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

[Infernatotely]

You can be as convinced as you like by the event but you also have to understand that you did not see a ghost. If you think you did you are wrong. It's just sad that people are so easily swayed by so little to believe in their little fairy tales simply because they want to believe there's something after death, or their loved ones that have died still exist in some form.

I'm not really arguing against you, I have nothing against you, I just think you're wrong. I just get angry with such opinions because they enable things like crackpot psychics and mediums and whatever other scam artist that makes money off've lies and tricks and pseudo-psychology. People have TV shows that revolve around telling crying parents their dead child is trying to contact them from beyond the grave. It's sick and it's wrong and I'm just a bit let down by humanity that a decent-sized majority buy in to that shit.

I ramble. Rant over.

You're quite intersting. YOU ARE WRONG is what you said, and then I JUST THINK YOU'RE WRONG. and then I'M NOT REALLY ARGUING AGAINST but... YOÚRE WRONG?

[Deleted]

although there isn't any REAL proof of ghosts i do believe in them though

[Grishnaz]

No I don't believe in them, can't say they don't exist in the same way I can't disprove fairies/zombies/gods/werewolves ect.

I have experienced strange things sure, but I know they are a result of my impressionable, easily fooled mind that recognizes human shapes/patterns in everything.

[Deleted]

Just saying that dumb sweeping generic statements are dumb, that's all.

I disagree. My sweeping statement provided the reasoning for my argument. Your contradiction merely proved to discredit me without any real reasoning other than stating things that weren't measurable a few hundred years ago are now.

---------- Post added 2012-07-31 at 01:15 PM ----------

You're quite intersting. YOU ARE WRONG is what you said, and then I JUST THINK YOU'RE WRONG. and then I'M NOT REALLY ARGUING AGAINST but... YOÚRE WRONG?

Yes, I try to be less offensive sometimes when I'm in a good mood but I'm just really offensive toward anyone I disagree with, it's inherent, I can't help it.
People are wrong most of the time, they need to know that.

[Arganaut]

No, but I did used to have these freaky 'nightmares', which could easily have been mistaken for paranormal activity.

I used to be half asleep, but I could sense a presence and feel some 'force' holding me down, which stopped me from moving. One time I 'felt' someone trying to saw my head open. It's difficult to describe, but they were incredibly scary. I knew that I was conscious, but couldn't do anything about it.

I learnt to force myself fully awake when they were happening and they eventually stopped.

It is possible to wake up too soon, when the body is not expecting it, and sensation that you cannot move any limbs. That's weird.

[Dezerte]

It is possible to wake up too soon, when the body is not expecting it, and sensation that you cannot move any limbs. That's weird.

Yes. Your brain shuts off your muscles when you sleep (sleep paralysis), it does this in order to protect you from harm when you're dreaming. There are some people who lack this ability and they are what we call sleepwalkers.

[zorkuus]

Go out and run the scientific method on your hypothesis. Find some empirical evidence of your ideas and then post your findings into a scientific journal so that others can attempt to duplicate your results. If the experiment has the same results when performed by all parties it can then be considered a theory. If it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt it is a Law of Science.

Your argument has good intentions but you make a common mistake by equating scientific laws as the highest science can achieve, above theories. It's actually the opposite. And not all theories necessarily contain laws, for example the germ theory, and I think we can all agree the germ theory is "proven beyond a shadow of a doubt". On its own a law doesn't really tell us that much, it doesn't propose a mechanism for a phenomena, it's just the results of repeated observations. A scientific theory is the framework that puts together all of the observations, mechanisms, explanations, tests etc, including laws. So it is a theory which is on the highest pedestal of the scientific pecking order, and not a law.

[oblivionx]

Unfortunately for "the believers" the burden of proof is on them.

You can make up anything and then stage the debate from the perspective of prove me wrong.

Every ghost/spirit/whatever "sighting" can easily be explained by basic function of our senses and mind.

[Locruid]

Im still out on whether they exist or not BUT BUT BUT I do have a tale to tell

When I was 13 I was visiting with my Aunt and uncle up in thier Home in Montana.

We were eating dinner one night when the Back door opened and close. From my chair I can see straight shot to the door. NOTHING in the way at all and the door is about 10-15 away. Without batting an eye my Uncle said "Dad's Home" referring to his father (my grandpa) who died 6 yrs prior.

I was like "what do you mean"

"your Papa, my dad is home"

"Whatever. Papa died when I was 6 Unc."

He then said "Go try the door"

So I proceeded to walk to the door (mind you the ENTIRE time it's in my sight) and tried it. Both the main handle AND the deadbolt was both locked.

Im still unsure what to believe.

[Rooflesstoofless]

Two sides of the coin for me...

10 years of working nights in a hospital and never once saw anything resembling a spirit, ghost, whatever. I figure that would be the place, if any that you'd see something like that since so many people die there all the time.

Lived in an apartment I swore was haunted. Weird shit would happen all the time (water faucets would turn on, cabinets would open and things would fall out them, would catch shadows of people on my balcony out the corner of my eye that weren't there, etc) but never once felt unsafe or scared in the least. There was also an insane concentration of owls that lived right around my apartment even tho people a few blocks over would think I was crazy because owls don't usually live anywhere near the area I was at (and the few that do are usually very spread out).

[JasonWuzHear]

From reading about out of body experiences and near death experiences, I feel that consciousness does not originate in the brain. I believe we have what you all might call "souls".

Also, there is probably a possibility that there are lots of different dimensional fields that we can't detect. Perhaps when we have intense emotions, our brain releases some sort of signal that interferes with these fields, and maybe if the emotions are strong enough, they leave an imprint. Maybe certain ghosts are these emotional imprints, and not just spirits. Or, some ghosts are spirits from people that still actively interfere with our 3 dimensions.

I think it's a good thing for everyone to do some research on out of body experiences (OBE's) and Near death experiences (NDE's). To give a heads up, the only proof that exists with no explanation is when someone remembers correct information they have found out when out of the body that they could have never known. For example, one person remembered flying out of the hospital and seeing shoes on the 3rd story ledge, outside the window. From the window, the shoes are unable to be seen, from the ground they're unable to be seen. So they send someone with a big ladder to verify this claim, and there are shoes there. Other evidences have explanations that explain the hallucinations one sees in their near death experience. They say that those visions could be caused by a release of brain chemicals as the body is dying. Anyway, you should all do your own research on the matter !

MORE OT: story time!

Only paranormal things that have happened to me are just weird dreams that end up happening in the future. I had a dream where I was standing in the living room of my home, making my mother laugh with a certain joke, then thinking about the rest of the family. A couple months later, that same moment with the same thoughts happened.

I've had other weird dreams and a couple cases of sleep paralysis. In one case, I felt like there was something on my chest and neck, keeping me from breathing. In another case, I felt like something was speaking to me telepathically. It said "Beings that exist in 2 dimensions do not move". When I woke up again later that morning and thought about what happened in the middle of the night, I loled a bit. What the hell kind of message is that?

TL;DR Beings that exist in 2 dimensions do not move.

[Sayl]

I always thought of the law as something where the math was correct ie. the Laws of Physics being proven via calculus.

Laws describe phenomena mathematically, theories explain why they occur.

[zandril]

I think of myself as a rational person so i don't really believe that they exist. However, whenever i am home alone I tend to look over my shoulder quite often while I am on the computer out of paranoia and fear, so who knows maybe somewhere in some crevice of my brain i do believe that they exist.

[Deleted]

well once i was walking home and i saw two large yellow eyes watching me from the dark!

i was so freaked out! i thought i'd be kidnapped by alliens!

but it was just a cat...

[ernio]

I am a star child all i know is there are super natural things, I have astral dreamed OBE/OBC , visited places, seen the future met a giant king or god and his children a lot fo stuff.

[Deleted]

I am a star child all i know is there are super natural things, I have astral dreamed OBE/OBC , visited places, seen the future met a giant king or god and his children a lot fo stuff.

It's not often trolls makes me laugh, but you did, thanks.

[Deleted]

The burden of proof is on the one making the claim not the person they are trying to convince.

Science doesn't have to "disprove" anything. You have to prove it if you are making a claim.

Go out and run the scientific method on your hypothesis. Find some empirical evidence of your ideas and then post your findings into a scientific journal so that others can attempt to duplicate your results. If the experiment has the same results when performed by all parties it can then be considered a theory. If it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt it is a Law of Science.

You know, I could say I have an invisible dragon that lives in my garage. I guess it must be true since science can't disprove it right?

"what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there's no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true." -Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1995

I've been looking for the exact words for my opinion on such matters for a while. You've done a very good job of giving me something close to those. Well played, fine sir.

[gnomergon]

In my experience, the only people i have met who have "seen ghosts" are trolls (the perpetrators) and gullible women/girls. Haven't met a single honest guy or rational, level-headed girl who has claimed to see a ghost.

[Albert the fish]

i believe in them, but i also believe that it's very possible i'm wrong.

im ok with this situation.

i think anyone trying to say that one way or the other is THE TRUTH is a twat. the simple fact of the matter is, we don't know. we may never know. science has yet to prove that things like ghosts do exist and it has yet to prove that they don't or can't exist. we simply don't bloody well know and i'm not sure why that seems to be such an issue for some people.

[Dezerte]

i believe in them, but i also believe that it's very possible i'm wrong.

im ok with this situation.

i think anyone trying to say that one way or the other is THE TRUTH is a twat. the simple fact of the matter is, we don't know. we may never know. science has yet to prove that things like ghosts do exist and it has yet to prove that they don't or can't exist. we simply don't bloody well know and i'm not sure why that seems to be such an issue for some people.

Just want to comment on the bolded part here.

It's impossible to disprove the existance of something, especially when we talk about things like ghosts that supposedly don't obey the laws of the universe.

Ghosts & spirits have also been debunked with science already, so there's no logical reason to believe in them.