DrDeth](#): > > Do you accept my “unexplained but still very spooky and creepy stuff that very likely had nothing supernatural going on- but was still very spooky, creepy and not easily explainable”? Speaking for myself, except for the occasional sensation of cold water dripping on my back, not really spooky and creepy, just odd. Some of which would get dismissed here as faulty memory or somebody playing jokes but my memory is not faulty and nobody is around to play jokes. I’ll leave it at that. Judging from comments by TPTB, this is not the thread for going into detail. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/93 "2013-07-31T22:35:24Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I accept everything in your statement until “…and not easily explainable” because there’s no way for you to know how easily explainable something is until it is explained and a value can be assigned to the difficulty to do so. > > Just because something hasn’t been explained, even if it is a long-standing mystery, doesn’t automatically mean it isn’t easily explainable. There may be an agenda at play suppressing a proper investigation by parties who are invested in the mystery remaining unsolved. There may not be enough interest for an authoritative body to spend valuable time and resources looking into something that is of inconsequential merit one way or the other. > > I’m not saying you believe in ghosts, but there is absolutely no reason, other than an irrational fear of the unknown, to attribute any unexplained sights, sounds, aromas, or tastes to ghosts or any other supernatural or paranormal causes. > > Creepy and spooky are subjective attributes some people tend to automatically assign to unexpected and (at that point) unexplained phenomena. Nothing is naturally creepy or spooky. For example, something you find creepy, I may find humorous. Well, if you go back and read my first post here, I talk about sitting up all nite in a “haunted house”. Weird noises, things out of the corner of your eyes, odd drafts all occur. They are not easily explainable as you can’t get them to replicate. Sure, you can say (liek we did) “I am sure theres a perfectly natural explanation”, but… And, like I said, I did not attribute any of them to anything supernatural. Just that they were spooky, creepy and we could not explain them easily. Just like the unexplainable phenomenon of you apparently not understanding my postings and reading into them some belief on my part of the supernatural. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/94 "2013-07-31T22:55:39Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I remember visiting the fort on Dry Tortugus. When I entered a prison cell which once held a famous pirate I felt a drop in temperature of over 30 degrees. Cold inside and very hot outside, everyone with the group also felt it. There is a lot to it. They have a financial incentive for you to recommend their tour to other people. It was probably a hidden air conditioner they switched on. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/95 "2013-07-31T23:11:03Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Just like the unexplainable phenomenon of you apparently not understanding my postings and reading into them some belief on my part of the supernatural. I think you’re being a little sensitive. I specifically stated that I wasn’t saying that you believe in ghosts, because I didn’t get the impression that you do; I was simply responding to points in your last post. There was no misunderstanding on my part. You are correct that I hadn’t read your previous post upthread. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/96 "2013-08-01T02:54:31Z")
“That’s the problem with zombies, they’re unreliable.” ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/97 "2013-08-01T04:34:31Z")
I have not done much research into the underlying causative factors leading to such common hallucinations such as ghosts, elves/fairies, and aliens. What I do remember is that there was a relatively well-developed hypothesis that each of these apparently disparate entities shared a common set of characteristics that were virtually ubiquitous in known cultures. There are few if any peoples on this planet who lack stories about ghosts, elves and other such wee beasties that go bump in the night. In recent times, some of these ideas (archetypes or memes, perhaps) have transmuted into sightings of aliens, many of whom share remarkably similar characteristics (large eyes, small and spindly bodies). Even the common image of eleves sporting about a spotted mushroom seem similar to aliens standing around a saucer with portholes. While I certainly do not give credence to the external reality of such phenomena, their ubiquitous nature indicates to this observer that some common causative principle may be in play here. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/98 "2013-08-01T06:52:22Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I have not done much research into the underlying causative factors leading to such common hallucinations such as ghosts, elves/fairies, and aliens. What I do remember is that there was a relatively well-developed hypothesis that each of these apparently disparate entities shared a common set of characteristics that were virtually ubiquitous in known cultures. There are few if any peoples on this planet who lack stories about ghosts, elves and other such wee beasties that go bump in the night. In recent times, some of these ideas (archetypes or memes, perhaps) have transmuted into sightings of aliens, many of whom share remarkably similar characteristics (large eyes, small and spindly bodies). Even the common image of eleves sporting about a spotted mushroom seem similar to aliens standing around a saucer with portholes. > > While I certainly do not give credence to the external reality of such phenomena, their ubiquitous nature indicates to this observer that some common causative principle may be in play here. It only seems so to you because you have bought into the American version of what an alien looks like. In other cultures, until very recently, extra terrestrial folklore contained aliens who didn’t have the _ **now** _ ubiquitous Close Encounters grey, spindly, humanoid bodies with large head and eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Caneknife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Caneknife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caneknife)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/99 "2013-08-01T09:53:10Z")
I have personally seen ghosts , I swear on a bible, I did not believe in them at all, but 1 night I was with my girlfriend(wife now) sitting at a table and my tea cup started moving across the table from left to right every few minutes, we both saw it happen then a week later I saw a old lady in clothes that they wore in the 1600 floating in front of our bed at midnight, it scared the hell out of me but did not feel threatened, they are true. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802/100 "2013-08-01T10:08:46Z")
> [@Caneknife](#): > > I have personally seen ghosts , I swear on a bible, I did not believe in them at all, but 1 night I was with my girlfriend(wife now) sitting at a table and my tea cup started moving across the table from left to right every few minutes, we both saw it happen then a week later I saw a old lady in clothes that they wore in the 1600 floating in front of our bed at midnight, it scared the hell out of me but did not feel threatened, they are true. 1)How can something with 0 Mass produce enough force to move a teacup? 2)Even if a 'ghost could exist, just how could its cloths manifest themselves? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-believe-in-ghosts-and-other-paranormal/664802.md?page=6)