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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

People who believe in ghosts

294 replies

Sheandhercat · 29/07/2026 09:27

MIL came back from a trip to Edinburgh and told us of a “really spooky” thing that happened that MUST have been a ghost because there’s no other explanation. She was walking in a field, no other people around, and she got a whiff of strong rose perfume. That’s it. She said that plus another occasion where her cat was looking at something on the wall when there wasn’t anything there have her convinced that ghosts are real.

I try not to engage in these conversations with my opinion really because people can believe in whatever they want to and it’s pointless getting into a debate about it, because if someone’s already made up their mind it’s hard to convince them otherwise. But she asked me if I’d ever had anything happen and I said no I don’t believe in ghosts. This lead to a conversation where she just kept saying “well go on then, give me one possible explanation for the perfume if it’s not a ghost!” And I was giving explanations that she just wouldn’t accept. How does someone think it’s impossible that someone was around wearing perfume and the wind was just wafting the smell over, but it’s perfectly plausible and OBVIOUS that perfume has transcended into the afterlife and a ghost is the only possible option?!

even if there was no possible explanation I could think of, I still wouldn’t jump to “it must be a ghost” I’d just accept that I don’t know the answer. I don’t understand why it HAS to be a ghost when it just makes no sense. I’m just curious, how many people actually believe in ghosts and why?

OP posts:
IsawwhatIsaw · 01/08/2026 13:52

Years ago I was sitting on a busy station platform, I noticed a woman vomiting, assumed she was drunk tbh. Everyone moved away, but I stayed on my seat.
So she came and sat next to me. Told me she was having chemo, then told me the job I did- no clues, I was in jeans. Then told me where I was going, who I was seeing.
Other people started gathering to listen . Maybe there’s an explanation but I couldn’t think of one . If she was guessing, she was good.
I was nowhere near my home , I didn’t recognize her. So not a ghost, but certainly strange

woof1 · 01/08/2026 14:00

Many years ago I decided to leave my first H, due to his continued cheating. I had not told a living soul about this. One night my H was out, and I was sat browsing the internet at houses, to see what I could afford on my own. My phone then rang and it was my Mum. She explained that they'd been to the village hall that had a Medium night on. She went on to tell me, that a Medium had told her that she could hear someone calling out my name, and to tell me that a move of house was indicated, a good man, and happiness. My Mum obviously thought it was nonsense, as in her mind I was happy. I should add here, that I have a VERY unusual name. I did indeed leave, get a new house, and met my now DH.

This same Medium told my Mum that she would come into possession of a guitar in unusual circumstances, and that she would win the lottery. About a year after the reading, my parents were sitting in the garden, at about midnight, and a guitar came flying over the fence, and landed squarely on the lawn. Then, a few weeks later, they did indeed win the lottery.

Mum is no longer with us, and I was watching a Medium on Tiktok, who told me that if you want contact from loved ones who have passed, you have to ask out loud for it and ask for a sign. I asked out loud for my Mum to show me a butterfly. A few weeks later, on Mother's Day, my DH gave me a card from the dogs. It was a plain card, with a pin badge in the centre of a beautiful butterfly. I wear it on my coat now.

Shortly after that, I asked my Mum to show me a bumblebee. The next day, I see a FB advert posted by a lady with the same name as my Mum, who happens to make woollen bumblebees. The name of her company was my Mum's favourite flower.

I asked about 2 weeks ago for Mum to show me a feather in an unusual place. The next day my dog was sitting in the garden with a white feather stuck to his lips!

I told my sister about the above, and she asked her daughter "What would you want Nanna to show you, and she said "the moon and stars". Later that day they went to a restaurant, and the greeter at the door was wearing a t-shirt with moons and stars on, and her jewellery all had the same theme too. They sat down, a bit freaked out, and my sister asked her daughter what she would think of for the other Nanna (also passed) and she said "the sun", they were then greeted by their server who had a huge tattoo of the sun on her arm!

DH and I were talking about MIL one day, she has also passed away. One of us said something a bit negative and a huge canvas flew off the wall.

I saw a Medium a few months ago - the first and only time I have ever done so. My friend booked it, and gave the Medium no details about us whatsoever, not even our names. This Medium knew my Mum's name. Not the initial or anything vague, she said the right name, first time. She also knew lots of things she had no way of knowing. She knew that the adoption my son was talking about, was no longer going to happen - he and his GF had just decided a few days before not to go ahead. She said my son was about to meet a new woman - this has now happened. She said that my Mum mentioned that someone had been taking naked selfies! Bear in mind, I'm mid 50's! I denied this of course, but actually I had sent DH a saucy selfie a few days before - the only time I have ever done so in our 17 years together. She knew what my husband's job is. She knew that I had a sibling that passed and what their name started with. She knew that the day after the reading was a special day for my Mum (it was their wedding anniversary).

My Mum went to see a Medium many years ago. She had just lost her sister. She (my aunt) was called Pauline, but close friends called her Polly for short. The Medium was rubbish. When they all got up to leave, a woman who had been sat next to my Mum in the audience said "That guy was rubbish. He didn't give anyone any real detail. I mean, you'd want someone to say" :
"Hey, I have your sister here, her name was Pauline, but everyone called her Polly for short".....
My Mum was convinced that her sister used someone else to get the message through.
I have a few more like this. Very strange! I now believe! Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. You can't see radio waves or your broadband signal, but they are very much there regardless!

BiteSizedLife · 01/08/2026 14:13

I think about this often, heard it on the radio.

Young couple want to buy a house. They learn it is probate and the owner died in it, fell down the stairs clocked his head and died. They are not bothered about stuff like that so they put an offer in, buy it.

Few years later a wedding.

Few more years and a baby.

Baby is now a young child and she comes in the kitchen asking her mum for the "bum cream" (sudocrem). Mum says "oh no have you got a sore bottom?"

The girl says
"no mummy it is for the man at the bottom of the stairs, he has hurt his head."

😱😱😱😱

pag3turn3r · 01/08/2026 14:32

HenLen · 01/08/2026 00:08

This is a truly daft response. Trying to think how to explain things to you.

I can assure you, plenty of people say there is proof. And of all the milliions of people on the earth who have claimed this, you are rejecting all of that. You couldn't possibly even examine all the evidence that's available if you lived a hundred lifetimes.

And that's fine, of course, it doesn't matter, we're all entitled to our beliefs. Yours is that ghosts don't exist. It doesn't matter to me, at all, that you need to believe that.

Nowhere have I said ghosts are defnitely real, so please try to stop reading things from such a biased viewpoint. Of course I would be open to the entire secrets of the universe being cracked open for me - not very likely is it?

I won't get to know if God is real, if there's an afterlife or what actually constitutes supernatural activities until I die, or perhaps at that point I will just rot and turn to worm food. I am able to accept that the universe is unknowable. Many are clearly not. But I also know what I have experienced, and realise that those experiences are outwith the natural order that we expect.

That's all that supernatural means - outwith the natural order, inexplicable with our current knowledge.

Ghosts and the supernatural and all things outside your own experience are, in fact, totally natural - they just haven't been explained yet and are very unlikely to be in the next few decades before I die 😆 And in your tiny, limited body with limited senses you can only experience limited things, as can I.

I don't need to dogmatically reject or believe in anything. You really need to stop imagining your viewpoint "I'm right and everyone else who disagrees with me is wrong" is the viewpoint of other people - at least for me, it's not.

As I said, several times on this thread, he only logical position is "I don't know". I have had my own experiences and would love to know for sure what they all meant, but I don't need or expect anyone else to agree with or believe in anything I say.

I do know this however, to pretend humans could possibly understand or even experience a tiny fraction of how the universe works from inside our limited shells is a comfort mechanism, not a reality.

Edited

I literally said I've got an open mind and I'm learning all the time... I change my mind all time.

I've not seen all of the "proof" in the world, but I've never seen anything ever to convince me that there are ghosts.

Ditto the existence of god.

No evidence whatsoever that god exists. No evidence that ghosts exist.

Everyone I've spoken to who believe in ghosts do so because they are convinced they saw one... and their story normally starts "I was asleep and woke up and..." which just suggests to me that they were asleep and dreaming.

If there were compelling evidence, the scientific community would accept there are ghosts and the science behind them would be taught in schools in text books.

Also, I would actually like there to be ghosts and an after life. I'd love to connect with ancestors and my loved ones.

NelsonsGhost · 01/08/2026 14:35

Name changed for this as I've told it so many times in real life.

I don't believe in ghosts but....

About 20 years ago I was a Housing Assistant at a local authority. There was an old couple who lived on the estate I worked on who were a familiar sight around town, always together, rarely apart. One day I took a call from Council Tax who asked if we'd heard that Mr X had died, I turned to the rest of the office to ask if anyone else had heard but they hadn't, so I told CT that and thought nothing of it.

A couple of days later I was in the cash office when Mr X came in to pay his rent, I thought "OK, he's fine", just thinking rumours of his death were false so never thought to check CCTV or payment transactions or anything.

A few weeks after that we had a change around of staff at the Neighbourhood Offices and one of the Housing Officers said "I haven't told you about my supernatural experience". This is the point at which I wish I'd written "Mr X" on a piece of paper and passed it to my colleague because I knew in that moment who she was going to mention.

The Housing Officer had been in the main Housing Office when she had passed by Reception and seen both Mr and Mrs X waiting to be seen. She was astounded a few minutes later when a colleague told her that Mrs X had been in to report that her husband had died a few days earlier The HO was like "but I just saw him, they were waiting together".

So the HO and I both saw the same dead guy, around the same time but we didn't realise until weeks later when we happened to be working together.

Charlie8686 · 01/08/2026 19:01

If people are going to post that they believe and have experienced, please keep sharing your stories! I'm really enjoying reading them. Ignore the skeptics. As Danny Robbins would say, "I know what I saw!".

One of the creepiest ones for me I read a while back was the one of the mum that lived in a haunted house that she said had a horrible atmosphere and a lot of activity, she saw a child often and the child was scared of a man that gave off horrible vibes and he would always be sensed on a certain spot on the stairs. My memory of it is vague so details may not be exact.

Then the one of the woman on webcam to her mum and the mother saw a man walk past behind her that wasn't there.

The Essex nightclub story is good, too.

There's a few stories on here where people have witnessed something together at the same time. A regular story I see is the woman and her husband that saw a couple walking hand in hand across a field that vanish before they get to the gate next to them. Another is of two friends urbexing at an old hospital and both saw a man walk across a room infront of them but he vanished too.

I've had loads of experiences and I do try to rationalise a lot of them and don't automatically jump to ghosts, but lots cannot be explained for me and some have been experienced by others too. I've heard disembodied footsteps at the same time as someone else when nobody was physically there.

CoffeeCantata · 01/08/2026 19:43

I'd like to recommend a film (originally a BBC programme) on YouTube called 'Ghosts on the Underground' about the London tube system. Various workers on the Tube recount their experiences. Just don't watch last thing at night!

One which scared me involved a member of staff on the platforms at a station which was closed at the time. He was carrying out checks and reporting back to the control room where 2 colleagues were watching him via CCTV. The people in the control room asked him who it was standing just behind him - they could see a person looking over his shoulder and were concerned because no-one but staff should have been there. The man looked round but couldn't see anyone - and he checked around the platform. Very spooky!

MoodyMargaret11 · 01/08/2026 20:09

Rhaidimiddim · 29/07/2026 18:15

Whereas I hate it when you tell someone what happened and they try to debunk it, with one explanation after another. All of which you have already considered yourself because you're not stupid and found just don't make sense.

But when you give your detailed reasons why the first explanation they chuck out doesn't work, or the next, instead of becoming thoughtful and curious they get frustrated. In one case, someone yelled "you just want to believe".

This has been my experience too. Such people are so close minded, eager to shut down and shit on any other interpretation. Even if there is no logical explanation that they could point out, they'll insist that "there is one".

Laurmolonlabe · 01/08/2026 23:14

Futurehappiness · 01/08/2026 10:56

I believe my eyes and ears on the basis that they are generally reliable tools in navigating my everyday life. But they are not infallible. I consider that the purpose of the brain and the senses is to interpret reality in a way that makes sense to us as humans, rather than faithfully recalling every detail of reality as it actually is.

The sky is blue. That is manifestly true; you look up at the sky and your eyes see blueness. Except that it is not blue; the blueness that our eyes perceive is an optical illusion caused by how our eyes and brain interpret light. The sky is blue; the sky is not blue. Two contradictory statements, simultaneously true.

My understanding is that the brain, eyes and ears work just as hard at screening out information perceived as unhelpful, as they do at letting useful information in. I remember a time when I temporarily lost my hearing - wax in both ears. When I had it removed and I could hear again, I realised I could hear everything. I mean everything; I came out of the surgery and was overwhelmed by the sounds of insects in the hedge, and could hear conversations across the square a couple of hundred feet away.

I was with my sister at the time but I couldn't hold down a conversation with her because of the intrusive noise, I was bombarded by the noise to the extent that it was really hard to function and think. I got back to normal in an hour or so and the noise levels settled down; I would guess by my brain resuming the work of blocking out the 'unnecessary' noise.

What other information could they be screening out on the grounds that we don't 'need' it? So again; suggest keeping an open mind and not taking things

Right back at you- I suggest you try keeping an open mind instead of falling back on received wisdom.
I certainly don't think the senses are infallible- but how do you filter what you should believe from them and what you shouldn't?- you have already made up your mind.

cornflakecrunchie · 01/08/2026 23:17

I could type all night about my experiences, but it wouldn't make any difference if you're determined not to believe!
'For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who do not believe, no proof is possible.'

MasterBeth · 01/08/2026 23:22

squirrelchops2 · 29/07/2026 11:13

I'm with you on this.

Why the fuck would you believe this shit that someone else made up? What possible reason do you have to believe it,? Seriously, "energy imprint", what the fuck?

auntiemaryhadaredcanary · 02/08/2026 06:28

cornflakecrunchie · 01/08/2026 23:17

I could type all night about my experiences, but it wouldn't make any difference if you're determined not to believe!
'For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who do not believe, no proof is possible.'

@cornflakecrunchie
For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who do not believe, no proof is possible.'

This sums it up nicely ^

browneyes77 · 02/08/2026 08:54

I think ghosts exist.

I’m a logical person and always look for a logical explanation for things.

But I’m also an open minded person, and sometimes there are just some things that can’t be explained by science or anything else.

Naunet · 02/08/2026 09:08

6 months ago I'd have said i dont believe in ghosts, but I've been really interested in quantum physics recently and that's full of impossible, incredible discoveries we don't understand, so now I think anything is possible.

Futurehappiness · 02/08/2026 10:16

Laurmolonlabe · 01/08/2026 23:14

Right back at you- I suggest you try keeping an open mind instead of falling back on received wisdom.
I certainly don't think the senses are infallible- but how do you filter what you should believe from them and what you shouldn't?- you have already made up your mind.

I don't know how/why you conclude that I don't keep an open mind. I don't know any more than anyone else about what is true, I haven't made up my mind about anything. Quote from Plato: 'I know that I know nothing'.

I don't think we can really do anything to filter out what not to believe from the information provided by the senses; just be aware of their limitations. Many of the anecdotes told by people (including several posters on this thread) are about things that happened despite, or regardless of, any preconceptions they may have had.

Laurmolonlabe · 02/08/2026 10:32

Futurehappiness · 02/08/2026 10:16

I don't know how/why you conclude that I don't keep an open mind. I don't know any more than anyone else about what is true, I haven't made up my mind about anything. Quote from Plato: 'I know that I know nothing'.

I don't think we can really do anything to filter out what not to believe from the information provided by the senses; just be aware of their limitations. Many of the anecdotes told by people (including several posters on this thread) are about things that happened despite, or regardless of, any preconceptions they may have had.

That quote is actually Socrates related by Plato.

Futurehappiness · 02/08/2026 10:36

Laurmolonlabe · 02/08/2026 10:32

That quote is actually Socrates related by Plato.

Thanks that is good to know @Laurmolonlabe

Metalmotha · 02/08/2026 10:40

MoodyMargaret11 · 01/08/2026 20:09

This has been my experience too. Such people are so close minded, eager to shut down and shit on any other interpretation. Even if there is no logical explanation that they could point out, they'll insist that "there is one".

I think it’s fascinating why people are so eager to debunk something they can’t possibly debunk. Their “gotcha” moments are almost invariably just alternative explanations based on their own world view.

i often wonder if they can’t cope with uncertainty, whether they’re scared of there being some afterlife they associate with judgement, whether they’re scared find comfort in a strict cause/effect. There seems to be little study on the psychology of skeptics, I think this would be a fascinating area of study.

flapjackfairy · 02/08/2026 10:44

MasterBeth · 01/08/2026 23:22

Why the fuck would you believe this shit that someone else made up? What possible reason do you have to believe it,? Seriously, "energy imprint", what the fuck?

can you imagine if you showed someone from the middle ages or ancient times a photo or film? Or put a metal pin on a piece of plastic that then created the most amazing music ! If you described any of that to them they would think you were mad.
Even today there is lots of stuff we still cannot explain with science .We can know the process of something happening and even why something happens but not always the big question of how it happens. It doesn't seem any more ridiculous to me to consider ' recordings' of previous events somehow becoming imprinted into physical objects and hence being triggered somehow to replay. It sounds somewhat logical to me in fact.

CoffeeCantata · 02/08/2026 10:45

Naunet · 02/08/2026 09:08

6 months ago I'd have said i dont believe in ghosts, but I've been really interested in quantum physics recently and that's full of impossible, incredible discoveries we don't understand, so now I think anything is possible.

My faith is in science - just to be clear. But my point is that many of the phenomena people call the supernatural may one day be explained by science, just as electricity was.

Yes - some of the most implausible things we humans will hear are the discoveries of quantum physics! They do take some believing, don't they?

When I watch Uncanny, I always feel sorry for Kieran, the supposed sceptic and scientist, who has to come up with a scientific explanations for the most bizarre occurrences. Often the most far-fetched things on that programme are poor Kieran's explanations! Several family members had witnessed a sizeable handbag moving at speed right across a room and Kieran (with a bit of a desperate look) suggested it might have been caused by a draught...er, a draught which no-one in the room felt). Bless him.

CoffeeCantata · 02/08/2026 10:49

MasterBeth · 01/08/2026 23:22

Why the fuck would you believe this shit that someone else made up? What possible reason do you have to believe it,? Seriously, "energy imprint", what the fuck?

Also, I remember as a student arguing with a friend who was an analytical chemist and a Christian. I said 'How, as a scientist, can you believe this stuff'? His response was that science cannot explain everything and in fact, it's interesting how many scientists are religious believers.

I don't have faith, but I'm interested in the fact that many scientists do.

And I've grown up a bit and wouldn't dream of making someone justify their faith nowadays!

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 02/08/2026 10:52

I have an open mind, but two extremely level headed relatives have had weird experiences.

Also, I was in my local National Trust shop not long ago, waiting to pay, when the two women in front of me asked the woman on the till whether the house (17thC Ham House) was haunted.

She said she didn’t know, but the ghost tours they used to hold had been stopped. And a visitor once remarked to one of the staff how interesting it was that they had people in authentic period costumes in and out of the rooms.
They had no such thing!

Must say I’ve only been inside that house once, and didn’t care for it at all, it felt strange and unfriendly. To me it even looks forbidding from the outside.

Arran2024 · 02/08/2026 11:06

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 02/08/2026 10:52

I have an open mind, but two extremely level headed relatives have had weird experiences.

Also, I was in my local National Trust shop not long ago, waiting to pay, when the two women in front of me asked the woman on the till whether the house (17thC Ham House) was haunted.

She said she didn’t know, but the ghost tours they used to hold had been stopped. And a visitor once remarked to one of the staff how interesting it was that they had people in authentic period costumes in and out of the rooms.
They had no such thing!

Must say I’ve only been inside that house once, and didn’t care for it at all, it felt strange and unfriendly. To me it even looks forbidding from the outside.

Edited

Ham House is considered to be one of the most haunted houses in the UK. Years since I've been inside but i do like the tea house https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&source=android-browser&q=ham+house+haunted#lfId=ChxjMe

Before you continue to Google Search

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&ie=UTF-8&q=ham+house+haunted&source=android-browser#lfId=ChxjMe

Rhaidimiddim · 02/08/2026 16:05

auntiemaryhadaredcanary · 02/08/2026 06:28

@cornflakecrunchie
For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who do not believe, no proof is possible.'

This sums it up nicely ^

I'd quibble with that.

I don't "believe" that I went to Sainsbury's this afternoon and spoke with a cashier with a pink hairband. It happened, it is not a matter of "belief".

In the same way, people don't "believe" that they saw the thing that they saw. It happened, it is not a matter of "belief". (Especially so when more than one person shared the experience.)

And, as attested to by lots of people on this thread who've had supernatural experiences and still can't puzzle out what happened, it doesn't mean that they start "believing" in e.g. ghosts - they just start living with the realisation that there are phenomena that science can't yet explain.

auntiemaryhadaredcanary · 02/08/2026 16:25

Rhaidimiddim · 02/08/2026 16:05

I'd quibble with that.

I don't "believe" that I went to Sainsbury's this afternoon and spoke with a cashier with a pink hairband. It happened, it is not a matter of "belief".

In the same way, people don't "believe" that they saw the thing that they saw. It happened, it is not a matter of "belief". (Especially so when more than one person shared the experience.)

And, as attested to by lots of people on this thread who've had supernatural experiences and still can't puzzle out what happened, it doesn't mean that they start "believing" in e.g. ghosts - they just start living with the realisation that there are phenomena that science can't yet explain.

OK.