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.

If I wasn't a critical thinker or wasn't able to make connections between things, I could swear blind I'd seen ghosts. I see terrifying, solid people and can sometimes feel them but it's to do with a sleep disorder. It's 'real' and clear, but isn't. I've heard others describe similar experiences who really believe they've had paranormal experiences but it's obvious that they're talking about sleep paralysis.

Thanks @badcat666!

Re: the comparison to believing in God, or miracles, etc... I wouldn't call anyone weird or look down on them for being religious, but yes, I think they're "wrong".

I can understand faith and religion through the lens of helping someone feel comfort in difficult times, or wanting to believe there's something bigger than us, a higher purpose - i.e. psychological/sociological reasons.

I can't, however, fathom actual belief in a God. I can't wrap my head around how someone can think that it's real at all - much the same as my feelings on ghosts.

I saw a program on TV many years ago. 30 people who believed in ghosts were split into 2 groups of 15. There were taken to stay in an very old hotel. Group A were told tomorrow they would be visiting a haunted castle and the hotel was just a stop over. Group B were told the old hotel was haunted by a young woman in a white robe who was murdered there 150 years ago.

The next morning they were asked how they slept. Group A slept well, and were looking forward to visiting the haunted castle where they were sure they'd see ghosts. 13 of the 15 in group B had a terrible night, ranging from windows opening, unexplained blasts of cold air, moaning, wailing, and 3 people saw the young woman, one of them woke to find her sitting on the bed.

Can any of the believers explain this?

I've seen a ghost...the top half of a person stood in profile and the only way I can describe it was sort of like a solid mist. The strangest part of the whole thing was my brother reporting he had seen it as well before I even told him (and no we aren't crazy and 100% compos mentis). My DH on the other hand is the worlds biggest skeptic and thinks the only spirits I encountered that day were the ones down the pub . Even to this day, the logical part of my brain does question what I saw because there ARE explanations.

Let people believe in whatever they want - as my mum quoted Hamlet the other day "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

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

@IvanaPee

i never said it was the middle of the night.

It was at a communion,loads of people there.And i seen a woman standing in the other room.I kept staring and my bil asked what i was looking at.I told him.Got pictures devoloped and loads of orbs.But i know what i saw.

Also i house i lived in,seen the previous owner.He didnt want us there and made it a hell place to live.We soon moved.

@Lifecraft

It's the good old fashioned "herd mentality" thing. tell a group of people something will happen before it happens and low and behold "it" will happen. A bit like mass hysteria outbreaks in large groups of people, all it takes is one person to say "there's a ghooooooost!!" and bam! everyone is "seeing one".

A bit like "psychics" who "claim" to speak to the "dead". I don't believe in that either as it's just an ability to read a human being and give them vague information or what they want to hear.

@Badcat666 - I’ll be waiting for the PM!

I don’t know why people are so hung up on visual evidence? I can’t see in ultraviolet but I’m pretty sure that is accepted in court as evidence.

We can only see and hear outside of our biological range with the help of technology, it’s not far fetched to think we just don’t have the equipment. As it goes we don’t know who can see more than we perceive either. There’s an assumption that some people have more rods in their eyes that allow them to see more colours than others. It’s hard to know though since we take it as a given we all see ‘red’ as the same thing. Much like dogs have a limited range of colours they can see. Or how about those high pitched alarm things they use to disperse teenagers or the ones for cats? The majority can’t hear them but maybe some people can.

I just can’t be dismissive when I know I don’t know everything.

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.

Lifecraft trust me I tried to rationalise what happened but there honestly no way what happened could've happened without some kind of woo involvement. I still think about it a few years later.

They might be electrical outlines, they are well documented and not disputed by scientists.

Right. I'm not going to even ask for credible sources here, because there aren't any.

as my mum quoted Hamlet the other day "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

Thread BINGO.

@Sagradafamiliar

totally agree that a majority of "sightings" when people wake up is to with sleep paralysis or wake dreaming (or whatever you call it) but in mine and MrBC case we were both wide awake and in brightly lit rooms which again mystified us both! (and we didn't "see" it at the same time, mine was either months or at least a year afterwards in which time I had completely forgotten about it all which is why I admit to screaming like a little girl LOL!)

Sometimes there is a rational explanation.

Like
[1] Low frequency sound
[2] Mold
[3] Carbon Monoxide
[4] drafts
[5] Power of Suggestion.

But when you have seen things,felt things since you where small.You just know some things are unexplainable.

Lifecraft - your reasoning that "you judge people who believe in ghosts to be probably a bit thick, and definitely lacking critical thinking skills" is quite insulting to e.g. my grandfather and my mother (father and daughter), and my grandfather definitely has seen a ghost both as a child in a castle in Bavaria (he grew up there) and in a flat in a house where he lived.

My mother hasn't seen ghosts as such but has had some very strange supernatural experiences which can't be explained, one of which also runs in tandem with another not close friend of hers, events. I, myself have never seen ghosts, sort of take an interest, have maybe 'seen'/'heard' something but never properly investigated this.

The above people (including me) are definitely not 'probably a bit thick and definitely lacking in critical thinking skills'.

I think it's arrogant to believe that as a race we know absolutely everything now. As technology and science have evolved so has our evidence and understanding of the universe, nature and everything in between. What we knew to be fact 500 years ago is entirely different to what we know now.

Never had a "woo" experience and I'm entirely unspookable, but I wouldn't automatically question the intelligence of anyone who believes in something I don't.

dustarr73 - rational explanations for me are:-

• mice - dead at night - one actually sounded like our DCat (now sadly dead) who used to eat his Iams downstairs in the hall - only realised it was mice when I realised he was on the bed next to me and DH! grin

• mice - again - in spare room which I was making up for a visitor and taking a chance to escape from DC - heard a distinct rustling, almost crackling, looked down at side of the bed (room had been hoovered but hadn't stupidly paid attention to the very sides of the bed much - cue mouse droppings!

The very strange thing is - I've 3 DCats - in flats and in my current house - the last DCat lived there and the 2 DCats before him moved from different flats to live there with me and DH. The other DCats lived to a normal age and sadly died - of mostly old age and illness.

My last DCat suddenly got very ill this late spring after turning 5 in April and sadly had to be put to sleep in June. All of us were devastated. He was a real people cat too, would follow me around, was more like a dog than a cat. We have definitely seen/felt his energy around us and strangely enough a Reiki practising friend of mine who gave him some Reiki - mentioned after he'd died that his energy would be with us, around the house. I've not seen him as such, maybe out of the corner of my eye. So I believe a bit more than I used to.

FudgeBrownie2019 - totally agree with you and your post.

I think it's arrogant to believe that as a race we know absolutely everything now. As technology and science have evolved so has our evidence and understanding of the universe, nature and everything in between. What we knew to be fact 500 years ago is entirely different to what we know now

This 1000000000%!

I have never seen a ghost but I will not categorically say they don't exist.

I don't believe but I'm happy to be proven wrong! Love a good ghost story. I think people that believe in religions are odd so 🤷🏻‍♀️ (not that I'd ever say that to their face!)

Where is there proof that god exists? It's the same questions for ghosts/spirits. After all religious people believe in the "Holy Spirit".

YANBU

(Same applies to gods, 9-11 conspiracies and brexit. And I suspect a venn diagram would show a large overlap )

Shit OP you mean fairies don't exist? You'll be telling me unicorns don't next!

I wish some of you who have haunted houses, would invite the skeptics on this thread to come and stay for a couple of nights. It would be interesting to hear the feedback.

Like most people, I've seen/heard things that I can't explain, so remain pretty open minded.

I think it's arrogant to believe that as a race we know absolutely everything now. As technology and science have evolved so has our evidence and understanding of the universe, nature and everything in between. What we knew to be fact 500 years ago is entirely different to what we know now

What a load of nonsense. Of course we don't know everything. But some things we do know. We know that there is no reason to believe something for which there is no evidence, and actually runs contrary to the existing evidence.

Also, that nonsense about facts 500 years ago is total rubbish. Lots of stuff we knew thousands of years ago, that the Greeks/Egyptians/Romans/Chinese discovered, it still true. They are facts we've known for ages. The Greeks knew 3500 years ago the Earth wasn't flat. Are you saying they were wrong?

The fact that you could write such rubbish, and others are agreeing with you, just confirms my opinion of people who believe in ghosts.

I want to know why people only seem to see human spirits/ghosts. Would that be all that we would recognise? Why are people not seeing dog, chicken, horse shaped shadows/misty figures spirits.
Why does it only seem to be humans who stick around after dying?
I'm not trying to be arsey, I'm genuinely interested in any accounts of any different species ghosts sightings because it seems to me that humans are really big headed.

Does it matter? Does it impact on your life?

Let people believe what they want to believe.

I am interested in the paranormal because it’s a bit of fun and an interesting concept.

Your experience is not universal, not everyone sees the world like you do. There may be people who think your interests or odd, or dull, or tedious. It doesn’t matter though because it’s your interest and not theirs. So maybe extend the same courtesy to others.

@BohemianDream

Loads of people have seen "ghost animals". My Mum used to see a "ghost cat" (which I scoffed at until I had my experience).

Google and you will find loads of accounts of "ghost animals".