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Ghosts

What do you mean by the term?

Intelligent spirits of humans who have died who may or may not be aware in their change of condition and respond in some way to the living?

Residual energy from traumatic events that 'plays back' regardless of whether or not it is being observed, or perhaps Because it is being watched, but does not notice nor respond to the presence of the living?

Inhuman 'natural spirits' that can manifest in our world but may or may not be interactive?

The truly demonic?
 
DrLeftover said:
What do you mean by the term?

Intelligent spirits of humans who have died who may or may not be aware in their change of condition and respond in some way to the living?

Residual energy from traumatic events that 'plays back' regardless of whether or not it is being observed, or perhaps Because it is being watched, but does not notice nor respond to the presence of the living?

Inhuman 'natural spirits' that can manifest in our world but may or may not be interactive?

The truly demonic?

All of the above!
 
I completely agree with Dr. Leftover.

You have residual energy that is just recycled into the environment. I live about an hour from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania which, in my opinion, is an eerie example of events of the past replayed over again. There are also the intelligent spirits which can interact on their own (your typical haunting). Look at Bobby Mackey's Music World for an example of the demonic kind.

I don't find it unbelievable. I do think it's something you need to experience to believe, however.
 
Stormrider said:
Seen a ghost in my own room. So yes I believe in them.
Amazing. Can you describe what you saw?
 
A woman, dressed in kitchen clothes, couldn't tell you the era, but an old period.

Didn't speak, just stood watching me for about 5 mins. At first I was terrified, tried to go back to sleep and ignore her but I knew she was still there, I knew that she wasn't a negative energy and I asked what she wanted, no answer, I turned away, looked back seconds later and she'd disappeared.

I did some research into our area to find that at some point there was a school on our road before all the houses were built, Our house is from the 30s. On the location of our house used to be kitchens.

Odd.
 
Stormrider said:
A woman, dressed in kitchen clothes, couldn't tell you the era, but an old period.

Didn't speak, just stood watching me for about 5 mins. At first I was terrified, tried to go back to sleep and ignore her but I knew she was still there, I knew that she wasn't a negative energy and I asked what she wanted, no answer, I turned away, looked back seconds later and she'd disappeared.

I did some research into our area to find that at some point there was a school on our road before all the houses were built, Our house is from the 30s. On the location of our house used to be kitchens.

Odd.
That gave me goose bumps reading that. Very odd indeed. :ohmy:
 
I don't believe in ghosts, but I am admittedly fascinated by the idea of them, why they'd be wandering about the world, whether or not they conscious or merely afterimages in a constant loop, etc.
 
Nicholas McConnaughay said:
I don't believe in ghosts,

I find it fascinating when people say that.

And I usually respond with, "why?"

Is that based solely on the fact that you have never personally seen them?

Have you ever personally seen the Pearl Harbor Memorial?

Also, from what I have learned of the overall subject, your belief, or lack thereof, or even having been a witness to some sort of paranormal manifestation or not, makes not one bit of difference to "them".

I also use the same exact chain of reasoning with "UFO"s and Cryptids.
 
I don't mean this to be taken the wrong way, but the reason that I don't believe in ghosts is the same reason that I don't believe in religion. There's a lot of people that have faith in the idea of a greater being, and I can respect that. However, whatever it is that they have that allows them to believe, I don't have it. The same can be said for ghosts, and things of that nature, whenever I think about it, I am interested, but I don't actually believe that it carries any legitimacy. I have never had a "paranormal" experience, because I don't actually think they exist. Am I basing this simply on the fact that I have never seen them? More or less, but then, I suppose that I don't expect that to ever change either. I mean no disrespect.
 
I meant no disrespect either.

But, I do hope that at some point, your horizon broadens beyond yourself. Maybe just slightly.

What The Bard of Avon said in Hamlet is very, very true.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Act 1 scene 5
 
Growing up I recall my father telling me a story of when he was growing up living near the woods. He used to hear legends of spirits in the woods that would mess with your mind. One minute you believe that you are going the right direction and eventually you find yourself completely lost in the woods.

He said that he would see human-like shadows moving and hear unusual noises coming from the woods, but he never wanted to believe in ghosts. He also joked that when my late grandfather would ask him to run errands, he would lie and say that he did them to avoid going near the woods. Looking back on it, I think this is probably the phenomenon he was experiencing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will-o'-the-wisp
 
Possibly.

There are a number of more or less 'mundane' explanations of phenomena that are regarded as extra-normal.

However. Not everything can be explained away by:
"Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus. "
(MIB, 1997)

In many of these cases, barring deliberate hoaxery, Occam's razor should be applied, and tempered with a pinch of common sense.

Yes, people do see "The Virgin Mary on Toast", and yes, there is a reasonable explanation for it. But other cases, especially those with multiple witnesses over a number of years, don't appear to be a slice of toast reflecting the light of Venus.
 
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