Believing in ghosts

[StupidFaces]

I used to, now I think it’s ridiculous. People have been trying to prove the existence of ghosts for over 150 years and yet not one scrap of credible evidence to suggest they exist. I wish they did, I’d love it to be real but it just doesn’t make sense for them to exist does it?

Surely if ghosts were real, abattoirs would be haunted to fuck by the ghosts of dead cows? How come nobody ever sees a ghost dressed in trackies and Nike trainers? Why are they only ever dressed in Victorian/medieval clothes etc?

Do people think ghosts of fish haunt the ocean?

For those that do believe … what do you think about the above scenarios?

For those that done believe … would you be happy to spend a night alone in a supposedly haunted castle?

I think I was as convinced as you that it's all nonsense. I utterly believed what Henry Marsh the Neurosurgeon says that he knows too much about how the brain functions to believe that there can be any afterlife of any sort.

Then I heard many people, I mean really sensible, trustworthy people all tell me about hearing voices and sensing 'ladies in white' in my house. The people were paying guests....over a period of years...all with the exact same experience. They didn't know anything about each other or the house.

I don't think people divide into delusional and those who 'know ghosts are nonsense' Sometimes the latter are persuaded there is something going on we can't explain.

If someone could present me with any explanation for that phenomenon however woo or scientific I would be so interested to know the answer. I want to believe it's all nonsense....but I've no proof any other way.

Sorry, I should add that when the guests heard a voice it used their name. When I heard the voice it said my name clearly right by my ear on several occasions randomly over a period of months. It's only ever happened in that room in that house, never anywhere else so is it me or is it something to do with the room, woo or otherwise? Can anyone who understands how the mind works please explain what that could be?

If it was a problem (doesn't sound like it is?) you could ask someone to test whether you have standing waves in that room - two appliances that just happen to vibrate at the same frequency and at the right distance & wavelength so the waves meet in the room. It's been found to cause a lot of serious ghost problems, but it's expensive because one or both of the appliances might be quite far from your house.

Another common cause is electricity - either static from man-made fibres or an electrical fault. I've TWICE caught electrical fires because of 'woo' feelings. Once I was on my own, so didn't even consider a ghost. The other time lots of people said they got a bad feeling from my friend's basement. I said no, it's your wiring. That night it caught fire - a couple of hours after they'd called the fire service because I nagged them, and they arrived at exactly the right time.

I can't explain how I 'know' it's a fire but I did prevent two major incidents!

I have seen quite a lot of figures, just like stills in a photograph. I have also been swooped on by horrible evil spirits, that's not fun and I have leapt out of bed with my covers on before now. They are all hallucinations in my case, usually on waking in the night, they are known as hypnopompic and hypnagogic hallucinations. They are very common, especially on falling asleep, the commonest one is hearing a doorbell or knock or your name said. I had one just the other day. The ones waking in the night are your more 'ghostly' type if you like, sleep paralysis, hallucinations, spiders, feeling someone pressing on you. I usually just scream really really loudly!

I don't believe in ghosts, even after all those experiences. These are well-known and documented hallucinations to do with the sleep-wake in-between state, it's like you are dreaming but awake for a few seconds.

If I saw something in the middle of the day it might be different, although some people do hallucinate in the daytime if they have dementia or certain diseases or seizures or all kinds. Smell hallucinations are also quite common.

The other thing that convinced me these aren't real ghosts is that the reason for these hallucinations is just medicine, lots of antidepressants and other medicines cause strange experiences, voices and seeing things are (rare) side effects of medications as well as mental illness, but people don't know that even though they are listed on the list of side effects! I take a fairly standard medication and it was only when I went online I found lots of people had nightmares, lucid dreams and night-time sleep disorders including hallucinations on them, before that I'd assumed it was some type of trauma disturbance. I need the meds so I just put up with it plus I am not scared to fall asleep as they don't happen often and I know what they are anyway.

That's a good point about medications, @Highdaysandholidays1. I've been on a couple of threads here, where posters were suffering bad hallucinations with serotonin syndrome. Other common causes are thyroid disorder or thyroid medication, diabetes or insulin, and bladder infections.

OK, maybe there are ghosts! Straight after I hit 'post' on that, my cooker blew a fuse 😮😂

That's so interesting GarlicGrace. We sold the property and moved on about a decade ago now but something you've said really struck a long forgotten chord with me. I'd completely forgotten that the electrics in that house were very odd. E.g. if you put too many lights on and then the oven everything would fuse. We had a lot of rewiring done, including in the basement room but there were still problems. We would hear popping and cracking from sockets and oOne night my husband was asleep in the room I mentioned and woke to find sparks coming from a socket.

I have to say we were so used to odd things happening that we were never scared there and, because we'd had the electrics overhauled we thought the sparks/electric wierdness was down to the 'woo' and just lived with it. Perhaps there was a technical problem.

What an interesting slant on this you've given me. Thank you.

OK, maybe there are ghosts! Straight after I hit 'post' on that, my cooker blew a fuse 😮😂

No way!!! I just read this after posting my mail about ovens! Hells bells!

What a twat. People are on here to share their stories and experiences, if you don’t like it then move along….

Mine is on its last legs. @BungalowLil. But maybe you should check yours is Ok ... 👀

Another incident. It was evening, and I was getting was getting ready to travel somewhere the following day, just for that day; I was returning in the evening.

I had a small rucksack that I was taking with me. I was sure that I'd put my mobile phone in it, but couldn't find it. I emptied the rucksack out completely, every pocket, main compartment, it definitely wasn't there. I checked elsewhere around the house but couldn't find it, so got a spare phone charging so I could use that instead.

Later that evening my mum, who was staying with us, called to me upstairs, from the living room, "Here's your phone, Unctuous, it's in the bottom of your rucksack!" She seemed to think that I just hadn't looked properly.

As I said, I tipped that rucksack upside down, emptied every pocket; my phone was absolutely NOT in it. And my mum wouldn't mess around with me like that, I know that 100%. I couldn't be bothered arguing with her about not looking properly for it. I've had numerous incidents like this over the years, I suppose you just get used to it. 🤷‍♀️

Not about ghosts, but there is some impressive evidence of reincarnation.

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/our-research/children-who-report-memories-of-previous-lives/

UVA has a highly respected medical school.

The journal in which most of this man’s ‘research’ has been published is the outlet of the Society for Scientific Exploration, notorious for pseudoscience like studies of alien abduction, UFO. and extra-sensory perception:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Scientific_Exploration#:~:text=Journal%20of%20Scientific%20Exploration%20is,parapsychologist%20and%20philosopher%20Stephen%20E.

His academic work has been published in many different journals.

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/publications/academic-publications/

Ummm, time slips aren’t real either.

But none of these are at all remarkable

The elderly patient could have his arm stretched out for any reason, perhaps he was imagining his wife there, or dreaming, or it was just a sensory thing.

Either you saw a nurse and she moved or it was just a trick of the light.

The elderly lady that heard kids was dreaming.

I never used to. But then ten years ago I moved to the UK, started working as a carer in a Dementia home. The home was in an old Victorian building and I saw a few people that didn't live there (old man in the red chair in the corner of the lounge, old lady by the steps to the conservatory). And in the four houses we've rented in the past ten years we've had cupboards fly open, cutlery rattling, vase being moved off the sideboard, whisk flying at my fiance. Honestly I can't count the amount of shit we've experienced.

Just seems crazy to me that I lived in Germany and Austria for 25 years before that and NVER had any kind of paranormal experience.

I was 36 before I had any experiences.

Just seems crazy to me that I lived in Germany and Austria for 25 years before that and NVER had any kind of paranormal experience.

I bet they have better-enforced gas safety regulations. If you're still renting, invest in a carbon monoxide alarm.

https://littlethings.com/lifestyle/bachelorette-party-ghost

I love this story. It was reported in a few papers at the time. The picture is so clear.

Smart logical post .

That's rude. Also no one, even you, can say for sure that ghosts don't exist.

15 years ago I did a course in Reiki at my local adult education college. To pass and get the certificate at the end we had to do a practical exam which involved giving a reiki treatment to a volunteer whilst the teacher walked around observing. I'd roped in my 14 year old son as my volunteer, but during the treatment, although lying there very relaxed with eyes closed, he repeatedly lifted his arm outstretched upwards moving his hand up and down slightly. After I gently replaced his arm several times he kept doing this and I started to feel very uneasy. I stopped the treatment and went to explain to the teacher that I couldn't complete the exam. She told me the college building we were in used to be a school and was rumoured to be haunted by the old caretaker who used to love interacting with the schoolchildren and shaking their hands. The college was in a different town to where we lived and there was no way my son would've known about the rumour and be pulling my leg, he was quite sleepy and bemused with no recollection of moving his arm repeatedly but described dreaming about a smiley man in a black victorian style suit!!

Yeah as I said I’m still a skeptic, a more logical explanation is always more likely