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Do you believe in ghosts/paranormal?

218 replies

Glitterandpolkadots · 05/04/2022 08:56

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.

OP posts:
GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 06/04/2022 10:51

I don’t think that just because something has not been proved under lab conditions, that means it doesn’t exist.

To take a slightly different example, my DM was occasionally acutely telepathic over long distances, but only when someone close was in some sort of extreme stress/distress. I knew of it only twice in her lifetime, but each time she had dreamt exact details at the time it was happening. So her ability - and she was a hyper sensitive type anyway - could never have been proved under conditions.

However I don’t put that down to anything supernatural - I think some people’s brains can pick up thought waves that most people can’t. Perhaps not so surprising when you think of how complex the human brain is - and AFAIK they still don’t know what every bit of it does.

Who would have believed, say 50 years ago, that you could hold a small device in your hand (say a Kindle), press a button, and within seconds, an entire book of 150,000 pages would whizz into it out of apparently nowhere?

So I dare say there are certain processes science has yet to work out and understand.

NarcissasMumintheDoghouse · 06/04/2022 11:03

@Helpwithbills

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!!
If you see someone in Victorian costume, you do a double-take, look twice and call it a ghost. If you see someone in contemporary dress, you don't give then a second glance (unless they walk through a wall or disappear).

You might be seeing ghosts in contemporary dress all the time.

A few posters here describe ghosts in contemporary dress.

mydogisthebest · 06/04/2022 11:11

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Iamthewombat · 06/04/2022 11:17

You might be seeing ghosts in contemporary dress all the time.

I hope that this is a joke, but I fear otherwise.

Iamthewombat · 06/04/2022 11:19

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Iamthewombat · 06/04/2022 11:23

To take a slightly different example, my DM was occasionally acutely telepathic over long distances, but only when someone close was in some sort of extreme stress/distress. I knew of it only twice in her lifetime, but each time she had dreamt exact details at the time it was happening. So her ability - and she was a hyper sensitive type anyway - could never have been proved under conditions.

Of course it could. What you have described is a set of circumstances that could absolutely have been tested scientifically. It would need you or one of your family to be artificially subjected to extreme stress or distress though!

TooBigForMyBoots · 06/04/2022 11:27

@Iamthewombat, like when that poster said No, I'm an adult? And the other insulting posts toward believers?

LindaEllen · 06/04/2022 11:32

The rational part of my brain would like to say no. But then I've had a few things happen to me in the past that tell me otherwise.

I don't know what to believe.

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 06/04/2022 11:38

To take a slightly different example, my DM was occasionally acutely telepathic over long distances, but only when someone close was in some sort of extreme stress/distress. I knew of it only twice in her lifetime, but each time she had dreamt exact details at the time it was happening. So her ability - and she was a hyper sensitive type anyway - could never have been proved under conditions.

This has happened to me. I dreamed my mother's death, and the condition she died of, before it happened. I knew when something was seriously wrong with my grandmother. I called from America when I somehow sensed she was seriously ill.

Some people might say that was psychic, spooky, second sight, whatever. The way I see it is that I knew these people very well. I'd clearly, obviously unconsciously, picked up on tiny little indications that something was not right. And this manifested itself when I was at a distance from those people and my brain had processed it, also unconsciously, in sleep and seemingly uncanny premonitions.

The dream about my mother was, admittedly, a good two years before she even showed the first signs of illness - and her illness progressed remarkably quickly, a mere five weeks from the first sign something was seriously wrong and three weeks from her diagnosis. But her cousin had just died of the same (very rare) condition, we were close and her death shook me, and naturally my worst fear was losing my mum in the same circumstances.

That this fate did actually transpire was nothing more than a tragic coincidence. I, personally, don't believe my 'sixth sense' derived from anything other than earthly means, and the bizarre human unconscious behaving as inexplicably as it generally does.

bumpermom · 06/04/2022 12:01

Why do non believers think they have superior intelligence to people who people who believe? They always have to look down and patronise others with opposing opinions. Do you really think that humans know everything there is to know about our world and the universe? It is very small minded to think there is nothing beyond what we know or have scientifically proven.

Chiefofstaff · 06/04/2022 13:04

noticed similar during my visit to the Auschwitz camp too. There was one area outdoors which was more of a wide, woodland path. Further away from the barracks or any other memorials or buildings. We were surrounded by trees, it was a beautiful sunny warm day and could have been a park if you didn't know where you were, and yet we could hear no sounds of nature at all. Usually in any outdoors area you'd hear birds whistling in the trees and see them in the branches and bushes but it was just unnaturally still. Very, very eerie. The whole area of course felt so oppressive and sad but I will never forget that particular area of strange stillness and heavy silence.

But could this be because you are aware of what horrors had happened there? I wonder if you had no knowledge whatsoever about the history of the place or if someone had told you it used to be an office or something benign, whether your perceptions would have been different? Not nearing birds could have been because of the time of year you visited - birds don’t sing all year round.

TooBigForMyBoots · 06/04/2022 13:28

Why do non believers think they have superior intelligence to people who people who believe?

It's a belief that some people hold. Like belief in the paranormal.

AnnaSW1 · 06/04/2022 13:57

@bumpermom maybe because of things like being able to see with total clarity that every singe 'medium' etc uses the same process of cold reading to manipulate and deceive bereaved people

bumpermom · 06/04/2022 14:02

[quote AnnaSW1]@bumpermom maybe because of things like being able to see with total clarity that every singe 'medium' etc uses the same process of cold reading to manipulate and deceive bereaved people [/quote]
Yes many mediums and more than likely using peoples grief for their own benefit but that still doesn't mean there is nothing else out there. Also doesn't mean people can look down on other people due to what they believe.

mydogisthebest · 06/04/2022 14:05

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mydogisthebest · 06/04/2022 14:07

[quote AnnaSW1]@bumpermom maybe because of things like being able to see with total clarity that every singe 'medium' etc uses the same process of cold reading to manipulate and deceive bereaved people [/quote]
Unless you have been to every single medium then you cannot possible say this.

It's not only bereaved people who go to a medium

glebaisaword · 06/04/2022 14:22

@Chiefofstaff I get what you are saying, but it was a beautiful sunny day where you'd normally see and hear signs of nature in the trees. There were other areas on the edges of the camp where birdsong was heard. Of course it could be something geographical and logical to do with that specific bit of path, but the feeling of that particular woodland area wasn't the sadness like the other parts of the camp and if you didn't know you'd think it was just a nice open countryside space. The memorials, barracks and other parts were not in sight. It was just a certain area where everything went very quiet despite being lined with high trees, no birds, literally no outdoor sounds at all, stillness. Even my very sceptical rational ex H noticed it and he's usually completely oblivious to changes in surroundings, atmosphere and so on. It was just such a strange pocket of heaviness and silence and not explainable to me. I always wondered why that area and what in particular might have happened or been there. Just eerie and has obviously stayed with me as something unusual.

Kevinbaconsrealwife · 06/04/2022 14:28

@veronicagoldberg…….I had exactly the same experience as you at Auschwitz, word for word…… Sad

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 06/04/2022 14:45

It is very small minded to think there is nothing beyond what we know or have scientifically proven

This is a complete misrepresentation of 'non believers'.

Non-believers recognise the universe is full of unexplained phenomenon, they believe in science. What causes the incredulity and totally understandable mocking response, is 'believers' rush to attribute everything unexplained to 'ghosts', 'the paranormal', 'spirits', 'ESP', and all sorts of woo nonsense that has absolutely no credibility.

Likewise with religion. How did that happen? Science - we don't know. The religions - god did it.

It's the need to explain absolutely everything, even when the explanations themselves are utterly risible.

NarcissasMumintheDoghouse · 06/04/2022 15:16

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

"What causes the incredulity and totally understandable mocking response, is 'believers' rush to attribute everything unexplained to 'ghosts', 'the paranormal', 'spirits', 'ESP', and all sorts of woo nonsense"

But this isn't true, is it.

As many on this thread alone have attested:

You start off agnostic or don't believe in woo or don't think about it at all much
Then something really odd happens
You look for a plausible explanation
You can't find one
So you start to acknowledge that there might be something to this umbrella term called psi

It is not a rushed process, as you seem to think.

And even after accepting that the paranormal might be an actual thing, you still don't "rush to attribute" anything out of the ordinary to woo; you do what you've always done, and try to find a rational explanation.

TooBigForMyBoots · 06/04/2022 15:22

What causes the incredulity and totally understandable mocking response, is 'believers' rush to attribute everything unexplained to 'ghosts', 'the paranormal', 'spirits', 'ESP', and all sorts of woo nonsense that has absolutely no credibility.

Non belief causes the incredulity.

The mocking response is caused by the belief that they are superior to those who do paranormal. Most non believers have the incredulity, but not the scorn and spite.

Lweji · 06/04/2022 15:25

No.

Most terms I see associated with anything paranormal only show how little people know about the natural world.
"Energy", really?

IncompleteSenten · 06/04/2022 15:27

No.

Lweji · 06/04/2022 15:27

You look for a plausible explanation
You can't find one
So you start to acknowledge that there might be something to this umbrella term called psi

It only shows lack of knowledge, either by the person or by science in general.
It doesn't mean there's any woo involved.

peaceanddove · 06/04/2022 15:36

I am 100% sensible, cynical and non woo. But the quiet, country lane outside my Aunt's house terrifies me. No idea why. Never told a soul.

Then caught a taxi to my Aunt's house one night and, out of the blue, the driver confessed he avoided driving down that lane, even in daylight, because it scared him. I hadn't breathed a word of my own fear to him.

How can 2 strangers have such a fear of a quiet, country lane? How?

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