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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think adults believing in ghosts are odd

328 replies

nothingmore · 09/08/2019 12:22

Hi,

Aibu to think grown adults believing in ghosts is a bit odd?

I have an acquaintance who is also going on about going on ghost hunts and 'investigations' at supposed haunted sights. Of course they always seem to come back from them and say the evenings where 'quiet'.

I feel it's a bit odd that a grown adult can believe in this sort of thing. They're obviously not hurting anyone with this hobby but I find it so strange they're certain that ghosts exist.

OP posts:
SaraNade · 11/08/2019 09:25

@CruellaFeinberg

I screamed a little and ran out of the room to where my relatives were, and told them. I saw what she looks like. I have never forgotten it. I didn't know the woman had died until well after I had the experience, as I said in that post, so it can't be false memory. Because I never seen a picture of that woman before, only after. That's how I know.

Buzzfrightyears · 11/08/2019 09:27

I find it odd to say something definitely doesn’t exist when it can’t be proved. Their existence has been neither proved, nor disproved, so..

PanGalaticGargleBlaster · 11/08/2019 09:35

From experience, most people who say outright that ghosts don't exist, tend to be from lower socio-economic and non-tertiary educated. Their closed mind matches their lack of education. Those that believe or are open to believe tend to be, from what I've experienced, read and heard, to be university educated, often with a Masters (I know 2 with PHDs).

I have a degree in engineering and a masters in subsea and offshore engineering. I don't believe in ghosts because despite centuries of investigation, there is no scientific evidence that any location is inhabited by spirits of the dead. Nobody is claiming to 'know everything', no scientist worth their salt would make such a stupid statement. However, all the anecdotes on this thread are just that, anecdotes, and as they say the plural of anecdote is not data. While it is amusing to watch you vigorously defend the existance of ghosts the more you post the more you establish yourself as a complete moron.

SerenDippitty · 11/08/2019 09:35

I'm curious about whether those who believe/claim to have seen ghosts believe in God?

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 11/08/2019 09:45

No I don’t SerenDippitty

I personally don’t believe in God/s

But neither do I dismiss other people’s belief or claim that are unhinged/foolish/stupid to believe as having read a lot of religious text I find some things difficult to understand or make sense of

It’s simply I don’t personally believe in a god or gods myself I might one day experience something that shall make me change my mind

Macca84 · 11/08/2019 09:59

SaraNade - delusional AND a snob! 😂

Pinkbonbon · 11/08/2019 10:10

I always think the opposite is odd. Like their parents told them ghosts aren't real so they would sleep at night and they STILL believe it lol.

I was always happy on the fence until I saw one. So they are real I'm sorry to say :/ Pretty sure whatever I saw was never a living person though.

Fairies? Actually I don't see why they couldn't be real as they are inter dimensional/spuritual. Would probably draw the line at vampires and werewolves though xD but ya never know.

BertrandRussell · 11/08/2019 10:15

“I find it odd to say something definitely doesn’t exist when it can’t be proved. Their existence has been neither proved, nor disproved, so..”

I agree. However, some things are so vanishingly unlikely that it is possible to say they that they don’t exist. Particularly if every single example that has been properly investigated has proved to have a rational explanation.

Lifecraft · 11/08/2019 10:58

In fact there have been reports of CCTV cameras picking up ghosts.

There is not a single case of a video footage of any supernatural activity that hasn't been proved to be a fake. Not one.

THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FOR GHOSTS.

BertrandRussell · 11/08/2019 11:04

“n fact there have been reports of CCTV cameras picking up ghosts”

Yes, there have been lots of reports of CCTV cameras picking up ghosts. What happened when the footage was analysed?

Jenasaurus · 11/08/2019 11:11

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/how-the-god-you-worship-influences-the-ghosts-you-see-84163

That link is interesting. 18 percent of Americans have seen a ghost and the ghosts seen are directly linked to the type of god they beleive in.

MulticolourMophead · 11/08/2019 12:10

I don't know if ghosts exist or not.

But a couple of things I think are interesting (at least to me).

Poeple have asked why you don't see ghosts in modern clothing. Possibly, it's because they are in modern clothing. I'd think you wouldn't necessarily pay attention to them if they blended in with everyone else. Unless they did something to draw your attention to them, like walking through a wall. People will remember seeing those who aren't wearing modern clothing because they stand out.

I do remember reading something about ghosts a few years ago. That some of them at least are a form of energy "recording", repeating certain actions and not interacting with modern stuff. Then a person comes along who has the right "switch" to trigger a "playback" and they see the "ghost". No need for souls then, it's just a form of recording.

Which makes me think of the ghosts reported at the Treasurer's House in York. Reports of a squad of Roman soldiers taking the same route repeatedly, with their legs cut off as if they were walking on a road lower than the current level of the floor. One report was how they were seen with their legs when part of the floor was dug up for maintenance.

This seems plausible to me, but then, I've not seen anything I'd call a ghost, so not sure.

TheDarkPassenger · 11/08/2019 12:15

I’m an adult that believes, I’m also happy to be called odd by a stranger so meh I guess?

SperanzaWilde · 11/08/2019 12:19

@SperanzaWilde From experience, most people who say outright that ghosts don't exist, tend to be from lower socio-economic and non-tertiary educated. Their closed mind matches their lack of education. Those that believe or are open to believe tend to be, from what I've experienced, read and heard, to be university educated, often with a Masters (I know 2 with PHDs).

That's a lovely theory and one about which you seem terribly exercised but I have four degrees, one of them a DPhil, and am a senior academic, and doctorates are pretty usual in my circles. Grin

Also a considerable body of research suggests you are entirely misguided about the relationship between social class, education and belief in the supernatural.

See Goldstein (2007), Shtulman (2008), Schwadel (2012), Baker (2018) for specifics, but in fact all the research says much the same -- that the more educated a population is, and the higher their social status (ie class and income), the less likely they are to hold supernatural beliefs. Obviously there are variables in gender, age, ethnicity, but broadly, the research says that the more secure and well-established you are in the world, the less likely you are to 'believe'.

Empirically, look at the average audience for Sally Matthews, or the people who bought Doris Stokes books -- that's overwhelmingly a working-class and lower-middle-class audience.

SperanzaWilde · 11/08/2019 12:27

That link is interesting. 18 percent of Americans have seen a ghost and the ghosts seen are directly linked to the type of god they beleive in.

I find those kinds of studies interesting as well -- the sociology/ ethnography of belief in ghosts/demons/jinn or whatever, the fact that we 'see' the kinds of being/experience the kind of hauntings that our culture predisposes us to see. I mean 'ghosts' are fascinating, but I think we create them ourselves.

BertrandRussell · 11/08/2019 12:39

“That link is interesting. 18 percent of Americans have seen a ghost and the ghosts seen are directly linked to the type of god they beleive in.”

I think the same applies to near death experiences too. And when people were being abducted by aliens they matched the aliens from the TV and books....

EdWinchester · 11/08/2019 14:08

From experience, most people who say outright that ghosts don't exist, tend to be from lower socio-economic and non-tertiary educated. Their closed mind matches their lack of education. Those that believe or are open to believe tend to be, from what I've experienced, read and heard, to be university educated, often with a Masters (I know 2 with PHDs).

This has to be one of the silliest things I’ve ever read on here.

If you polled an average audience at a ‘medium’ show, I can pretty much guarantee there wouldn’t be a degree between them 😂😂

Also GPs believe in ghosts, so do most funeral undertakers. You know why? They have seen them in their line of work. I work (and sometimes socialise) with undertakers and crematoria staff. If there’s one group of people who believe less in ghosts or any sort of afterlife, I’d be amazed. 😂😂

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 11/08/2019 14:23

Ii think people who put on medium shoes target a particular audience - those who are desperate for change in their life and that is likely to be those with less money

That isn’t he same as people who may visit a medium for a personal reading for some this is like therapy

Many cultures regardless of your professional standing or education the belief in jinns/afterlife/reincarnation is so entrenched in culture that from religious and cultural beliefs that it’s rarely questioned or something that is believed should not be spoken about

Bwekfusth · 11/08/2019 14:24

How would it be physically possible for a ghost to exist? Are they sentient? They don't have a physical brain (should they exist, which I don't think they do) a brain, surely is absolutely essential for ghosts to do the things they are purportedly capable of doing. What are they made of? If anything. But surely something, else you wouldn't be able to see them. It's very far fetched, a big big stretch to even begin to have the tiniest inclination to believe in such things. I do love a good shit supernatural horror though. And I do wonder what the actual fuck my cat is doing when he stares at nothing for long periods of time.

53rdWay · 11/08/2019 14:26

There is not a single case of a video footage of any supernatural activity that hasn't been proved to be a fake. Not one.

I would think most alleged video footage of supernatural activity is not the kind of footage where you CAN prove it's a fake. Mostly it's just hard to see what's going on, and not at all possible to analyse and prove anything beyond "something moved, sort of."

I don't think any of these videos show disembodied spirits of the dead either, mind. But it seems an odd stance to take to think that there aren't any alleged photos/videos of ghosts (there are tons), or that every such video can be 'analysed' and 'proved' with some kind of definite explanation, fakery or otherwise.

EdWinchester · 11/08/2019 14:40

I’d love to see a ghost! Sadly, it won’t ever happen, what with it being nonsense and all.

Our house is over 400 years old. Loads of people must have died in it. You’d think at least one might appear, dressed in period costume for our entertainment. But no. Bloody lazy bastards.

SmiledWithTheRisingSun · 11/08/2019 14:48

Yes they are odd. So are people who think I they're witches OP 🤷🏼‍♀️

zzzzzzzz12345 · 11/08/2019 14:57

Op I don’t believe. I woke up once to my bed shaking uncontrollably for about a minute. I got up, checked the time, walked around a bit thinking we’d had a little earthquake. Following day contacted seismic activity people who said no seismic activity in area. How do you explain that?

I wasn’t asleep. I wasn’t dreaming. It went on too long after I’d woken up and noticed the time. The cat scarpered. Don’t like to think too much about it to be honest.

KatoPotato · 11/08/2019 15:04

To those who believe in ghosts, doesn't it bother you that you might become one, and the closest you'll get to communicating with the new incumbents of your home is by nudging spoons off tables and making clocks stop?

Sounds boring AF

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 11/08/2019 15:24

Never thought about becoming a ghost

I think it’s more about leaving some sort of emotional feeling that somehow left behind maybe something unresolved or particularly traumatic- that doesn’t though reason with my experience

Hoping i shall not have traumatic unresolved emotions

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