Do you believe in ghosts/paranormal?

[Glitterandpolkadots]

I am curious to know if people do believe in ghosts/paranormal? If you do, what made you believe in it?

I think I do. Have had odd things happen. Once went to a campsite up by Blackpool, very odd atmosphere as soon as we arrived, we all just felt flat. I couldn't sleep one night due to snoring and I saw a bright white light/figure outside the tent and a childlike voice saying it hurts over and over again. Just couldn't wait to leave.

I believe there’s something. I’ve had a couple of unsettling experiences that can’t be explained.

Nobody on this thread claims that current science can explain absolutely everything, but the number of people claiming to have lived in haunted houses or worked in haunted shops or hospitals or whatever doesn’t line up with the fact that none of this alleged activity has ever been scientifically demonstrated or proved. Why do you think that is?

Have you heard of Occam’s Razor? It says that the most likely explanation (i.e. that the supposed ghost activity has never been proved because, er, there are no such things as ghosts) is probably the correct explanation.

Yes I do, had told many experiences with others witnessing it too for me to not believe.

That said I'm open to the idea of scientific explanations.

Energy, historic buildings retaining photographic type events ect so that people see them in a sort of cloudy reply of time?

I also don't think everything in this world can be easily explained,

@OldTinHat

What kind of recorded activity would it take to convince PPs who ask for it?

An interview with a self-proclaimed 'ghost' or spirit, in which the subject explains at length the science behind the afterlife, their incorporeal state, how they manifest/demanifest, why it appears that only a few living individuals randomly go on to become an active member of the 'spirit world', and why the vast majority of living people, who are no physiologically different from 'believers', live their entire lives without every encountering anything that could in any way be attributed to the 'paranormal'.

And I'd want repeated, measurable, demonstrable instances of the 'ghost' demonstrating that they are indeed exactly what they claim to be, under strict laboratory conditions.

Until that time, a single shred of anything tangible would be a start.

I walked into our old village pub the other day. It is a building that’s been around for 500 years. At a table in the corner sat a group of people holding a low conversation. It was curious because they were talking about the world being flat and rejecting the notion it had been proven otherwise. The oddest thing was their clothes. These were modern day clothing exactly to same as other customers which shocked me a bit because they were not dressed in 17th century clothing.

Targus, that's seriously spooky.

I am not sure that for whatever reason it is possible to recreate the conditions scientifically, there may be factors which are beyond human control affecting the results. Just imagine that! Humans not knowing everything.
Not everyone who has these experiences can be lying, mistaken or deluded.

Targus, I have just reread your post. It is early and I am unwell. I take your point and some people do seem suggestible and others may indeed be mistaken, but not all people who believe or who have had experiences fall into that category.

I strongly suspect that the day will come when there will be enough scientific research to support people's experiences, but it may be a long time before this happens.

@lamthewombat would you be so sneering towards people who are religious? Literally nobody could claim a million pound prize to prove the existance of a god, but we continue to cheerfully allow huge swathes of world society to be organised and controlled by that idea.

If you plan to enjoy having the Easter weekend off rather than campaign about that being bullshit, I think you need to accept that humans often believe things for which there is no evidence.

I believe our mind plays tricks on us. I mean I once took magic mushrooms and the things I witnessed were unbelievable. So at times of stress when chemicals are racing through our brains anything is possible!

[quote 2reefsin30knots]@lamthewombat would you be so sneering towards people who are religious? Literally nobody could claim a million pound prize to prove the existance of a god, but we continue to cheerfully allow huge swathes of world society to be organised and controlled by that idea.

If you plan to enjoy having the Easter weekend off rather than campaign about that being bullshit, I think you need to accept that humans often believe things for which there is no evidence.[/quote]
It’s interesting because I was just thinking about this too.
When it comes to religion, almost any religion i imagine, the faithful swallow hook, line and sinker every word they read and hear. They unquestionably believe the impossible (wine turning to blood, immaculate conception, Jesus’ miracles, the Bible) despite evidence that, for example, the New Testament was written many, many years after Jesus’ death)
I am not religious, I used to be, I have had experiences that I can’t find an explanation for, I do believe there are things that happen ‘supernaturally’ that cannot be explained

I believe our planet has been visited by things that don't live here

Scientists don't understand fibromyalgia and some don't even believe it's real yet it's accepted as a very real condition. Science doesn't know everything and what they do know changes all the time. Many things can't be recreated in labs doesn't mean they aren't real. Honestly the sheer arrogance of people who think humans are capable of knowing everything about the world and the universe always amuses me.

No, but I had a weird experience.

Staying at a fisherman’s cottage, thick old walls, with my newborn baby and parents. My dad recorded a video tour. We watched the video back, it’s totally silent until a very deep voice speaks- a full sentence. We can’t figure out what the voice is saying because the accent is very thick- it sounds like the local accent, but none of the words are decipherable.

We are properly spooked! But rationally, I know there’s got to be an explanation.

Why is it only people who died in Victorian times come back to haunt us and not people who died in the 80s etc, never reports of a ghost in a shell suit!!

@ForeverLooking

'that's Coldplay...' 😂

Which is worse than a ghost!

I don't believe in ghosts per se, but when we visited the 9/11 memorial site in New York, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. And I found it really distressing to watch people taking selfies/posing for photos there. There was an "energy" or a "vibe" that I found really distressing for some reason.

I felt the same when visiting the beaches of Normandy on a school trip aged 16. I got really worked up as I just felt something and it wasn't a nice feeling. The teacher said it was just thinking about what had happened there, but I thought it was more than that.

Yes I do but I don’t like it. I’ve seen things move on their own, I heard my dead cat in the house, dh has heard and seen him, things have vanished and returned on their own, we’ve heard footsteps upstairs in our own house.

This weeks been v stressful and I keep turning around to see a dark shadow at my heels vanish. I’m far too preoccupied to conjure up a dark shadow.

I'm on the fence - my father, a cosmologist/theoretical physicist, used to work at the the royal observatory when it was at Herstmonceux Castle. He would often be there overnight observing (obviously) and would recant tales of hearing distant footsteps and drumming which would get closer to the room he was in and then stop - there was a story of a drummer boy from the civil war that still hung about, and colleagues of his had caught glimpses apparently.

But being sleep deprived could give an explanation.

No. I don’t. I’ve had a few ‘odd’ experiences in my life but just because I can’t immediately explain them doesn’t mean it’s ghosts or paranormal activity.

Shane is correct, there are many people who sneer at others because there are things that can't be explained in this world. Not just 'hauntings' .

No, I'm an adult.

@ShaneTwane

Scientists don't understand fibromyalgia and some don't even believe it's real yet it's accepted as a very real condition. Science doesn't know everything and what they do know changes all the time. Many things can't be recreated in labs doesn't mean they aren't real. Honestly the sheer arrogance of people who think humans are capable of knowing everything about the world and the universe always amuses me.

Once more for anyone who (1) hasn’t read the thread properly and (2) is in a self-righteous froth that not everyone believes their ghost stories, nobody on this thread has claimed that current science can explain everything. The Higgs Boson particle was only discovered in 2012.

However, when so many people are claiming to have seen and interacted with ghosts, don’t you think it’s odd that nobody has demonstrated or proved it? Ever?

[quote 2reefsin30knots]@lamthewombat would you be so sneering towards people who are religious? Literally nobody could claim a million pound prize to prove the existance of a god, but we continue to cheerfully allow huge swathes of world society to be organised and controlled by that idea.

If you plan to enjoy having the Easter weekend off rather than campaign about that being bullshit, I think you need to accept that humans often believe things for which there is no evidence.[/quote]
Is anyone claiming that God pushed a box of crisps off a shelf in a bakery stockroom? Or that they ‘felt watched’ by God in an old holiday cottage? Or that God was in the habit of moving furniture in empty rooms, or stomping across landings in old houses?

No?

Well, that is probably because people who are religious understand that religious belief is a leap of faith. The ghost believers are quite different. They have seen things WITH THEIR OWN EYES and anyone who doesn’t believe whole-heartedly in the paranormal on the basis of the anecdote, or who suggests that there is likely to be an alternative,more practical explanation for the experience, is a big meanie who sneers.

I always used to be sceptical until recently

I've seen a figure in the bedroom doorway. Tall man with a long coat and walking stick. I only see him for a few seconds and then it disappears, started seeing this for the last 2 years not very frequently though 🤷‍♀️