Do you believe in 'ghosts'?

[Bump2021]

I'm not a woo person by nature, I'm more of a sceptic but there has been two or three occasions where I've encountered something unexplainable.

Do you believe in the paranormal?

YANBU - yes (please explain why)
YABU - no, it's a load of bollocks

It is well known among my adult dc we have a family spook. Me, my dh and 3 of my ds's have seen him. As have 2 non family members who weren't In The Know. . A small boy about 3/4. Blonde hair, giggles sometimes. Plays with cars, bounces on beds and has moved a few things over the years. Has moved homes with me many times. First became apparent when I was early 20 's.. Am now 49.

Totally believe.

I've had a few scary encounters

Yes - not the souls of people hanging around in people's hallways, but to the point where I don't think we quite understand time as much as we think we do. I've had a couple of instances, for example, being at a friend's house and seeing someone come up the drive but never reach the door, where it seems to me that things are happening alongside the timeline we assume is current and real.

Scarey encounter was a man sitting on my bed a few nights in a row! It was suggested I spoke to him and told him he was frightening me. I did and he didn't come back.
Also saw my friend who had died - the night before we moved- in my bedroom.. Wearing full biker leathers! His smiling face was very welcome...

Yes i do ,for me far too many people have experiences that have no rational explanation for ghosts / spirits , whatever you call them to not exist .
I can't believe that at death that's it , all that love / energy can't just cease to be .
There is still so much that we as humans still don't know or understand.

Yep. I've seen an animal ghost but not a person.

No.

Ah would love to see our sadly missed ddog...

No.

Not ghosts, but I do believe that presences can remain, such as when you walk into somewhere and it feels 'intense'.

I do actually and it constantly goes against my normal rational, logical self. But I’ve seen and heard things that I can’t explain. I’ve never felt scared. I guess they’ve been nice ghosts.

No. Once you factor in human tendencies to discern patterns/faces in things, tiredness, poor light, being half-awake or dozing, optical illusions, superstitions, hypnagogic and hypnagogic hallucination, suggestibility (especially when in groups of teenagers with an ouija board at night, or in someone already nervy or rattled, alone somewhere that frightens them), over-imaginative young children, superstitions, a liking for a ‘good story’,and a desperate human desire to believe in life after death, that pretty much covers it.

@Santaiscovidfree

It is well known among my adult dc we have a family spook. Me, my dh and 3 of my ds's have seen him. As have 2 non family members who weren't In The Know. . A small boy about 3/4. Blonde hair, giggles sometimes. Plays with cars, bounces on beds and has moved a few things over the years. Has moved homes with me many times. First became apparent when I was early 20 's.. Am now 49.

Ooh that's interesting (and ever so slightly creepy!) Who do you think he is? Have you any idea why he might be attached to you?

Not sure what to believe really. There is a series on Netflicks you might be interested in. I think it's called after death or after life, something like that!

I have never seen a ghost but have had plenty of unexplained things happening and I've had premonitions/visions of things which happened in the next 24 hours

No but I’ve seen 2 so I suppose I must, once as a teen in friends grandparents house a white foggy figure walked through me in her hallway, I just thought wow and carried on messing about with my friends, we were in the middle of a game of blindsman bluff. Then a few years ago while staying in an attic room of the oldest hotel in Scotland I woke during the night aware of a black figure standing over me, again I just pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep

Yes I believe in ghosts. In the first house I bought an elderly couple had lived there. I could always smell lavender on the stairs but thought nothing of it, I found an old bottle of lavender perfume which must have belonged to the old lady. After living there for a few months I was chatting to my neighbour who told me that the old lady had died after falling down the stairs, her DH died a few weeks later. I said prayers etc in the house and the lavender smell vanished.

@Darklylookingdeeply

Not sure what to believe really. There is a series on Netflicks you might be interested in. I think it's called after death or after life, something like that!

Surviving Death I think it's called? I've seen quite a few unexplained things, I've even had one account appear in the books, 'It Happened To Me,' from Fortean times magazine.

Something I'd like to think are real but in all likelihood aren't if I look at the science.

If there were ghosts wouldn't every living thing become a ghost? That's lots of living things throughout history if you go back to the time of the dinosaurs, so already at 100+ million years. Also what about the earliest humans, Homo erectus and neanderthals, etc. Then what about living things that don't live on this planet which in all probability there are out there - do they become ghosts too? Then our 'souls' and personality - they're basically chemicals in our brains so that would need to be able to transfer into some kind of invisible state which doesn't seem likely.

Something I did find interesting is that most hallucinations come from lack of oxygen and carbon monoxide poisoning which is why so many ghost stories were around in Victorian times as most of the street and home lighting came from candles.

I've had a couple of experiences that make me believe.
A ghostly experience as a young teen where I was touched and 'felt' ghostly presence. I was with my mother and grandmother at the time and they shared the experience with me.
I've also had the misfortune of encountering a strange creature that was neither human or animal.
I've told my stories on here before.

.

I don’t know either way. Lots of people claim to have seen ghosts- they can’t all be lying.

I thought I saw a man cycle straight through a hedge once. No hole in the hedge; no sign of the man or his bike when I looked. I’m pretty sure of what I saw too.

Yes, not that I've ever seen one but far too many anecdotal stories. Not that I would claim they were spirits, necessarily. Maybe echoes or glitches or something. But yes, despite being very science and evidence minded I can't deny the overwhelming amount of convincing anecdata from reliable people. There's a lot science hasn't proved yet.

Previously was a very strong no I don't believe in ghosts. Also rolled my eyes a bit at people who did believe. Then went on holiday last year to an old Vicarage. Had an experience one night there that made sure I was a firm believer from that point on. It was not fun and I've never been so scared. Still cannot quite believe that I believe tbh! Messed with my head for some time after.

I don't believe in ghosts after reading the statistic (that I now can't remember) about how many men meet a new partner at their wife's funeral, how many meet their new partner within six months and how many within a year. Because if my husband met a new partner at my funeral I'd haunt the shit out of him but I've never heard of it happening and I can't believe in the history of ever a woman has never been pissed off her husband met his new girlfriend at her funeral.

I think it's the wrong question!

So many people have experiences and to dismiss them as deluded or silly or whatever doesn't help anyone.

The question is really "Do you believe ghosts are from beyond the grave/apparitions of dead people/etc?"

And my answer to that is "No."