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Also, about the Bloody Mary thing. When I was a kid at camp, we did all the dumb things kids do, and this was one of them. We were in a bathroom with a very heavy door and did it three times. Everyone ran out laughing and yelling. Then this kid caught one of his fingers in the door and practically tore it off. I will never forget that. They had to rush him to the hospital. I never wanted to play that stupid game again after that.

It was in st. Augustine florida, on one of those haunted ghost tours. It wasn't completely dark yet, and my tour group was sitting in an old house/ hospital thing. I was sitting on a bench, and the guide was just explaining some stuff, and I wasn't expecting any "ghosts" yet. All of the sudden, the back of my neck and a bit of my head just got COLD. No we are in Florida, in the summer So it is HOT outside, even at night. This building was so old, there was no air conditioning units installed. We were indoors, so no wind would have got me.
It wasn't like i got a chill on my neck, it was like a source was drawing heat away. It was almost as intense as if someone put a bag of ice on my neck.

But most ghost things are just imagination. Was mine my imagination? Probably.
But see, now that I have read all these sories, I am expecting ghost stuff to go on. I keep thinking I hear noises. But i know i'm not, because my cat is here, and anything I hear, she will hear MUCH louder than I will, and her little ear would swivel to the source. Thats how i determine if a noise is my imagination or not, and it is quite reassuring.

People believing in ghosts and spirits would be less annoying to me if millions of people also did not believe that humans coexisted with dinosaurs and that tigers used to be vegetarians.

Then of course the problem of human albinos being hunted down and killed (like right now not only in the past) for their body parts to be used in magic potions in many African problems is the result of people believing in spirits and magic.

The amount of suffering and pain caused by the belief in magic and spirits among Hindu people cannot even be cataloged.

The list of stupidity and human suffering caused by uncritical thinking and the belief in spirits is crushing and why I have a low tolerance for that particular brand of nonsense.

 Peregrine wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
If I kill some more people do you think the ghosts would cancel each other out, or would the hauntings just get worse?

Probably only if you kill people of an opposing "faction" (ie. you knew they didnt like the first people you killed)

Back when my family lived in England we lived in a small town. Our house was a converted carriage house and there was an old covered up well under the kitchen floor. Now supposedly the local rumor was that a little girl fell into that well a long time ago and drowned. My mother and sister claimed on several occasions to see a little girl in the house at night (usually in my sisters room on the second floor). I myself never saw anything.

When I was a wee lad, the family went to New Orleans. My sister tried talking the family into going on a ghost tour. My dad looked at the tour guy and said "Ain't no way I'm paying that hippy any money for anything." There were some more colorful adjectives.

That evening, before bed, watching the news for the next days weather, we saw him on TV. His tour group witnessed a double homicide that night.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Yeah, I know it sounds a little contrived and story-like, but it's legit.

This is the cornerstone of all ghost stories.

Nothing wrong with a good ghost story.

So far

Ghost story goes "Guys and girls. You are not going to believe this"
Fairy Tale goes "Once upon a time in a land far away"
Good war story goes "No Shiat There I was. Knee deep in brass and frag pins"

I have been to Resurrection Cemetery, Chicago, and St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans, Plus many other "Haunted" locations in the U.S.

Resurrection Cemetery is where "Resurrection Mary" has been reported to have been seen, and St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans has the tomb of Marie Laveau, the famous voodoo priestess.

I have never seen anything that would make me believe that a ghost or anything supernatural was there ever.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/23046/quick-10-10-americas-most-haunted-cemeteries

 poppa G wrote:

 Howard A Treesong wrote:

 poppa G wrote:
My house had a demonic possession...

No. It didn't.

You can't prove i didn't no more than I can prove I did.

Well the burden of proof is on you as you made the claim...

JWhex wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Assuming that they aren't and that other worlds, beings, and dimensions don't exist is human arrogance.

You have it backwards, insisting that something only you can see and experience is real, is true arrogance.

Discounting something that there is no physical objective evidence for and is in contradiction to a vast amount of scientific empirical knowledge is what is called "reasonable" not "arrogant".

The thought that this is the only habitable world in the entire universe is definitely human arrogance. No other world ever had life? Statistically, this is impossible. Just because they haven't been to Earth doesn't mean they don't exist. And if other worlds can be inhabited, why can't there be other dimensions where creatures we perceive as ghosts exist? The arrogance I mention stems from people believing they are the only thing out there. I don't even follow your logic-I'm not the only one seeing this. There are others who have admitted it too. There was surely nothing about my comment that was arrogant.

And @Manchu-it's definitely not a story, the example I gave definitely took place. The ghost story I posted last year about my step brother's experience turned out to be a fake though-I found out later that he was just a very good story teller and good with MS Paint...

Actually no, that isn't what people are saying.

People are saying if there was actual proof and not just the ravings of random people, they'd believe it.

This thread is fun.

 timetowaste85 wrote:

JWhex wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Assuming that they aren't and that other worlds, beings, and dimensions don't exist is human arrogance.

You have it backwards, insisting that something only you can see and experience is real, is true arrogance.

Discounting something that there is no physical objective evidence for and is in contradiction to a vast amount of scientific empirical knowledge is what is called "reasonable" not "arrogant".

The thought that this is the only habitable world in the entire universe is definitely human arrogance. No other world ever had life? Statistically, this is impossible. Just because they haven't been to Earth doesn't mean they don't exist. And if other worlds can be inhabited, why can't there be other dimensions where creatures we perceive as ghosts exist? The arrogance I mention stems from people believing they are the only thing out there. I don't even follow your logic-I'm not the only one seeing this. There are others who have admitted it too. There was surely nothing about my comment that was arrogant.

And @Manchu-it's definitely not a story, the example I gave definitely took place. The ghost story I posted last year about my step brother's experience turned out to be a fake though-I found out later that he was just a very good story teller and good with MS Paint...

No one with a scientific background argues that this is the only habitable planet in the galaxy or universe, far from it.

Conflating the posibility of life on other planets with beings from other dimensions is such a fundamentally flawed argument you dont even need freshman philosophy to argue against it.

We know the characteristics of planets that may support life and we know the conditions that will likely exclude it.

Honestly, the idea that because there could be life on other planets means there could be life in other dimensions is just a stupid idea.

First of all, there are no other dimensions, that is just sci fi and fantasy, or worse it is speculative physics that is based on hypotheses that cannot be tested and is thus in the same class of ideas as an opium induced dream.

Now if there were other dimensions and spirits were just these creatures somehow manifesting in our own dimension then why can they not be objectively observed and recorded? All of your senses are ultimately based on the interpretation of physical properties, therefore any spirit you become aware of would have to be interacting with physical matter, which humans happen to be very expert in measuring and detecting with instruments far better than as individual organisms.

Now I will say that a good ghost story can be very enjoyable, I just pity the poor fool that believes a ghost story really happened.

I live near the most haunted place in the UK...

orkdestroyer1 wrote:
I live near the most haunted place in the UK...

Which is just as haunted as any other place as ghosts don't exist.

I like reading ghost stories, as long as they're well written. If not, then it's as boring as someone rambling on about their fething dreams or bad 40k fluff.

 Cheesecat wrote:

orkdestroyer1 wrote:
I live near the most haunted place in the UK...

Which is just as haunted as any other place as ghosts don't exist.

Hmmm...
Using that logic you could say everywhere is the most haunted place in the world...
That would be a great scam for tourists...

Welcome to my kitchen cupboard, the most haunted place in my kitchen.

Also of note, my fridge, which has minor hauntings every Tuesday.

As a former, occasional sufferer of sleep paralysis, it's interesting to me how many ghost encounters can be explained by that single sleep disorder.

From what I've heard, that sleep disorder is nothing short of terrifying.

Also the old images of it are creepy.

 gorgon wrote:
As a former, occasional sufferer of sleep paralysis, it's interesting to me how many ghost encounters can be explained by that single sleep disorder.

Also alien abduction stories.

I've had sleep paralysis once.

The nearest I can get to describing it is try to imagine your arms are moving, without actually moving them. Now imagine really hard they're moving. Now wonder why you're still not moving.
I know I was dreaming still as I saw a critter (remember that 'hilarious' film?) run down the side of my bed.
Weirded me for about 30seconds, till I realised I'd just forgotten how to move

The only weird thing I've ever seen was in Austria. I was at a church in a valley at dusk - there was one path leading to the church thorugh the valley.
I looked back up the path from the church and saw people walking down to the church and it looked like they were holding up torches.
I went back inside for a couple of minutes, then went to look again. There was no one there. There was no where else the people could have gone to, unless they were hiding in bushes.
I'm not ruling out that about 30 random Austrians have a hobby of wierding out tourists by hiding as soon as they aren't looking, but it just seems a bit far fetched...

Any ideas for a more sensible explanation?

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County Seriously.... Check out the page. Ghost story telling as can only be done by true experts.

PredaKhaine wrote:
I've had sleep paralysis once.

The nearest I can get to describing it is try to imagine your arms are moving, without actually moving them. Now imagine really hard they're moving. Now wonder why you're still not moving.
I know I was dreaming still as I saw a critter (remember that 'hilarious' film?) run down the side of my bed.
Weirded me for about 30seconds, till I realised I'd just forgotten how to move

The only weird thing I've ever seen was in Austria. I was at a church in a valley at dusk - there was one path leading to the church thorugh the valley.
I looked back up the path from the church and saw people walking down to the church and it looked like they were holding up torches.
I went back inside for a couple of minutes, then went to look again. There was no one there. There was no where else the people could have gone to, unless they were hiding in bushes.
I'm not ruling out that about 30 random Austrians have a hobby of wierding out tourists by hiding as soon as they aren't looking, but it just seems a bit far fetched...

Any ideas for a more sensible explanation?

Daemons from the Warp, you heretic!

 Jihadin wrote:

I could not even imagine writing up an after action report on terminating a "ghost" with extreme prejudice....

I'm told, though I'm not sure I believe it, that it happens enough at Camps Courtney and Foster that the duty keeps a separate log for them.

Quite a few of you seem to be of the opinion that ghosts are not real. This is misunderstanding the issue. Science has neither proven nor dis-proven the existence of ghosts. Short duration, non repeating events are a common problem in, for example, astronomy as well. If one scope picks up an event, but it is too short in duration to be picked up by another scope, it tends to be written off. It does not mean that the event did not happen, just that it does not qualify as evidence as it could not be verified.

The original reason that parapsychologists would carry around things like Geiger Counters and EMF detectors and FLIR systems was to gather as much raw data as possible in the hopes that a cause for anomalous reports could be found, and possibly replicated under controlled, laboratory conditions.

Science has neither dis-proven or proven the existence of a lot of things. I am happy enough to believe they don't exist until someone does prove it.

 BaronIveagh wrote:

I'm told, though I'm not sure I believe it, that it happens enough at Camps Courtney and Foster that the duty keeps a separate log for them.

Quite a few of you seem to be of the opinion that ghosts are not real. This is misunderstanding the issue. Science has neither proven nor dis-proven the existence of ghosts. Short duration, non repeating events are a common problem in, for example, astronomy as well. If one scope picks up an event, but it is too short in duration to be picked up by another scope, it tends to be written off. It does not mean that the event did not happen, just that it does not qualify as evidence as it could not be verified.

The original reason that parapsychologists would carry around things like Geiger Counters and EMF detectors and FLIR systems was to gather as much raw data as possible in the hopes that a cause for anomalous reports could be found, and possibly replicated under controlled, laboratory conditions.

Yup, and until I get some scientifically viable, REPEATABLE data, I'm going to continue saying that there is no evidence for ghosts existing apart from some people really wanting it to be true.

And let's not count the 'tools' that Ghost Hunters/Adventures uses, as those are TV show props and we all know it.

I've seen a few episodes of Ghost Hunters. What a freaking joke.

I'm not a believer myself, however I have considered spending time in a "haunted" local sometime in the future to see what the fuss is about.

 MrDwhitey wrote:
From what I've heard, that sleep disorder is nothing short of terrifying.

Also the old images of it are creepy.

The first time was the scariest. Then -- assuming you find out what it really is, which I guess isn't a given for everyone -- other episodes are just kind of an "oh, this again." It seemed like the later episodes were weaker and shorter just because I didn't panic and try to move when they happened. At least that's how it was for me. I haven't had one in many years. Still, it's enough to convince you that actually being paralyzed is even worse that you might imagine.

Regarding the painting, folk tales, etc., I never got the level of hallucination that some people get. The first time it happened, I saw some kind of dark, formless shape on my chest/body. I never saw that again in future episodes. If I had only known during my teenage years playing D&D that I'd someday meet a Night Hag...

@kronk -- You're 100% right about the abduction thing. Sleep paralysis explains a healthy chunk of those cases also.

Regarding ghost stuff in general, I don't believe any of it, but I'm also willing to have that opinion changed if I personally encounter something that's completely unexplainable. Like Ma55ter_fett, I've wanted to go spend the night in the "most haunted X evuh" just to see if I'd actually encounter anything. I'll never get my wife to agree, however. I don't believe that I'll see/hear/encounter a thing, but I'm not going to pretend that I know the nature of the universe either. *shrug*