The reason for a belief in ghosts

[grimsprice]

haha. yeah, people will believe whatever they want in a moment of desperation. i personally am firmly rooted in the belief that ghosts and the supernatural do not in any way exist. why? because i watch ghost hunters.

Think you could stretch on this a bit, what is it that they do that harbors disbelief in you?

99% of the time they never find anything but easily explainable noises and balls of light (motes of dust and bugs). I think twice since the beginning of the show something has happened that was interesting and appeared to be unexplainable, But it just seems to me that all they ever do is go out and film themselves not finding anything.

I respect them greatly, when they don't find anything they say they didn't find anything. They don't bullshit something like a ball of light into being paranormal, they don't have some nut job psychic say they feel a presence. they are totally respectable and trustworthy. Which only backs up the fact that they never find anything.

 

[historybuff]

Huh, wow, a lot of judgment is being passed around here.

I lived in a house where a lot of strange things happened. I believe in ghosts. *shrug* And who is anyone else to judge me for that?

I certainly believe that people can create their own "hauntings" and problems and I'm not the type to pass off everything as the work of ghosts or spirits. But I'm not going to say, "No, it's impossible." Because how would I know? I've never died before.

 

[jboking]

People believe in ghosts due to a combination of wishful thinking and dualism. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism] Ghosts are not real. Your friend is not alone in his belief in such things without evidence. It's natural to the human mind to believe such things or to want to believe such things. But that doesn't make it true.

By the way, if the show you were watching was Ghost Hunters, they're a pack of liars. Just so you know that. I had been watching that show a lot and I noticed that the voice on the EVP's had sounded like the same person in a couple well-spaced episodes. Watch such shows for entertainment purposes only.

I always saw dualism as the battle between the benevolent and malevolent. Could you stretch a little on how this applies to the belief in ghosts?

It wasn't the show Ghost Hunters, it was just some special regarding ghosts and the hunting thereof.

 

[Worgen]

Because there is some evidence of their existence, I mean not all that much but there are some things out there than really make you wonder...

For me it isn't as deep as that, it's just simply I've seem some evidence that support it and than I've seen some evidence that doesn't soo, who knows

no there isnt, but the human mind is programmed to be fearfull before smart, IE its more useful see see a shadow that looks like a tiger then a shadow that is just a shadow but might have a tiger attached, thats why we see strange things in the corners of our eyes but the belief in ghosts also has to do with our desire of some piece of us to live on after death.

Hum, so it is easy to say you don't believe there is any evidence of ghosts. What exactly would evidence of this phenomenon look like? Almost anything presented in film or photograph can be discredited. What would a ghost hunter have to present to give conclusive proof of the ghosts existence?

well lets assume ghosts are real, why arnt there more? billions of people came before us and Im willing to bet that alot of thier deaths would fall into the untimely catagory that ghost hunters love to state for the reason that ghosts are out there, if there were ghosts we wouldnt just be seeing a few we would be seeing tons

 

[HentMas]

i believe

why?? because this world would bee soooooooooooooo boring if the paranormal didn´t existed

"hey DID YOU JUST SAW THAT CHAIR FLY!?"

"yeah... damn wind lifting up chairs"

 

[TaborMallory]

Some people think ghosts are actually angels and demons. My grandma had a story where she woke up with her deceased relatives standing around her, telling her to stay strong. The next day, her uncle died.

Now, I personally don't believe in ghosts, but she was a religious woman and I could totally understand why she thought they were angels.

 

[jboking]

haha. yeah, people will believe whatever they want in a moment of desperation. i personally am firmly rooted in the belief that ghosts and the supernatural do not in any way exist. why? because i watch ghost hunters.

Think you could stretch on this a bit, what is it that they do that harbors disbelief in you?

99% of the time they never find anything but easily explainable noises and balls of light (motes of dust and bugs). I think twice since the beginning of the show something has happened that was interesting and appeared to be unexplainable, But it just seems to me that all they ever do is go out and film themselves not finding anything.

I respect them greatly, when they don't find anything they say they didn't find anything. They don't bullshit something like a ball of light into being paranormal, they don't have some nut job psychic say they feel a presence. they are totally respectable and trustworthy. Which only backs up the fact that they never find anything.

Looking through their youtube videos, it seems they have occasionally claimed to have found something. What do you think about the occurrences where they claim to have picked up a thermal reading of ghosts?

 

[jboking]

Because there is some evidence of their existence, I mean not all that much but there are some things out there than really make you wonder...

For me it isn't as deep as that, it's just simply I've seem some evidence that support it and than I've seen some evidence that doesn't soo, who knows

no there isnt, but the human mind is programmed to be fearfull before smart, IE its more useful see see a shadow that looks like a tiger then a shadow that is just a shadow but might have a tiger attached, thats why we see strange things in the corners of our eyes but the belief in ghosts also has to do with our desire of some piece of us to live on after death.

Hum, so it is easy to say you don't believe there is any evidence of ghosts. What exactly would evidence of this phenomenon look like? Almost anything presented in film or photograph can be discredited. What would a ghost hunter have to present to give conclusive proof of the ghosts existence?

well lets assume ghosts are real, why arnt there more? billions of people came before us and Im willing to bet that alot of thier deaths would fall into the untimely catagory that ghost hunters love to state for the reason that ghosts are out there, if there were ghosts we wouldnt just be seeing a few we would be seeing tons

I remember someone using quantum mechanics to try and explain this. They claimed that the reason we could see ghosts was because during moments of extreme duress people could leave an imprint on one of the 11 dimensions allowing us to only partially see them. Following this line of thought it could be that not many of us have experienced the level of stress required to leave an imprint.

 

[jboking]

People believe in ghosts because they're naive, gullible superstitous idiots. They are not real, they do not exist, shut up.

Christ Sanity, relax. I'm not claiming they are, I just wanted to have a discussion that goes a little deeper than "They're naive, gullible, superstitious idiots." You know, maybe see if there was something that kept people attached to this belief even after they realize it is completely unrealistic and likely untrue.

 

[jboking]

No, people believe in ghosts because they are stupid.

Even the stupid have reasons, no matter how ill conceived. instead of just insulting them, why not provide what you think the stupid's reasons are.

 

[crazy guy532]

I my self have a deep rooted belief in spirits/ghosts because i have seen it first hand. I lived in a trulyhaunted house for several years. Of course it could just be my own insanity telling me this.

 

[Crimsane]

Hmm. *goes around asking people if they believe in ghosts, and if yes, tries to convince them that I'll add money to their bank account if only they give me the information needed to access it.* Gullibility screening!

 

[grimsprice]

I think twice since the beginning of the show something has happened that was interesting and appeared to be unexplainable

Looking through their youtube videos, it seems they have occasionally claimed to have found something. What do you think about the occurrences where they claim to have picked up a thermal reading of ghosts?

i have seen a few of these so called thermal ghost sightings. only one ever went without explanation. and it was just the rough 'shape' of an upper torso. and it was only visible for a second. they couldn't replicate the exact circimstances of the sighting. it could have been a ghost. but for me i just tend to think the thermal sensing is just as fidgety as any visual evidence. light plays tricks. and so does heat.

As so far as these few sightings look like great evidence, i as a logical scientist have to take them into perspective. They are just weird moments that might have an explanation beyond the paranormal. Same scientific defense against ufo sightings. Just because i can't tell you what it is every time does not mean it should automatically default to 'oh its an alien'. Just remember that scientific evidence is based of repeatable experimental results. Eye witness accounts are the lowest form of scientific evidence, basically only used to give plausible reason to explore and hypothesize any given field of study. No real scientist is going to believe in nessy or big foot or the chupa-thingy until there is a corpse in front of them. As for ghosts it won't be scientifically believed until you find a ghost willing to move objects and manifest regularly and on cue. So far, ghost hunting is a pseudo-science waiting for some tangible facts. And as i have said i have great respect for TAPS, they put a great amount of effort into scientifically legitimizing their hunt for ghosts. I honestly can't wait till they find a spirit willing to punch people on cue.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

I believe in ghosts (or just paranormal phenomena) because of two things.

First one is, whenever someone in my family dies, right before they do, they reach out for something, and they smile. It's really eerie.

Second one is a story my grandfather told me. When he was a boy growing up in the second world war, whenever he'd go to school he'd walk past a man, Mr Baker and they'd say hello to each other. One day he gets up, goes to school, sees the guy as usual. He gets home to his mother telling him she's sorry, but Mr Baker's house got bombed the night before, and he was dead.

whilst it's not concrete evidence by any stretch of the imagination, I do think there's something else out there, maybe ghosts, maybe something else. Just, something.