So do you believe in ghosts? Why?

[Kolby Jack]

If ghosts were real there'd be a LOT of them by now, and since I have yet to see one, I don't believe in them. Hundreds of billions of people have died since man became man, and I'm pretty sure more than a few thousand have died with regrets or rage or whatever.

Unlike belief in God, which can be justified despite the apparent lack of evidence, ghosts don't have that luxury. No evidence, no ghosts. And no, I don't count flimsy as hell "evidence" like houses creaking or slight movement on the edge of your peripheral vision in a dark room.

 

[Hal10k]

I don't believe in conventional ghosts. However, I am currently inclined to believe in poltergeists. Why? Well, at the moment, my microwave is suspended in midair about a meter above the floor, vibrating loudly and chanting in what I believe to be Welsh.

Take that, physics!

 

[Marik2]

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.

I believe he is talking about the hypothesis that deals with ghost sightings; instead of seeing a dead person its just an imprint of the past.

So to speak

 

[Woodsey]

Nope, my doctor didn't say I had any mental illnesses last time I saw him.

I can't even put myself into the same mindset that causes grown adults to jump to the most elaborate conclusion possible just because they got goosebumps in their house that one time.

People delude themselves.

 

[Harlemura]

I do. I have absolutely zero evidence to back it up, haven't seen anything myself that would be considered paranormal, but believe in them anyway.
Thinking that when we die, some part of us will hang about is a much more positive thought that we're faced with nothing. Lots and lots of nothing.

Though my dad was telling me a theory that people think they see ghosts after murders or sudden deaths or whatever because all the electricity stuff inside their body was released at once, leaving some kind of person-shaped cluster for people to mistake as a spirit.
I know it's probably complete baloney being rattled off by a tipsy man, but the idea interested me.

 

[Humble Grapefruit]

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 .

Ahh Marble Hornets, freaky series. I do not believe in ghosts for similar reasons to other's posts. I have not seen sufficient evidence or proof of their existence. Any "photographs" I've seen have been blurry, distorted, or something that could easily be Photoshopped. It's kind of like how Big Foot pictures are always blurry, except for the fact that I have met Big Foot...

 

[Nieroshai]

Your end-of-post rule essentially tells me I can't comment since I'm religious. So yeah... moving on.


Or I'll answer anyway since I believed in spirits before I found religion.

The night before my mom was shot, I dreamed about my stepdad killing her. Not verifiable except through my family, so take what you will. My personal opinion is that our minds are part of a plane that we have not yet gained technology to detect(read: is NOT OUTSIDE THE LAWS OF PHYSICS, just that which we have learned) and spirits are on this plane. Further explanation would require a huge wall of text and really is purely philosophical with hints of physical plausibility. Simply put: I believe the reason we have no proof is the same reason we didn't know about radiation in the middle ages: our tech just isn't there yet.

 

[CrashBang]

Yes I do and it pisses me off. I'm logical, like all good people should be. Show me physical proof and I'll believe you; therefore, I don't believe in any kind of god or follow any faith. However, I believe in ghosts. Actually, I'm not sure it's that I believe in them for certain or if I'm just scared and uneasy when it comes to spooky places.

 

[Ranorak]

Of course not, the whole idea of "something" remaining after your death is silly.
Body stops -> Brain stops. Brain Stops -> Conscience Stops.

Besides, if there were ghosts, my grandpa, who is as curious to the REAL workings of it all as I am, would come and haunt me to show me proof.

So far, he has not.

 

[ChuQue37]

I don't think you're aware. And if you are I'd just like to ask you.

Did you know. That your name sounds a lot like 'lesbian'.

 

[Ranorak]

Yes I do and it pisses me off. I'm logical, like all good people should be. Show me physical proof and I'll believe you; therefore, I don't believe in any kind of god or follow any faith. However, I believe in ghosts. Actually, I'm not sure it's that I believe in them for certain or if I'm just scared and uneasy when it comes to spooky places.

That might just be your primal Fear of the Dark.
We're hard-wired to be scared of the dark, predators and whatnot.
From the slightest shadows we see people and from the oddest noises we hear voices.

Even the most die-hard sceptic might show some doubt when dropped into those scary, creaky, old mansions that have a large Umbrella Corp logo on the door.

 

[DEAD34345]

No, not at all, but I don't hold anything against those who do. I can't say that they definitely don't exist, but since there is only anecdotal evidence to support them, and since those anecdotes can invariably (in my experience, at least) be explained without resorting to supernatural phenomenon, I'm inclined to say they don't.

Most of my family believes in ghosts, so it can be a little awkward for me when they talk about that kind of stuff. I try to remain as un-involved as possible, because it's very hard to tell someone who believes that you don't without offending them.

 

[Kargathia]

And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Sums it up pretty well.

 

[Steven Biehler]

I am open to the existence of ghosts. In fact a friend of mine had an "experience" during our French Club trip to Quebec a few years ago. I was there when this photo was taken and even the tour guide said that it had never happened before now I know you will say "Hey there is a watermark there in the corner keep in mind that I have heard they asked the parent permission to use this photo for some of their advertisements because they never saw anything like it before.
http://www.ghosttoursofquebec.com/ghosttoursofquebec/images/fantasticimage.jpg


http://www.ghosttoursofquebec.com/ghosttoursofquebec/customerfeedback.htm - other experiences other people had while on a ghost tour.

here is a link to ghost tour company's homepage. (to be through)
http://www.ghosttoursofquebec.com/ghosttoursofquebec/ghosttoursselection.htm

also although not ghost related per-say...I have had an out of body experience once.

 

[Fiad]

People are free to fill this fulls of holes, flame me or whatever. But yes I do believe in ghosts. Why? This is why.

When I was around 13 or so my family would often visit my aunt's farm in Iowa. Not much to do at a farm in Iowa, so me and my sister would just go around looking through old barns or whatever. Well one day we were playing in a camper near a wooded area. I was in the back, my sister up front, I turned and saw her staring out the window with a dumbfounded look on her face. I ran up to see what she was looking at, looking outside I saw a man with short sandy blond hair who was wearing a Victorian era suit. He turned, looked at us, smiled, then walked into the woods. My sister and I ran inside without saying anything to each other. I told my dad what I saw, my sister told my mom. Remember we had not said to each other what we saw. My parents talked to each other, turns out we both described the exact same man. Well my uncle and dad both went out looking around and couldn't find anything. Several years past and I eventually just passed it off as a coincidence, a trick of the light going through some trees or something. But around the time I was 15 my sister and I were at a local park around 8 at night, it was getting dark and harder to see outside of the street lamps. I heard my sister shout and ran towards her, asking her what was wrong. She told me she saw the man again standing under a street lamp. She said he did the exact same thing. Looked at her, smiled, then walked away. Not wanting him to get away if it was some random guy, we ran to where he walked off, but found nothing. This happened one more time last year when I was 18, she saw him outside of one of the windows of our house, once again smiled and walked off. Couldn't find any trace.

That is why I believe in ghosts. Personal experience. As I said, believe me or don't, say what you will. Won't matter to me.

 

[Thaluikhain]

No, for obvious reasons.

Yes, it would be possible that something not totally unlike the concept of a ghost is found as our science improves, but not totally unlike a ghost isn't the same as being a ghost.

If ghosts, as we think of them, exist, we'd know about them. If they aren't as we think of them, they'd not be called "ghosts". Except in the titles of Escapist news articles, I guess.

 

[PurePareidolia]

Not even slightly.

If it was a real thing, we could have verified it, tested it, or even remotely understood it, as opposed to every proper investigation turning up no result or a mundane explanation.

I mean, with the amount of people claiming this stuff exists you wouldn't think concrete evidence would be that hard to come by.

 

[Marik2]

People are free to fill this fulls of holes, flame me or whatever. But yes I do believe in ghosts. Why? This is why.

When I was around 13 or so my family would often visit my aunt's farm in Iowa. Not much to do at a farm in Iowa, so me and my sister would just go around looking through old barns or whatever. Well one day we were playing in a camper near a wooded area. I was in the back, my sister up front, I turned and saw her staring out the window with a dumbfounded look on her face. I ran up to see what she was looking at, looking outside I saw a man with short sandy blond hair who was wearing a Victorian era suit. He turned, looked at us, smiled, then walked into the woods. My sister and I ran inside without saying anything to each other. I told my dad what I saw, my sister told my mom. Remember we had not said to each other what we saw. My parents talked to each other, turns out we both described the exact same man. Well my uncle and dad both went out looking around and couldn't find anything. Several years past and I eventually just passed it off as a coincidence, a trick of the light going through some trees or something. But around the time I was 15 my sister and I were at a local park around 8 at night, it was getting dark and harder to see outside of the street lamps. I heard my sister shout and ran towards her, asking her what was wrong. She told me she saw the man again standing under a street lamp. She said he did the exact same thing. Looked at her, smiled, then walked away. Not wanting him to get away if it was some random guy, we ran to where he walked off, but found nothing. This happened one more time last year when I was 18, she saw him outside of one of the windows of our house, once again smiled and walked off. Couldn't find any trace.

That is why I believe in ghosts. Personal experience. As I said, believe me or don't, say what you will. Won't matter to me.

Hmmm well if he did the same thing 3 times in a row I think that would support the hypothesis of ghost sightings being "visions of the past"