Believing in ghosts

I never used to. But then ten years ago I moved to the UK, started working as a carer in a Dementia home. The home was in an old Victorian building and I saw a few people that didn't live there (old man in the red chair in the corner of the lounge, old lady by the steps to the conservatory). And in the four houses we've rented in the past ten years we've had cupboards fly open, cutlery rattling, vase being moved off the sideboard, whisk flying at my fiance. Honestly I can't count the amount of shit we've experienced.

Just seems crazy to me that I lived in Germany and Austria for 25 years before that and NVER had any kind of paranormal experience.

But none of these are at all remarkable

The elderly patient could have his arm stretched out for any reason, perhaps he was imagining his wife there, or dreaming, or it was just a sensory thing.

Either you saw a nurse and she moved or it was just a trick of the light.

The elderly lady that heard kids was dreaming.

Ummm, time slips aren’t real either.

His academic work has been published in many different journals.

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/publications/academic-publications/

The journal in which most of this man’s ‘research’ has been published is the outlet of the Society for Scientific Exploration, notorious for pseudoscience like studies of alien abduction, UFO. and extra-sensory perception:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Scientific_Exploration#:~:text=Journal%20of%20Scientific%20Exploration%20is,parapsychologist%20and%20philosopher%20Stephen%20E.

Not about ghosts, but there is some impressive evidence of reincarnation.

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/our-research/children-who-report-memories-of-previous-lives/

UVA has a highly respected medical school.

Another incident. It was evening, and I was getting was getting ready to travel somewhere the following day, just for that day; I was returning in the evening.

I had a small rucksack that I was taking with me. I was sure that I'd put my mobile phone in it, but couldn't find it. I emptied the rucksack out completely, every pocket, main compartment, it definitely wasn't there. I checked elsewhere around the house but couldn't find it, so got a spare phone charging so I could use that instead.

Later that evening my mum, who was staying with us, called to me upstairs, from the living room, "Here's your phone, Unctuous, it's in the bottom of your rucksack!" She seemed to think that I just hadn't looked properly.

As I said, I tipped that rucksack upside down, emptied every pocket; my phone was absolutely NOT in it. And my mum wouldn't mess around with me like that, I know that 100%. I couldn't be bothered arguing with her about not looking properly for it. I've had numerous incidents like this over the years, I suppose you just get used to it. 🤷‍♀️

Mine is on its last legs. @BungalowLil. But maybe you should check yours is Ok ... 👀

What a twat. People are on here to share their stories and experiences, if you don’t like it then move along….

OK, maybe there are ghosts! Straight after I hit 'post' on that, my cooker blew a fuse 😮😂

No way!!! I just read this after posting my mail about ovens! Hells bells!

That's so interesting GarlicGrace. We sold the property and moved on about a decade ago now but something you've said really struck a long forgotten chord with me. I'd completely forgotten that the electrics in that house were very odd. E.g. if you put too many lights on and then the oven everything would fuse. We had a lot of rewiring done, including in the basement room but there were still problems. We would hear popping and cracking from sockets and oOne night my husband was asleep in the room I mentioned and woke to find sparks coming from a socket.

I have to say we were so used to odd things happening that we were never scared there and, because we'd had the electrics overhauled we thought the sparks/electric wierdness was down to the 'woo' and just lived with it. Perhaps there was a technical problem.

What an interesting slant on this you've given me. Thank you.

OK, maybe there are ghosts! Straight after I hit 'post' on that, my cooker blew a fuse 😮😂

That's a good point about medications, @Highdaysandholidays1. I've been on a couple of threads here, where posters were suffering bad hallucinations with serotonin syndrome. Other common causes are thyroid disorder or thyroid medication, diabetes or insulin, and bladder infections.

The other thing that convinced me these aren't real ghosts is that the reason for these hallucinations is just medicine, lots of antidepressants and other medicines cause strange experiences, voices and seeing things are (rare) side effects of medications as well as mental illness, but people don't know that even though they are listed on the list of side effects! I take a fairly standard medication and it was only when I went online I found lots of people had nightmares, lucid dreams and night-time sleep disorders including hallucinations on them, before that I'd assumed it was some type of trauma disturbance. I need the meds so I just put up with it plus I am not scared to fall asleep as they don't happen often and I know what they are anyway.

I have seen quite a lot of figures, just like stills in a photograph. I have also been swooped on by horrible evil spirits, that's not fun and I have leapt out of bed with my covers on before now. They are all hallucinations in my case, usually on waking in the night, they are known as hypnopompic and hypnagogic hallucinations. They are very common, especially on falling asleep, the commonest one is hearing a doorbell or knock or your name said. I had one just the other day. The ones waking in the night are your more 'ghostly' type if you like, sleep paralysis, hallucinations, spiders, feeling someone pressing on you. I usually just scream really really loudly!

I don't believe in ghosts, even after all those experiences. These are well-known and documented hallucinations to do with the sleep-wake in-between state, it's like you are dreaming but awake for a few seconds.

If I saw something in the middle of the day it might be different, although some people do hallucinate in the daytime if they have dementia or certain diseases or seizures or all kinds. Smell hallucinations are also quite common.

If it was a problem (doesn't sound like it is?) you could ask someone to test whether you have standing waves in that room - two appliances that just happen to vibrate at the same frequency and at the right distance & wavelength so the waves meet in the room. It's been found to cause a lot of serious ghost problems, but it's expensive because one or both of the appliances might be quite far from your house.

Another common cause is electricity - either static from man-made fibres or an electrical fault. I've TWICE caught electrical fires because of 'woo' feelings. Once I was on my own, so didn't even consider a ghost. The other time lots of people said they got a bad feeling from my friend's basement. I said no, it's your wiring. That night it caught fire - a couple of hours after they'd called the fire service because I nagged them, and they arrived at exactly the right time.

I can't explain how I 'know' it's a fire but I did prevent two major incidents!

Sorry, I should add that when the guests heard a voice it used their name. When I heard the voice it said my name clearly right by my ear on several occasions randomly over a period of months. It's only ever happened in that room in that house, never anywhere else so is it me or is it something to do with the room, woo or otherwise? Can anyone who understands how the mind works please explain what that could be?

I think I was as convinced as you that it's all nonsense. I utterly believed what Henry Marsh the Neurosurgeon says that he knows too much about how the brain functions to believe that there can be any afterlife of any sort.

Then I heard many people, I mean really sensible, trustworthy people all tell me about hearing voices and sensing 'ladies in white' in my house. The people were paying guests....over a period of years...all with the exact same experience. They didn't know anything about each other or the house.

I don't think people divide into delusional and those who 'know ghosts are nonsense' Sometimes the latter are persuaded there is something going on we can't explain.

If someone could present me with any explanation for that phenomenon however woo or scientific I would be so interested to know the answer. I want to believe it's all nonsense....but I've no proof any other way.

a puffa jacket, skinny jeans and trainers (don’t know if they were nike, sorry)

Oh heck, they're wearing gangsta fashion in the next dimension too 😂

Well, I’ve seen ghosts in
a dressing gown
a puffa jacket, skinny jeans and trainers (don’t know if they were nike, sorry)
A raincoat and plastic headscarf thingy
A crinoline type (?) dress
1920s clothes (2)

Except the 20s ones I didn’t realise any were ghosts till they disappeared, I even assumed the one in the crinoline was dressed up for tourists or something until she vanished.

I've only once seen an unexplained thing, but that was ufo rather than paranormal. I have though experienced possible poltergeist activity in two places I've lived (one v v scary, one v friendly) and heard unexplained things in a hotel and a different place I lived.

No idea if ghosts exist but there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in most peoples philosophy so I remain open minded.

I never have believed and never will. Absolute nonsense.

OK. I have a friend who regularly sees the same two ghosts in her ancient cottage. She's had long conversations with one of them. In the summer, she goes into her garden and shrinks to less than the height of a daisy. Down in the jungle of grass stems, she meets fairies and talks with them about all kinds of stuff. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer but, after two chemo treatments, was declared clear.

She isn't mentally ill. She's just a highly creative individual whose mind interprets things differently.
That Japanese artist who sees the world covered in spots is not mentally ill and there's nothing wrong with her eyesight; she's a creative person whose mind prefers a spotted view.
I get ocular migraines and, as I wrote earlier, hallucinate when very tired. The world isn't really full of zigzaggy sparkles, and there's nobody talking in my kitchen; it's just my mind having electrical problems and doing its best to make sense of garbled signals.
If you've had sleep paralysis, it's easy to understand why they used to think they were being attacked by demons in the night. It's a relief to know what it really is, no evil spirits required! Just a briefly misfiring brain.

Like my friend, everybody's welcome to their personal interpretation of unlikely events. As long as they don't force their mythologies on other people, I guess it makes for an interesting chat. But let's not lose sight of how far we have come in terms of understanding ourselves and the wonders of the human mind 🙂

GarlicGrace Not at all, I was actually pissed off that out of everyone who’d detailed their experiences I was the one quoted and essentially told that I was delusional. I am in no way dismissive of mental health issues so please don’t try to accuse me of prejudice against those that do suffer them.

What I experienced on the Sunday started in the morning and went on til late evening. There is no way possible I could have hallucinated or imagined what happened.

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