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rockerbikie wrote:

guyperson5 wrote:

Nerivant wrote:

guyperson5 wrote:Basically, I reckon that ghosts are hallucinations

Probably.

But what causes hallucinations in someone with no history of visual, tactile, or auditory hallucinations?

The motive of dwelling on someone that has passed away or convincing yourself that ghosts are real.

That is most utterly incorrect. As a Shaman I can tell you, Supernatural creatures such as Ghosts do exist.

I wouldn't comment otherwise but isn't that like Christians saying god exists?

http://www.cracked.com/funny-3039-ghost-tv/

First of all, Smacks thanks for that story, have to say it made the hairs on my neck stand up when reading it!

Castiel wrote:

Another thought for the discussion is this: Energy cannot be created or destroyed. This is a scientific fact. So then, where then does the energy from the human soul go when you die? Perhaps it can have an effect on the world that we know?

Yes I think so as well. Some years ago, I travelled to Switzerland and saw a statue called the 'Dying Lion', basically a beautifully made statue of a lion, the size of a car, with the end of a sword sticking into it. During my time there, it's a hard thing to describe, but I felt an almost overwhelming feeling of sadness and melancholy there. Nothing nasty and certainly not frightening, but it was almost like you could reach out and touch the silence hanging in the air. Some time later I remarked to my girlfriend about it, who had been travelling with me, and she remarked that she had felt the same way.
I then read up about the statue and the story behind it. It was built as a memorial for several hundred Swiss guard who were defending the pope. When an invading army surrounded the vatican, the Pope at the time ordered that there should be no bloodshed and that all of his guards drop their weapons. Every single one of the guards stationed there was put to death.

So at the statue, I wondered whether it was possible that so many mourners had been to this place, so many expressions of sadness and misery released, that the outpouring of emotion had somehow implanted itself in the small glen where the statue was located. Perhaps in the same way that people often feel uplifted when singing in groups (in churches), and I'm convinced that 'faith healing' and the like work through a collective of human will that can manifest itself outside of just the physical. There are some things that science can (currently) not explain, but sometimes it is hard to ignore the evidence for it, especially when you have experienced it yourself.

Castiel wrote:What I saw was definately not a deer. It was human-shaped, definately bipedal, and was a dark green. When I turned to face it it swiftly moved behind a raised piece of ground that used to be an old cart road through the woods. Thinking it might be someone afraid of the dog I called out, but there was no reply. I walked with the dog towards where it had been, but he started dragging at the leash and trying to pull away, so I went back to the path and tied him to a tree. I went to investigate myself, and there was nothing, no sign of anything passing through, and there wasn't enought thime for someone to move so far away that they couldn't be seen.

How large was the "creature" and did it have anything in its hands? Please explain it in clear detail, I think I have a theory brewing... I will also doublecheck where you live.


@Smacks. You will be surprised at the types of things hallucinations can do. I remember two specific three dreams within a year of eachother around the time we moved to canada. The first one was a bizarre dream involving a midnight escape from a ravenous swarm of bats led by some sort of ghost-owl. The second, was a dream in a state between true sleep and being awake, and the third was in the same circumstance. The ghost-owl thing scared the living piss out of me, and I have never had a dream as terrifying as that, and probably never will. The other two dreams though involved me being in an actual fight. The trick was while I was dreaming, I physically felt every punch, and I felt bruised the next morning, and I was sleeping in the same room as my mother. Now, traditional notions of ghost-haunting don't apply. My grandfather had committed suicide, but if any sort of classical ghost activity from that case would already have reared its head. Second, we built that house, so again, classical notions of ghost-trapping/activity don't apply here, so my experience was the product of an overactive mind.

@ energy comment
The first law of thermodynamics only applies to the physical. Once you go down to the quantum level, that law completely breaks apart and makes a mockery of everything you know. Then again, your idea also relies on assuming that, I will humor you on this one, not trolling though, the soul's energy is an energy derived from our physical reality, and not from a higher one.


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Pacific wrote:

So at the statue, I wondered whether it was possible that so many mourners had been to this place, so many expressions of sadness and misery released, that the outpouring of emotion had somehow implanted itself in the small glen where the statue was located. Perhaps in the same way that people often feel uplifted when singing in groups (in churches), and I'm convinced that 'faith healing' and the like work through a collective of human will that can manifest itself outside of just the physical. There are some things that science can (currently) not explain, but sometimes it is hard to ignore the evidence for it, especially when you have experienced it yourself.

that could be a product of engineering and psychology. It's known that the design of structures impacts on their use and how people feel in them, so I'm curious to see if that place was shaped around a statue centered on the unworthy painful death of a noble animal. Look up "the heroes Square" budapest, it has a very commanding presence that demands respect and dedication.

purplefood wrote:

rockerbikie wrote:

guyperson5 wrote:

Nerivant wrote:

guyperson5 wrote:Basically, I reckon that ghosts are hallucinations

Probably.

But what causes hallucinations in someone with no history of visual, tactile, or auditory hallucinations?

The motive of dwelling on someone that has passed away or convincing yourself that ghosts are real.

That is most utterly incorrect. As a Shaman I can tell you, Supernatural creatures such as Ghosts do exist.

I wouldn't comment otherwise but isn't that like Christians saying god exists?

The older I get, the more I agree with the notion that people's beliefs are their reality in an almost literal way. In this case, he believes in magic, etc. and thus in his life they're real and powerful forces. I don't believe in quite those same forces and thus they have no power over me and don't exist in my world. We're all living in different realities. This isn't to say there is no objective reality...more that the objective reality is almost irrelevant since we all frame it and interpret it differently.

KingCracker wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:You know, I've been thinking of buying a couple cheap video cameras and going Ghost Hunting....

I don't have the moeny for the cameras, and no one is brave enough to go with me.

Ill go with ya Slarg, Ive got nerves of steel.

Sweet sweet, this is gonna be awesome!

Hey count me in too! While I don't believe in any of this stuff I've always wanted to explore some derelict buildings or hunt down the Jersey Devil in the Pine Barrens, but all my friends are wimps.

Honestly, if ghosts existed I would think by now in the 21st Century we'd have more than Syfy shows to prove it. And if they are real what's the worst they could do? I mean it's just a person who has even less of an impact on the material world, not to mention friendly people die too, why ya'll think all them ghosts gotta be mean : (

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:I used to believe in the supernatural when I was religious. Since then I haven't seen a single thing I couldn't explain, and I think there's good reason for that. That aside, I had a couple of "demonic" occurrences just to add them to the thread.

I remember being in kindergarten and being terribly afraid of the dark. Being forcefed that invisible beings are waging war for your soul 24/7, turns out, can cause some psychological trauma and I was scared of the dark for a long while. I was laying on my side in bed and I felt something tap me on the shoulder, two quick thuds. I turned around and saw a face and hands of a... thing. It's eyes were kinda sorta reptilian, glowing orange and it had sharp teeth with this sort of swirling red/blackmouth that I felt like led to some sort of abyss or darkness. It's skin was green and very slimey, but it was a spirit so it was both there and possible to be described physically, but also not and transparent or hollow. I don't know how better to describe that. It's feeling was that of pure menace in it's truest form. It's eyes, it's grin, it was there to feth with me and I could tell. I locked eyes with it unable to look away, managed a massive gulp of air and screamed nonstop for a good minute or two. I sort of remember starting to scream, then everything goes black, then next thing I remember my mom and brother are in the room trying to get me to calm down. A few nights before that I'd had an extremely disturbing dream with the same feeling of menace which involved a unicorn saying something in a deep voice, can't remember what but it was authoritative (like god speaking), then a rainbow growing around it and it began madly howling like a wolf and I felt this immense power from it. It was standing hoof-deep in water that seamed to stretch out infinitely. Woke up screaming from that too. I attribute them to overactive imagination, weird sleepness and emotionally tumultuous living conditions as a youngling.

Other than that, there was a hallway at a church I used to attend that everyone felt weird in at night. During one service the lights went out and a bunch of people claimed to see spirits that looked like native American people everywhere, and the whole room instantly began praying regardless and supposedly there was a flash of bright light and they were gone then everyone got super happy. This sounds kinda racist to me now, but the church was over an indian graveyard. I can't really give any credit to their spirituality now as I've experienced everything I experienced then with drugs and more, which tells me it's all in my head to begin with (though I may be wrong, who *really* knows).

Curious to hear OP's interpretation if any, through PM if necessary.

I will PM over it because I will get scrutinised if I have the conversation in this board.


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purplefood wrote:

rockerbikie wrote:

guyperson5 wrote:

Nerivant wrote:

guyperson5 wrote:Basically, I reckon that ghosts are hallucinations

Probably.

But what causes hallucinations in someone with no history of visual, tactile, or auditory hallucinations?

The motive of dwelling on someone that has passed away or convincing yourself that ghosts are real.

That is most utterly incorrect. As a Shaman I can tell you, Supernatural creatures such as Ghosts do exist.

I wouldn't comment otherwise but isn't that like Christians saying god exists?

The major difference is that no Christian has seen God. Many Christians claim Gods have no form. The Major problem with Supernatural Creatures is there are so many varieties of Creatures that they are so easily dismissed as hallucinations. Also, alot of Wisdom has been lost due to many mainstream Secular Religions destroying alot of the old information. I will just tell you this, I have studied Spirits and the Supernatural for 3 years and I know very little of it. As humans, I believe, we will always know little. If we found out the truth we would retreat into a new Dark Age.


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asimo77 wrote:Hey count me in too! While I don't believe in any of this stuff I've always wanted to explore some derelict buildings or hunt down the Jersey Devil in the Pine Barrens, but all my friends are wimps.

Honestly, if ghosts existed I would think by now in the 21st Century we'd have more than Syfy shows to prove it. And if they are real what's the worst they could do? I mean it's just a person who has even less of an impact on the material world, not to mention friendly people die too, why ya'll think all them ghosts gotta be mean : (

Science and the Supernatural are not things which eaxctly correlate with each other. Also, it is a typical superstition that all Ghosts are evil, leading back to the Medieval world.

mattyboy22 wrote:

thenoobbomb wrote:
-There was years ago an unhappy boy who was friended with an elderly woman. When the woman died, he killed himself. It is said that sometimes he is seen walking towards the graveyard..
.

I think that was the original ending to Harold & Maude.

Now thats creepy!

Im going to support cheesecat.

rockerbikie wrote:

Cheesecat wrote:

WARORK93 wrote:

Cheesecat wrote:It's just your mind playing tricks on you.

Right...that somehow explains all of the possessions, manifestations, scratches, bruises, and other physical injuries and proof supposedly caused by all sorts of supernatural phenomenon over the course of recorded human history...

Do any of these incidents you mention have proof to back up there claims? Also I'm not opposed to the idea of the existence of ghosts it's just I haven't seen any substantial evidence that might suggest that they do

in fact exist.

Science and Supernatural do not integrate, Scientific techniques should not be used to disproove the paranormal.


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infinite_array wrote:

Cheesecat wrote:Ghosts don't exist.

Seconded. It's embellishments, poor memories, or a bunch of frat bro idiots that shake the camera a lot and go 'Oh man, did you hear that?! Something touched me!"

Speaking of poor memories, something did freak me out a couple of weeks ago while hunting. I had come down from my treestand and had made it a few yards down the hill I was on top of when I thought I saw a flashlight about 20-25 yards away, Thinking it was my father, I headed towards it, but found nothing. When I looked back down the hill, I saw my father (man, fluorescent orange is bright!) making his way along the road at the bottom towards our car.

There are fakes in everything. There alot of things in this world that science can not even explain.


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guyperson5 wrote:Yeah agreed. Ghosts are in the mind, not physical reality. Basically, I reckon that ghosts are hallucinations

Have you encountered one yourself or are you just a cynic who has had nothing to do outside of the mudane side of life.


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guyperson5 wrote:

Nerivant wrote:

guyperson5 wrote:Basically, I reckon that ghosts are hallucinations

Probably.

But what causes hallucinations in someone with no history of visual, tactile, or auditory hallucinations?

The motive of dwelling on someone that has passed away or convincing yourself that ghosts are real.

That is most utterly incorrect. As a Shaman I can tell you, Supernatural creatures such as Ghosts do exist.

What other objective, viable way would there be then to prove 'paranormal' activity then? When phenomenon are unable to be diagnosed objectively and scrutinized it is easier to look at some source or 'power' which is behind controlling these phenomenon.
No one is even arguing science can explain everything! It can't, at least not yet.
There is a reason why James Randi's Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge hasn't been paid out to anyone in the last, what, 30 years it has been around. http://www.randi.org/site/
Really, if you want a dose of rational thinking, check out the podcasts from skeptoid.com.

Enjoy.

Pacific wrote:First of all, Smacks thanks for that story, have to say it made the hairs on my neck stand up when reading it!

I read the first couple of lines and stopped reading!

poda_t wrote:

Castiel wrote:What I saw was definately not a deer. It was human-shaped, definately bipedal, and was a dark green. When I turned to face it it swiftly moved behind a raised piece of ground that used to be an old cart road through the woods. Thinking it might be someone afraid of the dog I called out, but there was no reply. I walked with the dog towards where it had been, but he started dragging at the leash and trying to pull away, so I went back to the path and tied him to a tree. I went to investigate myself, and there was nothing, no sign of anything passing through, and there wasn't enought thime for someone to move so far away that they couldn't be seen.

How large was the "creature" and did it have anything in its hands? Please explain it in clear detail, I think I have a theory brewing... I will also doublecheck where you live.

The thing was about 5'10", human shaped and definately bipedal. It appeared to be a dark green colour. It didn't appear to be holding anything. It just watched us on the path and then disappeared behind the hummock when I turned to look at it directly. It was in quite open birch wood near Roy Bridge near Ft William, Scotland.

I can't think of anything it could have been.

I'm intrigued as to what you are thinking?


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56.885899, -4.822837

Stick that into Google maps, the green arrow is where I saw this thing.

rockerbikie wrote:
Science and the Supernatural are not things which eaxctly correlate with each other. Also, it is a typical superstition that all Ghosts are evil, leading back to the Medieval world.

On the first point scientists these days are starting to find more correlation between the two, and I don't think they are mutually exclusive. I think that there are a great many things that science has yet to explain, yet perhaps will do in the future. I suppose it comes down to the question, "what is science?" If you argue that it is the fundamental component of humanity that drives us to understand the world around us, then it is possible to argue that religion, in its purest form, sprung from the same desire. Thousands of years ago man did not understand why a volcano erupted from the earth, and so made beliefs to try and make sense of it, and a whole framework of ritual to try and establish it in tradition. Nowadays of course we understand that it is the result of plate tectonics and the movement of materials under the earth, and you don't get many cults of the volcano god trying to argue otherwise.
In terms of how this ties into your point, I think the problem is that the big monotheistic religions have a monopoly in terms of explanations for that which science has not yet revealed. For a variety of reasons people don't follow the church, be it because it contradicts other elements of their education or perhaps sits awkwardly within modern society, and because of this either/or attitude they completely shut any kind of spirituality (and with it, belief in the supernatural) out of their lives. On the other end of the scale, some people (when taken to an extreme example) follow the belief system laid out by fundamental religious teaching (a lot of which is in direct contradiction to established scientific theory) and as such are able to dismiss other scientific discovery. It is not coincidence, for instance, that so many people in parts of America are deeply religious, that the lines between church and state are blurred, and those same areas dispute opinion of the vast majority of scientists with regards to climate change and evolution.

On the second point, it is remarkable how different the situation in the East is to that of the West. You are right, it leads back many hundreds of years (or more?) to the Christian Church gaining dominion over Europe. During that time, all other forms of religion, mostly pagan, were cast aside and their worship was quite literally demonised. It is estimated that around 10 million or more 'witches' (i.e. the priests of the old religion) were killed or ostracised from society over a 100 year period. The reason the devil is often displayed as part animal, with a goats head and cloven hooves? That was a common representation of the earth mother, and of pagan ritual and worship of nature. Anything that was not one of the trinity was declared to be evil. Look to the East, specifically those countries which do not follow a monotheistic religion, and it is a very different story. Spirits are not always evil, but are as varied in character and desire as ourselves. I think regarding the divide between science and the supernatural, once again it is less prevalent in the East. You can follow Buddhism, which I think in essence is more of a philosophy than a religion, and quite comfortably believe in the Big Bang or that we are evolved from earlier forms of life. For this reason there has been less of a polarisation of society and of people's opinion, such as is happening in the US and parts of Europe.

On a side note, looking at the subject of this forum (Games Workshop) I was speaking the other day about how the concept of Chaos has changed. Originally, the Chaos 8 pointed star was a product of Michael Moorcock. It was made to represent complete freedom of will, of unexplained possibilities, feeding from the tradition of the likes of Alistair Crowley and other new-age spiritualists. Certainly in the early Chaos books (Slaves to Darkness and Realms of Chaos), these principles have been followed and Chaos is exactly that - chaotic - a kind of pandoras box, representing understanding of everything, but if you open that box and look inside, then you might well be lost to it, your very nature and 'soul' consumed as you understand it. Power in a spiritual sense, certainly nothing as mundane as physical control of things. But now look how Chaos has developed, again following the Christian tradition, of 'evil' being a subjective truth; all daemons exist for no reason other than to cause pain and suffering. The contrast is quite a marked one I feel, in fact it couldn't be further from the original concept, and is most evident in those books that examine the nature of the current concept of 'Chaos' in detail. A first year philosophy student could rip such a concept apart, and I think it is for this reason that some of the issues raised in BL books (namely, the fall of Horus) appear shallow and in need of plot devices (magic swords etc.) to explain the progression of narrative.

Sorry for blathering on a bit, I realise it is a bit off-topic so I might well start a new thread with the above paragraph and see what people think about it.

Castiel wrote:

poda_t wrote:

Castiel wrote:What I saw was definately not a deer. It was human-shaped, definately bipedal, and was a dark green. When I turned to face it it swiftly moved behind a raised piece of ground that used to be an old cart road through the woods. Thinking it might be someone afraid of the dog I called out, but there was no reply. I walked with the dog towards where it had been, but he started dragging at the leash and trying to pull away, so I went back to the path and tied him to a tree. I went to investigate myself, and there was nothing, no sign of anything passing through, and there wasn't enought thime for someone to move so far away that they couldn't be seen.

How large was the "creature" and did it have anything in its hands? Please explain it in clear detail, I think I have a theory brewing... I will also doublecheck where you live.

The thing was about 5'10", human shaped and definately bipedal. It appeared to be a dark green colour. It didn't appear to be holding anything. It just watched us on the path and then disappeared behind the hummock when I turned to look at it directly. It was in quite open birch wood near Roy Bridge near Ft William, Scotland.

I can't think of anything it could have been.

I'm intrigued as to what you are thinking?


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56.885899, -4.822837

Stick that into Google maps, the green arrow is where I saw this thing.

I was thinking it was the Green Knight. Look into the legend. Seems like this is not the case, but that it's just a lock-stock basic faerie you saw.

My brain-thing is telling me that cultural mass consciousness shapes reality, and the fervent belief in x makes that x an element in physical reality. Essentially, because everyone believes in something, they will it into existence.

poda_t wrote:

Castiel wrote:

poda_t wrote:

Castiel wrote:What I saw was definately not a deer. It was human-shaped, definately bipedal, and was a dark green. When I turned to face it it swiftly moved behind a raised piece of ground that used to be an old cart road through the woods. Thinking it might be someone afraid of the dog I called out, but there was no reply. I walked with the dog towards where it had been, but he started dragging at the leash and trying to pull away, so I went back to the path and tied him to a tree. I went to investigate myself, and there was nothing, no sign of anything passing through, and there wasn't enought thime for someone to move so far away that they couldn't be seen.

How large was the "creature" and did it have anything in its hands? Please explain it in clear detail, I think I have a theory brewing... I will also doublecheck where you live.

The thing was about 5'10", human shaped and definately bipedal. It appeared to be a dark green colour. It didn't appear to be holding anything. It just watched us on the path and then disappeared behind the hummock when I turned to look at it directly. It was in quite open birch wood near Roy Bridge near Ft William, Scotland.

I can't think of anything it could have been.

I'm intrigued as to what you are thinking?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
56.885899, -4.822837

Stick that into Google maps, the green arrow is where I saw this thing.

I was thinking it was the Green Knight. Look into the legend. Seems like this is not the case, but that it's just a lock-stock basic faerie you saw.

My brain-thing is telling me that cultural mass consciousness shapes reality, and the fervent belief in x makes that x an element in physical reality. Essentially, because everyone believes in something, they will it into existence.

You mean like a Tulpa?

@castiel

Sort of, the difference being that mass consciousness is a clumsy raw unfocussed thing. You and your brother are different individuals, and could not probably create the same thing. So, as if your culture in your region believes in it, it comes true. Its the same idea, with tulpa its a disciplined individual, with a group, its just a raw release. Not sure if i'm getting this through right...

That or it was an alien. And it probed you, and you probably don't remember.

poda_t wrote:
@castiel

Sort of, the difference being that mass consciousness is a clumsy raw unfocussed thing. You and your brother are different individuals, and could not probably create the same thing. So, as if your culture in your region believes in it, it comes true. Its the same idea, with tulpa its a disciplined individual, with a group, its just a raw release. Not sure if i'm getting this through right...

That or it was an alien. And it probed you, and you probably don't remember.

I get where you are coming from. Myself and my brother aren't religious, so our beliefs wouldn't have caused it, but I don't know if there is a local belief that might explain it. I'll look into it!

As for the aliens and probing, I'm sure that didn't happen!

My old house was build about 2km from an old mental institution that was closed down about 25 years ago. I remember going there at the dead of night after scouts and being scared out of my wits. I have seen figures at the top of a clocktower with no access to the top of the clocktower. Seriously though, there were bikes and crates stacked against the door inside.

Apartments on the site have not been sold in the ten years since restoration, and there are polterghiestic occurances within the area as well.

The area where I live is full of such disturbances. And I have experienced quite a lot of the unexpected and irrational.

WARORK93 wrote:I could go digging through the depths of the internet to try to find cases of supernatural forces impinging on the real world but I think it's far more effective just to say that ghosts are something you can't really discuss seriously with skeptics until they've experienced something like that themselves...

Actually, if you are looking to provide definitive proof, these skeptics you are so quick to dismiss are exactly the people you want gathering that evidence and testing it. Confirmation bias isn't something you want in your "proof".

In the interest of show and tell, here's my two "encounters", each of which seems to have a reasonable theory to explain it, rather than hand-wavy mysticism.

#1 - As a young lad (maybe 6 years old?), my family took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. I was regaled with the cautionary tales of children who had fallen in and died in some of these areas (which is at least partially true, one 9 year old boy fell in and died in 1970). It must have made a serious impact on me, because the first night we were at home, I woke up in my darkened room to see a young girl crawling her way up from the foot of my bed, covered in horrible burns and reaching out to me. Apparently my mother managed to actually wake me after a few minutes of terrified screaming. It turns out that I was still sleeping. Call this one what you like, but I've not had a similar experience since, and it seems very likely to be a case of the power of suggestion and a child's sleep addled but over active imagination.

#2 - As a young man of 15 years, I spent an entire weekend at a friend's house playing the newly released Final Fantasy on his NES. I returned home that Sunday, feeling only slightly groggy. I chatted with my folks for a bit in the living room and then got up to use the bathroom. I walked into the hallway, and in the middle of the hallway stood what appeared to be Darth Vader. I could hear his raspy breathing, hear the creak of the leather in his outfit, and watched him almost as impassively as he watched me. I called my sister into the hallway to ask her some inane question, and she got a good look down the hallway when she came in. She didn't bat an eye or seem to see anything out of place, so after she wandered off I shook my head and tried to banish the bizarre hallucination in front of me. It didn't work, and I really had to use the bathroom, so I walked down the hall, squeezed past him and went into the bathroom, all the while being watched by this asthmatic apparition. When I came back out, no Vader, and I've never seen anything like it since. My guess here is that my exhausted brain was playing tricks on me. Sleep deprivation can do strange things to the mind.

Aside from those two occurrences, I've never had another "supernatural encounter", despite years of trying. I have, to date, explored 3 abandoned mills, 2 old hospitals (one of which was a mental hospital), spent time in two different "haunted" nursing homes as a volunteer, 3 "haunted houses" (one of which I spent two days and two nights in), and have spent a week in the Stanley hotel (reportedly a very haunted place; and yes I spent a great deal of time in the ballroom). So I've done a fair amount of searching, and haven't seen a dang thing.

I have never had a single ghost or paranormal thing happen to me in my entire life!

King Crow wrote:I have never had a single ghost or paranormal thing happen to me in my entire life!

You're avatar looks like it's saying this and I'm dying of laughter.

On a more topical note, anyone have childhood experiences with bloody mary or light as a feather, stiff as a board type games? I don't really have anything to contribute, but it's something I find it interesting and Cannerus wants amusement.

Been invited to go Ghost hunting with some people from work, and I'm definately going. I'll try to post footage, but have already been told I'm not probably going to see anything.

IcyCool wrote:#2 - As a young man of 15 years, I spent an entire weekend at a friend's house playing the newly released Final Fantasy on his NES. I returned home that Sunday, feeling only slightly groggy. I chatted with my folks for a bit in the living room and then got up to use the bathroom. I walked into the hallway, and in the middle of the hallway stood what appeared to be Darth Vader. I could hear his raspy breathing, hear the creak of the leather in his outfit, and watched him almost as impassively as he watched me. I called my sister into the hallway to ask her some inane question, and she got a good look down the hallway when she came in. She didn't bat an eye or seem to see anything out of place, so after she wandered off I shook my head and tried to banish the bizarre hallucination in front of me. It didn't work, and I really had to use the bathroom, so I walked down the hall, squeezed past him and went into the bathroom, all the while being watched by this asthmatic apparition. When I came back out, no Vader, and I've never seen anything like it since. My guess here is that my exhausted brain was playing tricks on me. Sleep deprivation can do strange things to the mind.

That's quite an interesting story. Having already posted about being accosted repeatedly on my landing (which is like an upstairs hallway) by an apparition, in a very similar manner. I would be very interested to hear a bit more?

If I had seen Darth Vader (a well known fictional character), I think it would have been much easier for me to resolve that it was just imagination. How real exactly was it? I know if I walked downstairs now and saw Darth Vader I think I would likely hit him with something, and then call the police to say there was an intruder in my house dressed as Darth Vader (I'm sure that one would go down well). What gave away that he wasn't real? Why didn't you ask him who he was, or why he was in your house? Was it actually Darth Vader, or just a tall dark, heavy breathing figure 'like' Darth Vader?

Smacks wrote:If I had seen Darth Vader (a well known fictional character), I think it would have been much easier for me to resolve that it was just imagination. How real exactly was it?

It seemed pretty real. Real enough that I felt the need to squeeze past him in the hallway. It was certainly fully visual and audible. I don't remember actually physically contacting it. I have a vague recollection of thinking it was some kind of joke, but my memory is a bit fuzzy these days. This was back in ... 1987 I think? Also, I was (and still am) a rabid Star Wars fan.

Smacks wrote:I know if I walked downstairs now and saw Darth Vader I think I would likely hit him with something, and then call the police to say there was an intruder in my house dressed as Darth Vader (I'm sure that one would go down well). What gave away that he wasn't real? Why didn't you ask him who he was, or why he was in your house? Was it actually Darth Vader, or just a tall dark, heavy breathing figure 'like' Darth Vader?

It looked pretty exact, standing there in the classic "hands on hips" Vader pose. It's odd that it didn't occur to me to talk to him, or even panic about an intruder, but as I said earlier, I'm fairly certain I wasn't in my right mind. I recall calling my sister into the hallway, and after she didn't appear to see anything I was not terribly concerned with anything other than the need to pee.

I should note that I don't recall (in either experience) actually making physical contact with either "thing". So it seems very different than what you posted.

Of all the explanations that present themselves to explain 'ghost sightings', the presence of supernatural spirits is probably the least likely.

WARORK93 wrote:I could go digging through the depths of the internet to try to find cases of supernatural forces impinging on the real world but I think it's far more effective just to say that ghosts are something you can't really discuss seriously with skeptics until they've experienced something like that themselves...

Hell I'm by no means an expert on the subject nor do I claim to know anything about the nature of the supernatural I'm just saying that there are too many cases reported by individuals and groups alike around the world through all ages of mankind to dispell them all by just saying "Your imagining things"

The plural of anecdote is not data.

Belief in supernatural is like that in psychic powers or homoeopathy. It would be great if they existed, if they was any proof, they would revolutionise science. But all we have are anecdote and highly subjective personal experiences, tainted with confirmation bias, a poor grasp of probabilities and a desire to reject the conventional explanations in favour of the more appealing fantastic ones.

Slarg232 wrote:Been invited to go Ghost hunting with some people from work, and I'm definately going. I'll try to post footage, but have already been told I'm not probably going to see anything.

That'd be cool. Could you have a group agreement not to swear or go into blind panic if you think you see/hear something, though? All the ghosthunting shows I've watched usually go something like this:

*Creak*

"OH F**K!"
"S**T!"
"Oh my god!"
"AHHHHHHH"
"F**KING S**T F**KETTY F**KING F**K F**K!"

It's a tad annoying. Am I the only one that thinks this?

Skarwael wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:Been invited to go Ghost hunting with some people from work, and I'm definately going. I'll try to post footage, but have already been told I'm not probably going to see anything.

That'd be cool. Could you have a group agreement not to swear or go into blind panic if you think you see/hear something, though? All the ghosthunting shows I've watched usually go something like this:

*Creak*

"OH F**K!"
"S**T!"
"Oh my god!"
"AHHHHHHH"
"F**KING S**T F**KETTY F**KING F**K F**K!"

It's a tad annoying. Am I the only one that thinks this?

Can't promise anything, but we can try.

The lady who swears a lot should be there, but I don't think she's my partner or anything.

Slarg232 wrote:

Skarwael wrote:

Slarg232 wrote:Been invited to go Ghost hunting with some people from work, and I'm definately going. I'll try to post footage, but have already been told I'm not probably going to see anything.

That'd be cool. Could you have a group agreement not to swear or go into blind panic if you think you see/hear something, though? All the ghosthunting shows I've watched usually go something like this:

*Creak*

"OH F**K!"
"S**T!"
"Oh my god!"
"AHHHHHHH"
"F**KING S**T F**KETTY F**KING F**K F**K!"

It's a tad annoying. Am I the only one that thinks this?

Can't promise anything, but we can try.

The lady who swears a lot should be there, but I don't think she's my partner or anything.

It'd be great if you could put up some footage. I wouldn't find it offensive if it was a swear fest, it'd just be a bit more difficult to hear what's going on