Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Have you ever encountered one?

[Forfax]

Most of these stories are when someone family members or someone very close to them died and they felt like they had a connection with them throught the afterlife with simple thing around them.
Don't get this the wrong way.

When a family member or someone close to you dies , you will be in emotional pain or even in shock for a few days , trying to understand why it happened and the usual crisis when thing sad like this happen.
But... your brain is in an emotional pain , what you might thing as ''A ghost or a ''supernatural phenomene'' is simply what happen in your everyday life you simply WANT to believe it is your friends trying to contacts you.
It simply your perception and brain playing tricks on you.

[Ashnazg]

People used to get shits and giggles for burning and torturing people who explored wacky, unfounded ideas such as bullshit like 'gravity', 'the world is round' and 'the earth orbits the sun not the other way around'.

Why is it so hard for people to at least keep an open mind on things these days? :P

The whole supernatural and ghost or unexplained occurances has been going on for a long time, I'd actually like more scientific exploration into these things to explain things rather than just amatuer speculation, cynicism and general disbelief and an unwillingness to accept anything that is currently unknown.

I mean, what else are scientists doing apart from letting us know that everything gives us cancer?

"I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out."

Keep in mind that while there were people who explored ideas such as "gravity", "round world", and "heliocentrism", there were also people living right next to them who believed that the world was held by turtles and that Zeus caused thunder and lightning. In other words, just because some theories were valid, doesn't mean all of them are. Then there is the fact that proper theories (e.g. gravity, round world and heliocentrism) are grounded in logic, reasoning, and solid, repeatable empirical observation, therefore they were not "wacky or unfounded".

Ghosts and other such phenomena has not been observed with any sort of consistency. When and if it will be, then it will make sense to believe in them. Until that time, it is illogical and contrary to common sense.

The few phenomena that people have traditionally mistaken for ghosts and supernatural entities can be explained as easily as infrasound and electromagnetic fields.

[zorkuus]

Why is it so hard for people to at least keep an open mind on things these days? :P

Having an open mind =/= blindly accepting shady rumours and poorly conceived logical fallacies. Such as the most common logical fallacy surrounding a topic like this which can be seen in many of the stories in this very thread: argument from ignorance = "I saw something I cannot explain" and in the next breath the same person claims he knows exacly what this unexplaineble thing supposedly is. So it isn't as much questioning the event itself but the poor explanation and the person who describes it in a very unconvincing way. The complete lack of empirical evidence doesn't help either.

[Dezerte]

People used to get shits and giggles for burning and torturing people who explored wacky, unfounded ideas such as bullshit like 'gravity', 'the world is round' and 'the earth orbits the sun not the other way around'.

Why is it so hard for people to at least keep an open mind on things these days? :P

The whole supernatural and ghost or unexplained occurances has been going on for a long time, I'd actually like more scientific exploration into these things to explain things rather than just amatuer speculation, cynicism and general disbelief and an unwillingness to accept anything that is currently unknown.

I mean, what else are scientists doing apart from letting us know that everything gives us cancer?

I'm undecided by the way, I had a weird experience as a child but that could have honestly been anything. My mum has several stories about it and I at least believe that she believes and is telling me exactly what she's seen, as well as my older brother.

I've also heard stories from other people; from all over the place as well. And it's the usual things too; shadows moving across the room and floating lights. There was a staff party at my work a few years back, going through some cctv footage for a nosey of people having fun upstairs the morning after, there was an unexplained light that floated just outside the kitchen and by the camera. A lot of the people I work with do not believe in anything and are athiest, but between all of us, we couldn't explain it.

I prefer to hold the belief "I don't know" whenever I see something I don't understand. Keeping an open-mind doesn't mean that you should be gulliable, you should always remain skeptical when somebody claims something extraordinary. Critical thinking also generally leads to better decisions in your daily life, so there's another reason to become a skeptic.

Here's one link detailing the science behind ghosts, sources found within links in the article:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18828...sightings.html

If that's not enough, ask yourself "Are optical illusions NOT illusions, but actually real?" That's one the greatest examples of our mind playing tricks on us (and very easy to try out yourself).

EDIT:http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests...cychecklow.php

Poor example, the 10-30Hz sound only lasts a few seconds but I did find that frequency creep down my spine a bit. You could imagine if a fan ran at a constant Hz that just happens to be within the "creep factor" range, and it's stays on all day. I probably would feel creeped out and start imagning shit too.

[Puck]

I had a winged angel stand over my bed one night.

Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.

OT: Nah, I don't believe in ghosts or all that junk, with the amount of people that die you wouldn't be able to walk 5 feet without bumping in to one.

[Valort]

Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.

OT: Nah, I don't believe in ghosts or all that junk, with the amount of people that die you wouldn't be able to walk 5 feet without bumping in to one.

But that point of view offers too much logic for believers to deal with! How dare you?!

Now they shall start saying "Nah, its only the souls stuck in Purgatory, not the ones in Heaven and Hell, walking the earth and spooking children on their dreams, appearing as floating lights or random shadows!"

If humans become ghosts, then, by logic, every other animal does too, unless it is related to self-awareness, then only humans, elephants, and some other very specific species become ghosts. And then, over the course of millions of years of humankind (Not to mention hundreds for other mammals), there would be so many ghosts, all these "ghost-watchers" would be overwhelmed.

Of course, whats easier than explaining random lights or shadows than saying "ITS A GHOST?"... Hmmm, I don't know...

Let the protocol say that human beings, when dead, become bio-luminescent globes of light, with the ability to levitate!
And some other human beings, when dead, become capable of being invisible yet have the ability to block out light enough to cast a shadow!

Seriously, is everyone going to explain every lucid dream / drunken romp / medicine/drug induced hallucinations with "GHOSTS!"?

[Dezerte]

Seriously, is everyone going to explain every lucid dream / drunken romp / medicine/drug induced hallucinations with "GHOSTS!"?

Nope, I'm afraid it gets worse.

Alien abductions!

[Deleted]

This is a question of faith and delusion so I'm going to report this because there can't be any talk about religions either in these forums.

[Valort]

Nope, I'm afraid it gets worse.

Alien abductions!

A certain group out there believes in alien ghosts... I guess it fits right in!

[Deleted]

Oh my, a ghost thread.
I guess it's time to post this again.

OT: Nope.

Why would it be locked? Theirs nothing against it in the OT rules?

Every single ghost thread on MMOC ever:
Hi guys I believe in gho-
YOU'RE STUPID, SCIENCE AND STUFF.
YOU'RE STUPID, BE MORE OPEN-MINDED.
YOU'RE STUPID, SCIENCE AND STUFF.
YOU'RE STUPID, BE MORE OPEN-MINDED.

For about 10-30 pages, the above video is also linked in every single thread and eventually it gets locked because it's all just covered in flames.

[Wikiy]

Sorry, but after reading a few sentences of the OP, i simply can't read on. You may call me a bigot, close-minded or whatever, but i think actually thinking ghosts are possible is crazy. CRAZY. There's ABSOLUTELY no physical explanation as to why anything like that could be possible (no evidence), and to make things worse, we're supposed to "have an open mind" and keep the possibility of such things existing open just because some few random crazy people have "stories"... Right, no, thank you. If you all have open minds about that, you may as have an open mind about the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[Ashnazg]

Although I am a staunch disbeliever in ghosts and spirits, I cannot rationally dismiss a possibility that we all live in a simulated environment (e.g. Matrix for those who became familiar with the concept post 1999). Since, with an advanced enough simulation, it would be impossible for us to realize that we're not real. Because of that very fact, though, I don't bother dwelling on the topic too much.

[Wildmoon]

I don't believe in ghost and I don't really believe that science=fact too.

[Wikiy]

Although I am a staunch disbeliever in ghosts and spirits, I cannot rationally dismiss a possibility that we all live in a simulated environment (e.g. Matrix for those who became familiar with the concept post 1999). Since, with an advanced enough simulation, it would be impossible for us to realize that we're not real. Because of that very fact, though, I don't bother dwelling on the topic too much.

There is even something to back up your theory. The fact that all particles are actually points, they have no physical meaning as size, and every single one of their properties can have 2 possible states, 0 and 1. Sound familiar? But yeah, even if this reality is a simulated one, it doesn't really matter because it's OUR reality. And reality, from a human perspective, is something that can be described as subjective.

[Puck]

Oh my, a ghost thread.
I guess it's time to post this again.

That video is the best thing ever.

[Deleted]

I believe in unexplained phenomena. I believe that they are unexplained and that's where my belief stops.

[Ashnazg]

There is even something to back up your theory. The fact that all particles are actually points, they have no physical meaning as size, and every single one of their properties can have 2 possible states, 0 and 1. Sound familiar? But yeah, even if this reality is a simulated one, it doesn't really matter because it's OUR reality. And reality, from a human perspective, is something that can be described as subjective.

Indeed, although if the string theory proves correct, then the "pointparticle" nature of elemental particles will be disproven.

[Drakain]

Nope. Don't believe in them. Love ghost stories and movies though!

[Wikiy]

Indeed, although if the string theory proves correct, then the "pointparticle" nature of elemental particles will be disproven.

Well, i'm one of those people that don't believe string theory so lightly just because it sounds nice or because it makes sense. At the moment, to me, it's as real a possibility as the Flying Spaghetti Monster (don't get me wrong, i'm not degrading string theory). Ie, until i see evidence, i will be utterly neutral about it.

[Deleted]

Oh my, a ghost thread.
I guess it's time to post this again.

I believe that's the end of this discussion, thanks for participating people.

Cya next time.