So, what do you think about ghosts? Real or not? First, second or third hand experiences you want to share?

I'll post my experiences later, but, for now, I will say that I believe. There are just too many accounts from every culture in the world, not to mention people I know.

Sure they are. Although I believe in science, and science can't explain the phenomena yet.

My littlesister and mother had a very weird experience, but I don't really have time for writing it right now, I'm still in frogeater city

You're on the wrong side of Canada. But, as long as you stay in Montreal, and avoid Quebec City, it could always get worse.

As much as I'd love it to be true, and deep down want it to be. It seems like total BS in nearly every reported case. As for when strange shit happens and you get that feeling of a huanted place, it normally boils down to two things.

I think, and agree with the comment its more environment and psychological than it is metaphysical. Anyone see that docu-short on Sci-fi? Basically a group of scientists recreated a allegedly haunted castle in VR, and then asked people to note which rooms felt haunted if any in the walkthrough. It was the same ones as in the real castle that reported haunted. The reason was pin pointed to do with arhitecture and environment that triggered something in the noggin that made it seem haunted, rather than anything really haunted. Kind of a primitive danger flag, which is why people often feel scared.

I really do hope there are though, that would be wicked-cool, but unfortunately everything atm points to other causes.

Well, here's a story directly from my wife. All the facts are exactly as she recounted them to me.

As a teen her family lived in a trailer on the reservation. She was away at school, but would occaissionally come home to visit. One weekend she came home and was sleeping in her sisters' room. One sister was away that night and the other was sleeping on the bunk below her. In the middle of the night, the bedroom door slid open hard (it was the kind that slid into the wall) waking her up. She stared for a few seconds, but there was no one there. Then, suddenly a shadow in the shape of a man (witnessed around the world, commonly referred to as Dark Man) hovered into the room and moved right up to the bed, so it was eye level with her. The door shut behind it. She felt and intense cold and waves of hate and malevolence pouring off of it. It hovered there, seeming to study her, for a long time and, finally, seemed to fly iup and then down into the bunk below her. Despite the fact that her younger sister was in that bunk, she couldn't bring herself to go down and check on her. She was too scared. She spent the rest of the night up and was happy to find out the next day that her sister was fine and even happier to leave.
A few months later, she was back, but this time the sister who's bed she had used was home. My wife casually mentioned that she was glad she was there, so my wife didn't have to use her bed. The sister told her she wished that she didn't have to use it, either. After some prying she told my wife a story about a dark figure that came in sometimes at night and then disappeared into the bottom bunk. That was without my wife ever telling her or anyone else.

Oh, and my dead grandfather visited my oldest brother, my dad and my uncle in different place on the same night and delivered the exact same message.

I'm normally quite sceptical about these things, but I'm gonna have to say yes.

My gf claims to be able to see ghosts regularly and I'd never really believed this until the first time she stayed at my house.
We were sat chatting when she suddenly started getting getting a little freaked out and was staring at something over the far side of the room. She then asked me if it was true that my grandfather had died a few months before and gave an incredibly accurate description of him.

Kinda freaked me out a bit too. I'd never told her about him dying, as we got together after it had happened. There's also no way she could know what he looked like, as I have no pics of him in my house and she hadn't met or spoken to any of my relatives at that time.

Oh god, 55/44 %. A board full of irrational lunatics.

Of course they are real, did you really need to start this poll ???????? cmon get a life will ya stop asking these useless questions

I know that they are real. The question isn't useless if it fosters discussion. So far, so good.

Wargand, I'm not sure what your point is. We already know that the board (and the world) is full of irrational lunatics.

Hahahhaha just messin with ya

Sure, but actually believing in ghosts? Don't tell my you also believe in santa claus, mickey mouse, or god?

No.

EDIT: btw. Chadman, if you want a poll to be as much accurate as it could (which is the case, I assume) you should give people a neutral option such as 'I don't know' and/or 'I don't give a ...'

I know Jesus is real at least. He works over at the destillery.

You have a point there, Carlos, but like my old Psych Prof always said, "If you can't commit, f*** off!" lol. He was a weird guy.

Wargand, I believe because I have no reason not to. I wish I had first-hand experience, but I don't. Just the accounts of my wife, my father and my brother. They may all be psychotics and liars, but I doubt it.

Just for fun, I suggest that everyone throw the phrase "dark man" into a search engine. It'll bring up plenty of stories that (whether you believe them or not) should interest fans of horror. That's the dark side of the spirit world there.

might want to throw in a google for moonshine too, and "stuff to make up when your vision goes from drinking too much, and you need to explain to the husband/wife/son why you didn't come home/go to his little league game from your brief stop at the pub and/or army/knitting reunion last night"

I noticed several uses of 'know' in this thread, no knows should be used when you no know nothing.

Nah, can't say I do.

but...

if I ever find myself trapped in a room with a thousand attacking flies and a voice from nowhere shouts "GET OUT"...

I might change my mind.

Then pray that you never stumble in the toilets of a former company I worked for. <insert vomiting smily here>

Yeah, somehow the creepy atmosphere would be ruined if you realize you're in some nasty toilet with a fat guy in the last stall pulling his pud and hissing "Geeeet Ooooout".

hehe, yeah, but if you want it that way you have to remember two things: first, you'll be missing some information becouse not everyone is on one or another side, and second, more important, some people *will* answer either 'yes' or 'no' despite they don't agree, becouse there is no other option


yes, of course, you can't say 'something' before you proof or disproof it. I believe Chadman's intensions was 'do you believe ghosts are real' and 'do you believe they don't'. And I'm sure the use of 'know' word is just a shortcut

The problem with 'knowing' is the problem of having a proof. *I* believe ghosts are just human's brain imaginary and to prove that one should probably prove that they don't exist. Is that possible at all? Such proof is sometimes difficult (if possible) in a world of mathematics which is complicated, but probably nothing compared to 'real world'...

It could be easier to prove the existance but we can't do that either.


[note: don't take it personally] But what is a reason *to* believe? Is it becouse someone told you he believes? Hmmm... that's just not enough for me. But it could be just me, I generally don't believe much 'in things'

yeah I know, I'll be damned

EDIT: oh, btw. it's 50-50

I think its mostly that, as said, there's primitive parts of the brain that really go weird in the environment and set off that 'haunted' vibe you get. And its a good thing that's there, because without it we'd probably all have had a much harder time surviving in the early days. Keeps you alert and warns of danger, and sabertooth attacks Like animals early warning system with earthquakes/fires and other disasters. It's not so much that its some paranormal phenomena, its just a heightened sense of environment (not just sound or movement, but often sight linked to structure, shadow, enclosed spaces, etc.), or more accurately, something wrong with the environment.

The talking to ghosts stories, I really have a problem swallowing, I can't believe and they always seem so phony. Its normally 'I was sat in bed and ...", which I always find strange and more likely points to lucid dreaming or some such subconscious outlet. Poltegeists, well there's not been nearly enough reported cases, and all the major ones were faked which discredits the whole study. In terms of major reported religious visions and revelations, I saw a very convincing documentry about the link to temperal lobe epilepsy, which is close to the part of the brain for religion, and causes major religious imagery. These kind of studies of reported paranormal always come back to stress, tiredness, heightened emotion, celebral illness/problems, etc. rather than the paranormal, but I guess they would most of the time, its proof that they are searching for. Actually, when it comes to scientific studies of the paranormal, its important to note, experiments are always set out to prove something, not to disprove (although that mean, to prove its not a ghost but... etc. but the reasoning is always to prove).

When I've seen 'figures'/spectres/whatever you want to call them, I'd normally be lying in bed (always at night), without my glasses, with little light. Anyone who wears glasses and has looked around with little light will know what it looks like, but its very speckled with varying luminsities (all of them dark) which make up the picture (we're talking a extremely fine mosaic/noise), you can make everything out of course (well unless your blind ), but the speckles (best way to describe them really) change shape as your eyes adjust, and at various times when I was younger they formed some very ghostly figures. Actually ages ago, I can remember once it started as nothing say 5/6 feet away and on the roof, then it formed into eyes, then into a head (cloaked... they always are ) moving closer, still on the roof but slowly moving down, then formed an arm slowly (this is hovering over my shoulders, with an arm reaching in front), and then it seemed to reach out at my face... and not some pussy ass speed, I mean lunged . Needless to say I was spooked, and I wish I could do that to myself more often... I really don't get scared by films or stories anymore, so I'm glad I can at least scare myself (i thought I was totally desensitised even when I was at this age, must have been about 7 year ago). However, rationally, its obvious it was the fact it was at night, I was tired, I was laid in bed, I wasn't wearing glasses, and there was very little light. As carlos said, the brains imagination can be great sometimes

However, I have a track record of having the most fucked up dreams possible for a long time, so it was most likely lucid dreaming (which is well cool if your bored ). Here's a tip, you have them all the time, if you want to remember them, put a pen/pencil and paper next to where you sleep and turn off your alarm clock (or gag the wife or whatever wakes you )... you have to have a full natural sleep (aka. saturday night/sunday morning... I know none of you heathans go to church ). Go to bed thinking about how your going to wake up and write down your dream. I went ages without remembering anything (there was a big gap between when i could remember some when I was little and then when I could remember years later). A year or two back, I consistantly remembered all of the dreams for months using this method (I didn't have anything that meant I couldn't get a full uninterupted sleep). Some of that shit is well cool, some of it seemed very real, in a dreamy sense.

Deviated a little, but I think there was at least some method to the madness. Its a shame though really, because if it were all really phsyical, it would make horror movies with ghosts scarey.

ps. 50-50, yeah but ohogo's probably cheated again