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Title says it all.

I got into a few arguments with some of my work buddies on the topic and most claim they've had one or more encounters with the paranormal
throughout their lifetime.

Me being a skeptic, yet also willing to be open minded, I want to hear what the tabletop community thinks.

Last year we had a situation over at the fire department/community center that made local newspaper (Mainly because it was around Halloween and they just wanted something to throw in there).
My friend (We'll call him Dave) was on duty with his manager and another co-worker named Christian. It was around 10 o'clock at night and most of the kids playing basketball were heading on home.
At around this time Dave would have to check all the locker rooms and basketball courts to make sure nobody was in there before locking up. Christian decided to come along because he had nothing else better to do.
In order to reach the basketball court complex you had to cut through the fire department garage. In there were two firetrucks and along the walls you had firefighter jackets hanging loaded with equipment.
These jackets on average weigh around 50lb, equipped with breather masks, oxygen tanks, and special harnesses for various tools. After Dave and Christian cut through the garage, checked all the locker rooms, did the garbage, and closed up the courts, they went to go
head back to the managers office to clock out for the night.

At this point things started to get weird.

When they came back to the garage they noticed that all the jackets had been moved to the other side of the room. Dave and Christian were surprised by this as they were just in there five minutes ago, they didn't really do the garbage
since most of the trash bags barely had any trash in them, so it was just a matter of checking to see if the basketball courts were empty. What REALLY surprised them was that, again, there were about twenty of these 50lb jackets and in order to move them to the
opposite side of the garage you needed to squeeze them between the garage door and the firetruck that was in the way.

There were only three people on shift, Dave, Christian, and the Manager (who definitely could not have moved them in under five minutes).
Keep in mind, we have other fire department buildings around town, so nobody was on duty at this particular building. Dave and Christian decided to dismiss this and proceeded to head back.

The thing you need to know about the managers office was that you had to reach a flight of stairs and go through this narrow hallway that had additional bathrooms and child aftercare rooms.
When Dave and Christian began to reach the flight of stairs, they noticed that the corridor leading up to the 2nd floor had gone awfully cold. Again, they dismissed this, as it was late October and the windows were open all day.

But when they reached the 2nd floor to the managers office, Christian's face went pale.

At the end of the hallway, Christian claimed he saw a black silhouette of a head and an upper torso go right through the Janitor closet door.
Christian asked Dave if he saw what he saw, and Dave thought he was full of bull, so he went to go open the door only to find nobody inside.
Then they began to hear footsteps only just feet away, and at that point they just wanted to get out of the building.
They went back down the flight of stairs to the garage and what was before them made their blood run cold.

All the jackets were back on the opposite side of the garage.

They both bolted out of there without clocking out for the night.

So tell me, what are some of your stories?

Scientists can recreate the experience of an "encounter" with spectres.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-switzerland-laboratory-ghosts-idUSKBN0NK1A020150429

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

It is entirely possible that currently unexplained phenomena occur that are blamed on ghosts which could be something else. Interdimensional beings, a glitch in time, or somesuch.

While I can't say I "believe" in ghosts, I can say my wife and I have experienced things that cant easily be explained since we moved into our house almost 3 years ago.

The latest was me seeing a shadowy shape behind my car in the attached garage as I was walking in. I had been building a wall in the basement and was going in and out of the garage to cut wood and had probably been in and out 10-15 times. I never noticed anything the previous times, but one time I came out and saw what appeared to be a head and shoulders shaped shadow crouching behind my car. It wasn't a shadow on the wall, but it had a depth to it like a solid figure. My hair stood on end, and it moved toward the front of the car and disappeared. I knew it wasn't my imagination, because I felt a creepy feeling that I swear I've never felt before.

The strangest one though happened about 6 months before that. It was a weekday morning, and after the alarms went off, my wife and I were just laying in bed, stalling on getting up for work. She was to my left and had her eyes open, just looking around the room. I was laying on my side, facing the wall and had my eyes closed, trying to get that precious last minute of sleep. All of a sudden I heard a child's voice say "hey" that sounded like it started at the wall and moved across the room over our heads. At the same time, she nudged me and said "did you see that!" I said "no, I had my eyes closed, but I heard something fly across the room." She said she saw a softball size shadow fly across the room, coming from the wall that I heard the sound from, and it followed the same path as I the voice did. Of course we were both pretty creeped out by that.

Like I said, I don't absolutely believe in ghosts, but I do believe there are things in this world that still cant be explained. Have a good day!

 shiner wrote:
While I can't say I "believe" in ghosts, I can say my wife and I have experienced things that cant easily be explained since we moved into our house almost 3 years ago.

The latest was me seeing a shadowy shape behind my car in the attached garage as I was walking in. I had been building a wall in the basement and was going in and out of the garage to cut wood and had probably been in and out 10-15 times. I never noticed anything the previous times, but one time I came out and saw what appeared to be a head and shoulders shaped shadow crouching behind my car. It wasn't a shadow on the wall, but it had a depth to it like a solid figure. My hair stood on end, and it moved toward the front of the car and disappeared. I knew it wasn't my imagination, because I felt a creepy feeling that I swear I've never felt before.

The strangest one though happened about 6 months before that. It was a weekday morning, and after the alarms went off, my wife and I were just laying in bed, stalling on getting up for work. She was to my left and had her eyes open, just looking around the room. I was laying on my side, facing the wall and had my eyes closed, trying to get that precious last minute of sleep. All of a sudden I heard a child's voice say "hey" that sounded like it started at the wall and moved across the room over our heads. At the same time, she nudged me and said "did you see that!" I said "no, I had my eyes closed, but I heard something fly across the room." She said she saw a softball size shadow fly across the room, coming from the wall that I heard the sound from, and it followed the same path as I the voice did. Of course we were both pretty creeped out by that.

Like I said, I don't absolutely believe in ghosts, but I do believe there are things in this world that still cant be explained. Have a good day!

The brain is constantly taking in all information through our senses then trying to quantify, rationalize, catalogue and react to that information. In the attempt to keep you functioning it will patch holes in the information it is receiving with information previously stored, such as the outline of a man. The reaction of your hairs standing on end is a sensation known as frisson which is a sudden rush of adrenaline induced by endorphins based on sudden unexpected circumstances.

 CthulhuDawg wrote:
Scientists can recreate the experience of an "encounter" with spectres.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-switzerland-laboratory-ghosts-idUSKBN0NK1A020150429

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

That's exactly what the ghosts want you to think! Come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like ghost talk. Especially since CthulhuDawg died *30 years ago today*!

 jmurph wrote:

 CthulhuDawg wrote:
Scientists can recreate the experience of an "encounter" with spectres.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-switzerland-laboratory-ghosts-idUSKBN0NK1A020150429

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

That's exactly what the ghosts want you to think! Come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like ghost talk. Especially since CthulhuDawg died *30 years ago today*!

The post is coming from inside of Dakka!

I am a non-believer..... but it sure is a lot more FUN to believe!

I definitely had a ghost or something similar in my old house in PA. Most telling thing was I would get those little bouncy balls out of vending machines (My cat liked to play with them).

One day, I was in the basement doing laundry and one of these balls hit me in the side of the head. I thought it was my roommate but she was in her bedroom on the second floor.

Had a friend staying with me for a couple months. Once she fell asleep, she wouldn't move. However, sometimes when we woke up, some how her socks got taken off.

I've also seen her around out of the corner of my eye. She was a little girl. Liked hanging around the stairs. She touched me once, and that's not an experience I recommend to anyone.

I once read a post where Frazzled said he liked cats. If that's not a paranormal encounter I don't know what is.

 Swastakowey wrote:

 skyth wrote:

Had a friend staying with me for a couple months. Once she fell asleep, she wouldn't move. However, sometimes when we woke up, some how her socks got taken off.

Did she believe that excuse?

Well it certainly wasn't me. Especially since she usually came to bed after I was already asleep.

 skyth wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 skyth wrote:

Had a friend staying with me for a couple months. Once she fell asleep, she wouldn't move. However, sometimes when we woke up, some how her socks got taken off.

Did she believe that excuse?

Well it certainly wasn't me. Especially since she usually came to bed after I was already asleep.

What kind of socks are we talking here (this is vital information, trust me, I'm a scientist)? And how do you know she doesn't move in her sleep if you're asleep before her?

 CthulhuDawg wrote:

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

You must be a hit at parties, I'm sure being that blunt and dismissive with people wins you a lot of friends. Whatever the cause behind it some people have experienced things beyond their ability to process, you don't have to be a dick about it. A lab test might show that some physical sensations can be recreated but it doesn't invalidate experiences people may have had, and it's usually a good idea to listen to people before outright proclaiming they are wrong.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 skyth wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 skyth wrote:

Had a friend staying with me for a couple months. Once she fell asleep, she wouldn't move. However, sometimes when we woke up, some how her socks got taken off.

Did she believe that excuse?

Well it certainly wasn't me. Especially since she usually came to bed after I was already asleep.

What kind of socks are we talking here (this is vital information, trust me, I'm a scientist)? And how do you know she doesn't move in her sleep if you're asleep before her?

Toe socks. And when I woke up in the morning, she was completely out and didn't move at all.

 skyth wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 skyth wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 skyth wrote:

Had a friend staying with me for a couple months. Once she fell asleep, she wouldn't move. However, sometimes when we woke up, some how her socks got taken off.

Did she believe that excuse?

Well it certainly wasn't me. Especially since she usually came to bed after I was already asleep.

What kind of socks are we talking here (this is vital information, trust me, I'm a scientist)? And how do you know she doesn't move in her sleep if you're asleep before her?

Toe socks. And when I woke up in the morning, she was completely out and didn't move at all.

Ah, well that is just the universe trying to correct the natural imbalance of trying to wear gloves on your feet

 stanman wrote:

 CthulhuDawg wrote:

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

You must be a hit at parties, I'm sure being that blunt and dismissive with people wins you a lot of friends. Whatever the cause behind it some people have experienced things beyond their ability to process, you don't have to be a dick about it. A lab test might show that some physical sensations can be recreated but it doesn't invalidate experiences people may have had, and it's usually a good idea to listen to people before outright proclaiming they are wrong.

Please guys, lets keep this civil

I can't say I've had an experience personally, but when I was a kid...4th or 5th grade...I used to stay after school with neighbors. Anyways, the daughter of the family was about 2 years older than me and I remember her telling me one day when I came over after school, that her grandmother, who lived in the upstairs level of the family's house, had just passed away over the weekend. That wasn't the point of the story, though. She told me in all seriousness that on that Sunday morning she went upstairs, as usual, to get her grandmother so she could come down for breakfast and that when she walked into her bedroom she saw a "shining" image of her grandmother standing in the room, while her actual body still laid in the bed. She said that the image looked at her and smiled, and then she...the girl...screamed and ran downstairs to get her parents. They immediately rushed upstairs, but saw no apparition.

 CthulhuDawg wrote:
Scientists can recreate the experience of an "encounter" with spectres.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-switzerland-laboratory-ghosts-idUSKBN0NK1A020150429

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

Dude, it really doesn't matter if you believe or not for the purposes of the thread. A good story is a good story, shut up and let them be told. Or at least listen to the guy you took your name from "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" or if you don't fancy that, " The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents". Science can't compete quantitatively wise with what we don't understand. Most scientists will tell you that. That's why they are scientists. Good job security.

When it comes to the supernatural and paranormal, I see people doing what they have always done in the face of something odd or unexplained - make stuff up.

Water falls from the sky - must be god.
A light moves across the sky - must be aliens from another planet.
A book falls off the shelves - must be a ghost.

By all means investigate. Withhold belief or conclusion until said belief or conclusion is justified, though.

Coming home from work one night in rural Michigan, I was admiring the stars on the clear night and noticed something odd as I rounded a corner. A fairly large part of the sky was pitch black. I pulled over to get a better look and saw what appeared to be an absolutely huge, roughly triangular "blackness" that was gliding slowly across the night sky. Stars were being obscured and revealed as it travelled over the treeline and out of sight.

There was no cloud cover that night, so I ruled weather out.

No idea what it was, but it was amazing to see.

 skyth wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 skyth wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 skyth wrote:

Had a friend staying with me for a couple months. Once she fell asleep, she wouldn't move. However, sometimes when we woke up, some how her socks got taken off.

Did she believe that excuse?

Well it certainly wasn't me. Especially since she usually came to bed after I was already asleep.

What kind of socks are we talking here (this is vital information, trust me, I'm a scientist)? And how do you know she doesn't move in her sleep if you're asleep before her?

Toe socks. And when I woke up in the morning, she was completely out and didn't move at all.

She kicked them off in her sleep. I wear toe socks and have been known to fall asleep in them, not that hard to kick off. I find it harder to believe that a ghost is running around pulling off peoples socks.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
I once read a post where Frazzled said he liked cats.

This is the most unbelievable post in this thread; I don't believe it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Dreadwinter wrote:
I find it harder to believe that a ghost is running around pulling off peoples socks.

Maybe it wasn't a ghost but a skeleton hiding about. I've even heard that there is a skeleton hiding inside all of us but I imagine that is just an old wives tale to frighten us.

 Gordon Shumway wrote:

 CthulhuDawg wrote:
Scientists can recreate the experience of an "encounter" with spectres.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-switzerland-laboratory-ghosts-idUSKBN0NK1A020150429

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

Dude, it really doesn't matter if you believe or not for the purposes of the thread. A good story is a good story, shut up and let them be told. Or at least listen to the guy you took your name from "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" or if you don't fancy that, " The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents". Science can't compete quantitatively wise with what we don't understand. Most scientists will tell you that. That's why they are scientists. Good job security.

Well said my dude!

I was staying in some old hotel while travelling back across Australia and left an empty can of pepsi on the side table and it actually moved a few inches towards the edge before I stopped it. There were no fans or a/c on and all the windows were shut so if there was a draft in there that would have had to either come through a wall or from the front of the room strong enough to reflect off the wall and push it back I didn't know about it. The only windows were in the bathroom to the left (from the can's perspective) behind a closed door and itself shut) and to the right of the room (which if the draft had come from it would have moved at a 90 degree angle).

Instead of being spooked or anything I actually spent a while trying to work out how it could have happened and after a good hour couldn't work it out and gave up on it.

 stanman wrote:

 CthulhuDawg wrote:

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

You must be a hit at parties, I'm sure being that blunt and dismissive with people wins you a lot of friends. Whatever the cause behind it some people have experienced things beyond their ability to process, you don't have to be a dick about it. A lab test might show that some physical sensations can be recreated but it doesn't invalidate experiences people may have had, and it's usually a good idea to listen to people before outright proclaiming they are wrong.

I tend not to hang out with delusional people. They're dangerous.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gordon Shumway wrote:

 CthulhuDawg wrote:
Scientists can recreate the experience of an "encounter" with spectres.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-switzerland-laboratory-ghosts-idUSKBN0NK1A020150429

The thought that ghosts are real, like religion and the idea that the earth is flat, are remnants of an age past and should be shot down, disputed and purged from society at every opportunity.

Dude, it really doesn't matter if you believe or not for the purposes of the thread. A good story is a good story, shut up and let them be told. Or at least listen to the guy you took your name from "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" or if you don't fancy that, " The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents". Science can't compete quantitatively wise with what we don't understand. Most scientists will tell you that. That's why they are scientists. Good job security.

Lovecraft wrote fictional stories, stories are perfectly fine and very entertaining. I think that's the reason most of us come to grimdark scifi wargame forums. The problem is when stories start being presented as plausible. That's when people start saying because of this story we need to do these things and if you don't do these things you need to lose your life.

 Dreadwinter wrote:

 skyth wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 skyth wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 skyth wrote:

Had a friend staying with me for a couple months. Once she fell asleep, she wouldn't move. However, sometimes when we woke up, some how her socks got taken off.

Did she believe that excuse?

Well it certainly wasn't me. Especially since she usually came to bed after I was already asleep.

What kind of socks are we talking here (this is vital information, trust me, I'm a scientist)? And how do you know she doesn't move in her sleep if you're asleep before her?

Toe socks. And when I woke up in the morning, she was completely out and didn't move at all.

She kicked them off in her sleep. I wear toe socks and have been known to fall asleep in them, not that hard to kick off. I find it harder to believe that a ghost is running around pulling off peoples socks.

Other than she doesn't move at all once she's asleep and that isn't the only thing weird that happened. Like I said in the original post, I've had something thrown at me in that house.

I don't have a hugely significant one. A childhood home, my sister swears up and down was haunted.

I only saw one thing once that made me question it. I was in the house alone, preparing to leave. I turned the kitchen light off as I'm walking out. I get to the door, across the room, and the light turns back on.

I went back and checked, and the switch was back up.

That was it. Otherwise my life has been relatively oddity/possibly paranormal free.

Don't worry. Those of us who believe in a higher power or believe ghosts do exist don't want to hang out with you either. It would be a drag being told we're delusional all the time for believing there is more out there than just what we can see with our naked eye.

Here's one. As a kid, my family and I would go to our aunties holiday home in Donegal along with all the extended family. Whilst the parents went off to the pub at night, it would just be us kids and the dog in the house, playing Super Nes and what have you . One such night, the dog started getting really jumpy, growling whilst staring out the window. And we soon saw why. There was a dark figure staring at us from outside near the ruins of the old cottage across the way. Scared us shitless. Turns out that was the local 'ghost'. Everyone around there encountered it at one stage or another. Whilst it was probably a crazy loner from way out in the sticks it was funner to believe it was a ghost.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Don't worry. Those of us who believe in a higher power or believe ghosts do exist don't want to hang out with you either. It would be a drag being told we're delusional all the time for believing there is more out there than just what we can see with our naked eye.

Get in the sack!