Ever seen a ghost?

[pylon]

I don't believe for a second in ghosts. Yet somehow, movies like Paranormal activity freak me the hell out.

[Daradon]

I used to be open to that kind of stuff, but not so much anymore. I'm skeptical about most things now.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by pylon

I don't believe for a second in ghosts. Yet somehow, movies like Paranormal activity freak me the hell out.

Pardon me for deviating slightly from the OP, but that movie was perfectly crafted with just the right amount of visuals to still allow your imagination to take over. One of the few movies to render me sleepless for several consecutive nights. For that reason, I have avoided seeing any of the sequels.

As for the OP: No, I have never seen a ghost, although I know people who have. And the thing is, I truly believe that they believe what they saw was real. Shortly after my grandmother died in 1992, my aunt (her daughter) awoke in the middle of the night and says she saw a figure at the foot of the bed. She was convinced that it was my grandmother, and ever since that moment she has had a peaceful and understanding recognition of not only her mother's death, but also death in a general sense. She is not religious in any way, shape, or form.

My mother, who is filled with a lot of faith, works at a long-term nursing facility in my home town. She takes care of people for years as they approach the end of their lives, and she sees and confronts death quite often. She always says that the particular feelings she used to experience in the presence of certain people surrounds her every now and again as she works. Is it nostalgia? Is it sensory and memorable impressions surfacing as a result of psychological triggers? Or are they familiar spirits expressing their gratitude? I don't know, but I know my mother believes it and it gives her comfort. Regardless of what I believe to be true, her comfort gives me some peace of mind. And I can't really find the disadvantage in that.

[sa226]

I have never seen a ghost and I doubt I ever will.

But just like others I have heard countless stories from people who have no reason to lie about ghost "encounters" they have experienced.

I think it is easy to find ways to dismiss the sounds of children running, or creaks or your brain tricking you into seeing something that isn't there.

The stories that I have a hard time dismissing are the cupboards slamming or faucets being turned on in the middle of the night, hair dryers being turned on etc etc.

One particular story that kinda gave me the heebie geebies, was a friend of my parents who doesn't exaggerate, doesn't have any motive to persuade people to believe in ghosts or anything. This person had just moved into a "new" house and they were starting to experience the strange noises at night, a bathroom faucet being turned on in the middle of the night, windows and doors being opened etc. They tried to dismiss it as weird coincidences until one particular night the wife was using scissors to cut something for one of her procrastinating, lazy kid's school project. Apparently before bed she put the scissors on her bedside table and turned off the light and went to sleep like anybody would. The next morning, she woke up and found the scissors on the window sill across the room standing balanced perfectly on the tip.

Of course just a breath knocked them over. Apparently she tried for quite awhile to balance them the same way herself, but couldn't.

Now I don't believe in that crap, but to see this woman matter of factly tell this Story, that I really believe to be 100 percent true made me at least think about it.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

[Shaggin Wagon]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

How does making the unknown resemble the safety of your own species confer any kind of survival advantage at all?

Think of it this way. You see black and your brain tries to fill the void. You spend all day trying to hide from panthers and bears. You see nothing and hear a russle in the bushes, you think predator. If you play with a Ouiji board all day and lose your sense of sight, you will think spirits of people.

[Nage Waza]

Here is my ghost story, I am a skeptic yet this story did happen to me:

I am kinda drunk so whatever, I get very ill just writing this.

I came home (afternoon summer) and as I was unlocking my door, I could tell someone was in my condo. Once I 'realized' someone was there (I easily could have assumed it was my girlfriend or maintenance or something) I stepped through the doorway and I felt very cold, dizzy and became extremely scared. I basically had a panic attack and I was overcome with emotions, but most seriously was frightened. While this happened, I walked deeper into the condo and felt like I was no longer in control of myself. I was basically panicked and was walking towards what I knew was the other person in my condo. The other person was in my living room, yet I walked into my office, directly to my bookshelf. As I stared at the books, I knew someone was now dead in my living room, and this dead person was waiting for me. I was frozen at my bookshelf still not really 'there', and suddenly one book was nearly falling off the shelf, my hand reached out and grabbed it, as soon as my fingers touched it I felt warmth, calm and peace. I stared at the book - it happened to be the very first book my girlfriend ever wrote that was published. I was like WTF? Then the phone rang, of course from the living room. Now though I was calm and peaceful and I walked around the corner into the living room and answered the phone (phone should not have been there by the way), my girlfriend was screaming and crying on the phone (she called from her office). I asked her what was wrong, she said she was turned around in her chair filing some papers when someone was suddenly behind her, she got scared and spun around, no one was there. Instead, her computer had a document opened on it. It was the first book she had published, the version open on her screen was in Russian (and the same book I was still holding in my hand). Her father, who just died a month earlier, had translated it to Russian for her before he died (to send to family back home). She claims as she stared at the screen she was overcome with sadness and her father somehow 'told' her at that moment to quit her work, and start writing again. She also felt compelled to call me immediately. She was balling her eyes out when she called, I was still messed up as well.

Although we are no longer together, we share this little story together. She now writes full time.

I certainly do not believe in ghosts, but I certainly was not myself for a period of about two minutes. This experience certainly reminded me how powerful the human brain can be.

[Shaggin Wagon]

I see some weird stuff but I am pretty sure it is my
Mind filling the void.

I don't believe in ghost, but people can be pretty convinced. Back in the 90's my we took a family trip to Salmon Arm. We had diner in a restaurant that used to be a house. Our table was in the back corner next to a study that had been turned into a private room. The door was open and we could see the chandler swinging wildly. When the waitress took our order, my grandpa joked about the ghost of the house. The waitress asked how we knew. Her and another girl lived in the upstairs of the house. She said that the house hAd all sorts of creepy noises. They were so scared to go in the basement but that is where they had to do laundry.

I don't believe in ghost but that story gave me goose bumps as I wrote it. On the comments about paranormal activity. That is a good movie. Freaked me out. If I let my imagination go, the thought of a haunting spirit creeps me out.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Shaggin Wagon

I see some weird stuff but I am pretty sure it is my
Mind filling the void.

I don't believe in ghost, but people can be pretty convinced. Back in the 90's my we took a family trip to Salmon Arm. We had diner in a restaurant that used to be a house. Our table was in the back corner next to a study that had been turned into a private room. The door was

Holy crap the ghosts got him!

[4X4]

Well we don't really understand why we're conscious at all, so it's not impossible for me to believe that maybe consciousness does not cease when a person's body dies.
Maybe the people that actually believe that they've seen a ghost have a sense or an awareness that the rest of us don't. I'm sure there are lots of fakers, but maybe some of the claimants are legit.

[Daradon]

Regarding Paranormal Activity, man that movie bored me to tears. I got excited about it and even watched it at home with the lights off and the sound turned up and instead of getting scared I nearly feel asleep. And I do like movies that slowly build the tension, the true terror instead of some of the other horror films, but man I just did not get this one.

But I guess they're pretty popular movies if their on the 4th one already.

Regarding other phenomenon, I get that sleep paralysis where your frozen but your awake, or at least you feel like your awake. Sometimes even with the figure standing over the bed. I guess this phenomenon is what caused a lot of people to believe they have been abducted by aliens, or in older times visited by demons. Or even ghosts. But I believe the medical explanations.

I think sometimes the mind can make things very real, but they're all in you head. Like the story about the panic attack. That could make you see things that aren't there either. And especially draw conclusions that don't make a lot of sense. Not to crap on anyone's story or beliefs, just mentioning how I see the issue.

As for the sleep paralysis, it still really sucks though... The first time it happened it scared the crap out of me. Not being able to move and having a scary dark figure standing over you. Almost like having your worst childhood night terrors come to life! After reading about it I've found I can calm myself when it happens kinda like controlling a dream.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

[jhunt223]

Originally Posted by Daradon

As for the sleep paralysis, it still really sucks though... The first time it happened it scared the crap out of me. Not being able to move and having a scary dark figure standing over you. Almost like having your worst childhood night terrors come to life! After reading about it I've found I can calm myself when it happens kinda like controlling a dream.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

I started to get these after I got hit by a car. I've never been able to remember the 30 minutes leading up to the accident or the accident itself.. just waking up on the pavement. It put me in the hospital for quite a while and then once I got home I couldn't really make my way up and down stairs so I just slept and hung out in my basement. On about the fourth day back I woke up terrified with an unimaginable amount of adrenaline flowing through me. I tried to move and couldn't. All of the sudden I see a large, shadowy figure speed at me from across the room. I tried to scream for help, but I couldn't do that either. This happened about 6 or 7 more times over the next year. My theory is that I was remembering the accident in my dreams and my brain was trying to wake me up before the part where the car hits me so it could keep the memory repressed, but the car was kind of making its way through into my waking life some how in the form of the shadow ripping at me really quickly. I never remembered my dreams leading up to it though, so.. perhaps it was ghosts.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

There's a theatre here that is rumoured to be haunted (Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay) which I was in one day buying tickets. The girl at the box office said I could go into the main heater to check out where the seats were that I was thinking of purchasing (yay small town). So I did, but they didn't have the lights on. I was thoroughly disappointed that I didn't see a ghost.

My girlfriend's father who never used to believe in ghosts was working I. A house one day and heard a clear knock from the upstairs, turned white as a ghost (no pun intended, but it's always nice when a pun works out) and bolted of of the place. Now he's not so sure.

Me I don't believe but would love to see one.

[Hatter]

I'm legitimately shocked that sleep paralysis doesn't kill people. Only happened once to me that I can recall, but that amount of sheer terror cannot be good for the ticker. When I was finally able to move I thought my heart was going to blow out of my chest Alien style.

Scary stuff.

[edslunch]

My wife and her parents claim to have lived with a ghost. They each saw him independently and only later compared notes. This continued for a while until they found his coffin plates in the house and returned them to his mother. I know it sounds far-fetched but these are rationale people (my wife is an engineer) and they all matter of factly confirm the story.

I also agree with the previous poster about sleep paralysis - it happened to me a few times as a teenager and it was terrifying. I was convinced there was someone there.

[icecube]

I'm very open to the possibility of a spiritual multidimensional realm or something like that. I think maybe people are experiencing altered states of consciousness and seeing things from a parallel reality that aren't actually physically here.

I'm interested in theories like that. I think its a possibility that a lot of religions stem from these altered states of consciousness. Near death experiences,out of body experiences, alien abduction experiences, mystical experiences, shamanism etc. etc. these may all have common links.

I'm not sold that a so called spirit could manifest in our reality and cause someone harm or move stuff around though.

[SeeBass]

not a religious issue but you get the point:

[SeeBass]

[bubbsy]

never seen or experienced anything ghost related.

That being said, i avoided this thread late last night, so i guess that tells me where i stand on the issue.

[sevenarms]

Originally Posted by SeeBass

Does it make me a bad person if I want to make a bunch of these and place them in city parks over night to freak people out the next morning?

[surferguy]

no it doesn't but the idea of rogue art like this is beyond cool. I fully encourage you to do this. This type of thing makes cities super cool.

Continue ghost stories.