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 feel sorry for the Op for thinking that anyone who doesn't think in the same way as her is a bit simple.

maybe you were prone to mild UTIs as a child? mice on floor/bugs on door is consistant with delirium which can be caused by infections

Nope no utis . Rarely ill

I'm very skeptical of anything to do with ghosts, mediums etc . But I've had experiences happen that I cannot explain, and nor can anyone else when I ask for their views.

Just one example, when I was 14 I had guinea pigs that I kept indoors in the winter in the conservatory. I fed them after school one day, they were absolutely fine. I walked in the conservatory 15 minutes later and as soon as I stepped through the conservatory door I had the most overwhelming feeling / sense of death. I'd never felt it before and had nothing to compare it to, and have felt it on lesser scales since.

I couldn't see the guinea pigs from the door when I stepped in, went over to the cage and found one of them literally expanding , its stomach was filling up with gas, 5 mins later he was dead.

I don't know how to explain that apart from on a biological level I think animals can sense death, there was absolutely nothing wrong with him a few mins before when I'd fed them both. And then when I walked through the door that second time it hit me instantly.

There have been other examples sort of similar to that, that like I said i cant explain.

But I remain skeptical. i don't think, if there is any sort of after death experience, that it is meant to be recorded as physical proof.

It's alright, I've fixed it. Compromise all round

I'm fascinated by alien abductiions/sightings too

I don't think there's anything supernatural about sensing death, that's just nature/instincts, i.e. science

"I'm saying most people believe the scientific method is correct because experts say it is"

But you don't need an expert. The scientific method is "obviously" correct.

DH is a firm believer in ghosts and he's not lacking anything, is very good at thinking and has a very logical mind.

On the other hand I don't believe, even though I've had a couple of very strange experiences. DH likes to call me Scully!

The thing is, neither of us belittle, look down on or patronise anyone who doesn't share the same beliefs. It's a shame other people can't be like that.

jesus, god, father Christmas, supernatural, aliens, the tooth fairy, homeopathy. just let everyone get on with believing what they want. if they want to think the sky is green, let them if its not hurting you.

I don't believe in woo stuff either but I wouldn't start a thread slagging off those who do, and commenting on their intelligence. Why does it affect those who don't believe? It's mostly harmless.

StillStayingClassySanDiego

I don't see how it's patronising to feel sorry for people who are being hoodwinked. I feel sorry for people who are sold herbal remedies with no healing properties as well. These fraudsters are preying on the vulnerable and they know it. That's why I feel sorry for them. Most of the people who believe in supernatural things and go to psychics are missing something in their life, which is why they go to them in the first place.

It's mostly harmless.

nothing bad's ever happened as a result in the human tendancy to believe they are more powerful than animalistic life and death being encouraged?

I can think of quite a lot of harm throughout history from powerful people believing that larger entities can speak to/through them!

But what harm does it do you? There are a lot of choices and beliefs that I don't share with people but I'm not arrogant enough to be so patronising.

not to mention horrific abuse as a result of people believing in possession

PinkSparklyPussyCat

I didn't say they were stupid. My mum believes in this rubbish and genuinely thinks that her psychic is talking to her dad for her. For the rest of us, it's obvious that my mum finds comfort in this because her dad died when she was 6. The thing she lacks is a father. She has visited psychics for years because she craves the father she never got, she wants to hear how proud he would have been for her and things like that.

Like I said, I don't begrudge anyone believing it, I just feel sorry that they have had something happen to them that means they need to be reassured in this way. I also feel sorry that more often than not they are the victims of fraudsters.

People's actions can be evil of course. But to feel sorry for people with different beliefs implies a superiority that is rather twattish

But what harm does it do you? none directly I guess, so I shouldn't care about what happens to anyone else?

I feel really sorry for ...... blah blah blah.

You don't feel sorry for them though really,you've started a thread with the aim of slagging off people who do choose to believe.

You've just dressed it first with the sorry word.

I would say most of the time I'm skeptic. Mostly when people put things on here I can immediately think of various really obvious things that explain it away. Mostly I would never even have considered a woo explanation.

But occasionally I have been in a situation where I experience something. Dh is totally skeptic so I'm not effected by him, and the dc are pretty skeptic.
We stayed at a house once and there was definitely something. Sad rather than aggressive. There's also a picture of an ancestor of mine that I'm meant to look like and I've had things near that too. I've even had it once time when I didn't even know the picture was in the room (on top of the wardrobe).

But I do roll my eyes at most-particularly finding white feathers. But I'd never say anything as it brings people comfort.

A strange one was from a very non-woo friend. One of our mutual friends died. For the fortnight/three weeks after she died she kept having the doorbell go and no one was there, and the kettle kept putting itself on. Eventually she said in frustration "

Who are you to judge whether people are missing something in their lives? I obviously don't agree with people being conned but, if it's not costing anything or hurting anyone, what's it got to do with anyone else?

My mother in law used to buy all sorts from the health shop. Maybe it didn't have any healing properties but she believed it did and it made her feel better. What's wrong with that?

LiviaDrusillaAugusta

People have died as a result of exorcisms or people trying to get "spirits" out of them. People have killed themselves in an attempt to be reunited with their loved ones in the spirit world. People have murdered other people because spirits told them to. Someone killed himself because he was told the pipes knocking in his room were an evil spirit that needed to be cleansed - this man had autism and genuinely believed it.

Yeah, believing ghosts has never done anyone any harm has it?

And the OP was actually about believing in ghosts, not religion - I get that people disagree with religion but who really gives a shiny shite if people think ghosts exist?

So they may be evil but just
Believing doesn't make them stupid

I don't believe in ghosts or life after death or anything of the supernatural variety. I think so-called mediums or psychics who take advantage of grief-stricken people are beneath contempt.

However, I think the OP is absurdly condescending. "They must be lacking something"? No, they just have a different belief system.