To think adults believing in ghosts are odd

[nothingmore]

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.

STUFF we don't know.

Perhaps someone on this thread who thinks ghosts exist would like to explain why they are always so elusive?

Surely, by now, one would have appeared and hung around long enough to be photographed / examined / interviewed - preferably by Richard Dawkins?

Until this happens (and why shouldn't it happen?) I am going to state that ghosts do not exist; and anyone who claims to have seen one has either made an honest mistake or is lying / deluded / hallucinating / fantasising / etc.

@timshelthechoice why?!

YANBU. It's total nonsense and I doubt the critical thinking abilities of people who "believe".

The pseudo-scientific explanations people try and give are always hilarious - and always seem to include a lot of "oh I can't remember" or "oh I'm not expert".

It is also strange that people who "see" ghosts are always people who lack critical thinking skills in the first place. It's as if ghosts are attracted to people open to believing in made up drivel.

Thats a very insulting statement.I have seen plenty of ghosts.I also suffer from sleep paralysis.But the ghosts i have seen, i wasnt asleep.Wide awake i was.

I wonder why people dismiss it.Are they afraid of what they might find.

I don't know, I've had a few things happen or I've seen that there was no rational explanation for.

Personally I think it's a little arrogant to dismiss things entirely because you've never experienced it yourself. An open mind to everything is the way I like to think about such matters.

Yes but were you wide awake in the middle of the night?!

What tickles me is that the woo believers seem to think that skeptics are striding through life with their eyes squeezed shut and their fingers in their ears, singing 'Lalala' in their utter determination not to see a ghost.

Why wouldn't we want to see a ghost? I'd be enormously interested to have my worldview shaken up so thoroughly, if it turned out that there were an entire realm of supernatural beings able to manifest themselves to humans.

YABU. We live in a house that has many ghosts. Three sets of people who lived here before us moved out after a very short time because they couldn't handle it. I didn't know that when we started experiencing things. My DC aged 3 talked about them, naming names that wouldn't be heard by modern day children. We hear running footsteps, voices and laughter. DH and my in laws who weren't believers before, believe now, after experiencing things. I can't say more because it would be outing, but we do have an lot of activity in our house.

OP, what do you think about religious people who believe in god, miracles or anything "supernatural" that the monotheistic religions have as parts of their faith? Are you as dismissive of the followers of religion as you are those who believe in ghosts?

I've yet to see, hear or read anything that would suggest that ghosts are real. I don't believe in ghosts, God, or anything superstitious. That said, yes, I agree we don't know everything.

But if ghosts were real in the sense that people say they are (instead of being some kind of psychological phenomenon, or similar), then why has no evidence ever been shared for them?

To the PP who say they have seen a ghost before: what was it like? Are we talking about the stereotypical "person at 50% opacity who floats about", or a paranormal feeling, or something else entirely?

OP, what do you think about religious people who believe in god, miracles or anything "supernatural" that the monotheistic religions have as parts of their faith?

How many religious believers have claimed to you to have regular direct physical experience of God floating through their bedroom wall?

This is a really interesting discussion! I do think that we all inhabit a world that has been created by our own minds, and the unique way in which our minds process the things our senses detect means that we each have different experiences of the same thing. The power of the mind is extraordinary and it is utterly wrong to dismiss someone's experience because it does not match yours. I am reasonably intelligent and am able to rationally explain things away most of the time, but I am also very right brained, creative, open to suggestion so I have at times managed to give myself the creeps - this is what my mind does to me!

It’s all so daft.

If ghosts existed, by 2019 there would be some evidence of them. But there isn’t and never has been and never will be.

I do however believe that some people have extremely vivid imaginations.

I have seen one, it was the most boring ghost you could imagine. It was a middle aged man in a brown raincoat, he walked into a corner and disappeared. It was in the daytime, I was awake & walking about.

I don't think I'm thick. I have a PhD and I teach critical thinking.

The way I see it is that the laws of physics say that an energy be created or destroyed, only transferred or changed from one form to another, so what happens to our energy when we die?

It's stored in our cells and is either transferred to other organisms as food through decomposition, or is burned and the energy releases that way.

It was a middle aged man in a brown raincoat

Why would a ghost be wearing a raincoat?! Raincoats don't have souls.

I should also add, that I experience sleep terrors as an adult and the first time it happened I was absolutely convinced someone had been standing over me in bed - we were on holiday, so it was a different environment and I felt as though I had seen a ghost. It has happened to me many times since, including in my own bed at home, so it is definitely a quirk of my mind and not a ghost! I also see huge spiders. And feel as though I am slipping away (dying). I don't remember any of the screaming, thrashing about and running around that I do, but I do remember those things. My mind has created all of that. I can imagine that if I didn't have my dh to tell me I'd been screaming my head off, I might think that I had a ghostly visitor - it feels very real!

SquireOfGreenway
"Perhaps someone on this thread who thinks ghosts exist would like to explain why they are always so elusive?"

Beetlejuice explains that

The ghost that haunted my Grandmother's house (and later the university that was built over it) was seen by many people. I was in a pub one night and we got talking, in a group, none of us knew each other. The subject came up about horror filns and then ghosts. A old man said he'd seen a ghost as he was going home one night. He said my Grandmother's street. He'd told his wife about it. I asked her if she'd be honest if i gave a description and it wasn't the same. We ended up writing the description down. Yep, same ghost. She faded as she got to my Grandmother's door (she had a distinctive house).

They might be electrical outlines, they are well documented and not disputed by scientists. I wonder if they fade after a while.

@SquireOfGreenway

I have only seen one apparition and I have no idea why but then I am not actively seeking out or studying this issue in any way.

These are questions to ask those in the "field" of studying this phenomena rather than those who have seen or claimed to have seen one.

There have been some interesting photos taken if you do a search (and a whole bunch of made up crap!) and again who is to say these "ghosts" are here all the time? I have never believed that there are "Ghosts" walking around us all the time.

Regarding the question as to why they are so "elusive" could be the same reason why gorillas were thought to be "made up creature". Gorillas were only discovered when someone went to actively seek them out.

Until something is actively studied in a scientific setting/ manner and it can be "proven" of their existence the majority of people will not believe something unless they have visual or evidence based data.

But then people that have or claim to have had a "visual" experience of this phenomena are considered by those who have not had the same experience as having a mental health issue/ brain disease or disorder or be as thick as shit.

It's the same as whether "Bigfoot" exists. Some people will believe because they have had a sighting, some will believe based on recent hair and blood sampling done, some will believe because they have seen a foot print and some will only ever believe if they have a dead one to touch and feel. Some will never believe even if one is a live capture.

Mr BC and I are very sceptical of most things unless we have scientific evidence (is the Earth flat? No it's bloody not!) but seeing something that should not have been there and should not exist in the confines of what is known is a very strange experience to say the least.

Hell we tried to research the shit out of what we saw to try and debunk or confirm it but we are still; at this time; left scratching our heads.

At the present time trying to "scientifically" prove that "ghosts" exist is tricky because the whole point of a scientific experiment requires that you can re-create that experiment again and again for it to be proven and so far they have not managed to do this at the present time. But going forward, who knows what they will find?

But then what do I know? I'm apparently unable to think critically or I believe in a bunch of drivel or have something wrong with my brain.

1000% theres definitely something where we used to live. One time I was kn the bath babysitting and I heard someone heavily without a doubt coming up the stairs I jumped out the bath went to the stairs and there was nothing there. 6 month old was kin bed sont wasn't them. I spent the next few hours with the parents searching there house top to bottom I was absolutely petrified someone was in the house.

Then another time a few of us would hear what sounded like someone scraping there leg across the hallway theh would go up and down and nip and down again you would go out and it would stop. You would come home to the fire stones placed in a line, pots and pans behind the kitchen door and would often hear the utensil draw being slammed again and again.

Believe it or not is entirely upto the individual but I definitely believe there is something.

My fiance used to laugh at me. That was until he stayed in my mother's house. He isn't laughing anymore 😂

@goodwinter

To the PP who say they have seen a ghost before: what was it like? Are we talking about the stereotypical "person at 50% opacity who floats about", or a paranormal feeling, or something else entirely?

Mine was solid but I only saw the bottom half so it was waist down. I could see the wide white sailor trousers and I wish I had seen the shoes as well but I must admit I was very freaked out LOL

Mr BC was more lucky and saw a whole solid figure. He could make out the clothing and it had blonde hair but couldn't make out the face. As he moved towards it stretched it's arms, walked normally to the bedroom door and then wasn't there anymore just as I opened the door. We actually searched the house and even woke up our flat mate in case it was his boyfriend but only people there was 3 of us (and flat mate always locked his bedroom door)

Neither of us are prone to flights of fancy, have a brain disease or are driveling idiots and if Mr BC gets onto a new "thing" he has to research it too death (plus I'm kind of the same).

This happened YEARS ago and we haven't seen anything "woo" since.

It is no more odd than millions of people of people believing in a God that they have never seen and have absolutely no proof of. Would people ridicule them so readily?

aprillygirl

Completely agree with you.

I've had a few things happen or I've seen that there was no rational explanation for

Just because you don't know what the rational explanation is, doesn't mean their wasn't one. There's always a rational explanation for everything.

We live in a house that has many ghosts. Three sets of people who lived here before us moved out after a very short time because they couldn't handle it. I didn't know that when we started experiencing things. My DC aged 3 talked about them, naming names that wouldn't be heard by modern day children. We hear running footsteps, voices and laughter. DH and my in laws who weren't believers before, believe now, after experiencing things. I can't say more because it would be outing, but we do have an lot of activity in our house.

Yet I bet a pound to a penny that neither you nor any previous owners have been able to capture any evidence of this activity. No pictures, no film. And as soon as you install CCTV, the activity will mysteriously stop. It's the same boring old story every time.