Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to help get over my fear of ghost's

152 replies

emms1981 · 20/07/2014 12:10

I've been reading the spooky posts on here. Knew it was a bad idea but keep getting drawn to it. I find the stories very interesting but also scary.
I've never seen a ghost but I hate going in dark rooms or being alone.
I live in quite a new house so feel safe, my dh works most evenings and I know when the floorboards creek its either one of the boys sneeking out of bed or my fat cat.
I visit my dad at weekends and when the house is full I feel fine but its an old house and don't know the "history" eg I know a few years ago the house over the road the single man who lived there killed himself I don't know how I knew he died but the killing himself part I only found out last year and after he passed one of the lights at the top of the house kept coming on and this freaked me out, so I know if a house is old there are bound to be things that have happed in it.

I've been staying at my dads this weekend to look after his dog just me and my boys and during the day I'm fine but at night shit myself. No reason to I haven't heard or seen anything but couldn't sit alone in the front room for long and went to bed shortly after the kids. My dad has always said the house is unlucky he's lived here since 1996 but I think that's just because my mum left him.
I wish I knew how to get over the fear. The bathroom has a mirror over the sink and I kept thinking I could see things but I think it was just the trousers hanging up behind me or my hair moving. I know it sounds silly but I honestly don't think I could live in an old house out of choise.

OP posts:
VanessaShanesa · 20/07/2014 13:32

Remember that ghosts don't exist. You might as well be afraid of unicorns.

If that doesn't help (and it should, if you're a reasonably intelligent adult with no SN) then remember that even if the world was overrun with ghosts, there's never been an instance of a person being harmed by one.

Wear an elastic band on your wrist and every time you get nervous, snap it and tell yourself firmly to grow up.

WorraLiberty · 20/07/2014 13:50

If the op believes in ghosts then it's not helpful to say they don't exist

What?? Confused

So it's more helpful to indulge her and pretend they actually do?

I must remember that the next time my DS thinks there's a monster under his bed.

"Oh yes son, I can see him. He looks like a right hungry, dangerous one too"

gamerchick · 20/07/2014 13:54

No, saying they won't hurt you isn't helpful either guilty as charged.

OP there are a couple of very helpful posts that might help. Sift through the grow up and impatient crap and try some of the suggestions out.
fwiw ghosts or no ghosts it's dawned spooky being alone in the house night time a bit of noise might distract you enough to relax.

gamerchick · 20/07/2014 13:54

*damned

Nancy66 · 20/07/2014 14:02

it's a lot more helpful than a load of bollocks about them being friendly.
Why would they be friendly? They're here to haunt people aren't they?

WorraLiberty · 20/07/2014 14:06

No, saying they won't hurt you isn't helpful either guilty as charged

Oh yes sorry

They're going to chop off your head and shit down your throat

Is that better?

Seriously, I don't get where people are coming from if they think that not indulging the OP when it comes to the existence of ghosts isn't helpful.

OP, if I were you I'd see your GP and discuss your anxiety. They should be able to come up with the best solution with you.

Good luck. It's shit to be anxious to such an extent that it affects your everyday life, but it can be treated.

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/07/2014 14:07

Well your not going up change her beliefs by telling her they don't exist are you?

I believe. There's not a damn thing anyone can say or do to change that so dismissing it isn't going to help is it?

WorraLiberty · 20/07/2014 14:09

Nor is indulging it to be fair

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/07/2014 14:14

You see it as indulging because you don't believe. That's fine your entitled to that belief no ones asking you to change it. But remember people do and have reason to so you can't indulge someone who has already had beliefs co formed. It's dismissing then. And not helping either.

Vivacia · 20/07/2014 14:17

It doesn't make sense. Why would living in a new build prevent ghosts from haunting?

WorraLiberty · 20/07/2014 14:21

Because Vivacia real ghosts only live in haunted countryside mansions or old pubs that want free advertising.

I've yet to hear of a ghost wearing a baseball cap and Nike trainers, with their jeans hanging halfway down their arse.

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/07/2014 14:23

I've yet to hear of a ghost wearing a baseball cap and Nike trainers, with their jeans hanging halfway down their arse

Perhaps because no one would be seen dead in that outfit

WorraLiberty · 20/07/2014 14:25

Grin Grin Fair point!

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/07/2014 14:28

:o

Gileswithachainsaw · 20/07/2014 14:28

:o

DontGiveAwayTheHomeworld · 20/07/2014 14:30

Who's to say ghosts don't exist? Sure, you might never have seen one, might never see one in your entire life, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not there. Funny how it's childish to believe in ghosts, yet believing in an omnipotent being that watches over us is completely acceptable.

OP, my mum always told me that the living can hurt you more than the dead. I turn it into a joke - what's a ghost going to do, wave its arms and say "boo"?

Vivacia · 20/07/2014 14:32

Funny how it's childish to believe in ghosts, yet believing in an omnipotent being that watches over us is completely acceptable.

Well, not really. They're both superstitious, supernatural beliefs. A better analogy would be belief in bacteria.

DontGiveAwayTheHomeworld · 20/07/2014 14:35

Bacteria has been proven to exist. We can observe it. My point is that belief in any version of God is acceptable, when belief in ghosts isn't. That makes no sense.

Nancy66 · 20/07/2014 14:37

ohhh scary!!

WorraLiberty · 20/07/2014 14:37

It makes perfect sense to me because I don't believe in God either, or the Tooth Fairy.

The jury's still out on Santa Claus cos I'm hoping he'll stump up the prezzies on the big day Grin

BetweenDogandWolf · 20/07/2014 14:40

Well, I believe in ghosts because I lived in a student house that was haunted and I saw a ghost. It didn't do any of us any harm!

The house I live in now is an older house than that one, and at least two previous residents have died here but I have never seen any ghosts or felt that it was haunted at all so I can't really see how just because a house is old it's going to be haunted! I think ghosts are quite rare which is why some people don't believe in them!

Vivacia · 20/07/2014 14:43

Bacteria has been proven to exist. We can observe it.

Technically proof only exists in mathematics. Science relies upon evidence. You say that you have seen bacteria. I haven't. I have seen photos of them. I have also seen photos of ghosts.

VampireSquid · 20/07/2014 14:43

I used to be terrified of Santa Claus...the idea of him coming into my room when I was sleeping. I'd hide my money in case he'd steal it.

pictish · 20/07/2014 14:44

Just think about it...how many people do you know that have been murdered by a ghost?
That would be none.

Vivacia · 20/07/2014 14:45

My point is that belief in any version of God is acceptable, when belief in ghosts isn't

I disagree with that premise.

Swipe left for the next trending thread