A Serious Discussion About Ghosts.

[Phobotech]

I'm fascinated by ghosts. I've never experienced a haunting, but I've learned a lot about the paranormal over the last couple of years out of morbid curiosity.

Lemme start by saying the show "Ghost Hunters" and "Dead Files" is garbage. There are a lot of ghost hunting shows that are absolutely terrible for the public perception on the spirits of the dead with very few exceptions who take a scientific approach and try to learn more about them. How they operate, the characteristics of a haunting, and so forth. The days of treating ghosts like a Halloween spooky thing will one day end when the proof becomes irrefutable to their existence, and how they live among us beyond death.

Some recurring trends are
-When they're present, it gets much colder.
-Your body can detect their presence, either by getting that feeling like you're being watched, or the hairs standing on end (some believe a reaction caused by a spirit's inherit electro-magnetic energy). Sometimes you gain the sensation of being touched, or sometimes even scratched.
-Rarely, they can manifest themselves as a full-bodied apparition, sometimes they're an amorphous shadow form, or even some instances, the opposite as a form of light. When photographed they can appear as orbs, mist, or even unexplained dark spots (parallel to the shadow figures). I'm not even talking about film or video exclusively, I'm saying especially with your own bare eyes, from the sound of recurring accounts.
-Sometimes they can be heard with your bare ears...a residual energy that a location may have experienced, replaying an event that happened long ago like an echo of time...but I'm sure there are some, separate instances where it is the disembodied voice of the soul itself. Speaking intelligent responses and attempting to communicate with the living. Sometimes they speak in a resonance that only sensitive microphones can detect what they say, with startling clarity at times.

...What does that say about the truth of our afterlife?

Why hasn't anyone really tried to buckle down and scientifically communicate with the dead? If Electronic voice phenomenon's are to be taken seriously, we could be right around the corner from being able to speak with souls of the past at will...and yet we don't understand the criteria of what bounds the spirit here. How this is an ethereal entity that remains sometimes invisible and unheard from the living, but sometimes...not. Some speculate it requires great tragedy, or merely extremes of emotions...a cataclysmic event that may have lead to a death so abrupt, the individual themselves aren't fully aware that they're dead.

...But, if EVP's and ghost-like evidence are to be believed...some instances document that spirits CAN retain memories. Some interact with the modern world. Static objects, or the living. Animals, who seem to be sensitive to their presence. If they retain thought, or conscious will, than surely they're aware that they are dead. Even ghosts of Tombstone Arizona have been documented acknowledging that they were once alive, but are now expired. I ask again, what does this say about our afterlife?

Some have spoken the names of the investigators. Did they eavesdrop, or do they have access to knowledge beyond our comprehension? What could we learn from the dead if the dead spoke back? Sometimes they relive their horrific fate over and over again, like a record eternally skipping through time...are these residual energies or are they sentient? If they're residual, are they still intelligent, and perceptive of our living realm that they shift through?

Could intelligent ghosts bridge our knowledge between the world and physics we know and understand in our dimension to a parallel reality? Something more ethereal, bounded by no physical forms, where spirits are malformed wisps of memories and knowledge? Is that our destiny? Don't even pull the religion cards...there are nun ghosts, priest ghosts, preacher ghosts, etc...what are THOSE spirit's thoughts on being trapped to a specific location....is that heaven to them? What kept them from being saved, or is salvation subjective?

Are there angels and demons, or good ghosts and asshole ghosts?

...I'm fascinated by them...and while I don't wish to be haunted and harrassed by the dead...I wish to learn what they see. What they've learned after they crossed over. If they're able to speak, and if they're willing to teach. If they could provide the living with a helpful "heads up", or if their unique conditions in the afterlife could even aid science and technology. My mind runs amuck with the possibilities, and it's helped shed my fear of them...I can't wait to see my first ghost. I like to think I have a vivid imagination, I only hope that it won't be unexpectedly terrifying or overwhelming.

Have any of you experienced any hauntings or ghostly experiences? What are your observations on ghosts and the spiritual paranormal?

[Gimmick]

No, but I think they exist.

[yurgenburgen]

They don't exist.

[GhostOfHalloween]

i am the ghost of halloween

ask me anything

[BrockManson]

The study in my last house was haunted. Was not really anything major to report but convincing enough to make me believe that ghosts can exist.

Woooooooooo.

[MrPercie]

At 11/20/11 07:30 AM, Gimmick wrote: No, but I think they exist.

At 11/20/11 07:34 AM, yurgenburgen wrote: They don't exist.

were getting nowhere fast.

[123mine123]

ive read your post, word by word...
and I can still seriously say there are no such thing as ghost.

[Sinitron]

fuck you

[SaltshakerClock]

I cant find it, but I know we have a Super Natural club somewhere in Clubs& Crews. Using the search bar yielded no results for me.

[kiljoy96]

Ghosts don't exist and anyone that thinks they do is one deluded fuck.

[Spirit]

why assume they have to be spirits of the dead?

they could be products of time slips into which we see an imprint of the past,
or a view into an alternate dimension.

low frequency sounds below human hearing can induce heavy feelings of dread, cold shivers, and auditory hallucinations. Carbon monoxide can likewise have such effects. Many so called 'haunted houses' were later found to have gas leaks, which in some unfortunate cases were deadly for the owner

also, orbs on cameras are well known as particles of dust or flying insects, not some kind of spiritual blob.

Again, I'm not saying there can't be ghosts - it is ignorant to assume we know anything about death and the otherworldly - and some ghost tales have been very convincing.
I'm just saying, there are explanations.

[Ganon-Dorf]

This is dumb, you need to show epistemically how we can have knowledge of something we can't learn about empirically, to even posit it's existence is foolish.

[Mismo]

I have experienced it, but I don't believe.

[TheHumanNugget]

I am aware that i will probably never find out if they are real.

[Mantinziza]

Well, I have seen a few things. Been to a few places out of curiosity as well.

This is just my own opinion. But it's the best theory I got.

Most of your hauntings or at least the majority of them are on/in/near older places. Usually old stone castle's, along shorelines, or any where where some sort of natural material that's effected by electromagnetism is majorly present. (In my line of experience that it is).

In 90% of these haunting's the person presumed to be doing it went through a great deal of mental stress during the time of there death, Murder, drowning, being trapped, etc. I can't help but think that when a person goes through a major amount of mental anguish and terror and the death is slow and long enough, poor people. That the brain some how leaves some form of electromagnetic imprint on the surrounding area. Sand is quartz, the same stuff used it oldshool watches, old castle wall's. Even some forms of concrete. I can't help but get a feeling that when the situation is just right in the atmosphere that certaint conditions cause these imprints to "fire up" and some how relive there last moments. Whether or not these imprints are sentient or not I couldn't answer.

I don't know if this is right or not, but it's the only logical explanation I've ever been able to come up with.

[Timchik]

I believe there are "I am retarded and will reveal myself" ghosts and "Piss off, I'm leaving" ghosts. Because most ghosts are smart enough not to reveal themselves to be ghostwatched by scientists and studied to see how to capture them and dissect them if possible or find out how they exist as an entity, it just happens to be a coincidence, people are making it up or they're scared and they get goosebumps and become more sensitive to the cold atmosphere.

[Gagsy]

My problem is that I do not believe in an afterlife while strangely I DO believe in ghosts/spirits. It's something I cannot really get my head around but yeah, my beliefs do contradict themselves and I have no explanation for that.

I haven't seen a ghost myself but I know several people who have and I believe their claims. I do not want to see a ghost so I imagine that I won't. I think that has something to do with it. Don't ask me to explain that either.

My dad has seen a few. One ghost floating from one wall of his old flat through to the other. He's seen his father sitting in an armchair. Another I forget and he smelt the presence of my mothers fathers the night after his funeral.

My brothers each have seen things. My eldest brother used to see a man in the garden. My other brother saw a face in his clock, not like in it but it's hard to explain (and I really believe that one as it made me feel uncomfortable in their room. I could almost feel the spirit or something there. He also saw a load of black dots when he went camping as a kid with mates. A group of dots moving towards them, until the boys decided to camp elsewhere away from it.

Our old cat was seen in my old room, where she used to sleep. I believe that.

I think when my dad or dog die that I may see them. I used to dream sometimes that my dad had died. And he would be a ghost and I would talk to him. It was horrible really. But I think when he dies, I think I would WANT to see him.

Anyway, cannot explain ghosts. I think it's something us humans will never ever understand at all.

[Spirit]

poltergeists are very odd, too

for while sightings of ghosts can be explained away by hallucinations or half dreams, poltergeists have an actual physical effect upon the environment.

i remember my uncle used to live in an old house down by the seafront. the house was nice enough apart from one room, which emanated feelings of dread and unease. Again, could have been some kind of frequency being emitted or low sound wave, but it was a room to avoid

one day my grandmother slept in the room overnight. she awoke to a chair being dragged up and down the floorboards by its own accord. she complained that is was keeping her up and it was annoying to be woken by it

[Jin]

A Chinese idiom that translates literally to "ghost in the heart", means to harbor bad intentions. I believe if you bad things, you'll be haunted by yourself.

[Joel-Gruesome]

I saw a bigfoot one time, sure did.

[GiantDouche]

fact: there is zero concrete evidence that ghosts and the paranormal exist

until any can actually be produced there's nothing to discuss

[Bryan]

At 11/20/11 01:01 PM, GiantDouche wrote: fact: there is zero concrete evidence that ghosts and the paranormal exist

until any can actually be produced there's nothing to discuss

I actually completely agree with Douche here.

What proof is there that ghosts exist? The idea itself sounds ridiculous, and as morbid as it is, there is almost certainly no afterlife.

[StarvingGamer]

I'd love to come out and say that ghosts are real, 'cause that would be a pretty neat concept to consider, but there's just no solid evidence that ghosts exist. I was into "studying" ghosts a few years back, and I stopped when I realized that everyone thought I was crazy.

[Heretic-Anchorite]

At 11/20/11 01:01 PM, GiantDouche wrote: fact: there is zero concrete evidence that ghosts and the paranormal exist

until any can actually be produced there's nothing to discuss

^^^
this

What I don't get is why people who do believe ghost and the paranormal are 100% sure to exist claim us skeptics are "close-minded" when they are the ones closed to all forms objective proof.

[Gagsy]

At 11/20/11 01:04 PM, Bryan wrote:

What proof is there that ghosts exist? The idea itself sounds ridiculous, and as morbid as it is, there is almost certainly no afterlife.

I think the answers or proof are honestly beyond the realm of our comprehension.

[Gobblemeister]

At 11/20/11 01:01 PM, GiantDouche wrote: fact: there is zero concrete evidence that ghosts and the paranormal exist

until any can actually be produced there's nothing to discuss

Brown Lady

Viscount Combermere

A bunch of others too

I won't call this 'proof' but it's something.

[Schizo-Sephy]

I believe in ghosts. I've had many experiences with them.

I am NOT kidding.

[yurgenburgen]

At 11/20/11 01:54 PM, Gobblemeister wrote: Brown Lady

A white smudge on a grainy old black and white photograph? Well I'm convinced entirely!

[Heretic-Anchorite]

At 11/20/11 01:54 PM, Gobblemeister wrote:
Brown Lady

Viscount Combermere

A bunch of others too

I won't call this 'proof' but it's something.

actually second hand accounts and shitty photo's have no basis what so ever.

Even before the days of Photoshop, when you had to develop film, processes in development can account for most "ghost", and for the rest just over all bad quality, combined with the effect of every smudge or blur becoming a "face" or "body" can also account for the rest of these.

[Gobblemeister]

I'll admit that some of these photos can be dismissed as the 'Jesus in my toast' sort of variety but not all of them and not entirely.

I dunno I try to keep an open mind about these things even though I myself don't particularly believe in ghosts.