So do you believe in ghosts? Why?

[Thespian]

I've been talking to quite a few of my friends and it seems like they all believe quite simply in ghosts and spirits and the like. Stories supporting this don't really go beyond footsteps being heard, lights turning on, and the occasional ouija board story which, if true, is pretty freaky as a coincidence but nothing to make me buy into supernatural stuff.

I personally don't believe because I've seen not nearly enough logical proof to make it viable to base some of my actions on these things existing. I'm not saying they definitely don't because we humans don't know everything, but there's that whole teapot-in-space argument (or, y'know, flying spaghetti monster argument to use a glorified meme) which explains why I don't think that just because we don't know something doesn't exist, it doesn't mean we should assume it does.

But that's me. Do you guys believe in ghosts/spirits/demons/entities/etc., outside of religious belief?

tl;dr: Do you guys believe in ghosts/spirits/demons/entities/etc., outside of religious belief?

 

[jakko12345]

No, no I don't. The sheer concept it so bafflingly stupid and illogical that when ever someone provides "100% NO FAKE PROOF" I want to bludgeon them with a sturgeon. In religious contexts though, I can understand why people believe in the paranormal.

 

[the spud]

No. Why not? Logic people. It can work wonders.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I'm more akin to the theory of a psionic imprint over spirits of the deceased.

 

[AlAaraaf74]

I want to say I don't believe, but I have an unhealthly wild imagination. I spent half my childhood running away and hidding from monsters. (Though I did have one really good dream where I went into a haunted house and fought off a ghost, so kudos to me)

 

[AlAaraaf74]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Yes, I do, very much so.

I would like to see one, but I would be scared.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

No. Why not? Logic people. It can work wonders.

To be fair, to ignorant people a supernatural being may seem like the only logical conclusion to certain things like... pies?

OT; Nope, but I know plenty who do. Such is the downfall of living in a rural area.

 

[Navvan]

In the traditional sense of dead people moving objects around? No, I don't believe in anything that doesn't have solid evidence. I certainly would like it to be true, but I would also like it if I had a billion dollars and there was world peace.

In an nontraditional sense though I would say they exist. I mean this in two ways. First that the acts of the dead still have impact on what happens today. This can be as simple as a lasting contribution society or having acts you do ripple and effect the acts others do and so forth. Secondly they can be treated in a similar fashion as a "god of the gaps".

 

[Soxafloppin]

No, I do not.

I hate when people say that they've seen Ghosts and swear its the truth., more so when its an Adult, Its so cringy.

 

[Tentickles]

Yes. Somethings you just cant explain with science atm.

Plus ouija scare the shit out of me. You dont mess with that crap!

 

[weker]

I did partly as a child but, after watching something and realising that the only time I thought i saw it was ofc after the film. That kinda knocked me out of those sort of things.
But alas you cannot always disbelieve things recently after discovering Marbel Hornets I have been freaked out once or twice when walking down the local woodlands at 10 at night. He will pop into my mind and my sense will become heightened and keep doing so until im home every so often .

 

[Amphoteric]

Yes. Somethings you just cant explain with science atm.

Plus ouija scare the shit out of me. You dont mess with that crap!

Oh shit, I'm screwed now aren't I...

 

[Thespian]

Plus ouija scare the shit out of me. You dont mess with that crap!

But what about people who, like me, have totally messed with that crap and came out unmolested? Do you stick by your guns or is it something else at work?

I want to say I don't believe, but I have an unhealthly wild imagination. I spent half my childhood running away and hidding from monsters. (Though I did have one really good dream where I went into a haunted house and fought off a ghost, so kudos to me)

I can relate. I am highly imaginative and, actually, as a kid I clung to fantasy and magic desperately, terrified that I'd have to face up to it not being real one day. Surprisingly, I became a cold, hard, logical skeptic without any painful parting from my old habits. Though I do see it less as "not believing in magic anymore" and more as "seeing the magic in the real world."

I'm more akin to the theory of a psionic imprint over spirits of the deceased.

Please do elaborate. I'd be pretty interested in exactly what you mean by this.

 

[Total LOLige]

Yes I do believe in ghosts but I don't shout ghost, ghost every time something weird happens. I don't believe in psychics that can supposedly channel the dead or whatever.

 

[Bobzer77]

No. Why not? Logic people. It can work wonders.

To be fair, to ignorant people a supernatural being may seem like the only logical conclusion to certain things like... pies?

OT; Nope, but I know plenty who do. Such is the downfall of living in a rural area.

Indeed, the only thing worse than ignorant people such as those are the elitist dickheads who put them down for having beliefs they find amusing.

OT: Nah I don't believe in ghosts.

 

[BrassButtons]

Yes. Somethings you just cant explain with science atm.

True, but how do you know those things are caused by ghosts? Simply pointing out that there is a phenomenon we can't explain is not evidence for ghosts--it is merely evidence of a phenomenon we can't explain yet. No more, no less. Though this raises the question of how we would determine that something was actually the result of ghosts. Hmmm...

Plus ouija scare the shit out of me. You dont mess with that crap!

Ouija boards are nothing to be afraid of. They work via the ideomotor effect--the people using the board moves their hands without being consciously aware of it.

Say you have a ouija board with the words "yes" and "no" on it, and someone asks you (or the spirits, or ghosts, or whatever) a question that you would expect to be answered with a 'yes'--that expectation could easily cause you to unconsciously move your hands toward the 'yes.'

But then what if you were blindfolded, and the board was rotated 180 degrees without your knowledge? Your hands would still move to where you think the 'yes' should be. If it were really some other force communicating to you then it would move your hands to where the 'yes' is now, not where it was the last time you looked at it.

 

[dmase]

Nope because I've never seen anything supernatural. I've seen weird shit in my life, stuff I can't explain and yet... nothing that struck me as so incredible that it wasn't able to be explained or chalked up to random.

 

[No_Remainders]

Yes. Somethings you just cant explain with science atm.

To quote Dara O'Briain (I did this earlier this week... Strange) "Science KNOWS it doesn't know everything, otherwise, it'd stop".

OT: No. No I do not.