To ask why people believe in ghosts and other supernatural nonsense?

[BowieFan]

I just don't get it, I really don't.

There has been no scientific evidence of any genuine psychics or people who can contact the dead (and trust me, people have poured millions into trying to find genuine ones) and yet people still believe this rubbish. How do mediums still make money when it's obvious all they're doing is cold reading?

There's never been a single clear sighting of a ghost or any photographic proof of one.

I really feel sorry for the people who believe this nonsense - they must be lacking something that they feel they have to rely on something that doesn't exist to get answers in their life.

*I just don't get it, I really don't.

There has been no scientific evidence of any genuine psychics or people who can contact the dead (and trust me, people have poured millions into trying to find genuine ones) and yet people still believe this rubbish. How do mediums still make money when it's obvious all they're doing is cold reading?

There's never been a single clear sighting of a ghost or any photographic proof of one.*

There's no scientific evidence of a virgin giving birth to a boy whose father was a god. Walking on water, changing water to wine, waking up from the dead after three days, healing the dead.
Yet people believe. Billions are religious. To me that's on par with the belief in ghosts and supernatural. At least, unlike priests, medium make at a half-arsed attempt to pretend they're talking to someone.

My family do believe in ghosts. My grandparents house would make a believer out of anyone. The things that went on in that house I defy anyone to explain and since my grandmother passed away 6 years ago and the house was sold I have seen it up for sale 4 times and can make a pretty good guess as to why. No one really believes I don't think, not until they experience it for themselves.

I think that those who cannot see beyond science in any way shape or form are often on the spectrum. Everything is viewed as simply black and white with no grey areas. Also it is often the case that people on the spectrum have difficulty admitting they are wrong - for example when they are rude and dismissive to others. I speak with respect to those on the spectrum as my DH and DD both have ASD - and both express themselves in a similar way to the 'scientific' brigade on here. Strangely a few strange things have happened to me with my DH present where he has tried and tried to come up with explanations and failed. Love it when that happens. Science doesn't explain so many things around the intricacies of human relationships - in my experience those people with a much sharper sense of these intricacies are also the people who have unexplainable things happen to them.

One of my dear friends has had quite a few cosmetic jobs done (mostly due to accidents over the years) and a psychic once told her "you definitely have your mother's nose!" and my friend's response was "I fucking hope not, considering what I paid for it!"

Brilliant! I do wish I'd said something at the time to cousin in law to stump her like "my dad didn't have a chin" but I'm not quick off the mark!

those are MY beliefs and you should respect them

I respect people's right to a belief but I certainly don't respect everyone's beliefs. Why should I? Or anyone?

What matters is why an individual needs proof of someones ability that does not concern them. In other words some people can see/hear things others cant but it doesn't make them liars.

starryillusion its true you don't often believe till it happens but ... I have had it all my life and even I still get the 'woah I wonder if that actually happens' thing or get sceptical then realise it already happened to me several times and totally forgot about it To be fair there are a lot of people looking for attention so being sceptical isn't always a bad thing.

I think I'm in the "live and let live" camp. If people want to believe in ghosts and past lives etc then go for it they're not harming anyone.

But people can fuck right off charging others £25 a pop who are vulnerable and/or mourning into allowing them to believe they can talk to their dead loved one. They can't, stop exploiting people!

One of the saddest MN threads I ever read was many years ago where the OP's husband had died the year before. A lady started at her work (they worked as civil servants or something equally as non-woo) who insisted she spoke to the dead and that her husband had a message for her. The OP didn't want to hear it as she didn't believe in that sort of thing and the woman and other colleagues would follow her about saying "oh go on it could be important". I think at one point they followed her into the kitchen and pretty much cornered her IRL hearing the 'message'. I remember feeling so angry for her! Can't remember what happened but hope she reported the woman and her band of dopey followers

Science can prove only that something exists; it cannot prove that something does not exist.

OP I think it's rather arrogant to feel you have all the answers.
And I speak as a research scientist and an atheist.

Not believing in the supernatural is not "thinking you have all the answers"

it's accepting that we actually do have some of the answers- and also not feeling the need to fill any gaps existing in our current knowledge with nonsense.

I think there's something lacking in the lives of people who need to run peoples beliefs down to feel superior.

I don't even know where to start with arguments that appeal to the law of energy conservation. I can only suppose that those who are persuaded by it are also persuaded that, when they burn logs on a Halloween bonfire, they are also creating tree ghosts, and that there are ghosts of just about everything that undergoes these sorts of drastic changes.

And likely on the spectrum for not seeing "beyond" science? Well, I don't even know what beyond science means: it's a conceptually woolly term that doesn't mean anything, and seems to allow the introduction of all kinds of fantastic entities on someone's say-so. I would like someone to explain in concrete terms precisely what it means.

I do think that those who sincerely believe in paranormal phenomena are not, on this particular issue, fully utilizing their critical thinking skills. Most such individuals have no idea what a proper logical argument is, and are incapable of spelling out the premises that motive their conclusion. They don't seem to fully grasp that anecdotes are not evidence of any sort, and infer all sorts of things based purely upon their own experience. That's fine if it convinces them. The problem is that they become offended when the rest of us don't take it as fact.

Because it's fun.

I think that sometimes, people experience things that are so strange they cannot be explained, such as sightings of 'ghosts', or 'poltergeist' activity.
That doesn't make them unintelligent or lacking something in their life.

I believe that these experiences though rare, are real, and that one day science will be able to explain them. We still have a lot to learn.

Absolutely yes, YABU! Kind of surprised at your superior tone, you aren't going to win many friends here - if you're so convinced it's all nonsense then where is YOUR proof? All entirely subjective and there are a million shades of grey here. People gain a lot of comfort in their own perception of events and if that includes psychic readings, ghosts, reincarnation, seances etc. etc. then isn't it kinder to live and let live? If anything in today's miserable climate we should be learning to accept others' views as much as they might not be akin to our own.

I do think that those who sincerely believe in paranormal phenomena are not, on this particular issue, fully utilizing their critical thinking skills. Most such individuals have no idea what a proper logical argument is, and are incapable of spelling out the premises that motive their conclusion. They don't seem to fully grasp that anecdotes are not evidence of any sort, and infer all sorts of things based purely upon their own experience. That's fine if it convinces them. The problem is that they become offended when the rest of us don't take it as fact.

Absolutely this. Thanks for articulating it far better than I ever could.

I am no so closed-minded to say there isn't the slightest possibility that the supernatural realm may exist. I am willing to keep an open mind. I don't think that makes me an idiot. Just because there is no proof doesn't mean there won't eventually be proof. I can entertain the idea of ghosts.

If you're so adamant that there is not even the smallest possibility , I suggest you try the underground tour in Edinburgh, it's £10 and completely historical. Opened my mind up to amazing possibilities.

OP, I think it's easier to persuade people of the non-existence of things like possession or zombies, than it is to get them to mistrust the evidence of their own senses. After all, we still value eyewitness evidence in courts of law, even though psychologists have shown how flawed it often is, due to suggestion and filling in of incomplete memories. And it's an important part of our psychology to believe what we see - how would we function otherwise?

Also, there is a cultural stigma to "seeing things that aren't there", an assumption that it must reflect something "wrong" with the person, because it's only relatively recently that science has come to realise how vulnerable the "normal" brain is to this kind of event, and come up with serious explanations for it. There hasn't been time for that to filter through into the culture.

i don't need your sympathy op. i feel sorry for you. you are an opinionated closed off soul. do one

I live in a house that has been in my family a long time. When we moved in here, my then 3 year old DD came to me and asked me who the old lady with the dog in her room was.
My grandmother who had a dog who went everywhere with her died in that room, my daughter had no way of knowing, she didn't know about my grandmother or the dog.
I'm very sceptical of supernatural stuff, but that did make the hairs on my neck stand up!

People can believe whatever they like.
I think it's nonsense but that's MY belief but I don't KNOW if ghosts exist.
What does bother me is that there is a so called medium who takes money from a friend of mine regularly and tells her a load of nonsense every time. Nothing I can do about that though because my friend hangs on to her every word....and it is her money to throw away.

To be fair, I never said I know for sure that ghosts don't exist. Just that, based on 250+ years of science, photography and now filming has never captured an actual ghost sighting that has been witnessed by several people and caught on camera.

Yes, there are things science can't explain but that doesn't mean they're supernatural. There's rivers in the world where we know they lead to a certain sea but have no idea how they get there - that doesn't mean they're supernatural, just that we haven't got to the stage where we can scientifically show their working.

I suggest you try the underground tour in Edinburgh, it's £10 and completely historical. Opened my mind up to amazing possibilities.

No it isn't. it is a load of schlock-ridden nonsense to entertain tourists. I live in Edinburgh, have been on the tour and know one of the guides.

People believe in the supernatural for a number of reasons. The most common being, religious/cultural reasons, personal experience, comfort, and enjoyment. My DS is 9yrs old and already understands that different people believe different things.

Are you under 25 years old OP?