Evidence of Ghosts

[technodad]

Apparently I am not welcome to discuss the existance of ghosts on a thread started by someone who believes in them, so I thought I would start my own thread.

Everyone is welcome, you can all insult me as much as you want. I don't care if you try to offend me and my deeply held "beliefs".

So, my question:

Has anyone had a first hand experience of paranormal activity, and got a photo or video that they prove the existance of ghosts. If so, please can you post it (or a link to it on photobox or youtube), because I am intreagued what level of "evidence" people accept. - Please only post you own experience, with evidence, since, as you can imagine, if you say "I heard a noise in my kitchen" you will likely get told it was the fridge motor.

Thread warning - apparently (according to people on other threads), I am a complete bastard, and may say something on this thread that you find more offensive than you possibly can imagine... I may even say the phrase "ghosts don't exist", which may cause you to cry. Please only join in if you can cope with such aggression!

Wow Head. What were they like and what experience did they claim to have?

Reading an anonymous posting on the net is completely different to knowing people who claim they saw a ghost. I have not experienced a ghost, but I know perfectly normal, rational, intelligent, skeptical people who say they have.

There's a big difference in hearing it from a known, trusted friend and reading a post from an Internet poster called IFuckSatan.

So you disregard/disbelieve the personal testimonies you read on mumsnet but believe the ones that people you know tell you? Isn't that confirmation bias?

What process of reasoning do you use to discount the internet accounts?

You assume everyone on the internet is weird, irrational, stupid and gullible? Don't any of your friends post on the internet?

i have always been really interested in the paranormal and buy the fortean times regularly

with regards to ghosts i do think that you are either sensitive to them or you aren't

i would like to be as i have always had a fascination with them but i also take heed with those that say that i should be happy to be oblivious to them

I think it's clear what Dione is saying to be fair. I think it's reasonable to be less sceptical about believing something from a trusted friend than ifucksatan.

Is that username available I wonder?

Ah but ifucksatan is a good friend of mine. Why, only last week he helped me re-felt my garage roof. Conversely I read about one of dion's friend's paranormal experiences on iseedeadpeople.com last night and I reckon they're well gullible etc etc. see the problem?

The point is it's irrational to believe the testimony of a friend more than a stranger on the internet just because you've known them for xyz years but we all do it to varying degrees otherwise relationships would be pretty low on the ground.

Head, when a real life friend tells you something do you believe it to be the same as an anonymous Internet poster telling you something?

It depends what it is. Give me something to work with.

Just wanted to but in and say I really agree with weretrickspotter , centuries ago everyone 'knew' the earth was flat, and they 'knew' the sun rotated round the earth etc, until they gained a better perspective.
I don't believe in ghosts. But I do believe its naive to think that with our current knowledge of 'science' we can deduce there is no such thing as 'ghosts'. 'Science' has only relatively recently replaced 'religion' as basis for our belief system. Its still in its infancy and there is a lot more to be discovered. To discount anything we can not yet 'prove', or somehow equate with our old debunked belief system, is a very blinkered position to take IMO.

A friend tells you she is broke. She's upset. You have known her for years. She is sensible, rational and logical. She is your friend and you love her and her DC's. She would have been ok, but the car has broken down and she can't afford to get it fixed before payday.

Would you trust her enough to loan her the money?

You read a post outlining the above on the Internet. With the poster offering to pay you back when they get paid.

Would you paypal this poster?

I don't think it's irrational, I think it's rational human behaviour.

Isn't it?

Is say its quite reasonable to suppose you trust the word of a lifelong friend than ifucksatan on the net.

Caveat: apart from werewolves.

Gamer chick - you said you would PM me and never did!

I am no phone expert, but if you google "transfer iPhone video to youtube" I am sure you will get a good tutorial.

I woke one night and felt something scratching my leg. As I opened my eyes I saw a rat standing on me. Obviously there was no rat, but I clearly "saw" it and it took me some time to rationalise the situation.

There were two explanations for what had happened. It was either a ghost, or my brain had somehow created the impression of one. Those with a tendency to believe in ghosts would have accepted the former explanation, I settled for the latter.

I think there are many people who genuinely believe they have seen a ghost, but there are always other explanations. I would be grateful if someone could point me towards some really compelling evidence for the existence of ghosts, not just people's stories.

rationalthought you are right that dream/sleep experiences are your brain trying to make sense of things, this has been demonstrated in examples of somebody saying something in line of sight and out of line of sight, and how your brain syncs what it hears and see's to create an impression on your conscious self (the man in the experiment is saying far, those listening without visual stimuli hear far, those hearing far whilst watching someone say bar 'hear' bar) whilst this proves that the human brain seeks to find the easiest explanation for what our senses are perceiving, it in no way negates the existence of things outside of our current understanding. In fact, it adds weight to the idea that our perceptions and subsequent deductions are heavily influenced by our cultural understandings.

Morning! Isn't it chilly.

A video that explains irrational behaviour

I asked if you wanted to see it and if you did I would send you the link to my Facebook where I would make it public for a short time.

It isn't an iPhone video.. it's in my living room full of people and kids.. along with my kids photos on the wall.

Now why do you think I would want that on YouTube ? Are you in the habit of putting your kids in the public eye on the Internet?

Thanks head, interesting read.

Gamer

Don't want you to put a video of your kids on the Internet. I must have missed the post explaining all that.

I suggest that unless you can edit out your family, you don't post it.

I've told you what I'm willing to do.. take it or leave it. I'm not putting it on fucking youtube.

I'm sure the $1,000,000 cheque Mr Randi will hand you after viewing the video will make the hassle worth it