Poll: Do you believe in ghosts?

[ToastiestZombie]

Simple question, do you believe in ghosts and all that stuff? Maybe you've seen one, or you think you've seen one. If so, feel free to share stories.

I got the idea for this thread from here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.379940-Poll-Psychics-Mediums-and-Clairvoyants-do-you-believe-in-them except instead of bullshit scam artists, it's creepy dead people.

As for me, I'm entirely unsure really. I think that if one were to see a ghost, it would probably be their mind playing tricks with them. Hallucinations are the most likely explanation. But even if I'm unsure, I bloody love a good ghost story, they're one of my favourite forms of horror.

 

[Hazy992]

No. There's no real evidence to suggest they exist and unless the day comes where there is evidence, I won't believe in them.

 

[Hal10k]

I believe in Bill Murray, which I suppose means that I believe in ghosts by proxy.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Sure do, we used to own a WeeGee board, weird things started happening, I mean objects moving on their own and doors getting locked from the inside with no one in the room to lock them.

We burned that thing and haven't been bothered since.

 

[Hazy992]

snip

Did you say Weegee board?

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

snip

Did you say Weegee board?

I wasn't sure how to spell that word... Google you have failed me.

Self correction: Weegie, or Ouija

 

[The Madman]

I wish they were real, would definitely make things a helluva lot more interesting. As of yet though the most terrifying thing I've seen while visiting famed and supposedly haunted locations are a couple bats and lots of dust.

Very anti-climactic.

 

[burningdragoon]

snip

Did you say Weegee board?

It could be an officially licensed Luigi's Mansion Ouija Board, which... sounds awesome



OT: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh maybe.

 

[DoPo]

Self correction: Weegie, or Ouija

It is indeed supposed to be Ouija. But I think I like Weegee better.

No. There's no real evidence to suggest they exist and unless the day comes where there is evidence, I won't believe in them.

But think about it - there is nothing to disprove ghosts. What if hallucinations are actually caused by ghosts and all that?

 

[Rawne1980]

I honestly did think my house was haunted at one point.

I'd do the cleaning in the morning and go off to the gym and when I got back things had moved around.

Found out 2 weeks later that it was my wife moving it around because I had put things in the wrong place.

I didn't click it was her because she was at work at the time and had popped home for some food while I was out.

 

[Hazy992]

I wasn't sure how to spell that word... Google you have failed me.

It could be an officially licensed Luigi's Mansion Ouija Board, which... sounds awesome

Self correction: Weegie, or Ouija

I think a Weegee board is probably scarier

But think about it - there is nothing to disprove ghosts. What if hallucinations are actually caused by ghosts and all that?

Is that a joke or...?

 

[DoPo]

But think about it - there is nothing to disprove ghosts. What if hallucinations are actually caused by ghosts and all that?

Is that a joke or...?

Just pointing stuff out. The ghosts exist in an indeterminate state - nothing really points toward their existence or non-existence. I think we can draw a conclusion from that, though - Schrodinger is not having a really fun time after his death.

 

[burningdragoon]

But think about it - there is nothing to disprove ghosts. What if hallucinations are actually caused by ghosts and all that?

Close. Ghosts actually have a deal with pharmaceutical companies to make people think they are having hallucinations where the only 'cure' is to pop pills to be able to fight back. That's how the pharma companies rake in so much money.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I think I heard that a guy proved that if something causes infrasound at a certain pitch it causes a bad feeling and can even make people hallucinate. That seems the best explanations for ghosts to me. Especially since it is more likely to occur when a place is run down.

Infrasonic 17 Hz tone experiment

On 31 May 2003, a team of UK researchers held a mass experiment where they exposed some 700 people to music laced with soft 17 Hz sine waves played at a level described as "near the edge of hearing", produced by an extra-long-stroke subwoofer mounted two-thirds of the way from the end of a seven-meter-long plastic sewer pipe. The experimental concert (entitled Infrasonic) took place in the Purcell Room over the course of two performances, each consisting of four musical pieces. Two of the pieces in each concert had 17 Hz tones played underneath. In the second concert, the pieces that were to carry a 17 Hz undertone were swapped so that test results would not focus on any specific musical piece. The participants were not told which pieces included the low-level 17 Hz near-infrasonic tone. The presence of the tone resulted in a significant number (22%) of respondents reporting anxiety, uneasiness, extreme sorrow, nervous feelings of revulsion or fear, chills down the spine and feelings of pressure on the chest. In presenting the evidence to British Association for the Advancement of Science, Professor Richard Wiseman said, "These results suggest that low frequency sound can cause people to have unusual experiences even though they cannot consciously detect infrasound. Some scientists have suggested that this level of sound may be present at some allegedly haunted sites and so cause people to have odd sensations that they attribute to a ghost?our findings support these ideas."

They think it causes this because it's a primal fear reaction as some animals such as tigers use this pitch to intimidate in their roar.

I love spooky stuff and ghost stories but until some hard evidence comes along I shall remain sceptical.

 

[Hazy992]

Just pointing stuff out. The ghosts exist in an indeterminate state - nothing really points toward their existence or non-existence. I think we can draw a conclusion from that, though - Schrodinger is not having a really fun time after his death.

Now you're getting into 'you can't prove a negative' territory. The logical stance is to not assume existence until there's evidence otherwise.

 

[DoPo]

But think about it - there is nothing to disprove ghosts. What if hallucinations are actually caused by ghosts and all that?

Close. Ghosts actually have a deal with pharmaceutical companies to make people think they are having hallucinations where the only 'cure' is to pop pills to be able to fight back. That's how the pharma companies rake in so much money.

Aha, I knew it! Now I'm on to you ghosts. I can finally start ascribing other stuff to you. Like gravity. Ghosts are holding us down, people, literally.

 

[Saladfork]

No, I don't believe in ghosts. I'd even go so far as to say that the concept is patently ridiculous. I mean, think about it; if you were a dead person, why would you just randomly go around and spook people out? Wouldn't you walk up to the first person you saw, be like 'Hi. I'm dead. Bring me the media NAO!'?

And for that 'unfinished business' idea? Just what are they accomplishing? Wouldn't it be much more helpful if, when the police began investigating the body, they got a blue jedi spirit telling them who the murderer was?

Captcha: Rhyming slang
Writing 'bout ghosts on the web
how it wouldn't make sense if they're dead
There's plenty of saps
Who would help with your crap
But instead they just mess with our heads

 

[burningdragoon]

No, I don't believe in ghosts. I'd even go so far as to say that the concept is patently ridiculous. I mean, think about it; if you were a dead person, why would you just randomly go around and spook people out?

Have you been on the internet before? That doesn't sound implausible at all.

 

[Asita]

Nope. I find their existence to be incredibly unlikely at best, at least in any sense that matters to us.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Like everything supernatural, I don't know. They could exist, I suppose. I find it unlikely, but it would be pretty silly of me to completely rule it out.